Chapter 1942: Chen Darong Got Injured
The family they suspected might have a lot of power in City Wei, but they held some degree of respect for the Cretan family, so it was impossible for them to kill Charles Cretan so publicly.
Meanwhile, the true culprit, the Zi family, ended up avoiding suspicion altogether.
They proceeded to investigate the people Charles Cretan had a conflict with recently.
Charles Cretan had conflicts with three groups of people in the past month and one of them seemed a likely suspect.
They were not locals. Instead, they were tourists from Country M. They got into a fight with Charles Cretan and were highly skilled fighters, but they lost since they were outnumbered.
Based on their investigations, these tourists from Country M seemed somewhat mysterious. They were unable to come up with more information about them, so the Cretan family suspected they were behind Charles Cretan’s death.
…
By the time Gu Ning and Leng Shaoting made it back to the capital, it was 5:00 pm on the 8th.
The moment they arrived home, Gu Ning received a lot of news. Some were good while others were bad.
The good news was that Xiangyun Antique-store was packed with guests since the recent promotion of the bronze chimes caused a furor in the antiques and music industry.
Although most of the people were there to see the bronze chimes, none of them got to see it. Even then, business was brisk in the store, and a lot of customers purchased things while they were here.
Even though most of the products in the store were imitation goods, half the authentic antiques were sold. That meant 17 to 18 pieces of antiques. After all, Gu Ning had displayed just slightly over 30 pieces of antiques in the store.
For an antique store, this was a fantastic performance. Barely any other antique shops had as many authentic pieces of antiques with most of their products being imitations.
The sales of imitation products at Xiangyun Antique-store added up to one to two months’ worth of sales. As for the authentic antiques, it was worth half a year of sales.
Genuine antiques were hard to sell, but they were able to make a lot of profit on every single one of them.
As the saying went in the antique industry, people often went on for years not selling a single piece of genuine antique. However, the moment they did, they made enough profit to keep them in operation for three years.
That was provided the stores carried good antiques.
The bronze chimes were both good news and bad news for Xiangyun Antique-store.
Shortly after Gu Ning had boarded the flight, Chen Darong got abducted. Someone wanted to get their hands on the bronze chimes through illegal means.
K checked the surveillance and located Chen Darong. He did not call the cops right away and instead got Ba Tianyang to send assassins to save Chen Darong.
However, even though they managed to save Chen Darong, he was gravely injured.
Chen Darong was pushed by his abductors when he attempted to retaliate, so he hit the back of his head badly on the ground. Although the injuries were not life-threatening, he was badly hurt and had to be hospitalized.
Hence, Gu Ning and Leng Shaoting headed to the hospital the moment they got out of the airport.
Since Leng Shaoting had parked at the airport, it made things a lot easier.
…
Xu Jinchen and Zi Beiying had taken a flight just an hour after Gu Ning and Leng Shaoting. And because there was only one car parked at the airport, they planned on leaving together.
No, correction. Gu Ning and Leng Shaoting were only expecting Xu Jinchen since they did not know that Zi Beiying was on the flight as well.
Now that Gu Ning and Leng Shaoting had to leave right away, Leng Shaoting made arrangements for someone to pick up Xu Jinchen before he sent him a text message. Xu Jinchen would see the message after he got off the flight.
Inside the car, Gu Ning called K and asked for details.
“Some people from Country R were behind Chen Darong’s kidnapping. Even though the ones who actually did it were locals, the mastermind was from Country R. A lot of foreigners have come to see the bronze chimes, but foreigners are banned from bidding for them, so they can only admire them. Some of them wanted to get locals to help them auction for the bronze chimes. However, these people from Country R went straight for Chen Darong and wanted to get their hands on the chimes through illegal means,” said K.
“Someone from Country R…” Gu Ning instantly looked annoyed when she heard who the mastermind was. She felt even angrier when she learned they were not locals. However, no matter who was behind it, she was infuriated that someone had touched her employee.
“Who are these people from Country R?” asked Gu Ning.
“He is a renowned musician from a concert hall located in Country R’s capital, Harada Honichi” said K.
“Where are they?” asked Gu Ning.
“They currently reside at Shengshi Hotel,” said K.
“Okay. That’s all for now. I will get in touch with you if I need more information,” said Gu Ning.
“Okay,” acknowledged K before hanging up the phone.
“Do you need me to do anything about it?” asked Leng Shaoting after he overheard the conversation Gu Ning had with K.
“Are you planning to make a move in the hotel?” asked Gu Ning teasingly as her mood lifted slightly.
“Don’t worry. I am not stupid enough to make trouble in our hotel. Even though I can’t do anything about it while they are in the hotel that doesn’t mean I can’t touch them outside!” said Leng Shaoting.
“Of course we have to do something about it, but now is not the right time. Let’s wait until they are ready to leave,” said Gu Ning. It was impossible for her to overlook their crimes, but it was just a bad time to take care of them now.
Since she had already sold the bronze chimes to the National Palace Museum, it would be the same regardless of people’s interest in them.
Gu Ning and Leng Shaoting arrived at the hospital about 40 minutes later and headed straight to Chen Darong’s hospital ward. Even though Chen Darong was not in a VIP ward, he had an ordinary room to himself.
Chen Darong’s wife was at the hospital with him. Although the company did not make arrangements for someone to stay with Chen Darong, he felt it was enough to have his wife around since it did not feel right to have someone staying with him in the ward. If he had any problems, he could approach the doctor directly or give Chen Cangyi a call. Someone from the company would send a representative to check on him occasionally as well.
The moment Chen Darong’s wife saw Gu Ning come in, she stood up and greeted her politely, “Director Gu, Mr Leng, welcome.”
“Director Gu, Mr Leng, thanks for coming,” said Chen Darong. He saw the fruit in Leng Shaoting’s hand and he instantly felt bad. “You didn’t have to come with gifts.”
“It’s just some fruit, so it’s no big deal,” said Gu Ning before she asked, “How are you feeling?”
“My head hurts a little. The doctor says I need to stay for a few days of observation,” replied Chen Darong with a disappointed look on his face. The auction was happening the day after, but he would be stuck in the hospital and was unable to go, so he could not help feeling dejected.
Gu Ning knew what he was thinking. However, she could take care of his injuries anytime.