Chapter 58: Where Did This Countryside Big Shot Come From

"Boss!!"

The manager excitedly slapped Gu Jinghan on the shoulder. "Boss! This is gold! Pure gold!"

Gu Jinghan rubbed his shoulder. "I know. Why do you think I was eavesdropping in the first place?"

Did he really think he was some kind of creep?

The manager urged him on. "Boss, quick! Copy that recording and let's go blackmail Second Young Master Han!"

Gu Jinghan cursed at him. "You're obsessed with money. I didn't do all this just to—"

He stopped mid-sentence, his face going pale.

The manager asked nervously, "Boss, what's wrong? Did we get caught? Hey, this has nothing to do with me..."

Gu Jinghan almost burst into tears. "Where's the copy button?"

He couldn't find it!

The manager peeked over and nearly rolled his eyes out of his head. "Boss! Could you just spend a little money for once? The one you bought can only listen—it can't copy!"

Gu Jinghan felt wronged. How was he supposed to know?

It wasn't like he had a hobby of eavesdropping!

"So what do I do now? Buy another one?"

The manager shot him a look. "With Han Mo's stamina, who knows when he'll next book a room!"

Gu Jinghan's face fell even further. "Then what do I do? I still haven't found my sister!"

The manager pushed the door open and got out in disgust. "Keep looking, I guess. You've got nothing else to do all day anyway."

Sigh. Why did he have to end up with such a stupid boss?

Well, whatever. If the boss weren't stupid, he wouldn't have become a manager. With his skills, he'd be working as a waiter at any other hotel.

Gu Jinghan sat in the car feeling utterly pitiful. His morals! Gone for nothing!

He pulled out his phone and called his older brother. The moment it connected, he let out a wail. "Bro! I'm so wronged! My morals are gone! And I didn't even save the evidence! I don't want to live anymore!"

Gu Jingchen sat in his office, frowning at the phone. "What are you even talking about?"

Gu Jinghan cried even harder, his words jumbling together. "Like... setting up Han Mo to get back at Han Xuan... and it dragged Huanhuan into it... it was Xuan who told Han Xuan... it's all—"

"Get your emotions in check, then call me back."

The line went dead with a click. Gu Jinghan broke down. "This family is so cold! Why am I even part of this family? I'm running away from home!"

He and Huanhuan were both unloved children, sob sob...

In the office, Gu Jingchen stared at his computer screen, frowning deeply.

In the surveillance footage, a man in a baseball cap stepped out of a van.

He zoomed in on the frame, bit by bit, until the cap filled the entire screen.

If he wasn't mistaken, that cap was one bought at a roadside shop in the Maldives last year, when they'd gone on vacation as a family, the one Chacha had picked out.

He remembered clearly, because Jinghan and Chacha had fought over that cap.

Chacha had fallen in love with it at first sight, and Jinghan had said it was an ugly cap on an ugly head, double ugly.

It made Chacha cry, and their parents had scolded him harshly.

Jinghan had gotten angry, dragged Chacha aside, fought with her on the street, and then flown back to China by himself.

That day, Jinghan had been extraordinarily hot-tempered for some reason.

That's why he remembered the cap so vividly.

A light blue cap, with white wing embroidery on the front...

He squinted at the cap in the surveillance feed.

The arsonist was Han Xuan.

In the footage, Han Xuan drove off after setting the fire.

Which meant Han Mo's and Huanhuan's disappearance had nothing to do with him.

Of course, he didn't have the brains for it anyway.

Han Mo's BYD had rolled out of the surveillance range, so there was no way to know if he'd crawled out of the car himself or if someone had helped him.

Had Huanhuan gotten him out?

But then why hadn't they come back?

Why were they hiding?

Gu Jingchen sat frowning at his desk for a long moment, then made a call. "Can you do me a favor? Can you look into the Han Corporation's financial transactions..."

"I know it's not exactly standard procedure, that's why I'm asking you... please..."

"Alright, I'll wait for your news."

To find Huanhuan, he first needed to understand Han Mo's motives.

The two brothers were each doing their part. What they didn't know was that He Huanhuan was just as hard at work...

Haggling, that is.

He Huanhuan held up the school uniform. "Can you give me a discount? This is obviously last season's style. Nobody wears this anymore!"

The shop owner sat on his little stool and waved his hand. "Best I can do is fifty. If you don't want it, fine!"

He Huanhuan: "Final offer, thirty!"

The owner glared at her. "At thirty, I'm not making any money!"

He Huanhuan glared back harder. "At thirty, you're definitely still making money!"

The owner ignored her. "It's fifty, not a cent less!"

He Huanhuan tossed the uniform back on the stall. "Then I don't want it."

She plopped back onto her electric scooter, twisted the throttle, and started riding away... slowly. Very, very slowly.

Slower than an eighty-year-old grandma with a cane.

Han Mo was puzzled. "Aren't we leaving?"

He Huanhuan gritted her teeth. "Shut up!"

She was playing the bargaining game with the owner!

Sure enough, after the scooter glided another two meters, the owner called out grudgingly, "Fine! Thirty! It's yours!"

"Deal!"

He Huanhuan abandoned the scooter and ran back happily, handed over thirty yuan, and bought the old-style school uniform.

She shoved it into Han Mo's hands. "Here, you've got new clothes now."

Han Mo looked at the uniform, his face nearly cracking. "For me?"

He Huanhuan grinned and nodded. "Of course!"

Han Mo frowned slightly. "Maybe you should wear it instead. You don't have anything to change into either."

He really didn't want to wear it.

To his surprise, He Huanhuan waved her hand dismissively. "I'm not wearing a school uniform! I'm going to buy a dress!"

Han Mo glanced at the uniform, then nodded seriously. "Alright, let's go buy a dress then."

Wearing the school uniform was fine. He'd buy her two pretty dresses.

Han Mo stood at the doorway of the shop, completely speechless.

He never expected that the dress He Huanhuan wanted to buy was... this kind of dress.

He looked at the store full of big rose-print dresses, big begonia-print dresses...

His eyes were exhausted.

He reached out and grabbed He Huanhuan, who was itching to dart inside. "Do we really have to buy this?"

He still had a bit over a hundred yuan left from the two hundred he'd borrowed from Wang Qiang yesterday, and they'd made over fifty this morning too.

They weren't that broke.

He Huanhuan reached out and touched the fabric, the smooth, cool material familiar against her fingers, stirring a hollow ache deep in her chest.

"This one's great. My grandma used to love wearing this."

The grief flickered across her face, there and gone in an instant, as if it had never existed at all.

But Han Mo caught it.

He said nothing, just stepped forward, took her hand, and looked at her. "If you like it, buy two. You can rotate them."

The shop owner sat inside rolling his eyes so hard they nearly fell out of his head. Where did this countryside CEO come from? Even the cheapest dresses were fifteen yuan each, and he's pretending to spoil her with two. With the two-for-discount, it's only twenty-five for both. What kind of flex is that?!

Some people, honestly!