Chapter 1224 — Xie Yufeng's Visit

"Ergoudan? Who's that?" Gu Pengzhan asked.

"A brother from my hometown. He came to bring me the medicinal solution. Actually, what happened yesterday was this..." Wei Zhao then told Gu Pengzhan the whole story of how Ergoudan had gone to take revenge on the lion and put two of the Xiao family's best fighters in the hospital.

"No wonder! They sent that formidable Ergoudan your way, thinking he didn't know you and would rough you up, so they couldn't wait to come make trouble for me!" Gu Pengzhan said, the truth suddenly dawning on him. "But their own best fighters are laid up in the hospital, and they still have the mood to come bother me? They really have no shame!"

"Heh, I figure they're afraid that once word gets out about the Pi family's fighters being injured, they'll have no way to threaten you anymore." Wei Zhao analyzed with a smile. "That's why they rushed out so desperately."

"If that's the case, then I've got nothing to worry about! But that brother of yours is something else! Those two Pi family fighters are said to be extraordinarily skilled, and he actually put them in the hospital! If the Xiao family knew that this Great Hero Goudan was your brother, they'd probably be scared out of their wits!" Gu Pengzhan laughed heartily, sweeping away all his previous worries! With Wei Zhao and Ergoudan holding the fort, what was there to fear from the Xiao family? No matter how cocky the Xiao family got, once the Pi family fighters were discharged from the hospital, he'd just have Ergoudan send them right back in!

"Heh, no need to bother with them. If they come making trouble again, I'll have Ergoudan give them a good scare and shake some money out of them while he's at it! Courtesy demands reciprocity!" Wei Zhao said with a laugh.

"That's true enough! Then I'll go call Old Ding first and discuss the fundraising gala. As for Yaoyao and Little Shu, I'll leave them in your care!" Gu Pengzhan instructed.

After Gu Pengzhan and Wei Zhao ended their call, he phoned Ding Binggong, the principal of First High School, to brief him on the fundraising gala! It just so happened that First High School was about to hold a singing competition, and if they were going to invite prominent figures from society to donate, they couldn't very well have no ceremony at all — you can't just expect people to fork over money with nothing but empty words, can you?

So Ding Binggong's idea was to combine the singing competition and the fundraising gala into one event. The school would select some of the better performances, and during the finals, the fundraising gala would be held simultaneously, with the prominent guests invited to participate in judging the song and dance competition. For one, it would liven up the atmosphere; for another, it would show respect for the donors.

Gu Pengzhan was quite satisfied with Ding Binggong's suggestion. Ding Binggong was a man of considerable ability — over the past few years he had managed First High School with perfect order, which was precisely why Gu Pengzhan had always entrusted him with important responsibilities!

Otherwise, for a private school that was also a municipal key high school, the principal's authority was substantial. If someone lacked ability, the school's reputation could easily be surpassed by other schools. But ability alone without self-restraint was also no good — if a principal embezzled and took bribes, the school's atmosphere would plummet. If the principal himself set the example by accepting gifts, wouldn't the other teachers follow suit? In no time at all, the school's name would be dragged through the mud!

But Ding Binggong was not only upright in character, he was also thoroughly capable — this was why Gu Pengzhan trusted him!

Once the matter was settled, Ding Binggong summoned the vice principal and the director of academic affairs, Wang Zhifeng, to the conference room to discuss and study the specific arrangements for the fundraising gala...

When Qiu Lingshan walked out of Director Chen's office, her whole demeanor was grave, her brows tightly knit!

Back when Yang Huaijun was captain, there hadn't been this many incidents. But no sooner had she taken over the captain's position than cases large and small came pouring in from all over Songshan City! The recent disappearances were growing more and more frequent, yet there was no pattern whatsoever to the victims — they came from every walk of life!

Butchers, drivers, grocery sellers, scrap collectors, hotel attendants, mall security guards, gatekeepers, street sweepers, and so on and so forth. Qiu Lingshan stared at the mountain of case files before her and felt utterly at a loss as to where to begin!

All these people had disappeared, and without exception, each of them had gotten into a minor conflict with someone, then injured the other party and fled! And the people they injured mostly had injuries that weren't serious, not enough to warrant a criminal wanted notice.

Cases of this sort were also the easiest to overlook, so the initial police reports were all very simple. No one had taken them seriously — only Qiu Lingshan had sensed something amiss and reported it to Director Chen of the police bureau.

Today, Director Chen had summoned Qiu Lingshan to discuss the possibility of consolidating the cases, and he instructed her that she absolutely must solve them as quickly as possible. Even if these cases were all coincidental, they still had to find the people who had fled! Because many families whose members had run off had also come to the police to report them missing.

Although it hadn't yet caused serious social impact, it had at least stirred panic among a minority of the population. To prevent the nature of the cases from escalating, Director Chen told Qiu Lingshan to solve them as quickly as possible!

Qiu Lingshan had a headache. Looking at the stack of case files before her, she felt as though she had gone looking for trouble. If she hadn't reported these thoughts in the first place, she wouldn't be in this mess today! But Qiu Lingshan didn't regret it. She was an upright person — she couldn't simply turn a blind eye to these abnormal disappearances. She just couldn't do it!

"Knock, knock, knock..." A knock came at the office door.

"Come in!" Qiu Lingshan didn't think much of it — after all, plenty of people came to see her during work hours.

"Lingshan, busy?" The visitor was none other than Xie Yufeng — one of the people Qiu Lingshan least wanted to see!

Hearing that voice, Qiu Lingshan's eyebrows twitched slightly. She said coolly, "What are you doing here?"

"Heh, it's noon, isn't it? I was going to invite you to lunch, but I knew you were busy. When I got here you weren't in, and your colleague said you'd gone to discuss work with the director, so I went out and bought boxed lunches!" With that, Xie Yufeng raised the plastic bag in his hand and smiled. "You haven't eaten yet, have you? Shall we eat together?"

Qiu Lingshan furrowed her brow! Undoubtedly, Xie Yufeng's gesture was thoughtful and considerate. If it had been Wei Zhao, Qiu Lingshan would have been overjoyed! But this was Xie Yufeng — that made all the difference!

"I'm not hungry. Eat by yourself. I still have work to do!" Qiu Lingshan gave Xie Yufeng a indifferent glance, then lowered her head again, fixing her gaze on the case files before her.

"Man is iron, food is steel — skip a meal and you'll feel awful!" Xie Yufeng said with a smile. "Even if we're both cultivators, we still can't go without food! It'd be fine in a place rich in spiritual energy — you could sustain yourself through cultivation — but in the city nowadays, spiritual energy is so thin there's no way to cultivate at all!"

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