Chapter 82 Latent Influence
ng were in the lower-middle range, making other students who ranked higher view them as inferior despite their outward friendly demeanor.Aficionados of causing a ruckus or deliberately defying teacher...Chapter 82: Lurking
Su Cen was given ample time during the summer vacation to prepare for what he had in mind.
In the pastoral villa area of Ma Mountain Forest Park, just a short distance ahead lies a hilly forested area. This section of the forest has been converted into a basketball court, and further down is a tennis court, with other villa structures scattered around.
Su Cen stood at the edge of this slope field, using his binoculars to observe the villas through the tree cover.
This location was得天獨厚，掩在密林之中，從這裡用望遠鏡看，又能夠全麵的掌握對麵三層樓的彆墅窗戶裡的一些情況，客廳裡的一張椅子比起幾天前蘇燦上山的時候挪動過。證明這幾天裡麵彆墅裡應該是有人了。ideal, hidden within the thick forest. From here with binoculars, one could comprehensively monitor some situations in the windows of the three-story villa opposite. A chair in the living room had been moved since a few days ago when Su Cen went up the mountain, indicating that there should have been people around recently.
Su Cen sat down on the grass and opened his backpack to take out some cookies and water, taking a couple of sips. The sound of cicadas never ceased, while sunlight filtered through the dense forest, casting sparse spots on him, warm yet gentle, with occasional breezes rustling the dry grass.
This was not Su Cen's first time here; during this period, he often visited these villa clusters and found such a place among the tall pines and white birch forests to conduct observations.
Most of the time, very few people were seen around. Liu Cheng’s villa gate remained closed; after his initial victory here, for nearly a month, Su Cen frequently dreamed about this spot in his sleep, occasionally waking up at night with an urgent desire to sneak into the pond at night, strip off his clothes and dive in, transferring all the substantial ill-gotten gains inside.
This urge almost kept him from sleeping through the nights; he truly felt how compelling it was for someone to face such readily available wealth that could be taken or left as one wished.
The most crucial point was that if he could properly handle the aftermath and avoid alerting Liu Cheng, he could accomplish his goal completely without being noticed. He would use a method akin to pulling off a rabbit from an empty sleeve (a Chinese idiom meaning getting something out of nowhere) to transfer this sum into his account. When Liu Cheng drained the pond later on, seeing nothing inside except some fish and shrimp, what kind of expression would he have.
Fortunately, Su Cen quickly adjusted himself, suppressing such terrifying thoughts.
During this period, Su Cen had dived into the water once more, recovering three packages of cash. This was to be his last attempt at retrieving money from the pond.
The total amount beneath the pond was estimated to be around seven or eight million yuan. After his two rounds of retrieval, approximately four million remained. In retrospect, over sixty percent of Liu Cheng's investments in the pond could not be traced back to their origin; now that he had taken forty percent, what was left should suffice as evidence against Liu Cheng.
However, after a few visits by Su Cen, he was still unable to see Liu Cheng’s whereabouts. If it weren't for the fact that he had visited this place in his past life and made some money from here, he would have been worried whether this place was really being used as Liu Cheng's private garden or if there was indeed someone living here.
The trees overhead were filled with chirping birds. They hopped noisily from tree to tree. The mountains here were verdant and the water clear; in the distance, the villa complexes mostly had a Spanish style. Of course, the modern-day Spanish style referred to small villas that incorporated colonial, mission, eclecticism, and Monterey styles. Recently, Su Cen had read "Postmodern Architectural Language," from which he could see the unique features of these villas with their many curved walls and arched decorations on columns.
The attention to detail and rigor here were definitely not like those shoddily built villas in some areas. The designer of this villa complex must be someone well-known in at least one province, as these villas seemed designed for the wealthy residents of that city or province.
For ordinary people, living in such a beautiful villa would be their lifelong dream. However, ironically, these villa complexes were currently unoccupied and left idle due to long-term vacancy. Some courtyards were overgrown with weeds. Occasionally, Su Cen could see through his binoculars an elegant woman drying clothes on her balcony, looking sad and lonely.
Nevertheless, this secluded environment was conducive for Su Cen's quiet contemplation.
Regarding the family’s move to the provincial capital city, after a family meeting, Dad Su Licheng had agreed. Formerly River supported Su Licheng's promotion and planned to open his stationery shop in Oak City. Of course, Mom didn't have any grand ambitions; she just wanted to set up her business in this new location, where both the development potential and geographical factors were better than those of Xiahai city.
Moreover, Uncle Su's investment vision was also noteworthy: he had long recognized G City’s real estate potential. At present, while continuing to trade stocks, he was also preparing to invest in real estate and purchase a house for Ceng Na in Oak City. Currently, the housing prices in the provincial capital city of Rushan weren't as exorbitant as they would be later on; Uncle Su had good foresight. Buying now could not only provide a quiet environment for his niece Ceng Na, who was going to study at university in Oak City, but also serve as long-term investment.
In the timeline of Su Cen's original life, this wouldn't have been possible because Uncle Su had suffered significant losses in the stock market in 1998 and subsequently his career didn’t flourish; when his sister Zhuo Na went to university, even if he had such an idea, he might not have been able to implement it.
Mom Formerly River seemed to be following Uncle Su's and Aunt Yin Shuying's opinions. Uncle Su was extremely supportive of Su Licheng’s development in Rushan city; previously looking down on Su Licheng because after so many years working at the engineering division, he still hadn't made any progress, merely a clerk, and Su Cen's family had no savings.
Now that Su Licheng was noticed by the headquarters of Grand Construction Group and had experience building Star Ocean Plaza, his prospects for development were undeniably bright. If one’s perspective was confined to Xiahai city alone, they would miss out on greater opportunities in the future. Aunt Yin Shuying also persuaded Formerly River and them to buy a house together in Rushan city so that everyone could move there.
During this period of running his shop, Su Cen's family had accumulated some savings; if he sold the business and used these funds to support the family’s relocation and starting up again in Oak City, it would still be feasible. Formerly River was very confident about her career choice and, after Su Cen's persuasion, wasn't too concerned about short-term gains or losses.
However, all this would only happen after the completion of Star Ocean Plaza’s construction.
Su Cen stood up from the grassland, stuffed cookies and water into his backpack, and prepared to descend the mountain. At that moment, he heard the sound of tires rolling on the road.
The jungle-covered road of this villa area surprisingly saw a black Honda Accord sedan and three police cars, with the Accord leading and the police cars following it, heading towards the villa.
Su Cen was slightly stunned before hurriedly taking out his binoculars from his backpack. He squatted down and watched as his heart raced while keeping an eye on the four vehicles' route.
The three police cars stopped at a small encirclement near the villa, while the driver of the Accord got out to open the villa's door for them. The car then drove into the garage. Su Cen also noticed that most of the men who got off from the police cars were tall and dressed in black suits, standing on all sides of the villa and watching their surroundings carefully. If it weren't for the parked police cars, this scene would indeed resemble those gang activities seen in mafia movies.
A few of these men glanced sharply at him from where he was squatting, but fortunately, they did not spot him as Su Cen quickly hid himself among the bushes.
He then took out his camera from his backpack. This was a second-hand Olympus camera that Su Cen had specifically bought for this purpose; its silver-white body with somewhat streamlined design made it look decent enough. However, compared to the exquisite digital cameras from his later years, this one seemed quite crude. In photography stores, this model of camera would be considered simple and user-friendly.
The Honda Accord parked in the garage was driven out by a middle-aged man wearing police uniform; he appeared to be Jin Donghai, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Xiahai Municipal Committee, deputy mayor, and chief of public security. The other person was Liu Cheng, who looked very familiar to Su Cen and held the position as the standing vice secretary-general of the provincial Party committee.
This was Su Cen's first captured scene.
Liu Cheng and Jin Donghai both entered the villa and sat on a sofa, engaging in conversation.
Jin Donghai smiled and said, "Brother Liu, your lifestyle is becoming increasingly enviable. Enjoying coolness during summer and snow viewing in winter. Your good fortune makes even me envious."
Liu Cheng waved his hand and asked, "How's the matter with Jin Hui"
In July, a brawl incident occurred at Jin Hui Nightclub, which had just opened in Xiahai City. Three mine bosses were injured severely, all of them wealthy individuals who naturally acted arrogantly when spending money at such venues. The cause was over an escort girl; most of the girls there were high-quality, and one especially beautiful was chosen by three men but then called away by another patron inside a private room. Such jealous fights in nightclubs are not uncommon, but openly taking someone from another room is rather unreasonable. Moreover, since this woman was exceptionally attractive, these few people went into the next room while still under influence of alcohol and said some harsh words.
Soon after that, the patron left his private room quickly. When these three men and their friends finished spending money at the nightclub and exited through the main gate, they were suddenly attacked with iron rods, resulting in one having a fracture on the inner wall of his left eye socket, another suffering a comminuted wrist joint fracture, while yet another developed intracranial fluid accumulation leading to hydrocephalus.
The person who was caught by the police officers from the nearby precinct for assaulting others spoke abusively to the policemen, which caused quite a stir.
"Zhao Lijun is unappreciative of my gesture. When I instructed him to release them, he dodged and refused! But Zhang Luo, I personally informed the detective大隊隊長to let him go."
Upon hearing this, Liu Cheng's expression turned grave and his voice became urgent and stern, "Are you out of your mind You actually contacted Zhao Lijun. Do you not know that he is Wang Bo’s man What are you going to do when things go wrong"
Jin Donghai was taken aback for a moment before hastily assuring him, "Brother Liu, don't worry. I know Xiangzi well and he wouldn’t blab anything inappropriate. The interrogation department has been instructed to downplay this incident, so even if they investigate further, the issue won't be too serious! As for those three from the hospitals, Xiao Qiang gave them a stern warning which frightened them into tears and begging for mercy; I don't think they would dare to report it. Furthermore, I informed Jin Hui that no one knows you were there at the time. If anyone dares to speak harshly in our private room, I will inform him who's really in charge around here!"
"I wasn’t even present for this."
Jin Donghai nodded after a momentary pause with his eyes fixed, "Yes, that’s right…"
"Zhao Lijun is a problem. Until Zhao Lijun steps down from his post, I want Xiao Zhang to refrain from engaging in any dubious activities regarding Jin Hui."
"This..." Jin Donghai hesitated, "At present, Zhao Lijun is not someone we can easily influence. Eventually, he will be removed from power; however, as for the situation with Xiao Zhang, it may involve large sums of money daily."
"Money What about when something goes wrong and you have to deal with it!"
Liu Cheng spoke through gritted teeth in a ruthless manner. In this moment, his usual wide face and thick lips were nowhere to be seen. Suddenly realizing something, he raised his head and looked out the glass wall from the living room towards the dense forest on the opposite high slope.
This chapter is finally complete.xclaiming, "Wow! That’s your Su Can!"Or while chatting on the balcony in the sun, when friends of Chen Lingshan suddenly gathered and said, "Oh, I still have test papers to copy; we’ll be back soon,"...