Chapter 103: I Want That Land in Kowloon Walled City

Chapter 103: I Want That Land in Kowloon Walled City

Chen Jincai hung up the phone, briskly rubbing his arms as he hissed in discomfort.

Strange, was Detective Guan a little too invested in Consultant Jian?

That protective of his people?

He didn't have time to ponder this, turning to open the interrogation room door and sitting back down across from Lu Rong.

Lu Rong leaned back in his chair, casually checking his watch. “Sir Chen, I don't know anything about the questions you’re asking. If there’s nothing else, I’ll return home to handle some official business.”

Chen Jincai barked a laugh. “Official business?”

He sneered, tapping his finger on the table, his voice cold. “Jiang Hanyu said you gave him the MI6 secret files and the key to the safe with a large quantity of prohibited drugs! If you don’t clarify this today, you’re not going anywhere!”

Lu Rong shot a look at his lawyer.

The lawyer drew himself up. “Sir Chen, this is false imprisonment. I have the right to file a complaint on behalf of my client!”

Chen Jincai leaned back, drawing a deep, frustrated breath.

He had once been an undercover agent in a financial crime syndicate and had been a police officer for many years, encountering countless shrewd operators who knew how to exploit legal loopholes.

Lu Rong was definitely one of the most infuriating.

Damn it... Why hasn’t Consultant Jian arrived yet?

If he doesn’t come soon, Chen Jincai’s fists—which felt as big as sandbags—were about to fly.

Chen Jincai pasted on a smile. “Mr. Lu, it’s no secret that international police from the mainland have you in their sights. If you want to cut ties with British Hong Kong and reactionary information, now is the time.”

He pressed, “You need to tell us how you’re connected to the MI6 secret files and the bank safe key... Only then can I help you.”

Lu Rong gave a thin smile. “Help me?”

He leaned forward, placing a hand on the edge of the triangular table in the interrogation room, his voice dropping to a murmur. “Sir Chen, you should be more concerned about your own situation. As far as I know, your mother is seriously ill and urgently needs a recommendation letter and sufficient funds for treatment abroad.”

Lu Rong implied pointedly, “Can the West Kowloon Region Police Station provide you with the letter and the money?”

The room went dead silent.

At that moment, Chen Jincai understood why Hong Kong media had dubbed Lu Rong the heir most resembling Lu Jingchen.

Although Lu Rong walked with a limp and steered clear of vices like gambling and drugs, his approach to business even broke with the Lu family’s historical reliance on violence.

However, Lu Rong was undoubtedly the best at finding people’s pressure points.

Chen Jincai gave a low chuckle. “Mr. Lu, are you saying... what the West Kowloon Region Police Station can’t do for me, you can?”

Lu Rong raised his chin slightly. “Of course.”

Chen Jincai’s thoughts whirled.

Lu Rong was well aware that the interrogation room was being recorded, yet he still spoke this way.

Clearly, he was setting up a bribery scenario.

He wanted to buy his way out through this favor while simultaneously gaining a hold over Chen Jincai.

This wasn’t just a hollow promise—it was one that could lead to complete destruction.

This wasn’t about Chen Jincai using the interrogation to detain Lu Rong.

This was Lu Rong using the interrogation to try and flip him!

Chen Jincai’s throat worked as a sudden dread washed over him. He sneaked a look at the time.

Only ten minutes had gone by.

He knew that with Guan Yingjun’s driving skills, it would take at least fifteen minutes to get from Mid-Levels to the West Kowloon Region Police Station.

But ten minutes had already passed.

Why hadn’t Consultant Jian arrived yet!

·

Five minutes later.

Jian Ruochen burst from the car and headed straight for the West Kowloon Region Police Station.

As soon as he entered, he saw the shift change in progress.

The lobby was packed.

He glanced at the elevator, then decisively made for the stairs instead.

When he reached the interrogation room, the tightly shut door swung open, and a middle-aged man with slightly curly hair stood holding the doorknob.

Dressed in a sharp business suit, his back straight, the man said, “Sir Chen, if there are no further questions, can my client leave now?”

It was the lawyer.

The lawyer’s confident demeanor suggested that Chen Jincai’s interrogation had gotten nowhere.

Jian Ruochen thought for a moment, then swiftly turned around, placed his backpack in the A-team office, and opened Guan Yingjun’s office door to retrieve a whiskey glass from the cabinet before heading to the interrogation room.

Chen Jincai, on the verge of losing his composure as he struggled to detain Lu Rong, caught sight of Jian Ruochen out of the corner of his eye and felt as if a silver glow had enveloped the corridor.

Jian Ruochen smiled, leaning in to say to Lu Rong, “I heard Mr. Lu brought some fine liquor. Mind if I have a taste?”

Lu Rong, who had been about to stand, raised an eyebrow, intrigued. “West Kowloon is Sir Jian’s territory. Naturally, whatever Sir Jian wants, he gets.”

He sat back down.

Jian Ruochen knew there was more to his words. “Mr. Lu is a businessman with assets everywhere.”

As he spoke, he pushed the glass toward Lu Rong. While Lu Rong uncorked the bottle and poured the whiskey, Jian Ruochen casually remarked, “Mr. Lu already has everything. Why would you use your younger brother’s execution video to distract the police? What do you want?”

“What do you mean?” Lu Rong lowered his gaze, placing the half-filled whiskey glass in front of Jian Ruochen. “I don’t understand.”

In the adjacent monitoring room.

Chen Jincai watched the seemingly harmonious but tense exchange, his temple throbbing.

This was intense.

Jian Ruochen actually managed to make Lu Rong speak!

Oh, no.

Jian Ruochen actually managed to keep Lu Rong, who was trying to leave, with just a glass and a single sentence!

In the video room, everyone stared intently, whispering, "Huang Daxian, grant us favor. We must keep Lu Rong restrained."

Getting any information out of someone like him was nearly impossible.

But the purpose of summoning Lu Rong this time wasn't to extract information through interrogation.

It was to keep him tied up.

Only by stalling Lu Rong could they hope to uncover why he wanted to divert Major Case Team A’s attention and figure out what he was really planning.

Jian Ruochen took a sip of the wine.

He didn't drink wine often and could barely tell the difference.

Holding the rim of the glass with one hand and resting his chin in the other, Jian Ruochen lifted his gaze to Lu Rong’s face and said softly, "Half a month ago, you had someone record Lu Qian’s execution."

"Half a month later, just before Major Case Team A started their work, you sent the tape to us. You calculated that we would watch it before disbanding."

"At the same time, you notified the person who helped you obtain the tape that it had been delivered. You also anticipated that, upon hearing this, they would rush to cover their tracks."

Jian Ruochen paused for a second or two after each sentence.

He let Lu Rong think he had finished speaking, only to jump in right as he started to speak and continue with his next point.

In just three sentences, the calm and indifference on Lu Rong’s face gradually gave way to barely-contained anger. "Mr. Jian?"

Jian Ruochen understood—Lu Rong’s expression remained composed, but the frequency of his eye movements increased noticeably, and his fingers showed subtle fidgeting.

Clearly, he had hit a nerve.

Jian Ruochen's lips curled into a smile. "What’s wrong, Mr. Lu? Are you angry because I’ve called out your plan?"

Lu Rong closed his eyes and took a quiet breath. "Of course not."

His fingers traced slowly over the armrest of the chair. "As a proper gentleman, you should at least allow someone to finish speaking before continuing the conversation."

Jian Ruochen "hmm"-ed, tilting his face upward, his eyes full of fake innocence. "But what I just said was a whole thought."

He chuckled. "To save your dignity, I made sure to continue speaking before you had the chance to interrupt."

Lu Rong went quiet.

Confronting Jian Ruochen was far more exhausting than dealing with Chen Jincai.

He knew he shouldn't lose his temper—Jian Ruochen was clearly trying to provoke him.

But emotions were sometimes difficult to control.

If he had known Jian Ruochen would grow to this extent, he would have gotten his hands dirty and eliminated him long ago.

It was all due to the cowardice of not knowing better back then.

Lu Rong cooled down, gently stroking the snake head on his cane, and said coolly, "Sir Jian, if solving cases relied on speculation, Kowloon Prison would be overflowing with innocent folks by now."

"You want evidence?" Jian Ruochen smiled.

The warm light in the interrogation room fell on his hair, making him seem to glow.

His cherry-pink lips were stained with deep red wine, shiny and wet.

Lu Rong narrowed his eyes. "Consultant Jian, it’s not that I want evidence—you're the one who needs evidence."

Jian Ruochen replied, "Well then we'll just have to wait. Our people have already gone to track down Zhuo Yawen. Let’s see if others will give you up."

·

Unlike an interrogation room, which is more open with one-way glass allowing police to observe from outside, the inquiry room only had a few cameras placed to the side.

To observe in real time, everyone had to squeeze into a tiny video room.

By now, the video room was packed.

Chen Jincai was so pumped he was getting lightheaded.

So satisfying, so damn satisfying!

He was the one who understood best what it felt like to be messed with by Lu Rong.

Watching Jian Ruochen make Lu Rong so mad he couldn't speak made him want to rush into the inquiry room and give a round of applause.

Someone said hesitantly, "Didn’t we summon Lu Rong just to stall him? We weren’t trying to extract any secrets from him, right?"

"Yes, buying time is all we need."

"Someone like Lu Rong wouldn't say word one without ironclad proof."

"Do you think... Consultant Jian might be able to squeeze something out of Lu Rong while stalling him?"

"Could we have a lucky break?"

They looked around at each other, and surprisingly, each saw a spark of hope in the others’ eyes.

Though it might be a long shot, one should always aim high.

·

Lu Rong had considered that West Kowloon might make the connection to Zhuo Yawen, but he never expected it to happen so quickly.

That doesn't make sense.

Did Pu Yongsheng not die after all?

He said, "Even if Mr. Zhuo Yawen comes, my story isn't changing."

Jian Ruochen leaned back and sighed slowly.

This guy's tough.

Lu Rong’s emotions were way more steady than Lu Qian’s.

No surprise—he was a man who stayed clean, steering clear of vices like gambling and drugs, sticking to white-collar corruption and crime.

Just as he was about to speak the next sentence, the door to the interrogation room knocked.

Outside stood a cop who looked familiar but whose name he couldn't place. The officer held up a phone and said, "Consultant Jian, your phone kept ringing. I was worried it might be urgent, so I answered it for you. It’s your butler. He said it was urgent and asked me to bring the phone to you."

Jian Ruochen gestured to Lu Rong, "Sorry for the poor hospitality. I’ll step out to take this call."

Lu Rong: …

Poor hospitality? It's not like I'm a guest here anyway. Jian Ruochen’s surface-level courtesy is really something—he's a real opponent.

He raised his hand. "Go ahead."

Jian Ruochen took the phone, thanked the officer who delivered it, and turned to walk aside. "Uncle Luo, what is it?"

Luo Binwen spoke quickly: "Lu Qian and Jiang Hanyu’s assets are being sold off in batches to cover debts. The news broke late, and some have already been sold."

"Do you remember that piece of land near the Kowloon Walled City?"

Jian Ruochen thought for a moment. "The one Jiang Mingshan gave to Lu Qian as an engagement gift?"

"Right," Luo Binwen said. "The asking price for this land is very high. Word is the government plans to develop it into a transportation hub for Hong Kong. Countless people are competing for it now, and it’s likely to fetch an astronomical price. Young Master, are you interested?"

Holding the phone, Jian Ruochen suddenly understood why Lu Rong was trying to divert the police’s attention.

Lu Rong wasn’t just diverting the police’s attention—he was diverting his attention too!

Lu Rong had set all this up because he wanted to snatch up all the remaining clean assets of Lu Qian and Jiang Hanyu!

The news of the auction had been kept quiet on purpose, so it's easy to miss unless one was actively paying attention.

If the police continued to focus on Jiang Hanyu and the secret files, they would inevitably learn about the auction of Jiang Hanyu and Lu Qian’s assets!

Jian Ruochen licked his lips and let out a short laugh. "Uncle Luo, whatever it takes."

"I want that piece of land near the Kowloon Walled City!"

Lu Rong might have already acquired some of the assets, but he must have his eye on this land, which was destined to be tied to a government project.

It was key to his connections!

Earlier, Lu Rong had kept glancing at his watch, eager to leave—likely because he wanted to participate in the auction.

Well, that's not happening.

A bastard like him should end up with nothing and achieve nothing.

Jian Ruochen hung up the phone and re-entered the interrogation room. He pulled out a chair and sat down opposite Lu Rong.

He felt a sudden sense of unease in Lu Rong’s heart. "Good news? You seem pleased."

Jian Ruochen said, "You could say that. There’s been a… little unexpected windfall in the family business."

He raised his glass and clinked it against Lu Rong’s. "Cheers~"

*Clink.*

The sound of the glasses meeting echoed.

The wine caught the light.

Jian Ruochen took a sip and continued, "To save you the trip, why not wait here until Inspector Zhuo arrives?"

He added with an "oh," raising his glass again, "Also, thanks for giving me the advantage, Mr. Lu."

Jian Ruochen tilted his head back and downed the wine in his whiskey glass.

Lu Rong’s Adam’s apple bobbed. Just as he was about to speak, his phone rang frantically from his pocket.

Jian Ruochen gestured for him to go ahead. "Mr. Lu, please."