Chapter 12 Intervention

When Chief Detective Doust said, "Please feel free to investigate," Feng Bujue received the completion notification for the task [Intervene in the Investigation of the "John Herbert Murder Case"].

Although it's unknown how the system specifically defines it, it was clear that Jue-ge's unilateral involvement in the investigation had not been recognized.

The appearance of Zuo Yan, or rather, the debut of Zuo Yan and Victor as "opponents," officially launched this detective showdown, and advanced the script's task to the next stage.

As for what to do in this "next stage"... the system didn't provide any further hints; the chain of sub-tasks under the main quest ended there.

In other words, the focus of Feng Bujue's actions returned to [Complete this script in thirty-three chapters]; in the next fifteen chapters, how to stop Zuo Yan and Victor from quickly solving the case and announcing the truth became the main problem facing Jue-ge...

...

Early morning, 3:07 AM, a room on the first floor of the Herbert mansion.

Only two people were sitting inside.

"Hmm... this wine is quite good." Feng Bujue tasted the red liquid in his goblet and gave a very pertinent evaluation.

At this moment, he was sitting on a sofa chair with his legs crossed, leisurely swirling the wine glass in his hand. On the coffee table in front of him was a bottle of red wine that had already been opened.

"Heh... indeed. I originally planned to give this bottle to the Pope for Easter this year..." In contrast, John Herbert's face wore an expression that said, "Are you kidding me?"; he was sitting on another sofa chair opposite Jue-ge, responding to Jue-ge's completely insincere flattery with a somewhat bitter tone.

"Oh?" Feng Bujue raised an eyebrow and smiled when he heard this. "Is that so... then I must solemnly thank Mr. Herbert for your hospitality."

"You're welcome..." John said in a deep voice, "My manor hasn't entertained guests in a long time. It's rare that Mr. Feng is also a connoisseur of wine... this bottle of my collection can be considered well-used."

That's what he said, but in reality, John's heart was bleeding...

More than ten minutes ago, when Feng Bujue asked John for a bottle of red wine from the wine cellar to "have a taste," John responded with a disdainful smile, thinking to himself, "I thought this kid was someone important, but it turns out he just wants to freeload off a rich man. Hmph... oh well, I doubt he's seen much of the world. I'll let him pick."

At the time, John believed that people like Feng Bujue were basically on the same level as Doust. With that kind of person's courage and knowledge, the most he could swindle him out of was one or two bottles of wine worth around a thousand pounds.

Unexpectedly... after Jue-ge was granted permission, he took a turn around the wine cellar and actually picked out the most expensive bottle in the entire wine cellar, and perhaps even in all of Wales.

This bottle of wine was brewed and bottled exactly ten years ago by a well-known French winery. That year, the climate, soil, grape harvest, and all other factors that affect the quality of brewing were perfect, a once-in-a-century occurrence, resulting in many good wines. And this bottle of red wine, called "Bud," was the best of the best...

A few years ago, John spent hundreds of thousands of pounds at an auction to purchase this bottle of "Bud." Of course, he didn't intend to drink it himself when he bought it; he purchased it for use on certain special occasions.

Many people have a misunderstanding about wine, namely that "the older the red wine, the better." In fact, that's not the case; wine that's been sitting for a hundred or two years has long gone bad. Buying it is only good for displaying it. If you really open it and drink it, even if it doesn't kill you... it won't taste very good.

The best drinking period for bottled red wine is usually no more than fifteen years, mostly in the four to ten year range, and this year was exactly the best year to drink this bottle of "Bud." It was precisely for this reason that John planned to give this wine as a gift to the Pope for Easter this year.

However, what he didn't expect was... tonight, his hundreds of thousands of pounds of "investment" were actually picked up for free by this unknown fellow, Feng Bujue. This was simply daylight robbery... but the promise of "pick whatever you like" was given by John himself, so he couldn't even get angry.

"Heh... let's stop with the jokes..." Feng Bujue, swirling his wine glass, gradually withdrew his smile and continued, "I know you're hurting, I'd be hurting too if I were you."

His words tore away the last layer of pretense on John's face, revealing a rather gloomy expression on the host's face.

"Before I entered the wine cellar, you thought that I had neither the knowledge to find that bottle of wine nor the courage to take it out," Feng Bujue continued, "And when I took the wine out and opened it nonchalantly, you suppressed your anger, resigned yourself to bad luck, and told yourself in self-deception... 'This kid is just lucky, he doesn't actually know the value of this bottle of wine.'"

At this point, Jue-ge paused, "Heh... how can there be so many coincidences and luck in this world? Even if there are... it probably wouldn't belong to me." He picked up his wine glass triumphantly and took another sip, "Mr. Herbert, I can tell you clearly... today, when I entered your wine cellar, I was looking for the most expensive bottle. The moment you agreed that I 'could pick whatever I liked,' you already gave away hundreds of thousands... hmm... if I'm not mistaken, that's about the price range... you already gave away a bottle of red wine worth hundreds of thousands of pounds."

"Of course, I'm not doing this purely to swindle you out of this astronomically priced wine. I just want to use this thing... this thing that can be measured by the values you're familiar with, to convey some information to you."

"——Things you think I can't do, things you think I don't dare to do, I can actually do without any pressure; the way you looked at me, your prejudices, your judgments, and so on, just a few minutes ago, are just like my 'gratitude' and 'compliments' to you just now... worthless."

"It seems... I'm paying for my 'underestimation' of you." John stared at Jue-ge and said, one word at a time.

"Hmph..." Feng Bujue snorted coldly and replied, "You should be glad that I even gave you this opportunity to 'pay tuition'..." He shrugged and said slowly, "Each of us learns and grows from making mistakes, and these 'mistakes' will inevitably be accompanied by a certain price... This time, the price you paid is money, a negligible amount of money for you. But next time, if you make another mistake, what you have to pay... may be more than just money."

"What you said..." John had already regained his composure. He even listened to Feng Bujue's words very seriously, "I will remember it well..."

As the two finished their conversation, there was a knock on the door. Without the person outside even speaking, Jue-ge already knew who it was.