0112 112 Taking a Step to the Pavilion (Bonus Chapter for 150 Views)
Chen Luo hurriedly stopped the enraged Qi Shuyao and held up a line of text on his phone for her to see.
She had read that short sentence eight hundred times, and the more she read it, the angrier she became. She snatched the phone and threw it aside.
"He has time to text you but not time to answer my calls."
She pushed Chen Luo away, walked to the silent Qin Zhuohan, frantically and helplessly scratched her hair a few times, and squatted down next to him against the wall.
“Your dad won’t let you go home, and my dad won’t let me go home either. Wouldn’t we be considered to be in the same boat now?”
Qin Zhuohan forced a smile through his teeth.
"Can you tell me what happened now?"
"Didn't it already get written in the news?"
"Is your dad really that confused? Isn't he a doctor who saves lives?"
“I used to think the same way, but by the time I found out about this, he had already started buying starch.”
Her legs went numb from squatting, so she sat down on the spot. Everything went black before Qi Shuyao could recover, and before she could even react, she made a mocking joke.
Will Jingyang collapse?
The blurred vision was accompanied by tinnitus, as if the world had blocked her out. It took a long time for her to reconnect to the signal, and as soon as her eyes focused, she saw Chen Luo squatting in front of her.
"What are you doing...?"
He silently handed the phone to Qi Shuyao; the screen displayed the latest trending news.
"Both the masterminds behind the fake drug incident have come forward, and insiders reveal that the mastermind behind this serious disruption of social order is none other than the current top leader, He Moumou."
This news was released half an hour ago. The latest update confirms Lao He's crimes, and the evidence is conclusive.
She was so startled that she dropped her phone on the ground.
Now Jingyang has completely collapsed.
The whole world is watching them make a fool of themselves, but the people at the center of the storm don't care anymore. Jingyang has weathered so many storms over the years, and this is truly the first time they've seen a leader leave in this way.
The pillars of the family have either collapsed or crumbled. The usually noisy office is now empty except for two people. Qi Yu sits quietly at the table where meetings are usually held. Zou Cong, who is like a robot, comes in with a thin document and adds some hot water to the tea in front of him.
Zou Cong is a person with a very low profile. Even when he is doing the most tiring work, he rarely mentions his contributions, and he never complains or talks about himself.
He had been working under Lao He since the beginning of his career, and his career had been smooth and successful. He and Lao He were now inseparable, almost like one person.
So how did he manage to disappear during this frenzied riot?
Zou Cong noticed Qi Yu's gaze and returned an elegant smile.
With just a glance or expression, he completely changed, shedding his cloak of invisibility and becoming himself—an independent and striking individual.
He pushed the document in his hand across the table, waved for him to open it, and then explained the voiceover himself.
"He won't be able to turn things around. His entire team will never appear again. It was all very rushed and hasty, but a country cannot be without a ruler for a day. Now, you are the only one left. But don't worry, a country cannot rely on just one person. Everything else has been arranged, and I have personally trained a secretary for you, Zou Jiangyu."
Qi Yu stopped opening the documents and placed the unopened file folder aside.
"What about you? You're not at retirement age yet, are you?"
Zou Cong shrugged, as if in resignation.
"I'm so tired after all these years. I've been growing two hearts and four arms every day, and my life is burning up. What's the point? I'll leave the future to the next generation."
"You seem to trust me a lot?"
"It's not me, it's my boss. He's been observing you for a long time and is certain you're the most suitable candidate. We've gone through all this trouble, but in the end, you're the one who benefits the most. And our relationship won't break down."
After saying his last sentence, he suddenly turned to stare at Qi Yu, revealing a mocking smile.
"It shouldn't break down, right? Will you sever ties with your daughter?"
Qi Yu clenched his fist under the table, then slowly unclenched it after a long while.
Twenty years ago, someone dropped a bomb. Before the smoke from the ruins had even cleared, huge dominoes were buried next to it. But people are too short to see the whole picture. They thought it was a newly built tourist attraction and went over to take pictures with it.
They couldn't see the first domino, so naturally they couldn't see the second or the third. Even after the entire Jingyang was filled with countless dominoes, he was still laughing at how developed the place had become.
Unfortunately, with just a light touch of a finger, some people perished beneath the dominoes, their bodies never even found.
The anticipated storm did not materialize, and the public's anxiety was calmed down. All they could see was that their Vice President Qi had resolved everything and was naturally promoted to become the new leader.
They also observed that the Dema Hotel, once the most popular chain hotel in Jingyang and even nationwide, had lost business due to boycotts, while a Xilong Hotel quietly opened in the city center and quickly seized the market. Children passing by would point to the brightly lit high-rise buildings and ask what they were, and some parents would reply, "..."
"When my mother was a child, more than 20 years ago, there were Xilong Hotels everywhere. This is probably just a coincidence of names, I'm not sure."
They also witnessed the closure of Mingren Private Hospital, which had always been considered more authoritative than public hospitals by the people of Eryang area. Qin Jiangzhi, an expert often mentioned by elders, was taken away by the police and was seen sitting in a police car with Liu Jiangyan, the former Minister of Finance who had falsified accounts, on the way to the police station.
Qi Shuyao was terrified every day watching the news, but Qin Zhuohan was much calmer than her. He stopped going to school, but dead rats and rotten eggs would still appear at his doorstep from time to time.
The three of them huddled in that small apartment, abandoned in a corner of the world.
She didn't know how much time had passed when Qi Shuyao's phone rang, which was unusual for her. She crawled out from the corner, fumbled for her phone, and answered it with her eyes closed.
"Hello...who is it..."
"Yaoyao, are you in Harwick City?"
"sister?"
She sat up, brought the phone back to her eyes to confirm that it was indeed Jiang Yu's number, and then quickly put it back to her ear.
"You're here too? Are you alone? Where are you? I'll come find you."
"Don't be nervous, Zhu... your brother-in-law and I came together, we're still at the airport."
"Wait for me, I'll come find you."
She put down her phone and hurriedly tried to run outside, but Chen Luo grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
"What are you doing? My sister's here!"
"You have an older sister?" Qin Zhuohan asked from the side.
"I... my good sister is not allowed! Hey, she's from Jingyang, how could she know other things? Let me go."
Chen Luo disagreed with her running out like that, so he put sunglasses on her and put the hoodie on her before going out with her. They sped all the way to the airport, and then pulled Jiang Yu and Zhu Jiangxu into the car.
She shooed Zhu Jiangxu to the passenger seat, then snuggled into Jiang Yu's arms in the back.
She wiped her tears and snot in her sister's arms, even though the bones in her sister's chest were digging into her face and making her feel painful. This thin embrace was now the source of all her sense of security.
Zhu Jiangxu was unaware of their relationship. He watched as this woman, who was almost a stranger, rushed into his wife's arms. He frowned and was about to speak when Jiang Yu stopped him with a look and pushed his head to look ahead.
She gently lifted Qi Shuyao's head from her arms, wiped away her tears, and soothed her softly.
Qi Shuyao had never felt so wronged. She was crumpled up and thrown on the other side of the world, with no one to care or ask about her. She would die here and no one would even know.
She gradually calmed down with her sister's comforting words, but Chen Luo, who was driving, couldn't sit still any longer. He tentatively spoke up.
"Miss, where are we going?"
Qi Shuyao then looked up at the window. She wasn't familiar with the area, so she asked him to find a quiet parking lot to stop first.
After parking the car, Zhu Jiangxu turned around and saw that the annoying little girl had half her body sitting in Jiang Yu's lap, her hand still clutching the hem of her clothes. He snorted a few times in exasperation.
Qi Shuyao didn't care what he was thinking. Since she didn't know how to address him anyway, she just spoke to him directly.
"Are you running for your life?"
"What else? Tourism?"
"Then why are you still so self-righteous? Do you believe I'll send you back?"
Zhu Jiangxu was stunned for a moment, wondering why this little girl was so hostile towards him.
Afraid they would argue, Jiang Yu quickly hugged Qi Shuyao and pulled her close, stroking her hair to soothe her.
"So what did you do? Why were you running for your life?"
The once-powerful man scratched his head helplessly and shook it.
"What? You don't know what you did? Then why did you come here of all places?"
This time it was Jiang Yu who spoke.
"This was given to you by your father."
"He has time to contact you but not time to answer my calls! If he's so capable, why doesn't he make proper arrangements for you?"
She was so excited that she punched Jiang Yu in her arms. Her sister could hardly control her. She was like a little firecracker, ready to ignite without being lit.
After venting some of her anger, Qi Shuyao resignedly rubbed her face, calmed down, and explained to Zhu Jiangxu.
"If you really haven't done anything and are just running your own business, then even if you don't run away, no one will do anything to you."
"Why?"
"Isn't it obvious? No matter who is in charge of all this, their goal is the absolute control of the top position and the important positions below, and they want to find all sorts of reasons to replace those people one by one."
"Then your dad..."
Qi Shuyao got down from Jiang Yu's arms, all her previous unreasonable behavior gone, and she became unusually calm.
Her hands were in her pockets, her fingers twirling the cell phone the contact had given her. Her mind kept replaying her conversation with Pei Yuzhou that day, finally settling on her own painting, "Cold Sky."
“My dad is just a front, their puppet.”
The car fell silent. Zhu Jiangxu, unusually, didn't rush to express his opinion on the matter. Instead, Qi Shuyao kept staring at him, making him feel uneasy.
"What's wrong?"
"I remember you, don't you know Xu Du?"
"You know her too?"
"Can you still contact her?"
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