Epiphanies of Rebirth Chapter 62 (Part 3)
Translated by Pure (ko-fi)
Chapter 62.3 "Let's get married."
The atmosphere the next day was also quite particular.
Lin Jingzhe was tossed many times and almost died last night. The two of them were exhausted themselves till the dead of night, so it was almost noon when they woke up.
As soon as he got up, Lin Jingzhe immediately rushed Xiao Chi, who was still drowsy, back to his room. However, little did he know, the Xiao Family were plenty aware of their actions.
Except for the cheerful grandma who behaved as usual and the expressionless Xiao Chi, everyone else felt a bit awkward while sitting together at the dining table. Fortunately, everyone knew how to restrain their emotions and didn't show much of their inner discomfort. Xiao Chi's parents were acting more cautious and prudent compared to yesterday's dinner, but their gaze was just a little off.
Lin Jingzhe had now suffered his punishment for indulgence.Without much hesitation, he left immediately after eating.
When the car drove away from the driveway, Lin Jingzhe withdrew his waving hand from the car window. He leaned back and looked at the figures that were getting farther and farther away in the rearview mirror, still feeling as if he was immersed in a dream.
Xiao Chi was in the driver's seat, completely nonchalant, as if this whole matter was just any normal day. He glanced at Lin Jingzhe and advised, "Sleep some more, you’ve worked hard last night."
How could Lin Jingzhe fall asleep? Even though his back was sore, he still kept his eyes wide open.
From his peripherals, Lin Jingzhe stared at Xiao Chi's focused expression in a daze. He couldn’t help but recall the latter’s warm voice last night, it was especially close to his ears. At that time, Xiao Chi said to him——
"Let's get married."
Lin Jingzhe anxiously tried to sort out his unsettled mood. What did Xiao Chi mean by those words?
In fact, Lin Jingzhe found that he had never understood his thoughts. Xiao Chi always planned many shocking things without any prior warnings. For example, the actual purpose of this visit was far beyond what he originally imagined.
So what did he mean by ‘get married’? Could he and his family be telling an inside joke?
Never in his life had Lin Jingzhe heard that homosexuals could get a marriage certificate in China.
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There are usually no people walking around in the compound near the afternoon. The hum of the engine echoed in the empty open space. Behind the dense trees on the side of the road was a balcony of a small three-storey villa. Shi Nanxing was lying on a rocking chair, basking in the winter sunshine. He squinted his eyes and glanced in a certain distance and saw the back half of a car passing by some bushes. He paused slightly and asked, "Is that Xiao Chi's car?"
Qi Kai's eyes were sharper than his, he had noticed his car much earlier. With a frown, he answered, "It is him."
He glanced at his watch, a little puzzled. "It's already past noon, why hadn’t he left earlier?"
Shi Nanxing was better informed than him. "He doesn’t live in that house anymore, but his father suddenly returned to China early. Something must have happened, so he probably returned for a talk."
Could Xiao Chi's affair with Lin Jingzhe have been exposed? Qi Kai quickly denied this possibility. If he were in their place, even Elder Qi, who spoiled him in every possible way, would definitely choose to break Qi Kai's leg. Moreover, if this matter was really exposed, it would be impossible for it to be them not to catch wind of it. Furthermore, it would be impossible for Xiao Chi to still drive away in his car unscratched.
Of course, if word got out, Lin Jingzhe would also be tangled in a mess. That son-of-a-gun had no background nor foundation, yet he dared to get entangled with the Xiao Family's son. Had he never heard of the Xiao Family's reputation in this area? Not to mention others, even Qi Kai was terrified at the thought of going to Xiao's house every year to pay his New Year's greetings. For someone like Lin Jingzhe, even if he had ten bodies, it would not be enough to counter a single hand of that old lady Xiao.
Although regretful, Qi Kai inwardly rejoiced at their future demise. "God is omniscient, they should be served justice for once."
"Enough!" Shi Nanxing didn't agree with his phrase. He glanced at him coldly and warned, "Stop with your childish temper, confronting Xiao Chi will only end poorly."
After a pause, Shi Nanxing’s face immediately became more gloomy. He stretched out a finger to tap on the coffee table next to him.
On the coffee table was a document bag, which had already been opened. A few sheets of paper were bound into a flimsy booklet. Qi Kai sighed, and pulled out the booklet. The edges had been creased messily by Shi Nanxing just now. When he opened the first page, there was a familiar name on it.
Qi Kai frowned and closed the booklet, "What’s the point of investigating this? It's all in the past."
"What do you know?!" Shi Nanxing interrupted angrily, "Do you know how long I worked on that route in Qunnan? Five years! Five full f*ckings years! I invested so much money into those channels, how many favors I had to ask, and those hundreds of people were arranged in all sectors of the operation!! I did it all! But it was all f*cked up by a batch of antiques! Curse that old bas*rd of the Fang Family!"
Qi Kai sighed, "Then what can you do? Uncle, I don’t want to say it, but my grandpa would slap you if he ever heard you say those words. You had it easy, since you got sent abroad, but I was almost beaten to death, you know? After the incident, I was even dragged to the Fang Family's House to apologize. Now that it finally settled down, why would you want to stir up matters again?"
After a moment of silence, Shi Nanxing replied with a frosty expression, "I don’t want to ‘stir’ anything up, I just didn't expect that after I arranged everything, it would all fall apart because of a few pieces of antiques."
He didn't say it clearly, but Qi Kai knew he was complaining about Lin Jingzhe.
In fact, Qi Kai was also very surprised. After searching for so long, he failed to find out the source. Unexpectedly, the donor actually turned out to be Lin Jingzhe!
This matter couldn't be more coincidental. So much so that the moment he saw the results, Qi Kai thought that Shi Nanxing was just pulling his leg.
He understood Shi Nanxing's anger very well. After all, for a long time, they thought the so-called ‘bronzes donated by the people’ was just a fabricated pretense made by old man Fang, whilst in reality, he had bought everything with his own money. After all, he and Shi Nanxing really paid too much for the smuggling line in Qunnan. Several years of operation, all the different layers in management, had cost most of their wealth. They have even pulled the Shi Family and his old man into their operation. It can be said that they had built their forces with steel, it was seamless and impenetrable, without any weakness.
With Elder Qi and the Shi Family upholding their position in Yan City, they could play as if they were kings, even in the remote area of Qunnan. No one dared to provoke them. In their original expectation, those routes could be maintained safely until at least 1995. Just in those years, the potential wealth they could have accumulated was immeasurable. It would also be much faster than just sitting and working on estate business. Just two random cargoes could add up to hundreds of millions of yuan.
They had long known that the Fang Family had been keeping their eyes on them, but they never expected for them to catch them in the act. The last statement was true, afterall, for the previous years before the incident, Zheng Cunzhi* could only angrily jump around, but was helpless to the smuggling. At that time Qi Kai would feel so high every time the funds were transferred to his account after the overseas black auctions ended.
No one would have expected that there would be such a batch of antiques that would stab into the core of their operation.
The timing of its appearance was too coincidental, furthermore, the value of the sum hit at a sweet spot. In an instant, the country's originally negligent attitude focused on two areas– cultural relic protection and Qunnan.
Once the fledgling smuggling empire collapsed, the bright future he saw suddenly disappeared. During that time, Qi Kai was frantically trying to find a breakthrough, but the Fang Family miraculously was able to keep all lips sealed. The specific source of those antiques remained a secret until now.
Qi Kai was only just an investor, so after a period of time, his original temper about this incident also subsided. However, Shi Nanxing suffered a heavy loss, and he still brooded over it to this day.
Qi Kai persuaded him, "Just let it go, why bother to make trouble for yourself? You just told me that Xiao Chi can't be messed with. This Lin Jingzhe is cooperating with Flux Realty at the moment, would Xiao Chi just watch you mess with him? What's more, didn't you say that you found a good source in Zhongyun Province some time ago? Without Qunnan's smuggling line, we can still make money elsewhere, why worry about the little grievances from the past?"
"Good source? Do you think it’s so easy to infiltrate into a new circle? The raw opium business is much more difficult than smuggling! And those people in the borders all speak with their guns! If the deal falls, so does my head!" The more Shi Nanxing spoke, the angrier he became, "My fucking routes was interrupted by a pile of broken copper utensils! Now I have to risk my life selling raw opium! You call that a small grudge?"
Qi Kai was caught off guard by his snarky retort, so he frowned impatiently, "Then what do you want to do? Hoist Xiao Chi over?"
"What does this have to do with Xiao Chi?" Shi Nanxing said, "I told you not to provoke Xiao Chi because of his background, he has Xiao Family behind him. But that surname Lin? He’s nothing but a countryman who opened a real estate company in Yan City. At best, you could say he has a good eye, but what else is going for him? Xiao Chi is just cooperating with him, he’s not his father. We can't deal with him now, but wouldn't it be fine after his cooperation with Xiao Chi ends? If all else doesn’t work, then we’ll take it down, I don't believe Xiao Chi would fucking refuse to swallow up New Beginnings Real Estate when given the opportunity."
Qi Kai wanted to tell him the truth, but for some reason, the words never left his mouth. He combed his hair back with his hands and said impatiently, "You don’t f*cking understand!"
He pushed open the balcony door and walked back into the house. Shi Nanxing’s face was hit by a burst of hot air. He watched Qi Kai walk away, but didn’t bother to take his words seriously. This little nephew of his had been a show off since he was a child. But he was a coward and was scared sh*tless at the slightest sign of trouble. Shi Nanxing didn’t believe even the tiniest bit that someone like him would want to get involved in the drug business in the south.
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Note from Pure: In case you might not remember Zheng Cunzhi, he made an appearance in chapter 10 and 14
Translated by pure, hosted on puretl.com / do not repost!