“What’s wrong with me?” Song Chunli cried. “What I did is just for the sake of Jiang Rui. As long as he married Bai Weirong, the Bai family would be of our own!”
Clap! A clear slap resounded through the room. Song Chunli covered her face and stared at Jiang Min with a dull look in her eyes.
“You… You slap me?”
They had been married for decades, during which they occasionally quarreled, but never physically fought. However, she was old enough now, but actually slapped by her husband even before their grandson. Song Chunli failed to support herself, rolling her eyes and fainting.
Jiang Rui asked the guards to send Song Chunli to the hospital. Jiang Min was unwilling to go along at all, so Jiang Rui had to call Jiang Qianren.
“What’s going on?” Recently, Jiang Qianren had been almost overwhelmed with military exercises, and what was worse, he was informed of the news now.
“She deserved it.” Jiang Rui said bluntly. “Since you are here, just wait. I’m leaving.”
Jiang Jiang Qianren had no choice, but to stay and then ask Song Chunli what had happened when she woke up.
“Your father actually hit me just for such a thing. He never hit me before, but now…”
Looking at Song Chunli who was crying, Jiang Qianren really didn’t know what to say. All that he could do was to comfort her that her health mattered most, and then returned to have a talk with Jiang Min.
Chen Chen didn’t know about all those things, and she just stayed at the laboratory and worked hard. Once, it’s very late, and Jiang Rui saw Scar when he came out of the army.
“Why are you still here?”
“Mrs. Jiang hasn’t given a call yet!” Scar said, “It’s very late now.”
Jiang Rui didn’t know what Chen Chen was doing in the experiments, and he had called the princ.i.p.al, who replied that the teachers were about to compete in their respective fields and Chen Chen probably wanted to partic.i.p.ate. Although Jiang Rui felt that the woman was unreliable, he would not discourage her.
“You don’t have to go.” Jiang Rui allowed Scar to leave, and drove to the school to pick up Chen Chen. He was about to make a phone call, when he saw two people walking through the school gate.
When Chen Chen saw Jiang Rui’s car from a distance, she chuckled to herself.
“Mr. Qiao, you don’t have to send me home. There is someone picking me up.” She waved her hands politely.
Qiao Feng glanced at the car outside and said somewhat regretfully, “It should be your husband. You are really married!”
“Hahaha…” Chen Chen giggled and ran away.
The moment she opened the door, she saw the man stare expressionlessly at her and ask, “Why so late?”
“I got the calculation wrong.” Chen Chen lowered her head. “It’s not finished yet!”
Jiang Rui started the car and asked, “Are you doing experiments with colleagues?”
“No!” Chen Chen glanced at him and replied, “Doing experiments is my private business. How can I do experiments before others?”
Looking carefully at the woman’s expressions, Jiang Rui curled his lips and asked, “Have you eaten yet?”
“No,” Chen Chen complained. “I’m so miserable these days. I haven’t had anything delicious to eat.”
Jiang Rui thought to himself, “Who’s gonna like such a stupid woman? Even I like her for the sake of Tuan Zi.” Thus, the man got to be more comforted, touching Chen Chen’s head and saying, “Let’s go to have a night snack!”
A week later, Chen Chen successfully made the drug, and then asked Ah Zi to eat at her home on the weekend.
“Boss, Ah Zi said that it’s time for the deal.”
Bear said excitedly, “I have told her that I will come to S City a few days later, and she offered to meet to make a deal.”
“She was not alert enough, and I wonder how she lives a safe life until now.” Xiao Si turned off the computer. “Your Ah Zi said that she would leave and eat at her friend’s house.”
Jiang Rui stood up. “She should be going to my house. Chen Chen ordered the take-out sushi today.”
“I’ll send you home!” Bear rubbed his fingers.
When the two men returned home, Chen Chen and Ah Zi were coming out of the room.
“Why are you back?” In the morning, Jiang Rui clearly said that he would be busy today.
Jiang Rui changed his clothes calmly and explained. “It’s done.”
Seeing Chen Chen look at him, Bear quickly said, “I’m here to have a meal!”
“None for you.” Ah Zi said contemptuously, “Go to eat outside.”
“Well, don’t listen to her.” Chen Chen waved Bear through the door, “I ordered a lot, and they will be sent here soon!”
Bear looked toward the bedroom and asked, “Where’s Tuan Zi?”
“Ying Cheng took her to see Hei Zi.” Chen Chen said, “By the way, Tuan Zi let me ask you when Hei Zi will come back.”
“At least three months later.” Bear picked up an apple on the table. “I plan to bring it back in the summer vacation.”
Jiang Rui looked at Bear with dissatisfaction that he was so talkative today.
On that moment, Bear understood his boss’s meaning in his look and shut up instantly.
Ah Zi and Fries, as the two parties involved in the transaction, agreed to meet on Tuesday afternoon at the Cooking section of the library.
“Why would you meet there?” Chen Chen asked.
Ah Zi glanced at her and said, “We have known each other for several years, but we always communicate as hackers, only knowing each other’s code name. We decided to meet in a crowded place because if he’s charmed by my beautiful appearance and wants to attack me, I can shout for help.”
“I feel you think too much…”
That being said, Chen Chen had been restlessly waiting for Ah Zi’s phone at home that afternoon. Seeing that it was getting dark but Ah Zi didn’t make a phone call, she couldn’t help dialing the number.
“Ah Zi, why don’t you come back?”
“Are you Hei Feng?” A strange man’s voice came from the other side of the phone.
Chen Chen was shocked and knew that something terrible had happened. She took several deep breaths and calmed herself down. “I don’t know what you are talking about. I am her friend, who are you?”
“Well, you don’t need to know who I am. If you want this woman back, let Hei Feng come here in person.”
“h.e.l.lo? h.e.l.lo?”
She got a busy tone.
Chen Chen sat on the ground at a loss. “What should I do? What should I do?” Instinctively, she wanted to call Jiang Rui, but hung up immediately after getting through to his number.
“No, I can’t let Jiang Rui know. Otherwise, he will arrest Ah Zi.”
Chimes sounded… A message was sent to her phone. It showed an unfamiliar address and a threat that if she didn’t arrive before dark, she would never see Ah Zi.
Chen Chen clenched her teeth, running to choose clothes in the wardrobe.
At the same time, Jiang Rui also received the news in the command car.
“Boss!” Xiao Si took off the headset. “The address has been sent out, and the other person involved should be going to arrive soon.”
Seeing that he was so excited, Jiang Rui asked, “What happened?”
Xiao Si’s eyes lit up. “It’s a woman!”
The famous Hei Feng turned out to be a woman?
Jiang Rui was shocked suddenly, feeling that there was something wrong. He thought for a while and took out the phone to call Scar.
“How about things at your end?”
Scar parked the car downstairs before Jiang Rui’s house. “Nothing happened, and Mrs. Jiang never left the house. What’s wrong?”
“It’s okay.” Jiang Rui shook his head and hung up.
In case of anything happening to Ah Zi, the first one she would look for was Chen Chen. Thus, Chen Chen would get into trouble, so he asked Scar to protect Chen Chen.
In the garbage dump in the south of the city, a person wearing a black cotton-padded jacket and ragged cotton-padded pants, with messy hair, climbing up the gate and coming in. He looked around while walking, as if to look for something.
Suddenly, a man with a mask appeared, standing a few steps away and looking at him.
“Are you Hei Feng?”
“Where is Ah Zi?” The person’s voice was slightly different from what he had heard on the phone, as if it had been deliberately lowered.
Bear winked rearwards, and the person holding Ah Zi pushed her out.
When the mask was taken off Ah Zi’s head, she saw a person like a rag picker standing in front of her. She was confounded for a moment, then shouting, “Who asked you to come? Are you crazy? Run! Hurry to run!”
The person holding Ah Zi was about to speak, and Jiang Rui’s voice came from the headset.
“Hurry up, catch Hei Feng right away. Someone else is coming.”
Bear was about to rush out, when several foreigners in camouflage clothing quickly surrounded Hei Feng.
“Come with us, I a.s.sure you that your friend will be safe.” One of them said to Hei Feng.
The few people holding Ah Zi immediately competed to grab Hei Feng.
Bear stared at Ah Zi while fighting with those people, afraid that she would do something stupid.
Seeing that those guys were about to be defeated, another group of people rushed out of nowhere. It seemed that the two groups of guys were not sent by the same boss.
“Boss, they are too many.” Bear saw Hei Feng being grabbed by two people, and others were still going to catch him.
There was a silence in the headset. “Ask our men to retreat.”
“Just leave him alone?” Bear said anxiously “We will suffer endlessly if we allow them to take him away!”
Jiang Rui’s cold voice came through the headset. “What good can they get from a dead one?”
Bear understood that since they failed to get Hei Feng, they could only kill him.
He quickly made a gesture to order their men to retreat fast, only to find that Ah Zi was gone. Bear saw with terror that the woman was crawling slowly to Hei Feng sideways.
d.a.m.n it, did she want to die?
If Bear had not known that Hei Feng was a woman, he would doubt whether Ah Zi liked her or not.
He rushed to hold Ah Zi.
Ah Zi desperately struggled and beat him. Bear was just considering to stun her, when he saw Ah Zi abruptly raise her head, and was greatly shocked.
“Save her! Save her, please, please!” Ah Zi grabbed Bear’s collar and begged. “She can’t die. She can’t die!”
Bear could not speak but shake his head, about to take her away. Ah Zi turned to look at Hei Feng, suddenly opening her eyes very widely.
She saw that Jiang Rui was slowly approaching and raising the gun not far away.
“No! Don’t!” Ah Zi shouted desperately, but it was so noisy around there that no one could hear her except for Bear.
Seeing that she was struggling harder, Bear had no choice but to knock her out. At the moment when Ah Zi fainted, he heard her shout, “It’s Chen Chen!”
Almost at the same time, Bear reacted and shouted to the microphone with his eyes open very widely. “Boss, don’t shoot, it’s Mrs. Jiang!”
His voice was accompanied by a shot.
The moment Jiang Rui pulled the trigger, Bear’s voice came from the headset.
“It’s Mrs. Jiang!”
Mrs. Jiang… Chen Chen…
The whole world quieted down, like a slow-motion video. Jiang Rui saw the person before him turn around slowly. He could not see clearly the features in the smudgy face, but he was too familiar with the pair of eyes.
She looked at him with tremendous shock and sadness in her eyes. Then, Jiang Rui’s eyes were overwhelmed by the pervasive red color.
He seemed to get a lump in his throat; he opened his mouth for a long time and heard himself say, “No…”