Gu Zhuxuan's birthday party was full of people and lively.
When Lu Ming and Zhang Ziyang arrived, the road was already blocked by carriages and horses, and the house was packed with guests. They each sealed a fifty-yuan red envelope and handed it in. It wasn't a lot, but it was a lot. The main reason was that they had no connection with Gu Zhuxuan.
Deep friendship.
The two were led into the courtyard, where lights and colors were decorated, a colorful shed was set up, and a stage was set up in the distance.
"Master Lu, Inspector Zhang, you are here. The old man specially asked us to entertain these two distinguished guests." Two of Gu Zhuxuan's disciples came over to greet them.
"Thank you. You two should go greet the guests. We can just take care of ourselves." Zhang Ziyang said with a smile.
"How can that be done? The old man has specially given instructions. If you two come today, you will be honored guests. However, the old man cannot get away and has to greet the big shots on the stage. It will take a while before he can come to say hello to you two."
One of the disciples laughed.
"Master Gu, don't worry. Today is his birthday. His happiness is the most important thing. There are many guests, so don't worry about us." Lu Ming said with a smile.
"That's what I said, but there are really a lot of guests here today, and the old man didn't expect everyone to be so generous." Another disciple smiled so hard that he couldn't even close his mouth.
Zhang Ziyang looked into the hall with a surprised expression.
He knew almost all the big shots there, but he didn't expect that the mayor of Shanghai, the Shanghai Garrison Commander, and his boss, the police chief, would all come to support him today. Huang Huangrong, Du Yuesheng, and Zhang Xiaolin were also present.
The scale of the scene is a bit unexpected. What's going on?
It stands to reason that Gu Zhuxuan definitely does not have such a big reputation. Let alone him, even Huang Huangrong and Du Yuesheng's birthdays are not as grand as today.
For important social events in Shanghai, these three subordinates will be informed in advance. Who will go and who will not go will be weighed. Generally, not everyone will attend. For an event as high as Gu Zhuxuan's birthday party, one person will be invited
It’s already given enough face.
Gu Zhuxuan was both surprised and frightened at the same time. Even he could not have imagined that the three giants in Shanghai's officialdom would all come and give him expensive gifts.
So when he heard that Lu Ming and Zhang Ziyang were coming, he couldn't spare the time to receive them. He really couldn't care about these two juniors anymore, so he asked his two favorite disciples to come and receive them.
"Isn't it because the city government wants to build some big project and is short of money?" Lu Ming asked Zhang Ziyang with a smile.
"I don't know, I've never heard of it." Zhang Ziyang shook his head.
Lu Ming knew that important officials in the officialdom were both afraid of and despised the Youth Gang bosses. What they were afraid of was that they had connections that could reach the highest levels of the Republic of China government. Moreover, they were also covered by various intricate foreign forces, so they could not be easily touched.
, what I despise is that these people are not good people after all, but a group of evil forces who have gradually grown up from fighting and killing.
Whenever the military, political, and police officials treat the Green Gang bosses with special courtesy, it must be because they want something to ask for. The most common way is to ask them to donate money. Because many industries in this city are the capital of the Green Gang, but they are just operated in the name of others.
.
Two disciples accompanied Lu Ming and Zhang Ziyang, and the four of them found a free table and sat down. Someone brought a pot of tea and several plates of snacks.
"If you two are hungry, you should satisfy your hunger first. The banquet will have to wait for a while." A disciple said with a smile.
"No, we're not hungry, just drink tea." Lu Ming agreed, but looked elsewhere.
"Master Lu, I heard that you are looking for two people?" the disciple whispered.
"Yes, this matter is going to trouble the two brothers." Zhang Ziyang hurriedly clasped his fists.
"I haven't said anything yet. The old man has already given instructions. As soon as they show up, they should be controlled first. Then Master Lu can ask them directly whatever he wants to ask, ensuring that they don't dare to say anything." Another disciple said with a smile.
"Did those two people agree to come today?" Lu Ming was a little worried.
"As promised, they should have come to help a long time ago, but there has been no sign of anyone." The disciple turned his head and looked around, then shook his head.
Lu Ming's heart sank and he whispered: "He hasn't shown up yet, is there something wrong?"
"Don't worry, Master Lu. They are still waiting for the old man to send errands. Maybe they will arrive soon." Another disciple saw Lu Ming's thoughts and said with a smile.
"That's good, please help us keep an eye on it and remind us at any time." Lu Ming smiled on his face, but he didn't feel very good in his heart.
"You guys in this profession have sharp noses, will they hear something?" Zhang Ziyang whispered in Lu Ming's ear.
A disciple who was drinking with him had a keen ear and actually heard the second half of the sentence. He immediately swore that the news would never be leaked. Lu Ming didn't say anything. After all, he had no obligation to help them get someone.
Lu Ming's feeling was correct. Until the end of the birthday banquet, the two bodyguards did not show up.
After leaving the Gu Mansion, Zhang Ziyang was going to spend the night at Cai Lian's place, so Lu Ming took a carriage back to the detective agency.
As soon as he reached the door, he suddenly stopped and took two steps back to look again.
What's going on? Why has the detective office changed? The address is right, it's right here. It's really a ghost.
After taking a closer look, he found that the door of the detective station had actually been replaced, and the door lock was naturally new, which meant that he couldn't get in. Who did it? This must be too brave.
Lu Ming was so angry that he almost went crazy. Who could be so wicked to occupy the magpie's nest while he was away? When he was thinking about whether to break in, the door opened.
A young man with a shaved scalp that could be used as a light bulb smiled and said: "Master Lu, please come in. This is your own place. Why are you so polite? No need to knock on the door."
Seeing this person, Lu Ming became even more furious.
"Liu Si, what exactly do you want to do?"
"Master Lu, don't be impatient or angry. Listen to me and you will understand. I came last night and have been waiting for you all day and night."
This person's name is Liu Si, nicknamed Qingpi, and he is Liu Sanren's right-hand assistant.
"Okay, tell me what I want to do." Lu Ming forced himself to calm down. If Liu Si didn't tell Zi Wu Mao You today, he would have completely fallen out with Liu San, even if it was a life-and-death battle.
"Master Lu, that's it. You and Miss Yuan ruined our place that day..."
"Stop, I just went to have tea, and Mingzhu went there just for me. I didn't touch anything of yours, so why bother?"
"Master Lu, you are also a smart and well-informed man. You two have hurt the third master's face, which is more serious than causing trouble. So... haha." Liu Si smiled awkwardly.
"So you came to take revenge and destroy my place?!" Lu Ming's heart sank, and he already understood what was going on.
"I'm sorry to say this. As soon as you left, the third master asked me to take some brothers to invite you back. But when we arrived here, we found no one. The brothers got a little out of control, so they took out the things here.
By the time Third Master sent someone to tell us to stop, there was nothing left in this room, haha." Liu Si smiled awkwardly again.
"Then what!" An unspeakable anger surged through Lu Ming's body.
"Then it's a very simple matter. If you smash your things, you have to compensate. The third master said that he should show sincerity and double the compensation, so our brothers went to buy you a complete set of furniture, but it was all made of mahogany.
, look, this is a hundred times better than your original set of pine wood."
When Lu Ming walked in and took a look, his anger suddenly turned into joy. Sure enough, as he said, the desks, chairs, bookcases, wardrobes, and beds inside were all replaced with mahogany, and they were made of high-quality mahogany. The room was also tidied up.
, even his things were put in place.
"Well, you did this very honestly. Thank you Third Master for me. In this case, you are welcome to come and smash it again every one or two years." Lu Ming laughed.
"Yeah, we can only do this kind of loss-making thing once at most. We can't afford to pay more. Here are the keys. Keep them." Liu Si said and threw a bunch of keys to Lu Ming.
"The keys are all here. Master Lu doesn't need to suspect that we left the keys privately. We don't even need the keys to enter any house we want, we just kick it open." After Liu Si finished speaking, he walked away.
Lu Ming happily sent him downstairs. After leaving the building, he reluctantly said, "You are welcome to come and kick the door."
Liu Si was so angry that he got into a rickshaw and left without saying a word.
After Lu Ming came back, he saw how pleasing this set of furniture was. He originally wanted to get a set of furniture like this when he was buying furniture. Unfortunately, he spent his parents' money at the time and was too embarrassed to spend so much, so he had to buy a set of pine wood.
Use it first.
"Oh, it's such a good thing. Mr. Liu is very particular about people. It's refreshing and refreshing!" Lu Ming touched the smooth mirror-like furniture and praised.
"not good!"
He suddenly thought of something and hurriedly moved the picture frame on the wall to reveal the safe inside. After opening the safe, he felt relieved. Everything was as it was and no one had touched it.
There were no valuables in the safe, mainly a pistol and a box of ammunition.
Lu Ming was not afraid of anything else, but he was afraid that the gangster would take away his pistol. If he killed someone with this gun and then put the blame on him, he would be in big trouble.
Zhang Ziyang bought this gun for him from the black market. He said that having this thing can embolden him, just in case, in case of unexpected events. Although it is difficult to trace the gun bought on the black market, if someone traces it patiently and carefully, there will still be clues.
But if you follow the clues, you can eventually find the owner of the gun.
It seems that it is not safe to hide a gun here.
Since someone can break open the door and get in, it is not impossible to pry open the safe.
He hesitated whether to dismantle the gun into parts and throw it into the Huangpu River, so as to save the trouble.
After thinking for a long time, he put the gun in, closed the safe, and moved the picture frame back to its original place.
He went into the kitchenette, boiled water, and made a pot of coffee.
He returned to his desk with the coffee cup in hand, quietly thinking about what had happened in the past two days.
The case that touched him the most was naturally Sheng Muyi's case, which had occupied his entire body and mind.
Sheng Youde's words also touched him deeply. He never thought that the Sheng family, which looked like a behemoth in the eyes of outsiders, was already in a precarious situation.
"Is it possible that Uncle Sheng is neurotic and suffers from a phobia of being persecuted? People tend to be suspicious as they get older." He thought with a wry smile in his heart.
It’s hard to imagine that anyone would dare to attack the Sheng family. Who is Sheng Youde? Not only is he the richest man in Shanghai, he has deep connections with official circles, business circles, and gangs, as well as with all major foreign firms, banks, and concession forces in Shanghai.
Even if I interact with each other in private, I will tremble when I stomp my feet on the beach.
Even foreign companies, banks, and even international financiers don't have such a big appetite to attack such a family, right? Aren't they afraid of being beaten to death?
Lu Ming was indeed in disbelief, but Sheng Muyi's disappearance and Sheng Youdetuo's lonely attitude showed that someone had already done something evil to the Sheng family.