From Evil Sect Leader to Doctor

Chapter 698 - 668: He’s Here Again

Zhou Renhe had already guessed that his son must have had a fierce confrontation with Xu Chunliang when he caught up with him. He knew this second son very well, brave but lacking in wisdom.Because of his ill-fated relationship with Xu Changying, Zhou Renhe was deeply hurt and chose never to marry. He adopted two sons, naming them Yiwen and Yi Wu, which also reflected their personalities.

The elder, Zhou Yiwen, was scheming and skilled in manipulation.

The younger, Zhou Yi Wu, was reckless, ready to fight and struggle. Originally, this combination of brothers could have complemented each other’s strengths and weaknesses, but they both had one common flaw: they valued personal gain too much. Even between them, there was harmony on the surface but discord underneath.

Some traits are ingrained in one’s blood, and no matter how hard Zhou Renhe tried, he couldn’t change them. Since that was the case, he could only accept reality.

What disappointed Zhou Renhe was that after he handed over the management of Renhe Hall to these two brothers, Zhou Yiwen and Zhou Yi Wu cooperated seamlessly in marginalizing him. Since he planned to retire and handed over power to them, there was nothing wrong with that. However, the subsequent developments increasingly troubled the old man.

Zhou Yiwen excelled in marketing and had a deep understanding of modern online sales. Once he became the new owner of Renhe Hall, on one hand, he massively expanded online sales, and on the other, he rapidly expanded through franchising. One must admit that his decisions brought rapid development to Renhe Hall, but they also brought many negatives.

The franchisees varied in quality, leading to frequent incidents that seriously affected Renhe Hall’s reputation. The dispute that Zhou Yisheng stirred up at Changxing Hospital was just one of many.

At first, Zhou Renhe still offered some advice, but he soon realized that these two adopted sons were merely paying him lip service. Once he realized this, he didn’t bother wasting his breath and chose to turn a blind eye and let them do as they pleased, considering that he was old, and since he had handed Renhe Hall over to them, they could do as they liked.

But he never expected that these two brothers, for the sake of profit, would choose to collaborate with the Mingde Group from South Korea. What Zhou Renhe found even more unacceptable was that the real controller of the Mingde Group was Huang Youlong, the descendant of an old enemy of Huichun Hall.

Although Zhou Renhe couldn’t disclose the truth to his two sons, he tried to persuade them to reconsider from various perspectives. However, his persuasion was futile. In the eyes of these two brothers, there was only profit, and they didn’t heed the words of this old man. For profit, family honor, and national integrity, all could be cast aside.

If not for being completely disillusioned, why would Zhou Renhe actively seek out Xu Chunliang and candidly disclose the past between them? It was partly because he wanted to protect Huichun Hall and the Xu Family from harm, and partly because he was utterly disappointed in his two adopted sons.

Zhou Yi Wu poured hot tea for his father, picked up his own teacup, drained it in one gulp, and heavily placed the teacup back on the table, grinding his teeth as he said, "That Xu Family kid is really hateful, causing us significant losses. I haven’t even settled the score with him, and I can’t believe he dared to come to our door."

Zhou Renhe chuckled bitterly, "Young people are inevitably impulsive."

Zhou Yi Wu said, "I won’t indulge him. What nonsense is Huichun Hall? Xu Changshan has been running it for so many years, and it’s still just a small clinic. Now even the small clinic has closed down. What do they have to compare with our Zhou Family?"

Zhou Renhe said, "It’s just the words of young people. Don’t dwell on it or take it to heart."

"It’s not that we’re holding a grudge against him now; it’s him who came to our door, stirring up trouble. Dad, Zhou Yisheng suffered huge losses at Changxing Hospital, all because he was interfering. Do you know he even badmouthed us in front of President Huang of the Mingde Group, trying to undermine the cooperation between Renhe Hall and Mingde Group?"

With a long sigh, Zhou Renhe said, "Harmony brings wealth. Renhe Hall has grown to the scale it is today; there’s no need to stoop to the level of a young man."

Zhou Yi Wu said, "Didn’t you always teach us that if people don’t offend us, we won’t offend them; if people offend us, we must offend them back."

Zhou Renhe said, "The times have changed. My ways of dealing with people and matters may not be right anymore. You should learn to adapt with the times. Just like when I told you not to collaborate with the Mingde Group, yet you still did it."

When this matter was brought up, Zhou Yi Wu was momentarily speechless.

Zhou Renhe’s deep gaze fixed on his son, "The reason he came to me for the Xu family’s things is that he saw Huichun Hall’s medical secrets on the Mingde Group side. Those things surely didn’t spread from my hands."

Zhou Yi Wu said, "Dad, our cooperation with Mingde Group is mutually beneficial. You just mentioned that the times have changed. As medical practitioners, we should not be rigid and obsolete. We must enhance mutual exchange to achieve common development."

Zhou Renhe sneered, his disdain evident, "Mutual exchange? What do they have that we could learn?"

Zhou Yi Wu said, "We did provide them with some formulas, but they also offered many Korean medical techniques."

Zhou Renhe said, "What nonsense is Korean medicine? Huang Youlong is a native-born Chinese. His so-called Korean medicine is nothing but a repackaging of our domestic medical practices, given the name of traditional Korean medicine. This person is an outright traitor, biting the hand that feeds him."

Zhou Yi Wu felt his face burn, sensing his father was indirectly scolding him too, and awkwardly said, "Dad, things aren’t what you think. Huang Youlong’s medical skills are very impressive. He’s absorbed the strengths of various schools, so you shouldn’t look down on him just because he practices Korean medicine. His medical attainments..."

Zhou Renhe unceremoniously interrupted him, "Even surpass mine, right?"

"I didn’t mean that."

Suddenly standing up, Zhou Renhe said angrily, "I don’t ask for you brothers to be extremely wealthy, just not to be infamous and tarnish the name of Renhe Hall."

Liu Deshun followed the entire afternoon, trailing Liang Xin from her residence’s community to her workplace, and then from her workplace back to the community, without finding anything.

Watching the meter climb steadily made Liu Deshun feel a bit pained, but without the cover of a taxi, tailing them wouldn’t be this convenient. Outside, the rain poured down like a curtain; today was really a bad day.

Seeing Liang Xin enter the building, Liu Deshun decided to temporarily end his taxi follow and had the driver drop him off at the supermarket entrance next to the command center.

As he was paying, the driver sympathetically sighed and said, "Is that lady your wife?"

Liu Deshun blurted out, "No..."

The driver said, "Bro, I get it!"

Liu Deshun laughed and asked, "What do you get?"

The driver said, "Having a wife that’s too pretty isn’t always a good thing."

Liu Deshun understood; the driver thought he was being cheated on. He didn’t bother to explain, settled the fare, and pushed the car door open, jogging into the supermarket to take shelter from the rain. Xu Chunliang’s judgment was likely wrong. Even if Liang Xin and Lu Yunqi had something going on, they wouldn’t be doing it in broad daylight during work hours.

Liu Deshun made a call to Xu Chunliang, who happened to be on his way over too. There were some things inconvenient to say over the phone, so he planned to talk in person later.

Liu Deshun bought two bottles of water, and as he was paying, Xu Chunliang arrived. He handed one of the bottles to Xu Chunliang.

Xu Chunliang said, "Director Liu, you’re too kind."

Liu Deshun sighed and gestured outside. Staying inside the supermarket wasn’t quite right, so the two of them moved to the shelter outside. Liu Deshun recounted his tracking experience of the past days to Xu Chunliang, hinting that it had all been a wild goose chase.

Liu Deshun said, "Town Mayor Xu, keeping this surveillance isn’t a solution. Even if they do have that kind of relationship you suspect, it can’t be uncovered easily, not to mention we are not professional detectives."

Xu Chunliang lifted his wrist to check the time, seeing there was still an hour left until the deadline he gave to Liu Haiyu.

Just then, a message arrived. Liu Haiyu sent over the information he had uncovered. Being straightforward, Liu Haiyu had someone hack into Lu Yunqi and Liang Xin’s phones. Xu Chunliang just looked at a few photos and the words "what the hell" filled his mind repeatedly.

Liu Deshun saw Xu Chunliang smiling broadly and thought to himself, what’s there to be happy about? Things are at a stalemate, and we’re likely going to fail today.

Xu Chunliang said, "Lao Liu, you go and meet up with Mr. Li and them first. I’ll arrange for the release soon."

Liu Deshun could hardly believe his ears. This guy dared to boast about anything. I was there when you met in the morning; they didn’t want anything to do with you. How are you going to arrange for a release?

Xu Chunliang said, "Hurry up and go, prepare the paperwork for their release."

Liu Deshun was speechless, thinking this guy was intentionally making things hard for him. He nodded, took advantage of the lighter rain, hailed a taxi — coincidentally the same one as before — and as soon as he got in, the driver laughed and said, "I knew you’d still need a ride." This driver was addicted to making easy money.

Liu Deshun grumpily said, "Start the meter, take me to Taibaiwa!"

As soon as Liu Deshun left, Xu Chunliang strolled over to the command center’s entrance. A few security guards saw him coming again and immediately gathered force to block him, "What are you up to? Why are you back again?"

Xu Chunliang said, "Director Lu invited me over."

"Stop lying here, there’s no way Director Lu would invite you."

Xu Chunliang said, "Why would I lie? You don’t believe me, call and ask."

The security guard followed procedure and called Liang Xin. Hearing that Xu Chunliang was back, Liang Xin rushed to the window to take a look and, indeed, saw him standing at the command center gate again. She angrily said, "Kick him out, this guy is really annoying."

The security guard hung up and started to carry out the task. Xu Chunliang looked at the office building, sure that Liang Xin was watching him too. He had Liang Xin’s number, but he didn’t plan to contact her.

Xu Chunliang called Lu Yunqi, a phone number just provided by Liu Haiyu.

Lu Yunqi had two phone numbers, dual SIM, one for public use and one private. Few people knew this private number. Seeing an unfamiliar call, his first thought was someone selling loans. These people had no limits.

Answering the phone, a familiar voice said, "Director Lu, keeping well?"

I’ve been relaxing in Hong Kong with my son these days and will return next week. Updates will resume as normal. Thank you for your understanding!