48 Hours a Day

Chapter 447 The Past

“Later, a disagreement broke out between us. He found a small textile factory, hoping to come up with his own brand after purchasing it. This isn’t we agreed initially, and it was obvious he wanted me to keep investing more money into his business. I told him that it was impossible. At that time, he was very emotional, and so, I gave him a warning,” Han Lu said.

“What’s next?” “A week later, I contacted the textile factory behind my back. I immediately activated the terms and conditions on the agreement and froze the company’s account. I surrendered and left the investment. I think I lost about three to four hundred thousand yuan. I treated it as an investment for friends. Later, the friend who introduced him to me also apologized. After that, he even recommended a few reliable projects for me. I thought this incident would come to a pass, but I didn’t expect Xu Jianjun had no intention to let it slide.”

Han Lu rubbed her head and gave a big sigh, seeming to have a headache when talking about this.

“Under such circumstances, the entrepreneurs would either look for a new investor or dissolve the company—but Xu Jianjun was very stubborn. I discovered that after textile factory’s acquisition plan was aborted, he was there for another year and a half. However, he couldn’t find a new investor, and in the end, he sold his birthplace home and slept in the company lobby every day, eating pickles and porridge. Unfortunately, working hard might not help with starting a business sometimes.”

“His company was bleeding money, and capable employees started leaving one after another. That was when he entered into a vicious cycle. In the end, he was brought to court for failing to pay their wages. That was the last straw. The company went completely bankrupt after that. He suffered a terrible loss and blamed me for everything instead of reflecting on himself.

“After the company went bankrupt, Xu Jianjun initially planned to sue me. So, he looked for several lawyers, but they told him I didn’t violate the agreement, and he had no right to sue me. Out of options, he stood in protest with a banner at my company’s entrance every day to demand his rights. He even went as far as blocking me at the parking lot several times. Once, he even got so upset that he shoved me. I was afraid since it was late and I was alone, so I called the police. The police station is just right across the street, by the way. The cops soon came, and after I told them what happened, they took him away. That was the last I saw of him.”

“He returned to his birthplace?”

“No, he committed suicide. He laid on the tracks and let a train run over him. It is said that the corpse was… err… mangled and mutilated. He also left a suicide note saying that he had been an upright person, which was his first time getting arrested by the police. He said he’d haunt me for eternity. Think his spirit’s taking revenge it’s on me?” Han Lu became slightly uncomfortable at the thought, instinctively hugging herself and looking around.

“As far as I know, it’s not possible,” Zhang Heng said. “A dead person will remain dead Maybe his family member hates you?”

“He has no family, his parents passed away very early, his wife divorced him four years ago, and he has no children. I heard he has a distant cousin or something, but they rarely keep in touch. Oh… and I was the one who ended up paying for his funeral.”

“What about his friends?”

“I have no idea. I don’t know much about him. I only found out about these things after his death.” Han Lu shook her head.

“Okay, I think I understand what is going on right now. Would you like to go home and wait, or…”

“Can I investigate with you?” Han Lu asked. “You said you wanted to prove supernatural entities exist in the normal world we live in. If I can witness the process, I’ll definitely be convinced. Besides, I need things to do to keep me awake.”

“Okay,” replied Zhang Heng. “Let’s first determine if you’re cursed or not. How did you deal with Xu Jianjun’s stuff?”

“They were cremated with his corpse. In fact, he left nothing behind, only two sets of clothes and a few books on business management. I’ve got to admit, apart from being a little extreme and, oh, that stubbornness of his, he’s a really nice guy, really. At least he’s better than the vast majority of entrepreneurs that only know how to talk. When my friend introduced him to me, I thought he was nice. I saw that he was trustworthy and honest, so I invested some money in his business, but I sure didn’t expect him to end up like this.”

Han Lu sighed.

“Well, did he have any social media accounts?”

“He’s very old-fashioned—no Weibo or blogs whatsoever. The only social media account he had was to promote his company on the forum. It was to save costs-he often went to the forum to promote his products.”

“How about his WeChat friends?”

“Uh, I deleted his contact after the whole thing went south. And I haven’t added him back since.”

“How about the friend who introduced him to

you?”

“Erm… I can ask him.” Han Lu dialed a number, got up, and walked to the side of a nearby acacia tree. A moment later, she came back. “He deleted Xu Jianjun’s contact after his death too. He says saving a dead person’s WeChat contact on the phone brings bad luck.”

“How about the phone number?”

“He wrote it on the original agreement. I can ask my assistant to send it over. But will it be useful?”

“It depends. An account would usually be canceled after 90 days of late payments,” said Zhang Heng. “I need a place with internet access. There is an internet cafe nearby, but I’ve got to have some steamed buns to fill out my stomach first. I’m sorry, I guess we won’t be having that grilled fish tonight.”

“Understood. After all, staying alive is more important, right,” chuckled Han Lu. It appeared she was still in a good mental state, seeing how she could still crack jokes. In addition to her not fully believing Zhang Heng’s explanation, the years of hustling in the world of finance also made her calmer than the ordinary Joe. The two bought some buns from a small stall, quickly gobbling it up even before they left the roadside. They then proceeded to the internet cafe to book a private room, and after a while, Han Lu’s assistant sent Xu Jianjun’s number to her. Fortunately, the number was still registered to him, and for good measure, the assistant sent a copy of his ID card as well.

Middle-aged people like Xu Jianjun generally did not care about passwords, security, and that sort of thing. All his accounts used the same password. Hence, it was not difficult to hack into his WeChat account. Zhang Heng first used Xu Jianjun’s ID card to retrieve passwords from registered marketing accounts.

After entering the WeChat login interface, everything went smoothly after that. Since they were using a new mobile phone, all his chat history was gone. The posts for his friends to view did not disappear, though. These were mostly useless ramblings, ranging from inspirational articles to junk, which used exaggerated headlines.

Zhang Heng, however, soon managed to find whatever he was looking for.