0157 166 Knife-cut noodles, with an egg
Ling Xingzhi raised his hand and waved it towards the air conditioner to check the temperature. Then he turned to Pei Zhiyu in the passenger seat and asked, "Want a cigarette?"
Pei Zhiyu shook her head. "What do you want to talk to me about?"
"What can I talk to you about... Zhou Xiye, of course. She had two accidents, you know?"
"On what grounds are you questioning me?" Pei Zhiyu asked.
Ling Xingzhi chuckled lightly, "Is it okay to look at it from the perspective of a friend or colleague?" He paused, then his smile faded, "Where were you when she needed you, when she was suffering? Where were you when she was besieged on all sides and isolated and helpless?"
Pei Zhiyu was speechless at his words. After a moment of silence, she said, "Neither you nor I are people who can act solely on our own will. A single move can have far-reaching consequences. You are well aware of the current situation."
Ling Xingzhi looked at the night outside the window and sighed deeply. "If you're here to persuade her to back down, there's absolutely no need. Besides her own unwillingness, the Pei family won't allow you to do this."
Pei Zhiyu gave a wry smile. "Yes, I know... Isn't there a way to have the best of both worlds?"
“A win-win solution…” Ling Xingzhi turned to look at Pei Zhiyu, “If both things are good, that’s not a choice. If one thing is good and the other is bad, there’s no need to choose. A choice is when both sides are difficult, and choosing either one is painful. You choose whichever you can bear.”
Pei Zhiyu turned her head away and said softly, "I can't leave her, and I will never let her leave me."
"Do you know why Zhou Pei wasn't implicated?" Ling Xingzhi said calmly, "It's because although he's Zhou Xiye's brother, he's clearly distanced himself from her through his actions. Protecting one person is crucial for the other's survival. Leaving her and moving up the ranks are essential for..."
Before she could finish speaking, Pei Zhiyu rudely interrupted her—"Impossible! You have no idea how long I waited for her! And what I sacrificed to get her!"
Ling Xing stopped talking and frowned as he looked at Pei Zhiyu.
Pei Zhiyu took a few deep breaths to calm herself down before saying, "She and I were classmates in college. She is outstanding, smart, and ambitious. In this world, only she is worthy of me."
Ling Xingzhi turned his head, raised his hand to turn on the light, picked up the cigarette pack, took out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, his jaw tense, and said, "Hmm."
“But she never saw me. In college, I did everything she did, I took every course she chose… As her partner, she couldn’t see me, so I became her enemy, but she still couldn’t see me! After graduation, she went to the front lines… They said she was going to be a war correspondent…”
"Why didn't you go with them?" Ling Xingzhi picked up a lighter and rolled down the car window.
Pei Zhiyu pursed her lips, lowered her head, and said, "My family won't allow it, and you know the situation in the industry... Besides, I just graduated and am working as a junior staff member in a government agency. I have no power to resist."
"Now that she's back, why don't you go see her? Is Shenyang too far away, or are plane tickets too expensive?"
Ling Xingzhi lit a cigarette, squinted, took a deep drag, and then placed his hand on the window.
“Just a little bit more…” Pei Zhiyu’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he stared straight ahead, lost in memories. “Just one step away. My flight from Beijing to Shenyang was delayed, and Ye Rouxin got there before me…”
One wrong step leads to another.
“I thought I could forget her, but when I learned that Zhou Xiye came to Beijing to serve as the director of the Beijing Liaison Office, I knew that all my efforts had been in vain… I can’t forget her, I can’t give her up, I can’t treat her as just an ordinary friend.”
Ling Xingzhi took a few puffs of his cigarette, twitched the corners of his mouth, and gave an extremely ugly smile. "So, what are you planning to do this time?"
“If she just hands over what she has, I can get the Pei family to protect her for a while…” Pei Zhiyu’s voice trailed off, and her clenched fist loosened.
"The Pei family isn't on the list, right?" Ling Xingzhi stubbed out his cigarette and rolled up the car window. "Has she already made her choice? Is it that so-called... faction? I don't know what it's called, but the internet says it's the 'red faction,' is that right?"
She said she had no other choice.
Ling Xingzhi finally understood. If the Ling family couldn't guarantee her survival, she had no intention of cooperating with him at all; she was just stalling for time. "Do you even know what kind of list Zhou Xiye has? Why can the Pei family protect her, but my Ling family can't?"
“You can ask your father,” Pei Zhiyu said, pushing open the car door as a blast of cold air rushed in. “I will be there for her through this difficult time. Please stay away from her.”
Pei Zhiyu got out of the car, slammed the door shut, and the car shook.
Ling Xingzhi watched Pei Zhiyu walk back to the building entrance, and he knew that Zhou Xiye knew that Pei Zhiyu had come down to find him. Given the tense situation, she truly had no time to attend to him.
A cold wind howled, and the leaves on the trees lining the road turned yellow, a vibrant mix of yellow and green, creating a scene reminiscent of an oil painting against the backdrop of white clouds and blue sky. The wind was biting cold, and the black car, escorted by police cars, drove towards the city's Public Security Bureau.
Several cars turned into the city bureau compound and stopped one by one. Zhou Xiye got out of the third car.
She wore black leather gloves, a brown cashmere trench coat, and her hair was blowing in the wind.
Meng Qinggong walked down the steps to Zhou Xiye's side. "They've arrived; they're in room 408."
408 is the code name for the Kunming Military Region. Every city has a military region in a little-known place, which may be large or small and will not appear on the map, so it goes unnoticed.
Zhou Xiye nodded. "Then let's go."
The group boarded another vehicle and headed to the 408th Army base in Kunming. A meeting with the Burmese warlords couldn't possibly take place at the municipal party committee, much less the municipal bureau. What positions did they hold? They were nothing more than mountain bandits, parasites relying on the government.
Upon arriving at 408, Meng Qinggong and Zhou Xiye's secretary got off first, followed by several Southeast Asian men dressed in green military uniforms of various styles, who boarded the vehicle one by one.
The vehicle was protected by the military outside, but inside... no one knew what was happening through the black glass windows. Everything was done in secret. What was discussed, what was said, and what was exchanged were unknown to anyone except Secretary Zhou and the other party.
After dealing with the border issues, Zhou Xiye went to the hospital to visit Li Ling. Her injuries had improved a lot. She looked frightening with problems on her legs, body, and head, but they were not serious and would heal with rest. On the other hand, Zhou Xiye's gunshot wound in his shoulder kept flaring up, and he had to go to the hospital for check-ups from time to time.
Entering the ward, Li Ling was leaning against the pillows reading documents, her face pale and elegant. Seeing Zhou Xiye walk in, she followed him in and smelled a odor. "Did you go shooting? Why do you smell like ammunition?"
Zhou Xiye stood there stunned for a moment, looked down at himself from head to toe, and finally his gaze fell on Li Ling's face. "Your nose is quite sharp. You can smell the gunpowder on me even in a hospital full of disinfectant."
Li Ling smiled, put down the documents in her hand, and Zhou Xiye took off his clothes and hung them on the back of the stool. "Director Li, when are you going back to work? Didn't you say you were going to investigate me? When will it start?" As she spoke, she picked up an apple from the bedside table and took a bite.
“Secretary Zhou, I can’t refuse your kindness, and I certainly won’t let you down…” Li Ling pointed to the documents next to her, “I’m in trouble, but my people are still able to work. These are all the things we’ve investigated.”
Zhou Xiye glanced at the document; it wasn't too thin or too thick. She swallowed a bite of apple. "So much? My memoirs would probably only be eight hundred words long after I die. I'm truly flattered by your generosity."
Li Ling smiled and asked, "Did you come here specifically to see me, or for a follow-up appointment?"
Is there any difference?
Zhou Xiye looked at Li Ling with a smile.
Li Ling looked at her; the mature face before her was indeed different from when she was a child, making her hard to read. "Weren't you injured in the subway incident?"
A piece of apple got stuck in Zhou Xiye's throat. She swallowed it with great effort, and after recovering, she stammered, "It's not that..." She couldn't say it, but she also couldn't remain silent. Her gaze drifted to Li Ling's legs. "Can you walk now? I know a Shanxi knife-cut noodle shop around here. It's really authentic and delicious. Shall we go?"
"It's not impossible," Li Ling nodded. "Wait a minute, I'll change my clothes."
A senior patient dragged another junior patient into a noodle shop. The place was crowded. They slurped noodles with red lips, wiped sweat with tissues, and casually picked up a bottle of beverage to drink... Looking around, Li Ling frowned. Zhou Xiye, who was next to her, finished his apple and threw it into the trash can.
"I'll just have a bowl of knife-cut noodles, with an egg... What about you?"
After Zhou Xiye finished speaking, he looked at Li Ling, whose eyes were full of disgust, "Won't eating this land you in the hospital?"
"You're already in the hospital, what are you afraid of?"
Li Ling rolled her eyes so hard they almost reached the sky. "Just like you."
The two waited a while until a seat became available, and they sat down. The noodles arrived just then—knife-cut noodles, chewy and delicious, with a flavorful broth. Cilantro and eggs swirl in the soup, looking incredibly tempting.
Zhou Xiye picked up his chopsticks, took a bite, and ate it with great satisfaction.
Seeing Zhou Xiye's expression, Li Ling also picked up her chopsticks and took a bite.
Authentic and delicious.
The two of them wolfed down their food for a while, sweat beading on their foreheads. Seeing that they were almost finished, Zhou Xiye slowly poured herself a cup of tea from a simple teacup. She glanced at Li Ling and asked, "Would you like some?"
Li Ling shook her head, "No need, thank you."
Zhou Xiye took a sip of water, put down the glass, which was steaming, and thought for a moment before saying, "Those things done on the foreign websites, you did them, didn't you?"
Li Ling still had noodles in her mouth, and she stopped chewing, looking at Zhou Xiye.
After understanding what she was asking, she finished her noodles and reached into the pickled vegetable dish with her chopsticks. "You can't finish your noodles and not let others eat them, can you?"
Zhou Xiye chuckled, "Okay, you eat first."
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