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Ch119 - In the Wake Of (ii)
The Old Fox that Joe was speaking of referred to his father, Devore Yves, an influential figure throughout the entire interstellar alliance.
But most people’s impression of him was limited to what was written in various articles. Mr Yves always had a modest and unassuming smile, neatly groomed silver hair with a hint of gold that had yet to whiten at its ends.
Even though he had passed his prime and was entering his twilight years, he still had a gentlemanly manner.
This temperament was unchanging throughout many generations of the Yves family, so they were well-embraced by the general public.
The family had their beginnings in manufacturing for the military sector, later switching to manufacturing for civilian use, then expanding to various other industries. The Yves were always able to smoothly establish new ground, which was in part due to the family’s temperament and image.
And when it came to Young Master Joe’s generation… probably the genetics saw an abrupt change—
The elder sister was fierce, the younger brother was a fool.
However, Mr Yves seldom graced the screen of Young Master Joe’s smart device.
In that leaping photo, Yves was sitting in the study, glaring straight into the lens and a glass ashtray in his hands, as though he was about to hurl it at the camera the very next second.
It was a far cry from his usual public persona. No trace of his alleged gentlemanly manner or politeness could be seen.
A photo like this was obviously the handiwork of Young Master Joe, and it was also only him who could rile the, in popular perception, gentlemanly Mr Yves to such a state.
Joe flicked air through the hologram, admiring the storm clouding his father’s imposing visage. He snorted and mumbled, “His hand probably slipped.”
Then, he unhesitatingly cut off the comms request.
“Not taking it?” Gu Yan asked.
“No way. His hand must have slipped. Since when has he ever dialled my comms in all these years. If he has anything to say, he’ll get Eunice to convey it.” Joe harrumphed. “You’re not aware of this but I got scammed last year, that time when he was hospitalised. I thought that it was something serious and picked up his call, but guess what? The moment that Old Fox heard my voice, he went ‘sorry, wrong number’ and hung up straight away. Would you have put up with it? Anyway, I’m not standing for it.”
But right after he finished telling his story, a new incoming comms request popped up.
He hadn’t changed the privacy settings of his screen and the hologram was still laying flat. So, Gu Yan and Yan Suizhi had front-row seats when the comms request came up for the second time.
It was still his stormy-faced father.
“Again?” Joe’s brows lifted.
The likelihood of his hand slipping twice in a row was too slim. This time, there probably really was something wrong.
Joe wavered for two seconds before eventually pinching the bridge of his nose, tapping on accept with a pinched expression.
“Yes?” He didn’t give a single word of greeting at all, throwing down this sentence immediately after it connected.
Whatever was happening on the other side, there was a sudden rattling, followed by a woman’s voice drifting over, muttering something under her breath. Then, she said, “Hey!”
Joe balked. “Eunice? You’re using Old… why didn’t you just use your own smart device if you’ve got something to say? What are you using his for? Afraid that I’ll pick up?”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Eunice said, “We’re right here at Fa Wang district. We were actually on the way over when we received the news. Old pops was worried about you, so we’ll be staying here for now.”
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Devore Yves’ enraged roar indistinctly carried across from the other side. “Bullshit!”
Eunice was not in the least bit intimidated by him. She carried on heedlessly, saying to Joe, “Don’t pay attention to him. He was just uneasy when he heard that it was a homicide and wanted to find an excuse to get on the line with you. He’s been posing for an hour already.”
“What nonsense are you spouting!” Devore Yves, in a very ungentlemanly fashion, rebuked from the other end.
Eunice, “Tell me which part of it is false. Didn’t you also pester me to dial this idiot the last time at Tian Qin?”
Joe, “…Ms Eunice, I’m still listening over here. Can’t you watch your vocabulary?”
Eunice, “Shut up. See you later.”
She seemed to be going in circles with Devore Yves on that side. Yves raged, “Stop with that nonsense; hand over the earpiece!”
“Too late,” Eunice said.
“What did you snatch my smart device for!” Yves continued to rattle off.
The shouting match between father and daughter could be heard loud and clear even without Joe putting it on speaker mode.
Out of courtesy, Yan Suizhi made a gesture to Joe that he and Gu Yan were going to leave him some space for privacy.
But Young Master Joe had so little qualms about it that he waved at them, mouthing, “Why are you running? You don’t have to, it’s not anything classified.”
During their conversation, the sharp staccato of high heels came crisply through the earpiece, and subsequently the sound of a door being locked.
Eunice lowered her voice. “Enough of that. Be careful at the hotel… the Mansons might have been involved in what happened.”
“What do you mean by that? How do you know that the Mansons are involved in this? Did you catch any news?” Joe asked.
Gu Yan and Yan Suizhi looked at him.
“No,” Eunice said. “The police department only told us that something happened over there, revolving around a duty officer in the surveillance room, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“Which is why it’s odd. Isn’t the connection between a duty officer and the Mansons very tenuous? But that’s what old pops believes.” Eunice paused before saying, “I think that we might have misunderstood the relationship old pops had with the Mansons back then. The past might not be as simple as we think.”
“…” Joe lapsed into silence. In the last year or so, he would occasionally have this niggling feeling that his relationship with his father wasn’t as bad as it seemed, such as just now.
One part of it was that Yves was gradually distancing himself from the Manson family. Another part of it was Eunice acting as a mediator between them.
However, any mention related to the ‘past’ would bring him a mild sense of distaste.
Eunice mulled over it, then said, “But it’s also a bit troublesome to dig up all that now. The information is incomplete. Trying to evade old pops’ social network is even harder. After all, the people responsible for handling these cases aren’t simple to deal with.”
Joe clutched his hair, instinctively repulsed by the subject. He hummed vaguely from his throat.
He had mixed feelings about what Eunice had said.
On one hand, it would be awesome if the decade-long conjectures he held against his father were just a misunderstanding. He would even look forward to it.
On the other hand, he was worried that the results of what he found would end up being the final nail in the coffin.
“There are also other outsiders involved,” Joe wilfully added.
But, right after those words were spoken, he wanted to bite off his tongue, for those words really sounded too much like rallying words of encouragement.
Sure enough, Eunice was waiting for this attitude from him.
She immediately said, “Yeah, there are a few peripheral cases where the ones who handled them were lawyers, judges, and police, all of whom might not necessarily be tied to the crazy socialite circle. However…”
Eunice was stuck in a dilemma. “It is challenging to differentiate those who truly have no ties to them from those that are only faking it.”
Due to the influence of their family name, it was usually easier for the Yves to do what others would struggle with. Information came more readily, and it was simpler for them to look into certain matters. Where others would waste decades to graze the fringe, they could start right from the heart of it.
But at some times, it was also because of their intertwined family connections that they would be stopped in their tracks, having more fetters on them than normal people would. Ultimately, they would have to resort to approaching people outside of these connections for assistance.
“Eh? Oh, right, what about Gu? He’s a lawyer, and one of the rare ones that we can trust, at that. Do you want to…” Eunice said.
Joe: I have three lawyers right in front of me right now, and I’d trust any one of them with my life.
He glanced at the three people on the sofas.
Honestly though, when it came to matters like this, he didn’t want to implicate people he cared about. It would be best if they didn’t even touch it with a finger, lest something sullied their hands, affecting their relationship.
But…
But it was equally bad to leave his friends in the dark without a single mention as well.
Young Master Joe felt that half his brain was getting tangled. He really wasn’t good at analysing knotty problems that required careful deliberation. His idle hands scrubbed his face out of shape. “He is a few years younger than me. He hasn’t come across many of these before.”
“Then do you know any older ones?” Eunice asked.
She released a remorseful sigh.
“What are you sighing about?” Joe’s expression was dead.
“I just thought of someone. If he was still around, I could ask him,” Eunice said.
“Who?”
“The former dean of your law school,” Eunice said.
Joe was slightly taken aback. “You’re friends with him? Why didn’t I know this?”
“Oh pur-lease, do I have to report to you the people I meet every day? Besides, weren’t you completely repelled by anything related to family politics? How the hell would you know!” Eunice swore at him then said, “Not exactly friends. It’s just that we had some contact during those corporate events, but I’m rather sure that he has nothing to do with the Manson crowd. And it was only just a few months ago that I found out that a case he worked on back in the day is actually related to some of those things…”
Joe blanked out. “Which case?”
“It’s one from pretty early on. A medical case,” Eunice said.
A medical case?
Joe took a moment to process. He was neither a law school masochist nor the bitter victim of a ten-year secret crush. So, he didn’t know the specifics of Yan Suizhi’s life story. Most of what he heard was from Gu Yan.
But from the little that he was aware of, he did have an impression of a medical case… Wasn’t the analysis that Gu Yan scrapped after a month of working on it precisely a medical case?
As he sieved through his mind, Eunice spoke up again. “Forget it. There’s no point talking about this; that guy’s gone already.”
Joe, “…”
Erm, sis… have you ever heard of resurrection?
Both Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan didn’t have any perverse interest in eavesdropping on someone’s conversation with their family.
Even if the Mansons were involved, they could still ask Joe about it once the call ended. Therefore, when Eunice softened her voice, Gu Yan and Yan Suizhi had consciously shut their ears.
At this time, their attention was more focused on the picture of Devore Yves about to throw the ashtray.
Because they noticed a very interesting ornament in the corner of Devore Yves’ desk—
An ornament in the shape of a ‘Clubs’ playing card suit.
“What do you think?” Yan Suizhi prodded Gu Yan’s fingers, asking in a low voice.
Gu Yan glanced at those frisky fingertips. “Mn. I’ll ask later.”
With that, they lifted their heads and found that Young Master Joe had finished his call. He had yet to remove his earpiece, but he was staring uncannily at Yan Suizhi, this gaze carrying hesitance, anticipation, conflict, and… cowardice. Exactly like he was doing his utmost to keep his tongue in check.
Yan Suizhi, “?”
Lawyer Gu, “???”