Chapter 152 The 152nd day since I stopped running...

Chapter 152 The 152nd day since I stopped running...

As they came out of the detention center, Liang Wenxuan saw Chen Bo patting his jacket and asked, puzzled, "Why are you patting your jacket?"

Chen Bozheng said, "It smells like smoke."

Liang Wenxuan chuckled. What's so strange about smelling smoke?

Chen Bozheng didn't explain much to him, but said, "Let's go to the hospital to see Manager Liu now."

"Look at him?"

Liang Wenxuan was puzzled. After getting into the car, he asked in confusion, "Why are you looking at him? Didn't Hu Cheng tell us everything that happened?"

Chen Bozheng said, "What if he's not honest? We're the ones developing that piece of land. Even if we don't take it over, the building will just rot there. But he's in jail while we're feeding and taking care of him. He's bound to feel bad. It doesn't hurt to be cautious."

Upon closer inspection, Liang Wenxuan realized that Chen Bozheng's words made a lot of sense.

Manager Liu was still lying in the hospital, having lost too much blood. When Chen Bo and Liang Wenxuan went over, he looked quite well.

Manager Liu looked at the two of them with a somewhat surprised and astonished expression.

He nudged his girlfriend beside him and asked Chen Bozheng and the others, "What are you doing here?"

Chen Bo glanced at his girlfriend, pulled up a chair and sat down, "Manager Liu..."

When Wen Chan returned home, she found that Chen Bozheng had already come back, taken a shower, and cooked dinner.

The dishes on the table were all simple home-style fare. She couldn't help but smile, picked up her chopsticks and took a bite of the braised eggplant with preserved egg: "What day is it today that you, Mr. Chen, are cooking for us personally?"

Chen Bo wiped his hands and came out: "It's nothing. I just think that eating out every day isn't good for your health. I'll make a few dishes today to change things up. How do you like them?"

Wen Chan grunted, looking hesitant, biting her chopsticks, and looked at Chen Bozheng with a troubled expression.

Chen Bo's heart skipped a beat. He picked up his chopsticks and tasted it; the flavor was just right.

Adding some chili to this braised eggplant with preserved egg would actually make it more flavorful, but Chen Bozheng knew that Wen Chan preferred milder flavors, so he didn't add chili and only used minced garlic and chopped green onions for seasoning. He himself thought it tasted pretty good.

Pfft.

Wen Chan covered her mouth and laughed out loud.

Chen Bozheng then realized that Wen Chan was joking with him.

He glanced at her helplessly, then served her a bowl of rice. "Why are you so naughty?"

Wen Chan took the bowl, thanked her, and said with a smile, "Just kidding, right? Even if the food you, Mr. Chen, make isn't delicious, I still have to say it's delicious."

Upon hearing this, Chen Bozheng couldn't help but laugh.

Seeing that he seemed relaxed, Wen Chan asked, "How did that matter go?"

Chen Bozheng said, "It went relatively smoothly. Fortunately, the Jingyang residential area was in the right. Old Yang was drunk and got into a fight, and he fell down on his own. It wasn't during working hours, so you can't really blame the construction site. We'll find the people he fought with to come out and testify tomorrow, and this matter will be over soon."

There's a ton of stuff to do at the end of the year.

Nobody wants to get involved in the case, especially something that has nothing to do with them.

Wen Chan seemed to be deep in thought. She put down her chopsticks, went inside, took out a fountain pen, and handed it to Chen Bozheng.

Chen Bo took the pen. "Is this for me?"

Wen Chan said, "This is a voice recorder. Press down the cap to record, and press it again to play the audio. It's from the US. Take it with you; it might come in handy. I think that Old Yang and his gang made such a big fuss; they must have thought about gagging the person they fought with. If something happens, you can use this to record what the other person says."

Chen Bozheng nodded, "I'll listen to you."

The guy who fought with Lao Yang wasn't injured. His name is He Dahu. You can tell from his name that he's the kind of guy who loves to fight and cause trouble.

After firing Lao Yang, Hu Cheng also fired He Dahu.

Therefore, He Dahu had been doing odd jobs everywhere. Beijing is not a big place, but it is not a small place either. If his skills are decent, there should be plenty of work. However, He Dahu managed to stay at each job for less than half a month before being fired. It can be seen that he has a lot of problems.

Chen Bo was leading Wang Jianquan over.

He instructed Liang Wenxuan and Hua Lingfeng that if any reporters went to harass them today, they should keep them calm for the time being. Although those reporters were taking things out of context, it was still unnecessary to offend them.

As everyone knows, there's no such thing as being able to guard against thieves for a thousand days, only to be a thief for a thousand days.

"Is this the place?" As Wang Jianquan walked, he felt something was off. This was the East District, not far from Jingyun Community. Moreover, the houses looked very tidy, not like a place that someone like He Dahu could afford to live in.

Chen Bo frowned and said, "We shouldn't have gone to the wrong place."

Several middle-aged women wearing red armbands noticed them looking around and came over to ask, "What are you doing here? Who are you looking for?"

Chen Bozheng said politely, "Auntie, could you tell me about someone around here? Is there anyone named He Dahu around here?"

The middle-aged woman who seemed to be the leader chuckled, "You're his friends?!"

Chen Bozheng said, "No, he's his colleague."

"Hey, don't try to fool me. You're not his colleague, you're his boss, aren't you?" The middle-aged woman, with sharp eyes, looked Chen Bozheng up and down and said confidently, "He just moved here not long ago. You've come at the right time. He litters everywhere every day, affecting our evaluation for a 'Five-Good Street' (a local sanitation award). I'll take you there, and you'll have to have a good talk with him. We don't care where he lived before or what his habits were, but he can't be allowed to ruin the cleanliness of our place like this."

As she spoke, the woman led Chen Bozheng and the others through a maze of turns until they reached a secluded courtyard. She pounded on the door and called out, "He Dahu."

A moment later, the person in the courtyard came out, flung open the door, and, bleary-eyed with drunkenness, said irritably, "Aunt Li, are you ever going to stop...?"

Before He Dahu could finish speaking, his expression changed drastically when he saw Chen Bozheng and the others. He reached out to close the door.

Wang Jianquan reacted quickly, grabbing the man by the collar and blocking the door.

Chen Bozheng's eyes were serious. "He Dahu, what are you hiding for!"

He Dahu gagged a few times as something was stuck in his throat.

Chen Bo pushed open the door and walked straight in, while Wang Jianquan dragged him in.

When Aunt Li and the others saw this, they realized something was wrong.

Aunt Li hurriedly asked, "Hey, this isn't right. You're not here to collect a debt, are you? Don't let it get into a fight!"

If Chen Bozheng and Wang Jianquan hadn't looked so upright, she would have suspected they were thugs seeking revenge.

"Auntie, don't be nervous. We're just here to ask him a few questions, but these are questions that are not easy for others to know. If you're worried, you can stay at the door and wait for us. We'll come out after we've finished asking the questions."

Chen Bozheng comforted him.

He didn't want to make a scene and involve the police.

Aunt Li was skeptical, so Chen Bozheng simply asked Wang Jianquan to go out and keep the other women company. Wang Jianquan then closed the door behind him.

Chen Bo looked the courtyard up and down before stepping inside.

He Dahu hesitated for a moment, then followed him inside.

There was a folding table and a few small stools in the main hall, with leftover snacks and leftover Moutai liquor on them.

The ground was littered with cigarette butts and peanut shells.

Chen Bozheng casually grabbed a stool and sat down, nodding to He Dahu: "Sit."

His attitude was so natural, as if this were his own home.

He Dahu hesitated for a moment, then asked, "What are you doing here?!"

Chen Bo had a pen tucked into his breast pocket. Hearing this, he looked up at He Dahu and said, "What you're saying means you know me, right?"

He Dahu's heart skipped a beat.

Before today, two of Lao Yang's nephews came to see him and told him that Chen Bozheng and his group might come looking for him.

But He Dahu didn't expect this person to come knocking on his door so quickly.

He said in a gruff voice, "So what if it is? There's been a lot of news about your neighborhood in the newspapers lately. Everyone knows you."

"That's not quite right, I wasn't in the newspaper."

Chen Bozheng casually pressed down on his pen. "I think it was Lao Yang and the others who contacted you to let you know what I look like. You guys are quite observant; you really can't believe that such a big, burly guy has such a brain."

"Who are you calling brainless?!" He Dahu angrily questioned.

Chen Bo chuckled, made a disdainful gesture, crossed his legs, leaned back, and lazily looked at him. "Whoever's getting worked up is the one talking. This place is nice, the environment is alright, but is it a place you can afford to live in? Who's paying you, Old Yang, or Young Master Lin?"

Chen Bozheng appeared relaxed, but he was actually watching He Dahu's reaction closely.

When he saw He Dahu's obvious reaction when he saw the name Lao Yang, he knew what was going on.

He stood up, hands in his pockets, and looked at He Dahu: "You're Old Yang, aren't you? How much did he pay you to help him extort money from us? Do you know that extortion is illegal?"

"What extortion? I don't know anything about it." He Dahu plopped down, picked up a bottle of liquor from the table, and chugged it down, saying disdainfully, "You think you can trick me into telling you anything? No way."

Chen Bo thought to himself, "This He Dahu doesn't put his heart into his work, but he's quite cunning."

He said, "Don't misunderstand, we're planning to compromise. We'll give them 500,000 directly, no matter what."

Five hundred thousand?!

He Dahu suddenly looked up at Chen Bozheng, "You're giving them 500,000?!"

Chen Bozheng laughed, one hand in his pocket: "That's right, otherwise why would we be so troubled? Old Yang has quite an appetite. This 500,000 is enough for him to live a life of luxury for the rest of his life."

Damn it.

He Dahu cursed inwardly, his eyes darting around.

Give me 200,000 yuan and I'll tell you the truth!

"The truth? What truth could there be?" Chen Bo patted the dust off his legs and said disdainfully, "I bet you don't know anything, so don't even think about swindling money from me."

After he finished speaking, he opened his palm and waved it, "Five hundred thousand, a full five hundred thousand! How many people have ever seen so much money in their entire lives?"

Chen Bozheng's words immediately broke He Dahu's defenses.

He Dahu called out to him, "He's lying, he's not paralyzed at all. Give me 50,000 yuan, I don't want 500,000. Give me 200,000 yuan and I'll testify for you!"