Chapter 163
by Need_More_SleepChapter 163: Departure
“It’s like this—look, my Yiwen and your Mi Xiaoliu get along really well, right? And lately Yiwen’s been wanting to visit our hometown—it’s just in downtown Sunshine City. She said she already made plans with Xiaoliu, so I thought I’d ask for your opinion. I’ll be going with her too.”
Early in the morning, Raven called Heli.
Upon hearing the news, Heli’s long-tense expression finally relaxed. She cooked a whole table of dishes Yiwen liked. She had been fretting over how to find an excuse to drop Toby off at Heli’s, but it turned out Yiwen had already arranged to meet Mi Xiaoliu in advance.
“My Xiaoliu doesn’t want to go. I signed her up for some enrichment classes,” Heli rejected her expressionlessly.
Ever since finding out that the little white-haired girl was Raven’s daughter, she hadn’t taken Mi Xiaoliu to a psychologist again.
“Huh? Didn’t she already make plans with Yiwen?” Raven was taken aback. “Mrs. Heli, if you disagree, maybe you could try talking to Xiaoliu. Forcibly changing a child’s plans could easily trigger rebellious behavior.”
“No, it’s your daughter—Yiwen—trying to trick my Xiaoliu into going,” Heli accused bluntly.
While the two parents were talking on the phone, Mi Xiaoliu was sitting upright with perfect posture, looking at her phone—the organization’s internal chat.
Hourglass: “Got recognized on the mission today—Feds even called me by my codename.”
Hermit: “Must’ve been someone from Team 25 who ratted you out. Fanzui City’s Feds aren’t good at much else, but he’s got a real knack for interrogation.”
Sometimes the people being interrogated didn’t even realize they had already spilled everything.
Since their boss Wei Shi had shown them some basic info on Team 25’s members, it was likely the members of Team 25 had also seen each other’s files.
By protocol, subordinates could only view photos, codenames, and skill profiles. And the photos were taken in mission uniforms—so even if they were exposed, it wasn’t a huge deal.
Last time, the Red Prince had been able to discover the little princess’s true identity because he was an officer and had access to more classified intel.
Hourglass: “Someone from Team 25 got captured?”
Hermit: “More than that—Team 25 is basically wiped out. But their boss isn’t completely dead yet, probably somewhere in Sunshine City now. Shouldn’t affect us for the time being, but if you run into him, stay away. He’s not on good terms with our team right now.”
“Sunshine City…” Mi Xiaoliu tilted her head thoughtfully.
The cat, Circle (Quanquan), who was sitting on the table licking its paws, quickly tilted its head along with her.
Circle seemed to treat this as a private imitation game between it and Mi Xiaoliu.
As usual, Mi Xiaoliu sent over three dots.
Multitool: “@Princess Is that all you can send—just dots? What’s your brain made of? We even gave you a photo of the Red Prince and you’re still not keeping a low profile. You recovered from your injuries already?”
Mi Xiaoliu considered how to respond.
Sasha: “Master, maybe tone it down a bit. Your old man’s really doing his best.”
Mi Xiaoliu: “Old man?”
Sasha: “Yeah. Isn’t Wei Shi kind of like your father figure?”
Mi Xiaoliu thought about how people on the internet usually talked to their “old dads.”
Princess: “@Multitool Huh. You’ve grown up.”
Multitool has sent you a location sharing request.
…
“I signed her up for a painting class. She really enjoys drawing. We should go for a picnic sometime,” Heli made an empty promise to maintain good relations between the parents and hung up.
Then Mi Xiaoliu gently poked her from behind. “I want to go to Sunshine City.”
Heli: “??”
How could this child be like this?
———
“Please, I’m begging you. My wife is in unbearable pain. The surgery has a very low success rate. Her health’s already fragile—and she’s pregnant. She won’t survive… Whatever you want, I’ll pay! I’ll sell everything I have if that’s what it takes to save her!”
“You’ve got the wrong idea. That news article was just fake marketing, totally made up. There’s no such thing as a miracle herb that cures everything. If you’ve got money to spare, better to slip the doctors a few red envelopes instead,” Wei Shi coldly rejected him.
Every day, he received over 99 consultation requests—because hiring a new recruit privately required the team leader’s approval.
Mi Xiaoliu had never been this in demand before.
These days, no matter how tragic or pitiful the stories were, Wei Shi had coldly turned them all down on Mi Xiaoliu’s behalf.
He coughed twice, spat bloody phlegm into the trash, then pulled an injector from his drawer and gave himself another shot in the heart.
“Is your body okay?” Big Sister Hermit asked with concern, pouring a glass of water for Wei Shi.
Wei Shi didn’t respond. He held his chest and leaned quietly against the chair, staring at the computer screen.
Only after waiting for his heartbeat to calm did Hermit hand him the tablet. “The news you asked me to follow—about two weeks from now, the governor will visit Sunshine City to discuss issues of development and construction.”
He wouldn’t come to a place like Fanzui City, which is truly worrisome, but instead always visits big cities.
Wei Shi took the tablet and zoomed in on the image.
“His bodyguards include at least three LV4s. And it might not even be him showing up in person. I suggest hiring more people to go in together. Once he returns, we won’t be able to track him down again.”
“Two hundred thirty million,” Wei Shi named a figure. “Use it to hire people. That’s all my savings. Will his nephew be going too?”
“I’ll check. He’s not his son, so I figured probably not… Wait, he really is going?” Hermit was slightly surprised and cautiously observed Wei Shi’s expression. “His nephew even became the Deputy Director of the Intelligence Bureau.”
The air was silent for several seconds.
“Call Hourglass. We’re going to Sunshine City next,” Wei Shi returned the tablet to Hermit and began packing his things.
He didn’t pack much—mostly essential medications and a few items Mi Xiaoliu had brought back from the game world.
“Not calling the Princess?” Hermit began contacting Ishigane Hayato.
“No. She’s just a useless burden who’ll only cause trouble,” Wei Shi commented bluntly.
Just then, the phone in Wei Shi’s pocket suddenly turned cold for a second, indicating someone had sent him a message.
He opened it for a glance. It was from Heli:
“Little Mi wants to go to Sunshine City. I’m busy with work and can’t accompany her. See if you can go along to protect her.”
Transfer: 1,000,000 Mira
Wei Shi’s expression twisted slightly.
—
“How do I look?” Yiwen turned her head away, blushing, her legs nervously rubbing together in a pigeon-toed stance.
The light yellow dress reached her knees. Since it was summer, her legs were bare, not covered by socks. The white hard-soled sandals did nothing to conceal them. Her crystal-clear toes were tightly pressed together, painted with a layer of light pink nail polish.
The girlish aura that she usually kept hidden bloomed fully at this moment, exuding a scent that stimulated male hormones and tempted every boy who looked at her.
She actually knew quite a bit about dressing up.
Since she was about to leave the city, she dared to go a little bolder. Some people at the station occasionally glanced her way. Unfortunately, Yiwen still couldn’t summon the courage to wear the long wig and had even covered half her face with a mask.
Mi Xiaoliu looked at her: “You look good.”
Then lowered her head and stopped looking, quietly gnawing on the bun Raven had bought her.
Yiwen used the meow-meow punch on Mi Xiaoliu.
Mi Xiaoliu hid behind Raven.
Raven used glare on Yiwen.
It wasn’t realistic for 16-year-old Yiwen to take 13-year-old Mi Xiaoliu out of the city by themselves. Without an accompanying adult, Heli wouldn’t have allowed it—so Yiwen’s whole family came along.
This made Yiwen slightly unhappy because she had wanted to go to Sunshine City alone with Mi Xiaoliu. With her mom and younger brother tagging along, it would be hard to openly search for the secret room.
Two days ago, she had casually tested her mom with a few questions, pretending to be nonchalant, and found that her mom had no idea a secret room existed in their father’s study.
She only showed disdain for the fact that her father clearly wasn’t an intellectual, yet still deliberately built a study to show off.
Even his own wife, who shared a bed with him, didn’t know about it. This made Yiwen start to question the authenticity of the information provided by Officer Chen. But she wouldn’t feel at ease until she checked it out herself, right?
On Mi Xiaoliu’s end, everything was settled too—though in truth, there wasn’t much to settle. Heli bought an automatic feeder for Circle, and that took care of most of the problem.
Then, before they left, Heli repeatedly reminded Raven that she did not want to see any signs of early romance in Mi Xiaoliu, which made Raven feel extremely guilty.
After boarding the train and seeing that Yiwen’s group was made up of only women and children, two kind-hearted young men took the initiative to help them lift their luggage.
“Thank you,” Yiwen said politely in her naturally sweet voice, causing the two to daze out for a moment.
Of course, it wasn’t an exaggerated frozen-in-place reaction—just a second or two of mental distraction.
“Are you heading out of town for work?” Raven pulled her daughter back to her seat.
“No, my dad’s in the hospital. We’re going to take care of him,” the older young man shook his head. “Uremia. Even if it can be treated, it’s still tough. If only that miracle herb were real.”
Mi Xiaoliu looked up at them for a second but didn’t respond. She had remembered Heli’s instructions.
“No need to worry—modern medicine can handle that quite well. I interned in the psychiatry department in Sunshine City…” After a couple of casual lines, Raven subtly shifted the conversation away from the heavy topic. “Are you two brothers? Came to work in Fanzui City together?”
“Not exactly brothers,” the other young man said with some embarrassment, giving a helpless and awkward smile. “If nothing unexpected happens… we might end up as a couple.”
That answer shocked Yiwen and Toby for a whole year. It was the first time they’d met someone in real life who… and someone who admitted it openly, too. One had to say—it took courage.
Raven, on the other hand, calmly nodded. Many of her clients had come to talk to her for this very reason.
“Everyone has the right to their own interests and choices.”
“Actually, our orientations are still pretty normal,” the older guy added. “We’re just two broke guys. Can’t afford a house, can’t afford a car, can’t pay a bride price—it’s not right to let some poor girl suffer with us, right? So the two of us are teaming up to make money together, just getting by for now. When we’re old, at least we’ll have each other.”
A rather novel idea.
Yiwen lowered her head in a tangle of thoughts and turned to glance at Mi Xiaoliu. But Mi Xiaoliu only showed her the back of her head—she was currently leaning against the window, curiously watching the scenery outside.
If she could grow up together with Mi Xiaoliu and gradually develop their relationship, how much would be an appropriate bride price in the future?
In truth, she didn’t really care. Her family had savings, Mi Xiaoliu’s adoptive mother was quite wealthy too, and her mom actually liked Mi Xiaoliu quite a bit.
[Translator’s Note: See the index page for this Novel if you want to see the Amazon Link for the eBooks.]
0 Comments