Xin Qing woke up super early the following day. She snuck downstairs to prepare breakfast. She had hurt Ying Qingcang"s feelings yesterday. She had to at least do something make it up to him. She had just served up the congee on the table when she saw Young Master Shen sashaying over. Xin Qing stared at him in shock.
"What on earth happened to your eyes?"
Young Master Shen was sporting two dark bruises around his eyes when he returned her stare. "I ran face-first into the door," he said humorlessly.
"Haha!" Xin Qing laughed. "I wonder what kind of door could give you that kind of bruising!"
Just then, Zhang Mi ran down from upstairs. As she made her way towards the dining table, Zhang Mi deliberately rammed into Young Master Shen"s shoulder as if she did not see him there. "A guy like him has done too many bad things. It"s karma, I suppose!"
"Yeah, that"s right!" Young Master Shen took a seat at the table as well. "Apparently I ran into a ghost yesterday."
"Hey, you"re the ghost here!" Zhang Mi"s fist came flying towards him.
Xin Qing noticed Ying Qingcang standing at the top of the staircase, looking right at her. All of a sudden, she felt a little bit sheepish. Still, she walked up towards him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Ying Qingcang..."
"I know," he said. "If there aren"t any movements from that guy today, I"ll make a move to retrieve Ah Sha!" Then, Ying Qingcang lowered his head to kiss her. "I don"t want you to worry."
"But wouldn"t that ruin the plan?" Once she had calmed down, Xin Qing was convinced that Ah Sha was not in danger.
Ying Qingcang gathered her to his side, and together, they descended the stairs. "Boss Wan has been tracking the signal this whole time," he said. "We should be able to know by now. We"ll wait for his cue."
The two of them had just settled themselves at the table when the ring on Xin Qing"s finger started beeping. Xin Qing touched the ring"s head. There was a flash of blue light, and Boss Wan"s head appeared in the air.
"I knew you"d be with Xin Qing," Boss Wan said with his gaze trained on Ying Qingcang. Ying Qingcang returned Boss Wan"s stare with a cold look of his own. "You"re calling so early in the morning just to see whether I"m with Xin Qing?"
Boss Wan arched his brows. "I"ve tracked down the signal. It"s from England!"
At about the same time, Young Master Shen received a phone call. After hanging up, Young Master Shen stood up. "They"ve sailed out into the ocean."
"Arrange a flight right away," said Ying Qingcang. "We"re going to England." All of a sudden, Xin Qing tugged Ying Qingcang. "I"m coming with you," she said.
Zhang Mi"s hand shot into the air. "And me too!"
Young Master Shen gave Zhang Mi a look. "You do know that this isn"t a vacation trip, right?"
Well, Xin Qing did not give a rat"s a.s.s. Wordlessly, Xin Qing stared at Ying Qingcang, pleading him with red-rimmed eyes. Ying Qingcang embraced her and nodded. "Okay!"
An hour later, the group boarded a chopper. Meanwhile, Ying Qingcang busied himself on the phone.
"The satellite signal originated from the same farmhouse where William had kept Xin Qing when he kidnapped her last time."
"But didn"t it get blown up?" Xin Qing asked strangely.
"It"s been rebuilt," Ying Qingcang said with a frown. "We"ve been careless. We would"ve gotten our hands on him ages ago if we"re aware of this."
Xin Qing shuddered. All of a sudden, she reached out and gripped Ying Qingcang"s arm tightly. Her eyes were filled with fear right then. "He... Do you think he will keep Ah Sha in the same underground torture cellar?"
"Don"t worry!" Ying Qingcang said, hugging her tightly. "I won"t give him that chance."
The chopper arrived in England around evening. They drove towards the farmhouse and staked out in its vicinity. A few hours later, another car pulled up in front of the farmhouse. Several men got out of the car. Finally, the men carried two little figures out of the car: Ah Sha and Xunxun.
Boss Wan"s voice sounded in their earpieces: "You guys can enter. I"ve already disabled the surveillance."
Using the cover of the night, Ying Qingcang and Young Master Shen brought a few men with them and approached the farmhouse. Xin Qing sat alone in the car, anxiously waiting for any updates from Ying Qingcang. There were a total of five men inside the house, all of whom were having a meal at that moment. Ying Qingcang and his party burst into the house. In the instant that followed, Young Master Shen opened fire and killed off four of the five men inside. He shot the last one in the leg.
"Where are the children?" Ying Qingcang asked as he stared at the injured man coldly. It was the masked kidnapper from before. Ying Qingcang reached down and ripped off the man"s mask, revealing the face of a white, Caucasian male.
"Li Qiao brought them to the underground cellar," said the man, pointing towards the kitchen.
A loud bang sounded as Young Master Shen fired his gun once again. This time, the bullet went through the man"s temple. After that, the few of them headed swiftly towards the underground cellar.
If Xin Qing were here, she would no doubt notice that the cellar looked exactly the same as the one she had been kept in the last time she was here. The only difference was the pictures on the wall: this time around, the pictures showed two men hugging and kissing each other. Some even showed the naked, entwined bodies of those two men.
Ah Sha and Xunxun sat in the corner of the room. A man was there, setting up a camcorder.
"That year, your mother also had the privilege to experience a blissful treatment in this place. It"ll be your turn later. If Ying Qingcang really doesn"t give a s.h.i.t about you, I bet he won"t bother coming to save you after he sees this recording. By then, I"ll let you go and grab his son instead," said the man. It was not clear whether those words were meant for Ah Sha or that he was just talking to himself.
Xunxun held Ah Sha tightly in his arms. "Ah Sha, are you scared?" he whispered softly.
"Nope! I have you here!" Curious, Ah Sha began glancing around and taking in her surroundings with her large, round eyes. Ah Sha had been very excited when they boarded the huge boat yesterday. They had been sailing on the ocean for a long time now. She did feel a little bit unaccustomed at first, since Xin Qing was not there with her. But Xunxun kept making her laugh, and slowly, thoughts of Xin Qing"s absence slipped away. "But I feel like eating the pudding at home. The ones they bought yesterday didn"t taste good," Ah Sha whined.
Apparently, the excitement had worn off, and the kid was starting to miss home again. Xunxun planted a kiss on her cheek. "We"ll be able to go home soon. Ah Sha will be able to see your daddy and mommy tonight!"
Just then, the man in the room came over with a whip in his hand. He crouched down and smiled at Ah Sha. "You must endure the pain! It"ll be over soon."
Xunxun smiled at the man. "I think you should look behind you first!" he said.
The man turned his head around abruptly. He could not believe what he was seeing: Ying Qingcang and Young Master Shen were standing right there. The man"s gaze slid towards the table, where the TV sat. "Impossible!" he yelled, shaking his head. "How can you be here?"
The TV screen showed Ying Qingcang and Xin Qing in a face-off with each other. Zhang Mi and Tang Shuang were grappling and tussling with each other while a bunch of reporters swarmed the scene.
Ying Qingcang walked in with a slow gait and perused the man coldly. "I never thought I"d be seeing you here. The old man would die of a broken heart if he ever finds out about this. Elder Li, you"re truly an untamable dog."
Elder Li stared at Ying Qingcang for a long while. Then, all of a sudden, he burst into laughter. "Ying Qingcang!" he roared, his eyes exuding nothing but savagery. "I"ve lost to you again. So you"ve been acting all along."
"That"s still nothing compared to your act," Ying Qingcang said as he slowly approached Elder Li. "You were only 20 years old when the old man saved you. I bet you and William had already come up with this scheme even back then. You"ve been acting for over a decade. I readily admit to your superior acting"s skills."
Elder Li shot him a murderous glare. "William wouldn"t have ended up that way if it weren"t for the Ying family. His only purpose in life was to get revenge." All of a sudden, Elder Li"s eyes glazed over. "We promised each other that we"d move to a small, southern island after our revenge. After that, we"d never part with each other again. We"d grow old together."
Suddenly, he lashed the whip in his hand. The blow was aimed at Ah Sha. Xunxun reacted instantly by covering Ah Sha with his body as he rolled on the ground. All that action had frightened Ah Sha, who began to cry.
Elder Li swung the whip in the air like a maniac. "It"s all because of you! You killed him! You"ve ruined everything for us! I have to live my life all alone because of you!" He glared at Ying Qingcang. "But I can"t allow myself to die. I have to avenge William. I want to murder your woman and child, and ruin everything in your life. And then I"ll break both of your legs, so that you can live out the rest of your miserable life as an invalid! I want to make you suffer alone and forever."
"Ah Sha!" Xin Qing burst in suddenly. Ying Qingcang held her back. "Don"t," he warned.
"I heard her cries, I..." Xin Qing"s tears began to flow. She had been waiting in the car for a long time. When she did not receive any cues, she decided to sneak into the building on her own. The first thing she saw when she entered the building was a bunch of dead guys in the living room. After that, she heard Ah Sha"s crying voice.
Ying Qingcang wrapped his arms around Xin Qing while Young Master Shen stepped in front of her; they feared she would rush over to Ah Sha. Elder Li sneered at them. "So I guess everyone"s here, then." Elder Li took several steps backwards and kicked Xunxun aside. He picked up Ah Sha and began looping the whip in circles around Ah Sha"s neck.
"You can only save one," Elder Li said, laughing gleefully as he kept working the whip around Ah Sha"s neck. "You either raise your gun and put a bullet through your woman"s skull, or you can let me strangle your daughter to death. It"s your choice! And you have one minute to decide. So hurry up!"
"No!" Xin Qing struggled in Ying Qingcang"s arms, trying everything in her power to break free so that she could get to Ah Sha. Ying Qingcang held her back in a death grip. "Let me go! No! You can"t let Ah Sha die! You can"t!" Xin Qing raised her head and gave Ying Qingcang a pleading look. Then, all of a sudden, her hand shot out and reached for the gun on his waist.
"Ah Qing!" Ying Qingcang started to panic. "What the h.e.l.l are you doing?"
Shaking her head, Xin Qing looked up at him tearfully. "I know you won"t kill me. But I can"t let Ah Sha die. Ah Cang, look after Ah Sha for me. I beg you!"
"Don"t you dare die!" Ying Qingcang stepped forward. Xin Qing was so startled that she nearly fell off her feet. Ying Qingcang looked at her sadly. "I"ll go look for you even if you ended up in h.e.l.l. When that happens, Ah Sha will be orphaned without anyone to take care of her."
Young Master Shen"s eyes moved anxiously from Ying Qingcang to Xin Qing, and then finally, to Elder Li. He was looking for an opening to strike. Just like that, the entire situation went into some kind of deadlock. The stalemate persisted until Xunxun"s voice broke through it.
"Ah Sha, you dropped your hair clip!"
Ah Sha stifled her cries the moment she heard that comment. Biting down hard on her lip, Ah Sha reached up and touched her head.
Noticing that Ah Sha was up to something, Elder Li raised her up to his eye level. Just when he was about to speak, he noticed Ah Sha grabbing her hair clip. A flash of light shot towards Elder Li, and in the next second, his body began convulsing violently. Elder Li tossed Ah Sha aside. Ying Qingcang stepped forward and caught Ah Sha"s tiny figure before she hit the ground. Ah Sha started to wail the moment she saw Ying Qingcang. Xin Qing hurried over and began coaxing Ah Sha with kisses and hugs.
Young Master Shen slowly approached Elder Li. The latter was already down on the ground, foaming at his mouth. His body was still convulsing at sporadic intervals.
"What the h.e.l.l was that?" asked Young Master Shen.
Xunxun ran over and kicked Elder Li a few times. "An electric shock!" Xunxun said with a snort.
"How can a hair clip that small produce so much current?" Young Master Shen remarked in horror.
"Yeah, well, you haven"t considered the person who had invented it."
Young Master Shen glanced at Xin Qing, who blinked at him. "Chen Huan gave Ah Sha that hair clip."
At that moment, every single person in the room had the same thought: I can p.i.s.s off whoever I want, but I should stay the h.e.l.l away from Chen Huan. At the same time, everyone silently wept for Boss Wan. No wonder all his proposals had failed all these years. h.e.l.l, he might even have to constantly worry about his own personal safety if he really ended up marrying such a woman...
"Mommy!" Ah Sha"s arms went around Xin Qing"s neck as she hung on without letting go. Xin Qing returned Ah Sha"s embrace tightly. Ying Qingcang could finally feel all the tension ease from his body. Gathering Xin Qing and Ah Sha into his arms, he said, "Come, let"s go home!"
In S City, Tang Shuang was sitting on the couch with her son. Ying Qingcang had not returned after he had gone out last night. For some strange reason, she kept feeling the rapid pounding of her heart. It was like some kind of premonition; she could feel that something was about to happen.
Someone walked in through the door. Tang Shuang raised her head. "I thought you left?" she asked in mild shock.