Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
In Beijing.
There was an eight-hour time difference from Continent M.
It was almost 10:00 pm.
In a private room on the second floor of Heaven Clubhouse.
Quite a lot of people were there, and the lights were dim.
“Big Brother Feng.” Pan Mingyue looked at the time and said softly, “I want to go back.”
Feng Ci nodded. He came today just to introduce some of the guys to her.
“You’re not used to this?” Feng Ci looked at her. “I won’t bring you here so often next time.”
Pan Mingyue had always been a studious and obedient girl. Otherwise, Feng Ci wouldn’t have waited so long to introduce her to his friends.
If it wasn’t for the dim lights, Feng Ci would’ve been able to tell that Pan Mingyue was actually very calm. There wasn’t a hint of apprehension in her eyes.
“Mingyue is going back?” Lin Jinxuan was sipping his drink by the side.
He glanced over. He had always been nice to Pan Mingyue on Qin Ran’s account.
Pan Mingyue looked up quietly.
The three of them were talking among themselves.
The woman sitting opposite them looked up and puffed some smoke. She turned to Pan Mingyue and said lazily, “Feng Ci, is this your standard? Just like that? It’s my round today and it’s only just started, but you guys are leaving already?”
She tapped her stick against the ashtray.
“Yes, it’s Shuangning’s round today. You guys should show her some respect,” one of the buddies said.
Feng Ci did not respond. He simply looked down at Pan Mingyue.
He roughly knew her answer.
Li Shuangning tightened her grip. Feng Ci was Feng Loucheng’s only son, and also the most outstanding young man in Yun Cheng. He had always seemed rather aloof, and even though they had interacted before, Li Shuangning never thought that Feng Ci would give in to anyone.
Pan Mingyue did not give Feng Ci an answer. She turned to Li Shuangning and the men around her. “What are you guys smoking?”
A chuckle.
But Li Shuangning’s eyes were cold. “Little girl, want to try it?”
Pan Mingyue looked up at Li Shuangning’s dark eyes but did not say a thing. She reached for her cell phone in her pocket.
She was going to call the police.
“What are you doing?” Li Shuangning straightened up.
Pan Mingyue looked at her and said matter-of-factly, “Calling the police.”
She was already dialing as she said it.
Li Shuangning stood up right away, all ready to hurl the ashtray in Pan Mingyue’s direction. “What’s your bloody problem?”
She was an artiste. If this got to the police, she would never be able to erase this record.
She had finally escaped Qin Ran and Yan Xi’s grasp!
6
Feng Ci glared at her warningly and grabbed the ashtray, then tossed it aside. He then held Pan Mingyue’s hand. “I’ll send you back to school.”
Pan Mingyue was a little resistant towards him. Feng Ci could feel that.
Lin Jinxuan walked out behind him.
1
After the conflict, the private room quietened down. Nobody wanted to make a sound.
Once they were out, they headed to get the car. Only then did Feng Ci smile as he turned to her. “I can’t believe you thought of that.”
He thought that Pan Mingyue was scaring Li Shuangning.
But Pan Mingyue looked up at him as he said that. She held his gaze.
Feng Ci’s smile faded slightly. “You were being serious?”
“I’ve already called the police.” Pan Mingyue pursed her lips. Her expression wasn’t clear in the darkness.
“I got it.” Feng Ci paused for a moment before nodding at her. “I’ll keep a distance from Li Shuangning in the future. I really didn’t know she was here today.”
If he had known, he surely wouldn’t have brought Pan Mingyue along.
1
With that, he gave one of the buddies in the private room a call.
“Big Brother Feng, I didn’t call the police because she was your ex-girlfriend.” Pan Mingyue pursed her lips.
“I know.” Feng Ci opened the door to the front passenger seat and let her get into the car first before he got into the driver’s seat.
Pan Mingyue did not buckle her seatbelt. She turned to him and said, “It’s because they’re breaking the law.”
1
Feng Ci’s cell phone was ringing in his pocket. It was probably the guys in the room. He started the car engine and said, “They’re in the wrong, but… Mingyue, this is a small matter.”
3
Pan Mingyue did not speak.
They got to the Beijing University female dormitory pretty soon. Feng Ci got out of his seat and was about to open the door for Pan Mingyue, but she had already gotten out herself.
“I know you want to be an inspector, but this really isn’t a huge matter. Mingyue, be reasonable…”
Before he was done talking, she looked up and said to him, “Big Brother Feng, I’ll return to my room first.”
She then turned around and headed into the dormitory.
Feng Ci furrowed his brows. He stood by the car and stuck a cigarette in his mouth.
Many calls had come in by now.
But he’d missed all of them.
The last one was from Madam Feng. Feng Ci picked it up this time.
“You’re still with that woman?” Madam Feng did not sound as critical as before when she brought Pan Mingyue up this time, but she still sounded cold. “Shuangning has already told me about it. Son, don’t you feel that your social circle and hers are too different? You should have felt it today. In the future, the conflicts between the both of you will only get bigger. With her family background, you’ll be dragged into it one day.”
4
“Mom, besides her, there’s no one else,” Feng Ci said coldly as he tossed the stick onto the ground.
…
It was two in the morning.
Not too far away from an apartment next to Beijing University.
In a flashy red sports car was a man with bright purple hair. “Jiang Dongye, don’t you tell me to deliver anything tomorrow. I need to sleep even if you don’t!”
He hung up and tossed his cell phone aside.
There weren’t pedestrians around, just other vehicles.
The car wasn’t going very fast.
There was a figure by the apartment. Someone was squatting by the roadside, with her head buried between her knees.
“Screech—”
The car came to a stop.
Lu Zhaoying stopped his car and got out. He stood before the person and furrowed his brows as he asked, “What are you doing here so late at night?”
The other person did not say anything, nor did she look up.
Sensing that something was wrong, Lu Zhaoying squatted down beside her. “Pan Mingyue?”
4
…
It was about eight in the morning in Beijing as Qin Ran reached the airport.
Cheng Juan glanced at her. “To the Xu family first?”
Qin Ran: “Mm. We’ll look for Principal Xu first.”
Cheng Juan nodded and got the driver to send them to the Xu household.
He estimated the time Qin Ran would enter their home and gave Feng Loucheng a call.
In the Xu family’s house.
Qin Ran had planned to write part of the thesis for the ICNE while she was on the plane, in order to make it onto the next issue of the SCI. But Cheng Juan stopped her, so she took a nap instead. She seemed to be in good spirits.
1
Principal Xu was standing in the hallway looking a little shocked. “Why are you back so early?”
He knew about Qin Ran’s talent and persuasive power. As long as she had the time to prove herself, the rest of the Xu family would surely approve of her.
Most of the Xu family did not know much about what happened over in Continent M.
The 1% of the economic center agreement hadn’t been signed yet, so Second Uncle Xu was waiting for the Mas family to confirm this before giving the Xus a surprise.
“There’s some stuff.” Qin Ran looked at him apologetically. She knew that Principal Xu had been plotting things for her this whole time.
Principal Xu shook his head. He had his hands behind his back as he stood there quietly.
Qin Ran could tell that he had something to say, so she waited patiently and silently.
After a while, he said, “Ran Ran, do you know about your grandfather?”
Qin Ran looked up at Principal Xu with a raised brow.
Something clicked in her head.
No wonder Principal Xu trusted her so much all this while.
“You know about my grandfather?”
“It seems like you know about it too. He had been forced to leave back then.” Principal Xu looked at her. “There were a lot of forces involved; you’ll know them in the time to come. I’m just telling you that with your grandfather’s former students and subordinates around, Fang Zhenbo wouldn’t dare to treat you too poorly.”
As for the Xu family, Principal Xu could tell that Xu Yaoguang wouldn’t be against Qin Ran either.
He even allowed Qin Ran to head to Continent M with Second Uncle Xu and the rest, even though she eventually decided to come back so soon.
On that thought, Principal Xu couldn’t help but shake his head. He had thought of bringing Xu Yaoguang and Qin Ran together before, but Xu Yaoguang rejected it.
2
“His students and subordinates?” Qin Ran was a little confused. Her last memory of her grandfather was when she was still a child, but she could remember how he taught her the ropes of science experiments. She thought for a while and then shook her head. “I don’t know them.”
Principal Xu hadn’t known that Ning’er had those students too. Ning’er was researching some secret study, so even his family members had no idea who and what he had been in touch with daily, much less Principal Xu. “Back then, a few of them almost left the Research Institute to defend and protect your grandfather. If they knew that you’re Mr. Ning’s descendant, they’d be so happy and comforted. Did your grandfather leave you with anything?”
Ning’er’s descendants were no less than he was.
Anyone who knew Ning’er would surely be very happy to meet his descendants.
Upon hearing that, Qin Ran pursed her lips.
He did.
Her grandmother had forced her to keep a little box, which she hadn’t opened all this while.
As well as the contact number of the Beijing University Research Laboratories. She’d only looked them up once.
