0138 147 It never ends

Before dawn, the phone on the sofa buzzed. Zhou Xiye pulled the blanket over her head, and after a few seconds, she tossed the phone aside, picked it up, squinted to see who was calling: Ling Xingzhi. She cursed under her breath and answered.

"You'd better have something to say," Zhou Xiye said in a hoarse voice. He had not only stayed up late but also drunk too much, leaving his throat dry and itchy.

Ling Xingzhi chuckled. "Of course something's wrong, otherwise I wouldn't have called you so early." Ling Xingzhi stood on the balcony, looking at the faint light on the horizon outside the window. "Of course, it's nothing serious."

Zhou Xiye snorted irritably, "If you have something to say, say it. If not, I want to sleep for a while longer."

"You went to Fuxian Tower with Shen Yuhe?"

Zhou Xiye hung up the phone immediately, threw it aside, and turned over.

The phone kept buzzing, but Zhou Xiye ignored it with her eyes closed. After a few rings, the phone fell silent, and Zhou Xiye calmed down as well; she couldn't sleep. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at the wooden carving opposite the sofa. For some reason, she thought the carving was incredibly ugly.

Zhou Xiye sat up, her gaze still fixed on the wooden carving. After staring at it for a while, she felt as if the carving was staring back at her—it was incredibly unlucky. Zhou Xiye stood up, walked over, picked up the carving, and stopped after a few steps.

Turning her head to look at the wall, she saw a faint red light emanating from its edge, barely noticeable unless one looked closely. Zhou Xiye cautiously peered over and realized it was coming from inside a wooden carving. She picked it up, examined the carving from both sides, and then used her strength to pry it open.

A camera fell down.

Zhou Xiye felt relieved, looked at the camera, and stepped on it.

Anyone who's been on the battlefield knows that infrared targeting and firing is almost certainly fatal for any soldier in an open field. If someone outside is aiming at Zhou Xiye, he could be killed indoors if he's not careful.

Fortunately, it was just a camera.

After crushing it, Zhou Xiye swept the ground clean with a broom and casually threw the broken wood carving into the trash can.

After finishing all that, Zhou Xiye sat on the sofa and lit a cigarette. Once she was more clear-headed, she recalled the origin of the wood carving—Pei Zhiyu had brought it, and then what? Zhou Xiye sighed, stubbed out the cigarette, stood up, and drew the curtains.

Once her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Zhou Xiye walked around the house. Since she'd found one camera, there must be more. She needed to find the others. She went to the kitchen, where two faint red lights flickered in the corner.

Zhou Xiye walked forward, intending to reach for it and throw it away. But halfway there, she stopped, and a few seconds later, turned and quickly walked to the window, pulling back the curtains. Picking up her phone, she said, "Find me a place, one that's safe."

After hanging up, Zhou Xiye tapped on Pei Zhiyu's number, hesitated for a moment, and then dialed. Pei Zhiyu answered quickly, "Hello—" a voice came through. Hearing this voice, Zhou Xiye just wanted to laugh, "Are you still awake, or did you just wake up? You answered the phone so quickly?"

Pei Zhiyu remained silent on the other end of the line.

"Since you don't want to explain, then let me make this clear: if you still want to maintain our marriage, then you shouldn't interfere in my affairs. If you want to keep an eye on me, afraid that I'll have relationships with other men, and want me to follow your Pei family's rules, then let's get a divorce."

"No divorce!" Pei Zhiyu's voice was filled with anger. "Zhou Xiye, I love you so much, I like you so much, why did you cheat on me and treat me like this? What did I do wrong?"

Zhou Xiye pursed his lips and remained silent for a while. "You did nothing wrong. It's my problem... Pei Zhiyu, I can only offer you marriage. Don't expect anything from me in matters of the heart. You can't rely on me anyway."

“Zhou, Xi, Ye! Can Ling Xingzhi really rely on him? Even if the Wei family falls, Ling Xingzhi won’t get a divorce now. How will people see you two married people getting together?”

"I have no relationship with him. If there is any relationship, it's only because we were together before marriage..."

"He even pulled strings for you from the central government, Zhou Xiye! How could you say something like he has no connection to you?!"

Zhou Xiye listened with a wry smile, "You all think that I have a relationship with him? Right?"

"I don't care what kind of relationship you have with him now, Zhou Xiye, you have to break up with him. If you don't break up with him, I can do it for you!" After saying that, he hung up the phone.

Zhou Xiye put away his phone; it was already dawn.

Ling Xingzhi didn't go to the municipal government; instead, he went to the municipal party committee compound. When he entered the office, Zhou Xiye had already opened the window and was watering the flowers, looking quite relaxed.

"Mayor Ling, is something the matter?"

Ling Xingzhi smiled, sat down on the sofa, and glanced to the side. He noticed the living room door was slightly ajar, and there were signs that someone had lain on the double bed inside. "It's nothing serious. Hu Rui and Liu Liangyou's notices will be released today."

Zhou Xiye nodded, casually placing the kettle on the ground, and then lightly kicking it in the wrong spot. "So? What do you want?"

Ling Xingzhi looked at Zhou Xiye intently, and after a few seconds said, "I feel more and more that I can't understand you anymore."

Zhou Xiye nodded again, "You can ask me if you don't understand."

Ling Xingzhi opened his mouth, "Team Leader Shen said that you two went to Fuxianlou yesterday. How was the food there? Did you like it?"

"Yes, that's good."

Zhou Xiye looked at Ling Xingzhi.

"I am only temporarily acting as the deputy secretary of the municipal party committee, and I will not move to the municipal party committee compound."

Zhou Xiye laughed, "Whether you move or not is up to you. It's not something I can decide on my own."

The two fell silent again. Ling Xingzhi sighed softly, thought for a moment, and said, "He said that everything was arranged by you..."

"Ling Xingzhi, what exactly do you want?"

The two looked at each other, and the next second Zhou Xiye stood up. "If there's nothing else, you can leave. I have a meeting later."

Without a word, Ling Xingzhi stood up and left. The situation was strange; he didn't know if it was his own problem or Zhou Xiye's. Refusing to communicate was troublesome. Shen Yuhe quickly learned of Ling Xingzhi's humiliation and invited him to a banquet at the Shen family courtyard.

"Don't you understand why she's so cold to you?" Shen Yuhe chuckled. "It's all because you're meddling. She was perfectly fine living at the procuratorate, and you got her out..."

Ling Xingzhi lay on the chaise longue, toying with a small teapot in his hand. The jade was cool, yet it was warmed by his touch.

"I was doing it for her own good," Ling Xingzhi said, looking at the starry sky. Suddenly, he felt something was wrong and turned to Shen Yuhe. "Why are you speaking up for her?"

Shen Yuhe shrugged and took a sip of tea.

Ling Xingzhi glanced into the inner room, then looked at Shen Yuhe, "Where's Xu Jiaojiao? Why isn't the beauty here?"

"I have you, that's enough. What do I need women for?" Shen Yuhe leaned back in the bamboo chair and sighed. "Women, you know, the strong ones are easy to tire out; the beautiful ones are easy to take advantage of; the virtuous and gentle ones, on the other hand, are lifeless. What kind of person is interesting? I've thought about it for most of my life, and I still haven't figured it out."

Ling Xingzhi's face was devoid of any smile. "Shen Yuhe, don't just think about yourself. You have to think about your sister-in-law..." He sat up and looked at Shen Yuhe. "Besides, Zhou Xiye is not someone you can play around with as you please. If she can get out of this mess unscathed, she can make you suffer eternal damnation."

Shen Yuhe smiled with his eyes closed. "Ling Xingzhi, Zhou Xiye is someone I respect, and I admire her." He slowly opened his eyes. "Now, she's not a woman in my eyes, so I won't have any feelings for her. Only you cherish her. I don't have the confidence to spend my life with a woman like that."

Ling Xingzhi snorted, "You know that much." He turned his head away. Now everyone thought the two of them were a good match, and he felt inexplicably happy.

"...With a woman like that, no one knows how many men she has on the side."

Ling Xingzhi turned to look at Shen Yuhe, frowning, "What do you mean by that?"

Shen Yuhe looked at Ling Xingzhi and laughed happily, "It means exactly what it says. Do you think she only has you as a man? I bet there's more than that, including Qiao Senxi? The two of them are definitely having an affair!"

"Don't fucking talk nonsense. Qiao Senxi reported Zhou Xiye. How could they be having an affair?"

Shen Yuhe laughed until her stomach hurt, "Ling Xingzhi, Ling Xingzhi, do you remember the monks at Yonghe Temple who told our fortunes and said you had a heavy love tribulation? I see you've run into it now!?"

Ling Xingzhi thought Shen Yuhe was just being ridiculous. He rolled his eyes at her and stood up. "I'm going back to Beijing in a couple of days. When are you leaving?"

Shen Yuhe shook his head, "I haven't received the letter yet. You should go first. I won't lend you a private jet; you'll have to take a big plane yourself... When you were little, didn't you always complain that airplanes were too small and want to ride in big planes? Now, Mayor Ling, you can be one to your heart's content!"

Ling Xingzhi walked out in a huff, but Shen Yuhe suddenly called out to him, "What brings you back to Beijing?"

"My dad, your uncle is looking for me!"

The day before he was to be ordered to return to Beijing, a notice of suspension from the Central Committee was sent to the Municipal Party Committee, ordering Zhou Xiye to return to Beijing to report on his work and undergo investigation.

The incident happened suddenly, surprising Zhou Xiye, Ling Xingzhi, and everyone including Shen Yuhe. The sky was gray, with lightning and thunder. Water droplets hit Zhou Xiye's glass and flowed down. Zhou Xiye sat behind her desk with a somber face, while Ling Xingzhi sat opposite her.

"It must be that the central government felt this matter had a significant impact, especially within the political arena... Foreign media have also gone crazy reporting on it. I think the higher-ups are definitely trying to minimize the impact, so they're having you lay low."

Zhou Xiye didn't say a word. Ling Xingzhi analyzed the situation for her and tried to calm her down. But Zhou Xiye's face showed no obvious emotional fluctuation; she just exuded a low-pressure aura.

"I understand, thank you."

Seeing Zhou Xiye's state, refusing to drink or eat, Ling Xingzhi had nothing more to say.

The next day, the two took the same flight to Beijing.

For some reason, Ling Xingzhi was in a good mood. He sat down next to Zhou Xiye, put on his blindfold, leaned his head back in his chair, and muttered, "What a coincidence, we came in the same class and we're going back in the same class... I thought you were going to take a fighter jet back."

Zhou Xiye glanced at him, waved to the flight attendant, and ordered a glass of champagne.