Wei Yenwu watched helplessly as his wife stepped out from behind the screen. For a moment, he couldn't think of a single suitable reason to explain away the fire Emperor had stoked right before leaving. In the end, it all boiled down to one sentence.
"Cough... Fumizuki, it's you. When did you get here?"
At this point, Wei Yenwu's decision was to continue playing dumb. He wanted to find a way to muddy the waters so that Fumizuki wouldn't hold onto this matter. He figured in a few days, once she got busy, she'd forget this 'little' incident... Alright, the truth was he just hadn't thought of a good excuse and was planning to wing it.
"I was already here when you were discussing your private stash. However, I've become quite curious about your hiding spots. Do you think there are more in this office?"
Fumizuki looked at Wei Yenwu with a smile. Her gentle, leisurely voice sounded the same as always, as if nothing had happened. However, her eyes constantly scanned Wei Yenwu's office as if checking for suspicious areas. Finally, having found nothing, she turned her smiling gaze back to her husband, waiting for his explanation.
"Um... cough, how is that possible? This is my office area. Even if I were to hide money, why would I put it in a place like this? Wouldn't that be a bit..."
Seeing this, Wei Yenwu hurriedly explained. He absolutely had no intention of hiding such things in his workspace. This was the center of power in Lungmen; if he hid money here and it was discovered by others, wouldn't it be a massive loss of face for the Chief Executive of Lungmen?
"Fine, I'll take your word for it for now. But you still haven't told me: how did that bottle of Gallic wine come about? With that 'little' private stash of yours, you can afford something like that?"
As she spoke, the look in Fumizuki's eyes turned playful. It was as if she were eagerly anticipating what kind of excuse her husband would cook up to brush off the question.
At this moment, a look of embarrassment appeared on Wei Yenwu's face. He truly didn't have a good reason to explain this; for a moment, even he was lost in thought.
"That... well, I bought that bottle a long time ago. I couldn't bear to drink it back then, so I put it in that penguin's cellar. It's been so many years; if it hadn't brought it up today, I would have almost forgotten I even had such a bottle."
Wei Yenwu fabricated a reason to get through the moment, thinking to himself that he must find time to coordinate stories with Emperor later to prevent them from contradicting each other and exposing the truth.
Thinking of this, Wei Yenwu could only pray that Emperor's movements were slow—ideally, that he wouldn't touch the wine before Wei Yenwu got there. He hadn't even been willing to drink it after buying it, waiting for a special day to open it. If that penguin opened it and gulped it all down, Wei Yenwu would likely be sitting here in heartache for a long time. He'd rather destroy the wine himself than let that happen.
"Enough, look at you, you can't even tell a lie properly. I've told you before that you've been injured in the past and drinking is bad for your health. If you can avoid it, don't drink. You make it sound like I'm trying to harm you."
Fumizuki had scolded him more than once about his habit of drinking. But this fellow just couldn't change; he'd even sneak out to drink... Fumizuki had no choice. What else could she do? He was such a big dragon; it would be over the top to have Ch'en follow him twenty-four hours a day.
"Yes, yes, yes, Wife is wise. I will naturally listen to your instructions and won't touch the stuff for no reason. See, I haven't touched a wine glass in months."
Hearing her complaints, Wei Yenwu naturally hurried to follow her lead. If he could turn the page on this matter now, he wouldn't have to worry about a "sequel" tonight.
"Every time I talk to you, it's the same. You never even change your excuses when I catch you. You admit your mistakes readily enough every day, but I've never seen you actually change anything."
Hearing Wei Yenwu's routine apology, Fumizuki rolled her eyes. After all these years, it was always the same few lines. He could at least come up with two sets to rotate through; that would be better than this.
"Haha, aren't I just a bit slow with words? Coming up with this set of lines already took a lot of energy. However, I wonder what brings you here at this time, my lady?"
Wei Yenwu felt a bit strange about Fumizuki's sudden arrival. Generally speaking, unless a major event occurred, Fumizuki wouldn't come to his office during working hours. Besides, wasn't there the phone? Failing that, she had a ninja under her command. Even if something happened, it shouldn't be so serious that she had to make the trip herself, right?
While Fumizuki's status in the household was significantly higher than Wei Yenwu's, as a wife, she didn't frequent his office—this was also a form of respect for him. Why had she suddenly appeared today without a word? Had she discovered some urgent matter in Lungmen that he hadn't received news of yet?
"It's nothing critically urgent, but I ran into Officer Swire today. I heard something from her, and since I was passing by, I promised her I'd pass it on to you."
As Fumizuki spoke, Wei Yenwu's attitude became serious. It seemed the L.G.D. had discovered something important that Swire was coming to report. However, she had run into Fumizuki halfway; after Fumizuki learned the news, she also felt it was no small matter, which was why she specifically came to inform him of the details.
"What exactly is it that requires you to see me in person?"
Wei Yenwu felt something was wrong. For his wife to come here—could it be that Chernobog, after their meeting with Laterano and the strengthening of their military power, had turned around and started moving toward them?
"Didn't you just handle the aftermath of the Penguin Logistics fire? Didn't you ask that penguin about the details of the battle?"
"Their company fights every other day; it's not exactly a rare occurrence. Besides, the L.G.D. already knows everything they know."
Wei Yenwu found it odd that Fumizuki suddenly mentioned the Penguin Logistics incident. He had been investigating it for two days, but so far, there was no valuable information.
"The L.G.D. seized standard Ursus equipment from their opponents. Although the inscriptions were destroyed, according to the restoration, these are weapons produced by the Fourth Army this year!"
Fumizuki's words were like a thunderbolt striking Wei Yenwu's head. He had previously thought these were just refurbished Ursus weapons, but now it actually involved the Ursus Fourth Army? This matter could be huge or small. At its worst, it meant Lungmen had been infiltrated by Ursus; at best, it was just a smuggling operation.
"I see. No wonder my people haven't found any useful clues these past few days."
Wei Yenwu clearly valued this matter—or rather, he valued everything concerning Ursus. He knew Ursus was still eyeing this city greedily, just waiting for a chance to strike. Furthermore... the image of that snake appeared in Wei Yenwu's mind. He hadn't forgotten that the Fourth Army and Kashchey were in the same camp; their designs on Lungmen had never been hidden.
"That gang was involved in reselling. Some time ago, someone asked them to find a way to transport these items into Shenchuan City... It was their first time handling such a thing. If the other party hadn't offered such a high price, they wouldn't have had the courage to take the job."
This was a bit off. Logically, in such a major smuggling case, the transfer between upstream and downstream should be extremely tight. How could they find a bunch of small-time resellers to deliver the goods? Was it a coincidence, or was there a leak in their network, forcing them to use this method to get the cargo out?
Spending a fortune to hire a group of fools to transport goods... what exactly were they after? Sending it themselves would have been better than those thugs.
"That gang has been silenced. There was even a serial car accident late last night. It wasn't until the L.G.D. night shift returned that they discovered those people had been killed to shut them up."