Chapter 125
Refugees screamed as they fled. Second Lieutenant Du, pushing his way through the crowd of fleeing people, struggled to lead his men back inside. Upon seeing this scene, Chong Yunkai yelled, "What the hell are you for? You can't even handle something as simple as this?"
Yun Kai didn't have time to argue with him about who was responsible. He soothed the Japanese who held Yue Ming hostage, "Don't be impulsive. Just tell me what you want."
Although Yueming was being held hostage, her expression remained calm. She asked, "Who are you?"
The man glanced at him and said nothing. Seeing the anxious expressions on Captain Du and Yunkai's faces, Yueming seemed to understand: "Japanese?" A large number of these refugees couldn't speak Chinese, and even those who did spoke only through a biting tongue. Otherwise, this Japanese man wouldn't have been able to stay here for so long.
The man didn't want her to talk, so he pointed his gun at her and signaled her to shut up.
Yun Kai was still negotiating with the man: "Let her go, and we can discuss everything."
The man poked his head out from behind Yueming and said in stiff Chinese: "You... step back... give me a car... and food."
"Okay, okay." Yun Kai agreed readily, "My car is right outside. Drive away and I'll give you something to eat. Can you let her go?"
This girl was his lifeline. He could see that the man in front of him and the officer beside him were wary of him because of her. How could he possibly let her go? He shook his head and said, "She... has to send us away."
Captain Du's pupils shrank when he heard him say "we" and he flatly refused, "I won't give you anything. If you let her go, I can spare your life."
Yun Kai looked at him angrily and shouted, "Shut up."
Captain Du frowned and cursed, "Are you a fool? Lan Yueming would be dead if he took her away. He's going to join up with the others who sneaked into the city. How could he let Lan Yueming go after seeing their faces?"
Lan Yingde rushed in anxiously. Seeing Yueming being held hostage, he shouted "Yueming" with bloodshot eyes and was about to rush over. Feng Xiaosai and Yunkai quickly stopped him.
Yun Kai panted and said to Captain Du, "If you want to find the Japanese hiding in the city, that's your business, but Yue Ming must not be in trouble. Let your men get out of the way."
Captain Du glared at him: "It's not your turn to command me."
"Stop arguing!" Lan Yingde shouted, stopping the two from arguing. He calmly said to the person holding Yueming hostage, "She's my daughter. I'll come in exchange for her. You can take me with you. Your injuries haven't fully healed yet. I'm a doctor, so it would be better for you to escape with me."
Hearing Lan Yingde mention his injury, the man subconsciously looked at his leg. After thinking for a while, he nodded in agreement. Lan Yingde was about to go over when Yun Kai grabbed him. He smiled at Lan Yingde and said, "You have old arms and legs. How can you escape as fast as me? If something happens to you, Yueming will not be able to survive."
After saying that, he raised his voice and said to the man, "Your leg is injured and you can't drive. Neither the father nor the daughter can drive. You can't get away. I'll go replace her. I can drive, and I have food and money in my car."
Although the man felt impatient, he thought about it and nodded in agreement.
Yunkai raised his hands and walked towards Yueming step by step. He smiled and said to her: "Yueming, don't be afraid, you will be able to go home soon."
Yueming didn't dare speak for fear of upsetting the people behind him, and could only use her eyes to signal to Yunkai that she would cooperate. The needle of the syringe she had hidden in the panic was pointed at the Japanese man's thigh.
Yun Kai received her signal and tried his best to attract the Japanese's attention: "Don't worry, Yue Ming, I am not undeservedly called the Little Overlord of Yun Xiang. I will be fine."
Yunkai approached the two men, and the Japanese gestured for Yunkai to turn his back. As Yunkai turned, Yueming felt the resistance against his neck loosen slightly, seizing the opportunity to thrust the syringe into the Japanese man's thigh. The man screamed, reflexively pulling the needle out. Yunkai seized the opportunity, spun around, and struck him hard on the temples with both elbows, then bent his knees and repeatedly struck him in the abdomen. The Japanese man collapsed to the ground after receiving several blows.
The crisis was over, Yun Kai breathed a sigh of relief and was about to comfort the frightened Yue Ming. When he turned his head, he saw a man lying on the bed quietly pointing a gun at Yue Ming who was standing beside him.
He was horrified at the sight and quickly pulled Yueming into his arms before rolling to the side. The man raised his gun and shot at them, but only managed to fire once before Captain Du shot him in the wrist. Soldiers swarmed over and captured him.
Lan Yingde and Feng Xiaosai were already pale with fear at this sudden change. They both rushed forward, one calling his daughter and the other calling his master.
Yueming was held tightly in Yunkai's arms. When she heard her father calling her, she reached out to push Yunkai, only to find him lying on top of her, motionless. The wound on his forehead had broken open, and blood was dripping onto her face.
Her fingertips trembled as she touched his tightly closed eyes. She called out in a hoarse voice, "Yunkai, Yunkai, wake up. Everything is fine."
Yunkai didn't open her eyes. The pain in her heart was endless. She couldn't help but wonder, that day by the bridge, when she thought she had fallen into the river and couldn't come back like the refugees, was Yunkai's heart also in pain?
She held onto his shoulders and cried, "Yunkai, wake up, it's okay, wake up and let's go home. Yunkai, wake up." After shouting a few times, her senses returned and she quickly called Lan Yingde, "Dad, Dad, please go check on Yunkai."
"Puchi" Yun Kai couldn't pretend anymore, he opened his eyes and smiled, "I finally know how you'll cry if I die."
Lan Yingde, who was about to see if he was dead or not, and Feng Xiaosai, who was terrified, both cursed in their hearts at the same time: "You are so boring."
Seeing him playing dead and still having the nerve to smile, Yueming's face turned green and red. Looking at his smiling eyes, she finally became angry and pushed him away with all her might. She got up, kicked him, and ran away in anger.
Yun Kai stood up to chase him, but was stopped by Lan Yingde. Looking at the wound that needed stitches again, he sighed and said, "Let's stop the bleeding first!"
Yueming ran home with blood all over his face, startling his stepmother: "You...what happened to you? Why is there so much blood?" Thinking Yueming had hurt his face, he was so scared that he almost fell down. Not seeing Lan Yingde, he became even more panicked and asked repeatedly: "Where is your father? Why didn't he come back?"
Yueming muttered, "It's okay, this is not my blood, leave me alone." Then he ran upstairs back to his room.
She sat on the bed and cried for a while. Then, looking up in the mirror, she was horrified by her own stained face. Thinking about how she had walked around the streets with such a face, she felt like crying again. There was no basin in the room, and she didn't want to go downstairs. So she dipped a handkerchief in some tea from the teapot and wiped her face in the mirror.
She took off her bloodstained clothes and changed into clean ones. She lay on the bed, caressing her trembling chest. A thousand thoughts raced through her mind. She remembered how Yun Kai had teased her when she was learning to smoke, and how she had wandered halfway through the city with her face blackened by soot. Then she remembered Yun Kai, lifeless, slumped over her, blood dripping from his forehead like beads from a broken string.
She told herself not to be soft-hearted. This guy was always good at acting. If he didn't play tricks on her once a day, she wouldn't be able to enjoy her meal. But everything that had just happened was still fresh in her mind. He walked towards her step by step, smiling and saying to her, "Don't be afraid, Yueming. You can go home soon."
Cracks slowly appeared in her hard heart, and she didn't know what to do. She couldn't remain indifferent to all that Yun Kai had done for her, but it was impossible for her to forgive him completely without any grudges. After suffering a loss once, wouldn't it be foolish to jump into the same pit again?
Just as I was daydreaming, I suddenly heard a knock on the door, and Yunkai's voice rang out from outside the door: "Yueming, open the door, I have something to tell you."
She didn't want to open it, but she was still worried about the wound on his head. Yueming got out of bed and, shuffling her slippers, opened the door a crack. His head was bandaged again, his face clean, but his clothes were a mess, covered in dirt and blood.
He looked a bit disheveled, but he should be alright. Glancing down, she saw him holding a square paper bag tied with a thin hemp string. She hesitantly asked, "What's this?"
Yunkai raised the paper bag and smiled brightly at her: "Mung bean cake, filled with perilla seeds."
After a life-or-death experience, now that she was safe, she felt hungry. She opened the door, took a step back, and whispered, "Come in!"
She had just used the tea to wash her face, so there wasn't much left. Each person had just half a cup. Yueming untied the hemp rope around the paper bag and was greeted by a sweet aroma before she even opened it. The mung bean cake was loose and would crumble if squeezed too hard. Yueming carefully pinched a piece, cupped it in her palm, and handed it to Yunkai.
Yun Kai smiled and refused: "You eat first. You just had such a big shock, so you need something sweet to calm your nerves."
Yueming extended his hand forward: "There's more!"
Yun Kai took a bite from her hand and smiled: "It smells so good, so delicious."
Yueming glared at him: "Take it and eat it yourself, I haven't eaten yet!"
Yunkai thought the rain had stopped and the sky cleared up, so he happily took the cake and started eating. Yueming ate two pieces and stopped, picking up the tea and sipping it in small sips.
Yun Kai asked curiously, "Why did you only eat so little? Don't you like eating?"
Yueming shook his head: "This stuff is very oily. If you eat too much, you will feel greasy."
Yun Kai laughed and said, "Back in Bangkok, I didn't let you eat too much chocolate and cake, and you were so angry. Now you've learned to be more moderate."
Yueming said calmly, "Why keep talking about the past? With our current relationship, it's boring to talk about the past." Seeing Yunkai's expression change, she smiled and said, "You've always wanted to have a good talk with me, so let's have a good talk today!"
Yun Kai knew what she was going to say, and with trembling lips he forced a smile: "Okay!"
Yueming thought for a while, not knowing how to start. He laughed at himself and said, "Actually, I've already said everything I need to say, but you just can't hear me."
Yun Kai turned his head away and said in a hard voice, "I don't like what you said, so of course I won't listen to it."
Yue Ming was surprised, "Back in Bangkok, when I wanted to persuade Miss Zhong not to let Su Shiyue become a second wife and to let her reconcile with Cousin An, what did you tell me? You said that Cousin An and Miss Zhong were just a play of fate, that they were not meant to be together. We should let the past go and live our lives by looking forward. It's the same for both of us! How can you contradict yourself?"
Yun Kai said confidently, "That's someone else's business. They'd definitely use some moral principles to dissuade you from interfering in other people's affairs. But this is our own business. How can we use moral principles to deal with our own affairs? We have to talk about our feelings."
Yueming was amazed at Yunkai's shamelessness.
Seeing Yueming's expression relax a little, Yunkai held her hand and placed it on his chest and asked excitedly: "Was Abby handsome and brave when he saved you just now? Were you touched? Were you sad that you thought I was dead? Were you scared..." The rest of the words were scared back by Yueming's sobbing.
The sound of "Abby" brought back Yueming's memories. All those sweet moments that she had buried deep in her heart and never dared to bring out appeared before her eyes, making her burst into tears.
Yun Kai held her in his arms, gently kissed the top of her head, and said softly: "Silly girl, why are you crying? I'm fine!"
Yueming grabbed his clothes and cried, "Look at what you have done. Why did you scare me? I am scared to death."
"I was wrong. I won't do it again next time." Yun Kai patted her back and promised, then pleaded, "We've been through a life-and-death separation today. Please forgive me! It's such a blessing that we can meet each other alive in this chaotic world!"
Yes! After witnessing so many deaths and lives, what is there that cannot be forgiven? And what is more important than each other's life?
Yueming buried her head in his arms and tilted her head to look out the window. The afterglow of dusk shone in, and dust stained with orange light fluttered in the light and shadow.
Resigned to her fate but somewhat unwillingly, she threatened Yun Kai, "I won't let you have an easy life. I hold a grudge and will definitely make your family a mess."
Yun Kai knew she had compromised, tears welled up in his eyes, and he rested his chin on her shoulder, encouraging her: "Yes, don't be soft-hearted, you must make me pay for it."
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