After reluctantly leaving his phone number, he saw off the police flower and her colleague.
Lin Weiwei wanted to tidy up the messy space herself so that people could settle in.
"Stop cleaning, let's go chat at my place," Zeng Wang said upon seeing this.
Li Chonglou immediately signaled Lin Weiwei to stop her work and took her to the office floors of Ginza.
This time, they were not in the waiting room, so Xu Ling'er was not seen.
Zeng Wang looked apologetic, personally took out the Icelandic raw Pu-erh he had collected for over ten years, brewed it, and apologized:
"Chonglou, please don't take what happened just now to heart. If I had known that kid's character, I wouldn't have introduced him to Weiwei."
"I'll take care of the renovation. I'll definitely solve it for you."
Li Chonglou was his distinguished guest. Even Ning Lang had privately told him that if he could make friends with Li Chonglou, he could one day break out of the "Guobao Bang" circle.
Not to mention opening his own private museum, perhaps he could even obtain rare treasures.
Zeng Wang was completely convinced of Ning Lang's abilities, and even he respected Li Chonglou so much.
Coupled with the Li Hanlong incident last time, which left a deep impression on him.
Li Hanlong, an international smuggler, had already been apprehended, yet Li Chonglou was unharmed.
His capabilities were, therefore, imaginable.
Furthermore, he wondered if there was any progress on the town's treasure he had asked Li Chonglou to find last time.
He might as well ask about it today.
"No need, Mr. Zeng. I'll find my own renovation crew," Li Chonglou politely refused.
It wasn't that he didn't want to owe Zeng Wang a favor, but he actually had suitable candidates in mind.
The two construction foremen he met while drinking coffee earlier, Zhang and Chang, were precisely in charge of commercial renovations.
These two had already been subdued by his senior sister and were now more obedient than grandchildren.
Before, when he was looking for his mother without success, it was a good opportunity to use them.
He figured they wouldn't dare to be careless with his affairs.
However, Zeng Wang interpreted this as him being inconsiderate and feeling slighted, his expression becoming a bit awkward.
Just as he was about to explain further, Li Chonglou saw through his thoughts and said, "Mr. Zeng, one thing is one thing. You are not to blame for the renovation matter."
"Also, I have some good news that I was planning to tell you today."
"The town's treasure you asked me to find has been obtained and is at Ning Lang's place. I'll have him send it over when you have time."
Upon hearing this, Zeng Wang's eyes widened, his hands trembled slightly with excitement, and he was overjoyed: "That's great... Brother Chonglou, I knew you were incredibly capable!"
"Brother, I really don't know how to thank you..."
Could something that Li Chonglou called the "town's treasure" be ordinary?
Now, his greatest anticipation was to see its true appearance.
Although he was part of the "Guobao Bang," it was primarily for making money. He himself was very passionate about antiques, otherwise, he wouldn't have entered this industry.
However, he was a businessman, and the nature of profit-seeking was unchanging wherever he went.
This led him down the wrong path.
Now, meeting Li Chonglou was like being reborn, and he was eager to return to the right path.
"There's no need for thanks, but I have a condition," Li Chonglou casually accepted the tea, took a sip, and said, "It's a Shi Qiang plate. Having it as the town's treasure doesn't mean it's gifted to you."
"I will make a notarization before giving it to you."
"Its true destination should be the National Museum. If I discover you selling it arbitrarily or using it for commercial purposes, I will reclaim it at any time."
Zeng Wang was a complex and changeable person.
Although he still had a sense of righteousness in his heart, who could be sure if it was true or false?
Being profit-oriented, he might sell the national treasure one day.
At that time, it would require a lot of effort.
It was better to state the unpleasant truth upfront, to strike first and then be benevolent.
Zeng Wang's expression was stunned, but he immediately relaxed: "Absolutely, absolutely. How could I do such a heartless thing?"
He had never thought of using the town's treasure to make money; he merely wanted to satisfy his own small vanity.
Every antique enthusiast had such small thoughts.
It was just that he, as a businessman, expressed it more directly.
His initial intention of opening a private museum was also for the same reason.
This kind of desire to prove oneself and elevate one's status would lead to failure in 99.9% of businesses, but it was perfectly suited for running an antique museum.
Seeing no greed in his eyes, Li Chonglou dropped the topic.
He chatted with Lin Weiwei about the renovation matters, sending the contact information of Zhang and Chang and the logo Wu Hao had given him to Lin Weiwei's phone, asking her to arrange it in the store.
This would be for offline brand synergy.
After giving these instructions, Lin Weiwei wisely left to contact people to take over the construction.
Li Chonglou and Zeng Wang naturally had nothing more to discuss. Their fields were different, and talking more was pointless.
He casually asked about Xu Ling'er's situation.
Zeng Wang immediately patted his chest and promised to take good care of her.
"You don't need to do it for my sake, just ensure she receives fair treatment," Li Chonglou knew he had misunderstood his intention.
With that, he got up to leave.
As soon as he exited the Ginza Tower, his phone rang.
It was Wu Hao calling.
"Chonglou, I've cracked the password. The content... I'll send it to you. It's a bit scary..." Wu Hao's voice was deliberately lowered, sounding mysterious, as if afraid of being overheard.
Li Chonglou became even more curious with his behavior.
He hung up the phone and opened an encrypted document sent by Wu Hao.
After entering the password, an account immediately appeared.
The dense numbers made Li Chonglou frown, his gaze becoming increasingly solemn.
He thought Wu Hao and Liu Ping'er had exaggerated things and were being too nervous.
But after seeing it himself, he understood why they were nervous.
The amount involved in this account was unprecedentedly large, something even he, who had lived to a ripe old age in his previous life, had never heard of.
Totaling trillions!
What kind of concept was that?
In the current global market economy, only the top ten world-class super enterprises had a total market value reaching the trillions.
Even the GDP of many countries for a year was less than the laundered black money in this account.
The most crucial point was that all this money flowed overseas.
And Huang was just one of them, not the mastermind. This was a massive money-laundering group, deeply entrenched.
Li Hanlong was even more insignificant, just a small fry within it.
The entire profit chain was shocking and outrageous.
This was treason!
No wonder they directly sent international assassins to silence Liu Ping'er after learning that the item was stolen. This matter was too big. Even with his current iron-clad composure, a sense of shock arose in his heart.
Let alone ordinary people like Liu Ping'er and Wu Hao.
One could imagine the immense pressure Liu Ping'er had endured.
A woman, orphaned from a young age, was willing to bear the heavy burden to protect her childhood siblings.
To let go was not an option, nor was it to bear it.
If he hadn't found another way and stolen her files, the people at the water gun club would have been harmed before long.
"Master, drive to Chenxing Water Gun Club in the Third Ring Road." Li Chonglou put away the document and hailed a taxi, heading straight to Liu Ping'er's place.
As soon as he got out of the car, his eyes turned cold.
The club's entrance was already sealed with a notice.
Only a few days had passed since he last saw Liu Ping'er.
He had only returned to Qin Zhou, and the entire club was sealed?
Li Chonglou took out his phone and dialed Liu Ping'er's number. It kept ringing, but no one answered.
A bad feeling immediately arose in his heart.
He didn't give up and kept redialing.
Suddenly, the call connected.
But instead of Liu Ping'er's voice, a deep male voice came through: "Who are you looking for?"
This voice was definitely not Xu Tianyou's, nor anyone from the club.
This kind of voice was deliberately altered and suppressed, a technique used to make it impossible to distinguish the original voice.
Ordinary people wouldn't know how to do this.
"My name is Liu Ping'er, let her take the phone," Li Chonglou said impatiently, "She still owes me something and hasn't returned it. Does she think she's off the hook if she ran away?"
There was silence on the other end.
Liu Ping'er did not appear. It was still the male voice: "She is in room 308 of Lingwang Hotel on Changqing Road. Come and find her."
After saying that, he hung up the phone.
Li Chonglou immediately called Zeng Wang.
He asked him to pass the phone to Xu Ling'er.
He got straight to the point: "Ling'er, do you know about the water gun club being sealed?"
"No, I don't. I've been at work these past few days and haven't been back. I've only WeChat messaged my brother and Sister Ping'er," Xu Ling'er's voice sounded very surprised.
"Did you talk on the phone?" Li Chonglou asked again.
"No, who makes calls for no reason these days? WeChat is enough. We don't even send voice messages," Xu Ling'er seemed to sense something was wrong and worriedly asked, "Brother Chonglou, did something happen to my brother?"
"Where are you now? I'll take leave and come over."
"No need. Just keep working. They're fine. I just arranged to meet them," Li Chonglou refused as if nothing had happened.
After hanging up, Li Chonglou's eyes flashed with a cold light.
He had already confirmed that something had happened.
Liu Ping'er and Xu Tianyou were likely in trouble.
It was even possible they had been kidnapped and held captive.
After the assassins failed to kill last time, they used official channels to seal the store and arrest people.
What arrogance!
No matter what, he had to go to Lingwang Hotel.
Lingwang Hotel was one of Yong'an's five-star hotels, although its fame far surpassed that of Hengyuan Han Palace.
This was not only because of the Xiao family but also due to its relatively remote location.
At this very moment, in the presidential suite 308.
A man and a woman were securely tied with ropes. The man was Xu Tianyou, and the woman was Liu Ping'er.
Xu Tianyou was covered in injuries, his blood already congealed. He was barely breathing, looking extremely pathetic.
It was evident he had been tortured extensively.
Liu Ping'er was slightly better. Perhaps because she was a woman, she was only tied to a chair, unable to move. Her beautiful eyes were a mixture of fear and anger as she struggled constantly.
Unfortunately, her strength was too little to have any effect.
On the sofa nearby, a young man with sharp features and sinister eyes, with a buzz cut, was sitting.
Allowing Liu Ping'er to struggle for a while, he looked at his watch and said, "You have ten minutes before you say goodbye to this world."
"Tell me, who copied the files from you?"
"I'll make sure you die a swift death."
"Otherwise, I'll make you watch as the people you care about have their throats slit one by one in front of you."
Upon hearing this, Liu Ping'er gritted her teeth and shouted, "I don't know!"
"If you want to kill me, just kill me. Why make excuses?"
This man was like a madman. After capturing them, not only did he retrieve the files she had stolen, but he also claimed to have traced the copy.
He insisted on forcing her to say who she copied them for.
She had no idea about this matter, and as a result, Xu Tianyou was almost beaten to death.
Now, she deeply regretted her impulsiveness. By trying to deal with Li Hanlong, she had stirred up such a hornet's nest.
It had implicated all her brothers and sisters.