Atlas Studios

  Atlas Studios

  Leader Zhou propped his hand on the armrests of the wooden high chair and frowned.

  The leaders of the procurement hall also remained silent. Shi Liming had indeed found a lot of trouble for them.

  “Has Mr. Cheng agreed as well?” Leader Zhou pondered for a moment before looking at Shi Liming.

  Shi Liming didn’t say much and just nodded.

  “Okay.” Leader Zhou pressed his temple. “I will arrange this.”


  Since Shi Liming was now Qin Ran’s follower, he turned around to leave after conveying the message.

  Leader Zhou’s eyebrows jumped again. “Where are you going?”


  “Oh.” Shi Liming reacted and smiled with his delicate eyes. “Cheng Mu said that Miss Qin’s flowers can’t stand the climate here, so I’m going to the gardener to dig some soil.”


  Then, he left in a hurry.

  Nobody in the procurement hall responded.

  After a long while, the leader of the procurement hall shook his head. “This Shi Liming is a talent, what a pity.”


  Even Leader Du couldn’t steer clear of such a thing. Nobody knew how Shi Liming was going to improve his strength…… if he rushed around every day without performing his proper duties.

  Cheng Shui was scrupulous in separating public from private interests, so even if his own brothers worked under him, they still had to depend on their own strength to speak.

  Wasn’t it obvious from how even Cheng Mu didn’t know the facts?

  Leader Zhou pondered for a long while without speaking.

  Shi Liming was capable and Leader Zhou had always regarded him as a trusted aide. He never would have expected such a thing to happen.

  Leader Zhou tapped his finger on the armrest and wondered if he should start training another trusted aide.

  Shi Liming might not do.

  **

  Shi Liming went to the place where the servants in the back tower rested overnight and found the old gardener. After asking some questions, he followed the old gardener with a shovel and went back to the greenhouse to shovel some dirt back.

  When he arrived at the study, Qin Ran was still lying on the table. She was writing with her phone in her hand, while the black headphone cord hung down along her hair.

  In Shanghai, she already had a frame on Yan Xi’s theme but hadn’t had the time to write it down.

  Her paper was filled with words, but she frowned and crumpled it. Then, she threw it at her feet and took out another piece of paper.

  Her side profile was cold and irritable.

  An air of low pressure hung around her.

  No one dared to approach her.

  For a long time, she wrote another page expressionlessly. After looking at it from beginning to end, she picked up her phone and took a photo for Yan Xi.

  Only then did she pick up her pen to slowly refine it.

  Seeing that her expression had relaxed, Cheng Mu brought her a cup of tea. No matter what he did today, his mood was low, so after pouring tea for Qin Ran, he sat down and fell into deep thoughts about life.

  The atmosphere here was extremely depressing and completely different from Cheng Juan’s side.

  “Brother Cheng Mu.” Shi Liming called and handed a bag of soil to him. He glanced at Qin Ran and asked in a low voice, “What’s Miss Qin doing?”


  She was writing an arrangement and there was a pile of crumpled waste paper under her feet.

  She would probably replace it with a new paper in a few minutes.

  There were several notes written on the paper. Shi Liming didn’t know how to read notes and barely recognized a few.

  Hearing this, Cheng Mu looked up blankly. “She’s probably writing something? Miss Qin knows how to play the violin.”


  “Oh.” Shi Liming nodded. “Is Miss Qin left-handed? She keeps using her left hand……”


  Shi Liming obtained a lot of answers from Cheng Mu without much movement.

  The study room was quite large, but most of the people here were trainers. Although Shi Liming and Cheng Mu talked in low voices, their conversation could be heard upon careful listening.

  Cheng Shui sighed as he listened to them.

  After reporting on Matthew, Leader Du glanced at Cheng Juan. “Boss, is Mr. Cheng Huo back yet?”


  The few leaders all knew that Cheng Huo was a hacker.

  There were also rumors in the manor that Cheng Huo had joined the Hacker Alliance, but he had never verified this before.

  Cheng Huo often disappeared without saying anything and could only be contacted through Cheng Shui.

  Matthew moved a lot recently, but Leader Du could only obtain information through Cheng Huo.

  “He’s not in Continent M. He’ll come back in two or three days.”Cheng Juan reached over and picked up his phone. He counted the time and gave Leader Du an accurate number.

  Leader Du nodded. “I also only received news about Matthew’s hacker. I don’t know how much they know about the inside of our manor.”


  “That hacker.” Cheng Shui also looked away and sat down, slightly puzzled. “Have you found out who it is?”


  “Not a single piece of news.” Leader Du shook his head and asked Cheng Juan, “Boss, do you know Matthew?”


  Leaning back against the chair and holding a teacup in his hand, Cheng Juan replied absent-mindedly, “I only confronted him once. He’s always on his guard.”


  Cheng Mu, sitting on the side and talking to Shi Liming, finally recovered from his confusion only to hear the name “Matthew”.

  He paused involuntarily.

  “What’s wrong, Brother Cheng Mu?” Shi Liming patted his shoulder and whispered, “Are you all right?”


  “No.” Cheng Mu shook his head.

  He just suddenly remembered that Matthew from Interpol knew Gu Xichi very well, while Qin Ran knew both Cheng Juan and Gu Xichi……

  Shi Liming chuckled. “Then we’ll continue to talk about the journey tomorrow. It might take two and a half days and doesn’t pass by a hotel. Tomorrow, we’ll go to the procurement hall and bring some stuff for Miss Qin. She might not be used to……”


  **

  At ten-thirty, the manor’s headlights were still brightly lit.

  Cheng Juan saw that Qin Ran seemed done with her work, so he asked Leader Du to leave.

  Qin Ran had slept since the afternoon and wasn’t sleepy. Cheng Juan thought about it and brought her down to walk around the manor.

  The structure of the manor was large and connected by cement roads. Cobblestone paths interspersed in between them.

  Qin Ran and the others now stayed in the old castle on the second row.

  To the front was a row of towers, the windows somewhat narrow, and the gates semi-arched and staggered. They were probably conference halls and many people came and went.

  On both sides was a large fruit tree field, as well as a martial arts field. There was more than one martial arts field in the open and built under the tower.

  Qin Ran harbored no interest in those European-style buildings.

  She stopped by the martial arts field. The whole field was like a gladiator field, surrounded by wooden piles and a collapsed terrain.

  By lying on the wooden pile, it was like overlooking the martial arts field from above.

  Even past ten o’clock, dozens of figures could still be seen under the headlights of the martial arts field.

  Some people were practicing shooting, some were hitting the folding stool, some were practicing boxing…… there was a myriad of activities.

  Qin Ran looked on with interest and saw a figure on the edge of the martial arts field. She raised her eyebrows in surprise and reached out to poke Cheng Juan on his side. “Is that Cheng Mu?”


  She pointed at the figure of a tough guy.

  Cheng Juan glanced over with disinterest and leaned to one side of the pile, his delicate eyebrows arched lazily. “He just received a shock, so he’s training diligently.”


  Cheng Mu had always thought that he was Cheng Juan’s trusted aide.

  But what happened today had given him an unexpected heavy blow. He was beneath not just his brothers, but also his brothers’ subordinates. Hence, he turned his grief and anger into motivation.

  Qin Ran nodded and didn’t ask further. She rubbed her chin, shook her head, and said distastefully, “That’s the wrong move. His chassis is unstable.”


  Cheng Juan heard this and glanced at her in amusement. Then, he chuckled lightly, his dark eyes seeming to contain the crumbling starlight under the headlights.

  He remembered how six months ago, he and Lu Zhaoying had watched her fight in Heng Chuan First Middle School for the first time.

  Qin Ran glanced at him and raised an eyebrow, asking him why he was laughing.

  “No.” Cheng Juan kept his smile and changed the topic. “Cheng Shui told me just now that you wanted to go to the procurement hall tomorrow?”


  Qin Ran continued to watch their training and nodded distractedly.

  “I already told someone to prepare the necessities. Tomorrow, I’m going to the Mas family’s house to discuss business, so I won’t be going with you. Cheng Mu and Shi Liming will be with you.” Cheng Juan took her coat and buttoned up the hat.

  Qin Ran paused and then nodded.

  **

  Leader Du now lived in a row behind Cheng Juan’s old castle, which was on the right of the law enforcement hall.

  He came out of the old castle’s study room and returned to his office. Instead of resting, he searched for information on his computer.

  Someone knocked on the door outside.

  Without looking up, he said directly, “Come in.”


  It was Leader Zhou. He wore a coat and was frowning deeply as if something was bothering him.

  “What’s wrong?” The leaders were rather familiar with each other, so Leader Du put down his mouse and stood up in concern. He gestured for Leader Zhou to sit at the meeting table. “Why are you here so late?”


  “I want the law enforcement people to transfer a group of people,” Leader Zhou didn’t hold back and said directly.

  As everyone knew, the highest force value of the whole manor belonged to those of the law enforcement hall. Each leader had seen blood in the wrestling ring and had played with life and death before.

  Leader Du gave him a cup of coffee. “Go on.”


  The procurement hall didn’t match with the law enforcement hall. The military strength of the procurement hall was the smallest, but it was the richest. If they were no match for their opponents, they would use shady moves and guns.

  There must be some inside story if Leader Zhou had come to borrow men.

  Leader Zhou didn’t hide the truth and poured out Qin Ran’s incidence. “I’ve already asked Mr. Cheng. If that lady Qin really loses a single strand of hair, we’ll all die on Boss’s hand.”


  There was no need for Leader Zhou to remind him of this. Leader Du had already learned it in the study just now.

  He slammed the teacup on the table and frowned deeply. “Are you going there to exchange goods or to play? What nonsense.”


  Now was the time for the forces of several parties to confront each other, and there was also a shortage of manpower. Next month, Leader Du had even prepared to evaluate new recruits.

  But there just had to be a troublemaker to occupy manpower at this time.

  The two exchanged glances, their expressions extremely complicated.

  Everyone who worked behind Cheng Juan basically sized people up based on their abilities. The annual assessment standard was also judged in this aspect. Cheng Juan was undoubtedly a good boss.

  Before this, everyone in the manor felt that they could hardly find any shortcomings in Cheng Juan.

  Until today……

  “We’re investigating the law enforcement hall and there aren’t many men left. We’ll give you a few people from the first team tomorrow.” Leader Du finally divided the strongest team for Leader Zhou.

  Leader Zhou was stunned for a moment. He didn’t expect Leader Du to be so generous? He really lent him some men?

  He thought that Leader Du would directly find Cheng Juan and ask Miss Qin to not join them.

  He took a sip of coffee and didn’t leave immediately. Instead, he probed further. “That Miss Qin…… Boss didn’t introduce us to her today, right?”


  Leader Du heard this and understood what Leader Zhou was thinking. He just glanced at him and shared his opinion. “Not introducing her doesn’t mean indifference.”


  **

  Cheng Mu didn’t return from the martial arts field until twelve.

  When he stopped, there were still more than a dozen figures on the field.

  From time to time, people would stop and point fingers in amusement at him.

  “Master Juan?” After taking two steps, he stopped after seeing a figure standing not far away.

  “Yes.” Cheng Juan had told Qin Ran to return to bed first. Out of habit, he took out a cigarette and raised an eyebrow lazily. “Follow Miss Qin well tomorrow, and contact me at any time if something happens.”


  He instructed.

  Cheng Mu stopped and pursed his lips. After a long while, he bowed his head in shame. “Master Juan, find someone else to protect Miss Qin! I’m not capable enough!”


  The weakest man from the law enforcement hall could even bring him to his knees……

  Cheng Juan raised an eyebrow and straightened his coat. He glanced at him and said clearly, “Which part made you think that I let you protect Miss Qin?”


  Cheng Mu froze.

  Cheng Juan looked away. His tone was clear and slow as he said rather affectionately, “I let you take care of her flowers and her chores.”


  Cheng Mu was speechless.

  **

  Early the next morning.

  Cheng Juan left at six.

  Qin Ran was still sleeping when he left, so he didn’t wake her up.

  It was already seven o’clock when Qin Ran got up.

  When she came out from her shower and ate her breakfast, Cheng Mu had already wrapped the pot of flowers. Shi Liming held a large suitcase in his hand and said, “Miss Qin, we can set off now.”


  A convoy was already parked at the gate of the manor.

  More than a dozen figures stood on both sides. Leader Zhou stood in the center, giving orders sharply.

  When he saw Qin Ran coming out, he paused.

  “Miss Qin.” He greeted her extremely politely. “Your car is the one in the middle.”


  This was the first time Leader Zhou saw Qin Ran. Seeing her beautiful young face, he felt even more ill at ease.

  Qin Ran reached out and scrolled through Yan Xi’s WeChat message. She nodded distractedly and sat in the middle car lazily.

  Shi Liming drove while Cheng Mu sat in the co-pilot seat.

  Once they were in the car, the men on both sides glanced at Leader Zhou doubtfully. “That’s Miss Qin? She’s coming with us?”


  Other than a few of the leaders, nobody else knew that Qin Ran was coming along.

  Leader Zhou nodded and said in difficulty, “Mr. Cheng Shui said she’s coming to play……”


  Everyone in the procurement hall fell into a moment of silence. She was crazy……