Chapter 384: Revealed! The Qi Refiner

When Zhai Jia heard that, his hand froze for a moment. He glanced at Zhai Yu in the rearview mirror, the corner of his mouth twitching. “…Fine, fine, I’ll drive, I’ll drive!”

With that, he shifted gears, released the handbrake, and hit the gas.

The car pulled away slowly. He glanced at the rearview mirror to make sure no one was following, then stepped harder on the gas. The car accelerated, leaving the estate.

“Satisfied? Now hurry up and tell me what’s going on,” Zhai Jia urged.

Zhai Yu shifted in the back seat and uncrossed his arms. “It went smoothly. This woman is smart, with more potential than Zhao Henian. But that also means she won’t be easy to control.”

A thought seemed to strike him. Zhai Yu paused, then turned to Wan Ze. “Ah Ze, she seems to be interested in you. You’ll need to be ready.”

Wan Ze froze, turning his head to look at Zhai Yu. “Huh? Ready for what?”

Zhai Yu looked at him, his expression completely serious. “Get a little closer to her. See if you can pry some more valuable information out of that woman.”

Wan Ze was rendered speechless.

His mouth hung open.

‘Wait a minute… this isn’t the kind of contribution I had in mind.’

Zhai Jia glanced from Zhai Yu to Wan Ze in the rearview mirror, a mischievous grin spreading across his face.

He even let out a deliberate, exaggerated sigh of regret. “What a shame. I wish that opportunity had been for me.”

Wan Ze’s face darkened.

He turned his head to glare at him, forcing the words out through his teeth. “Just keep your eyes on the road!”

Zhai Jia roared with laughter.

Once he’d had his laugh, he finally glanced at the rearview mirror. “Brother, was that patroness of ours actually good-looking?”

“Shut up,” Zhai Yu cut in irritably. He took off his mask and held it in his hand, his voice turning serious. “You need to focus on the surveillance. Our guys staying at the estate tonight have to get the logistics right. The people inside won’t lie low for long. Also, I’ll arrange for someone to track down Zhao Henian. Whether he’s dead or alive is the main variable in our relationship with Xiao Ya.”

“I’m being serious, though…” Zhai Jia said, looking at Zhai Yu in the rearview mirror. “Brother Yu, what’s your take on her? Is she worth working with?”

Zhai Yu leaned back in his seat, folding his arms across his chest again. He was silent for a couple of seconds.

Outside the window, the night scenery flew backward.

After a moment of thought, he said, “Whether she’s worth working with isn’t about what she gives us now, but what she can provide in the future. This woman controls an auction house conglomerate, an intelligence network that spans the entire eastern region, and she has the stability and ability to execute that Zhao Henian lacks. From that perspective, her potential is indeed greater than his.”

“So we’re just giving up on Old Zhao?” Zhai Jia asked, not understanding.

Zhai Yu shook his head. “We can’t say that yet. Ah Ze has the right idea—playing both sides gives us the best value. The problem with Xiao Ya is that she’s too smart. And that’s the trouble with smart people… they’re hard to control. When you work with her, she could pull a fast one behind your back at any moment. One day you think she’s on your side, the next she might be helping someone else. That’s why with people like her, you can’t rely on sentiment. The only way is to bind her to you through mutual interest. You have to tie her interests so tightly to yours that if she makes a move against you, she’s essentially making a move against herself. Only then will she never betray you.”

Zhai Jia looked thoughtful. After a long moment, he said, “Forget it. I’ll leave the brainy stuff to you cunning bastards. I’ll just focus on being the driver.”

Never mind Wan Ze—even Zhai Yu couldn’t resist glancing over at him, looking like he genuinely wanted to throw him out of the car.

The car exited the mountain pass and turned onto the main road leading to the city.

The main road was lined with far more streetlights than the mountain pass, and the light was much brighter.

There were hardly any other vehicles on the road. They were alone on the empty asphalt, the beams of their headlights stretching far ahead, reaching toward the distant edge of the city.

Zhai Jia gripped the steering wheel, his eyes fixed ahead, but he didn’t stop talking. “So… what about the translated text? Xiao Ya says she wants it, and Zhao Henian’s hanging on for it too. Both of them want it, so who are we giving it to?”

Wan Ze leaned back in his seat, watching the road illuminated by the headlights.

The white lane markings reflected the light, stretching on into the distance.

“Whoever gives us a better deal gets it,” Wan Ze said after a moment. “But before that, we have to confirm whether Zhao Henian is still alive. If he is, we’ll have him and Xiao Ya bid against each other. The highest bidder gets the text. If they’re both dead, then we start from scratch and find new buyers.”

Zhai Yu nodded in agreement.

Zhai Jia kept his hands on the wheel and his eyes on the road, but he was still talking.

He had just asked a string of questions about Xiao Ya. Wan Ze answered a few, Zhai Yu added some details, and the topic gradually wound down.

Once Zhai Jia seemed to have a grasp of things, he stopped asking questions. He changed the subject with a smile, his tone becoming much more casual. “Oh yeah, Ah Ze, Brother Yu and I spent an hour or two ‘chatting’ with Xiao Yunkai tonight. That guy is a tough nut to crack. I even brought some liquor specifically for the occasion and forced half a liter down him.”

“What? You’re driving drunk?” Wan Ze blurted out, taken aback.

Zhai Jia waved a hand dismissively. “Nah, Brother Yu and I were drinking water. The hard liquor was for that kid.”

Wan Ze couldn’t help but crack a smile.

‘That really did sound like something Brother Jia would do.’

“But Ah Ze, you’ll never guess what happened next,” Zhai Jia said, glancing over before quickly turning his eyes back to the road. He grinned. “Turns out, the guy got wasted and started making a scene. At first, he was just crying—crying about his mother, his master, his rotten luck. Brother Yu and I just sat there and watched him. He wailed for about ten minutes, and once he’d cried himself out, he stopped. I thought he was about to pass out, but then… guess what he said?”