Chapter 10
[Before going to sleep, please ensure the photo hanging on the wall is a Wedding Photo, not a Black and White Double Portrait.]
And there’s another pitfall when it comes to sleep.
That is, the Night Rules do not specifically emphasize the time to fall asleep.
However, in the first version of the Family Rules that Jiang Li received, the fourth rule stated:
[You must fall asleep before 00:00 at night.]
All rules must be memorized and connected; not a single one can be missed.
Otherwise, you won’t even know how you died in the end.
Jiang Li glanced at the alarm clock on the bedside table.
There was still half an hour left until 00:00.
So Jiang Li had to turn this Black and White Double Portrait into a Wedding Photo within half an hour.
The crucial question now was: how?
Jiang Li tapped her index finger twice on the cup, making two crisp “deng deng” sounds.
After thinking it over, she decided to take down the Black and White Double Portrait to see if there were any clues on the back.
The portrait was hung quite high, so it would be best to use something to step on.
Jiang Li remembered there was a small stool in the room.
She looked over at the other bedside table.
Red Infant was sitting on that little stool, tearing blank pages from the diary and folding paper airplanes to play with.
“Ha-” Red Infant blew a breath at the tip of the airplane, and with a “biu” sound from his mouth, sent the paper airplane flying.
The paper airplane circled the room twice before finally landing on top of the wardrobe and remaining there.
The little guy was having a great time, and interrupting him now would probably ruin his favorability toward her.
Jiang Li thought for a moment and asked, “Yingying, do you want to eat a heart?”
Red Infant’s little face brightened, his voice excited: “Yes! If I want it, will I get it?”
“Of course, Mommy can give you a heart, as long as you behave.”
Jiang Li had gone mad.
The experts of the Huaguo Intelligence Department all widened their eyes.
“What’s going on with Jiang Li! Is she planning to give up her family?”
“If Dai Chunli dies, Jiang Li will have to bear all the harm herself! Has she forgotten?”
“What should we do? Should we use a Communication Opportunity?”
“Hurry, use the Communication Opportunity now and stop her!!”
Just as the experts unanimously decided to use one precious Communication Opportunity, Jiang Li’s face suddenly filled the livestream.
Her lips moved…
She was talking to them!
The experts in the intelligence group all stared at the electronic screen, not daring to look away for a second.
After clearly hearing what Jiang Li said, all the experts looked horrified and did not recover for a long time.
“Isn’t this… a bit too cruel…” a young woman spoke up first.
“There’s no other way. Let her suffer a little, it won’t cost her life,” someone tried to smooth things over.
“Right, as long as she does this, she won’t die. We’re helping her, too.”
“All right, there’s not much time left-let’s act quickly!”
The Intelligence Department Minister quickly assigned tasks to each group, and everyone promptly left their workstations to deal with this emergency.
Jinghai City, Jiang Family.
It was already late at night.
But Dai Chunli still forced herself to go out despite the pain.
“That heartless Jiang Lianlian, her own mother is like this! Who knows where she’s gone off to!”
She cursed under her breath, her face twisted with fury.
She stomped down the stairs.
She had to go to the hospital right away; her eyes hurt so much she could hardly stand it!
At that moment, a lone child came running quickly.
Running up the stairs in the dark, the child accidentally bumped into her.
“Ouch! That hurts!” The child clutched his head.
By the dim stairwell light, he saw that the person he’d bumped into was Aunt Dai, the neighbor.
The child immediately scrambled up from the ground.
He obediently bowed. “Sorry, Aunt Dai. Xiaobao didn’t do it on purpose. Next time Xiaobao will-”
The child hadn’t finished speaking.
But Aunt Dai suddenly snapped.
She let out a strange shriek, then kicked the child hard in the stomach.
With a loud “Ah!!!” of pain, the child tumbled down the stairs.
“Can’t you watch where you’re going! You little brat, and you dare mess with me?!”
She had deliberately checked before kicking-there was no third person around.
There was no surveillance in the old residential complex, so if the child fell, Dai Chunli couldn’t be blamed.
Even if the child tried to accuse her, he was just a snot-nosed brat. Whatever he said wouldn’t hold up as evidence in court.
Dai Chunli walked briskly toward the stairs, cursing under her breath.
“I’ve seen plenty of little punks like that. I’ll kick every one I see!”
“It’d be best if they all died-then there’d finally be some peace!”
Dai Chunli walked up to the child.
The little boy’s head had split open, blood gushing out bright red. His eyes were squeezed tightly shut, and he was no longer crying out.
Only then did Dai Chunli start to feel a little scared.
She deliberately stepped around the blood, terrified it might get on her shoes.
“You fell down by yourself, you can’t blame me!”
“If you want to blame someone, blame yourself.”
Dai Chunli’s voice wavered, and she hurried her pace, quickly fleeing the scene.
When she left the complex, she ran into the child’s parents-her neighbors.
The young mother greeted her, “Hey, Sister Dai, out so late?”
Dai Chunli averted her gaze. “Yeah. You guys are getting home late, too.”
The young father smiled. “Well, the building is about to be demolished, so we took Xiaobao out for dinner to celebrate while he’s off for the weekend.”
“By the way, Xiaobao is just up ahead. Not sure if he said hello to Aunt Dai?”
Dai Chunli hurried off in a fluster. “No, no… I have something to do, I’ll be going.”
“Alright. Goodbye, come by and visit when you have time,” the father said.
“That Xiaobao, really-no matter how many times I teach him, he still doesn’t like to greet people,” the mother chided softly.
“He’s just a kid, that’s how they are,” the father comforted her.
Dai Chunli was in a hurry.
She didn’t catch what the couple said after that.
She rushed out of the complex and flagged down a taxi. “To Jinghai City People’s Hospital, hurry.”
“Sure, buckle up, let’s go.”
There weren’t many people out at night, so the road was clear.
The car stopped at the main entrance of Jinghai City People’s Hospital.
The driver checked the meter. “Twenty-five yuan and thirty cents, I’ll let you off the thirty cents, just pay twenty-five.”
Dai Chunli’s face instantly changed.
She snapped, “What cab costs twenty-five?! Are you kidding me? Ten yuan at most!”
“It’s so close, I could have walked! Trying to scam me?”
Dai Chunli got out, slamming ten yuan onto the seat.
The driver was aggrieved. “What kind of person are you? That’s the nighttime fare. I used the meter, didn’t overcharge.”
“Hey, One-Eyed Old Lady! Make up the rest before you go! Hey!!”
“Unbelievable, I end up losing money on this ride-what an idiot! See if you ever take a taxi again in your life!”
The driver glared at Dai Chunli’s arrogant retreating figure, barely resisting the urge to floor the gas and run her over.
Forget it, just swallow the insult.
After all, losing a few yuan is better than spending a lifetime in jail. At least he knew what mattered.
No sooner had the driver left than a silver van pulled up quickly.
Under the cover of night,
all four van doors opened at once.
Eight or nine young people in black suits and sunglasses, communication devices hanging from their ears, emerged from the van.
Halfway across the lot, Dai Chunli suddenly felt a strong grip on her arm and her feet left the ground.
“Who are you people?! Why are you grabbing me? Let go!”
Dai Chunli struggled with all her might.
A man in black replied, “We’re from the Intelligence Department. For the Chosen One’s clearance, we need your cooperation.”
“What?! That little bitch Jiang Li is trying to screw me again?” Dai Chunli was furious.
“What does her business have to do with me? Let go of me, or I’ll call the police!!”
The men in black ignored her.
It was after 11 p.m., and with so few pedestrians on the street, no one noticed what was happening.
The men in black hauled Dai Chunli into the van, slammed the door shut with a “bang.”
“We’re linking up with the other team right now.”
“Understood.”
The van started up.
The group sped away into the night.