To Lin Shiqian's parents, his injury appeared quite heavy. From childhood until now, their son had never gotten injured so badly. His head was hurt and his left leg broken. They felt as if someone had stabbed their hearts with a blade then twisted it when they saw their son's condition.
"What are his intentions? He was fully aware that we're relatives yet he acted so ruthlessly. Does he think we won't go find him to settle this?" A lady spoke while trembling in a fury.
A cold-faced man stood opposite to her. He remained silent and didn't say a word, but everyone knew that the more anger this man felt, the lesser he spoke.
"I definitely won't let this matter end so easily."
"I will make Lin Yueling account this to me."
The man sat down on the hospital chair. He was Lin Jianan's third son, called Lin Zekang. His gaze was fixed on the floor. "Uncle Xian just informed me that this matter won't be investigated."
The lady's eyes opened wide, "Why? She was exiled from the family, and the Jiang family is no more. Do we even need to fear her and show affection to her as a relative? When her son beat up Shiqian, he didn't even stop for a moment to think that we're relatives."
"I don't care about anything else. I won't take this lying down."
"Lin Zekang, are you even a man? Your son was beaten up to such a condition, and you don't do shit about it… Wuwuwu. I was really blind to have married you."
Lin Zekang threw the quilt on the table to the ground in anger. "You still dare to say such things. Look how you've raised up your son. Do you know why he got beaten up?"
"This bastard fought over someone else's girl in a filthy place like a nightclub and got beaten up as a result. If it weren't for Uncle Xian suppressing this matter, do you know what would've happened?"
The lady seethed with anger, "How I raise my son is up to me, but no one is allowed to beat up my son like this!"
Lin Zekang said, "Stop acting willfully. I heard that father is allowing Yueling's family to return. Jiang Yi has a good relation with Governor Gu, and this link is needed for the second brother to compete for the position."
"I don't care about all that. I can't allow my son to suffer losses." The lady replied.
Lin Zekang said, "Father is growing old and there's no pillar to support the family. Everything depends on whether second brother can nab the position. If you mess up father's business at such a critical juncture, the consequences will be devastating."
The lady didn't reply and made a displeased face.
"If you have anything to say, wait till the election is done…"
For a nobleman to take revenge, ten years weren't too long. Moreover, Jiangnan's election was set to happen this year.
As Jiang Xiu had expected, this issue didn't blow up and didn't even reach Lin Yueling's ears. Cheng Lingsu was very nervous that night. She also didn't want to create difficulties for Jiang Xiu. She believed she needed to mature faster else she wouldn't be able to keep up with Jiang Xiu's pace and would be left behind by him.
She hesitated for a long time then summoned her courage to speak, "Jiang Xiu, can you lend me some money?"
She still didn't know that he had already returned the Cheng Conglomerate to her family. He had given her 1 million before which she had used to buy a house for her parents and was left with nothing after she invested the rest of the money. It was common to borrow money from friends, and now that the Jiang family and Cheng family were reconciled, there was no reason to refuse her. "How much?"
"100 million!"
"You really know how to ask."
"You can just loan it to me. 3 years, I'll return it to you with both the principal and interest after 3 years. I want to invest this 100 million in the financial market and…"
Jiang Xiu hinted her to stop speaking. He wasn't interested in what she wanted to with the money as it was unrelated to him. "100 million, right? I'll make someone send you the amount to your account."
"Thank you!"
"Don't thank me so soon. I'm not giving this money to you for free. If you are unable to return this money to me in 3 years, you know what I want. We'll visit the civil administration office if that happens."
Cheng Lingsu bit her lips and said decisively, "It's a deal then!"
If Jiang Xiu hadn't remembered wrong, a global financial crisis would occur in 2009. Several people would go bankrupt under this crisis, and some even committed suicide by jumping off from a building.
"I'll make someone bring you the agreement tomorrow. You'll get the money as soon as you sign it."
He took out his phone then called Wang Xintong's number. This was a good thing for him. He had already lost hope of divorcing Cheng Lingsu, but she had courted disaster herself.
"Draft an agreement to loan 100 million to Cheng Lingsu. If she can't return it in 3 years, that'd be equivalent to agreeing to divorce automatically…"
"Looks like you're still working hard to get Cheng Lingran!"
"Actually, the two sisters look quite similar. You can just consider Cheng Lingsu as a spiritual substitute. There's no need for you to scheme so much to drive her away from your side."
"You've started to act more and more wantonly." Jiang Xiu said coldly.
Wang Xintong replied in a light tone, "I'm just thinking for your good. Alright. I got it. I'll do as you say."
"Did the Xie family come to look for me?"
"Yeah. Xie Sanxian came to look for you."
Since the prophecy written in the ancient desert city had come true, the new world would descend to this one to take revenge against the Ming Dynasty and overthrow the Ming Dynasty's rule. As the later generation of the desert city, the Xie family was bound to experience a change when this new age was about to arrive. No matter whether it was a good or bad change, he believed they'd definitely be terrified and come to look for him.
"Send me Xie Sanxian's number."
Jiang Xiu immediately called Xie Sanxian's number. On the other side, Xie Sanxian replied with a weak, downcast voice, "Hello, who is this?"
"It's me, Jiang Xiu!"
Xie Sanxian became jubilant, "Mr. Jiang, you've finally returned. You must save Tingting! I beg you!"
Jiang Xiu's heart raced, "How is she?"
That girl was a special girl.
Xie Sanxian's voice was quite impatient, "Tingting got taken away. Those people were too strong. We weren't their match at all."
"Taken away? Who did it?"
"The Ji family!"
"Ji Wudao's family?"
"Yes, that Ji family. Mr. Jiang, you must save her. Only you can save her."
"Does your family have a grievance with the Ji family?"
"That…" Xie Sanxian muttered to himself for a moment before saying, "Mr. Jiang ought to know that my ancestor was an avenger who had left the desert city and the Ji family's ancestor, Ji Wudao, was an officer of the Ming Dynasty back then."
Jiang Xiu suddenly recalled a matter. Wang Chonglin had told him back then that Ji Wudao was a God and since Jiang Xiu had killed Ji Wudao, it meant that he was also a God. They actually had such a link between them.
"Why did they take her away?"
Xie Ting was no longer Xie Ting. It was extremely possible that she was the Holy Woman mentioned in the inscription. The reason the Ji family had captured Xie Ting was definitely not because she was the later generation of the desert family. Otherwise, they would've captured Xie Sanxian instead. He believed that they must've discerned the real identity of the current Xie Ting. They must've wanted to the capture the Holy Woman.
"I too don't know why they captured her. Mr. Jiang, you have to save her. I only have one daughter whom I hold more precious than my own life. Please save her."
This man, Xie Sanxian, was pretty shrewd. So far, although he hadn't revealed any harmful intentions to Jiang Xiu, he was acting defensively, but this wasn't strange at all since Jiang Luoxia was akin to a wolf. Who else would Xie Sanxian be on guard against if not he, Jiang Luoxia?
"Before the incident happened, did you notice any change in Tingting or did something strange happen?"
Xia Sanxian said, "After returning from the desert city, she often looked at the night sky obsessively. Sometimes, she would watch the sky for the entire night and even kowtow towards the sky while saying some words which I couldn't make sense of."
"Anything else besides that? Did she experience any change in her body or gain some special ability?"
"Nothing like that happened…"
"How about you then? Does your body feel unwell?" Xie Sanxian's matter was quite troublesome. His divinity origin was already destroyed by Jiang Xiu, and it was possible that his body might experience a change again.
"Nothing like that for now…"
"Mhm. I'll save Tingting. Since she called me her brother, I won't stay still doing nothing while she faces mortal danger."