Chapter 108: CH 108

Gu Ning’s daily life now consisted of riding the train, fighting people, and killing zombies.

After staying in the city for three days, she was taken to another city by Ji JiuZe.

Gu Ning hadn’t been home for three weeks and either when she was flying in the sky or running on the ground, she would still call back to check in with Mother Gu in advance. Mother Gu was always worried about her not eating well and even thought of going to her rental place to cook for a few days but Gu Ning firmly refused.

She also remembered the weapon that was overly damaged in the post-apocalyptic world and called Zhuang Chen to help her search for any cold weapons with high killing power.

Zhuang Chen promised to help her without even asking a single question while saying that it would be ready when she returned.

That was one of the things she liked the most about Zhuang Chen. As long as she didn’t take the initiative to say it herself, she wouldn’t pursue it. This was the same case with the celadon sunflower wash and this time was with the cold weapon. Every time this happened, Gu Ning was very glad that she didn’t back out when taking the oath. If she had made a different choice, then her relationship with Zhuang Chen would have ended there.

Up to now, Gu Ning had been to three cities of Squad Seven, Six, and Five, starting from the bottom of the pyramid. So far she had yet to encounter an opponent who could make her feel very overwhelmed.

After each intensive battle, Gu Ning didn’t feel fatigued but rather had a great sense of exhilaration both mentally and physically. At the same time, her combat skills were perfecting with each passing day. She learned something new from every opponent which always kept her constantly on the lookout for more.

Meanwhile, she also felt that Ji JiuZe’s attitude toward her was becoming more “amicable”, after all, it was very satisfying to bring up a disciple with good enlightenment. Perhaps it was because her strength had improved so she had changed her attitude toward Ji JiuZe as well. The initial sense of reverence she had felt toward Ji JiuZe was slowly fading and now their relationship was more like a peer-companion than a subordinate relationship which had made her feel pressured at first.

Gu Ning, whose life had been incomparably busy, was completely unaware of how much trouble Jiang Yu was currently in.

The episode of the treasure appraisal show was aired last Sunday. The Northern Song Dynasty Ru-Kiln Celadon Sunflower Wash, which was identified as authentic on the show, quickly took over all the headlines on major portals overnight. Posts about the celadon sunflower wash showed up on all the major forums too. At the same time, the owner of the celadon sunflower wash, Jiang Yu, who was very pretty and elegant in her behaviour, accompanied by her sweet voice, instantly gained large popularity! Many netizens were referring to her as the goddess.

The highest record of discussion for this treasure appraisal show was usually maintained at over 5 million but after this episode was aired, the online discussion reached over 20 million and was still soaring. Even the shocked expressions of the experts on the show when they saw the celadon sunflower wash, were captured in pictures and made into the current hottest emoji packs.

However, as the websites and media were gearing up to contact all parties to interview the new “goddess” who had become an overnight sensation thanks to the $200 million antique, a piece of even more shocking news erupted!

A set of photos, apparently taken by a phone backstage at the TV station, quickly went viral with text explanation. According to this tipster, two women rushed into the lounge after the show was recorded on that day. They outright claimed that the celadon sunflower was something Jiang Yu had taken from them without their consent to be shown on the program! Plus, there were photos of evidence that the celadon sunflower wash was indeed taken away by the two women afterward.

Jiang Yu’s pale and embarrassed expression in the photo was instantly repulsive. Also, the other two women in the photo had their heads mosaiced so it was impossible to know what they looked like.

The internet craze was always changing in a blink of an eye. In the morning, there was still a lot of envy and jealousy, all sorts of marriage proposals, praising her beauty and temperament. However, in the afternoon, it all turned into sneering and mockery, such as green tea b*tch, wanting to gain fame to the point of craziness, and so on.

Jiang Yu’s phone was ringing all day long and the news spread quietly around her company. In the morning, it was still a peaceful scene of compliments, but in the afternoon, everyone looked at her differently.

Jiang Yu hid in the washroom, browsing through all the nasty comments on the internet. She felt that all the blood was rushing to her head, she was so dizzy that she could barely hold her phone.

As soon as she left the washroom, she was getting ready to apply for leave but she was called by a girl: “Jiang Yu, Mr. Huang wants you to go to his office.” There was a clear look of disdain in her eyes.

Jiang Yu entered Mr. Huang’s office in a daze, she already had a hunch. As expected, Mr. Huang didn’t beat around the bush or even ask whether the news on the internet was true but told her straightforwardly: “Jiang Yu, you don’t have to come to work tomorrow. Come back on Friday instead and settle your salary with the finance department.”

“Mr. Huang……” Jiang Yu still wanted to explain and tried to save her job as this job opportunity was hard to get while she only left a week of probation period before getting the final offer…… However, Mr. Huang didn’t give her a chance to explain and interrupted her directly and rudely while saying indifferently: “You don’t have to explain anything to me. I’ve always recognised your business skills but this matter has gone too far online so I had to choose before it affected the company. I hope you can understand that.”

Jiang Yu looked at Mr. Huang’s deep eyes and only felt a lump in her throat, but in the end, she could only nod reluctantly.

Mr. Huang showed a satisfied look: “Well. I will inform the finance department to pay you an extra month of salary. You can leave now.”

Jiang Yu got up from the seat with difficulty and walked out of the door in a bit of a trance. She could feel a lot of stares being focused on her —— there were contemptuous, sympathetic, and gloating……

Amidst these gazes, Jiang Yu slowly straightened herself and suddenly became radiant as she walked out of the company she had worked for almost three months with her head held high. The moment she walked out of the company’s front gate, Jiang Yu’s energy seemed to be drained away in a flash. She hailed a taxi casually and headed straight for home as all she wanted to do now was to get back home.

“JiaZi, hey see if this girl is the one you had dinner with last time?”

As he had completed a new project, Lu JiaZi had invited the project team to have dinner together. Right now a male staff member who was usually on good terms with him suddenly came over with his mobile phone and asked.

Lu JiaZi frowned a little impatiently and a breath of alcohol came out of his mouth. His eyes immediately froze when they landed on Jiang Yu’s face on the phone screen which he reached out to take it over and took a better look. Yes, it was indeed Jiang Yu.

He skimmed through the news from the beginning and then subconsciously clicked on the group picture. However, his gaze soon fell on the mosaic figure…… This sportswear, Gu Ning seems to have the same piece…….

The male staff was still pinning him for an answer: “Right? It’s the girl from last time, right?!”

“It’s my friend’s sister, I don’t know her well but just had some business dealings with her previously.” Lu JiaZi brushed it off lightly, then handed the phone back.

The male staff took the phone back and continued: “This girl is so bold, she probably didn’t know it was such a valuable item. If they really want to pursue her, that’s a $200 million antique case! And probably a few years in jail! She must really be crazy for wanting to be famous, isn’t she?”

Lu JiaZi smiled, took a few sips of alcohol absentmindedly, then suddenly stood up.

The male staff called out: “Where are you going?”

He replied: “Going to the washroom.” Then he walked in the direction of the washroom.

He stood in the hallway near the washroom, took out his phone, and flicked through the screen.

Contact.

His parent’s number was immediately followed by Gu Ning’s new number.

Gu Ning often changed her number when her phone card was in debt, and each time she would ask him to store her new number after his parents.

Therefore, this time with Gu Ning’s new number, even though she didn’t request it, he had subconsciously arranged her number after his parents.

He stared at the strings of numbers for a long time but still didn’t dare to call it.

As he was about to put his phone away and rejoin the meal, a message appeared.

He opened it and it was an MMS message from Zhang Ji.

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The content was simple, a photo and a line of text.

The texts were: “I’m in Qingping. I think I saw Gu Ning.”

The photo was the back views of two people.

One tall and one short, one male and one female.

The woman was wearing sportswear and had striking short blonde hair. This back view was too familiar for Lu JiaZi and he had recognised Gu Ning at a glance. Qingping? What was she doing in Qingping? Lu JiaZi frowned slightly as he stared at the man standing next to her was wearing a long black coat, with an upright posture, and was a great deal taller than Gu Ning. Just by looking at the back view, Lu JiaZi inexplicably felt a cold solemnity.

This man was a little taller than the man he had seen last time at the hospital and from the back view, Lu JiaZi couldn’t recognise who he was.

The way how Gu Ning had treated him recently popped into his mind, was it because of this man?

In those three months when Gu Ning was missing, Lu JiaZi then realised that because of her, there were too many traces left by her in his life and too many habits were created at the same time. A month after Gu Ning’s trip, Mother Gu called him about Gu Ning’s disappearance. He had always known how much Gu Ning liked him but he didn’t know whether he liked her or not as he was just too used to Gu Ning swirling around him. He was often focused on planning his future career and didn’t have the time to think about what kind of presence Gu Ning was meant to him.

Yet, the next day, he suspended a project that was in progress and on a very tight schedule. He flew to the city where Gu Ning had said she was traveling, and contacted the local police and media as soon as he landed. Lu JiaZi even used his connection to spread the news of Gu Ning’s disappearance quickly through social media.

He spent a whole week in that city but nothing came of it, and as a result, he lost out on the project which he had been following up on.

Afterward, he started to go back to work and socialize as normal. In the middle of the night, he would wake up from his sleep without warning, dreaming of Gu Ning being subjected to all kinds of inhumane torture.

This was the first time he had ever experienced what it meant to be afraid. Lu JiaZi from childhood always had a smooth sailing path. He had a great family, many friends, and even popularity among women so the only thing worth putting effort into was his current career. However, after Gu Ning’s disappearance, he often felt scared that she would never return.

Yet, even then, he didn’t feel like he was truly losing her. Right now as he was staring at this picture on his phone, with just the two back views, it was already making him feel a sense of panic from deep within his heart.

He finally understood that what Gu Ning had said to him the other day turned out to be true and she wasn’t throwing a tantrum with him.

Lu JiaZi didn’t call Gu Ning immediately but phoned the Gu family home number.

It was Mother Gu who answered the phone.

Lu JiaZi, in a rare moment of some impatience, did not exchange any pleasantries but went straight to the point: “Auntie, it’s me, JiaZi. Is Gu Ning still working as a tutor now?”

Mother Gu glanced at Father Gu beside her and made a gesture hinting it was Lu JiaZi before answering: “Yes. What’s wrong JiaZi, is there anything problem?”

Lu JiaZi replied: “Well. I’m looking for NingNing for something. Do you have the address of the family where she is tutoring?”

Mother Gu responded: “No. I don’t have it. NingNing didn’t give me the address because she was afraid that I would disturb her at work. Why don’t you call and ask her?”

At that moment, there was a knock on the door. Father Gu got up and went to open it, then looked at Fang Fa standing at the doorway in surprise while saying: “Xiao Fang, why are you here? Quickly, quickly, come in and take a sit!”

Fang Fa smiled as he walked in with a basket of fruits: “It’s fine. It’s all because of my friend who caused Gu Ning to be overly busy recently and didn’t come back home to see you all. I happened to be passing by near here after work so I’ve thought of coming up and finding you both.”

“Aiya! Xiao Fang, you’re here ah!” Mother Gu’s eyes lit up at the sight of Fang Fa and forgotten that she was still on the phone with Lu JiaZi as she greeted excitedly: “This is great! Auntie has just cooked some food! Later Auntie will go and fry some more dishes so please do stay and eat with us!”

Lu JiaZi overheard the voice of the young man and the happy greeting from Mother Gu. Xiao Fang, that name was not from any of the relatives while the voice sounded very young and it seem a bit familiar….. The man which they had met at the hospital that day seemed to have the Fang surname. Moreover, listening to Mother Gu’s voice, she seemed to be very happy……

Mother Gu finally remembered that she was still on the phone and quickly asked with a smile: “Sorry, excuse us. We have a guest! Do you still need anything, JiaZi?”

Lu JiaZi paused for a moment before replying: “It’s alright. Auntie, go on with your thing then.”

“Goodbye then!” Mother Gu hung up the phone without hesitation.

Lu JiaZi stared at the call that had been disconnected and fell into silence.

Gu Ning said she was working as a tutor but Zhang Ji had took a photo of her with a man in Qingping.

The expression on Gu Ning’s face changed subtly when she saw the number flashing on her phone. She hesitated for a moment but still answered the call: “Hello? Is there something wrong?”

Lu JiaZi’s voice rang out through the phone: “Where are you now?”

Gu Ning paused for a moment before replying: “At work.”

Ji JiuZe on the opposite end of the table raised his eyes and looked at her.

Lu JiaZi’s voice stalled for a while and then asked; “Tutoring still needs you to travel to Qingping?”

Gu Ning froze for a second as she replied in a cold voice: “Does it have anything to do with you. Mr. Lu”

Then she simply hung up the call.

Listening to the noisy buzzing sound from the phone, Lu JiaZi was completely stunned.

It took almost a long while before someone nudged him out of his thoughts: “JiaZi? Why did it take you so long to use the washroom? You seem like your soul had run away>”

It turned out that someone from his group had noticed him being gone for too long so they had sent the other to come out and look for him.

“I have to leave now for an urgent matter. You guys take your time and eat, I’ll go first.” Lu JiaZi replied and left in a hurry.

Hanging up the call, Gu Ning no longer had any appetite. She informed Ji JiuZe then took her phone and walked out to call her parents. She wasn’t sure if Lu JiaZi had disturbed them, yet it was safer for her to give them a precautionary shot first.

Ji JiuZe watched Gu Ning walk out of the room, then shifted his gaze back to the piping hot red pot that was gurgling and boiling in front of him as he pondered.

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