0122 122 Xi Jin's Family Letter
"No--!"
A roar that seemed to come from nowhere startled Tu Mi, who was dozing in the car, awakening her from her half-awake state.
She propped herself up on her arms, bumping her head on the glass in the process. Rubbing her forehead, she watched Pan Yiqing walk towards her with a serious expression.
"What happened?"
"This time it's confirmed news; the boss has been killed."
"Kill... ah? What... no..."
Pan Yiqing assumed she was just frightened, so he pulled her into his arms with one hand, patted her back reassuringly, and kept his eyes warily scanning the surroundings.
A year ago, they gradually settled down in the Southern Continent, developed their business, and maintained stable contact with the mainland. A week ago, the contact was suddenly cut off. He sent many messages back but no one responded. He urgently contacted other message relay stations, but there was already a riot there. It was said that the boss had passed away.
Pan Yiqing didn't believe it. He calmly handled his business, cut off all contact with the local area, and returned to Changgang with Tu Mi.
Now that the rumors have become reality, the entire Shen family is under lockdown, so he can only take her back to his own home first.
The car drove away, revealing a homeless man lying on the street behind it. He was now sitting with his mouth wide open, still in the same position as when he had just shouted.
His face was covered in black charcoal ash, and the Shen family's patrol team passed by him five or six times without recognizing him.
The man was wearing a tattered cotton coat in the sweltering April heat of Changgang, clutching a bag tightly in his arms. The bag was as black as his face, its shape unrecognizable.
Su Shaojin has been in this state for a week. He would occasionally raise his hand to touch his right cheek, where, beneath the black charcoal ash, lay the last thing Song Yusheng had left him—her blood, splattered on his face.
He could still replay in his mind the image of her jumping down, lying motionless on the ground as if asleep. He was being pressed down and forced to crawl on the ground, unable to utter a sound.
The bodyguards cordoned off the scene, sent people out to evacuate the guests in front, and quickly brought out spare fireworks to continuously fire into the sky in an attempt to cover up the previous gunshots.
Most of the guests were drunk and couldn't hear clearly, but they all stopped to watch the fireworks. Some even took out their phones to record them. The bodyguards looked at each other with regret.
After getting completely drunk, Li Yi finally sobered up a bit. He weaved through the crowd, calling out for his wife, and laughing and cuddling with others.
"Don't shake your leg while standing, or your big belly will make it hard to stand."
"Who's shaking their leg? Why is the ground shaking?"
The ground was shaking. The bodyguards in the side courtyard were the first to see a vehicle drive into the yard... They weren't quite sure how to describe this kind of vehicle; it looked somewhat like an excavator, but its impact was comparable to that of a tank.
Someone maneuvered the large vehicle to a stop right next to Song Yusheng, quickly jumped out, and swept her away. In the instant she looked up, Su Shaojin, who was lying on the ground, saw his face clearly. She quickly got up and climbed onto the car, her movements as fast as a flying knife.
The truck crashed through the archway of the side courtyard, and guests in the banquet hall were recording the incident on their phones.
Su Shaojin leaned over the car door and slowly crawled into the driver's seat. Song Yusheng was lying below him. He reached out to hug her with trembling hands, but was pushed aside by the man in the driver's seat.
The man skillfully maneuvered the massive vehicle to the junkyard. After turning off the engine, no one could see them. He emerged from behind the steering wheel, covered in black ash, and punched Su Shaojin in the face.
The former playboy huddled in the corner, letting him vent his anger without uttering a sound, until he finally spat out a mouthful of blood.
The man was exhausted. He knelt down in the spacious driver's cab, not daring to touch the lifelike beauty with his dirty hands.
Tears streamed down his dark face, leaving streaks of white light, and Yang Xun's face gradually came into view.
What are you doing here?
"How did you protect her? Did you just watch her die?"
"I don't know... I only guessed what she was going to do, but I couldn't stop her..."
Yang Xun collapsed, staring intently at her face, and only spoke after a long while.
“Yesterday, she sent some of her things to me. I wasn’t home at the time and just got back. I saw the things and came straight to her, but it was too late.”
"What is that?"
"One letter is for me, and the other is for Qi Shuyao. They want me to send them to her. I can't do it. If you survive, please deliver the letters to her."
He tossed a package into Su Shaojin's arms, picked up Song Yusheng, and prepared to leave.
"Where are you going? Where are you taking her?"
“This filthy place is not good enough for her. I’ll take her to the place where she can be happiest.”
Yang Xun left with Song Yusheng, leaving Su Shaojin alone in the car, lost in thought. The scent of her in the air had dissipated before he suddenly lunged forward and smeared the two drops of blood that had dripped onto the ground onto his face.
He struggled to his feet, rummaged through the carriage and found a cotton-padded coat. He took off his suit jacket, put it in a bag, and hugged it to his chest along with the letter.
The car was covered in a thick layer of black ash. He rolled his face in it, limped out of the junkyard, and fell onto the open ground outside, where he stayed for a week.
He spent a week reflecting on his life with her, while lamenting that she hadn't left him a single word. Cars whizzed past his ears, and he finally stood up and dropped the letter into the mailbox.
Qi Shuyao has been living in the underground air-raid shelter of the government building recently. Before moving here, Qi Shuyao stood with her arms crossed, frowning, and asked Qi Yu,
"Even if they're powerful, can they really go up to Jingyang and launch an air raid? It can't be that bad."
Qi Yu never answered her questions directly, only saying that it was for her safety.
Qi Shuyao stared intently at his profile, her words coming out with some difficulty.
What are you afraid of?
She never received a reply. After moving to the air-raid shelter, Qi Yu only returned for one night, spending the rest of his time outside handling matters. The explosion swept many tourists into the sea, and the search continues to this day, with one person still missing and many others injured.
The official explanation for the incident was that it was an accident, but the news still couldn't be stopped from spreading. The Qi Yu government experienced its first crisis of confidence and is now doing everything it can to salvage the situation.
Qi Shuyao's daily life consists of nothing more than getting news from the ground through her phone; she hasn't seen the sun for several days.
She couldn't help but think of Tu Mi again. Two weeks had passed since she last sent her a message. Tu Mi's life abroad had gradually settled down, and she had even sent her a photo of herself with the neighbor's children.
But she's recently noticed something strange. On the forums she frequents, there are many posts with titles that interest her, but when she clicks on them, they all say "This post does not exist." One or two is normal, but every time it doesn't exist, something's fishy.
Later, this situation escalated, and even posts discussing why posts kept disappearing were deleted. However, since there were many discussions about celebrities in the forum, everyone subconsciously assumed that some celebrity had gone to great lengths to delete negative information.
Qi Shuyao tossed her phone aside, spread her arms, and lay flat on the bed, her mind constantly following the train of thought in the post.
There aren't many celebrity teams in the country that can afford to spend so much to delete posts, but those that are well-known all have a few big capital backers. After the Bei family betrayed their two partners, they gradually withdrew from the public eye and stopped showing off. They quietly made some risk-free money, and then two more companies rose to prominence. But none of their artists have ever been known to have any scandals that would make the whole internet shut up.
She turned over again, thinking about her family's affairs.
Shu Li protected the Bei family and Zhu Jiangxiu using his usual methods. He held leverage over Zhu Jiangxiu, yet still wanted him to enjoy wealth and honor while preventing him from resisting. If it weren't for the series of unexpected events that followed, they would have been placed in the government and controlled important departments.
But no matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn't understand why Shu Li, after all that trouble, would ultimately put someone in the top position. It couldn't be him, at his advanced age, going up there.
She couldn't understand it a few years ago, and she still can't understand it now, so she picked up her phone again and started scrolling aimlessly. As she swiped, a video sent by an unknown contact popped up. By the time she finished watching it, the video had already spread all over the internet.
A large, unrecognizable vehicle crashed through the wall amidst the fireworks. The crowd, who had been taking photos with their phones, instantly paled and scattered in panic. In the chaos, she spotted Li Yi and his drunken face.
Qi Shuyao immediately turned off the video and called Song Yusheng. After three rings, the call was answered by a man with a hoarse voice. She could vaguely recognize it as Li Yihe's voice.
"Hello, is Song Yusheng here?"
The man laughed with utter contempt. He kept laughing and laughing until he couldn't breathe, then he yelled into the phone.
"Are you all addicted to acting? You've made it your profession, haven't you? Suicidal acting, willing to risk your lives to achieve your goals. And the Pei family? Pei Yuzhou has been dead for so long, and you still can't let go. You even want to attribute my boss to the Pei family. Delusions? Madness? I don't care, but I will bring you all back one by one and crush you in my palm..."
Qi Shuyao hung up the phone and paced anxiously around the room. She refused to believe the situation she had subconsciously guessed. Impossible, impossible, it couldn't be, it definitely couldn't be.
She grabbed a coat and ran outside, dodging layers of bodyguards, only to bump into Sister Xiaolan, who had just returned, at the door.
"Yaoyao? Where are you going?"
"I'm going to find Sheng Sheng, she..."
"What's wrong? Tell me slowly."
Li Qing peeked out from behind Xiao Lan, holding her daughter in her arms.
Over the past few years, Qi Yu has consulted many plastic surgeons to gradually restore her face to its former appearance. Now, she looks almost the same as before, except that she appears somewhat stiff up close. After the last bandage was removed, she couldn't wait to see her daughter. She thought she would have a tough battle with the Mai family, but she successfully brought her daughter back on her first visit.
The little girl recognized Qi Shuyao and reached out to touch her face. Under her little niece's comforting words, Qi Shuyao gradually calmed down and her legs went weak, causing her to sit on the ground.
“I heard… no, I heard that Sheng Sheng, she, has something happened to her?”
"Here is a letter from Miss Song. The address is the former Changxi Palace. It arrived yesterday. Please open it and take a look."
Qi Shuyao took the envelope, painstakingly peeling off the layers of tape, and looked up to ask Li Qing,
"Why did the Mai family release him so easily? Has Mai Hong found another woman and had a son with her again?"
"No, no one's home. They're just hoping I can take the kids away as soon as possible."
"What's the meaning?"
“Mai Jia filed for bankruptcy at the beginning of this year, but creditors still came knocking on their door and divided up their remaining assets, turning them from rich people into paupers.”
"How could Mai Jia, whose company is in publishing and printing, possibly have any debts?"
Li Qing sat down cross-legged beside her, lowering her voice.
"Actually, I discovered their secret a long time ago, which is probably why they are doing everything they can to keep me in prison for life."
Qi Shuyao turned her head to look at her.
"They have been researching a 3D printing technology to print weapons and sell them abroad, but they refuse to cooperate with other arms dealers who have already established a market presence. They are going their own way and will be dealt with sooner or later."
"Human greed is like a snake trying to swallow an elephant."
Qi Shuyao finally opened the envelope, and Song Yusheng's familiar handwriting appeared before her eyes. She read the letter in one breath, her eyes swollen as if they were about to burst, but not a single tear came out.
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