Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Noticing how worried she seemed, Jin Qingyan said, “Ciye is considered to be rather merciless amongst the Triads. He’ll never partake in any illegal activity, but there are some things that he has no choice but to go ahead with doing.”
Jin Qingyue did not quite understand what her brother meant, and neither was she too sure about what Ling Ciye was doing on a regular basis since it was too complicated.
He would often take the initiative to tell her.
She did not feel the need to tell each other about every detail of their lives since they had yet to progress to that stage yet.
“Brother, will the discussion be dangerous?”
“There’s no certainty to that, but it’ll usually be safe as long as there are no moles to rat on them to the police. Take the incident of when your sister-in-law and I came back from M Nation as an example. We were ambushed probably because a snitch laid a trap for us to fall into. However, we couldn’t find the culprit since there were no clues even after a long time. This is not Ciye’s first time dealing with this anyway. He has sufficient experience in handling unexpected twists of the situation.”
Jin Qingyue nodded and changed the subject. “Brother, tell me honestly, do you think I’m compatible with Brother Ciye?”
“I used to think that you weren’t, but I’m really glad to see that you’ve now matured and turned over a new leaf.”
Resting her face in her hands, Jin Qingyue stared at her brother and asked, “Brother, is Song Yan the only girl Brother Ciye has ever dated since he was young?”
“She’s the only girlfriend we’ve heard about, but he usually wouldn’t hide such stuff from us, so she’s probably the only one. But he hasn’t mentioned you to us yet, even ’til now. You have to press on and work hard. I want to see you settling down one day too.”
“Brother, I think you’re becoming more and more gentle. Have you been influenced by Sis-in-law?”
“Why are you asking when you already know the answer?”
They smiled at each other and continued eating.
After dinner, Jin Qingyue returned to the apartment and took a comfortable shower. She lay in bed, wide awake and unable to fall asleep.
Time passed slowly bit by bit. She was a little sleepy by the time it was past ten o’clock. Just as she was about to go to bed, her mobile phone rang all of a sudden.
She got a great shock and was instantly no longer sleepy. She picked up the phone.
“Brother.”
“Something went wrong with Ciye’s discussion tonight and we don’t know where he is now. The police probably haven’t found out that he was involved, but he was shot by a gun. He’s very likely to have gone home, I’m going out to look for him now.”
“Okay, Brother, can I go with you?”
“No, stay at home.”
Jin Qingyue ended the call and hurriedly rushed out while wearing her pajamas and a cardigan.
The door of the apartment could be unlocked with just a passcode.
She boarded the elevator and soon arrived at the lobby. Gripping her mobile phone tightly in her hand, she was overwhelmed with anxiety. Yet, she dared not give him a call.
However, she still decided to dial his number in the end. As expected, his mobile phone was switched off and the call could not go through.
Pangs of panic engulfed Jin Qingyue upon hearing that he was injured.
No wonder she had a hunch that something ominous was going to happen that night.
She paced back and forth by the lobby with the cardigan draped across her shoulders.
She pinched her fingers tightly and prayed silently in her head while walking.
She wanted to drive out to search for him but was also afraid that he would come home since he would not dare to go to the hospital, lest he gets arrested.
At this point, Jin Qingyue was flustered beyond limits.
She had no choice but to wait patiently by the corridor of the lobby.
She waited from ten something all the way until one o’clock in the morning.
Finally, Jin Qingyan returned home in his car.
Jin Qingyue’s eyes lit up at the sight of the car and sprinted toward it.
The car pulled over quickly, after which Jin Qingyue asked anxiously, “Brother, have you found him?”
“No, I don’t know exactly where he went. Shixin and the rest are still looking for him,” Jin Qingyan answered with disappointment written all over his face.
Jin Qingyue burst into tears and spluttered, “Brother, could something have happened to Brother Ciye? He got shot by a gun. Could he have been arrested by the police?”
“No, don’t imagine things. He must’ve gone elsewhere. Have faith in his ability. Not everyone can handle everything when an unexpected twist crops up at the last minute, but I believe he wouldn’t be so weak as to succumb to failure.”
“Okay…”
“Don’t keep standing here, go home and wait.”
“I’ll be fine. Brother, you can go home first.”
Jin Qingyan nodded and wound up the car windows before driving home.
Jin Qingyue squatted down and began to feel increasingly worried the more she thought about it. To her knowledge, he must have shed some blood from the gunshot, though she had no idea how many bullets he had taken and where they had struck him.
Her greatest worry was for the bullet to hit a fatal spot.
However, she constantly comforted herself with An Xiaoning’s words about a highly-possible marriage between them and reassured herself that he would be fine.
During times of anxiety, the only way out was to encourage oneself to press on with such thoughts of determination.
Her hands trembled uncontrollably while she continued to squat on the ground.
She remained in that position all the way until daybreak.
After waiting for an entire night, she was fatigued and exhausted but refused to allow herself to sleep.
She hung her head low and stared at the ground. She did not move an inch away from the spot even after the sun had already risen high above her.
Jin Qingyue buried her face into her lap and hugged her knees.
During the last few moments of her consciousness, she heard a familiar voice from above.
“Why are you squatting here?” asked a deep yet gentle voice.
She immediately looked up and met his gaze.
Jin Qingyue sprung up and leaped forward to hug him tightly. “You’re home!”
“Ouch…”
She immediately let go of him and asked, “Did I touch your wound?”
“Yes, let’s talk upstairs.”
Jin Qingyue noticed that his face was pale and colorless and that he had already changed into a new set of clothes. She supported him with her arms and helped him into the lobby.
Once they returned to the apartment, Ling Ciye lay down in bed slowly. Finally, the frown on his forehead vanished and he said to her, “Bring me some water.”
“Alright, I’ll be right back.”
Jin Qingyue immediately proceeded to bring him some water. She felt as if a weight had been lifted off her chest the very moment that she saw him.
She entered the room and handed him a mug of water.
“I heard my brother say that you were injured. Just where did you get injured?”
“I was shot in my stomach and my arm.”
Noticing that he picked up the mug with his left hand, she guessed that his right arm must have been the one that got shot.
“Where did you go yesterday? My brother went to look for you but he didn’t manage to. Have the bullets been removed?”
“I went back to one of my territories. The bullets were removed last night.”
“Look how pale you are. You must’ve lost an excessive amount of blood. You have to nourish your body from now on. Have you eaten?”
“Yes.”
“Lie here first. I haven’t had my meal yet. I’ll go fix something to eat and brew you some soup to help replenish your blood,” said Jin Qingyue as she hurriedly exited his bedroom.
His lips curled into a smile at the sight of her anxious self.
When he saw her upon alighting from his car earlier, he thought to himself that she must have been squatting there for a long while.
At that very moment, a strange feeling had filled him.
He felt as if they were a family.
He instantly regretted not getting someone to call and tell her that he was safe, just so she could stop being worried.
Jin Qingyue cooked some red date and yam black glutinous porridge along with a dish of pig’s liver.
She served it to him in bed and placed the dishes onto a wooden bed table. She then helped him up and allowed him to lean back against a pillow.
He wanted to feed himself but she refused to let him do so.
“Your arm is injured right now. You’re going to tear the wound if you raise your arm. Let me feed you instead.”
“Are you not going to eat some?”
