Zhang Shun knew that at this moment, the most crucial thing was intimidation. He silently repeated “intimidation, intimidation” to himself, staring intently at Li Hu, his gaze almost sharp enough to pierce through her eye sockets and deep into her rapidly working brain.
But Li Hu was no pushover. After a brief moment of panic, she quickly calmed down and asked innocently, “What are you talking about? I don’t understand.”
“You knew perfectly well that the person in the grotto was Maha, yet you deliberately misled me into thinking it was Chu He, luring me to go rescue him alone. If I hadn’t run into that group of Japanese people, I would have been the one eaten by your family’s Peacock Wisdom King,” Zhang Shun said. “Don’t think I won’t hit you just because you’re dressed as a woman. You think I don’t know? If you’re not a male fox, I’ll take your last name!”
“…” Li Hu took a stunned half-step back and suddenly shrieked, “—We already broke up! What’s the meaning of this constant harassment!”
Zhang Shun froze.
Countless gazes were instantly thrown their way from down the corridor. The faces of the onlookers were a colorful mixture of expressions. Li Hu shook her head in anguish as she backed away. “Are you even a man? You treat me to a few meals and then chase me to cash them out! I’ll transfer the money to your bank card when I get back, okay? I really don’t have any cash on me today! I just don’t have cash! —Just leave me alone!”
With that, Li Hu turned and ran.
Zhang Shun instinctively gave chase. He had only taken two steps when he was grabbed. Turning around, he saw several young male doctors looking at him menacingly. The one in the lead said angrily, “Dude, that’s low. Are you a f—ing man or what?!”
Zhang Shun: “…”
“How much does she owe you? I’ll pay it for her!” The doctor slammed a wad of cash down, saying with contempt, “What a f—ing disgrace!”
Zhang Shun: “…”
With the agility that had allowed him to escape the jaws of the Peacock Wisdom King, Zhang Shun darted out of the surrounding crowd with lightning speed. As he chased after Li Hu, he roared with deep emotion, “Darling, I still love you! Please don’t leave me for that man! So what if he has more money than me? You’re carrying my child—!”
Li Hu tripped and tumbled down the stairs with a crash.
·
Half an hour later, Li Hu was sitting in a teahouse downstairs from the hospital with a bandage on her forehead. She said helplessly, “Second Young Master Zhang, you really have no pity for a fair lady…”
She was wearing a low-cut red dress, her wavy hair falling charmingly over her deep, white cleavage. Anyone who passed by couldn’t help but stare. In the past, sitting in front of such a beauty would have certainly made Zhang Shun’s heart flutter, but now he felt nothing at all. He said with a deadpan expression, “Actually, there’s something I never told you.”
“…?”
“In the tunnel, I saw your butthole too.”
Li Hu: “…”
A vein throbbed on Li Hu’s temple. She took a sip of iced water to barely regain her composure.
“Speak,” Zhang Shun said coldly. “What exactly does ‘Buddha bone’ mean, and why do all of you want me dead? Don’t tell me it’s because you’re a demon and I’m a Buddha, that you’re the White Snake and I’m Fahai, so you have to strike first and kill me to take over the world. You’re a f—ing civil servant now, you must be past that whole Leifeng Pagoda story.”
Li Hu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She sighed and said, “You’ve misunderstood. The one I wanted dead wasn’t you… it was Maha.”
Zhang Shun raised an eyebrow, his expression clearly one of disbelief.
“You got one thing wrong. You are a ‘Buddha bone,’ which is different from a real Buddha. If you were a real Buddha, those demons and monsters wouldn’t dare to bother you at all. However, even a Buddha bone is enough to deal with Maha. If you hadn’t run into the Japanese, your first reaction upon seeing Maha in the grotto would have been to get him down. In the process, your hands would have touched him here and there, which would have been enough to burn him to a crisp.”
Li Hu took another sip of iced water. Zhang Shun looked at her in disbelief. “…I thought you and that guy Zhou were on the same side. Why would you want to kill his son? And what do you mean, ‘touched him here and there’? Can you not make it sound so gross!”
Just then, a waiter walked by. Li Hu’s expression immediately changed. She pressed a hand to her lower abdomen and shrieked, “I’m already carrying your child, and you’re still so mean to me?!”
Instantly, gazes from all around shot toward them, full of condemnation.
Young Master Zhang’s mouth twitched. He turned and tried to explain repeatedly, “I wasn’t being mean to her! Pregnant people are sensitive. I really wasn’t being mean to her…”
Li Hu made a face at him and smugly swirled her tall glass. Looking at her, Zhang Shun was furious. He thought to himself, how do I always lose out to this woman? At this rate, I’m going to develop a complex about women.
“Boss Zhou knows I want to kill his son,” Li Hu said, probably finding Young Master Zhang’s frustrated expression pleasing. She giggled. “There are a lot of people who want Maha dead. One more or one less of me doesn’t make a difference. Seriously, do you know anything about religion? Peacocks are born extremely ferocious. They can suck in a person from forty or fifty li away in one gulp. That’s the factory setting for a Peacock Wisdom King. For him, eating people is no different from eating potato chips.”
“But I heard that peacock call my brother ‘Mom’…”
“Your brother is his mom,” Li Hu said casually. “The peacock was born from your brother and Zhou Hui together. There’s nothing wrong with him calling him ‘Mom’.”
Zhang Shun felt that his worldview, which had been repeatedly shattered in the tunnel, had just been shattered once again. In his shock, he vaguely felt that his values, in front of these people, were like a defenseless little girl, tear-streaked and helpless, with no choice but to lie down and take it.
“The story of Zhou Hui and your brother is basically about a loser who fights his way to the top of his life, uses all sorts of methods to successfully marry a beautiful, rich woman, then has two kids in three years for a happy family. But the loser, knowing he’s uncultured, sends his kid to an expensive, aristocratic boarding school. In the end, the school does a poor job, and the kid graduates as an antisocial person.” Li Hu smiled. “As for your role in this story, it’s very complicated. It’s not something that can be explained in a few words, nor is it something a person… a demon… of my status can say. Why don’t you go ask your brother yourself?”
Zhang Shun stared at her, dumbfounded. After a long moment, he said angrily, “But my brother is gone!”
Li Hu made a “no comment” expression.
“Didn’t you guys kidnap him? I always thought you had something to blackmail him with…”
Li Hu said, surprised, “How could you think someone like Phoenix Four could be blackmailed? It’s more like him blackmailing others. Your brother is a ruthless character. Ah, I remember that time I took a nude photo of him to try and force him to sleep with me. I ended up getting a brutal beating from him. To this day, my sixth tail is still missing a small piece…”
Zhang Shun looked at her full, almost bursting chest, and his mind was a storm of thunder. He had never felt so strongly as he did now that his brother was truly a man, a real man’s man.
“Speaking of which, I haven’t seen Phoenix Four in a while either. But last I heard, he was going to hand the company over to you.” Li Hu blinked her eyes and called out “President Zhang” in a voice that was feignedly coquettish but actually teasing. “From now on, President Zhang will be a real tycoon. Young, handsome, and rich. Even if you sell the company, you’ll have enough to lie on a mountain of gold and live off it for the rest of your life. If I were you, I’d just find a small island in the Maldives or hole up in a snowy mountain in Hokkaido, Japan. Life would be so comfortable. Why bother digging into the messy affairs of the peacock’s family?”
Zhang Shun was silent for a long time, staring at the ice cubes floating in the glass before him. Li Hu thought he had no more questions and beckoned the waiter over to pay the bill. But then she suddenly heard Zhang Shun say in a low voice, “But… he’s my brother. I can’t just ignore him.”
Li Hu gave him a rather surprised look and asked, “Your brother, your biological brother? From the same mother? —These days, having the same father doesn’t even count. Only those who came out of the same mother’s belly are considered true family.”
She turned to the waiter. “Separate bills. This cake is on me.” She then told him to keep the change as a tip.
The waiter then gave Young Master Zhang a contemptuous look.
“…” Zhang Shun said, “I’m starting to think you really f—ing have it in for me… But you don’t need to worry about whether I lie on a mountain of gold waiting to die or continue investigating my brother’s family and end up getting silenced. That’s my f—ing choice. Just tell me where Chu He might be, and I’ll go find him myself.”
Li Hu smiled without a word, picking up her small handbag to leave. Zhang Shun noticed her bag was from a very expensive brand, and it looked like a limited edition. If she was really a male fox, she probably wouldn’t use such a feminine bag often. This showed she was very wealthy.
Speaking of which, Zhou Hui was also very rich. His brother had also gained considerable financial benefits by managing the Zhang family’s assets. It seemed these team leaders all had various ways of making money and could live very well in human society.
“Your brother is in Beijing,” Li Hu said, standing up with a smile. “But you can’t go to Beijing. Believe me, if Zhou Hui doesn’t want you to go, National Security has many, many ways to make you stay obediently in H-City.”
She turned and walked toward the teahouse entrance. Just then, her phone chimed with a message notification. Li Hu opened WeChat to check it, and an incredulous expression appeared on her face.
“…” She turned, walked back to the table, and looked down at Young Master Zhang. “You’re coming with me to Beijing this afternoon. Go pack your things now. Hurry.”
Zhang Shun looked at her with even more disbelief. After a moment, he asked, full of confusion, “…How do you guys manage to so brazenly ask others to join you in eating your own words?”
But Li Hu didn’t smile, nor did she look angry. She sighed.
“Yan Lanyu is not going to make it. Deputy Chief Yu said you can go see him off.”
·
That afternoon, Zhang Shun was picked up by a small private jet and flown directly from H-City to Beijing. By dinnertime, he was standing in the capital’s airport.
The whole way, Zhang Shun was immersed in an indescribable mood. How could Yan Lanyu suddenly be dying?
Strictly speaking, he had only met Yan Lanyu once, and that meeting had only lasted a few short hours. But they had gone through life and death together, forging a bond on the very edge of a knife. If Yan Lanyu hadn’t blocked that blow, perhaps he would already be dead. If he hadn’t desperately held Yan Lanyu back, perhaps the detonator would have exploded before Zhou Hui arrived.
How many people know each other for years without ever facing a life-and-death parting? In their very first meeting, they had taken a round trip to the gates of hell.
Perhaps affected by this mood, Zhang Shun didn’t say much on the way. Li Hu was busy with her own WeChat conversations and didn’t pay him any mind. After arriving at the capital’s airport, they went outside and saw a black Mulsanne parked by the roadside. Such an expensive luxury car, yet it had an incredibly arrogant military license plate.
The car window rolled down, and Zhou Hui’s devastatingly handsome face leaned out. He was wearing a pair of Cartier sunglasses. “Yo, little brother-in-law!”
Zhang Shun’s sentimental mood was instantly shattered. “Who’s your little brother-in-law!”
Zhou Hui smiled, opened the car door for them with gentlemanly flair, and said, “Beautiful lady, handsome guy, please. Wee to Beijing.”
Zhang Shun suddenly hoped to see his brother in the car, but he wasn’t there. Only Zhou Hui was in the driver’s seat, acting as the chauffeur. The back seat was cluttered with items like a black suit jacket, a tie, a tablet, and a palm-sized piece of straw-yellow paper, on which half-finished, incomprehensible lines were drawn in ink.
Li Hu asked, “Are we eating first or going to the hospital?”
“Hospital? You wish you were so lucky.” Zhou Hui started the car and said without looking back, “I’ll drop my brother-in-law off at the hospital first, then you and I are heading back to the department for a meeting. Old Three is already waiting there.”
Li Hu didn’t look too happy and continued chatting on her phone. Zhang Shun watched the roads and buildings fly past outside the window and finally couldn’t help but ask, “Is my brother with you guys now? Also, how did Yan Lanyu suddenly get so sick?”
“Brother-in-law, are you still a child, crying for your parents as soon as you get to a strange place? Your two nephews stopped doing that after they turned five.” Zhou Hui held the steering wheel with one hand and lit a cigarette with the other. He said, “Beijing is so big, so many fun places. Tomorrow night, if I’m free, your big bro will take you to Heaven on Earth for some debauchery. I’ll find a couple of little sister-in-laws for your brother. Don’t thank me too much.”
Zhang Shun’s mouth twitched slightly. He turned his face away and ignored him, pretending to suddenly be deeply interested in the straw-yellow paper beside him.
“Hey, don’t touch that.” Zhou Hui immediately stopped him as if he had eyes in the back of his head. “It’s worth a lot of money. If we sell it, we’ll have money for your brother’s betrothal gift… Getting married in Beijing is getting more and more expensive these days. The betrothal money, the banquet, the motorcade, the new house, what doesn’t cost money?” As he spoke, he turned and gave Young Master Zhang a coy little look.
Zhang Shun felt like he’d been struck by lightning. “You’d save it if you went to Heaven on Earth two fewer times!”
As soon as he said it, he felt something was wrong. It was obvious that his brother getting paired with this lunatic was like a beautiful flower stuck on a pile of… you know. But now, seeing Zhou Hui was going out for drinks and women, what the hell was this angry-brother-in-law-from-the-bride’s-family feeling?!
·
The place where Yan Lanyu was hospitalized was a private sanatorium located in the suburbs. It took them almost two full hours to get there from the airport. According to Zhou Hui, this was a base for their special department. Many team members who suffered indescribable, unknown injuries during special missions were sent here. In terms of surgery alone, it was no worse than Xiehe Hospital.
Downstairs at the sanatorium, two teams of young men in plain clothes stood guard. Their posture suggested they were soldiers. Once inside, apart from there being fewer people, it looked no different from the lobby of an ordinary military hospital, with an emergency room and a registration desk. Zhou Hui led him across the lobby to an elevator and pressed the button for the tenth floor. In the elevator, he said, “I have urgent business, so I won’t go in. The intensive care unit is at the very end of the tenth floor. The little beauty is in there. Deputy Director Yu should be there too.”
Zhang Shun asked, “What exactly happened to Yan Lanyu? When he left H-City, his injuries weren’t that severe. It shouldn’t have gotten to this point in just a few days…”
“Birth, old age, sickness, and death are a natural part of life. Amitabha, benefactor, you must look on the bright side.” The elevator doors opened with a ding. Zhou Hui patted his shoulder. “Go on, brother-in-law. See you at Heaven on Earth tomorrow night.”
Zhang Shun took two steps out of the elevator, then suddenly turned back and roared, “Inviting your brother-in-law out for hookers, is your brain full of sh—?!”
Zhou Hui frantically pressed the close-door button, finally managing to shut the elevator doors before Zhang Shun could lunge forward to beat him up.
Zhang Shun was so angry he laughed. He thought to himself, I don’t care how many kids they have, when I see my brother, I have to find a way to break them up. It’s true what they say online: if a man is handsome and rich, he’s bound to be a womanizer. He’s the worst kind.
This sanatorium was smaller than a public hospital, but the environment and facilities were excellent. He followed the square-shaped corridor to the end, where there were indeed a few intensive care rooms. The nameplate on one of them had the character “Yan” written on it.
Zhang Shun knocked on the door and heard someone inside say, “Come in.”
He pushed the door open and saw an extremely pale and gaunt young man lying on the hospital bed. His eyes were tightly closed, and an oxygen mask covered his face. His dark hair was spread across the white pillow, making for a stark contrast.
Although he couldn’t see clearly due to the angle and the bedding, he could still recognize him as Yan Lanyu, who had become so thin he was almost unrecognizable.
—In just a few short weeks, he had actually weakened to this extent!
If Zhang Shun had harbored any doubts on the way here about whether Li Hu was exaggerating, the first glance at Yan Lanyu confirmed it—the young man was truly not going to make it. Anyone with eyes could see that even if he was still breathing, it was like a candle in the wind, just barely clinging to life.
A man was sitting by the bed with his back to the door. As Young Master Zhang entered, the man turned and stood up. “Zhang Shun?”
Zhang Shun subconsciously said, “You are—”
The man wasn’t old, at least not the 40- or 50-something-year-old, staid, stereotypical government official Zhang Shun had imagined. He looked to be in his early thirties at most, with the typical features of a northern man. He was over 1.8 meters tall, with a medium but very, very solid build.
He walked over and shook Zhang Shun’s hand. It wasn’t obvious when he was sitting, but once he started walking, you could see the sharp, efficient movements of someone who had undergone training.
“My surname is Yu. My name is Yu Jingzhong,” he said. “You can call me Deputy Chief Yu.”
Volume 2: The National Security Turmoil Arc
