Chapter 264: The reason for the morning

Repulse Bay is a crescent-shaped bay on the south side of Hong Kong Island, surrounded by mountains and the sea. The water is warm in winter and cool in summer. It is a very famous bay in the city, and it even has the reputation of being the best bay in the world and the Hawaii of the Orient. It can be said to be the best holiday destination in the city. Of course, in such a good place, there are naturally many villa areas, and Li Cheng's villa is here in Repulse Bay.

But Li Cheng is not the Li Cheng of ten years ago, and he is not yet the richest Chinese. The richest Chinese is still the shipping magnate Zheng Haolong. Therefore, the best villa in Repulse Bay is occupied by Zheng Haolong, followed by the second richest man Tong Gang. In addition, Li Cheng is kind by nature and started late, so he only managed to get a medium-to-high-end villa, which he later snatched from a ruined tycoon.

The best villas are directly by the sea, with an exclusive beach of their own, but Li Cheng's villa does not have this treatment and can only use the beach designated for the villa area.

In the evening, on the beach of Repulse Bay, several bonfires were lit, and a barbecue party was in progress. Many people gathered together, eating and drinking, chatting and laughing.

'Wow! I didn't know you could barbecue, Mr Li, and the squid you grilled was so delicious, if I didn't know you were a famous entrepreneur in Hong Kong, I would have thought you were a master chef!'

Someone exclaimed. This was where Li Chenghe, Zhou Minglin and Muqing Lin, along with the students from the finance class, were having a beach barbecue. Li Chenghe showed off a little, but Zhou Minglin and Muqing Lin weren't on the beach, but in a small pavilion in the back.

'Zhou Ming, you deliberately arranged to go to Central this afternoon, didn't you?' Lin Muqing asked.

'Yes and no,' Zhou Ming said, 'Central is the political and economic centre of Hong Kong. Since we have come to Hong Kong and decided to stay here for one night, we definitely have to go to Central. There is no deliberate intention involved. But then again, I really hope that my classmates can see Central in Hong Kong.'

'Why? Is it to inspire their ambition?' Lin Muqing asked.

Zhou Ming nodded and said, 'Yes, it is. If you don't see something with your own eyes, it's hard to get that feeling that penetrates your heart. And the world abroad is a colourful place, and there are things that you only want to strive for after experiencing them. These students have all been carefully selected by the country, and they are all very talented.'

Lin Muqing expressed her understanding. She knew very well that no matter how good something is described, it won't have that much impact until you see it with your own eyes.

'In fact, walking around Central with these students today also reminded me of the first time we came to Metro Harbour City,' said Lin Muqing.

Zhou Ming turned his head and looked at Lin Muqing. Her eyes were bright, as if she had recalled something. Zhou Ming also smiled and said, 'Yes, I remember that time. Muqing was afraid to look at the bustling place of Metro Harbour City and insisted on holding my hand before she dared to walk...'

Before Zhou Ming could finish his sentence, he felt a pinch of pain under his ribs. Lin Muqing said anxiously with a blush on her face, 'What do you mean I was the one holding your hand? It was you who wanted to hold my hand. I know what you were thinking. But when I think about the time we were staying in a hotel in Central that cost more than HK$100 a day, I feel so bad. After all, the room rate for one day was my monthly salary!'

'But now it's fine. Not to mention more than HK$100 a day, even if it's a room that costs HK$10,000 or even HK$100,000 a day, Ms Lin can afford it and still live very comfortably,' Zhou Ming said jokingly.

Lin Muqing gave Zhou Ming a nasty slap, glared at him in dissatisfaction, and then continued, 'Back then, you said that you wanted to speculate in the Hong Kong stock index and open a futures account, and I didn't understand any of it, so I could only follow you and believe in you. Although I was on tenterhooks every day, I still had a very fulfilling time.'

'This is also because you, Muqing, trusted me completely. Otherwise, with all these things you don't understand, I could have fooled you about anything and you wouldn't have known,' Zhou Ming said jokingly.

'But you wouldn't do that because I know that you, Zhou Ming, are a big shot who wants to do big things and would never do such dirty things!'

Having said that, Lin Muqing suddenly turned her head and looked at Zhou Ming and asked, 'You were at the border checkpoint this morning. Do you really think that the officer deliberately detained you in the interrogation room just because he had to save face?'

Zhou Ming was stunned. He didn't expect Lin Muqing's turn to be so sudden, without any signs at all, suddenly jumping from reminiscing to an unrelated question.

'Muqing, do you think that the officer was just trying to save face, or was there some other reason? Does it really matter? Or what good will it do if we figure it out? After all, we're not important people yet. Even if we reach Li Cheng's level, we still have to pretend to be ignorant about a lot of things,' said Zhou Ming.

'So you saw through it right away and thought there was something wrong with the officer detaining you?' asked Lin Muqing.

Zhou Ming nodded: 'How could there be no problem? I have no grudges against him from past lives or present lives. Why would he target me like this? And it's even more so the case when he saw the situation across the street and knew that I might be of some importance. Isn't he just asking for trouble? If he were a middle school student in his early teens, I'd believe it, but judging from his appearance, he's probably in his thirties, right? There's no reason for him to be so impulsive...'

'Since you knew that the police officer had a problem and was deliberately looking for trouble, why didn't you tell me in advance? Don't you know my contact information?'

Lin Muqing interrupted Zhou Ming with a glare in her eyes. Zhou Ming then understood why Lin Muqing's thoughts were so jumpy. In fact, she was just concerned about him. Zhou Ming took Lin Muqing's hand and said gently to her, 'Muqing, it's fine. I'm fine, aren't I? You know, I'll be fine as long as ** is by my side to protect me. He is the best soldier in the capital garrison, and he is a first-class expert in firearms and close combat.'

'But no matter what, you can't risk your own life!' Lin Muqing said, 'Zhou Ming, you have to know that you are not the same person as you were two years ago. My company is because of you, as is Xiaohan's company in the country, and your career in Northern Russia. All of this needs you...'

Lin Muqing's words were full of concern for herself, which made Zhou Ming feel very warm, but Zhou Ming still interrupted her and said to her, 'Sister Muqing, in fact, my greatest support is that the other party is afraid that they only want to teach me a lesson and don't want to really cause anything. The reason is that, as you just said, Sister Muqing, I have so many businesses, and it is not the time when I could be killed by just any street thug like two years ago.'

Lin Muqing was still not satisfied: 'But that police officer was really despicable. Maybe I'm not yet able to find out who was behind the plot, but I will make that police officer who dared to pick on you pay!'

Zhou Ming smiled and waved his hand at her, saying, "I don't think that will be necessary. I'm afraid someone will do it.'

'Is it Inspector Wang? To be honest, I don't trust that person," Lin Muqing said.

Zhou Ming shook his head and pointed upwards. Lin Muqing froze for a moment, about to ask Zhou Ming, but then suddenly a student shouted over to them, 'Teacher Muqing, Li Yang said he's going to do the hula here, come quickly! And Ye Ning baked you scallops and abalone, I just had a little taste, it's delicious... Oops, Ye Ning, don't hit me, I really didn't mean to eat it, I just couldn't help it...'

Listening to the commotion over there, Zhou Ming and Lin Muqing both laughed. Zhou Ming said to Lin Muqing, 'Sister Muqing, if I had to look at what happened this morning, it would have been over and we shouldn't dwell on it anymore. It's better to focus on the present and the future. Let's go play with the students first.'

With that, Zhou Ming took Lin Muqing's hand and walked down the beach, joining the barbecue party.

As the barbecue party on the beach gradually came to an end, Chairman Du Zhongyuan arrived at Yang Dingguo's room in Zhongnanhai, more than 2,000 kilometres away in Beijing. Yang was leaning back in a deck chair, closing his eyes to rest. When he heard Du Zhongyuan approaching, he opened his eyes immediately, waved him over and asked, 'Comrade Du Zhongyuan, it's late, what brings you here? I presume you have news about Zhou Ming. Has he already left for the United States?'

Du Zhongyuan smiled sheepishly and said, 'You can't hide anything from you, Yang. It's true that I have news about Zhou Ming to report to you, but it's not news that he's gone to the United States. He arrived in Gangcheng today and plans to stay in Gangcheng for a day before going to the United States tomorrow.'

'So he's arrived in Gangcheng, but has encountered some kind of trouble?' Yang Dingguo asked, speculating.

Du Zhongyuan nodded and said, 'This morning, Zhou Ming and the students in the finance class went to Gangcheng via Nanhu Port. Zhou Ming had a conflict with the police at the Gangcheng border crossing, and ** got into a fight with the police in the interrogation room.'

Yang Dingguo was a little surprised: "Is there such a thing? What's the reason?'

'It is said that the police officer from Gangcheng was deliberately making things difficult for Zhou Ming and wanted to detain Zhou Ming for a period of time," Du Zhongyuan replied.

Yang Dingguo's brows furrowed at once. He looked at Du Zhongyuan but didn't say anything, because they were old partners. Yang Dingguo knew very well that Du Zhongyuan was not the kind of person who would report half-baked news, so Yang Dingguo was waiting for his next words.

Sure enough, Du Zhongyuan quickly continued, 'Chen Yunfei in Nanjiang received news of this incident very soon afterwards, and he also sent someone to investigate, discovering that it might involve Binhai.'

'It really is them. They tried to trick Zhou Ming in Nanjiang, but failed. Now they're actually trying to trick him when he goes to Gangcheng. What a disgrace!'

Yang Dingguo first made a disdainful comment, and then thought for a moment before saying, 'Zhongyuan, go and get Comrade Lin Zekang. Whether he knows about this or not, we need to rein things in a bit. We can't let them get too far. After all, we're still here!'

Du Zhongyuan nodded and said, 'Okay, Lao Yang, I'll go inform Comrade Zekang right away.'

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