Chapter 34

Lin Yuan heard Shen Wanqing say this, and his heart sank. He was afraid that after removing Shang Tai, the Japanese might harm Yunlan. So he asked, "Besides Shang Tai and Yunlan, who else is in Yunlan's family?"

Shen Wanqing replied, "There is also her mother, no one else."

Lin Yuan knew that Shang Tai had many children, and it seemed that the two worlds were slightly different. Shen Wanqing said, "I need to prepare. Do you want to watch?"

Lin Yuan smiled and said, "Can I help with anything?"

Shen Wanqing thought for a moment, then gave him a seductive smile, which he had never seen before. She said, "You can help me close the door from the outside." Then she giggled.

Lin Yuan knew he couldn't help much, so he came out, went back to bed, and tossed and turned, unable to sleep. His mind was filled with her image.

Chen Fei had the habit of running in the morning. He got up early and ran around the perimeter of Jieyin Temple. When the streets were filled with people, he walked to the street and saw a newspaper boy shouting, "The Qing court demands that the Empire of Japan cede territory and pay reparations, the Emperor is furious!"

Chen Fei didn't have any money, so he didn't buy the newspaper. As he walked through an alley, a familiar figure flashed past his eye.

The figure he had been thinking about day and night.

Without thinking, he instinctively rushed over, but when he entered the alley, there were three forks in the road. Which one did she take?

A huge sense of loss enveloped his heart. The happiness he had been longing for was so close, yet it was lost so easily!

As he stood there, lost and unsure what to do, a familiar voice sounded beside him, "Chen Fei, why is it you?"

He turned around sharply and saw Songdao Hui-zi standing behind him. Without any hesitation, he rushed forward, cupped her face, closed his eyes, and kissed her pink cherry lips.

She was caught off guard and was kissed right away. She had been looking forward to this moment, but her maidenly reserve wouldn't allow her to act this way. She wanted to break free but didn't want to let go. She let him kiss her for a long time before they finally released each other.

Songdao Hui-zi felt her face burning with embarrassment and turned to leave. Chen Fei grabbed her hand, pulled her into his arms, and whispered in her ear, "I miss you so much, don't leave me again."

Songdao Hui-zi felt as if she were about to faint, her body soft and weak. She leaned on Chen Fei for a long time before finally breaking free, trying to maintain a serious tone, "Don't ever do that again."

But to Chen Fei, her demeanor was just like a playful scold. He smiled mischievously, "Alright, I won't think about you anymore."

Songdao Hui-zi wanted him to think about her all the time, but she couldn't say it. Her face turned red, and she gave him a shy glare.

Chen Fei laughed, "Why are you here?"

Songdao Hui-zi said, "After you left, we were brought back here. We have friends here, and I came to visit them."

After a pause, she added, "I'm no longer a military doctor."

Chen Fei quickly asked, "Did you leave the army?"

Songdao Hui-zi nodded, and Chen Fei was very happy. Since she was no longer a Japanese military doctor, they were no longer enemies.

Songdao Hui-zi smiled, "Alright, let's not talk about this. Why did you come here?"

Chen Fei laughed, "I came here to negotiate."

Her eyebrows furrowed, "I didn't ask about that. I want to know why you got up so early."

Chen Fei laughed, "Of course, it's to wait for you."

Songdao Hui-zi blushed and didn't say anything. Chen Fei asked, "What about you? Why did you get up so early?"

Songdao Hui-zi smiled, "I came out for a walk to clear my mind."

Chen Fei immediately said, "I was just thinking of going out to play. Since I met you, why don't you be my guide?"

Songdao Hui-zi nodded and agreed. The two walked along the street, chatting and laughing. Gradually, the people on both sides of the road became fewer, and they were about to leave the city. She seemed unwilling to leave the city and said, "Let's not leave the city, okay?"

Chen Fei quickly said, "We've come this far, how can we not go out and take a look? Besides, don't you have cherry blossoms in Japan? I've always wanted to see them."

She laughed, "Cherry blossoms don't bloom now."

The two walked shoulder to shoulder along the pebbled path, with green bamboo forests and bright flowers envying them.

Chen Fei asked, "Why did you become a doctor?"

Songdao Hui-zi's face suddenly clouded with a faint sadness. She said, "I have a younger brother, one year younger than me. We played together every day. Later, he got sick, smallpox, and died. Since then, I decided that I would become a doctor to cure all patients and prevent people from losing their loved ones."

As she spoke, two samurai with knives suddenly appeared in front of them. One of them, without hesitation, slashed at Chen Fei. Chen Fei dodged, pulled out a gun, and aimed at the samurai. Strangely, no bullet came out; instead, a metal hook flew out from the gun and hooked the samurai's clothes. The samurai screamed and fell to the ground, convulsing. The other one saw this and ran away.

Chen Fei walked over and retrieved the hook. Songdao Hui-zi then noticed that the hook was connected to the gun by a thin wire. Chen Fei put the gun away and smiled at Songdao Hui-zi, "This is a stun gun. The person hit loses the ability to resist but won't die."

Songdao Hui-zi nodded, her face pale. She said, "Let's go back."

As soon as they returned to the city, they noticed something was wrong. Many Japanese civilians were holding banners and wandering the streets, and some were gathered together, burning the Qing flag.

A Japanese man stood on a high spot, waving his fist and shouting, "The Chinese are asking us to cede Okinawa. Can we agree to that?"

The crowd below waved their fists and shouted, "No!"

Chen Fei wanted to laugh, thinking, "This scene is finally happening in Japan."

Songdao Hui-zi didn't know what was happening. She bought a newspaper from the roadside and saw the headline: "The greatest humiliation in the history of the Yamato people! The Qing is trying to occupy Okinawa!"

Songdao Hui-zi's eyebrows furrowed, and she threw the newspaper, angrily saying to Chen Fei, "You are going too far. China is so big, why do you still want to occupy our land!"

Chen Fei said, "That place was never Japan's. You occupied it!"

Songdao Hui-zi angrily said, "So what if we occupied it? Our country is so small. Without occupying some land, how can we survive?"

Chen Fei thought, "This is the reason Japan has repeatedly invaded China!" Thinking of the massacres in Lushun and Nanjing, he couldn't care that the person in front of him was his dream girl and said angrily, "Just because you can't survive, you can steal other people's land? You are a bunch of bandits."

He felt that the girl in front of him was completely different from the one he had been thinking about day and night. Sadness and despair surged in his heart, and he turned and walked away.

Those reasons were what Songdao Hui-zi had heard since childhood, and she believed they were the truth, never questioning their validity. Watching Chen Fei's departing back, she felt a strange sense of sadness.

Songdao Hui-zi stood quietly in front of Ito Sukenobu, not daring to breathe. Ito Sukenobu said coldly, "What task did I give you?"

Songdao Hui-zi said softly, "To find a way to make Chen Fei work for us!"

Ito Sukenobu said, "What did you do?"

Songdao Hui-zi said, "I led him to the bamboo forest, but he used some unknown weapon, and our people couldn't catch him."

Ito Sukenobu asked his subordinate, "Why did you only send two people to catch him?"

The subordinate said, "This was a mistake in the plan. The planner, Wada Shosho, and the two samurai have already committed seppuku to apologize to the Emperor."

Ito Sukenobu turned to Songdao Hui-zi and said harshly, "Why didn't you seduce him? Can't you even undress?"

Songdao Hui-zi's face turned red, and she cried, "It's my fault. I will commit seppuku to apologize to the Emperor. Please, Commander, spare my parents."

Ito Sukenobu laughed coldly, "You can't die yet! We won't rest until we get Chen Fei."