Chapter 26 - Refreshing lanes of a past era.

Liqin rose early, called Jack, and said, "Thanks for all the support, that was extended yesterday."

"It was my responsibility. In fact, I feel bad, that we could not timely avert you being drugged."

"Well, you could not be eyeing every person present on the floor, and their actions, with no danger in view. Anyway, it has passed now, and let us just let it go now."

"Well, I just need your help in arranging something for Jia. Could your co-ordinate with the staff to get it done?"

"I will ask some of the staff from the resort to assist you in your requirement, as I have been clearly instructed by Bao, not to compromise on security concerns."

"Well, I am perfectly fine with that. Kindly ask the concerned staff to get in touch with me. I need to make some arrangements for the evening."

"I will inform them to connect to you."

As Liqin disconnected the call, he received another call, this time from Bao. As he answered the call, Bao asked, "How are you doing this morning, after a dangerous evening?"

"How did you come to know?"

"Well, the security cell has up-to-date information, on matters concerning security, its lapses, and compromises. Before the pin hits the floor, its sound would echo to reach the cell officers involved. I am on my way to Zhuhai, for some unfinished business matter. I am already on the way to the airport, and would reach in three hours."

Liqin interrupted, and said, "Well, I have some good news for you."

"What?"

"In my drugged stupor yesterday, we confessed our mutual feelings for each other, and acknowledged, that we are inseparable, and deeply in love."

Bao replied in ecstasy, "Now this is the sweetest thing to hear. Congrats. We have lots of information to be shared. I'll catch up on arrival."

As Bao disconnected the call, Sam called up, as per the instruction of Jack, and said, "I have arranged three of my staff to do the necessary for you, tonight."

"All right, Can I meet them downstairs now?" Liqin responded, and went down to give out the details.

As he was discussing the details with them, he received a message from Jia, "Where are you?"

"I am waiting for you at the diner for breakfast."

While waiting at the diner, Jack approached, and said, "There's something I needed to discuss with you."

"What is it?"

"There is some sort of business relationship, that Mr. Li Enlai shares with the father of the girl, who was involved in the prank yesterday. I counter-checked from our sources and found the information to be true.

He had requested for an audience with you, to extend a sincere apology in person, yesterday, but we were not sure of his intentions, nor aware of his affinity with the Li household, hence we put the matter on hold to give an affirmation on the said matter, after making the necessary inquiries, and confirming on the same with you."

"Bao is on his way for some business meeting, three hours down the lane. Let us set a time, to be arranged, in a manner for us to meet them in his presence."

"That would be the best course of action. By the way, he had handed his visiting card to be handed over to you."

Taking over the visiting card from Jack, Liqin read out aloud, "Mr. Zhao Fai."

"Who is that?" Jia asked walking in for breakfast.

"The father of the girl, who was involved in the prank yesterday. He requests an audience with us. Some sort of business acquaintance of Enlai uncle."

"What did you reply?"

Liqin responded, "Let's meet up when Bao reaches in three hours."

"What brings Bao to Zhuhai?"

"Some sort of unfinished business. I think we can spend some time shopping in the meanwhile. We cannot go on tour, with him coming down. We'll have a lovely candlelight dinner in the evening."

"That's the best thing to do now."

As they came back from shopping Liqin received a call from Bao asking, "Where are you guys? I am waiting for both of you in the diner."

"We have just reached. We will come right away."

As Liqin and Jia, walked hand in hand to the diner, they were met by the shrewd smiles of Bao, who felt overjoyed at his accomplishment of getting the two inseparable love birds together.

As they sat down, Jia said, "I will keep these bags, and come."

Bao looked at the bags and responded, "You seemed to have purchased half of the mall."

Jia nodded her head and responded, "Not exactly! It's just some souvenirs and gifts for all."

She then picked a beautifully crafted pullover, and handed it over to him, and said, "Here this is for you, for getting us together."

Bao smiled and responded, "Someone had blurted, that they would not be ready for a wedding, two weeks down the lane, some days ago. Does anyone recollect uttering those words?"

At the utterance of that, Jia gave out a giggle, and said, "Well you must have heard it wrong."

She turned to Liqin and added, "I will keep these bags in the room, and return," and hurried away, to avoid any further discussion on the matter.

As she walked away Bao asked, "What do you plan next?"

Liqin looked in the direction of Jia walking away and responded, "I have made arrangements to propose in the evening. No more waiting. I think I am going to strike when the iron is hot."

Bao laughed and replied, "Wow! That is supersonic!"

As they were chatting, Jack arrived with two gentlemen and a lady.

He introduced them to the two as Zhao Fai and Zhao Qiang.

Zhao Fai greeted them, and said, "You have the features of Li Enlai, If I am not mistaken, you are Li Bao. Nice to meet you, Mr. Li. Your father and I are longstanding acquaintances."

Bao greeted in response, and said, "Welcome Mr. Zhao. Is there anything, that I could be of help to you?"

"I just came to apologize, for my daughter's immature behavior yesterday. Yesterday, your cousin had been grieved by her actions. We are extremely sorry for the inconvenience caused to him."

"Mr. Zhao, you need to do that to the one grieved then. Let me introduce you to him."

He pointed at Liqin, and said, "He is the guy she aggrieved yesterday, my cousin Chang Liqin."

As he introduced Zhao Fai was stunned, and said, "Are you the son of Chang Wei?"

Liqin turned around stunned and responded, "Yes. How do you happen to know my dad?"

Zhao Fai smiled and responded, "We were business acquaintances. You have inherited your father's twinkling eyes, and your mother's dimpled smile."

Jia walked in to join the discussion.

Zhao Fai pointed to the young man in his thirties who had accompanied him and said, "This is my son Zhao Qiang."

Both Liqin and Bao greeted him, as Jia stated, "We have met yesterday already. What happened to your forehead?"

Zhao Qiang touched his forehead and responded, "I just escaped a major accident last night, as my car skid. Fortunately, I just got hit on the forehead."

Jia shook her head and said, "Hope it is not hurting much, as it is the forehead. Did you see a doctor?"

"Yes, I did. I might need to go to the doctor again as it is hurting, and since yesterday, I have been hallucinating a child, and a mother going down the sea in an accident. I do not know why though?"

Liqin interrupted the conversation, and said, "You better get to the clinic for a checkup soon."

Liqin looked back towards Zhao Fai and asked, "You were saying something about my parents."

Zhao Fai smiled and responded, "I was the one, who introduced Mr. Li to the then son-in-law of the Liu family, who were the owners of the small Luxury hotel, that was once being run where the resort stands today. It took both of your parents a lot of effort to build it to this grandeur."

Zhao Fai touched his forehead and added, "Well the hotel then was called——"

As he was recollecting the name Zhao Qiang blurted out, "Swan Lake Palace."

Shocked at the response, Zhao Fai turned to Qiang, and asked, "How do you know about it? Though it was quite small, it was a luxury beyond the reach of many even then?"

Zhao Qiang replied, as if in a trance, "I used to feed the swans with Grandma. She loved them a lot, and she also had a few at the palace mansion."

Zhao Fai held him by his shoulder and asked, "How do you know the palatial mansion?"

Zhao Qiang closed his eyes in pain and responded, "Because that's where I lived."

Zhao Fai tilted toward him and asked, "When did you live there? — Wait are you probably —," and pauses as he sees Qiang with his hand on his head in pain.

Bao got up and interrupted the conversation and said, "Is there something, that needs medical attention here?"

As Bao completed the question, Zhao Qiang fainted. Liqin immediately rushed up to Qiang, to hold him from falling and hurting himself.

They rushed him to the hospital for treatment.

As they waited outside, while the doctors were checking Zhao Fai murmured, "Is it him?"

He paced back and forth with clenched fists and then again blurted, "Could have I taken care of him all the while?"

As Liqin and Jia exchanged glances over Zhao Fai's changed demeanor, Bao interrupted, and asked, "Is there something that needs urgent attention?"

Zhao Fai shook his head and responded, "Well, he is an adopted child, that my wife found in an accident. I was out on a business tour thirty years ago, when my wife adopted a four-year-old who had accidentally been hit by her car, on the road close to Hengqin bay. Coincidentally, the child had not been hurt much, but he lost his memory and started to call my wife his mother. After I came back, six months later, I found my wife who had been in depression to have accepted him and recovering. As we did not have any children then, we decided to adopt him as our own. Four years later, when we were blessed with a daughter, we tried our level best to look for missing children in the police records, but none matched his details."

As he was about to speak, they heard a scream from Zhao Qiang calling out, "Mom—"

As they rushed inside, they found him murmuring in his unconscious state, "Mom went down into the sea with the car."

Hearing his murmurs, Zhao Fai gazed at him in shock and said, "There's no doubt about it. It's him."

Li Bao looked up and inquired, "Whom?"

Zhao Fai stood still as if in a trance and responded, "The grandson of the Liu family. The daughter of the Liu family had met with an accident, near the Hengqin Bay, and the car had drowned in the sea. Her son, who was at that time present with her in the car, had been assumed to have drowned with the mother. His body however had not been found by the divers, and assumed to have been carried away, by the underwater currents."

Zhao Fai walked ahead and continued, "I need to make some calls. Li Enlai would be relieved of the pain of this loss partially."

Stunned Liqin enquired, looking in the direction of Bao, "What does uncle have to do with the accident in the Liu family?"

Jia shook her arms and added, "Why would uncle be relieved of the loss?"

Walking back Zhao Fai continued, "Well, that's a long story, I will tell you later when things are confirmed."

The doctor walked out, and said, "The patient is now conscious, you may meet him."

As they walked in to meet Zhao Qiang, the doctor said, "We need to speak to the guardian. May I know, whom should we discuss the details with?"

Zhao Fai walked ahead and said, "I am responsible for him. You need to discuss it with me."

Zhao Chynna walked ahead, pointed to the door, and said, "I will just go out to get some medicines."

As the doctor left with Zhao Fai, and Chynna walked out to buy medicines, Liqin looked at the dazed face of Qiang, and spoke, "How are you feeling now Qiang?"

In a daze, Qiang replied, "Why is everyone calling me Qiang? My name is Taio., and since when did I become a Zhao?"

Bao interrupted the conversation, and said, "Well, you had earlier lost your memory in an accident, and Mr. Zhao had found you, and adopted you since then."

Qiang tried to recollect things and fainted again in pain.

Liqin rang for the doctor, and he walked in along with Zhao Fai. The doctor checked on him, and said, "Let him stay here for a day. We need to do some checkups."

The doctor turned around and continued, "I think we should give him some space to recover. Any mental strain would aggravate the trauma."

Bao turned to Mr. Zhao Fai and responded, "Let him take rest. We will take your leave, Mr. Zhao. If you need anything, feel free to call. I have a business meeting at four, and would be free to help you later."

As they were leaving, Zhao Chynna returned.

Zhao Fai looked at her and responded, "Well, we owe you all a lot, after what my daughter did yesterday. I should be the one apologizing, rather than receiving your support."

Liqin shook his head and responded, "That's all-forgiven, Mr. Zhao."

Liqin, then looked towards Chynna, and said, "Miss, you could get into deep trouble with pranks like these. Do not repeat it. You are lucky to be forgiven by my fiancée."

Jia looked at him, smiled, and then added, "Well, you are like a sister to us. You should be glad to have Qiang with you always. He was super protective of you yesterday."

Bao shook his head with a smile and interrupted, "We need to move. Mr. Zhao, we are glad to meet you, especially since you are a long-time acquaintance of our parents. We hope to see you again."

Zhao Fai shook his hand with them and replied, "I am glad too."

As they were leaving, Zhao received a call from Li Enlai, and he responded, "Enlai, I found the missing grandson of the Liu household. He is still unconscious. I will call you once I have confirmed it."

He disconnected the call, and replied to a prying Bao, "I will update you on his well-being by evening."

All three of them, greeted and proceeded to leave, when Jia said, "Enlai uncle's life seems to be a mystery in itself, full of surprises and suspense. First, it was aunt Roulan, and now the grandson of the Liu household. What story does this incident hold now?"

Liqin pulled her to him by the shoulder, and said, "I think we should not interfere in this matter. If uncle must inform, he will inform us."

Bao turned around and added, "That's right, it's better to keep away from matters involving dad. There's too much suspense in his life, as the unbeatable business wolf of his era."

Bao shook his head and added, "I just hope we don't have to deal with these skeletons, in the future, as they pop out of the casket one by one."

Liqin looked at him, and said, "You need to calm down. I trust uncle completely. He does not get his hands dirty, with any unlawful and illegal matters."

"Liqin is right. Uncle might be a ruthless business wolf, but does not go on a savaging spree hurting people and families in the process."

Liqin smiled at her and added, "Moreover, what happened with the Wang family, and aunt Roulan were their choices. We do not have any pieces of evidence of your father forcing him to prematurely retire. Do we? The business world is an animal kingdom, where only the fittest survive. You cannot be doing charity, while you earn profits. Moreover, the financial security of the families of the employees, and the shareholders depended on his business decisions. How do you think he built this huge empire? You cannot build castles in the air. on the foundation of charity, when your decisions feed thousands."

Bao stood still for a moment with his arms stretched open and concluded, "Well I accept defeat. You, look more like my dad's son."