Chapter 19
Ignoring Qin Ye's advice over the earpiece, Huo Junyan slowly walked in.
Chu Ci followed closely behind him. The room was a luxury suite on the cruise ship, clearly visible, with no sign of Xingxing.
Where are the children?
Yao Shengjie sat in a single chair in the middle, with a huge portrait of Zhou Shaoqing hanging on the curtains behind her, creating a gloomy and eerie atmosphere.
Chu Ci caught a glimpse of two burly men standing behind the door and was so frightened that she almost screamed.
One of them locked the door from the inside and then stood aside.
Unexpectedly, Yao Shengjie not only arranged patrols outside, but also kept thugs around her.
Huo Junyan noticed that Yao Shengjie was holding a start button in her hand, which didn't look like a blasting starter, but more like a command device for the cruise ship's power system.
In other words, it's the ship's engine.
If the commands of the engine and the propulsion system conflict, it can lead to malfunctions or even shipwreck.
Besides, the cruise ship itself belongs to Yao Shengjie, so she can easily modify it.
No wonder the Zhou family father and son dared not make any rash moves.
"Is my son inside?" Huo Junyan saw a figure moving behind the curtains, and according to the layout of this room, there should be half a space behind the curtains, rather than a window.
Sure enough, the curtain was lifted, and Yao Kecheng, his slightly hunched body swaying, came out. "The child is already asleep."
He was the head of the Yao family. Chu Ci had met him once or twice at the Zhou family, but they had never spoken.
She rushed in immediately, and sure enough, Xingxing was inside.
Chu Ci quickly picked him up, and her son whimpered, rubbing his nose with his chubby little hands. He found a comfortable position in her arms and continued to sleep.
After nearly thirty hours, she was finally about to see her son. Unable to control her emotions any longer, she choked up and cried.
Xingxing seemed to sense something, opened her eyes groggily, hummed "Mommy," and then fell asleep again while hugging her neck.
Chu Ci laughed and cried at the same time, hugging and kissing her son repeatedly. After a while, she put him back on the car-shaped children's bed and then noticed the various toys that had been disassembled halfway on the sofa and the children's meal on the coffee table.
She looked up, exchanged a glance with Huo Junyan who was standing by the curtain, and then got up and stepped out of the curtain.
Upon seeing the two emerge, Yao Kecheng bowed slowly, "President Huo, Miss Chu, I apologize for disturbing you both. On behalf of the Yao family, I express my sincere apologies."
As expected of the person in charge of the Yao family, he didn't go crazy with Yao Shengjie.
Yao Shengjie scoffed, "You did it for the Yao family, and even more so for the China-Africa mines. You can't represent me."
“No, I just hope that today’s matter can be handled properly. The Yao family needs the mine, but definitely not in this way,” Yao Kecheng closed his sunken eyes and sighed heavily. “Which member of the Yao family is not saddened by Shaoqing’s death? His grandmother was so upset when she heard the news that she passed away not long after. But people always have to look forward.”
Yao Shengjie thought of her mother and covered her face, weeping softly.
Chu Ci and Huo Junyan exchanged a glance, both fully understanding the current situation.
Yao Shengjie was the one who took Xingxing away from beginning to end.
Only a mother would risk everything for her son, while the rest of the Zhou and Yao families would never risk their entire clan to offend the Huo family.
Even from their perspective, Chu Ci, along with Huo Junyan's son, impersonated Zhou Shaoqing's girlfriend and conspired with Zhou Yubai to build the Zhou family business, but they fell out before they could succeed.
If Xingxing were merely the son of Chu Ci, they would never have let him go.
But that's Huo Junyan's son.
Huo Junyan pressured the Zhou and Yao families, forcing the Zhou father and son to board the ship despite the danger.
When Master Qin couldn't find the person in charge of the Yao family, Huo Junyan thought the Yao family had all gone mad.
Judging from the current situation, there are still smart people in the Yao family. Even if the Central African mines were handed over to them, no one would dare to take them under these circumstances.
The only problem now is the instruction device in Yao Shengjie's hand, which may even be some kind of modified machine starter.
She has never recovered from the loss of her son, the fact that her grandson is not Shaoqing's child, and now the fact that her husband has been deceiving her all along have caused her immense emotional distress, putting her at risk of losing control at any moment.
"Shengjie, don't make the same mistake again,"
“That’s enough,” Yao Shengjie wiped away her tears. “I have no hope. If you say I’m wrong, then I’m wrong.”
She suddenly laughed. "Chen Que, don't you think this place looks familiar?"
here?
It did have a sense of déjà vu, but it felt very uncomfortable.
As I entered the cabin, this feeling grew stronger and stronger, and I even experienced hallucinations similar to those I had five years ago, much like post-traumatic stress disorder from a shipwreck.
“My name is Chu Ci. I am not Shen Que. You must already know my situation. The real Shen Que had an accident five years ago.” She steadied herself.
Huo Junyan glanced slightly at the ceiling. Master Qin had already determined the location. His gaze fell on Yao Shengjie's hand, where her thumb remained on the button.
There was no chance to seize it.
Yao Shengjie's eyes were strange yet resolute. "It's one o'clock. Our family will be reunited." She pressed the command button with her thumb.
One point is the timeline of the shipwreck, which occurred five years ago.
The cruise ship suddenly began to shake violently.
Without any warning!
Without giving any chance to negotiate, Yao Kecheng tried to grab the command device, but was kicked to the ground by the thugs guarding the door. Huo Junyan snatched the command device, but it was too late.
Bang!
The ceiling cracked, the crystal chandelier spilled all over the floor, and several figures in diving suits jumped down from the ceiling.
The cabin shook violently, and things scattered, collided, and rolled in all directions.
Chu Ci rushed in to protect her son the moment the cruise ship started shaking.
The ship was spinning and tilting violently, and the children's bed was shaking violently, threatening to capsize at any moment.
Chu Ci picked up her son, but her body fell backward due to the rocking of the boat. Instead of falling to the ground, she bumped into someone's arms.
Huo Junyan grabbed the sofa while pulling the curtain, using his body to cushion the impact for the mother and child.
“Mommy…#￥&…(⊙o⊙)Wow! Pirate ship!” Xingxing was finally shaken awake, yawning and rubbing her arms around Chu Ci’s neck in a daze.
The room was filled with crashing, banging, screams, and cries for help.
Qin Ye's men and Yao Shengjie's thugs were locked in a fierce fight.
Bang!
The door was kicked open from the outside.
Huo Zixi rushed in, yelling at the top of his lungs, "Get on the speedboat! This boat has been fitted with two power systems! Ah! Hey hey, the two engines are going in opposite directions, one in front and one behind, attacking from both sides! Holy crap! The boat could burst at any moment!"
"Are you crazy? Dad's still on the ship, are you going to drag everyone down with you to their deaths?"
Zhou Yubai followed closely behind.
Amidst a cacophony of voices, the Chu Ci only heard the sound of the boat breaking.
And someone shouted, "This is where the ferry accident happened five years ago."
The voices in my mind became even more mixed, making it impossible to distinguish between reality and illusion; I simply instinctively hugged the child tighter.
Huo Zixi and Huo Junyan worked together to protect Chu Ci and her son, and they stumbled out of the room.
Zhou Yubai saw Yao Kecheng struggling to drag Yao Shengjie, who was both crying and laughing, when the two of them were hit by a chair that flew over and fell to their knees on the ground.
He reacted quickly and caught the falling decorative vase.
Click!
The walls of the passageway cracked, the ship tilted at nearly 90 degrees, and then crashed into the sea. Chu Ci and the others rolled on the ground, then quickly got up and walked out.
Behind him came Yao Shengjie's piercing cries, like a wronged soul seeking revenge from the bottom of the sea.
Between the sounds, one could faintly hear the stars' sobbing and whimpering.
Chu Ci felt like she was about to lose her grip on Xingxing. The child was struggling, and Chu Ci's head had just hit the ground, leaving her unsteady on her feet.
The lights in the corridor flickered, blurring her vision. Giant waves, carrying the memory of the shipwreck from five years ago, surged at the exit, appearing to her as an abyss that would devour everything.
Images flashed through my mind: country lanes, stone-paved open spaces, passageways piled with miscellaneous items, blue and white school uniforms, and off-road vehicles whizzing by...
Why do these thoughts appear in my mind at this time?
Before we could catch them, the fragments had already flashed by.
The darkness and the giant waves grew clearer and clearer; a shipwreck, a shipwreck...
With her last shred of reason, she shoved Xingxing into Huo Junyan's arms. Her body lurched against the railing, nearly tumbling over, but Huo Junyan caught her wrist at the last moment.
"Stars, Huo Junyan, stars, stars..." He couldn't see anything clearly and just shouted randomly.
"pay close attention."
Huo Zixi had already jumped onto the speedboat, raising his hands, "Uncle, the boat is going to capsize, kid!"
Click click click!
The deck tilted upwards from the middle, and Chu Ci finally lost her grip and let go. In her last glance, she seemed to see stars being thrown into the air, and Huo Junyan reached out and fell down with her.
The moment she fell into the water, she felt excruciating pain all over her body, and the icy seawater instantly swallowed up all her body heat.
The last sensation was touch; my body felt like it was being dragged by a marine creature, and after that, I knew nothing more.
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