Chapter 40: The Recent Distant Past
At dawn, the sky turned white at the horizon. Inside the quiet imperial city, the bodyguards' villas suddenly burst into a series of wails that seemed to bear immense pain, and the sharp cries of agony and terror rose high into the air with an unstoppable momentum.
Huang Pu lay on the bed, his narrow eyes closed tightly, and the miniature intercom on his ear transmitted a low male voice: "Third Brother, mission accomplished!"
He let out a low hum from his throat, which was his response. After a while, he slowly opened his eyes, glanced towards the direction of the bodyguard's villa, and a mysterious, unreadable smile curled up at the corner of his mouth. It took him a while to withdraw his gaze, but his eyes involuntarily fell on the woman who was sleeping soundly with her head on the bedside, still holding the wet towel that she had used to cool his forehead earlier. His deep, bottomless black eyes flickered with a faint light.
Looking at her, she sat on the ground like a kitten, shrinking her body small, with soft and smooth black hair falling down, covering her white face.
He involuntarily reached out his hand to lift her hair, but withdrew it just as his fingertips were about to touch.
Because he was very clear in his heart, Su Jingya was a very close yet forever unreachable distance for him. He couldn't love her, couldn't bring himself to love her, couldn't make any promises to her, and couldn't even take the initiative to get closer to her by a single step.
Long, long ago, he had made a promise to another woman. In the darkest, most torturous and coldest years, he met the person he should have protected for his entire life. Although later on, he found that his initial feelings seemed to have changed, yet...
Huang Pu took a deep breath and pulled Su Jingya's hand away from his sleeve, pushing her aside.
He lifted his face high and whispered: "Su Jingya, I really had no choice... I fell in love with you!"
His voice was low and deep, husky and pleasant to listen to, but it was like a needle piercing her heart.
Can't fall in love with her? Does it mean he really fell in love with Sun Qingkong? And has nothing to do with childhood memories?
Su Jingya lay motionless on the edge of the bed, crystal clear tears sliding silently down from the corners of her eyes.
Early in the morning, a 'most lively' and 'most crazy' scene was staged in the imperial city: twenty bodyguards covered their left hands which were bleeding non-stop, knelt outside the main house, wailing and howling.
Choi Jin stood on the steps at the door and sternly asked, "What's going on with your hands?"
"Director Choi, we beg of you, expel us! There's a monster in the imperial city!"
"Last night, the imperial city suddenly appeared with many strange creatures. We couldn't see them at all, only their eyes flashing with a terrible red light, it was really scary! They specifically eat human fingers!"
The bodyguards collectively took out their left hands that had been gnawed off, and they all lacked an index finger.
Su Jingya appeared to be leaning on Huangfu Yu's arm as they went downstairs, but in reality she was secretly supporting him.
In order not to arouse Cui Zhen's suspicion, he had to go downstairs for breakfast.
"Absurd!" Cui Zhen angrily rebuked, seeing Huangfu Yu coming out, he immediately shouted, "Young Master!"
"Hmm!" Huang Pu's voice was faint, he glanced at the bodyguard kneeling on the ground and frowned, asking, "Cui General Manager, what exactly happened? What's wrong with their hands?" In secret, Huang Pu sneered.
Cui Zhen furrowed his brow, recounting the bodyguard's explanation to Huangfu Yu. Meanwhile, Su Jingya stared at their missing index fingers, her face changing color in fright - had she been watching too many bloody and violent shows lately?
Her stomach began to churn and she covered her mouth, turning around with her back to the bodyguard.
Huangfu Yu glanced at them again and said in a low voice, "This is indeed nonsense. Cui General Manager, go to the monitoring room later to retrieve last night's monitoring data and check carefully if there are any malicious people lurking in the imperial city who want to harm the people inside the imperial city!"
"I understand!" Cui Zhen bowed respectfully, but secretly gritted his teeth in anger.
"The Imperial City has never recruited bodyguards with physical defects, affecting the face of the Huangfu family. Soon, Director Cui will go to the finance department to settle their wages and allocate a condolence fee for them to leave!"
The bodyguard was overjoyed upon hearing Huangfu Yu's words and shouted: "Thank you, young master! Thank you, young master!"
Huangfu Yujian saw Cui Zhen hesitating and continued: "Grandfather, Qingyi, and Shou should hurry downstairs. Don't let last night's events affect their mood for the whole day. Manager Cui, please handle it quickly!"
As he spoke, he gestured for Su Jingya to take him away. However, in the instant he turned around, Huangfu Yu raised an eyebrow and a cold, evil smile spread across his face: Cui Zhen, I will eliminate one by one the people you have planted in the imperial city! This is the price you pay for opposing me!
