0029 33 "Sister, cut it off, otherwise it keeps popping up and I find it annoying."

Zhou Xiye had never been to the Forbidden City before this military parade, whether for tourism or official business.

Large groups of officials stood before the Qianqing Gate, surrounded by soldiers carrying rifles, with two airplanes occasionally flying overhead. Drones also hovered over the Forbidden City. No one knew what was happening. After the ceremony, the military allowed them into the Forbidden City, but after walking for a long time, they stopped and didn't move again.

Standing next to Zhou Xiye was the mayor of Xiangtan City. Although the two were closely related by official position, they weren't actually very close. The mayor, recalling the incident involving Cui Haoran in Mentougou, still felt a chill run down his spine. "How exactly did Cui Haoran die? I heard... it was a car accident? Or...?"

"I'm not too sure either. That holdout family disappeared. They've vanished without a trace, neither alive nor dead. It's quite difficult to make a judgment because there's no evidence."

Hearing Zhou Xiye's words, the mayor could only nod and lick his lips. "What's going on here? Why are we stuck here?" He wanted to smoke, but his lighter had been confiscated when the military parade started.

Zhou Xiye shook her head, "I don't know either..." She had thought about it in her mind, and the only thing that could have gone wrong was the military parade, but from a procedural standpoint, there were no problems at all; she couldn't see any flaws. That was it... she felt uneasy, as if something big had happened.

What could be so important? She dared not think about it. The sun seemed to move inexplicably. A few crows flew overhead and landed on the eaves. Zhou Xiye looked up at them; their cries were unpleasant and made her feel depressed.

The sun was shining brightly. An official wanted to go to the shade on the side, but the soldiers wouldn't allow it, pointing their guns at him. The commotion quickly subsided. Zhou Xiye suddenly remembered that if everyone was trapped here, then Ling Xingzhi and Ling Qingyun should be here too.

She walked through the crowd and stepped forward. Several ministers were sitting in chairs, and someone was holding an umbrella for them.

Ye Lifeng was there, along with the other ministers.

Only Ling Qingyun was not present.

Zhou Xiye and Ye Lifeng exchanged a glance, and they roughly knew that this matter was related to Ling Qingyun.

There was no other way; it was heavily guarded. After a short while, the gate opened, and military officials from the army and navy came out. "Civilian officials, line up here; military officers, line up here."

Soon, they were divided into four teams and two categories.

Then it's further subdivided, from the central government to the provincial level, then to the department level, division level, section level...

Zhou Xiye's group of eighty people were all taken to the Cining Palace. Among the people who went together, someone joked, "A free day trip to the Forbidden City, to the Cining Palace, we can experience the treatment of the Empress Dowager for once."

Upon entering the Cining Palace, there were chairs inside, and rooms where one could rest. Zhou Xiye didn't go in; he simply found a chair and sat down.

My phone isn't with me, and I don't have any other tools right now.

Soon, people came in and took people away one by one for interrogation. When it was Zhou Xiye's turn, it was already 3:43 a.m. the next day.

The questions were simple: Zhou Xiye truthfully recounted her activities in the week leading up to the parade and signed the statement. Meanwhile, people nearby reviewed the security footage to confirm that Zhou Xiye's movements were normal and without discrepancies before allowing her to leave.

Something must have happened, but nobody knows what happened.

After leaving the interrogation room, Zhou Xiye was taken back to the Cining Palace. At this time, almost everyone was asleep, with no particular etiquette and even snoring.

Zhou Xiye found a quiet spot to sit down. The Forbidden City was so quiet, there wasn't a sound at all; even the cicadas couldn't chirp from outside the walls. If it weren't for the constant shouts, Zhou Xiye thought this kind of nighttime terror would have been truly unbearable.

At that moment, a soldier walked in. Zhou Xiye looked up at him, and he beckoned her to come out with him. Zhou Xiye hesitated for a moment. The Forbidden City should be very quiet, but... she was afraid something might happen, so she followed the soldier at a distance.

Seeing that she was walking slowly, he turned around and said helplessly, "Secretary Ling wants to see you. If you keep dawdling like this, you might not be back until dawn."

Zhou Xiye stopped in his tracks. "What if you're lying to me?"

The soldier sighed, "Why would I lie to you..." Seeing that Zhou Xiye didn't trust him, he took the gun off his body and handed it to Zhou Xiye, "Take this gun and follow me. If I need to do something to you, just shoot."

Everyone around the Forbidden City was very sensitive to the sound of gunfire.

Zhou Xiye, holding a gun, followed behind the soldier.

After walking for quite some time without reaching their destination, Zhou Xiye became suspicious and sighed that without sedan chairs, the concubines with bound feet in ancient times would have been exhausted. She walked a little further, looking at the red walls and recalling some terrifying legends about Beijing, but she didn't see any trace of ancient palace maids.

Thinking about it, she regretted coming out with him.

Fortunately, they stopped after walking a little further. "Secretary Ling is waiting for you inside."

Zhou Xiye returned the gun and walked into the courtyard. Lights were on in the west and east wing rooms, and she could see people working inside. The main room was lit, but there were no shadows. Zhou Xiye followed the people in the courtyard into the main room. "Secretary, the people have arrived."

Zhou Xiye walked in and glanced to the side. He saw Ling Xingzhi lying on the bed. After taking a few more steps, he noticed that Ling Xingzhi's face was pale.

"I'm tired, have some water."

The person next to him placed the water on the small round table and left. Zhou Xiye didn't stand on ceremony, sat down, and gulped down the water.

Before Ling Xingzhi could speak, Zhou Xiye put down his water glass and said, "Isn't it said that the Forbidden City is cleared at 5:30 because ghosts come out to play at night... Now that I think about it, maybe it's where officials are being held."

Ling Xingzhi smiled, but his smile was extremely weak, and his eyes looked even more profound because of his pale face.

Zhou Xiye sensed something was wrong, looked Ling Xingzhi over, but didn't see anything different. "Are you injured?"

Ling Xingzhi ignored her question, "I called you here because I have something to say."

"It would be best if you had something to say. Your entourage is just like a prince in ancient times secretly meeting with a palace maid."

"I've been thinking about this for a long time today, but I still don't understand. I can give you anything that Minister Ye gives you, and your relationship with Ye Rouxin is fake, so why can't you work for me?"

Zhou Xiye felt like throwing up at these words, and was a little annoyed. But when he saw Ling Xingzhi's serious and somewhat haggard appearance, Zhou Xiye felt as if he could be destroyed with a single finger. This vulnerability inexplicably softened Zhou Xiye's heart. "Minister Ye has done me a favor, a life-saving favor."

Ling Xingzhi didn't speak, but looked at Zhou Xiye.

Zhou Xiye poured himself another glass of water, seemingly to bolster his courage. After finishing it, he said, "It wasn't Minister Ye who saved me, it was his child."

"Ye Rouxin?"

Zhou Xiye shook her head, "No..." She slowly lowered her head and sighed, "Yes..."

He was Ye Lifeng's illegitimate son, and everyone called him "the idiot." He really was an idiot. Back when they were at the front lines, Ye Lifeng, as an official representative, went to visit Zhou Xiye and his fellow volunteers, bringing his idiot son with him.

Zhou Xiye saw Ye Lifeng's son in the line. He was handsome and had a smirk on his face. He smiled at everyone.

Later that evening, she went to Ye Lifeng's tent to report the information, and the fool walked in, surprised to see her for the first time.

"Sister, you are so beautiful."

Zhou Xiye frowned, and Ye Lifeng waved his hand, "Silly son, I have to take him with me wherever I go, otherwise he'll be bullied."

The fool didn't leave; he kept muttering that his sister was pretty and that he wanted to sleep with her.

Zhou Xiye patiently reported that he felt it was better to be bullied at home than to suffer on the front lines, in case he lost his life one day.

However, dying quickly on the battlefield is also a good thing.

Her impression of idiots was probably that they were lecherous, thought she was pretty, and wanted to sleep with her. Looks like my father taught them that; otherwise, what idiot would know it meant sleeping with a woman? Ye Lifeng ignored it, only saying, "Don't bother arguing with an idiot."

Later, during her training camp, she inadvertently heard the screams of the mentally challenged man.

It seems that fools will be bullied no matter where they are.

“Tell me, did you sleep with that pretty lady I asked you to last time? If you didn’t, that’s okay, just ask your dad and tell him you want to sleep with her…”

The simpleton repeated after him, "Daddy, I want to sleep with a pretty older sister..."

Zhou Xiye was furious, but she had no advantage against those men, especially the armed ones. She held back and returned to her tent. Not long after, the idiot came looking for her, grinning, handsome but a pity about that face—he had no brains.

She sighed. "What are you going to do?"

The fool chuckled and produced a bag of bread from who-knows-where. "Sister, pretty sister, here's some bread for you, it's delicious..."

Zhou Xiye took the bread but didn't dare eat it. She was afraid it might be drugged, and being raped by these brainless men with nothing but genitals would be no small matter. But she still took the bread and put it behind her back, her eyes still wary. "What else do you want?"

The fool shook his head, didn't speak, just stared at her, "Eat it...it's delicious...I secretly took it from my dad."

Zhou Xiye thought for a moment, then looked at him and asked, "Did your father tell you how old you are?"

The fool frowned, thinking about the problem. "My dad said I'm almost thirty."

Well, he's a complete idiot, an idiot even bigger than himself.

However, out of respect for Ye Lifeng, she stopped asking the idiot to call her "sister." With that thought, she lost interest in chatting with him and lay down to cover herself with the blanket.

The idiot was muttering nonsense in her ear, which Zhou Xiye didn't want to listen to. "Sister, go to sleep. I'll keep an eye on things for you. Those people are always trying to sleep with you..."

Zhou Xiye raised an eyebrow, "Do you know what sleeping means?"

The idiot chuckled, "Hey sister, how come you're even dumber than me? Sleeping is sleeping, who are you to me? The first one is a normal activity, the second one is illegal."

Zhou Xiye laughed out loud; this fool was actually quite kind. But Zhou Xiye was still worried, so he reached under the pillow and gripped the gun. The fool was a light sleeper and didn't speak; only his breathing could be heard.

The next morning, Zhou Xiye woke up. The idiot hadn't slept all night. He squinted and saw that Zhou Xiye was awake. "Sister, you're awake."

After saying that, he slumped to the ground and fell asleep. The ground was covered in dirt. Zhou Xiye hadn't expected the fool to be so foolish, both foolish and stubborn. She helped him onto her bed but ignored him. For the next few days, the fool stayed by her side while she slept.

Looking at the fool's face, Zhou Xiye felt a pang of regret.

If he were mentally sound, he could probably become an outstanding person in a privileged family... But it's not her place to worry about that. Zhou Xiye cursed herself inwardly. They have money and power, what do I have? I'm just an ordinary person. I have to suffer on the front lines to get a status that's less than a tenth of what these high-ranking officials have.

Thinking about it that way, she no longer felt sorry for the fool.

But the fool was still a man. The next morning, he sat on the edge of his bed, pointed to his erect penis between his legs, and asked, "Sister, what should I do? It keeps getting up on its own."

Zhou Xiye sat up, and the fool was holding a pair of scissors. "Sister, cut it off, otherwise I'm getting annoyed by having to get up all the time."

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There's one more update. It was originally supposed to be together, but it's a bit long, so I'm releasing it separately.