Chapter 729: A Million Times for You (91)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Madam Xu, we’re just following the orders given by our superiors. Please don’t make things difficult for us.”
The former Military Commander Xu waved his hand and said, “Forget it, I’ll just go with them.”
Madam Xu had no choice but to watch her husband being taken away while her legs turned to jelly. Just as she was about to stumble over, the butler hurriedly held her and said, “Madam, are you alright?”
She regained her balanced and burst into tears, her hands trembling uncontrollably.
There were no further news after Mr. Xu was arrested, causing Madam Xu and Xu Cai to be flustered and worried.
After much consideration, Madam Xu decided to visit Commander-in-chief Jin, whom she had been on good terms with all along.
She intended to seek their help in finding out more about the current situation, in hopes that they would agree to help her on account of their ties.
Upon hearing her purpose of visit, Madam Jin snapped relentlessly, “Trust you to have the cheek to show up here yourself. No wonder you randomly asked Sis Mei and I out for a game of mahjong that day. Turns out you were beating around the bush and trying to sound us out to find out Xiaoning’s exact birth timing. You’re really a vicious shrew. You seem to be so kind and benevolent on the surface, such a pious Buddhist. And yet, you’re so evil and ill-intentioned deep down. If it weren’t because of your family, Xiaoning wouldn’t have ended up in such a plight. How dare you have the cheek to ask us for help? You’re really thick-skinned and shameless!”
Madam Xu turned pale and looked at Madam Jin with tears in her red and swollen eyes. “Please just help Old Xu. It’s been days since he was arrested and I’ve been worried sick. We absolutely regret what we had done to Ms. An too, but it’s too late for regret now. What’s done cannot be undone,” she pleaded.
With a frown, Commander-in-chief Jin declined politely, “I really can’t interfere with this matter, please go back, Madam Xu.”
However, Madam Xu refused to give up and knelt on the ground to beg him once more, “Please, I’m begging you!”
Raging with fury, Madam Jin snapped, “Seems like you have no shame. Hurry and get out of my house. Your family deserved the retribution you got. You brought it all upon yourselves. Just how did Xiaoning offend you in any way? Why did you have to do that to her? You caused her so much harm, yet you still have the cheek to say such shameless things. Hurry and scram!”
Commander-in-chief Jin stood up and said, “Hurry and leave, we won’t get involved in this matter.”
Madam Xu left in the end, after making a wasted trip.
She returned home to see that her son was already waiting for her at home.
Upon hearing that she had gone to visit the Jin family, Xu Cai chastised bluntly, “Aren’t you looking to be humiliated by visiting them at such a juncture?”
“But I was just hoping there would be some hope.”
“Investigations will take more than just a few days for Father’s case. Just wait patiently. Mother, just rest well at home and recuperate. I’ll inform you right away if there are any news of Father,” said Xu Cai, the only person who was not implicated. At this point, he was not quite sure what else to say, especially since he knew what his parents had done.
Madam Xu expressed assent feebly and lay on the couch to get some rest.
——
At past ten o’clock at night, the winds were chilly on Mount Qingping. The main gate opened all of a sudden, and another car drove in.
The car came to a halt steadily, and four burly men, who appeared to be foreigners, alighted.
The four men were transferred here from the headquarters in M Nation.
Minutes later, another man, who was the leader, strode in.
The man took out his valid documents and said to them sternly, “Leave with me.”
The four men followed him in a single file.
Their paces were in sync and they kept an appropriate distance between each other.
The man walking behind last had a much better-proportioned figure and was more good-looking compared to the rest. Although they were all dressed in the same uniform, he still stood out strikingly from his peers.
He scanned his surroundings while walking. The man was none other than Jin Qingyan, who had sneaked in.
In order to blend in with them, he’d instructed Fan Shixin to find out more about the system. The latter then discovered that the headquarters in M Nation would often recruit three to four men to add on to their manpower. Fan Shixin managed to get hold of the photo of one of the men who was about to be transferred there this month and who had a similar figure to Jin Qingyan. They then went through painstaking means to make a mask that was identical to the man’s features in order to successfully swap him with Jin Qingyan.
The fact that the four men did not belong to the same team gave Jin Qingyan a marvelous opportunity.
Well, at least, his voice wouldn’t let the cat out of the bag.
Moreover, he was not at all worried about the language barrier. The regime within the system of the organization was much stricter compared to the rules he had enforced amongst his subordinates in Wei Ni Estate.
Sneaking in would allow him to pick up the strengths of others and apply them to his own ruling system when he returned home.
After walking for a while and having passed by several barriers, the leader stopped in his tracks and took a break at a spot while the rest followed suit.
“Since you guys were transferred here from the headquarters, I believe you know the basic rules. However, there are some rules here that are different from what you’re accustomed to. I hope you’ll understand and bear them in mind. I’ll briefly explain them to you now.”
“Yes!” they answered in unison.
“When you’re on duty, you must keep your eyes fixed on what’s in front of you and you’re not allowed to multi-task or let yourself become distracted. Anyone who’s caught being inattentive will be served with a penalty of twenty strokes of the whip. Whenever you see our Ancestor, you must hang your heads low and avoid eye contact with him, lest you infuriate him and trigger him to have you executed,” said the leader, staring at the men before him.
Upon hearing his words, the three other men immediately shivered in fear and shock. Jin Qingyan finally understood what it meant to be cruel and violent. Compared to this Ancestor, Jin Qingyan was much more merciful.
One of them could not help but ask curiously, “Why aren’t we allowed to look at him?”
“Because you’re not allowed to. Just look down at the ground whenever you see him. Why are you asking so many questions? Are you asking for death? Or would you like to ask Ancestor personally?” the leader chided.
“I don’t want to.”
“This is a huge taboo. Just stay put in your respective units and follow the orders given. Don’t ask so many irrelevant questions. Come, introduce yourselves.”
“My name is Beck.”
“I’m Colin.”
“I’m Eden.”
When it was Jin Qingyan’s turn to answer, he remained quiet. All of a sudden, a shriek could be heard coming from afar.
Peeved and displeased, the leader rebuked, “What are you yelling for!?!”
“No, Boss, Ancestor is coming.”
Upon hearing his words, the leader asked, “Where is he going at this hour?”
“To the hot spring.” The man then whispered softly, “With a woman.”
Jin Qingyan heard his words clearly, and his heart began to race as he looked over in their direction.
He caught sight of two figures walking toward them.
“What are all of you looking at? Hurry and look down.”
“Yes.” They all then proceeded to stare at the ground.
The few minutes of looking down felt extremely grueling and torturous for Jin Qingyan.
Finally, they heard the sounds of footsteps approaching and of chains being dragged across the ground. All Jin Qingyan could see was that the woman who had chains on her feet was wearing a dress. However, he could not see what the chains looked like.
He tried as hard as he could to resist the urge of looking up, but to no avail. While everyone was hanging their heads low, Jin Qingyan raised his head slightly to look at the woman before him.
It was none other than An Xiaoning.
She was wearing a hat and a long, bright red cardigan.
She appeared exactly as she did in his dream.
Jin Qingyan was immediately agitated beyond limits. At this very moment, only God knew how much he yearned to pull her into his embrace and bring her out of this place at all costs.