0067 067 What will we eat tomorrow?
In the Guan family's small courtyard, after the helicopter roared away, Xiao Lan heard the Second Madam banging on the door. She went forward, unlocked the door, and opened it. The Second Madam suddenly rushed out and bumped into her leg.
She quickly got up, knelt on the ground, grabbed Xiaolan's clothes, and held on tightly.
"Aren't you the little maid who serves Xu Mei? How have you maintained your youthful appearance all these years? You don't look old at all."
Xiao Lan easily removed her hand, took a step back, and half-squatted in front of her.
"Madam, you've mistaken me for someone else, and you're drunk too."
"Madam? I like that word. It doesn't have that 'second' part. They're the ones who're 'second'. They call me 'second' every day. It's so annoying."
"It's nothing, I'll go now, you can go back to sleep."
"Wait, who else is on the plane? Where are you taking that little girl?"
"You don't need to worry about that. Mr. Guan knows you're no match for anyone and won't hold it against you."
"Yes, he does. He loves to complain about others."
Xiao Lan ignored her nagging and turned to leave, but was pulled back by her clothes from behind.
"You don't need to hide. I'm perfectly sober. Back in the day, I was Jasmine at the Heaven and Earth Ballroom, the top courtesan who could drink a thousand cups without getting drunk. I know you're that little maid, but unfortunately, I don't know who that man is. To make someone like Xu Mei have children one after another, I bet he must be very powerful. How does he compare to Guan Xiang?"
"Madam, you're drunk. Go back to sleep."
Xiaolan retrieved her clothes, locked the door again, put on her mask, and prepared to climb over the wall.
The second wife was still calling from inside the gate. She was exhausted from calling, and finally left only one sentence.
"Who is that girl's father? I don't believe Xu Mei could get involved with Secretary Qi."
As dawn broke in Jingyang, the people who came to deliver breakfast discovered that the hostages had been taken away. The second wife, who had been slumped at the door all night, grabbed their collars and started cursing, and they dared not fight back or talk back.
After a while, Guan Xiang arrived. He walked around the food that had been swept on the ground and helped the second wife up. Her hair was disheveled and her eyes were swollen as if they were about to pop out.
"What did you find out?"
"Your hostage has escaped! She's been kidnapped! Go after them!"
"You don't need to worry about that. Just tell me what you said to her and what she said in return?"
“I am your wife, your wife, not your employee, not your tool. Did you ever think that when they came to kidnap people, they would kill me too, and take me away with them? You knew they would come, but you still left me here.”
The second wife shook off his hand and got up to leave, but was stopped by the people following Guan Xiang. She turned and smiled at Guan Xiang, then threw the crumpled paper in her hand at him.
"Just kick me out. You don't like me anyway, and you have so many women. Go find that young widow, go sleep with your daughter-in-law!"
The second wife saw his anger and sensed the surprise of the servants around her. She closed her eyes, expecting a slap to land on her face.
The air seemed to freeze, yet nothing happened. Guan Xiang remained standing there, a few meters away from her, while the servants behind him stood quietly with their heads down, their expressions unreadable.
"Let's take your wife home first."
His words still held a hint of tenderness, something that might have made the second wife burst into tears on any other day. But all the courage she had saved up over the past forty years was reserved for this day. She rushed forward and stood before Guan Xiang.
“I know you have a problem in your heart. Tell me, and I can use my position to help you with many things.”
"No need, you can just enjoy yourself at home."
"Tell me, is your hatred for Xu Mei so intense because of her lover? Is he your godfather's child?"
Guan Xiang looked at the second wife as if she were a dead person.
In less than half a day, the news that Qi Yu was not in Jingyang spread to the ears of those who cared. Even rats who usually hid in the shadows and dared not come out ran out of the streets with their bundles.
Yang Jianlin hadn't attended a meeting there in a long time. He tapped his phone with his finger, while several people fanned him from behind.
Ji Delu used his heavy body to push aside the sycophants, not forgetting to utter a few insults.
"Fanning the boss in the dead of winter, what are you up to?"
Then he turned around and handed over a cup of tea at the perfect temperature, his smile becoming even more repulsive.
Yang Jianlin didn't look at him, but simply took the teacup and held it in his palm. He gazed at the tea set he had dug out of his ancestor's grave, then shook his head.
"How does my cup compare to the celadon-glazed cup that Qi Yu bought?"
"Yours is better. We dug this out ourselves. It's 100% genuine. His has changed hands so many times. Who knows what it was replaced with?"
Yang Jianlin glanced at him and smiled, his lips pursed in a smirk. He put the teacup back on the table and started fanning himself.
"Why do you think those people around Qi Yu call him 'boss'?"
“I guess it’s because his ambition has exceeded his power. If he were to address me by any other word, it would give him away. That’s why he used the word ‘boss’ so that he could interpret it in many different ways.”
"Boss, I like this word. It has a mysterious quality that makes people want to guess what's going on. Okay, all of you stop crowding around me. Take advantage of his absence and get my business done quickly."
An old man, pushed to the side, peeked out, his face wrinkled and looking quite troubled.
"Boss Yang, can we just go to the prison to ask for him? I'm sure no one will listen to us."
“Mention my name. If the Shen family can take him away, why can’t my Yang family? In terms of family ties, my family is the legitimate one.”
"Uh... okay."
The two old men walked away shakily, and the rest were also cleared out. Only Ji Delu remained by his side, echoing his words.
"Qi Yu is too petty. No wonder he's a half-baked amateur. He lacks the foundation that comes from being nurtured and cultivated from a young age, and he has no magnanimity at all. President Cheng just told the truth, and he immediately sent him to prison. But boss, do you really think President Cheng fabricated that corpse himself?"
He stopped talking when he said the last sentence, and leaned close to Yang Jianlin's ear, only to be pushed away in disgust.
"Why are you overthinking this? If the law has made a judgment, then we'll follow it. We'll deal with the rest later. If you're in a hurry, you can ask Cheng Jie when he comes out."
"No, no, no need, I was just saying it offhand."
"However, our laws here really need to be revised; there are just too many loopholes to exploit."
"That's right, I was just saying. When our boss Yang goes up there, he'll take down all this mess, and we little guys can enjoy the good life with him down there, hahaha."
He laughed exaggeratedly, but Yang Jianlin didn't respond. Then, as the laughter faded, he reluctantly brought it up again.
"If you ask me, the public security system has the most problems. When I worked with my master, it was so clean. Now, even as my master is old and dying, he is still being smeared by these scoundrels."
"Brother, look at your master..."
Ji Delu had only spoken half a sentence when Yang Jianlin glared at him, startling him so much that he quickly changed his words.
"No, no, no, Minister Pei, Minister Pei, you mean such a shrewd person as Minister Pei, wouldn't he have known there was a traitor among his own people? Didn't he make some kind of backup plan? Even if he's gone, he still has to make arrangements for his wife and children."
"Xiao Ji, you're a smart man. It's easy to talk to you. Of course, you have a way out. It's not just for his son and daughter-in-law. It's for you and me too. We all have a way out, especially you, my right-hand man. I'll have to thank you very much then."
Yang Jianlin rubbed Ji Delu's shoulder with a forced smile, but Ji Delu seemed oblivious, smiling even more obsequiously beside him. There wasn't a single document on the district chief's desk; the office looked like a place where the brother-in-law and sister-in-law went out for pleasure, filled with empty bottles.
The two of them, one sitting and one squatting, joked around all afternoon. In the evening, the office door was suddenly smashed open, and Yang Tian rushed in.
Her hair, which had been tied up, came loose. Her thick coat was unzipped, and she was still wearing her gallery uniform underneath. Her small bag slung over her wrist, leaving marks.
Ji Delu suddenly stood up, wanting to go forward to see his wife, but he had been squatting for too long and everything was dark in front of him. He groped and reached out his hand, but his wife bypassed him and rushed towards her brother Yang Jianlin.
"What happened? Why is Shui Shui's story being exposed online?!"
"What!"
The two men spoke in unison. Yang Jianlin snatched the phone from Yang Tian's hand, and Ji Delu, who had recovered, also squeezed over to take a look.
All information about Ji Shuihan, pen name Xiaoshui, has been exposed online, along with details of her family's secret operations, and most fatally, the artists who ghostwrote her work after her style changed, and comparisons with the paintings she plagiarized.
All the glory and attention that Ji Delu gained in his later years has now been stripped away and laid bare before the world.
He collapsed to the ground, his legs giving way. He tried to grab Yang Tian's clothes, but she kicked him away. She stood next to Yang Jianlin, who gently patted her in comfort.
Yang Jianlin has always disagreed with excessive exposure. He doesn't understand the internet, and at this moment his mind is in chaos, without any direction.
After some time, his phone rang again from an unfamiliar number.
"Who is it?" A very poor attitude.
"Hello, is this District Chief Yang Jianlin? I am the Deputy Secretary of Jingyang City, my surname is Ren. My subordinates have detained two men in Jingyang City Second Prison who claim to have come under your orders and intend to take prisoners away without authorization. Are you aware of this matter?"
"How did Deputy Secretary Ren end up in prison?"
"Then naturally we'll follow Secretary Qi's arrangements. May I ask, do you know these two people?"
On the cruise ship, Qi Yu put down his gun, and Shen Yan across from him also lowered his weapon. He even clapped his hands.
"Secretary Qi's marksmanship hasn't deteriorated at all over the years; in fact, it's improved quite a bit. I admire him greatly."
"continue?"
Shen Yan slightly curved the corners of her mouth. Qi Yu suddenly stood up and pulled Qi Shuyao into his arms. Her last sight was of a large amount of white smoke rising in the middle of the room. In the smoke, Shen Yan also stood up.
“I’ve said before that we could have been friends, and I admire you.”
"Impossible." That was Qi Yu's voice.
"That's true. After all, you and Guan Xiang have personal grudges, which I can't interfere with. But next time we meet, we won't be able to sit at the same table and talk."
As they spoke, the roof opened, and a helicopter was about to take him away. Zhou Cheng and two others were in front, dispersing the white smoke. Someone rushed over and pulled He Benran and the other person back. Qi Yu raised his right hand again, and under Qi Shuyao's terrified yet calm gaze, he pulled her aside slightly and quickly fired a shot at Shen Yan.
Shen Yan was shot in the left leg, and blood was dripping down, but he was quickly carried onto the plane.
A second before they turned around, a bullet fell from above, missing its mark and hitting the floor.
Qi Yu kept his right hand pressed on the back of Qi Shuyao's head, trying to block her view. After the plane flew away, Qi Yu also looked down into her eyes.
She was trembling uncontrollably; the room was already filled with the nauseating smell of blood.
They stared at each other silently for a moment, then she raised her hand and wrapped it around his waist, pressing her raised riding crossbody down, and turned her face to press against his chest.
Soon, the helicopter that Qi Yu had arranged arrived, and everyone else in the house got on. He held Qi Shuyao tightly until they left the international waters before loosening his grip a little.
Medical staff were trying to save He Benran. Qi Shuyao turned her head to look over there, then shrank back into Qi Yu's arms.
He had somehow put the pistol away, and with the hand that held the gun, he gently patted her shoulder.
"Is there anything you want to ask?"
Are you going home tomorrow? What are we having for breakfast tomorrow?
She could see the sky from her direction, but it was shrouded in mist, and everything in front of her was a vast expanse of white.
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