A Broken Mirror Never Mends - Chapter 29

“…”

Shi Tian thought he had misheard.

Throw him out to feed the fish?

…That’s illegal, right?

But before he could think further, he saw through the crack in the door curtain as the two bodyguards in the dressing room stepped forward. They grabbed Cheng Xi’s arms and began dragging him toward the porthole.

The bodyguards had worked for Uncle Bai for many years, so they naturally knew who the real master was. No matter how much Uncle Bai’s two “adopted sons” caused trouble, they didn’t hold the power of a single word from the rightful young prince of the Qi family.

It wasn’t until he was forcibly dragged outside, with the salty sea breeze hitting his face, that Cheng Xi finally realized in despair that Zhou Sifu was serious.

His face no longer looked like a fragile beauty in tears. After struggling desperately on the spot, he simply collapsed forward onto the carpet, his forehead thumping heavily against Zhou Sifu’s polished black leather shoes. He tried to reach out to grab Zhou Sifu’s pant leg to beg for his life, but his hands were tied tightly behind his back with hemp rope; he couldn’t move at all.

Watching as Zhou Sifu lifted the tip of his shoe to slowly push his face away as if he didn’t want to get his shoes dirty. Cheng Xi’s lips trembled, his face turning deathly pale. “President Zhou… President Zhou, I beg you—”

Gradually, as if moved by the boy’s pitiful pleas, Zhou Sifu slowly lowered his heel and stopped moving.

In front of everyone in the room, he squatted down with a look of concern and looked straight into the boy’s eyes. “Is there something you want to say to me?”

Seeing a hint of sympathy in Zhou Sifu’s eyes, Cheng Xi hurried to prop himself up from the floor. Just as he was about to beg some more, the man suddenly grabbed his chin.

Leaning down, Zhou Sifu spoke calmly in a voice only the two of them could hear: “What is the data Uncle Bai is looking for?”

Cheng Xi’s pupils shrank instantly. After hesitating for only half a second, he tilted his head up and leaned close to Zhou Sifu’s ear, whispering three letters.

“…President Zhou, please save me.” After speaking, Cheng Xi trembled in a whisper, “Once I get the data, I’ll give it all to you, I swear—”

Halfway through his sentence, Zhou Sifu stood up leisurely from the floor.

He took a tissue from the box on the table, wiped his hands clean with great care, turned around, and instructed the two waiting bodyguards: “It’s fine. Throw him.”

Cheng Xi: “…??!”

Everyone in the room: “…”

A minute later, a dull thud sounded from outside the window as a heavy object hit the surface of the sea—

Splash!

Lifting the curtain, Zhou Sifu had just stepped out of the room when a hand reached out from a corner and grabbed his arm.

Dragging Zhou Sifu into another storage room deep in the hallway, Shi Tian locked the door behind them. Back against the door, he whispered to the man inches away, “…Zhou Sifu, are you crazy??”

Seeing the person in front of him explode with anger, Zhou Sifu immediately put on an innocent face. “What did I do?”

Recalling the scene he had just seen through the crack in the door, Shi Tian felt his temples throbbing. “If anything happens to Cheng Xi, you’ll go to jail! Do you realize that?”

The corners of Zhou Sifu’s mouth moved as he asked back, “Is President Shi worried about me?”

…Worried about your head!

Shi Tian was about to be driven to death by anger.

Does this man named Zhou not understand human speech?

From the beginning, Shi Tian’s attitude had never changed. He wasn’t some overly kind person, but the mess between Ji Yuanlin and his lover was something he would handle himself later. It wasn’t for someone else to take the blame for him.

Seeing that Zhou Sifu had no intention of explaining, Shi Tian hurriedly pulled his phone from his pocket. “Forget it. Tell your people to call the police first. Maybe they can still fish him out—”

Zhou Sifu calmly interrupted him. “Why are you so certain his life is in danger?”

Shi Tian: “…”

You tied his hands, stuffed a rag in his mouth, and threw him in the ocean!

At that moment, the phone in Zhou Sifu’s pocket vibrated slightly.

Taking it out, Zhou Sifu clicked on a message, turned the screen around, and held it up to Shi Tian’s eyes.

Shi Tian looked closely and saw a photo that had just been taken. The location looked very familiar. He quickly realized it was the small fishing boat they had just used, which was still parked at the back of the yacht.

Cheng Xi, looking like a drowned rat, was lying lifelessly on the deck of the fishing boat, his face filled with the terror of a near-death experience. A fisherman was kneeling beside him, pumping seawater out of his windpipe.

Zhou Sifu shrugged slightly. “Is President Shi satisfied now?”

After staring at the miserable boy in the photo for a moment, Shi Tian looked at the man standing across from him in the darkness with a meaningful gaze.

The specific reason was still unknown, but this man was definitely getting revenge on Cheng Xi on purpose.

As for why Zhou Sifu went to such lengths to put on a show in front of those people, he already had a vague answer in his heart the moment he saw the photo.

“You want him to see you as his savior, and then get him to tell you the contents of that secret data those people mentioned?” After thinking for a moment, Shi Tian voiced his thoughts. “I just didn’t expect this to be related to Ji Yuanlin.”

This was another key point he had just realized. If it hadn’t been for the conversation he overheard on the boat today, he might have been kept in the dark by Ji Yuanlin forever.

For Ji Yuanlin, transferring debt risk was not an easy task; he also had to risk being investigated by the Bureau of Industry and Commerce or even economic police. But even so, Ji Yuanlin had chosen to strike at Shi Tian right after they got married.

Lately, the one thing Shi Tian had been trying to figure out was why Ji Yuanlin was in such a hurry to transfer assets abroad. What was his ultimate goal?

Now, a small corner of the truth seemed to have been pulled back—the “source file” Cheng Xi had mentioned.

What did Ji Yuanlin have in his hands that was so important he would drag the entire Fengyu company and Shi Tian down with him?

While busy thinking, Shi Tian didn’t even notice when the man beside him changed his posture.

The narrow storage room was just large enough for two adult men to stand. Zhou Sifu was half a head taller than him, his head nearly touching the ceiling. Unable to stand completely straight, Zhou Sifu propped his hand against the door and leaned forward slightly.

The room was so quiet that only their breathing could be heard. He noticed Zhou Sifu turn his head slightly, his gaze falling on Shi Tian’s side profile. Even though there was a gap between them, the man’s breath brushed against his ear every time.

For some reason, when Zhou Sifu’s voice rang out, Shi Tian felt his heart prickle, beating harder than usual.

“You guessed almost all of my thoughts, President Shi,” Zhou Sifu said. “But you were wrong on one point.”

“I never wanted him to see me as a savior.”

“I just wanted to tell him that in my presence, he is less than an ant in the dirt.” With a smile still on his face, his eyes held a thin layer of coldness. “If he dares to try anything with my things, I can make his life a living hell.”

The dance in the circular hall hadn’t ended yet. Just as they had arrived, the two of them returned the same way, blending in with the guests to silently leave the yacht’s top floor.

Under the cover of night, they boarded the fishing boat waiting at the stern.

Shi Tian expected to see a tied-up Cheng Xi in the cabin, but he found the deck empty. Only a wet hemp rope remained as proof that Cheng Xi had been there.

Shi Tian asked, “Where is he?”

He thought Zhou Sifu would keep the person on the boat to squeeze out some useful information first.

“Sent back to the ship. My people are watching him in a room.” Zhou Sifu reached out to help him fasten his safety rope. “Why? I thought President Shi didn’t want to sit down for a heart-to-heart talk with your husband’s new lover.”

Shi Tian spoke coldly, “Now is not the time for emotions.”

He had made up his mind. For now, Cheng Xi was the person who understood the whole situation best. If he wanted to investigate what Ji Yuanlin was planning behind his back, the fastest entry point was Ji Yuanlin’s current partner.

The fishing boat cut through the water toward the brightly lit shore. Leaning against the railing with his head on his elbows and enjoying the night breeze, he heard Zhou Sifu speak beside him. “However, I already got something useful on the boat. Does President Shi want to hear it?”

“…”

Shi Tian was nearly choked by anger again.

You already got the information, and you waited until now to say it??

Seeing that Shi Tian didn’t speak, Zhou Sifu put his hands on the railing and spoke unhurriedly. “Cheng Xi told me that the material in Ji Yuanlin’s hands should be related to GaN.”

“…Gallium Nitride?”

“Yes,” Zhou Sifu said. “A composite material used in the field of fast charging.”

“I know what that is.” Shi Tian paused. “There’s nothing new about that material. Overseas factories started setting up production lines five years ago. Why would Ji Yuanlin hide it?”

Zhou Sifu closed his eyes and said calmly, “Did I ever mention to you why Zheng Ying wanted to divorce my eldest brother?”

Shi Tian didn’t know why Zhou Sifu suddenly changed the subject, but he waited for him to continue.

“Zheng Ying was an assistant professor of applied materials at a university in Massachusetts. She only returned to teach at a domestic university of science and technology a few months ago,” Zhou Sifu said. “The reason for their divorce was a dispute over patent certification. My brother wanted to take her research patent as his own. So, she chose to leave the house, the car, and all assets to him, and returned home with her son and her technical patents.”

“And as far as I know, her patent is also related to third-generation semiconductors.” He raised his eyes and looked quietly at the person beside him. “President Shi, don’t you think it’s too much of a coincidence?”

Hearing this, Shi Tian’s gaze darkened.

It was indeed too coincidental, as if someone had arranged it on purpose.

After thinking for a moment, Shi Tian spoke: “Fengyu also used Gallium Nitride technology in lighting products in the third quarter of last year. But because the technical chain wasn’t perfect, I worried it wouldn’t be profitable in the short term, so I put that plan aside.”

He paused and added with a frown, “The technology isn’t as perfect as people imagine. What on earth is Ji Yuanlin thinking?”

“I’m not very familiar with your company’s products,” Zhou Sifu said smoothly. “But I can share a secret with President Shi that isn’t exactly a trade secret.”

“Danofi is currently concentrating its R&D team on conquering GaN technology. We want to apply the fast-charging solutions it provides to the mass production of a new generation of electric vehicles within three years.”

Shi Tian looked up. “Danofi wants to enter the new energy industry?”

“Let me correct your wording,” Zhou Sifu said. “It’s not ‘future.’ Our early research work has already begun.”

As he spoke, he took his phone from his pocket, opened a design drawing, and handed it to Shi Tian.

Shi Tian double-tapped to zoom in and saw a sketch of a car model that hadn’t been colored yet.

The lines of the body were smooth and long, the waist design was exquisite, and the layers were distinct. The outline was graceful but held a sense of sharpness that almost jumped off the screen.

He felt as if he had seen this car model somewhere before, but he couldn’t remember for a moment.

Looking closely at the details, he noticed something, and his finger froze mid-air.

In the bottom right corner of the drawing, there was small text listing the design team.

The chief designer was none other than the big boss of Danofi sitting next to him, CEO Milton Zhou.

The moment he saw Zhou Sifu’s name, he suddenly remembered where he had seen this car.

The childhood alleyway, the boy sitting on a tree swinging his legs, and the exquisite paper car model the boy had given him—

Shi Tian, give it a name.

It’s okay if you can’t think of one now. Whenever you do, just tell me. That will be its name.

Moving his gaze down, he saw the abbreviation for this new model:

Danofi NEV-TD

Shi Tian: “…TD?”

Hearing him speak in a confused tone, the man sitting beside him held his breath unnaturally.

Stiffening his back, Zhou Sifu asked in a tight voice, “What’s wrong?”

Slowly looking up from the drawing, Shi Tian spoke with uncertainty: “Transfer Denied?”

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