Chapter 112: Burial Mound, Changing Fate
After Chi Shuyan hung up, she didn’t remain idle either. She promptly booked a plane ticket from Fuzhou’s Gaoqi Airport to the capital’s Nanyuan Airport and hurriedly took a taxi to Gaoqi Airport.
Zhu Bocheng called while Chi Shuyan was on the way in the car. His tone on the phone burned with anxiety. “Sister Shuyan, I’ve informed Zhenbai, and the two of us are on our way to the capital’s Nanyuan Airport. But the strange thing is that there are no more tickets from the capital’s Nanyuan Airport to Yongning County’s ancient city today.”
Zhu Bocheng’s heart burned with confusion. Yongning County’s ancient city was located in a remote area and wasn’t a famous tourist destination. In addition, it was the off-peak season, and it wasn’t a holiday. Fewer and fewer people had been going there in recent years. Why was it suddenly so packed today? There wasn’t even a single ticket left.
When Chi Shuyan heard Zhu Bocheng’s words, her brow furrowed and her heart sank even more, but there was no hint of surprise in her eyes. She asked in a low voice, “You really can’t book even one plane ticket? If you really can’t book one, then there’s no other way. How long will it take to drive directly from the capital’s Nanyuan Airport to the ancient city?”
“To drive from the capital’s Nanyuan Airport to Yongning County’s ancient city, hang on, let me check.” Zhu Bocheng paused for a moment, then replied weakly, “Sister Shuyan, it will take at least a dozen hours or so to drive there directly!”
Driving there directly would take such a long time; Zhu Bocheng was afraid that by the time they reached that d.a.m.ned place, it would be too late.
He had too many questions in his heart right now, but the delay was the biggest concern at the moment.
The two of them were silent on the phone, at a loss for words, when –
“What? Zhenbai, you already booked plane tickets?” Zhu Bocheng’s pleasantly surprised voice came from the phone, as if he was talking to Qi Zhenbai beside him. After that, he immediately informed Chi Shuyan excitedly on the phone, “Sister Shuyan, that’s great. Zhenbai found a way to book tickets. We’ll wait for you to come over. We’ll be setting out in roughly two and a half hours. Will you be able to make it?”
When Chi Shuyan heard Zhu Bocheng say that they managed to get tickets, she couldn’t help but heave a sigh of relief, and indicated that she would be there in two hours.
Two hours later, Chi Shuyan got off the plane and pa.s.sed through the ticket inspection gate. Even in the crowded airport, she could still see Qi Zhenbai and Zhu Bocheng, who were waiting like tall cranes standing among chickens.
Qi Zhenbai was half a head taller than Zhu Bocheng and was still wearing a well-pressed suit. His hair, however, was vastly different from his usual meticulous style.
His hair was as black as ink, the fine fringe falling to cover his forehead and his chiseled side profile. This hairstyle made him look several years younger, but his face was colder, sharper, and more majestic.
Zhu Bocheng, on the other hand, was dressed entirely in casual wear. He had even forgotten to change his shoes and was wearing a pair of house slippers. He kept pacing back and forth as he looked anxiously at the airport clock.
Chi Shuyan hurriedly went over and greeted the two.
“Sister Shuyan, you’re here?” Zhu Bocheng was happy to see Sister Shuyan, but he couldn’t bring himself to smile when he thought of Qi Hao and the others. Even now, his head was still muddled when he thought of what Sister Shuyan had said. Despite that, he could still understand Sister Shuyan’s words. He still shuddered with cold sweat when he recalled the words “souls will fly away and scatter,” afraid that it really meant what he thought it meant.
He hadn’t dared hide it from Zhenbai, and when he repeated those words to him, even Zhenbai’s face utterly changed. One could imagine how serious the matter was.
His only hope now was that those brats didn’t throw away the talismans he gave them, or else he really didn’t know what would happen.
It was Sister Shuyan who had said those words, after all, and he firmly believed in her.
“How long until the plane takes off?” Chi Shuyan asked.
“In twenty minutes,” Zhu Bocheng said hastily. “We’ve been worried you wouldn’t be able to make it, right, Zhenbai?”
After saying that, Zhu Bocheng couldn’t help but let out a shaky breath. He held back his words, but kept looking at Sister Shuyan. His face was flushed as he choked back the desire to ask about Qi Hao, but was afraid of agitating his best friend, Zhenbai.
How could Chi Shuyan not see the questions that Zhu Bocheng was holding back? However, now still wasn’t the time to tell the truth. What was the use of rashly blurting out how serious the matter was, when it would just make him more nervous and terrified?
“Mm, just in time.” Compared with Zhu Bocheng’s nervousness, the tall man in front of him was calm and collected.
Qi Zhenbai looked at the travel-worn Chi Shuyan, who was panting a bit as she rushed over, and his hard, handsome face softened a bit. His phoenix eyes, which were usually as cold as icy pools, warmed a little, but his gaze was focused and not the least bit relaxed.
The three waited for nearly twenty minutes, when the sweet voice of the stewardess suddenly rang out in Nanyuan Airport to inform them that the plane was delayed due to the weather and that the departure time was delayed.
Qi Zhenbai’s handsome and deep face suddenly turned dark and his pupils constricted. A somber look flashed across his face. His phoenix eyes, which were like cold pools, narrowed slightly. The lines of his upturned face tightened and his thick eyebrows knitted tightly as he clenched his firm jaw and his long, lean fingers tightened until they turned white.
“Are you kidding me? We waited twenty minutes and they’re only now letting us know. WTF, what the h.e.l.l is going on today? We finally got tickets, but this plane is delayed. It’s really strange!” Zhu Bocheng couldn’t help but grimace. His words had just escaped his mouth, when he abruptly remembered the safety of Qi Hao and the others. Zhu Bocheng was worried, and the more he thought, the angrier he became. He blurted out in rage, “This plane won’t be delayed until the next day, right? Are they going to let us save people or not?”
Qi Zhenbai’s face grew more and more unsightly as he listened. He pressed his slender fingers to his temples and loosened his collar from time to time. HIs body radiated frustration, and he seemed to be struggling to suppress himself, on the verge of losing control.
Zhenbai’s rare display of emotion gave Zhu Bocheng a fright, and he was also alarmed when he saw Chi Shuyan’s tight frown and grave expression.
He paused and suddenly thought of something. Zhu Bocheng took a deep breath and forced himself to smile even though he looked like he was about to cry as he said to Chi Shuyan, “Sister Shuyan, you can calculate everything. This plane won’t really be delayed until tomorrow, right? Otherwise, we won’t be able to save them!”
Before Chi Shuyan could say anything, Qi Zhenbai firmly made a decision. “We’re not waiting; drive!”
The man’s cold, handsome face was somber and murderous. His thin lips parted slightly and his cold voice was powerful and firm. Allowing for no argument, he strode toward the airport entrance.
“But it’ll take us more than ten hours to get there.” Zhu Bocheng was very conflicted. Looking at Qi Zhenbai’s tall departing back, he could only follow subconsciously, but he couldn’t help but worry; how could a car’s speed compare with a plane?
“Wait, why don’t we use our family’s private jet? Zhenbai, don’t you have one yourself?” The more Zhu Bocheng thought about it, the more he felt that this was a good idea. If he had known earlier, he wouldn’t have come to the airport. He could have just taken the private jet.
Chi Shuyan said indifferently, “Driving might still give us some hope. If you really take a plane, whether it’s a private jet or any other plane, it’ll be useless. You’ll just have gotten on, but there might be a malfunction halfway that will force you to land immediately!”
Zhu Bocheng: …
Chi Shuyan wiped the cold sweat on her forehead as she spoke. She had still had a glimmer of hope when she told Zhu Bocheng to book the plane tickets, thinking that it wasn’t the worst case scenario yet. But that was now no longer true.
As the saying went, “If the King of h.e.l.l wants you to die at midnight, who can keep you alive until the early hours of the morning?”
Even if Qi Zhenbai’s cousin didn’t die, in the eyes of Heaven, these people were fated to die and have their souls scattered.
Chi Shuyan had tried several times to sneakily change the trajectory of this matter as well as the fate of Qi Zhenbai’s cousin under the eyes of Heaven by guiding Zhu Bocheng into bringing Qi Zhenbai’s cousin to her place.
Once a karmic relations.h.i.+p was in place, she could “follow Heaven’s Will” and interfere by laying out the truth so that the other party could avoid this matter, and everything would be neatly resolved. But while Zhu Bocheng had heard everything else she said, he hadn’t listened at all. He thought nothing about Qi Zhenbai’s cousin going “tomb robbing,” and things still developed along the original path in the end. If this wasn’t Heaven’s Will, then what was?
It wasn’t easy to defy Heaven and s.n.a.t.c.h back their lives under the eyes of Heaven. Everything now depended on the luck of those brats.