The young man grinned, showing his white teeth. He stretched out his hand and said, "Let me help you order. Although I am very poor now, I still ate here when I was a child."
When Cheng Yu heard this, he glanced at the young man and said nothing, but he knew that the young man was also a person with a story.
Moreover, based on this sentence, Cheng Yu made a bold guess about the young man while he was ordering.
The young man is obviously only sixteen or seventeen years old. Before, just looking at him from a distance, he felt that he was about the same age. But now with close contact, Cheng Yu became more and more sure that this young man would never be older than eighteen.
It is even possible that he is not yet sixteen years old.
At such an age, it is obvious that he would never have been able to make the list that Li Dali did four years ago.
Then, there is another possibility. Li Dali's order was made by the boy's father.
Four years ago, this foreign trade company was probably really a foreign trade company. Even if the scale was not as big as Cheng Yu imagined, at least it was not what it is now.
The young man said that he had eaten here when he was a child, and also said that he was very poor now, which seemed to be enough to show that his life as a child was still rich enough. Even if he was not a rich man, at least he was from a Xiaoyin family.
Cheng Yu didn't know what happened in the past four years, but it seemed to indicate that the boy's family had undergone great changes in the past four years, which was probably related to his father.
And because the boy set up a table in that building at such a young age, it largely indicates that his father must have passed away.
Therefore, the young boy had to shoulder the burden of the family.
However, if the accident happened four years ago, the young man would not be old enough to have set up a stall here for four years.
But if something unexpected happened in front of his eyes, the young man's family would be in serious decline.
Since the person who placed Li Dali under house arrest was by no means a good person, Cheng Yu even suspected that the death of the young father was inextricably linked to that Lawrence Bill.
Seeing that the young man had finished ordering, Cheng Yu glanced at the order menu in the waiter's hand. There were only three records, and Cheng Yu said: "If you order more, who can eat with this order?"
The young man hesitated for a moment, then quickly ordered two more dishes, and then ordered something in Spanish, but Cheng Yu also understood it. It meant no drinks, only lemonade.
Cheng Yu still knew some simple Spanish words, so he took the initiative and ordered a glass of orange juice for the boy, and a glass of martini for himself.
After the waiter left, Cheng Yu asked: "Now let's talk about what happened between us. What's your name?"
The boy replied: "Vincent? Benjamin, what about you?"
"Cheng Yu." Cheng Yu pronounced it as slowly as possible so that the boy could understand.
"Vincent, how old are you?"
"Twenty-one." The young man answered without hesitation.
Cheng Yu rolled his eyes and said: "Since we are already sitting at the same table, it is better to be honest with each other. Look at your face, how can you be twenty-one years old? Tell me, you are ten.
Five or smaller?”
Vincent blushed and said, "I'm already seventeen...well, I'll be seventeen in a week, not fifteen!"
Cheng Yu smiled slightly and said, "Very good, this is a good start." As he spoke, Cheng Yu took out his wallet from his pocket, letting Vincent see clearly the thick stack of U.S. dollars inside, and casually
Pull out one and ask him to confirm that it is the largest denomination of one hundred dollars.
"You should be able to see that I am not short of money, so I don't care about the thousand dollars you need. However, this must be based on your honest answers to my questions."
Vincent blinked, but did not show any greed for money. Instead, he asked cautiously: "Is it just a problem?"
Cheng Yu nodded and said, "It's just some questions."
Vincent said: "How can I trust you?"
"One thousand dollars is a lot of money to you, but it's nothing to me. I don't have to lie to you."
Vincent thought for a while, finally nodded and said, "Just ask."
Cheng Yu also nodded and said, "What you guessed before was correct. The person who called two days ago was also me."
Vincent showed an astonishing look in his eyes and muttered: "I'm just saying that the voices I've heard can never be mistaken. What's more, I don't receive one or two phone calls every day. How could I hear them wrong? Your accent is too
It’s easy to identify.”
Cheng Yu ignored Vincent's complaints and continued to ask: "Of course I'm not calling you for any labor certificate. I'm calling you for something that happened four years ago. At your age, it's impossible for you to be here."
Have you been working in this company for four years?"
Vincent thought for a while and seemed to be hesitating whether to tell the truth, but when he saw Cheng Yu's wallet, he said honestly: "I only started working last year, but you don't have to worry. This company is run by my father.
, So, let alone what happened four years ago, I can check it even from a little further away. All the past data of my father's company is in my computer."
Cheng Yu nodded and said to himself, if Xiao Nie hadn't stolen some information from your computer, I wouldn't be sitting here chatting with you. A child, no matter how good his memory is, cannot do what his father did.
I remember every business transaction clearly.
"Where is your father now?" In fact, he already had a guess in his mind, but Cheng Yu had to ask, even though he knew that this question might make the young man feel sad.
Sure enough, when Vincent heard this question, a trace of pain flashed in his eyes, but he still replied: "He is dead, four years ago."
Cheng Yu was stunned and became more and more certain that the death of Vincent's father was inextricably linked to Lawrence Bill.
"Sorry, I don't know..."
"It doesn't matter. It's been four years and I've long been used to it."
"Then I continue to ask?"
"You ask, it's best to hurry up. I have to go back to cook for my mother. She's still hungry."
"Don't worry about cooking. I will pack some here for you to take back after eating."
Vincent was stunned, and then said happily: "Really?" He originally planned to eat less, and then asked Cheng Yu's permission to pack the remaining meals back.
Obviously there is no need for it now, because Cheng Yu nodded affirmatively and said: "It's just some food, it's nothing."
After taking a sip of water, Cheng Yu asked again: "I don't mean to make you sad, but can you tell me the cause of your father's death?"
"A fire burned him to death." Faced with this problem, Vincent seemed very calm.
"Fire?" Cheng Yu raised his eyebrows, which was more in line with Lawrence Bill's character.
"If my guess is correct, your family should have been relatively wealthy when your father was alive?"
I thought it would be an affirmative answer, but unexpectedly, Vincent shook his head and said: "Before my father passed away, he was already heavily in debt. The fire became his last funeral song. After he died, what would happen again?"
There is no need to worry about those debts, leaving my mother and me alone..."
Vincent's voice seemed a little choked.
Cheng Yu handed over a tissue, hesitated, and continued: "Can you tell me about your family situation?"
Vincent raised his head, looked at Cheng Yu firmly, and asked, "Why are you so interested in my father's affairs?"
"I said, what I want to investigate is something that happened four years ago. It's not enough to just rely on the things in your computer. I'm not afraid to tell you that I have hacked into your computer a long time ago. If it was just for those things
I can just copy and download the information."
"Then I told you, will you really give me a thousand dollars?"
"You seem to be short of money."
"My mother needs a sum of money for surgery..." Vincent looked a little confused, and then said quickly: "Actually, the cost of applying for a labor certificate is about three hundred dollars. The reason why I ask you for one thousand dollars is
It's because my mother's surgery costs more than seven hundred dollars. I want to use the remaining money to let her eat good food."
Cheng Yu immediately counted out a thousand dollars from his wallet, placed it in front of Vincent, and said: "No matter whether I can get enough useful information from you, this thousand dollars will be yours. But if you answer
It’s good and it helps me enough, I don’t mind giving you more.”
Looking at the ten hundred-dollar bills on the table, Vincent did not show an ecstatic expression. Instead, he said more cautiously: "Will you really give it to me?"
"You can put the money away now."
"Then you are not afraid that I will lie to you?"
"There is no need for you to lie to me. And, even if it is a lie, between a mother and a small scam, I would rather believe that you really have a bedridden mother."
Vincent blinked, seeming hesitant, but still grabbed the thousand dollars, carefully folded them in half, and put them into his pocket.
"Just ask, as long as I know something, I will definitely tell you."
"Then let's talk about your family first."
"My father used to open a company, well, it's the company you know. The company was not what it is now. At that time, our family had nearly a hundred employees. The building you just saw was all
It belongs to my father's company."
Like all stories with a conspiracy behind them, this young man's life experience also has a strong sense of template.
Chaphar Benjamin is considered a successful person, at least, in this land where poor people gather, he is definitely a successful person.
Shafaer was admitted to college and received a full scholarship. He worked part-time during college to support his studies.
After graduation, he worked in a large company and earned a good income.
After five years of work, Schafer established his own network of contacts and slowly began to have his own ideas.
After his contract with the company expired, even though the company offered him a 50% salary increase, he still chose to resign.
Then there was the company that Cheng Yu knew about.
At the beginning, the company was doing well, and Schafer quickly grew the company from three employees to more than fifty people.
It was at that time that Xaffar met Vincent's mother, and they had Vincent shortly after they got married.
This was originally a very inspiring success story, but after Vincent enjoyed a good childhood, when he was twelve years old, Xaffar's company began to have problems.
First, a very serious problem arose in a foreign trade business. All the goods were eventually judged to be smuggling by the local court. Although the person directly responsible was eventually found and Xaffar was proven innocent, the fines and confiscated goods still made this person feel uneasy.
The company, which was originally not very profitable and not very rich in foundation, has encountered extremely serious development obstacles.
After Shafaer demolished the east wall to make up for the west wall and sold a property in his family, he finally managed to survive.
From that time on, in addition to normal foreign trade business, Xaffar would also undertake some businesses that were on the fringes of the law, such as the kind of business that Li Dali had four years ago.
Vincent said that it was at that time that he learned about this business, and said that many people are doing this kind of business in slums. The only difference is that some people can indeed find the corresponding company.
Let the Immigration Bureau check it, and the labor certificate issued by some people is actually no different from a piece of waste paper.
After Cheng Yu told Vincent the date of issuance of Li Dali's labor certificate four years ago, Vincent said: "My father encountered the fire one month after the date you mentioned. I don't believe that was
It was an accident. I always thought it was someone targeting my father, but the police didn't believe it. Mr. Cheng, your words now make me even more sure that my father's death was not an accident."
Cheng Yu was stunned when he heard this. He didn't expect that this question would lead to such a paragraph.
"Why do you think your father's death was not an accident?"
"My father's company was struggling at the time, and the building was not what you see now.
At that time, the building was still very glamorous. There were only three companies in total, and the first floor was the warehouse of these three companies.
My father owed a lot of money at the time, but most of his creditors were able to tolerate his efforts to develop the company again little by little.
Almost all of the illegal activities he did at that time relied on the help of his creditor companies. Otherwise, how could there be so many companies that could withstand verification and issue labor certificates?
I tell you that I can issue legal labor certificates, which are true and valid, also because of those creditors.
They are still willing to help me until now.
Before my father's accident, the family's debts had almost been paid off.
If it hadn't been for the fire, our family would probably have turned around."
Cheng Yu frowned, feeling that this young man's words had almost nothing to do with his problem.
Vincent continued: "The day after the fire, one of my father's creditors was involved in a car accident.
Of course, his family is not as miserable as mine. He just died and all his property was left behind.
As for the fire that my father encountered, after police investigation, they said that the fire started in my father's office. The entire building was not spared, and the insurance company refused to compensate for this.
My mother and I had to sell the last house in our family and lost all the money to the companies on the second and third floors.
The creditor who was involved in the car accident went to my house on the night of the fire and gave my mother a lot of money. It was he who told my mother that the fire was not an accident.
Because, he made an appointment to meet with my father, but after he went, my father did not arrive.
He made many calls, but no one answered my father's cell phone. About two hours later, a fire broke out in my father's company.
My father doesn't smoke and there would never be anything flammable or explosive in his office. He said he went there after the fire was put out and found signs of gunshots in my father's office.
Those police officers must have known the real situation, but they did not continue the investigation. They must be working with the people who set the fire."
"Then he died too?" Cheng Yu asked.
Vincent nodded and said: "As I said just now, in the car accident, a truck hit his car. It was very tragic. The whole car was almost completely shattered. It was broad daylight, and here we are.
It is impossible for any car to drive at such a fast speed on this stretch of road. It would be a murder. But the police said it was an accident, and even the driver who caused the accident could not be found..."
Cheng Yu fell silent. He suddenly realized that although he had guessed that Xia Faer's death was related to Lawrence Bill, he still seemed to have thought too simply.
"At first, several of my father's creditors said it was such a coincidence. Two people died in succession. There were so many doubts, but the police did not continue the investigation. But later they stopped mentioning it, even if I asked them, they
He refused to say it. There is only one person, he said. In this city, there is only one person who can cover the sky with one hand like this."
Cheng Yu couldn't wait to ask: "Lawrence...?"
Vincent was also talking about this name: "Lawrence? Bill..." Suddenly he found that Cheng Yu also said this name. He said doubtfully: "How do you know this person? Although this person can dominate the sky in San Diego, but
But he is not a famous person."
"Because the matter I want to investigate is also related to this person. I thought it was a fake name at first, but I didn't expect that he was so unscrupulous that he used his real name. If your father's death and that
If the death of this creditor is really related to him, then I think I probably know why he can be so unscrupulous."
Vincent might not be able to digest the content here for a while, so he looked at Cheng Yu dumbfounded.
Cheng Yu reached out and patted Vincent on the shoulder across the table and said, "Okay, kid, let's not talk about it for now. You finish the meal first, and then we will bring some food back to your mother. You don't have to worry about her.
For the operation fee, I will send her to the best hospital in San Diego and let the best doctors perform the operation on her. I still have many questions, and I may not be able to ask them all in a day or two."
Vincent looked at Cheng Yu, nodded and said, "Okay."
After eating a few mouthfuls of food, Vincent seemed to suddenly remember something and said: "By the way, let me confirm that my father did not die in an accident. There is another reason."
Cheng Yu looked at him, and Vincent said: "Before my father's accident, I heard him answer a phone call, and he had an argument with the other person on the phone.
Although there were only two or three sentences, I still remembered that person's voice.
When I learned the name of Lawrence Bill, I tried every means to find that person's phone number a year ago.
Then I called from a public phone and heard his voice.
That was the voice that quarreled with my father, and I could never mishear it."
Cheng Yu immediately typed out a phone number on his cell phone, handed it to Vincent, and said, "Is this it?"