10 A Gathering Over Dinner

Zhou Zhuofei’s initial performance had been a bit of an act, but now only genuine emotion remained. "That’s amazing! You’re like Sherlock Holmes."

Having received the reaction he anticipated, Jiang Shen quirked a corner of his mouth in triumph. "Compared to Sherlock Holmes, I’d prefer to call myself Matthew Scudder."

"That’s even more impressive!"

Jiang Shen blinked, observing Zhou Zhuofei’s reaction to see if she truly understood the reference or was merely feigning knowledge.

"You read Lawrence Block too?"

"I’ve read a few of his books. I was quite fond of mystery novels back in university. If I recall correctly, didn't Matthew Scudder used to be a cop..."

In reality, Zhou Zhuofei didn't finish her sentence. In the novels, the protagonist’s background as a former police officer often led him to leverage connections on both sides of the law to handle his cases. If Jiang Shen likened himself to Matthew Scudder, didn't that imply he also...

"Hey, you can't just say things like that." Jiang Shen cut her off, but in doing so, he confirmed that she had indeed understood his implication.

Zhou Zhuofei immediately caught on and fell silent. Come to think of it, could an ordinary person really be a private investigator? Just the thought of it made the profession seem thrilling.

Although she wanted to inquire further, the elevator was about to arrive, and she had to let it go with a sense of regret.

"I’m leaving now. It was a pleasure meeting you, great detective."

"A pleasure meeting you too, Miss Zhou."

As Zhou Zhuofei stepped forward to leave, she suddenly remembered something. She turned around and asked, "Let me ask you one more question: are your fees high?"

"They're reasonable, but I can give you a discount."

As he spoke, the elevator doors began to close slowly. Seeing time running out, Jiang Shen made a gesture as if holding a phone to his ear. "If you need anything, give me a call." He winked at her as he said it.

Zhou Zhuofei had originally been considering whether to hire Jiang Shen to find Zhang Qiaoqiao, but she felt a pang of regret as soon as the question left her lips.

It was easy to analyze the situation: Jiang Shen coming to see Xiao Wang at this hour and having an access card could only mean he was working for Ling Yu. Since he was capable enough to work for Ling Yu, his skills were undoubtedly high-end, and his fees were surely beyond what an ordinary person could afford.

Although she didn't know the extent of the discount he offered, she couldn't help but feel a sense of inadequacy.

At the same time, she wondered if it was necessary to spend so much energy on Zhang Qiaoqiao. Truth be told, they didn't really know each other. She only knew that the young girl had lost both parents, had lived with her grandmother, and had started boarding at school after her grandmother passed away last year.

When Zhou Zhuofei had heard about this at the time, she had privately transferred some money to Teacher Yao, asking her to pass it on to Zhang Qiaoqiao. It wasn't a large sum, but it was enough to help in an emergency.

This had technically violated the rules; Teacher Yao had only helped because the situation was special, and she had specifically warned Zhou Zhuofei afterward that it was better not to do such things. She knew Teacher Yao’s warning was well-intentioned. Having done charity work for so many years, she must have seen enough cases to reach that conclusion.

She didn't consider herself a great philanthropist; she was simply well-off enough and didn't care much for money, so she was willing to help out a little. But if the cost was too high...

If she were the protagonist of a story, she would surely do it at any cost. Unfortunately, she was merely a bystander. Fortunately, she was just a bystander, so she didn't need to carry the weight of so many moral shackles.

Zhou Zhuofei dismissed the thought, but during a spare moment, she took out Jiang Shen’s business card and saved his number into her phone. Even though she felt there was little chance she would ever need a private investigator, having an extra friend meant having an extra path.

After saving the number, she placed the card into a storage box for miscellaneous items.

Just then, Zhan Zilang came over to ask a question and caught sight of the card. He couldn't help but let out an "Oh?"

Zhou Zhuofei, who was looking at some documents, felt puzzled by his reaction. "What are you 'oh-ing' about?"

She looked up and realized he was staring at the card. "Do you know this person?"

Zhan Zilang said uncertainly, "Maybe? Or it could be someone with the same name."

Given that both were connected to Ling Yu, Zhou Zhuofei figured it was likely the same person. "This guy claims to be a private investigator. Is he the one you know?"

"Then it is the one I know." Zhan Zilang excitedly began to share what he knew. "He’s quite famous. Do you know 'New World'?"

"You mean the bar? Of course I've heard of it." New World was rumored to be the most high-end bar in the area. When Zhou Zhuofei first arrived here for school, she had heard local classmates mention it, and people often joked about booking a table there to show off their wealth.

"New World is his family's business."

"Then isn't he quite rich?"

"Exactly. The Jiang family specializes in the entertainment industry. Generally, children in such families are expected to go home and inherit the business, but he just ran off to be a private investigator. For a while, my parents used him as a negative example..."

Zhan Zilang scratched his head, looking unimpressed. "But I think being a detective is super cool. I have a friend who hired him to investigate something, and they said he’s quite reliable."

Listening to his account felt like listening to a story. Such an extraordinary experience...

After he finished, she commented, "Capable people can be brilliant at anything they do."

"Yeah, I really admire his courage. At first, I wanted to follow in his footsteps and do something, but then I realized I didn't actually know what I wanted to do."

Zhou Zhuofei sighed. "That's nice. When I graduated, I didn't have any particular pursuit; I just took whatever job I could find." She clutched her chest, pained. "It seems I'm still too mediocre."

"Don't say that. Sister Zhou, I think you're doing quite well. Not many people find their 'dream' anyway. Look at me, I don't even know what I want to do. I only took this job because my parents forced me to find something since I had nothing going on."

Zhou Zhuofei gasped, feeling the air grow even more bitter.

"...Hearing that makes me even more miserable, thank you."

She did not want to empathize with the wealthy!

"Don't be like that, cheer up!"

"I am cheered up." Zhou Zhuofei efficiently circled the issues on the document and handed it back to Zhan Zilang. "Fix these and bring them back to me, thanks."

"Sister Zhou, why does your 'thanks' always sound like you're scolding me?"

"That just means you're already getting used to the workplace. Go on." Zhou Zhuofei's tone of command was entirely natural, and Zhan Zilang didn't feel it was out of place at all; he simply acknowledged it and left with the document.

Even Zhou Zhuofei found it miraculous. Before this, she had never trained a new hire and had worried about whether she could command respect. But once she actually started doing it, she realized it wasn't as difficult as she had imagined.

It turns out that people shouldn't scare themselves. Only by trying can you find out whether you're capable or not.

Before leaving work, Ye Ru specifically called her into the office and asked her to prepare for a team dinner on Friday, citing the reason as celebrating Zhan Zilang joining the administrative department.

This was an old tradition of the department. Zhou Zhuofei had attended her own welcome dinner when she first arrived. Ye Ru then casually handed the task of booking the restaurant to her.

"You should try learning some other things, too," Ye Ru said. "That way, you can help out with the year-end entertaining later."

"Ah? Me?"

The administrative department was exceptionally busy at the end of the year. Beyond the various inventories and summaries within the company, there were many external social obligations. For the past few years, Zhou Zhuofei had always followed behind Ye Ru, primarily responsible for eating and calling the waiters.

"What do you mean, 'me'?" Seeing Zhou Zhuofei's surprised expression, Ye Ru chided her playfully, "You've been with the company for three years; do you still think you're an intern?"

Zhou Zhuofei confessed, "To be honest, that's exactly how I feel."

She had always felt very lucky to have met a good leader like Ye Ru. Working under her, she never had to think too much; she just had to finish the tasks assigned to her. Because of this, she had never thought about making a name for herself in the workplace over the past three years—just doing her job well was enough.

To put it bluntly, if she had truly been that ambitious, she would have gotten into a top-tier university back in school.

But Ye Ru said, "You've even started training interns; how can you still think of yourself as a newcomer? I'm handing this to you—it’s a good opportunity to exercise your abilities. How can you have such a fear of difficulty?"

She prided herself on being a good judge of character and believed that Zhou Zhuofei had the potential.