Chapter 718: A Million Times for You (80)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
After the filming was done, An Xiaoning took a shower and changed into a fresh set of clothes. Her wrists were no longer handcuffed either. She even watched the video of her staged execution together with Pei Yi.
Everyone is going to think that I died , she thought to herself while staring at the video.
Pei Yi watched the video twice to confirm that there were no errors before instructing Qin Guo to send the video to Tuoba Gucheng and Jin Qingyan.
“Ancestor, do we let the citizens of S Nation know about it?” Qin Guo asked.
“No, just them both will do. Just leave those citizens guessing. Otherwise, it’s going to affect us negatively. I doubt Tuoba Gucheng will show it to his citizens anyway. Hurry and get my breakfast served. I’m hungry.”
“Alright.” Qin Guo did as instructed.
The door closed slowly. Pei Yi lay onto the couch sluggishly and looked at An Xiaoning from head to toe before saying, “I fancy women who smile.”
An Xiaoning suddenly realized that she must have an awful expression on her face at the time. Thus, she hurriedly smiled and said in a thick-skinned manner, “I love smiling. You’ll be the only person I smile at from now on, Master Pei. No one else has the right to make me smile for them.”
He placed his hand on her neck and caressed her skin gently. “You must keep your promise even if you don’t mean it.”
His cold fingertips made her feel a little ticklish. However, An Xiaoning remained still and allowed him to continue grazing his fingers across her neck.
She accompanied him for breakfast as usual.
She focused on eating and dared not let her imagination run wild.
After breakfast, he sat at his office desk to work while she sat on a chair facing him. There was a glass bottle on the table that was full of paper cranes.
She decided to fold some paper cranes to kill time.
An Xiaoning had always found her time to be extremely precious and not to be wasted. It had never occurred to her that she would one day end up folding paper origami in order to kill time.
It was all she could do since he did not allow her to touch any electronic devices capable of disseminating information and keeping in contact with the outside world.
She ought to find a way to bring some joy to her otherwise mundane life.
She would go crazy just sitting around and doing nothing.
If Xi Bolai was considered to be intelligent, Pei Yi would be a prodigy who was ten times more ingenious than him.
Ten Xi Bolais wouldn’t even be a match for Pei Yi.
Xi Bolai once abducted her with the clear motive of wanting to make her his property and getting his hands on a huge sum of money.
However, that was not the case for Pei Yi, who turned down an offer of one billion dollars. Evidently, he was not in need of money and was firm on his decisions. It also proved that he was a willful man who sometimes made decisions based on his emotions.
I’d be in a safe position, so long as I don’t provoke him.
There’s hope in escaping as long as I stay alive.
It’s only a matter of time.
I can’t be too rash or impatient, lest I provoke him and end up losing my life.
After all, no matter how invincible one may be, there’ll always be someone who possesses greater power.
So what if she had to swallow her pride and stoop to pleasuring him with flowery words she did not mean? There would be a chance to escape as long as she stayed alive. It was not worth dying for at all!
——
Not long after Pei Yi instructed the video to be disseminated, the national secretary of S Nation received the video in his digital mailbox and frantically reported it to Tuoba Gucheng.
“Your Majesty, the terrorists have sent us a video, it’s about…” The secretary paused and looked at Lin Shishi before continuing, “about Ms. An.”
“What video is it?” Tuoba Gucheng asked.
The secretary placed the laptop onto the table and said, “Please take a look, Your Majesty.”
Tuoba Gucheng clicked the “play” button with the mouse while Lin Shishi leaned in to watch it with him.
They watched the video that depicted An Xiaoning kneeling on the ground with her limbs tied together and a man standing behind her with a gun.
“Your nation has already given up on you. Do you have any last words?”
“Yes. Mommy… loves you,” said a pale and distraught An Xiaoning, who was speaking in a foreign language.
Bang! Bang! The man fired away, after which An Xiaoning fell to the ground with her eyes tightly shut. Blood flowed from her wounds continuously, and she soon became motionless, drenched in blood.
“Cremate her and scatter her ashes.”
“Yes.”
Tuoba Gucheng stared at the screen blankly, the shock robbing him of his senses.
Lin Shishi covered her mouth and burst into tears. She had been picking up foreign languages lately, for it was only appropriate for her to be proficient in foreign languages since she was now the First Lady. Hence, she completely understood the conversation in the video.
The secretary stood rooted to the ground while holding his breath in fear.
A while later, Tuoba Gucheng said, “Delete the video.”
The secretary hurriedly grabbed the laptop and deleted the video before leaving the office.
“Hubby…”
“Go out first,” said Tuoba Gucheng, standing by the window with his back facing Lin Shishi.
Lin Shishi did not utter another word and hurriedly returned to her room to inform her family of the matter.
Tuoba Gucheng was left alone in the office.
Tuoba Gucheng placed his elbow against his desk as he began to tear up.
It was all his fault for not choosing to save her.
She could have had a chance to stay alive.
Yet, he sent her to her death by choosing to put the nation’s interests first.
He knew that this day would come the moment he allowed the press to release the news about calling off the negotiation.
He initially thought that he had already prepared himself mentally. Yet, he could not help but feel overwhelmed with misery and despair when the moment finally arrived.
He could only hide her in the abyss of his heart for the rest of his life.
She must hate me a lot now. I said that I would protect her at all costs, yet I failed to keep my promise.
She must regret getting to know me. I’m sure she resents me now.
At this very moment, he began to feel immense regret for putting the nation’s interests first and ensuring that he would not let his citizens down. He regretted letting himself be bothered by the Cabinet’s objection…
He could not even protect the woman he loved most…
Tuoba Gucheng stood up from his seat. Just as he was about to leave, anger suddenly rose within him and exasperation gushed through his veins as he clenched his fist and threw it against the window.
The glass window immediately shattered into pieces, which scattered all over the ground.
The bodyguards immediately rushed in and gasped in shock.
Tuoba Gucheng’s hand was bleeding profusely.
Tear-eyed, he hollered, “Get lost, all of you!”
The bunch of bodyguards looked at each other in fear and dismay. Noticing the terrifying expression on his face, they had no choice but to retreat and inform Lin Shishi.
By the time Lin Shishi entered the office, there was already a pool of blood on the ground.
“Hubby, what’s the matter with you?” Lin Shishi was flabbergasted and frantically summoned the doctor to come forth and bandage his wound.
Tuoba Gucheng did not utter a single word throughout.
Lin Shishi had thought all along that Tuoba Gucheng was merely showing concern for the matter on account of An Xiaoning being her godsister. She reckoned that he must be exasperated because the foreign terrorists had executed one of his citizens.
To her knowledge, her husband and An Xiaoning had never met or spoken to each other before. Little did she know, Tuoba Gucheng had already fallen for An Xiaoning long before they got married.