Jiao Bai pretended for a while and then had to stop. He sat down by the roadside, taking deep breaths behind his face mask.

The fact that things went so smoothly was partly due to luck, but also came as no surprise.

Shen Ji had welded absolute power for many years and was used to being high above everyone else. He looked down upon and treated everything with disdain. In his opinion, it was a pure waste of time to spend manpower and material resources on things related to those czlm astrological-whatever charts and rghs Master. He had no time for such frivolities.

As for Madam Shen, as her precious son wasn’t seriously injured and the person responsible for the accident was already dead, so she chose not to pursue the matter further. After all, she had a compassionate heart.

Later, when the Master revealed the "truth," she only wanted to send the disaster away.

The older generation of influential families tended to be more inclined to worship Buddha, seek the guidance of masters, and delve into matters of fortune-telling.

Family members have committed too many wicked deeds, so they would to try find ways to escape retribution.

Jiao Bai had done his research on this mother and son of the Shen family. This was his golden finger[1] as someone who had read the comic.

Jiao Bai got up. If by chance Shen Ji one day discovered a flaw and uncovered the truth behind that accident, and wanted to settle scores with him, he would deal with it when the time came.

Anyway, today was his first day out of the dog pen.

Jiao Bai took a few steps forward and then suddenly stopped. Qi Shuang's triumphant behaviour made him suspect something. He dialled the landline of Qinxin Estate and told the servant who answered to connect him to Qi Shuang.

“Wang Chuqiu, why are you calling me at such a critical moment, and on the landline!” Qi Shuang’s delicate face was slightly contorted as he held the receiver. He had blocked this person. He never expected that he would call the landline, especially at this time. Was he crazy?!

Qi Shuang's voice lowered menacingly, “Let me tell you, even though you have leverage over me, you’re not in a better position. Neither of us…”

Jiao Bai interrupted him, “Where’s the Master?”

Qi Shuang stopped talking.

“You jhkkdc him?” Jiao Bai asked loudly, standing on the roadside.

“Am I an idiot? If the Master were to die now, it would only make people suspect that I planned everything to get rid of you, my opponent,” Qi Shuang said dryly. “The person is currently under control. When I become Mrs. Shen…” He didn’t finish the sentence, but it was clear enough. Even someone who he had once believed to be an enlightened master that was above worldly concerns[2] and unconcerned with life and death, could be threatened and used by him. There was no telling if he might also join forces with other people in the future. Such a major variable needed to be eliminated.

The silence on the other end of the phone seemed like a wordless condemnation. Qi Shuang said scathingly, “Wang Chuqiu, I don’t believe that when you told me where his wife and child were hiding, you thought I would reunite them once the job was done. Now, why are you pretending to be the good guy?”

Jiao Bai said in a calm voice, “I want Zhang Zhen's contact information. Get it for me.”

“...Who’s contact information?” Qi Shuang asked, both shocked and mocking. So this guy went through all this trouble to escape the old lady's control just to try to get close to that person from West City. He had really lost his mind.

Jiao Bai hung up the phone without saying anything else.

In Broken Wings, Qi Shuang's second brother, while collecting local cultural material in another city, unexpectedly encountered the Master’s wife and child and informed Qi Shuang. Later, Qi Shuang exploited this information. The author left the Master's ending ambiguous, not specifying his fate.

Because Jiao Bai brought this part of the storyline forward, there were changes, and there were also parts that remained unchanged

Jiao Bai stood quietly for a while and then strode forward. He wasn't sure how long he walked along the road before he caught a ride with a kind-hearted couple.

The couple went from showing affection to shouting and cursing at each other in less than ten kilometres.

This all stemmed from the fact that the wife found a pair of stockings in the car that weren’t hers.

Not caring that they were in the presence of a stranger, the wife stuffed the stockings directly into the husband’s mouth.

This was an aggressive approach, and not recommended due to its extremely dangerous nature.

The car skidded in a serpentine manner on the road, and the husband had to pull over urgently. After spitting out the stockings, he started arguing with his wife, sounding quite confident and self-righteous.

In the back seat, Jiao Bai suddenly found himself in the middle of major cheating confrontation scene without any preparation and felt quite awkward.

Jiao Bai waited for the couple to stop fighting and then asked to get out of the car.

No one paid any attention to him.

Jiao Bai: “...”

Alright then, if you two don’t mind, I'll just watch.

I’m not in a hurry anyway.

Jiao Bai listened to the wife’s heart-wrenching sobs, and glanced at the husband who was scrolling his phone as if nothing had happened. He crossed his arms and thought, Broken Wings was indeed a paradise for fans of dog blood. In this comic, even the three-legged passers-by[3] were all scumbags.

Jiao Bai's phone buzzed in his pocket. He took it out, glanced at it, and noted down the number he received. That night, when he grabbed hold of the owner of the number, he sensed traces of their inherent kindness and humanity.

“Zhang Zhen...” Jiao Bai read out the name of the number’s owner, planning something in his mind.

.

West City

Zhang Zhen was eating walnuts. His usual main responsibilities were ensuring San-ge's personal safety and some grey area matters. All of this involved fists and guns so he didn’t need to work at an office.

Now, San-ge had given him an office and the position of an assistant-only-in-name. Zhang Zhen had nearly finished a bag of walnuts.

When Zhang Zhen went to the tea room to brew some tea, several assistants gossiping there looked at him in unison, their eyes gleaming.

“What’s going on?” Zhang Zhen asked seriously.

The assistants weren’t intimidated at all. They knew that this young man had a level of combat skill that was the opposite of his cute appearance. It was said that he had once single-handedly rushed into danger to save the chairman’s life, and since then, the chairman had regarded him as a confidant and brother. However, these female assistants had never seen his brave or even bloody side. They had only ever seen his blushing, endearingly silly and innocent appearance.

Everyone affectionately called him...

“Beautiful Zhen.”

One of the assistants asked on behalf of the group, “Which vixen is with the chairman now?”

Zhang Zhen: “...”

“No change,” he replied, startling everyone with his words.

The assistants were all shocked. Although they were highly educated and had excellent work skills, it didn’t affect their love for gossip, especially when it came to gossip about the chairman.

“Still the cross-dressing lead singer?”


[1] Special advantage/cheat or hack

[2] 看破红尘 – seen through the mundane world; detached from worldly concerns/attachments

[3] Three-legged – talking about men. Men are three-legged if you count the short leg in the middle.