Chapter 42
Li Ming reported to Yu Congyi that he had been assassinated again today on his way to the Gendarmerie Headquarters. However, the situation was much better than the last time; he was not injured, only that the front and rear doors of his vehicle had two small holes from bullets.
He didn't know who did this, and Yu Congyi also fell into deep thought after hearing it.
“From now on, you’ll be taking a car to the Military Police Headquarters every morning and evening,” Yu Congyi told him. “This person is very dangerous, and he’s probably been watching us all along.”
He was fairly certain of the person he was referring to, and could basically pinpoint that it was Lu Jin who did it. Tang Zefei was currently in detention, and Yu Congyi didn't know if this was at Lu Jin's behest, but he didn't know what kind of grudge Lu Jin and Li Ming had.
Before he could even process what was happening, Lu Jin immediately showed him his power.
At that time, Yu Congyi had just left the Military Police Headquarters by car, got off near the Central Department Store, bought a few things in the department store, and came out when it was completely dark.
Before getting into the car, he waited for a while in front of the bookstore at the intersection. It was at this moment that a figure suddenly appeared behind him and pressed a gun against his shoulder.
"Tell me, where is Li Ming?" The voice was very low, as if the speaker was suppressing their voice, and sounded extremely unfamiliar. Yu Congyi did not turn around. According to the custom of this group of desperados, if he turned around and saw the other person's face, then his fate today would probably be certain death.
He stared at the shadow cast by the streetlamp, the figure clearly visible in his eyes. It was the figure he had been following for so long, a figure he knew all too well.
Lu Jin.
"He's gone home." Yu Congyi raised his hands. "Who are you?"
The person behind him remained silent. Lu Jin stared intently at Yu Congyi's retreating figure, a strong urge to pull the trigger building in his hand. For Mrs. Merrick's safety, he couldn't let Li Ming go. In that church, Li Ming must have witnessed everything as a bystander, and he didn't want to let anyone who could threaten Merrick escape. But what was the role of the person in front of him in the entire incident? He hadn't figured it out yet, but his intuition told him that this person must have been involved.
Kill him, kill him without anyone knowing, Lu Jin thought. He knew Yu Congyi's identity as a sergeant major in the military police. Such an opportunity was extremely rare; the fact that the other party had occasionally shown a weakness was already a great honor bestowed upon him by heaven. Kill him; anyway, Young Master Tang wouldn't know. The dead can't speak, and he wouldn't know it was his doing afterward. Although he didn't understand why Tang Zefei's expression would become particularly sharp whenever Yu Congyi was mentioned, Lu Jin could easily guess that the young master had a special feeling for this Commander Yu.
But what does it matter, Lu Jin thought. In his heart, Merrick already held a supreme position. No one could shake it.
Thinking of Merrick, he couldn't help but want to find the pocket watch. It was the only gift Merrick had given him, which he had carelessly lost. He would never know that the pocket watch was now lying in the office of the officer he had taken hostage, in the second drawer of the desk.
In the few seconds that Lu Jin hesitated, countless thoughts flashed through Yu Congyi's mind. His dagger was in the inside pocket of his shirt, his pistol was tucked into his belt within easy reach, and there were two long knives in his boots...
He had no idea how likely it was that he could successfully turn around and counterattack. He had been far too careless today, allowing his opponent to silently approach his back.
The next second, however, the gun barrel pressed against his shoulder was removed, and a black sedan drove up from around the corner—it was Yu Congyi's driver. The instant Lu Jin saw the car's headlights sweep over them, he quickly grabbed Yu Congyi's shoulder and pulled him backward, intending to take him to the woods in the back alley. He didn't want to so blatantly hold a military police officer hostage on the roadside, nor did he have the intention of committing suicide while being surrounded.
Yu Congyi was faster. The moment Lu Jin holstered his gun, he swiftly elbowed him backward. The blow struck Lu Jin squarely in the arm, the force both fierce and brutal. An unsuspecting person would be unable to withstand it, and even Lu Jin was caught off guard. Suddenly, he felt an excruciating pain in his wrist, and almost instantly, the pistol fell to the ground. He staggered backward several steps. Yu Congyi drew a dagger from his chest and, without hesitation, slashed backward fiercely. Lu Jin leaned back, narrowly avoiding injury, but his overcoat was ripped open by the blade, the cotton fabric trailing long. When Yu Congyi saw his attacker, he noticed that Lu Jin's face was covered with a black cloth and he was wearing a hat. If he hadn't been carefully tracking him for the past few days, he probably wouldn't have recognized the assailant before him. Lu Jin, seeing his pistol that Yu Congyi had kicked far away, knew he had lost his chance. Without hesitation, he turned and ran.
Yu Congyi didn't chase after him, and he also gave up the urge to fire in the street. Lu Jin's figure flashed twice at the street corner and disappeared completely. Yu Congyi walked over, bent down, picked up the pistol that Lu Jin had kicked far away, and examined it carefully under the light.
…
When Yu Congyi arrived home, he saw a pair of women's leather shoes placed in the porch.
"A guest has arrived today?" he asked the butler who opened the door. The butler glanced at him and lowered his voice, saying, "Miss Yang has arrived. She's upstairs with the young master, and she seems to be in a bad mood."
Yu Congyi knew why. The successive deaths of her father and brother would be unbearable for anyone. Although the kinship may vary in depth, for a woman like Yang Shucai, the burden of all the trivial matters of the Yang family suddenly fell on her shoulders, and it was only natural for her to break down.
Yu Congyi didn't know how to face the youngest sister of the Yang family. After entering the living room, he heard faint crying coming from upstairs, from Jiang Fengming's bedroom. He thought for a moment, then turned and left; in this situation, it was better for him to leave. "Big brother," at this moment, Jiang Fengming came out of the bedroom, leaning down from the stairwell to see him, "Big brother, you're back? Oh, you're finally back! Come, come, big brother, please come up here quickly."
"What is it? Is Shu Cai here?" Yu Congyi asked, but he didn't want to go upstairs.
“Yes, she’s throwing a tantrum here,” Jiang Fengming said, looking extremely helpless. “She’s been crying since this afternoon, and I really can’t persuade her anymore. Can you help me?”
Instead of having someone like Yu Congyi try to persuade Yang Shucai, it would be more practical for Yu Congyi to pray for Yang Ruinian to come back to life. "Come down first," Yu Congyi said to Jiang Fengming.
"Is it because of Yang Ruinian?" As Jiang Fengming came down the stairs, Yu Congyi was also going up the stairs.
“Of course, brother, you’ve heard too, Yang Ruinian is dead.” Jiang Fengming winked at him and whispered in his ear, “But to be honest, it’s good that he died. I don’t know which deity took this scumbag back.”
"After all, she's family, it's only natural for her to cry," Yu Congyi said dryly, skipping over the topic.
“Sigh, I really can’t persuade her anymore.” Jiang Fengming leaned on the stair railing. “Old Zhang said she came to our house this afternoon, went into the bedroom and started crying. I’ve been trying to persuade her for almost an hour since I got home, but she’s still the same, nothing has changed.” Jiang Fengming sighed. “I really don’t know what to do.”
“The Yang family is in chaos now,” Yu Congyi nodded. “It’s only natural. It’s good for her to hide here for a while. All that trouble is just the mess left behind by Yang Ruinian and Yang Xiang. It won’t affect Yang Xiaomei. I think… you should tell her not to worry, tell her you’re here, you’ll be with her, and you’ll handle it.”
"Me, handle it?" Jiang Fengming pointed to himself. "Come on, I want to handle it, but who dares to touch that mess?"
"What is Shu Cai crying about?" Yu Congyi asked him.
"It's half and half. Part of it is for her older brother. She and Yang Ruinian have a good relationship. I suppose it's also for her own future."
“A dead person is dead. We have no choice but to let it go.” Yu Congyi sighed and said, “Yang Shu is your fiancée. You have to remember that. Her future is definitely closely related to yours. Since that’s the case, you have to make sure she’s okay first. After all, what people want most right now is probably peace of mind in their future life.”
“That’s what they say,” Jiang Fengming glanced at his elder brother, and for some reason felt that there was a chilling coldness in the other’s words when he said the first sentence, “but I don’t know if she can take it to heart.”
"At least these are words of comfort for a young lady; you should know more than I do. You need to understand what she's thinking; offering random words of comfort is useless." Yu Congyi turned his face to the side, lost in thought.
"Yes, yes, brother, you've taught me a lesson." Jiang Fengming nodded and grabbed Yu Congyi's arm. "But brother, you should come in with me too. I can't handle it alone."
Deep down, Yu Congyi didn't want to face Yang Shucai. He was the one who murdered her elder brother, causing her life to suddenly turn from happiness to suffering. How could she possibly try to comfort him?
No matter how you look at it, it's not honest enough, Yu Congyi thought; in other words, it's hypocritical. The words Yu Congyi used to define himself were always quite harsh. But killing Yang Ruinian was something he had to do. Perhaps there are just so many contradictory things in the world, enough to catch everyone off guard.
Yu Congyi stood next to Yang Shucai and saw Jiang Fengming sitting beside her with his arm around her.
"Darling, don't be sad, your eyes are all swollen from crying." Jiang Fengming put an arm around Yang Shucai and gently squeezed his shoulder. "Look, my older brother is here too. He was very sad when he heard the news of Brother Yang's passing, but we all know there's nothing we can do. The dead can't be brought back to life, and the murderer is still nowhere to be found..."
"..." Perhaps because there was another visitor, Yang Shu stopped sobbing, but after a few seconds, she suddenly started crying even louder.
"Who killed my older brother..." she asked between sobs. Jiang Fengming held her in his arms, then looked up at Yu Congyi, frowned and shook his head at him.
Yu Congyi moved a stool from the side and sat down. "Handkerchief," he gestured to Jiang Fengming to wipe the girl's tears. As Jiang Fengming frantically reached into his pocket, Yu Congyi pulled out a handkerchief from the inner pocket of his chest and handed it to Jiang Fengming.
Jiang Fengming wiped away Yang Shucai's tears.
“Didn’t I say we should all look forward? You and I, that’s what I told myself when my father passed away,” Jiang Fengming patted his chest. “Now it’s your turn. Besides, we’re getting married soon. You’ll be my bride, Jiang Fengming’s bride. You don’t need to be afraid. Don’t worry, I promise I’ll treat you well, even better than you did at home. Your father used to beat you all the time, but no one will ever do that again.”
Thinking of Jiang Fengming's style, Yu Congyi felt a little like sighing at this moment.
"But my brother..." Yang Shucai cried her heart out, "He's been so good to me..."
Jiang Fengming sighed and looked at Yu Congyi. "It's okay to reminisce, it's permitted, you can cry," Yu Congyi said softly, "but after you've cried, you have to pull yourself together. Dwelling too much on your grief will only make those who care about you in this world feel lost... No, even if you do, for your own sake, you have to cheer up." "Yes, there are still many things waiting for you, Miss Yang, to do," Jiang Fengming said.
“I can help you handle the Yang family’s affairs,” Jiang Fengming glanced at Yu Congyi to make sure he was right. “Those things you find troublesome, troublesome, or don’t want to do, I’ll do them, okay? Shu Cai, you’re my fiancée, and we’ve been together for so long. Don’t you believe I can’t do it well, right?”
After listening, Yang Shu nodded, still keeping her head down. In the blink of an eye, another tear rolled down her cheek, and her sobbing gradually subsided. "I understand what you're saying. I just want to know who killed my older brother."
For some reason, Yu Congyi suddenly thought of the girl he had saved on the rooftop of the Yang family's house that day, the girl who had almost committed suicide. He couldn't remember what he had comforted her about at the time, only that the girl had looked at him with a look of inexplicable trust as she left. But now... no one could have predicted how unpredictable life could be.
Yu Congyi lowered his eyes and couldn't speak for a moment. Jiang Fengming was still trying to comfort him when suddenly Yang Shu choked up twice and gritted his teeth with hatred and indignation, saying, "Murderers deserve to die and go to hell."
"Yes, yes, yes..." Jiang Fengming was taken aback by her resentful expression. Perhaps he had never seen her hate anyone so much before. Such a clear expression of hatred appeared on Yang Shucai's sweet face, catching him off guard for a moment.
"Damn it, damn it..." Jiang Fengming murmured in agreement with her, glancing at Yu Congyi, who had already gotten up at some point.
"Yes," Yu Congyi thought. As a professional assassin, how could he possibly understand Yang Shucai's feelings? Yet, he too had long ago felt remorse for the innocent people he had killed, thinking that executioners deserved to go to hell. Hearing these words from the mouth of someone he had harmed, Yu Congyi suddenly felt a dull, gratifying pleasure. It was like a dull knife cutting into flesh.
Perhaps, as she said, I truly deserve to go to hell like this. He glanced at Jiang Fengming and thought, "But I have no choice but to do it."
Could it be that the cold-bloodedness of an assassin has long become a part of his life?
Jiang Fengming lowered his head, suddenly unable to look at him. Yu Congyi slowly walked to the door.
"I'm going out for a bit. If you want anything to eat tonight, I'll go buy it," Yu Congyi said to Jiang Fengming and Yang Shucai.
Yu Congyi kept his frustrations to himself, needing no one to confide in. Thirty years had passed, and he had always remained this way, needing no one else to comfort him.
There's absolutely no need for that; ordinary people wouldn't even notice the change in his emotions.
Except after meeting Tang Zefei.
"What are you thinking about?"
As Yu Congyi walked down the street, he suddenly remembered the question Tang Zefei had asked him outside the bars of Prison 107 that day.
What are you thinking about?
Yes, what he was thinking at the time, maybe it was about Jiang Jiejie, what he was thinking is irrelevant. He no longer wanted to bring it up, but at this moment, the other party's question suddenly appeared in his mind.
How did Tang Zefei figure it out? Through his extremely subtle emotional shifts.
…
When Yu Congyi saw Tang Zefei again, he told him without any attempt to hide the fact that Lu Jin wanted to kill him.
“It’s like we’re chasing each other in a hunting ground,” he thought for a moment and said. “Either I kill him first, or he kills me.”
“But I don’t know why he did this. Can you tell me? After all, he’s your man.” Yu Congyi asked Tang Zefei from outside room 107. Ten days have passed since the two left the bathhouse late that night. During these ten days, Yu Congyi has avoided setting foot in the detention center again.
As the year draws to a close, a sudden surge of tasks from the Military Police and Jiang Fengming's side has kept Yu Congyi extremely busy these past few days. He's also taken this opportunity to temporarily escape the torment of his conflicted feelings towards Tang Zefei, preventing them from constantly plaguing his mind. Today, however, it's precisely because this matter has been weighing on his mind and causing him increasing confusion that he's come to inquire about it.
Reaching the door of Room 107, Yu Congyi realized his resolve wasn't as firm as he'd imagined. Instead of pushing the door open as before, he stood outside. Tang Zefei remained unchanged, as if she'd been waiting for him all along.
“You must be very busy lately,” he heard Tang Zefei say. “It feels like it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you.”
Yu Congyi suddenly felt a little uneasy. "I've been too busy lately," he said, briefly glossing over the conflicts of the past few days.
Yu Congyi ultimately failed to obtain the true reason for Lu Jin's hatred towards him from Tang Zefei—because Tang Zefei genuinely did not know.
Since Tang Zefei said so, Yu Congyi was willing to believe him.
"How have you been feeling lately?" Yu Congyi asked when the two were silent. He didn't really have any other reason to stay, but when he looked at Tang Zefei, he suddenly felt a deep sense of loss. This feeling held him back.
“Perhaps I will die here.” Tang Zefei’s answer surprised him. He looked up at the beam of moonlight that was leaking through the skylight. “I have been having more and more trouble falling asleep lately. I think it is related to the long period of separation from the outside world. Perhaps you have heard of something called energy. That thing seems to be getting further and further away from me now.”
“You won’t,” Yu Congyi told him, his eyes resolute. “If you die, I will be held responsible. As long as you are here, I will be responsible.”
“If that day really comes,” Tang Zefei said, her tone sounding almost sarcastic, “what would you do?”
I said I wouldn't.
"I mean, hypothetically, would you die with me?" Tang Zefei suddenly smiled and let out a soft sigh.
Upon hearing this, Yu Congyi remained silent for a few seconds, then nodded, "It is probably just as you said."
Tang Zefei shook her head. "You know I was just joking."
“I’m serious.” Yu Congyi looked into his eyes, seemed about to say something but then stopped, probably because he felt it was difficult to explain clearly.
I made a promise to myself. He thought to himself, I will stay here until Tang Zefei leaves.
That's because, after all, Tang Zefei was allowed in after he killed someone. They've all gone mad. Yu Congyi probably felt this was too ambiguous, so he added, "This has nothing to do with our feelings. It's just my insistence on certain things."
Tang Zefei looked at him and said, "Then I can't bear to die here."
If you really die one day before your destiny, Yu Congyi raised his eyes and glanced at the other person, sighed softly, and thought to himself, "Then it can only be me who ends your life."
But now he doesn't want the truth to be like that.
He no longer wanted to think about what he would do if Tang Zefei was really related to Jiang Jiejie's death.
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