Gu Moqian swiftly cleared the message history on his phone, then strode toward the bathroom window and tossed the device directly into the grass outside.
Outside the bathroom door, the man in black was already losing patience. "Mr. Gu, what are you doing in there? Please open the door immediately! Otherwise, we’ll have to barge in!"
The man’s voice fell, but there was no response from inside the bathroom.
After waiting a few more seconds, the impatient man in black finally slammed the door open!
Inside the bathroom, Gu Moqian stood in front of the toilet, calmly fastening his belt buckle, before pressing the flush button. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel[f]ire.net
The sound of rushing water echoed throughout the bathroom.
He turned, locking eyes with the black-clad man standing frozen at the door, his expression carrying a hint of anger. "Mr. Yamamoto even wants to spy on someone using the toilet? Such peculiar habits—truly unbecoming."
The man in black turned pale, unable to muster a response.
"Have nothing to say now?" Gu Moqian’s lips curled into a mocking smile as he slowly approached the man. His voice was cold and biting. "Take me to see Yamamoto Yu. Violating my privacy requires an explanation!"
"Apologies, this was just a misunderstanding. But Mr. Yamamoto hasn’t instructed us to meet you yet, so you should..."
The man in black tried to deflect politely, but Gu Moqian’s patience was clearly worn thin. Cutting him off mid-sentence, he said sternly, "So you won’t let me go? Fine. Don’t blame me for what happens next!"
His voice carried the weight of deep anger. As he spoke, he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. Before the black-clad man could react, Gu Moqian landed a fierce punch on his face.
The man in black fell to the ground from the impact, staring up at Gu Moqian in disbelief, but dared not fight back.
Ignoring him completely, Gu Moqian strode out of the bathroom.
Another man in black, stationed by the door, hesitated for several seconds before snapping out of his daze. Seeing Gu Moqian step out, radiating fury, he quickly moved to intercept him.
"Mr. Gu, you cannot leave without Mr. Yamamoto’s permission..." The man attempted to stop him but ended up taking a brutal punch as well.
Realizing Gu Moqian was someone he could not afford to provoke, the man refrained from retaliating, despite the pain from his burning cheek.
Holding his injured face, he reluctantly pursued Gu Moqian.
Inside the study, Yamamoto Yu leaned back into the heavy leather swivel chair, staring into the void, seemingly lost in thought.
After a while, he adjusted his posture slightly, opened the drawer of the desk before him, and pulled out an old, worn photo album.
The album appeared to have been flipped through countless times, with some sections nearly torn.
Yamamoto handled it with care as he turned the pages, eventually extracting a faded photograph from one of them.
On the photo, a woman stood in front of London Bridge wearing a beret and a white-style dress, her elegance accentuated by the outfit. She smiled warmly at the camera, her breathtakingly beautiful face captivating Yamamoto no matter how many times he looked.
Holding the photo up to catch the light streaming through the window, Yamamoto narrowed his piercing, hawk-like eyes and parted his lips, slowly uttering a name in Mandarin: Wanfei.
Yamamoto gazed at the photograph for a long time, memories of the woman merging with Ji Wei’s face in his mind.
A strange emotion stirred within him, refusing to dissipate. Driven by an unidentifiable impulse, he abruptly stood, leaned on his cane, and quickly left the study.
After Beichuan escorted Ji Wei into the room, she promptly shut the door.
She carefully inspected every inch of the room, only feeling slightly reassured after confirming there were no surveillance cameras. She intended to crack open the closed window for some fresh air; however, just as her hand reached out, footsteps sounded from the doorway.