Chapter 132: The Realm of Ten Thousand Calamities

This story is purely a work of fiction.

"Oh, indeed. You are the honorable Chief of Police, and you still care about civility. I thought you were a scoundrel through and through. Well then, I'll try to be a bit more civil. Listen carefully: you possess something of your own yet never use it, choosing instead to quench your thirst outside. Everyone says that water stolen in secret tastes the sweetest! Doesn't that sound a bit more civilized?" Gao Yating's words carried a hidden meaning.

"You are becoming more and more absurd. What stolen water? I am simply letting my woman share in the rain and dew, and we take what we need from each other. Surely you understand that principle." Ma Shengwei's voice dropped.

"Forget it, let's not bicker any longer. Dwelling on past gains and losses does nothing to serve our grand enterprise. There is still much to be done that requires you, and I believe you will also need us, HZ Entertainment and Daohao Company. Only with them will our survival become meaningful, colorful, and brilliant. On the road ahead, we must walk hand in hand toward tomorrow. I believe our tomorrow will be better." Gao Yating changed her tune, softening considerably.

"That's right, we shouldn't dwell on the past. Let bygones be bygones. By now, most of the obstacles on our path have been cleared away, especially that fellow Wu Zhengzhe. Without him, everything we do goes smoothly," Ma Shengwei said.

"What did you do to Wu Zhengzhe? Just now at home, I received a call from him. He was in a rush to find Chi Mingyue, saying something major had happened to Chi Mingyue's older brother, Chi Zhaoming," Gao Yating asked.

"Originally, I wanted to make a deal with Wu Zhengzhe: have him quickly close the case on the death of that forward from the Dahe Club, and we would let the matter of Chi Zhaoming from the television station embezzling five hundred thousand slide. But that fellow Wu Zhengzhe started talking to me about the majesty of the law. He said he wanted us to hear the death knell tolled for us by the law—isn't that hilarious? He thinks far too highly of himself," Ma Shengwei said, letting out a few grim laughs.

"He is a guardian of the law, and upholding justice is his duty. As the saying goes, where there are mice, there are cats; everything in this world has its law of survival, mutually generating, restricting, and depending on one another. We mice don't rely on the great mercy of the heavens; we rely on you cats to protect us. We must depend on you cats, because only when you are well-fed will you not be hungry enough to chase us mice. It is as simple as that," Gao Yating expounded on her survival philosophy.

"You are a fox, not a mouse. I'd love to drag this fox of mine right into my bed." Even at this moment, Ma Shengwei retained his vulgar demeanor.

"Stop that. Don't assume I am interested in every man. If I don't like a man, I won't even spare him a second glance. You'd better care about how Officer Xiao is doing. Aren't you going to wait outside the operating room? It's almost time for her to come out," Gao Yating suggested they go take a look together.

When Mingyue returned to her rented apartment, Wu Zhengzhe was already waiting there.

Wu Zhengzhe paced back and forth in front of the apartment, turning over in his mind how to resolve and face the situation concerning Chi Zhaoming.

Seeing Mingyue return, Wu Zhengzhe hurried forward in two or three steps, took the groceries from her hands, and walked into the apartment.

"This time the trouble is huge. Chi Zhaoming has been indicted for embezzling five hundred thousand, and he may now face a prison sentence. I wonder what would happen if we scrambled to raise the funds and pay the money back. The chief of the Dahe Police Department wanted to trade conditions with me, demanding that I drop the investigation into his younger brother's case. I refused. As a result, he framed me, claiming I was involved with drugs. Fortunately, my former assistant helped clear my name. My assistant used some compromising evidence he held on the chief to secure my release. Right now in Dahe, Chief Ma Shengwei rules supreme. Any case connected to him, even with conclusive evidence found, cannot be sent to prison," Wu Zhengzhe explained what had just transpired.

"Where is my brother right now?" Mingyue asked.

"I went to the television station to ask, and the security guard told me that Chi Zhaoming left the station alone and his whereabouts are currently unknown. The station director couldn't find him either," Wu Zhengzhe replied.

Just then, Dujuan also arrived at Mingyue's apartment. Upon seeing Wu Zhengzhe, Dujuan burst into loud sobs and cried, "You both know about Chi Zhaoming, don't you?"

"I called your phone just now, but it wouldn't go through. I had no other choice but to come find Mingyue here. Don't cry, don't cry. The most important thing right now is to figure out the situation. Once we find him, we will know how serious it is and how to resolve it," Wu Zhengzhe comforted Dujuan.

"The crux of the matter is where Chi Zhaoming is right now. I'm afraid we'll have to wait until tomorrow," Wu Zhengzhe said.

Chi Mingyue took Wu Zhengzhe's phone and dialed Chi Zhaoming's number over and over again, until finally, the call went through. "Brother, where are you right now? Hurry back. Sister-in-law and Brother Zhezhe are both here with me. We've been looking everywhere for you, please come back quickly," Chi Mingyue said, weeping.

Dujuan snatched the phone. "You have no right to die right now, do you hear me? No matter what has happened, you must come back immediately. Immediately!" Dujuan stopped crying and shouted at the top of her lungs.

"I can't go back, wife. I'm truly sorry, but I really cannot go back. I want to return too, but I've run up a massive gambling debt—an amount we could never earn back in a lifetime," Chi Zhaoming said, sobbing on the other end of the line.

Standing in the biting cold wind, the group tried to persuade Chi Zhaoming to come home, but he seemed utterly determined not to.

Suddenly, the sound of a steamship horn cut through the air—a sound Zhezhe knew well. "I know where he is. That's the place where we often used to go and catch the river breeze. It's very close from here; he must be at the riverbank dock. Let's hurry over right now, we should be able to get there in ten minutes. My car is right outside, get in quickly, and let's bring Chi Zhaoming back."

The three of them hurried to the car and climbed inside. Wu Zhengzhe started the engine, and with a roar, sped off toward the riverbank.

Upon reaching the riverbank, they jumped out of the car and rushed straight to the water's edge, where they spotted a dark figure moving toward the middle of the river. From the back, it was undoubtedly Chi Zhaoming.

"Zhaoming, stop right there!" Wu Zhengzhe shouted.

Hearing the shout from behind, Chi Zhaoming knew it was Wu Zhengzhe's voice. He halted his steps, but did not turn around.

Without bothering to take off his shoes, Wu Zhengzhe broke into a hundred-meter sprint, dashed into the water, and grabbed hold of Chi Zhaoming.

Without a word, Wu Zhengzhe dragged Chi Zhaoming back to the shore. Usually possessed of great stamina, Wu Zhengzhe felt utterly exhausted and drained, collapsing limply into the water at the river's edge.

"You scared me to death, absolutely to death! If you had died today, I would never have forgiven you, not even in the netherworld." Wu Zhengzhe's eyes filled with tears.

Dujuan and Mingyue also crowded around Chi Zhaoming, gazing at him as he sat limply and lifelessly on the sandy ground.

"Tell us, how much money did you lose in total?" Wu Zhengzhe asked.

Chi Zhaoming stared blankly for a moment. "Around seven hundred thousand, I suppose."

Hearing Chi Zhaoming's reply, Dujuan and Mingyue were on the verge of a breakdown.

"Around seven hundred thousand? How can you say that so casually? You haven't the slightest grasp of reality, do you? How long has it been? Have you forgotten how we paid off that debt of over three hundred thousand last time? Every single coin of that money was scraped together bit by bit by us!" Dujuan said, weeping and wiping her tears.

Have you forgotten the days and nights when I didn't sleep, begging everyone I knew, until my tears were nearly dried up?

For your sake, how did I, a person who cares so much about pride, lower myself to ask favors of my friends?

Have you forgotten the scene of my eighty-year-old father personally going to the bank to withdraw his life savings, using his withered, chapped hands to count out the money for you?

Have you forgotten how your younger sister gave you every last drop of blood, sweat, and tears she had earned over the years to help pay your debts? And what about your father? For your sake, ignoring his chronic lung disease, he worked day and night doing heavy labor, barely managing to scrape together twenty thousand yuan to pay off your debts! And what about Zhezhe? To help you pay your debts, he even sold his beloved Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Have you forgotten all of that?

"Sister-in-law, please stop talking. Chi Zhaoming is already feeling terrible," Wu Zhengzhe urged Dujuan.

"Step aside! What do you mean by telling me not to talk? If I don't speak up, I'll burst, do you understand? I've held it in for so long, I've endured it for so long. Now I simply cannot endure it anymore," Dujuan cried out.

Seeing Dujuan flare up, Wu Zhengzhe stood off to the side in silence.

Chi Zhaoming's expression had grown numb, almost dazed. He thought to himself, "It's true—not even half a year has passed, yet how could I have completely wiped those painful past events from my mind? People are supposed to grow through awakening, and if you stumble, you can pick yourself up. But I refused to learn my lesson, committing extremely low-level mistakes over and over again. I am truly beyond saving."

"Let's head back first. It's too windy here. Let's go home immediately, and we can discuss what to do once we get back," Wu Zhengzhe said.

"What to do? Looking at his unrepentant expression right now, what on earth can we do? Seven hundred thousand! What do you want me to do, go rob a bank? When he lost over three hundred thousand last time, how hard was it for us to smooth things over? Have you forgotten? Now that he's blown things up to this scale, how could we possibly solve it no matter what?" Dujuan wailed, beating her chest and crying bitter tears.

Mingyue stood numbly to the side, having no idea how to comfort Dujuan.

"Let him go to prison, for all I care! Even if the money were paid back, he would still be stripped of his official position. Rather than dragging it out like this, it would be much simpler if he just went straight to prison," Dujuan declared.

"You're just angry right now. Let's go back, we'll talk once we're home, we'll talk later," Wu Zhengzhe persuaded Dujuan.

Mingyue stood silently by the side. At this moment, she felt a gnawing hatred for the oldest brother standing before her. She simply followed dejectedly behind Zhezhe, getting into the car to take Chi Zhaoming to surrender to the police.

On the way to the police station, the car was exceptionally quiet. So much had already been said that everyone was simply left speechless.

Looking at the orange streetlights outside the window, Chi Zhaoming felt somewhat hazy. He felt as though one of his feet had already stepped into a prison cell. As for when he might ever look upon the scenery of Dahe again, he had no idea when that day would come. (To be continued)