At the end of the day, the calmest was actually this night before Xu Tingsheng left the detention centre.

  The next day, Xu Tingsheng sent off Tan Yao.

  Lest he bring his wretched emotions home, also to accompany Tan Yao’s perhaps still undissipated soul, Xu Tingsheng did not go home to see Xiang Ning that night. Instead, he stayed in the dormitory with Old Wai who had stayed in school over the summer holidays and Li Xingming who had come from home.

  They did not inform Zhang Ninglang and Lu Xu from Room 602 who were at home.

  No one said anything for the first half of that night.

  Still, no one was able to fall asleep.

  In the latter half of the night, Old Wai said out of the blue, “Tan Yao hasn’t even drank mine and Linlin’s celebratory wine yet. The heck, dodging red packets.”


  Xu Tingsheng said, “Take a guess. What do you think Tan Yao would say if he were here?”


  Li Xingming said, “I guess he would say: Let me be your best man if you dare! If you do, I’ll snatch the limelight away from you, the groom. I really thought about it before. When I marry, I definitely can’t let Bro Yao appear beside me.”


  Old Wai asked, “How would you stop him? He’s so thick-skinned, he’d definitely come over on his own. He might even ask to be the emcee.”


  “Right, he’d definitely do that. Also, he’d make use of the chance to flirt with the bridesmaids……that is, unless Ye Qing attends too,” Xu Tingsheng said.

  The three of them laughed with tears in their eyes for a while.

  Old Wai then said, “Dream on, Xingming! You don’t even know where your wife is yet! How’re you supposed to look for her!”


  Li Xingming said, “Matchmaking, of course! I’ve already started these summer holidays. My family says that as a third year, I’m not young anymore. I know that the main reason is still that I seem to be ageing a bit fast. I can’t afford to wait when it all depends on face, after all. Well, there were so many things that I wanted to ask Bro Yao before. I was going to ask him to be my strategist.”


  “Tell us about it,” Xu Tingsheng said.

  Li Xingming said, “Just a few days ago, the auntie from next door introduced one. She’s three years older than me. Permed hair, breasts, tight-fitting top, small leather skirt, stockings, high heels……it’s just that her face isn’t all that nice. I don’t mind that, though. Anyway, as we talked, we were getting on especially well……”


  “Then? Did it succeed?”


  “Hear me out first. Anyway, we were chatting comfortably for more than an hour. It was pretty good. Then, she seemed to be searching for something in her bag. As she rummaged about, ‘clack’! A pair of handcuffs fell out. Handcuffs, you know? They fell in front of me, onto the table……she didn’t collect them or explain anything, just staring straight and intently at me……”


  “Heck, a policewoman? What did you say then?”


  “I just said what you did. I said wow, so you were a policewoman! Amazing.”


  “What happened then?”


  “After I’d said that, she looked at me and sighed. Shaking her head, she packed up her things, apologised, said bye bye and left.”


  “That’s all?”


  “That’s all. The auntie from next door told me that the policewoman ended up uninterested in me,” Li Xingming said, “So, the heck, where exactly did it go wrong? You guys tell me.”


  The three pondered hard for a long time till nearly daybreak.

  Old Wai suddenly asked, “Say, if it was a rope that fell out of her bag at the time, what would you have said?”


  Li Xingming asked, “Huh?”


  “What if it was a leather whip?”


  “Huh? ……The heck, this old man gets it now. So she wasn’t a policewoman, but a freaking hobbyist! Heck……where’s my phone?” Li Xingming went looking for his phone everywhere, searching through it non-stop. Then, he got off the bed as he turned on his computer and booted the communication software, searching through that too……

  “It’s over,” After a long time, Li Xingming said vexedly, “I was furious then and deleted all her contact information. What to do? I wanna tell her that actually……I like that too!”


  Xu Tingsheng and Old Wai both laughed till their stomachs ached.

  Li Xingming said unhappily, “Huh, two pieces of trash. If Bro Yao were here, this would be solved at once, no sweat. He’s a specialist!”


  Old Wai said, “That’s right.”


  Xu Tingsheng said, “I think he’d surely be laughing himself to death right now.”


  What is most frightening for people is actually when they’re laughing, and laughing, and then a sudden silence descends……

  When leaving the university the next day, Xu Tingsheng saw Ling Xiao’s car at the entrance.

  “Can we talk?” Ling Xiao asked, “This matter must end somehow.”


  Xu Tingsheng avoided her and walked away.

  Ling Xiao chased after him in her car, asking, “What more do you want? It was always you saying we should end things here initially……”


  Xu Tingsheng said, “Tan Yao’s dead now.”


  “I know, but many people have already gone down to accompany him.”


  “That’s not enough.”


  “What do you want then? Do you want me, the main culprit, to go and die too?” Ling Xiao asked.

  Xu Tingsheng turned to look at her, “If possible. I don’t mind if you do.”


  Ling Xiao saw for the first time such a cold-blooded and distant but actually emotionally disturbed Xu Tingsheng. She knew that at this moment, she had already lost any room for conversation.

  The earthquake amongst Yanzhou’s bureaucracy was still ongoing, and was beginning to target the Ling and Xiao families manipulating them behind the scenes. The Ye and Xu families were also increasingly domineering in their stances. There was a bleak air of defeat hanging about the bereft Ling family manor.

  That afternoon, Xu Tingsheng met Ding Miao in Jiannan.

  As he had said earlier, Ding Miao actually heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that the person in front of him was not Huang Yaming. Xu Tingsheng’s image was too bright, freeing him of much worry. Not wasting time on wondering why Xu Tingsheng was here, much less able to predict what had been happening outside, Ding Miao looked at him and asked, “Can we talk?”


  “Talk about what?” Xu Tingsheng sat down and asked.

  “State your conditions. I’ll deliver them as best I can, bringing this matter to an end. In the future……in the future, I won’t have any qualifications to clash with you anymore. You should be very reassured,” Ding Miao said.

  “From what you’re saying, you kidnapped my person, tried to nail me dead……and failed. After all that, you think you can walk away safely just like that?” Xu Tingsheng smiled and asked.

  Ding Miao seemed to be utterly certain of Xu Tingsheng’s personality and style of doing things as he too smiled, asking, “What……are you going to kill me? Xu Tingsheng kills too? Haha……in that case, I suggest that you silence the three of them first. The risk of killing them is lower. If you kill me, there’ll be upheaval throughout the entire city, the consequences difficult to predict……I’m not some minor pawn.”


  Xu Tingsheng lowered his head and thought for a bit before looking up and saying, “Makes sense. You’re the exalted Young Master of the Ding family. The sole remaining inheritor of the Ding family. If I render you dead, it’ll be very troublesome for me.”


  “So, we can actually have a proper discussion. Having lost a war, it’s simply a matter of splitting some land and offering it as compensation. Something that even the Aisin Gioro family can do, I’m not afraid of losing face,” Ding Miao felt that he had grasped the initiative and pace in their conversation as he began to get relaxedly ahead of himself again.

  As he looked at Xu Tingsheng, the smile at the corners of his mouth again slowly……

  Slap!

  Without any warning whatsoever, a sudden heavy slap came out of nowhere and blasted away his smile that had yet to fully form.

  Ding Miao’s expression clearly froze as he looked rather nonplussed.

  Looking at him, Xu Tingsheng said, “Pity, but I suddenly steeled my resolve these past few days. I hope that people will not dare to listen to the way the wind is blowing, grab a random chance and make a move against me again in the future. I also don’t want anybody to target those by my side lightly without having to think about the consequences. You just happened to run into this. Sorry.”


  Today’s Xu Tingsheng was filled with hatred and fury, emotionally twisted and filled with pain. Just as he had said, he could not let others target those by his side lightly without having to think about the consequences again.

  Tan Yao’s death, Tongtong’s kidnapping……the lessons were already enough, too heavy. Xu Tingsheng did not know who this might land on if there was a next time. Would it be Xiang Ning? Fu Cheng’s family? Or……regardless of whoever it was, he wouldn’t be able to bear it.

  The warm, sunny Xu Tingsheng had been able to let his ‘enemy’, Zhang Xingke, be the Vice CEO of Hucheng, could have fair fights with others in school. Now, he had to make himself terrifying, not forgiving any slight, letting others have reservations and be well intimidated.

  Ding Miao swung his head before extending his tongue and licking the bloodstains at the corner of his mouth, spitting them to the ground. He looked provocatively at Xu Tingsheng, smiling as he said, “Kill me then!”


  It could not be denied that not only was Ding Miao intelligent, he was also daring and vicious and arrogant enough. It was no wonder that Huang Yaming had once said that amongst the various second gens of Yanzhou’s upper strata, he actually looked very favourably on Ding Miao’s chances.

  “Come on, kill me,” Ding Miao continued, “The entire Yanzhou currently knows that I have proof and am about to prove to the police that you killed my brother. If I really were to disappear now, say……would you be able to stay out of it? Also, with two blood debts from both his sons, do you think my Dad will go crazy and drag you down to hell even if it means his life too?”


  Xu Tingsheng looked at him but did not speak.

  “It’s difficult, right? How about I give you a suggestion?” Ding Miao asked.

  Xu Tingsheng nodded, “Say it.”


  Leaning against the wall, Ding Miao took a deep breath, “I know that with Tan Yao dead, it’s very difficult for you to be calm now. How about this? First, you can break one of my arms and one of my legs……vent it out, and we can talk again when you’ve calmed down. Since I’m the loser but wish to live, I should suffer some. You’re the winner, but can’t make a misstep, which would result in damnation. That being so, we have room for discussion.”


  “Break a limb to seek life? The courage of a lizard……” Xu Tingsheng thought, suddenly smiling helplessly.

  “Boss Xu, hey, actually, you can leave this matter to us. We’ll render him dead, definitely not implicating you. As long as, as long as……” Old Dog who was beside them stammered.

  He had actually not grasped the logic behind Ding Miao’s words. He had only vaguely grasped that it would be very troublesome for Xu Tingsheng to kill Ding Miao, thus probingly saying such a thing.

  He and Dongzi had been worried all along that Xu Tingsheng might remember how they had taken part in trying to kill him before and would take revenge on them. They feared that he would silence them. Seeing a way to possibly dissipate his anger with much difficulty, it naturally followed that the two were jumping at this chance.

  “As long as what?” Xu Tingsheng turned, smiling as he asked Old Dog.

  “I, I……can you be merciful and let us live, Boss Xu?” Old Dog asked panickedly and timidly.

  “Alright,” Xu Tingsheng said.

  “Huh?” Perhaps finding Xu Tingsheng’s reply too straightforward, Old Dog and Dongzi simultaneously released startled exclamations.

  “Like you said. You two help me get rid of him. I’ll ignore what you did before and let you live,” Xu Tingsheng explained before continuing, “Whatever happened before, you saved Tongtong this time and helped me too. So, I’m agreeable to it.”


  “Good, good. So, when do we do it?” Dongzi was already beginning to look around for needed equipment as he said, “Rest assured, Boss Xu. When we’re done, we’ll tie a rock to him and throw him into the river……this place connects to the sea nearby. The water level is okay too. Unless we’re super unlucky, he definitely won’t be discovered.”


  “You should wait till you’re out of the country. At that time, bring him along, put him in a sack, tie that rock to it and push him off the vessel wherever it’s convenient. The Pacific Ocean is very big and very deep. Even if we’re super unlucky, no one will discover it,” Xu Tingsheng said.

  “Right, right……wait? We have to leave the country too?” Dongzi and Old Dog both looked gloomy but dared not rebut.

  “I’ll give you a sum of money. Then, never come back in this lifetime. Don’t let me see the two of you again,” Xu Tingsheng’s expression turned stern.

  Dongzi and Old Dog both nodded, not daring to speak.

  “Now, for the two of us,” Xu Tingsheng turned towards Ding Miao and said.

  “Alright,” Ding Miao looked ever confidently at Xu Tingsheng, a hint of a smile even visible at the corners of his mouth.

  He felt that Xu Tingsheng had been bluffing in his conversation with Dongzi and Old Dog earlier in order to scare him. No matter how one looked at it, Xu Tingsheng should not want to get into further trouble now.

  “Everyone says that Xu Tingsheng is a genius. A plan where you can kill me without any future troubles……I’d like to hear it,” Ding Miao said.

  “Alright,” Xu Tingsheng said.

  Ding Miao’s expression changed slightly as he looked at Xu Tingsheng.