On the way, Qin Sheng stopped asking any more questions even though he had a feeling that something was amiss. Bi Yong was no longer of any value to him, so he instructed Zhao Song called Hong Tao to tell him to rush to Meijiawu. They were no longer suspecting Hong Tao by this moment.
Once they arrived at Meijiawu, Zhao Song immediately tied Bi Yong to the pillar in the hall and Qin Sheng started making new plans for this matter. Initially, they thought they would be able to locate Brother Hong by getting hold of Bi Yong, so they could have a closure on this matter. However, it looked like things were not so simple after all.
Qin Sheng went into deep thoughts and Zhao Song did not intend to interrupt him, but stood outside the door quietly and waited for Hong Tao to return. When Hong Tao finally arrived half an hour later, he could not wait but ran into the hall and immediately spotted Bi Yong, who was tied to the pillar. Puzzled, he asked, “What does this mean, Mr. Qin?”
“Ask him yourself,” said Qin Sheng coldly.
Bi Yong instantly broke into tears in confession, saying, “Brother Tao, it’s my fault, it’s all my fault. I’m sorry that I’ve betrayed you all.”
Both Bi Yong and Hong Tao were related to Brother Hong, therefore they had known each other since a long ago and so they were really familiar with each other. However, he would never have imagined that Bi Yong would become a traitor. This made him so furious that he grabbed on to Bi Yong’s shirt collars straight away and bellowed, “Damn it, so you betrayed us! Were you the one who betrayed my brother? Tell me where my brother is right now, otherwise, I’ll kill you!”
Qin Sheng signaled for Zhao Song to separate Hong Tao from Bi Yong and tried to explain to Zhao Song, saying, “He doesn’t know where Brother Hong is. They are not in the same gang.”
Zhao Song then continued to explain the causes and effects of the entire matter. It was only then that Hong Tao, to his astonishment, understood that there were more than a gang of people who had their eyes on them. Who had leaked the information of their whereabouts last night?
Qin Sheng sensed that there was some misunderstanding, asked, “I’ve got a question to ask.”
Zhao Song and the rest set their eyes upon Qin Sheng as he slowly said, “I had arrived at Hangzhou only last night. Did Brother Zhao inform you about the time I was going to arrive?”
This question was obviously directed to Bi Yong and Hong Tao.
Bi Yong and Hong Tao looked at each other, shaking their heads, and said, “No he didn’t. He did subsequently called us to say that Mr. Qin was arriving at Hangzhou last night, and that we should prepare some food and drink for you.”
Qin Sheng squinted, nodded thoughtfully and asked, “What happened after I escaped last night? What happened to Brother Zhao in the end?”
Up to this point, three out our four people here, apart from Zhao Quan, were present at the scene, and Qin Sheng asked the questions because he could not be sure if Zhao Quan was alive or dead.
“When you left, Zhao Song ran after you and the three of us were the only ones left in the garden. Brother Zhao seemed to be badly hurt because he was lying on the floor when we escaped,” Hong Tao sighed and said, “He may have died.”
The more Qin Sheng thought about it, the more he could not understand the logic behind this. If there was another traitor who betrayed Brother Zhao, how could he be dead? Even if Brother did not die, they only needed to coordinate between the people outside and inside and he would surrender himself to them. If Brother Zhao betrayed Jiang Xianbang, there’s a possibility that his nephew, Zhao Song, could have done it too. However, Zhao Song had been in control of his phone all the while from last night and there was no news from him.
It looked that this problem could not be solved by himself. Qin Sheng suddenly remembered the two people whom he was very close to, who used to share all good things together. Even enemies could become friends, what more old friends who had only had a small conflict?
“Bi Yong, do you have a way to contact the Zhang siblings?” Qin Sheng asked, sounding excited.
Qin Yong’s expression changed drastically and he said “Mr. Qin, how did you get to know about them?”
Qin Sheng could not be bothered to explain further, but only instructed them saying, “Don’t need to probe further, just give them a call to say that an old friend would like to meet them and he would not only offer what they wanted but also the jade heirloom the two families of Zhang and Song were disputing about.”
Zhao Song took out Bi Yong’s mobile phone and untied him, signaled for him to quickly make the call. Although Bi Yong did not totally grasp the situation, he still dialed the number of his boss, the mastermind behind this.
The called went through in a few seconds. “Manager Zhang, this is Bi Yong. I needed to report something to you,” said Bi Yong respectfully.
In the restaurant called Zhiweiguan by Westlake, the Zhang siblings were having a meal with a family friend’s family. This family friend was a resourceful person in Hangzhou. The sibling had wanted him to help find the information they needed.
Zhang Zibang, was wearing a black leather jacket and a fashionable hairstyle was talking on the phone as he got up from his seat and exited from the room. With squinting eyes, he said, “Say what you need to say quickly. I’m very busy!”
“Manager Zhang, there’s an old friend of yours who would like to meet you. He said if you cooperate with him, not only will you be given you’ve always wanted, in addition, you will also be able to lay hold of that jade heirloom which the Zhang and Song families were disputing over,” Bi Yong regurgitated what Qin Sheng had instructed him to say.
As expected, Zhang Zibang’s expression changed immediately when he heard those words. He frowned and said, “What’s his name? Where is he now?”
“He says you would know when you come. He’s right next to me now. Do you want to meet him?” Bi Yong continued.
Zhang Zibang hesitated for a second, gritted his teeth and said, “Where are you now? I’m coming over right now.”
“I’m at Meijiawu, where you just visited earlier today,” Bi Yong said matter-of-factly. However, right after Bi Yong finished the sentence, Zhao Song snatched his phone over so he could not continue with the conversation.
Zhang Zibang, who was by West Lake was about to inquire further when the line went dead. He had no idea who this old time friend was, who was able to help he lay hold of the item he wanted, as well as knew all about the jade heirloom disputed among the Zhang and Song family.
No matter whether the information he was getting was true, or even it was a scam, this was too important to him. Zhang Zibang thought he needed to make this trip anyways, so he ran into the room and dragged his sister Zhang Ziyu out, and they headed to Meijiawu.
On the Tea Hill, in the yard of Meijiawu, Qin Sheng, who had been rushing here and there, finally had the opportunity to rest a while. Where they were was actually the home of Longjing Tea. This was where the top grade Long Jing was produced. It would be a waste not to have some Longjing Tea while he was here.
“Do you have tea? Make a pot so we can enjoy it,” Qin Sheng told Zhao Song.
Zhao Song instantly went through all the cupboards and he indeed had a various grade of tea and before long, he had brewed a pot for Qin Sheng. Qin Sheng took a sip of the cup of tea to taste it slowly and commented, “Good tea!”
Longjing tea leaves were plucked off from the tea plants when they were still tender. They were categorized based on their quality as “Lianxin”, “Queshe” and “Qiqiang” according to the stage when their leaves were plugs from the tea plants.
The days leading up to Qingming festival as well as afterwards was the period for collecting the raw materials for the top grade tea. Tea leaves harvested from “Guyu” to “Lixia” included “Xiaosandang” which included a sprout and two leaves or buds in between two leaves belonged to the high and medium quality raw materials. “Xiaqiu tea” included a tea leave and a sprout, and two open leaves. “Xiaosandang” was harvested earlier in the season, while later on, the one sprout, two-to-three leaves tea leaves were harvested.
Therefore, the best Longjing tea leaves were usually those harvested just before and after the Qingming festival.
After brewing the pot of tea by adding boiling water three times, Qin Sheng received a call from Lin Xin on WeChat. Lin Xin was a little upset with Qin Sheng because it was going to be New Year soon and she had wanted Qin Sheng to make a trip back home with her. The second day of the New Year was also her mother’s birthday and she wanted to spend time with her on her birthday.
Qin Sheng pondered for a moment. He remembered that they used to celebrate everyone’s birthday in the family by having a sumptuous meal. This was especially true for his birthday. Uncle Lin and his wife would bring him on a trip back to Zhongnan Mountains and so he could spend his birthday with his grandfather. If his grandfather was busy, Uncle Lin and his wife would bring him to the downtown area for a trip.
Kinship was something Qin Sheng had longed for and the Lin family had filled this missing part of his life, otherwise, he would turn out to be an even weirder personality.
Therefore, Qin Sheng had always felt indebted to the Lin family, especially after his grandfather passed away when he treated the Lin family as the most important people in his life.
Qin Sheng was not around when the unfortunate event befell Uncle Lin, so he was unable to be of any help. for this reason, Qin Sheng worked very hard, hoping to become successful soon so he could help Uncle Lin clear his name.
Therefore, he straight away agreed to Lin Xin’s request to accompany her back to Xi‘an.
At this moment, there was finally some movement outside and Hong Tao entered the room running and shouting, “Mr. Qin, they’ve arrived!”
Qin Sheng got up slowly to receive whoever was at the door. He saw the Zhang siblings entering the yard through the gates. The moment the siblings set their eyes on Qin Sheng, they realized who this old friend was. It was none other than Qin Sheng, who was the one who lost their heirloom.
Qin Sheng stood in front of the steps and smilingly said, “Brother Zhang, Ziyu, how have you been?”
Zhang Ziyu, who recovered from her shock, stared at Qin Sheng with eyes full of hatred, as if he were an archenemy. Zhang Ziyu was dressed in a Punk style and there were piercings everywhere on her body, with a messy braid on her head, one could see there were streaks of purple and red in the braid. She also wore dark eye shadow, giving her a standout look.
Before Qin Sheng could say a few words of greetings, Zhang Ziyu suddenly dashed towards Qin Sheng and shouted, “You again!”
The men who came with the Zhang sibling had wanted to follow suit when they were stopped by Zhang Zibang. They could only stand around be spectators. They knew there was no way Qin Sheng would bring harm to Zhang Ziyu since she was not his target.
The violent Zhang Ziyu dashed towards Qin Sheng and kicked Qin Sheng with her spiked shoes. Whoever was struck by the spiked shoes would have their flesh tore open. Qin Sheng quickly dodged the kick and Zhang Ziyu’s heavy feet landed on a green stone slabbed, thereby breaking it. One could see how powerful that kick of hers was.
“Can’t we discuss this peaceably? Do you have to resort to violence every time we meet?” said Qin Sheng with a little frustration.
Zhang Ziyu could not be bothered but followed with another kick. Qin Sheng bend at his waist to dodge her attack again and thereafter caught her long legs with his hand and said, “Can we please talk peaceably? If you insist to do this, I’m going to have to use violence too!”
“You are a thug, I’m going to kill you today,” bellowed Zhang Ziyu.
At this moment, Zhao Song, Bi Yong, and Hon Tao were all wearing a stunned expression on their face. Did Qin Sheng not say that they were his old friends? Why did his old friend launch a fatal attack on him?
Zhang Ziyu refused to back off but continued with her attack, when Qin Sheng’s patience wore off and his anger was provoked.
When Zhang Ziyu was in the midst of making a turn, Qin Sheng grabbed her arm and locked it in place, while putting the other arm around her. It looked like they were a couple, and Zhang Ziyu’s bosom was full and attractive.
“You lusty pervert, get your hands off me!” Zhang Ziyu struggled hard to break free from Qin Sheng’s hold but was far from being his match. She could only resort to cursing.
Qin Sheng was not bothered by her screaming and yelling, but calmly turned to Zhang Zibang, saying, “Brother Zhang, can you please discipline your little sister?”
“Enough, Ziyu,” said Zhang Zibang.
Qin Sheng let go of Zhang Ziyu after that and pushed her towards Zhang Ziyu. At this juncture, Zhang Zhiyu still wanted to retaliate but Zhang Zibang stopped her.
“Shall we have a chat?” Zhang Zibang said to Qin Sheng awkwardly.