Zhou Ying was initially embarrassed, but her brother had made it clear that Li Wei's family agreed, and now as long as she nodded in agreement, there would be no obstacle to it.
After thinking for a moment, Zhou Ying answered shyly in a low voice, without daring to raise her head: "As long as Mom, Dad, and my brother agree, that's fine!"
Zhou Ying didn't explicitly state her own opinion in her words, but it was clear that her parents and brother agreed. That meant she agreed.
Zhou Xuan chuckled and said, "The seal and insignia are sealed. That's settled then. I'll report back to Li Weijia later. They've arrived to follow the proper procedures."
Zhou Xuan understood his sister's meaning; there was no need to insist on getting to the bottom of things. Although his sister hadn't said it explicitly, she agreed. So, as the older brother, he would take charge of the matter this time.
The elderly couple, Zhou Cangsong and Jin Xiumei, didn't say anything more. In this family, they all regarded their eldest son, Zhou Xuan, as their backbone and pillar, so they did as their son said.
Zhou Xuan went upstairs with a smile, and his family assumed he was calling Li Wei's family, so they didn't follow him.
Zhou Xuan had considered calling Li Wei to inform him, but after thinking it over, he suppressed his impulse. He needed to make the guy suffer a bit. He wouldn't give in easily, so he'd learn to cherish things in the future.
Thinking about it again, the antique shop was about to officially open for business, and I needed to prepare properly. Boss Zhang was handling the shop's affairs, but I needed to prepare to invite some influential people. Although I didn't like doing things that involved seeking fame and reputation, that's how society is these days; you need face to earn respect. I didn't want to bully other shops, but I just wanted to avoid being bullied in this industry. That's the foundation of my business.
After practicing his ice-qi technique for a while, Zhou Xuan was now quite proficient in using the crystal. He practiced with the crystal almost every night. After finishing his ice-qi practice and putting the crystal back in the drawer, Zhou Xuan thought for a moment, then picked up his phone and called Old Li. He told Old Li what his family wanted to say, and finally smiled and said, "Grandpa, I was planning to put Li Wei in a difficult position. But I felt I couldn't keep it from you and Li Wei's father, so I told you."
"That's good, that's good!" Old Li chuckled happily. "To be honest, I've been waiting for your call. It's great that you agreed, it's great that you agreed. Now our two families are truly one family. I've made all the preparations. I'll have Li Lei find Wei's third son to be the matchmaker!" Zhou Xuan put down his phone, then thought to himself that he needed to be more careful. He used to casually address Li Lei and Wei Haihong as brothers. Now that he had a sister, he had to be a generation younger.
The Li family acted swiftly, and Wei Haihong arrived the next morning. However, his expression was somewhat awkward and embarrassed, as he suddenly found himself a generation older than Zhou Xuan, which made him extremely uncomfortable.
Of course, he had thought about this before, but at that time he thought that if Zhou Xuan could become husband and wife with Xiao Qing, he would be very happy to be the uncle. He really wanted to, but things didn't go as they thought. He didn't expect that Li Wei would actually get together with Zhou Ying. He was just forced into this situation by the matchmaker.
Zhou Xuan's whole family was home. Zhou Tao had been specially called back by Zhou Xuan, and Li Li had also been brought back. If Li Wei were also there, it would truly be a family reunion.
Zhou Ying was talking with Fu Ying, Li Li, and Jin Xiumei on one side, Zhou Tao was playing chess with Zhou Cangsong and his son, and Zhou Xuan was chatting with Wei Haihong while watching TV.
The midday news was playing at that moment. Wei Haihong didn't pay much attention, but Zhou Xuan noticed it immediately because the television was reporting on the dismemberment case, detailing the results of the interrogation by Fu Yuanshan's branch office. Wang Side confessed to eight other carjacking and murder cases. Originally, Zhou Xuan had inadvertently obtained some information from Bai Yuhu and found the dismembered body, but he never expected that this case would lead to such a major case!
Once Wang Side's psychological defenses crumbled, he readily confessed to all the crimes he had committed!
Fu Yuanshan was overjoyed. He immediately closed the case and reported it to his superiors before transferring it to the procuratorate. He even held a press conference before the transfer!
Seeing Zhou Xuan's keen interest in the news, Wei Haihong chuckled and said, "Hehe, brother. You know Director Fu from this press conference? Hehe, that guy cracked such a big case, he's probably going to get promoted!"
Zhou Xuan smiled, about to speak, but was immediately drawn to another news story broadcast on the news. Not only Zhou Xuan, but even Wei Haihong was stunned by this news!
"At 12:20 PM today, a jewelry store on the third floor of the Dongcheng International Building was robbed at gunpoint by three masked assailants. One security guard was shot. A patrol car happened to be passing by and responded to the report. The assailants then took more than twenty store employees hostage, creating a standoff with the arriving police. One of the assailants was strapped with explosives, preventing the police from making any rash moves. There were also injuries among the crowd in the chaos. As of now, the exact number of casualties is unclear. Our reporter will provide further updates. This is our report."
Zhou Xuan's face darkened. There was a Zhou family jewelry store on the third floor of the International Building, so of course they'd be there. Whether or not there was a Zhou family store was irrelevant at the time, but with so many hostages and the perpetrator strapped with explosives, the consequences of a detonation would be unimaginable. Besides, Dongcheng—wasn't that Old Fu's territory? He'd just been thinking that Old Fu was going to be promoted because of solving the dismemberment case, but now... he might not only fail to get promoted, but be demoted!
Zhou Xuan whispered to Wei Haihong, "Brother Hong, don't let my family know, I need to go to the scene."
Wei Haihong frowned and said worriedly, "What are you going to do? What are we going to do? My second brother has been overwhelmed with problems lately because of several major cases in Beijing. His enemies are looking for an opportunity to attack him. Now, my second brother has just taken office as secretary, he hasn't even settled in yet. If something serious happens, my second brother, my second brother..."
Zhou Xuan said in a deep voice, "Brother Hong, what are you still saying? Hurry up and go. You come with me, leave this to me!"
After saying that, Zhou Xuan went over to his parents and said, "Dad, Mom, Yingying, I'm going out for a walk with Brother Hong. We'll be back in a bit!"
Jin Xiumei and Fu Ying didn't think much of it. They hadn't watched TV and didn't know anything about it, so they just let them be.
Wei Haihong drove himself over. As soon as Zhou Xuan got in the car, he immediately drove out of Hongcheng Garden and made a phone call to Fu Yuanshan from the car.
Fu Yuanshan's voice sounded particularly anxious on the phone, but he had no choice but to be.
"Brother, something big has happened, I'm busy right now."
Zhou Xuan said in a deep voice, "Old Fu, don't worry. Are you there? I'll be there right away. Let me in. I'll handle this. Before I arrive, try not to let your men make any rash moves. I'm confident. Wait for me!" (To be continued)
Volume One: The Lotus Buds Just Begin to Emerge, Chapter Two Hundred and Sixty-Six: A Hair's Breadth
Pin Meihong was even more anxious than Zhou Fu. This situation could easily spiral out of control and cause serious problems. If the explosives on the perpetrator were detonated, regardless of the severity of the consequences, his second brother, Wei Haihe, the municipal party secretary, would be implicated. His current situation wasn't good. Although Wei Haihong wasn't officially part of the system, he was just as concerned about his elder brothers' affairs. Family matters shouldn't be discussed separately. Even broken bones are still connected!
Ran Xuan's only hope was that Fu Yuanshan could play a role at the scene and hold the murderer back. He hoped they wouldn't feel cornered and resort to desperate measures. As long as the explosives weren't detonated, he was confident he could eliminate the danger once he arrived. As soon as Zhou Xuan got into the car, Wei Haihong and the others hurriedly drove towards their destination in Dongcheng. However, they encountered a traffic jam about 500-600 meters from the International Building. Police had cordoned off the streets in front of and behind the building to prevent any blasting.
The police cordoned off the area in several layers, and no one except police officers and government officials was allowed to enter, including journalists.
Wei Haihong was stopped at the first cordon. He wasn't allowed to pass; the officers on duty were armed police, regular criminal investigators, and regular civilian police. They obviously didn't know Wei Haihong's identity, and even if he revealed it, they wouldn't let him through. Normally, they'd give face to people of their status, but this situation was different. Letting him in would be life-threatening; letting an unrelated person in would just be asking for trouble. If they stopped him, even if it escalated, they weren't afraid.
Zhou Xuan didn't say much and quickly picked up his phone to call Fu Yuanshan. Wei Haihong also took out his phone to call his second brother, Wei Haihe, and they each talked to themselves.
Fu Yuanshan was anxiously waiting for Zhou Xuan. As soon as he received Zhou Xuan's call, he rushed over here.
Unlike Zhou Xuan, Wei Haihong called his second brother, Wei Haihe, but Wei Haihe ignored him, saying he was extremely busy and would talk to him later. He then turned off his phone.
Fu Yuanshan spotted Zhou Xuan and Wei Haihong from afar. Although he was anxious, a smile appeared on his face. Upon seeing Zhou Xuan, he felt as if he had found a ship after falling into the sea.
He hurried over. First, he patted Zhou Xuan on the shoulder. Then he shook hands with Wei Haihong. Because the matter was urgent, he didn't exchange many pleasantries.
Zhou Xuan pointed to the Audi that Wei Haihong had driven over. Fu Yuanshan immediately assigned a policeman and said, "Keep an eye on this car."
Then he brought Zhou Xuan and Wei Haihong inside. On the way, Fu Yuanshan walked quickly while whispering to Zhou Xuan, "Brother, are you confident?"
Zhou Xuan nodded and replied in a low voice, "I'm confident, but first, I need to make sure the killer won't detonate the explosives before I get there. Second, I need to tell you privately, I can only disarm the killer's guns, ammunition, and explosives; I'm not good at fighting. So, I'd like to ask again, are these killers to be dead or alive?"
Zhou Xuan was thinking to himself. If the police only demanded the rescue of the hostages and prevention of the killer from detonating the explosives, regardless of the killer's life or death, then that would be fine. His Ice Qi ability was now extremely powerful; he wouldn't be afraid even if there were only three killers, or even eight or ten. But he needed to keep all the killers within his range of power before he could carry out his plan.
Fu Yuanshan felt somewhat embarrassed. Although he was the highest-ranking officer in the Dongcheng police force, such a major incident had occurred, and the people who had rushed over were the city's top leaders and Secretary Wei, so he had no say in the matter. Command was entirely in the hands of Director Chen of the city's police department, so he had no authority whatsoever, let alone the right to negotiate with the murderer.
However, he was still the head of a bureau, and he had the authority to lead Zhou Xuan and Wei Haihong into the innermost part of the circle. Besides, the police guarding the outer perimeter were all his subordinates. It was just that the special police preparing to storm in and the snipers lying in ambush at key points were transferred from the city hall.
Zhou Xuan understood from Fu Yuanshan's expression that the situation was no longer in his hands. However, even if he could, Zhou Xuan still didn't want to take the murderer's life or maim him. Otherwise, it would be difficult to cover it up and explain the situation.
On the street a hundred meters away from the International Building, Wei Haihe and the leaders of the Public Security Bureau set up a temporary command post and were studying the attack plan.
Zhou Xuan said softly to Fu Yuanshan, "Old Fu, find a way to contact the murderers inside. Any deal is fine, just get me in. Make sure I'm within 30 meters of the murderers, and I can guarantee I can neutralize all their dangerous weapons. However, I'm not strong enough to fight all three murderers. I wonder if it's possible to send two more people in?"