Old Master Chen casually grabbed a stick and cautiously approached the door. He flung it open and swung the stick at the person outside without hesitation—
The person quickly raised their arm to block their head, and the stick landed squarely on their forearm.
"Ugh..."
A muffled grunt followed. Old Master Chen squinted and saw a young man dressed in a suit, holding a basket of eggs in his right hand.
The man had a rugged, tough-guy look about him, but his eyes showed no malice. Realizing he might have mistaken the man for someone else, Old Master Chen loosened his grip on the stick.
"Hey, kid, why are you banging on our door like that?"
The old man was too embarrassed to apologize outright, but his eyes kept darting to the man's arm.
You Er flexed his hand, finding it unharmed, and asked, "Is this Jia Yongchun's house?"
Old Master Chen frowned. "You've got the wrong place. Jia Yongchun's house is up the hill, two houses over."
The young man nodded, said, "Sorry for the trouble," and turned to leave with his basket of eggs.
But Old Master Chen stopped him and stuffed 500 yuan into the egg basket.
"Get your arm checked. And next time, don’t bang on doors like a bandit."
You Er nodded again, turned briskly, and left without refusing the money.
After he was gone, Old Master Chen scratched his head. "Did I really mishear?"
He had ended up hitting the wrong person.
"I’m getting too old for this..."
He closed the door and walked back inside.
Just as the door shut, You Er, still holding the basket of eggs, paused on the steps.
"Clean up the bloodstains," he said.
As soon as he spoke, several people emerged from the bushes and quickly stuffed a few bodies into sacks before dragging them away.
With past experiences as a warning, Ji Tingzhou knew exactly what this organization was capable of.
He had sent You Er to keep an eye on Old Master Chen's family as a precaution, but he hadn’t expected them to play such a dirty game.
As for Ji Nian, with Wei Yang, the human fighting machine, by her side, both the Chen and Ji families had people secretly protecting her.
Meanwhile, realizing that the men they had sent out had gone silent, the organization understood that their mission had likely failed.
"Useless!"
"I told you Ji Tingzhou going abroad at this critical moment meant he was prepared!"
"Ji Tingzhou went to the Lu family. After all our planning, are we just going to watch our efforts go to waste?"
"Bad news, boss! Word from L Country—the Prime Minister is cleaning out our informants there..."
"Is he insane!?"
"...It’s the antidote. He bought the antidote jointly developed by the Chen and Ji families!"
The calm from their last meeting was gone, and now the room was in chaos, like a pot of soup about to be dumped into a septic tank.
"Boss, what do we do now?"
Everyone’s eyes turned to the silent, camera-covered window that had remained closed throughout the meeting.
Finally, a voice came through—stern but oddly reassuring.
"Withdraw from China. Before they trace us."
Years ago, when the previous leader of the Ravens fell, the organization had faced a similar situation.
They were the Ravens, creatures of the shadows, unable to withstand the light. If their secrets were exposed, they would be burned alive.
But after years of effort, watching everything turn to ash was hard to swallow.
For now, though, cutting off their arms was the only way to preserve the core and avoid complete collapse.
Decisiveness sounded brave, but few truly had the courage for it.
...
Completely unaware of the chaos her antidote had caused, Ji Nian yawned after finishing a homework assignment.
Seeing her tired, Chen Mo didn’t push her to keep working. He closed her notebook.
"Get some rest if you’re tired."
The car’s air conditioning was a bit too cold, so Chen Mo pulled out a small blanket he had prepared earlier and draped it over Ji Nian. He then helped her put on an eye mask and patted her back gently. "Sleep."
The seat reclined, and Ji Nian didn’t have to do a thing. She just closed her eyes, her shoes already removed by Chen Mo.
[Our princess would never bend down to take off my shoes.]
Ji Tingzhou always made Ji Nian lift her own legs so someone else could remove her shoes.
It couldn’t be helped—he was too much of a germaphobe. To him, the soles of feet were no different from stepping in something disgusting.
Enjoying her uncle’s attentiveness, Ji Nian drifted off to sleep, breathing in the familiar scent that reminded her of Chen Mo.
She slept soundly, even dreaming of Ji Tingzhou, who was far away in O Country. In her dream, she saw him talking to someone sitting on a bed—a small figure, possibly a child.
When Chen Mo woke her up, all she remembered was that the person had strikingly beautiful, pale silver-gray eyes.
Such a rare shade of gray in real life reminded her of the colors Shen Qingtang loved in those anime characters.
Stretching, Ji Nian took a big sip from the water bottle Chen Mo handed her.
After wetting her throat, she asked, "Uncle, are we there yet?"
Chen Mo glanced at the dusky sky outside and replied softly, "We’re here."
After losing their daughter and their business going bankrupt, Old Master Chen and his wife had moved back to their hometown, a small town far from the city.
Chen Mo still remembered the day he had rushed here after learning his parents had moved. His stubborn father had chased him off with a stick.
It had been raining that day. As he walked down the stone steps of the hillside, he had slipped and fallen into a ditch. It was an old ox, seemingly out of nowhere, that had nudged him back out.
"Let’s go, Nian Nian."
"This place might be very different from what you’re used to. If it’s too much... I’ll take you back."
Worried that the rural setting might bother her, Chen Mo spoke up.
Ji Nian didn’t say anything, just smiled.
She had cleaned up after rabbits without complaint—this was nothing.
Chen Mo took Ji Nian’s hand and led her out of the car. Under the evening sky, he looked at the place where his parents now lived—a place that had only brought him pain in his memories.
Old Master Chen and his wife had adored their first child.
After years of longing and despair, they had finally been blessed with a child when they were on the verge of giving up.
That child was Chen Yueling.
They doted on her as if she were the apple of their eye, giving her the best of everything and grooming her to be their heir.
Chen Mo, on the other hand, had been an accident. After Old Master Chen had a vasectomy, the slim chance of pregnancy had somehow happened. The couple had considered an abortion, but Chen’s grandmother had refused. The old lady adored her youngest grandson, and so Chen Mo was born.
From the start, Chen Mo was raised by his grandparents. He only returned to his parents’ home when it was time for school, and even then, he was mostly raised by his older sister.
The Chen parents had poured all their love into Chen Yueling. It wasn’t that they didn’t love Chen Mo, but they simply couldn’t give him the same level of affection.
Before Chen Yueling passed away, she had called Chen Mo, who was abroad chasing his dream of being in a band.
But Chen Mo had been on stage performing and missed his sister’s final call.
Devastated by the loss of his daughter, Old Master Chen had slapped Chen Mo hard and walked away, leaving him behind.
That slap, along with the hatred he could see even through the rain, had shattered Chen Mo’s courage.
He had never returned.
