28 Empty Words

Xu Youxiang’s intense reaction made Fang Qingzhou suspect that she had mentioned a slaughterhouse rather than a hospital.

This rough bellow further shattered Xu’s already exhausted body. His face turned a deathly shade of cyan-purple as he collapsed to the ground, retching and coughing violently, unable to catch his breath.

Zhou Suirong dared not delay and pulled out his phone to dial the emergency services.

Once the coughing subsided, Xu recovered slightly. His complexion warmed, and he finally looked less like a vengeful spirit crawled up from hell. However, his brain remained sluggish from oxygen deprivation, feeling as heavy as if it were weighted down by a stone.

The first thing he managed to say was, "Don't... don't call an ambulance..."

Zhou Suirong ignored his struggle, treating it like a tactical emergency, and hoisted him up by the arms toward the street. Xu’s thin eyelids trembled incessantly. With every step, he felt as though another bone had been stripped from his body. By the time they reached the main road, he was half-dead, his entire weight slumped against Zhou, unable to lift a finger.

Once he was actually inside the ambulance, he strangely calmed down. When the paramedics asked for his details, his brain finally began to turn at a snail’s pace. Recovering from his bottomless despair, he asked foolishly, "Is this ambulance taking me to a hospital?"

The nurse replied, "We are heading to the Central Hospital. The First People’s Hospital is over ten kilometers away."

Zhou Suirong’s short-sleeved shirt was twisted and torn like a rag from being tugged by Xu. He said, clearly annoyed, "I’ve been telling you I’m taking you to the hospital. Why are you so stubborn?"

Overcome by a sudden wave of sorrow, Xu lamented, "Last time, a group of them surrounded me and forced me to drink. I told them my stomach was bad, but they said they’d take me to the hospital, then force-fed me two bottles of liquor and made me eat spicy food from the table. They only called an ambulance after I started vomiting blood. The doctors had to remove part of my stomach to save me. I was one breath away from dying on the road, and I thought you were going to break my arms and torture me first..."

The medical staff in the vehicle were collectively shocked.

"Who are these people? Did you call the police?"

"Is this a gang? How could such a thing happen in this day and age?"

They began to look at Zhou and Fang with deep suspicion.

Zhou Suirong, unjustly smeared with mud, was caught between laughter and tears. "Sir, this is our first time meeting. Do we look like the kind of vicious, lawless people you’re describing?"

Xu Youxiang’s hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat. He combed it back with his fingers, revealing dull, lifeless eyes. After scrutinizing the pair for a moment, he said bitterly, "You look like the influencers that beast signs."

Zhou Suirong: "..." Is there no escaping the "influencer" label?

"Fine, we are influencers," Zhou conceded, too lazy to argue. He lied without blinking. "But we’re from City A. A friend of mine wanted to sign with Liang Yizheng’s agency, so I came by to scout the place."

Xu Youxiang surged to his feet, stumbled, and fell back down. He pointed a trembling finger at Zhou’s nose, his face twisted in a "just as I thought" expression of grief. "You’re lying! I saw you in the posts! Your faces are in the stolen photos! You are Liang Yizheng’s friends—you’re the photographer, and she’s your boss. You went to his private gathering! 'Influencers'? Pfft!"

Zhou Suirong: "..."

Fang Qingzhou let out a scoff, mocking the lie that hadn't even lasted a minute.

Xu Youxiang shouted, his face turning beet red, "You even killed someone! The police have already rushed over there!"

The paramedics stared at them with wide eyes: "?!"

"How can you believe news online? If we had killed someone, we’d be in the police station undergoing interrogation right now," Zhou sighed, rubbing his forehead. "People in City B are panicking, and they’ll believe any rumor. Don't tell me you think we bribed the police to get out?"

Xu Youxiang curled his lip, sneering at his words with biting sarcasm. "I know, 'no evidence,' right? Liang Yizheng’s enemies keep having 'accidents' one after another, and every time the police are called, there’s 'no evidence.' You’ve been using the same excuse for years without even changing the script. Don't you think you’re being a bit too arrogant?!"

Fang Qingzhou asked, "Who exactly are you referring to?"

The paramedics watched Xu with intense curiosity, waiting for the key information, but the ambulance arrived at the hospital before he could elaborate.

Fuming, Xu shoved Zhou Suirong and jumped out of the vehicle. The area was crowded, so Zhou held his tongue, accompanying Xu through the standard checkups and scans.

In the gap while waiting for results, Fang Qingzhou showed him her online profile. Xu clearly didn't believe her, so he coldly pulled out his own phone to check again. He spent five full minutes comparing them to the old photo circulating online. His attitude softened slightly, though he still asked suspiciously, "You didn't just get brought in by Liang Yizheng to chase clout because you look like this person, did you?"

Fang Qingzhou gave him a look reserved for idiots and offered a subtle critique: "Your imagination is quite creative."

"We have no business relationship with Liang Yizheng. In fact, he’s the one trying to suck up to my boss; calling him a 'friend' is an overstatement."

As Zhou spoke, he led Xu out of the outpatient building. This time, Xu didn't resist much, though he followed reluctantly.

Reaching a secluded flowerbed, Zhou sighed with heavy concern, adopting an air of openness. "I won't lie to you anymore. Truth is, my cousin graduated from college and couldn't find a good job, so he decided to go into self-media. He’d only been running a small account for two months when Liang Yizheng’s MCN agency contacted him about a contract. The kid is bold; he snuck off to City B alone last week without telling his family..."

Weak from his condition, Xu wanted to sit on the stone border of the flowerbed. Zhou steered him by the shoulder, causing him to stumble and land half-on, half-off the sunlit side. As he moved to adjust, Fang Qingzhou gracefully claimed the shade.

Zhou sighed into Xu’s ear, "I’m worried the kid’s being scammed, so I asked Boss Fang to help me probe the situation. Otherwise, why would she—as busy as she is—bother with a high school reunion for Liang Yizheng?" He then added, with emphasis, "Sorry to trouble you, Boss Fang."

Seeing his sincerity, Xu was two-thirds convinced. "What does your brother look like?"

Zhou pulled up a photo of Lu Shengxing.

Xu glanced at it, noting that Lu’s eyes did indeed look innocent enough to walk into a tiger’s den. He said earnestly, "You must stop your brother from signing. There aren't many good people in Liang Yizheng’s company. Everyone wants to get rich and famous these days, but there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Tell him to walk the straight path."

Zhou gave a bitter laugh. "If I could stop him, I wouldn't have come to you."

Xu asked dully, "Right, why did you come to me?"

Fang Qingzhou rested her chin on her hand, her expression bored and languid. "A body was found outside Liang Yizheng’s villa yesterday. Everyone assumed it was you. A man named Wang Da was crying to the police, saying you, him, and Liang Yizheng were best friends for decades. He claimed you were suffering from severe depression and had been talking about wanting to die..."

Xu began to shake with rage before she even finished. He jumped up, furious. "Damn it! That shameless dog! He was the one who lured me out! He’s in cahoots with Liang Yizheng! They wanted to kill me!"

He paced by the flowerbed, his chest heaving, cursing venomously.

"I thought as much. If you were depressed, why would you choose to die at Liang Yizheng’s doorstep? It doesn't make sense. It sounds more like they thought they’d driven you to death and were looking for an excuse to cover it up," Fang said. "Those people don't know yet, but the police confirmed the victim’s identity—it was someone from City A. I had someone look into the victim’s background; he was visiting City B for the first time, looking for work to support his family. He never expected to leave in a body bag. Why would he want to die?"

Xu clutched his head, a mournful sob escaping his throat as he slumped back down.

Zhou Suirong patted his back. "After Wang Da got drunk, he let it slip that many of the female streamers in Liang Yizheng’s company had intimate relations with him. That’s not a legitimate company, is it? If you know anything, why not tell us? We can figure this out together."

Xu gritted his teeth. "Liang Yizheng is a piece of trash! He’s been a deviant since high school, throwing his weight around because of his father. From school into the workforce, it’s always the same routine!

"He knows plenty of thugs and hoodlums. If someone doesn't listen to him, he sends those animals to harass and intimidate them. Just like he did to me, he has ways to destroy them. If you call the police, they either brush it off as 'no evidence' or give them a slap on the wrist. Do those thugs fear detention? Spending fifteen or twenty days inside is just a vacation for them! Liang Yizheng pays them well; they’re eager to do his dirty work!"

"Those who know Liang Yizheng either wag their tails like dogs, guarding his door and licking his boots, or they play deaf and mute, protecting themselves and providing false testimony when needed." As Xu spoke, his expression twisted into something bordering on madness. "He’s worshipped online, but he’s lower than a pig or dog in private! Why? Why does a person like that get to have both fame and fortune!"

Zhou Suirong gasped, feigning shock. "He has that much power? He can suppress anything? Who is his father?"

Fang Qingzhou spoke in a cold, detached tone, her voice carrying an arrogant, infuriating sense of logic. "I don't think it’s necessarily that he has immense power, but rather that he understands police procedure. He’s very careful not to leave any significant trail."

"Before his father retired, he was the Deputy Mayor of City B and the Chief of the Municipal Public Security Bureau. Does that sound like 'power' to you?" Xu shuddered, his voice dropping to a whisper. "One of his eyes was blinded by a kid once. Want to guess what happened to that kid’s family?"

Fang Qingzhou’s gaze shifted toward him, unimpressed. "You want to say they were killed?"

"They were killed!" Xu’s eyes were bloodshot, his demeanor frantic. "The kid was under twelve when he hit him. No matter how hard his father tried, the law couldn't touch him. How could Liang Yizheng let that go? That same night, the kid’s entire family disappeared. They vanished from the face of the earth, leaving behind even their school records. Was that necessary? Would you believe this if I told you?!"

Zhou Suirong and Fang Qingzhou exchanged a look.

Fang Qingzhou pondered for a moment and shook her head. "No body, no evidence. Perhaps the police had him change his name and transferred his school to minimize the impact. They wouldn't tell people like you about that."

Every word she said fueled Xu’s rage, like cold oil on a fire. He exclaimed, "Evidence? Who is his father? How could you ever get your hands on evidence? The lack of evidence *is* the evidence!"