Father Sorrowers Assemble The Wife Makes Her Move... Night Raid on the Military District

Half an hour later.

Rumble, rumble—the sound of another airplane filled the sky as it landed at the airport. It was the last flight of the day.

Unlike the private planes belonging to the Shen and Lin families, this was a civilian flight.

The plane touched down smoothly, and Shen Ming emerged from economy class, his whole body aching from the cramped flight. He reached up and pounded his shoulder.

“Ugh… Finally.”

Shen Ming had been born with a silver spoon in his mouth. From the moment he came into the world, the entire family had rallied around him. He had never suffered like this before… economy class.

Since this was the last flight of the day and every ticket had already been sold, the only way to reach his destination that night was to squeeze into the economy cabin of this final flight.

Whenever Shen Ming traveled for work, he flew on private planes. At worst, he took first class. Economy class… He had only ever heard about the thing in books and from other people’s mouths.

His first overall impression after sitting down was…

It was so hard. So cramped. Good grief.

Of course, he could have solved the problem with money, but Shen Ming couldn’t bring himself to act so ostentatiously and overbearingly. He had settled for making do and squeezing in. Fortunately, he hadn’t brought much luggage this time, or he would have suffered even more.

After walking only a short distance from the plane, Shen Ming stopped and looked at a familiar face ahead of him.

“Brother Lin, why are you still here?” Shen Ming asked, visibly astonished.

Lin Tianxiong had taken off much faster than he had. While Shen Ming was still rushing around and lining up to buy a ticket, Lin Tianxiong’s plane had already taken to the sky…

“You know me, Brother Shen. I’m a man who values loyalty. If I don’t wait for you, who will?” Lin Tianxiong replied.

Shen Ming nodded and thought for a moment. Then he glanced around, seemed to notice something, and suddenly understood.

“Brother Lin, don’t tell me you were…”

Shen Ming left the rest unsaid. Continuing would have been a little too hurtful. Lin Baizhi and Lin Tianxiong had arrived together, but now only Lin Tianxiong was here. As for the reason why…

It wasn’t hard to guess.

Surely he hadn’t been abandoned here because she thought he was useless, right?

No way. No way…

Lin Tianxiong: “…”

“Ahem. Nothing like that happened. Baizhi said she had something to take care of and left first. I figured you hadn’t arrived yet, so I waited a little longer. We could travel together,” Lin Tianxiong said.

At that moment, the only thing Lin Tianxiong still had going for him was his stubborn mouth.

Shen Ming: “…”

They both saw through the situation but wisely said nothing. They had both been deemed useless and abandoned, so in a sense, they were kindred spirits. Neither of them had any grounds to look down on the other.

The northwest was unfamiliar territory for both of them. It was better to have someone along for mutual support and assistance.

And so, the two middle-aged men formed the “Worried Fathers’ Alliance” and set off together. Unlike the aggressive route taken by the young ladies—namely, the heiress and Sister Lin—Shen Ming and Lin Tianxiong chose a more cautious and steady approach.

First, they contacted the local person in charge…

In a place like the great northwest, the difference between the Big Three families and the others was no longer all that significant. Their influence was limited. Generally speaking, large cities had a single local station, while medium-sized and small cities might have several—or none at all.

The northwest was vast, but desolation and barrenness were its defining features. Naturally, there was another, even more important factor.

The military was stationed here, so the families couldn’t extend their reach too far.

By the time the two men finished their work, it was nearly midnight. They left one of the Shen family’s local outposts and headed toward a nearby bed-and-breakfast.

“Brother Lin, go ahead and get us two rooms. I’ll make a call first,” Shen Ming said, pulling out his phone. He wanted to contact his wife and find out what was going on over there.

Lin Tianxiong nodded. “All right. Send me a message when you’re done, and I’ll come downstairs to get you.”

Lin Tianxiong headed toward the bed-and-breakfast.

As for why two men who were both loaded with money were staying in a bed-and-breakfast instead of a hotel, it wasn’t because they were determined to suffer for no reason. There simply weren’t any hotels around here.

This was the northwest, after all. Even large hotels couldn’t survive here. There were barely two customers a year, and the odds of a wild animal randomly appearing to knock on the door were higher than the odds of someone coming to stay the night.

Under such circumstances, the only businesses that could survive were small, individually operated bed-and-breakfasts.

“Beep, beep, beep…”

“Beep, beep, beep…”

“Beep, beep, beep…”

The phone rang for five whole minutes, yet no one answered.

Shen Ming: “…”

“Nothing happened to her, did it?”

After a moment of silence, Shen Ming sent Du Wanyi a message, put away his phone, and headed toward the bed-and-breakfast. He happened to run into Lin Tianxiong, who was coming out.

“Brother Shen, I have good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?” Lin Tianxiong asked, looking somewhat solemn.

Shen Ming: “…”

What?

Was there really supposed to be an interactive segment here?

“Let’s hear the good news first,” Shen Ming said.

Lin Tianxiong nodded. “The room has been booked.”

“And the bad news?” Shen Ming asked.

“There’s only one room, and it’s a single room.” After saying this, Lin Tianxiong fell silent himself.

Shen Ming: “…”

Was he saying that in such a remote and sparsely populated place in the northwest, they had somehow managed to find a bed-and-breakfast with no rooms available?

Was that it?

Shen Ming: “…”

This was ridiculous. When had the northwest become so lively?

“Um, it’s fine. We’ll make do and sleep there. It looks like Wanyi’s phone doesn’t have a signal, so she didn’t answer,” Shen Ming sighed.

After discussing it, the two men went upstairs. They opened the door, clicked the lock, shut it with a bang—and went to rest.

A while later, the doors to several other rooms on the same floor opened, and voices drifted in from the hallway.

“Dad, don’t you think we’ve run too far away?”

“Shut up, you little bastard! If it weren’t for the trash you wrote, how would our family have ended up in this state?”

“That’s what the teacher taught us! I didn’t know the three essentials of journalism were fake. Hey…”

“Why didn’t you say so at the time? At least we could’ve dragged someone else down with us. Sigh. Forget it. It’s too late to talk about that now. We can never return to Danghai City. From now on, we’ll just settle down and develop our business here.”

An old man and a child walked over from the end of the corridor. The younger one limped along with the help of a crutch, his entire body wrapped in bandages like a mummy.

They were none other than the members of the Mo family who had fled Danghai City overnight…

Father and son, Mo Liangxin and Old Man Mo, were each carrying a basin. They had come out to collect hot water so they could wash their faces. The conditions here were truly rather harsh.

There was only cold water in the room. To get hot water, they had to go outside and collect it.

Not long after the father and son passed by, a door clicked open, and Shen Ming emerged with a washbasin in his hands.

“There isn’t even any hot water. Sigh…”

Shen Ming sighed, accepting reality as quickly as possible. He went to fetch some water.

The two brothers had already agreed that one of them would go out for water at night and the other during the day.

Tonight, it was his turn.

Before long, Shen Ming carried his washbasin and found the hot water supply point in the homestay. There were quite a few people ahead of him, and Shen Ming glanced around... Man, there was really a huge crowd.

After waiting in line for a while, Shen Ming noticed that it looked like a fight had broken out up ahead.

"Have some decency and leave some for the rest of us! We've all been waiting for ages, you're taking every last drop, what are the rest of us supposed to use!" Old Man Mo berated the other man.

"Deal with it if you don't like it! Besides, the place never said you can't take all the hot water, right? I got here first, so I get to take it all. Even if I don't end up using all of it, I'll pour it all on the ground before giving any to you. Mad now, aren't you? Wait a second... It's you guys!"

The Black-hearted Logistics Company Boss was being all smug and about to keep taunting them, when suddenly the people in front of him looked weirdly familiar.

No, they were extremely familiar!

After a quick double-take, his mind went completely blank, and he almost fainted on the spot from the shock.

It wasn't just the Black-hearted Logistics Company Boss who was stunned. The Mo father and son were also wide-eyed in disbelief. "What are you doing here?"

To be honest, the two families had never formally met before, but since they had both been dragged off by Lin Tianxiong to receive a very special "hospitality", they were basically brothers who had gone through the same tough ordeal.

"What are you doing here?" Old Man Mo's eyes were almost popping out of his head, staring at the Black-hearted Logistics Company Boss in total disbelief. He seemed to think of something, glanced around quickly, and only breathed a sigh of relief after making sure no one else was around.

He had thought they had all fled to this remote place to hide, only to end up being tracked down anyway. If that was the case... he would have no choice but to leave everything behind and flee to a foreign country.

"Wait, what do you mean what am I doing here? I got here first! What are you all doing here? Don't tell me..."

The Black-hearted Logistics Company Boss trailed off at that point, and locked eyes with Old Man Mo from a short distance away. No words were spoken, but everything was understood between them. They had gone through the same hell, and running into each other far away from home gave them a weird, warm sense of kinship. The two of them just stood there by the hot water tap, gossiping away like old friends who hadn't seen each other in years.

Shen Ming just stood there, blinking in confusion.

Wait a minute... why are they suddenly chatting like long lost pals?

Quietly, Shen Ming carried his washbasin, slipped all the way to the very front of the line without anyone noticing, and filled up the very last bit of hot water left.

A full basin of hot water, perfect, time to head back.

"What exactly happened to you? You got beaten so badly last time?" Old Man Mo glanced at the Black-hearted Logistics Company Boss, who was wrapped up in bandages from head to toe just like a dumpling.

The Black-hearted Logistics Company Boss let out a long, miserable sigh. "I still don't even know what went wrong, man..."

"I guess I made way too much dirty money, and karma finally caught up to me. Who would've guessed that some random student would be connected to the Du family? And she's apparently some kind of young mistress? Can you believe how ridiculous that is?"

"Why would someone with that kind of background even come work at my logistics company?"

The Black-hearted Logistics Company Boss was on the verge of tears as he spoke. He swore to himself that he would never make another dirty penny for the rest of his life.

This whole mess with Ye Cheng must have been a warning from the heavens. He was lucky enough to keep his life this time, but next time, there was no telling what would happen.

"Enough about me, what about you guys? What did you do to end up all banged up like this?" The Black-hearted Logistics Company Boss sighed, and nodded at Mo Liangxin, who was wrapped up in the exact same bandage getup.

Mo Liangxin realized they were talking about him now, and his eyes instantly welled up with tears.

"All I did was write one stupid post! Ugh... that damn journalism major... it ruined my whole life!"

The group of brothers who had all suffered the same misfortune huddled together by the hot water tap, pouring their hearts out about all their painful pasts and rehashing every detail of what had happened with Ye Cheng. Meanwhile, Shen Ming, who had carried his full basin of hot water away, had already gotten back to the room.

"Lin, sorry I'm a little late. There were a few people out there who apparently knew each other, and they just stood there chatting for ages. The whole line didn't move an inch."

Shen Ming poured half of the hot water from his basin into Lin Tianxiong's basin.

Lin Tianxiong had just finished brushing his teeth. "No worries, this water's perfect for me to wash my face."

Lin Tianxiong didn't pay any mind to what Shen Ming said about the few people in the queue who knew each other. He topped off his basin with a bit of cold water and started washing his face.

Later that night, after they had both finished washing up, the two of them laid down on the bed in their single room... well, it was a little cramped, but they could manage. Since things had already come to this, they might as well get some sleep.

At three in the morning.

Their two phones rang one after the other, almost at the exact same time.

Lin Tianxiong: ...

Shen Ming: ...

The two of them sat up, stared at each other in silence for a second, then each picked up their own call.

Shen Qinghan: "I can't get in touch with that stupid old hag. Try calling her."

Lin Baizhi: "You old fool, where are you? Still sleeping? You haven't even found your brother, how can you possibly sleep through that!"

Lin Tianxiong: ...

Shen Ming: ...

Silence hung thick in the air. The Worried Fathers' Alliance had officially assembled.

Meanwhile, at the military base, the scene was completely different.

A group of people were all squatting on the ground with their hands raised high above their heads, not daring to make a single peep, as a sea of black rifle barrels were pointed right at them. Da Huang and Du Wanyi were nowhere to be seen.

The blaring alarm rang across the entire base, searchlights sweeping every corner, and radar systems on full alert. A blurry, impossibly fast figure was darting all over the military compound.

"Left or right?"

"Woof!" Da Huang barked, pointing his snout toward the left.

Du Wanyi pushed off the ground with her toes and vanished in an instant, moving so fast the searchlights couldn't even catch a glimpse of her.

"Target lost contact, target lost contact!"

"Target is heading southwest!" A soldier's panicked shout echoed through the walkie-talkie, his voice thick with shock and terror.