Chapter 111
Chapter 111
Ling Fang frowned deeply, staring at Tang Yuanxiao with an expression that said, “Stop being unreasonable.”
“It’s first thing in the morning. I don’t want to argue with you,” Ling Fang said helplessly.
“Let’s eat. Ignore him,” he told his two department members.
Xie Qingling and Shen Huaizhou felt their brows twitch. They hurriedly lowered their heads and did not dare say a word.
Seeing Ling Fang’s unhurried, unruffled refusal to admit anything made Tang Yuanxiao even angrier. It was as though a fire were burning through his hair and his reason.
Tang Yuanxiao snatched away the steamed soup dumplings Ling Fang had bought. “Fine. Very good, Ling Fang. You dare do it, but you won’t own up to it. I never imagined you’d become this shameless, refusing to admit what you’ve done.”
Other headquarters members passing by heard Tang Yuanxiao’s words. Their eyes could not help darting between him and Ling Fang, eager for gossip.
Ling Fang could no longer stand being stared at. Suppressing his impatience, he said, “All right. Tell me, then. What have I done?”
“What did you do? Last night, nine thirty. The parking lot. Dark and windy. What did you do? You still have the nerve to ask?” Tang Yuanxiao looked so grim he seemed ready to devour Ling Fang alive.
“I won’t forget this!” Tang Yuanxiao said. “I’m challenging you. Tomorrow afternoon, the training ground. I’ll duel you in front of everyone! I’ll make you apologize! I’ll make you kneel and kowtow to me!”
A fucking duel…
Ling Fang rubbed between his brows, unable to hide his weariness. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I won’t agree to duel you.”
“I can’t beat you,” Ling Fang said calmly. “So there’s no point in going to the training ground.”
“Oh? You can’t beat me? You were fighting just fine yesterday, weren’t you? Didn’t you beat me up with Flower Hidden Beneath the Leaves? Didn’t you pretend to be my sister to trick me?” Furious, Tang Yuanxiao seized Ling Fang’s collar and hauled him out of his seat.
They faced each other at close quarters, each able to see the anger in the other’s eyes.
Ling Fang’s lips moved. He was about to call him crazy, but something occurred to him, and understanding suddenly dawned.
He looked back at Xie Qingling and Shen Huaizhou, who had almost buried their faces in their bowls, and finally understood.
Ling Fang sighed long and deep, then turned back to face Tang Yuanxiao squarely. “Yes… it was me. I’m sorry. Last night, it was me. I apologize.”
“You finally admit it!” Hearing his admission did not lessen Tang Yuanxiao’s anger. It inflamed it further. “Ha! You’ve really grown some nerve, Ling Fang. One face in front of me and another behind my back. I was wrong about you!”
With that, Tang Yuanxiao raised his fist, intending to repay Ling Fang with two punches to the eyes.
But he was quickly stopped. Xie Qingling and Shen Huaizhou each caught one of his arms, rescuing Ling Fang from beneath his fist.
Tang Yuanxiao lost his temper. “What are you doing? What? Want a group fight? Don’t think I have nobody! I’ll call the whole Third Squad over, and we’ll have a proper fight! Dare to go to the training ground? If you’ve got any guts, come to the training ground with me!”
“You two, let him go,” Ling Fang said coldly.
Xie Qingling and Shen Huaizhou immediately released their hands.
“Um…” Xie Qingling thought she could not really let Ling Fang take the blame. Taking responsibility for her own actions was her rule.
“I was the one who beat you last night. The person in the parking lot was me.” Xie Qingling looked directly at the furious Tang Yuanxiao. “I know Flower Hidden Beneath the Leaves too. I used that move. I’ll go to the training ground with you.”
Almost simultaneously, Shen Huaizhou said, “I did it. It had nothing to do with them.”
“I confused you with an illusion, put a sack over you, and beat you up. It had nothing to do with either of them.”
Tang Yuanxiao: “…”
“No, it was me,” Xie Qingling insisted. “I take responsibility for what I do. I did it. It had nothing to do with them, and certainly nothing to do with the Director.”
“It was me. I did it. Last night, nine thirty, the parking lot. Dark and windy. A sack over your head. I also punched you twice in the eyes.” Shen Huaizhou deliberately mentioned details only those involved would know, to remind Tang Yuanxiao that he was the real underhanded attacker.
Tang Yuanxiao: “…”
Never had he been as speechless and furious as he was now.
Tang Yuanxiao felt thoroughly humiliated by all three of them, inside and out.
“Very good,” Tang Yuanxiao sneered. “Ling Fang, I really underestimated you. Just what I’d expect of people you trained. Such admirable courage. You wait! I’ll tear you into pieces!”
Leaving that threat behind, Tang Yuanxiao, almost too angry to speak, left the cafeteria.
Only Ling Fang, Xie Qingling, and Shen Huaizhou remained.
Xie Qingling did not dare turn around. She looked to Shen Huaizhou for help.
But Shen Huaizhou had no solution now either. He merely stood with a cold face, looking as though, as long as he did not admit he was wrong, the fault could not be his.
Helpless, Xie Qingling could only find her own way out.
Feeling Ling Fang’s chilly gaze from behind, Xie Qingling ducked her head between her shoulders and said softly, “Director, I’ll handle this myself. I won’t trouble you.”
“How do you intend to handle it?”
“I’ll… I’ll go to the training ground with him.”
“You’ll go to the training ground. Then what?” Ling Fang was already numb. “Do you intend to win or lose?”
Before Xie Qingling could speak, Ling Fang said, “If you win, setbacks will only spur him on. He’ll challenge you again and again. If you lose, he’ll mock you every time you meet, showing you what a petty man looks like when he gets his way. Then it’ll be your turn to challenge him.”
“Senior Tang Yuanxiao is one of headquarters’ core members, after all,” Xie Qingling muttered. “Surely he can’t be that petty?”
“As it happens…”
“That’s exactly the kind of person he is.” Ling Fang shattered Xie Qingling’s hopes with a single sentence.
Xie Qingling: “…”
A body in its thirties, a soul only a little over ten. He certainly lived up to it.
So annoying. So annoying.
Just then, Shen Huaizhou suddenly said, “Director, it’s almost time for duty. We’ll go to work now.”
Ling Fang nodded. “Fine. Go. I’ll deal with you when you get back!”
Having escaped for the moment, Xie Qingling and Shen Huaizhou immediately hurried out of the cafeteria.
Only after escaping Ling Fang’s dagger-like gaze did Xie Qingling feel the air become easier to breathe. Her scalp finally stopped prickling.
On the way, Xie Qingling complained, “Why didn’t you tell me the Director knows Flower Hidden Beneath the Leaves too?”
“You didn’t ask.”
“The point is, I’ve never seen him use it! He doesn’t look as though he knows how to fight!” Xie Qingling wailed, full of resentment.
What a miscalculation, giving herself away over something like that.
Even more unexpected was how well Tang Yuanxiao knew the Director.
Did those two really have a grudge?
Ridiculous.
Xie Qingling’s face was full of resentment.
“The Director three years ago wasn’t the same as the Director now,” Shen Huaizhou said.
“What do you mean?”
“When the Director first transferred to Future City, he had some fighting skills. He wasn’t as weak as he is now,” Shen Huaizhou said. “Back then, he used Flower Hidden Beneath the Leaves to beat me into submission.”
Xie Qingling paused. “So the Director taught you Flower Hidden Beneath the Leaves? I thought it was Old Yu… Why did he stop using it?” Ling Fang had never subdued her by force.
“His health declined,” Shen Huaizhou said. “Sorcerers have short lives. As their curses deepen, their bodies grow weaker.”
Xie Qingling opened her mouth, then suddenly lost her voice, not knowing what to say.
“We can’t upset the Director so much anymore.” After a moment of silence, she said softly, “Widowerhood, widowhood, orphanhood, childlessness, disability. The three deficiencies of wealth, authority, and lifespan. No wonder Li Tiantian said sorcerers are so rare, and there aren’t many tools that can engrave talismans either.”
Shen Huaizhou suddenly said, “Let me borrow your Bloodsworn sometime.” He wanted to try his hand with it.
Xie Qingling: “…”
As they talked, the two arrived in the East District, where they were on duty.
Today, they were responsible for patrolling First and Second Streets, and Third and Fourth Streets, in the East District.
The streets and residential neighborhoods they patrolled changed from day to day, rotating rather than remaining fixed, but they were essentially all in the East District.
After all these patrols, they were now very familiar with the Old Royal City’s streets.
They worked properly, performed their duties, patrolled, and made it through to the end of the shift.
Without needing to say anything, Xie Qingling and Shen Huaizhou both avoided returning to headquarters for dinner. Instead, they went to great trouble to find a busy restaurant with a slow-moving waiting list. Then they dawdled, chewing carefully and eating slowly, wasting virtually every spare moment available before reluctantly going back.
Good. No Ling Fang at the headquarters entrance.
No Ling Fang at the entrance to the dormitory area either.
Nor outside her room.
He should be asleep by now, shouldn’t he? Xie Qingling thought.
After sneaking all the way back, looking around like a thief, she finally reached her room. Xie Qingling breathed a sigh of relief. She felt she had escaped. At least she should have got through today safely, spared Ling Fang’s reprimands for now.
Just as she thought this, Shen Huaizhou’s voice suddenly came through her earpiece. “Come over. Meeting.”
“The Director’s in my room,” he said.
Xie Qingling: “…”
It seemed Ling Fang was truly furious.
Resigned to her fate, Xie Qingling left her room with a miserable expression, knocked on Shen Huaizhou’s door, and entered trembling. She edged along the wall and came to stand beside him.
Before Ling Fang could speak, Xie Qingling began reflecting on her wrongdoing. “A ten-thousand-character self-criticism. I know. Director, I’ll hand it in tomorrow. I won’t dare do it again. If I’d known you knew Tang Yuanxiao so well, I wouldn’t have -”
“No.”
Ling Fang interrupted her.
“No what?” Xie Qingling asked. He did not know Tang Yuanxiao well?
“No need to write a self-criticism.” Ling Fang smiled. “While I was waiting for you, I thought about many things.”
“Thank you for giving me the time to further develop and refine my methods of using a small punishment to teach a lasting lesson.”
Xie Qingling had a very bad feeling.
Even Shen Huaizhou’s eyebrows moved. He was having some trouble maintaining his composure.
“No need to write a self-criticism,” Ling Fang continued. “You knowingly break the rules and keep doing things you know are wrong. Self-criticisms are clearly useless.”
“Then… then what do we have to do?” Xie Qingling asked. “Director, we’re busy! We don’t have time to carry out a severe punishment! Calm down and reconsider!”
“It’s not a particularly severe punishment,” Ling Fang said. “Go and embarrass yourselves in public.”
…That did not sound very pleasant. Xie Qingling felt like crying in frustration.