APCF – Chapter 126 After the Rain

Everything happened too suddenly—so suddenly that both Qi Xingchen and Qi Yujie were caught off guard. They didn’t even learn about their eldest brother being taken away for investigation until they saw the news on a financial channel. By the time they rushed to the Qi Corporation, the scene outside only held a few curious onlookers; Qi Yunxiao and the tax bureau were already gone.

Now was not the time to panic. Losing their heads would only make things messier. Qi Xingchen forced himself to stay calm and asked, “Sis, is our tax situation really dirty?”

“There were some legal tax avoidance measures,” Qi Yujie replied, voice slightly trembling, “but definitely nothing illegal. The Qi family is too high-profile. If anything was found out, it’d be a huge deal. Big Brother wouldn’t take that risk.”

Opening more branches, increasing reported costs, registering the company overseas—all of these were legitimate tax strategies. Qi Xingchen frowned. “Then where did the invoices attached to the report letter come from?”

“No idea. Maybe they were taken from one of the branch offices.”

A large company was hard to manage completely. It was quite possible that an outlying branch hadn’t properly secured its invoices and someone stole them.

If that was the case, they had to trace the source of the leaked invoices to get to the bottom of it. When the tax bureau came, they only said there had been a report with evidence attached, but didn’t show the so-called “evidence” to the Qi Corporation. After thinking for a moment, Qi Xingchen said, “I’ll go to the tax bureau to see if I can get a look at the so-called evidence, and check on Big Brother while I’m at it. You go home and wait for me.”

“No way. If they see you there alone and think you’re easy to push around, they might make it difficult for you,” Qi Yujie refused. “I’m coming with you.”

Since it was still early, they might as well go together. Qi Xingchen immediately drove to the provincial tax bureau. As they pulled up at the entrance, he happened to spot a particularly unusual vehicle with red-letter license plates.

“Sis, look over in that corner,” he pointed. “Would the tax bureau need their involvement for an investigation?”

Qi Yujie followed his gaze, frowning in confusion. “If the tax department can’t handle it, they might call the public security bureau. If there’s organized resistance, at most they’d dispatch the armed police. But Big Brother’s just one person—why would they need them?”

So why was that vehicle here?

They couldn’t afford to waste time—getting the evidence and checking on their brother came first. Still harboring doubts, Qi Xingchen and Qi Yujie got out of the car. Frustratingly, they ran into the same problem as their brother: the tax bureau refused to let them see Qi Yunxiao.

After much pleading, they managed to get a photocopy of one invoice. Though unsatisfied, the siblings could only return home and regroup.

Before leaving, Qi Xingchen glanced again at the corner. That suspicious vehicle had already vanished.

Just as he looked away, his phone suddenly rang. It was Director Jiang, telling him that Xu Changlin would be at the city bureau in an hour and to handle things as he saw fit.

Qi Xingchen thanked him. Since he hadn’t gone home yet, he immediately turned the car around and headed to the city bureau.

It was already after office hours. Besides the on-duty officers, only a few employees working overtime remained. Xu Changlin hadn’t arrived yet, so Qi Xingchen and Qi Yujie waited near the elevator shaft.

This was the only way up. After about ten minutes, the sound of leather shoes clicking against the floor echoed closer and closer. Qi Xingchen leaned out for a look—

One glance was enough to confirm: it had to be Xu Changlin. The resemblance to his son was unmistakable.

As Xu Changlin pressed the elevator button, Qi Xingchen gave Qi Yujie a nod. The two of them stepped out from the corner and quickly slipped into the elevator just before the doors closed.

Just like Qi Xingchen had recognized him, Xu Changlin also immediately realized who he was.

After his son was taken into custody, Xu Changlin had tried every possible way to get him out. But with the weight of the Qi family bearing down, he couldn’t do a thing. All he could do was watch his pampered, delicate son waste away behind bars.

What was even more infuriating was…

There was no such thing as coincidence in this world—everyone involved was sharp. Xu Changlin could naturally sense that Qi Xingchen had come with an agenda. He looked at the reflection of the young man in the elevator door, saying nothing. Qi Xingchen also stared at his own reflection, then broke the silence first. “Good afternoon, Uncle Xu.”

“Oh?” Xu Changlin said flatly. “You know who I am?”

“I do. I worked with Xu Sheng on a drama shoot for over a month. He mentioned you before.”

Xu Changlin couldn’t help but snort—Xu Sheng had said he and Qi Xingchen didn’t get along on set. There was no way their relationship had been close enough to talk about family.

Still, this younger man’s ability to lie without blinking was unexpectedly impressive.

“So you two were that close,” Xu Changlin said with a cold, mocking smile, “close enough for you to send him to prison.”

Qi Xingchen shook his head. “I didn’t send him—he brought it on himself.”

The kid had clearly come to get something out of him. And even with a favor to ask, he was still talking so bluntly—Xu Changlin’s face immediately darkened. “I admit Xu Sheng was wrong to bully that girl, but you went too far!”

“Breaking the law means going to jail. I believe I did the right thing.”

“You think you did the right thing?”

Furious, Xu Changlin turned to face him. “Was it right to change the charges?”

Qi Xingchen didn’t back down in the slightest. “For your son, any charge would sound better than attempted rape, wouldn’t it?”

“Oh, sure, sure,” Xu Changlin snapped, voice rising. “So you tacked on four more years just for that?”

“I—” Qi Xingchen opened his mouth, then abruptly fell silent.

Wait a minute—

He hadn’t misheard that, had he?

Qi Xingchen frowned. “What four years?”

“Attempted rape gets you, what, a little over a year at most. You bumped it up to five.” Xu Changlin scoffed. “Don’t play dumb with me.”

Qi Xingchen wasn’t pretending—he truly had no idea where those extra four years came from. After Xu Sheng’s incident, in order to get Director Shang to publicly apologize to Qi Jiaze and fully clear Qi Jiaze’s name, Qi Xingchen had agreed to change the charge to one with an equivalent sentence.

He had kept his word. When he said equivalent sentence, he meant exactly that—and he’d told his brother the same. Qi Yunxiao would never go against his wishes.

Something fishy was going on.

At that moment, the elevator arrived at the designated floor. Xu Changlin stepped out with anger radiating from him. Qi Xingchen followed, saying, “The five-year sentence wasn’t my doing.”

Xu Changlin clearly didn’t believe him.

“If I can admit that I was the one who sent Xu Sheng to prison, why would I lie about something else?”

Xu Changlin’s expression flickered slightly.

It was true—the Qi family didn’t need to lie. And Qi Xingchen’s demeanor earlier had been calm and collected, not like someone trying to cover something up.

Seeing him start to waver, Qi Xingchen continued, “And it’s only been a year. You can easily ask someone you trust to look into the case details. Don’t worry about them refusing to talk—given my family’s current situation…”

Qi Xingchen gave a bitter smile. “Given how things are for us now, no one’s going to offend you just to protect us.”

Xu Changlin paused for a moment, gave Qi Xingchen a glance, then turned and walked down the corridor without another word.

Qi Xingchen didn’t press further. He took his sister and headed toward the exit of the city bureau.

“Xingxing,” Qi Yujie said anxiously, “should we wait for him to come out and explain everything more clearly?”

Qi Xingchen opened the car door for her. “No need. He’ll contact me when the time comes.”

“…How can you be so sure he’ll contact you?”

“Compared to us, he wants to know who set his son up even more,” Qi Xingchen replied. “And Xu Sheng is the type who can’t stand losing. His father’s bound to be even tougher. If he finds out his son was used as a pawn, he’ll definitely come to me for answers.”

For some reason, Qi Yujie suddenly felt that her younger brother seemed especially dependable now. She nodded and obediently climbed into the passenger seat. On the way home, they each contacted PR firms and media outlets they knew, trying to suppress the news of Qi Yunxiao also getting arrested. Every cent they could save from the stock drop counted.

The image of the press swarming their front door last time was still vivid. To get a better sense of the situation, Qi Xingchen drove slowly as they neared home—only to suddenly spot a very familiar-looking car ahead.

It looked like… the one Bo Ye had driven back to his house in G City.

The more he looked, the more certain he became. He couldn’t help but speed up and pull alongside the car. Before he could even stop, Bo Ye called.

“There are reporters outside your place. I’ll lead the way, you follow me.”

With that, Bo Ye floored the gas pedal, his car roaring toward the two vans parked side-by-side. The reporters inside thought the vehicle had lost control and scrambled to close their doors in panic.

Before they could react further, Bo Ye drifted sharply, changing direction and leading Qi Xingchen’s car safely into the Qi family estate.

Too much had happened that day. After bringing Bo Ye into the house, Qi Xingchen didn’t have time to properly host him. He first handled all the PR calls, then finally persuaded Qi Yujie to rest before leading Bo Ye back to his room.

After such a chaotic day, Qi Xingchen was exhausted too. He collapsed onto the sofa with a heavy thud, looking apologetic. “Sorry, I forgot to get you some water. Let me rest a few minutes first.”

His little fan had clearly lost a noticeable amount of weight over the past few days. The concern in Bo Ye’s eyes was impossible to hide. “You rest, don’t worry about me. I didn’t come here to be waited on.”

“Oh right,” Qi Xingchen finally remembered to ask, “why did you suddenly show up?”

“I saw the news about your family.”

Bo Ye gently massaged his shoulders to ease the tension. “You know I don’t surf the internet much, and you didn’t tell me anything. If I hadn’t happened to see a financial news segment, I wouldn’t have even known something this big happened.”

Things had been happening one after another lately, barely giving Qi Xingchen a moment to breathe. He hadn’t found the time to talk to Bo Ye. And having grown up alone, he’d developed a habit of handling everything on his own, rarely asking others for help—even subconsciously, he hadn’t turned to Bo Ye.

But the moment Bo Ye learned what was happening, he had come without hesitation.

A wave of warmth surged through Qi Xingchen’s chest. He softly murmured a thank you.

With his partner beside him, he was finally able to let his guard down a little. After resting for a bit, Bo Ye said, “Tell me what’s going on.”

Qi Xingchen gave him a brief summary, sticking to the important parts.

When he got to the suspicious car at the tax bureau parking lot, Bo Ye was just as puzzled. Everyone knew those two departments rarely had anything to do with each other. Bo Ye thought for a moment. “Do you remember the license plate number?”

“The dashcam caught it.” Qi Xingchen pulled up the footage and fast-forwarded.

Once they reached the frame showing the car at the tax bureau, Bo Ye jotted down the plate number. “I’ll ask around for you.”

Qi Xingchen was surprised. “You can find out?”

“My dad might be able to help.”

Bo Ye’s mother was in business, his father in politics—but for confidentiality’s sake, he had never revealed which department in all the years since debuting. Since Qi Xingchen hadn’t read the second half of Peach of the Night, he naturally had no idea just how far the Bo family’s influence extended.

Now, hearing Bo Ye offer to help—whether it would work or not—Qi Xingchen felt a flicker of hope.

But when Bo Ye took out his phone, Qi Xingchen hesitated. “Is it okay… to involve your dad in this?”

“It’s fine. I spoke to him before I came. He only asked me one question.”

Qi Xingchen was curious. “What did he ask?”

“He asked whether the Qi family really did any of this.”

Qi Xingchen answered firmly, “No.”

“Then there’s no problem,” Bo Ye said, ruffling his hair. “Go take a hot shower and relax. I’ll make the call.”

Qi Xingchen did as told and went to shower. When he came out, Bo Ye had already finished the call. Bo Ye’s father said he could look into it, but the system was down for the night and they’d have to wait until office hours the next day.

No matter when it came, as long as they could get answers, Qi Xingchen was relieved. With his mood a little steadier, Bo Ye coaxed him into eating something—he needed the strength to face what was ahead.

Unfortunately, once they got into bed, Qi Xingchen still couldn’t fall asleep. His eyes stayed wide open. Bo Ye gently pulled him into his arms. “If there’s anything else you can’t solve, tell me.”

“It’s not that,” Qi Xingchen murmured. “With Dad and Brother taken away, the Qi Group’s lost its leadership. I don’t even know what kind of chaos the company is in right now. And there are ongoing projects that can’t be paused. We also have to order the subsidiaries to investigate the [classified] information. I have to be there tomorrow to hold things down, but I have no idea how to manage everything else at the same time.”

If it had been like before, when Dad Qi and Qi Yunxiao went on temporary business trips, the company could be left to trusted aides for a few days. But this was different. Qi Xingchen had never been involved in company affairs and had no idea who could be trusted and who couldn’t.

He even had to be wary of people trying to take advantage of the Qi family’s crisis for their own gain.

Bo Ye could imagine how dire the situation was. He offered, “How about this—you stay at the company and keep it steady, and I’ll handle whatever needs to be done on the outside.”

Many of the things already in progress wouldn’t go as smoothly if handed over to someone else. But given the circumstances, this might really be the only way. Qi Xingchen let out a sigh.

Being held by Bo Ye, this was the first night in days he managed to sleep without nightmares. The next morning, after they washed up together, Qi Xingchen opened the door, planning to tell the chef to prepare breakfast.

But when he went downstairs, he was surprised to see Qi Yujie dressed in a black suit and trousers, her hair tied back. No makeup, no jewelry on her neck, wrists, or ears. She was going over documents in a folder.

As the beloved daughter of the Qi family, Qi Yujie had always carried the habits of a true heiress—she wore only fine, elegant clothes, especially fond of haute couture gowns. Her accessories always matched from head to toe. Her hair was always glossy and perfectly maintained. She changed her manicures every few days, and even her toenails shimmered with polish.

Qi Xingchen had never seen her looking so plain, so sharp.

“Sister,” he walked over tentatively, “where are you going?”

Qi Yujie stuffed the folder into her bag. “I’m going to the company. Someone has to keep an eye on things.”

“But—”

“No buts,” Qi Yujie cut him off. “Xingxing, no one from the Qi family is a coward. Leave the company to me. You focus on Dad and Brother. Call me if anything comes up.”

With that, she patted Qi Xingchen on the shoulder and strode out the door. Watching her back, Qi Xingchen suddenly understood why their father had named her Yujie, “clearing after rain.”