Chapter 275: Sorry I Forgot You
Qiao Jiusheng was shocked by the blood on that soldier’s body.
Before she could figure out who it was, Qiao Jingren and s.h.i.+ Piaopiao stood up at the same time.
s.h.i.+ Piaopiao said to Qiao Jingtian, “Jingren! Hide her!” Then, she shouted at the guards outside the house, “Enemy attack! Lieutenant Colonel Luo Lie, prepare for defense!”
With s.h.i.+ Piaopiao’s order, almost instantly, all the bodyguards and soldiers inside and outside the villa took their weapons and got into defensive positions. Qiao Jiusheng was still in a daze when Qiao Jingren pulled her to the living room.
“Dad? What’s happening?”
Qiao Jiusheng finally realized the danger.
Qiao Jingren was shockingly cold. He tried to look calm and explained to her as clearly as he could, “This country isn’t safe anymore. The civil war has begun. There’s a secret room here, Third Girl. Hide here.”
Qiao Jiusheng grabbed Qiao Jingren’s hand and shouted, “What about you guys? Aren’t you coming with me?”
Qiao Jingren opened the door to the secret room and stuffed the struggling Qiao Jiusheng in. He said to her, “Third Girl, be good. You are Daddy and Mommy’s child. You must be safe and sound.”
“What about you?
“What about Mom?”
“They’re here for your mother. Your mother won’t be able to escape!” Qiao Jingren had not expected the rebels to arrive so quickly, nor did he expect them to be so bold as to attack China’s foreign minister.
Qiao Jiusheng tightly grabbed Qiao Jingren’s hand, refusing to let go no matter what. “Dad, come in too, okay? Let’s hide together. I don’t want anything to happen to you…” Qiao Jiusheng was already crying.
Outside, gunfire erupted, and screams filled the air.
The soldiers and the rebels started fighting.
Qiao Jingren turned to look at s.h.i.+ Piaopiao, who was also looking at him.
Having been married for so many years, how could they not understand each other’s thoughts?
Qiao Jingren retracted his gaze and stared at Qiao Jiusheng’s face. He touched her cheek, and his eyes turned red. “Third Girl, hide well. Don’t make a sound.” He then said, “Be strong and quiet. Don’t let anyone discover you. No matter what you see later, don’t make a sound.”
Qiao Jiusheng cried out loud, and Qiao Jingren quickly covered her mouth, reminding her, “Shh, Third Girl, listen to Daddy. Don’t make a sound. If you make a sound, you will be discovered, understand?”
“Dad… Mm… Dad…” Qiao Jiusheng could not control her tears.
Her mouth was gagged. Her voice was m.u.f.fled and unclear.
The gunshots were endless, and her ears were almost deafened.
Qiao Jingren met his daughter’s red eyes with a look of grief, but his expression was firm. He said to her, “I have to protect your mother. I can’t let her face danger alone.” He stared at Qiao Jiusheng, lowered his head, and kissed her forehead. The last sentence he said to her was—
“Third Girl, Daddy and Mommy love you.”
Then, Qiao Jingren stood up and dragged over the wine cabinet.
The wine cabinet had a small compartment. Through the small compartment, Qiao Jiusheng saw the innocent servants in the house being shot to the ground. She saw that the girl called Ah Lu had half her head blown off by a shot. This frightened Qiao Jiusheng so much that she almost screamed. She quickly bit her pajamas with her teeth and stared outside.
In less than ten minutes, all of Qiao Jingren’s bodyguards and soldiers had fallen.
Upon seeing this, s.h.i.+ Piaopiao and Qiao Jingren subconsciously leaned against each other.
Holding hands, s.h.i.+ Piaopiao said to her husband, “Jingren. I implicated you.”
Qiao Jingren shook his head. How could he keep his face indifferent when death was coming? “We were born in different places, but will die together. It’s my pleasure to be with you.”
When s.h.i.+ Piaopiao heard this, her eyes reddened.
The rebels wearing black hoods strode inside the house. The leader of the group raised his gun and gave s.h.i.+ Piaopiao a cruel smile. “Beautiful lady, say farewell to this world.” Then, he pulled the trigger.
Qiao Jiusheng’s eyes widened.
She helplessly watched as the bullet left the chamber and shot toward s.h.i.+ Piaopiao.
At this moment, Qiao Jingren, who was standing beside s.h.i.+ Piaopiao, quickly hugged his wife.
The bullet hit Qiao Jingren in the back of his head.
s.h.i.+ Piaopiao reached out to hug Qiao Jingren’s waist, but Qiao Jingren’s entire body slid down. s.h.i.+ Piaopiao was so skinny. How could she support him? s.h.i.+ Piaopiao opened her mouth and breathed out hot air. She wanted to cry, but she couldn’t make a sound. Only her tears flowed.
Qiao Jiusheng was heartbroken when she saw this.
When the rebel leader saw that Qiao Jingren had helped s.h.i.+ Piaopiao block the shot, he let out a shout. Then, he spoke in broken mandarin, “Oh, what a loving couple! How touching…” he said this in a neutral tone before getting someone to drag Qiao Jingren’s corpse away from s.h.i.+ Piaopiao’s arms.
At this moment, someone grabbed s.h.i.+ Piaopiao and tied her to a chair.
The rebel leader turned on a camera and turned it toward s.h.i.+ Piaopiao.
He stood in front of s.h.i.+ Piaopiao and said, “Honorable lady, your country is powerful and prosperous. All these years, you have been on good terms with that idiot Tomna. You have helped him and the government he established so much and caused us endless suffering. As long as you agree to no longer let your country be on good terms with Tomna and be friendly with us, I am willing to let you live, beautiful lady.”
Under Tomna’s leaders.h.i.+p, the people of this country had lived well, causing the terrorist organization led by Siti to bear a grudge for a long time.
s.h.i.+ Piaopiao immediately refused. “Don’t even think about it!”
“Oh, that’s a shame!
“Beautiful lady, I don’t want you to die too simply. The more painful your death is, the more inspired our soldiers will be.” As he spoke, he took out a dagger from his leg and placed it on s.h.i.+ Piaopiao’s neck. He spun it around.
s.h.i.+ Piaopiao was also afraid, but she still insisted on her standpoint and refused to change.
“Tsk, it’s been hard on you!”
Yu Ba, the rebel leader, grabbed s.h.i.+ Piaopiao’s hair and cut her neck with the dagger. He cut her neck bit by bit, slowly and cruelly as if he were cutting steak.
“Ah!” s.h.i.+ Piaopiao was in so much pain that she let out a blood-curdling scream. That scream made one’s scalp go numb.
Qiao Jiusheng hid behind the wine cabinet, shocked and frightened.
Through the hole, she could clearly see the dagger cutting off her mother’s head bit by bit.
She saw s.h.i.+ Piaopiao screaming and howling in pain. She saw s.h.i.+ Piaopiao shaking on the chair non-stop, but the man was still laughing. His laughter was so loud that it made Qiao Jiusheng’s skin crawl.
Qiao Jiusheng’s face turned pale.
She was so scared that she peed her pants.
Blood spurted out from s.h.i.+ Piaopiao’s neck. Some of it splattered on the floor, while the rest splattered on the wall. s.h.i.+ Piaopiao’s white suit was dyed red by the blood.
Finally, s.h.i.+ Piaopiao’s voice disappeared…
Qiao Jiusheng looked at s.h.i.+ Piaopiao’s headless body and saw blood flowing out of her blood vessels. Her expression and her eyes were dull.
The man held up s.h.i.+ Piaopiao’s head and faced the camera. He revealed a comical and exciting smile and said a few words.
Bang!
Then, the man casually tossed s.h.i.+ Piaopiao’s head onto the ground.
The head rolled on the ground a few times before stopping.
It stopped in front of the wine cabinet. The back of the head faced the door, while the neck and body faced the wine cabinet. Qiao Jiusheng was face to face with the head. She saw her mother’s frightened and ferocious eyes as well as her slightly trembling blood vessels. The thirteen-year-old girl bit hard on the material of her pajamas, and under her surged another wave of wetness and heat…
After a long time, that group of people left, and another group of people arrived.
A beautiful woman with a gun and a mercenary combat uniform walked in. She scanned the room and frowned.
“We’re late.”
The woman then glanced at Qiao Jingren’s body and the head on the floor in front of the liquor cabinet.
Her expression did not change. She strode over, bent down, and picked up s.h.i.+ Piaopiao’s head. She lifted s.h.i.+ Piaopiao’s head and stood up. When she looked up, she saw a pair of frightened brown eyes behind the wine cabinet. Her expression finally changed as she stared at the pair of frightened eyes behind the wine cabinet.
“Colonel Lin, there are still survivors here!”
She turned to speak toward the soldiers from China behind her.
Colonel Lin ran over.
They pulled open the wine cabinet and carried Qiao Jiusheng out. Qiao Jiusheng smelled like urine, and Colonel Lin could tell that the child was frightened.
Qiao Jiusheng showed no reaction; she only stared at them as if she had been scared to death. When these soldiers had received the mission, they had received news that Madam s.h.i.+ Piaopiao and her husband were on vacation with their daughter. This girl was very likely the girl called Qiao Jiusheng.
Colonel Lin patted her face and tentatively called out, “Qiao Jiusheng?”
Qiao Jiusheng vaguely heard someone calling her.
She caught her breath. Her lips felt like they’d been ripped open. She couldn’t stop screaming.
“No!
“Mom!”
She called out as she hit Colonel Lin, who allowed her to hit him. He looked at her with pity.
How did Qiao Jiusheng get sent back to the country? How did she get home? She did not even remember the details of how they helped her shower and change her clothes. When she had returned to Junyang City, she had been silent all day. Her eyes were dull. She ate when someone fed her, and she did not feel hungry when no one fed her.
Qiao Jiusheng often dreamed of the cruel scene of her father being killed and her mother being beheaded in the middle of the night.
Usually, her screams would scare everyone in the villa awake.
She did not know how long she had been in a daze, but a voice finally resounded in Qiao Jiusheng’s confused mind. That voice said—
“h.e.l.lo, I’m Ji Qing.”
For a long time, Qiao Jiusheng had not seen anyone else. The person accompanying her was Ji Qing.
Ji Qing would patiently tell her a lot of things. Every night, Ji Qing would come and tell her stories. Ji Qing’s stories were especially good, and Qiao Jiusheng would always be able to sleep peacefully when she saw the gentle smile on her face.
One day, Qiao Jiusheng suddenly woke up, but she no longer remembered what had happened in Meng Hai.
She looked at Ji Qing in a daze.
When did I meet her?
She did not know, and Ji Qing did not say anything.
When Qiao Jiusheng was brought home, she realized that Ji Qing was actually her eldest brother’s girlfriend. That’s strange. When did Eldest Brother get a girlfriend? How did Sister grow so much taller? How did Grandpa get dementia?
Qiao Jiusheng had many questions, but she could not remember them.
Eldest Brother said that it had been two years since the Meng Hai trip. He told Qiao Jiusheng that she found it difficult to accept her parents’ death after a plane crash. She had some psychological problems, and thus, was sent to Ji Qing for treatment.
Qiao Sen’s words convinced Qiao Jiusheng.
One day, Qiao Sen suddenly found Qiao Jiusheng and handed her a box.
“What is this?” Qiao Jiusheng looked at the box in confusion.
Qiao Sen said, “This is yours, right? You brought it back when you returned from Meng Hai. I think this is a man’s watch. Who are you giving it to?” Qiao Sen had been keeping the box for her, and it still looked to be in perfect condition.
Qiao Jiusheng was stunned.
She picked up the watch and carefully looked at it. There was an “A” engraved on the back of the watch.
A…
What does this mean?
Qiao Jiusheng shook her head and said, “I don’t remember. If I put it away, I might remember it one day.” She put the watch in the collection room and went to look at it often in the future, but she could not remember anything related to the watch.
Qiao Jiusheng had not studied for the past two years, but she did not want to continue either. She always felt that continuing her studies would take too much time and delay something.
What would be delayed?
She had no idea.
Qiao Jiusheng had paid a high price to enter Junyang City High School. Every year, a large number of people from this school entered Binjiang City University. It was an impressive university, and Qiao Jiusheng wanted to attend it. Qiao Sen was very pleased to know that she was interested in studying.
Qiao Sen found the best tutor to help Qiao Jiusheng revise her middle school knowledge and consolidate her high school knowledge. In her third year of high school, Qiao Jiusheng finished her exams and when she saw her score, she wrote Binjiang City University in her preferred university column without hesitation.
Her three wishes were all to enter Binjiang City University.
She always felt that she had to study at the best university.
Qiao Jiuyin was still worried that she would not be able to get into the college, but Qiao Jiusheng did not mind. “If I can’t get into the college I want, I’ll just continue paying a high price for my studies.”
Qiao Sen held his forehead and sighed. “Raising you really costs money.”
Fortunately, Qiao Jiusheng did well and managed to pa.s.s.
At seventeen, Qiao Jiusheng went to university before becoming an adult.
On the 25th of August, she arrived at Binjiang City. Qiao Jiusheng walked out of the VIP pa.s.sageway and went to the washroom. She adjusted the b.u.t.tons of her dress in front of the washroom. Just as she finished b.u.t.toning her chest, she noticed a black shadow beside her.
Qiao Jiusheng casually looked over.
What entered her sight was a young man with long brown hair. His brows were exquisite like a painting, but his lips were as pretty as the peach blossoms in March. He was a rather attractive young man. He had worn sungla.s.ses, and only his high nose bridge and eyebrows could be seen, but not his eyes. His long hair was especially well-maintained and tied with a light blue hair tie. His neck was also fair and good-looking.
Qiao Jiusheng instantly thought of a sentence that the poet Yu Guangzhong had written.
Between the moon and the snow, you are the third kind of beauty.