Shi Qingyang went back to the villa ahead of Cheng Xuze. When he came back, he saw Cheng Ran and Gu Changjin waiting at the door. Gu Changjin was relieved when he saw him, and Cheng Ran was full of joy: “Qingyang, I’ll get you some water!”
“Alright.” Shi Qingyang smiled and watched Cheng Ran running happily to pour water.
“You left the city?” Gu Changjin glanced up and down at Shi Qingyang, and paid more attention to Shi Qingyang’s arm for a while: “You really dared!” It was impossible for him not to notice the wounds on Shi Qingyang’s body.
“Grandpa Gu…” Shi Qingyang was embarrassed.
“If the young master hadn’t said you didn’t respond to his message, I wouldn’t havev known you ran out alone! Do you know how many people are watching you now?” Gu Changjin lowered his voice: “You! You used to look so scheming… in the end, you’re still too young.” Considering that Shi Qingyang was only 16 years old this year, Gu Changjin found it hard to say anything.
In fact, compared to Cheng Ran, who couldn’t even understand when others were scolding him, Shi Qingyang’s impulsive behavior after learning the cause behind his parents’ death was really nothing.
“Grandpa Gu, I will be careful in the future.” Shi Qingyang smiled. He enjoyed this feeling of someone caring for him.
“Are you hurt? Go and change your clothes quickly. An important person is coming, you must behave well,” Gu Changjin said, and sighed: “You almost killed me today. If I hadn’t fooled the young master into only sending you messages, he might have called you and found you were not in the city.”
“Thank you, Grandpa Gu,” Shi Qingyang laughed, and then saw that Cheng Ran had come back with water.
Shi Qingyang drank the water and immediately went upstairs. Although he had already tidied up his clothes and treated his wound, if he stayed with Cheng Ran too long, he would definitely discover something. Before then it was better to go up and bandage it.
After changing clothes on the third floor, Shi Qingyang saw that Cheng Xuze and Wang Qing had arrived at the door, but they didn’t come in immediately. In the end, Gu Changjin and Cheng Ran went out to meet them.
Facing Cheng Xuze, Gu Changjin was extremely respectful, while Cheng Ran followed Gu Changjin from behind, seeming afraid as he kept his head down.
After thinking for a while, Shi Qingyang went downstairs.
Cheng Xuze had checked the two addresses with Wang Qing. As a result, he found that the addresses given by Shi Qingyang and Gu Changjin were the same.
Upon discovering this, Cheng Xuze’s first reaction was that Shi Qingyang tricked him by giving a false address, but he soon felt it impossible. It was too easy to find someone in the city these days, and moreover, he knew Shi Qingyang’s name. As long as he went to the population management office and used his own authority, he could immediately lock onto the location of Shi Qingyang’s contact terminal through the central computer of Spark City. Shi Qingyang had no need to cheat him.
Since he wasn’t trying to fool him, did that mean Shi Qingyang really lived here? What was going on? Before Cheng Xuze could figure it out, Gu Changjin and Cheng Ran came out.
“Laotaiye1,” Gu Changjin then shouted. He didn’t know why Cheng Ran was not close with the Cheng family. When the old man had problems in recent years, he didn’t even go to visit Cheng Hui. Why did he come to Spark City now?
“Old Gu, are you used things in Spark City?” Cheng Xuze didn’t mind when he saw Cheng Ran hiding behind Gu Changjin. Cheng Ran had autism, so it would be strange if he could act like a coquettish and spoiled child.
“Seeing Laotaiye again, very good,” Gu Changjin said immediately.
“Xiao Ran, how are you these days?” Cheng Xuze looked at Cheng Ran again and tried to make his expression gentler.
Cheng Ran seldom saw Cheng Xuze before. Every time he saw Cheng Xuze, he was always surrounded by a large group of people. His father told him not to speak disgracefully, so Cheng Ran didn’t know what to say. He didn’t even understand what the others were saying, so he simply kept silent.
However, today’s situation was somewhat different. Cheng Ran lives a happy life here. He was not afraid of this unfamiliar environment like before, and Cheng Xuze was smiling and didn’t look as dignified and unapproachable as back then…
Cheng Ran smiled: “Grandpa, I’m doing well.”
It was the first time that Cheng Ran and Cheng Xuze spoke. Cheng Xue was surprised: “Xiao Ran is a lot more cheerful. It’s really good to live in a small place.”
Gu Changjin didn’t know how to respond, when Shi Qingyang came out of the room and said, “Elder, you’re here?”
“Shi Qingyang, you really live here?” Cheng Xuze asked curiously.
“Yes, this is where I live,” Shi Qingyang responded.
Gu Changjin had been worried about Shi Qingyang’s safety earlier, but after Shi Qingyang came back, he began to worry about Cheng Xuze’s matter.
Cheng Hong made the arrangements for them to come to Spark City. Cheng Hong had also told him to hide the truth from Cheng Xuze and Cheng Hui, and to only say that Cheng Ran came here to recuperate.
But in fact, Cheng Ran was not in recuperation at all…
He received the news that Cheng Xuze was coming, and should have told Cheng Hong first thing, but he didn’t do so in the end… He planned to let Cheng Ran have a chance to meet Cheng Xuze, so that Cheng Ran would have a backer in the future. Even then, he never thought that Cheng Xuze would know Shi Qingyang.
What was going on?
“Qingyang, this is my grandpa!” Cheng Ran liked to talk to Shi Qingyang and immediately introduced him.
“So you’re Ranran’s grandfather,” Shi Qingyang said in surprise.
Like Gu Changjin, Cheng Xuze was somewhat confused about the current situation. Shi Qingyang said that a classmate helped him, and he lived with that classmate, who was a pharmacist…
How could Cheng Ran be his classmate? How was it possible for him to be a pharmacist?
On the villa side, except for Shi Qingyang, everyone else was very confused, but in other places, a commotion stirred.
Upon entering he city, Wang Qing had posted the videos to the Internet. These videos of Red Hand and others’ blatant murder attempts outside the city were quickly clicked by countless people, which made the ordinary people in Spark City angry.
Shi Qingyang was a young man with no defenses at all, and they chased him to try and kill him. Cheng Xuze had just stopped by to rest, and they threw grenades at him for no reason…
Some of them worked outside the city. Even if they didn’t, some of their relatives and friends worked outside the city. They couldn’t help but wonder – now those people were chasing a child. Would this happen to them in the future?
Although some people said that Shi Qingyang might not be blameless, most people didn’t think so, and they all demanded that Red Hand and the others be severely punished.
At this time, another person posted on the Internet. The main post was a group photo of Shi Qingyang and his parents, and a link to the news screenshot of Shi Qingyang’s parents’ death a few months ago. Then, the original poster began to analyze that news article.
In the news, the land planted by Shi Qingyang’s parents was simply mentioned as being outside the security zone, but in fact, the land rented by Shi Qingyang’s parents was not far from the largest aphid farm in Spark City.
It was not uncommon for dangerous beasts to enter the safety zone to kill people. However, the aphid farm had not encountered any danger for so many years. People not far from the aphid farm had quickly died. Wasn’t that a bit fishy?
Moreover, in the following few months, the land had undergone planting by other people, but the transfer formalities had not been handled at all!
The person who posted carefully analyzed the map outside the city, and even the patrol route of the inspection team outside the city was released. According to his analysis, when Shi Zhen and his wife had sent a signal bomb for help, the patrol team could definitely arrive within ten minutes. As a level-2 rad-warrior, Shi Zhen could resist for a while – but in fact, Shi Zhen and his wife were eaten until not even their bones were left.
Not counting how much time it took for Shi Zhen to defend himself, it would have taken the beasts at least ten minutes to eat their bodies!
Even the patrol team was involved? The anger of the people of Spark City rose even higher. After thinking that the owner of aphid farm was Yang Haitao, words like collusion between officials and businessmen came out.
At this time, someone posted the video of Shi Qingyang and Yin Tiancheng competing in Spark Academy. The video taken in the city was very clear, making the hatred in Shi Qingyang’s visible.
Shi Qingyang and Yin Tiancheng had no intersection before. How could he hate Yin Tiancheng so much? The child probably had an idea of the truth at that time? The child knew the cause and inside story of his parents’ death, and in the end someone wanted to kill him for that…
Looking at the news on the Internet, Liu Qilin breathed a sigh of relief and looked at He Lan next to her: “This is it. Let’s put other things up slowly!”
“If this doesn’t do it, will we be in danger?” He Lan’s eyes were full of worry.
“If we keep waiting, when will their vengeance come?” Liu Qilin grit her teeth.
“Mom, haven’t you always wanted to get revenge?” As Shi Qingyang’s classmate, He Ming, who had uploaded the video of Shi Qingyang and Yin Tiancheng’s duel, also spoke.
“Yes, this is what I’ve always wanted, isn’t it? I can’t miss such a good opportunity… In the current situation, I can at least let the Yang Family suffer a loss!” When He Lan mentioned the Yang family, she gnashed her teeth and was full of hatred.
All these happenings made a lot of noise on the Internet. More and more events damaging to the Yin family and the Yang family came to light. The identity of Red Hand and the things he had done before had also been dug out, some true, and some false. However, ordinary people no longer cared whether it wwas truth or fiction. They only knew that the Yin Family and the Yang family had no respect for human life!
Of course, the Yin family couldn’t have been unaware of all this. In the past, when such things happened, the patriarch Yin Hao didn’t have to intervene, as the media spokesmen below him would handle the matter well. This time, however, the situation was somewhat different.
At the beginning, after the matters at the city entrance, they wanted to push all the blame to Red Hand. But they didn’t expect to encounter Cheng Xuze’s identity, and then all the news against the Yin and Yang families blew up on the internet…
More importantly, the judge who had originally stood on their side turned out to be so ‘just and stern’.
“Who the hell is that old man? Have you found out?” Yin Hao, his wife, and Yin Tiancheng went to old master Yin to discuss countermeasures. When the people who investigated Cheng Xuze sent a message, they couldn’t wait to ask.
“He went to the residence of Shi Qingyang and Cheng Ran,” the person in charge of tracking Cheng Xuze immediately said.
“They are indeed together!” Yin Tiancheng gritted his teeth.
Yin Hao stared at his son: “Who is he?”
“We checked his photo on the Internet, but it showed that we didn’t have the authority to search,” the man on the other side of the communication responded.
“No authority, no authority…” Cheng Ran could have level-5 masters around him. What was the identity of the old man? Yin Hao’s eyebrows became more and more tightly wound.
“Yin Hao, you must keep this matter down, else it will involve my brother! He did this for your Yin Family!” Yin Hao’s wife, Yang Qiu, had already started to cry. At the beginning, she didn’t take it seriously. After all, this was Spark City, the territory of the Yin family. But seeing Yin Hao like this, she was afraid.
“For our Yin family? He knows what he did! I didn’t tell him to commit murder!”
“My brother gave you all the fruits of the ah’furong. If you hadn’t said that you wanted to please those big men in Anhang City, my brother…”
“Shut up! So I wanted ah’furong, did I tell your brother to kill them? Your brother can’t just buy it? It was just two civilians. Your brother could get it at a low price under some random threats. Why did he handle it in such a way?” Yin Hao said angrily.
“Yin Hao, do you have a conscience? Have you ever given a penny to my brother every time you asked for this or that? I listen to you in everything, and you don’t even want to help my brother?”
“Where did your brother’s aphid farm come from, don’t you know? How many things have I helped him deal with these years, you don’t know? Now it’s not a question of saving your brother. If the old man’s identity is special, the Yin family will be ruined!” The relationship between the Yang family and the Yin family had been too close over the years…
Yin Hao and Yang Qiu quarreled. Finally, it was the old man of the Yin family who stopped all this: “Shut up! What should be done now is think of how to get through this crisis, not quarrel!”
Yin Hao stopped talking. Yang Qiu was afraid of old master Yan and stopped talking.
“Tiancheng, send your mother back first. Don’t be angry,” Lord Yin said again.
Yang Qiu was stunned. At this time, he told her to leave. That meant he almost certainly wanted to give up the Yang family… “Sir!”
“Mom, go back and have a rest.” Yin Tiancheng held Yang Qiu.
“I don’t want to rest, Tiancheng, that’s your uncle! Your uncle has protected you since childhood and treated you so well…” Yang Qiu didn’t want to go, but Yin Tiancheng turned a deaf ear to her words and forced her out.
Yang Qiu was a level-3 rad-warrior, but she had never been out of the city in her life. Naturally, she had not practiced well. Within the limits of the city, she was dragged away by her son, unable to break free. She ccould only cry continuously.
Yin Tiancheng’s face was full of impatience, and he was ashamed of being seen as a joke. When he saw the submissive Yin Jinru on the way, he kicked him in the leg: “Get out of the way!”
Yin Jinru fell to the ground, his eyes full of malevolence.
On the other hand, after Yin Tiancheng and Yang Qiu left, Yin Hao and old master Yin contacted the city master of Anhang. This was the person they had sent the ah’furong to…
In the past 60 years, the Yin family has produced three level-5 rad-warriors, one of whom had died. The remaining two were old master Yin and Yin Hao, who held the rights of the Yin family in their hands.
The owner of Anhang City was Li Rong, born in Central City. He was in his forties. He was thin and looked like a gentle young man. As for in private… Yin Hao had seen how unclean the other was in private.
Seeing the photo taken by Yin Hao, Li Rong immediately smiled: “Isn’t this Cheng Xuze from Yangtze City? Why, have you provoked that old guy?”
Yin Hao had never met Cheng Xuze, but there was no way he would not have heard the name Cheng Xuze. He knew that his son had been investigating Cheng Ran before. He had also suspected that Cheng Ran had something to do with the Cheng family in Yangtze City, but he didn’t expect that the two were actually related.
“This old man is hard to deal with. What have you done?” Li Rong asked again.
“City Lord Li, we didn’t do anything, but the Yang family…” Old master Yin suddenly thought that Li Rong must not know the Yang family, and explained: “The Yang family are the in-laws of the Yin family, and they have committed many evils outside after relying on our power!”
“So to say, it doesn’t have much to do with the Yin family?” Li Rong’s eyes shifted. “What do you want me to do? Are you ready to pay a price?”
Footnotes
1 – Laotaiye: So MTL directly translates this as “grandfather” but I’m leaving it in pinyin to reduce confusion. Sometimes Shi Qingyang or Cheng Ran will refer to other characters as ‘grandpa’ (yeye), which I leave in English. In this case with Laotaiye, it’s a more respectful term that Gu Changjin is calling Cheng Xuze, treating him as a respected elder that he’s not directly related to. [return]