Panasonic Izumi’s expression was clouded and uncertain. After pondering for a moment, she slowly shook her head, "This strategy may work on Akimoto Hidekazu, but things aren’t that simple. My father and Akimoto Jiancheng are extremely close. Although such an incident would definitely anger him, as long as Akimoto Jiancheng shows some contrition, he can still earn my father’s forgiveness."
She was self-aware; her father doted on her, but he wouldn’t compromise the bigger picture for her sake.
Not to mention that she hadn’t actually been violated by Akimoto Hidekazu. Even if it had happened, considering various benefits, her father wouldn’t sever ties with Akimoto Jiancheng immediately. It was that tragic.
"I’m well aware of that," Aoyama Xiu Xin confidently responded after sipping the coffee in front of her, "But once this event occurs, the subsequent developments will not proceed as your father and Akimoto Jiancheng wish. They’ll end up turning against each other with a little push from my invisible hand."
He just needed to create that conflict, using it as a point to continuously escalate the dispute.
"Since Mr. Aoyama is so confident, I’ll go along with your plan and try it," Panasonic Izumi stared at his face for a while, then shrugged in agreement.
Although this hinted at betrayal and would trouble her own father, the money her father and Akimoto Jiancheng made together wasn’t hers. Yet, she would get a share of the profits if she collaborated with Aoyama Xiu Xin.
Besides, in her view, it was merely about swapping her father’s business partner. Aoyama Xiu Xin was even more capable—it was all for her father’s own good.
Aoyama Xiu Xin said, "Then it’s a pleasure to collaborate."
"Collaborating with Mr. Aoyama is quite delightful. I hope our partnership will be just as pleasant," Panasonic Izumi said seductively with a smile, delicately biting her coffee spoon and letting her pink tongue slide over it.
Aoyama Xiu Xin inwardly cursed, ’little flask,’ and glanced at his watch, "I have work to do; I must go now."
Although the signals from Panasonic Izumi were clear,
he truly wasn’t interested. Recently under the arrangements of the Clean Palace, he had his fill of various types of officials’ daughters—he was somewhat fed up with this type.
However, to be fair, when these arrogant beneficiaries cried out "mitigation" during their helplessness, it excited him, offering a thrill akin to violating a privilege.
"Hey! Please take your time," Panasonic Izumi shook her head slightly in disappointment, put down her spoon, and got up to see him off.
At the same time Aoyama Xiu Xin was headed to the police headquarters for work, Hattori, the Chief of the Second Department of the Criminal Investigation Bureau, drove solo to an elementary school.
After identifying himself as a police officer to the security guard, he successfully entered the campus and proceeded to the sixth-grade floor, knocking on the door of one of the classrooms.
"Knock, knock, knock!"
Immediately, both the students listening to the lecture and the teacher teaching turned their heads to look at him.
"Hello teacher, sorry to disturb, I’m from the police headquarters, I’m here to see Sun Zexing," Hattori had already spotted Sun Zexing among the crowd.
The teenaged Sun Zexing also saw him, recognizing the foreign police officer who had just visited his house the previous night to eat dumplings and question his parents.
"Hi!" The teacher replied, then turned to a round-faced boy and called out, "Sun."
"Hi!" Sun Zexing stood up and responded, then somewhat nervously followed Hattori to the hallway outside.
From his pocket, Hattori pulled out some candy he had prepared beforehand, hung a pleasant smile on his face, and handed it to Sun Zexing. To build rapport, he said in broken Chinese, "Kid, here, candy, take some."
As a Chinese, Sun Zexing strained to keep his composure at this sight, reminded of the ’little devils’ he had seen on TV at his grandfather’s house back in China.
"Kid, tell me, what did you see at 3 AM on January 14th? Good children don’t lie, you know. As long as you’re honest, all this candy is yours," Hattori articulated each word with difficulty, his Chinese was considered quite good already.
Due to Kudou Kei’s disappearance over two months ago, many surveillance videos on the street had already been automatically erased. Thus, he could only carry out door-to-door surveys with residents near the factory where Kudou Kei worked.
It was the middle of the night when the incident likely occurred; the street shops were all closed, and most residents were resting, leaving few eyewitnesses. However, fortune favors the persistent.
Near the food factory, there was a Chinese bun shop. Being a foreigner who could speak a bit of Chinese and had some understanding of Chinese cuisine, he knew the shop owners had to come from their home to knead the dough and make buns before dawn; they might have seen Kudou Kei.
So, he questioned the shop owners, who adamantly denied seeing anything. But relying on his years of investigative experience, he could tell they were lying.
However, due to their foreign status, he dared not use any strong-arm tactics, so he resorted to persistence.
He visited the bun shop again yesterday afternoon, where the owners’ son was doing his homework. Although the owners still claimed ignorance, he noticed the boy’s expression was off and instantly speculated the child might know something. Hence, he came to the school this morning armed with candy.
Foreigners living abroad want to avoid trouble, so lying is quite common, but children have simple minds and are certainly easier to deal with than their parents.