Senmu reported the situation to Huangfu Huazhang, who arranged a video call with Shi Nian that evening.
Where Huangfu Huazhang was at that mont, Shi Nian didn’t know. But when the connection was finally made, the screen jitter and interference shocked Shi Nian, prompting her to ask urgently, "Sir, are you in a combat zone?"
Across the screen, Huangfu Huazhang stared coldly at Shi Nian.
This was a look Shi Nian had never seen before.
To arrange this video call, Senmu and his n were busy for over an hour on Huangfu Huazhang’s end, indicating the communication difficulties in that area. Yet, despite this, Huangfu Huazhang insisted on speaking face-to-face with Shi Nian.
Shi Nian carefully drew a breath, knowing that Huangfu Huazhang was truly enraged this ti, and even harbored suspicion towards her.
Huangfu Huazhang did not answer Shi Nian’s question, instead he stared at her and asked, "Jieyou wasn’t taken away by you, was she?"
Shi Nian forced a bitter smile, "Senmu doesn’t believe , that’s one thing, but does the sir not trust either? Jieyou is our daughter, why would I take her away?"
Huangfu Huazhang remained noncommittal, only continuing to ask, "Then why did you personally disable the alarm system tonight and leave the house at midnight? Where did you go?"
Shi Nian felt ashad but could only lie, "... Because I’m leaving tomorrow morning, and I don’t know when I’ll be back again. There’s part of the photography scenery in the small village that hasn’t been finished, so I went out to take so more footage."
Huangfu Huazhang stared into Shi Nian’s eyes, "You’re lying!"
Senmu explained further with an expressionless face, "Miss, if you were truly doing photography work, you’d have taken your cara out. But miss, look at your hands, clearly you ca back empty-handed; and as for your cara, we already found it earlier in your room."
Shi Nian closed her eyes, at a loss for words.
Huangfu Huazhang took a deep breath, even through the shaky image, his shoulders could be seen slightly rising with the intake.
"Nian, tell what you actually went out to do," he said, lowering his gaze to the cane in his hand, "or who you went to et."
As he said this, his voice was actually gentle, but this made Shi Nian more nervous than anything previous.
At this mont, she was being held here by Senmu, unsure whether Senmu had people searching because of suspicion, and even more uncertain about whether that person was safe now.
She paused, then counterattacked, "Sir, are you worried about what I might do, or who I might et?"
Huangfu Huazhang suddenly lifted his head and locked eyes with Shi Nian.
His concern was already at the tip of his tongue: he was naturally worried that Shi Nian had gone to et Tang Yanqing, or the police; then upon their urging, handed Jieyou over to them, to negotiate a deal with him!
But he held back, not shouting it out. Because ultimately, he didn’t believe Shi Nian would rember Tang Yanqing, or would recall him so quickly.
Thus he cockily lowered his gaze to his fingers pressed against the cane, "Fine, those things may not matter. You just need to tell , was it you who took Jieyou out and handed her to soone else?"
"If it was you, you are Jieyou’s mommy, you would surely think of everything from Jieyou’s perspective, so I wouldn’t worry. But if it’s not, I would imdiately try to find my daughter."
Shi Nian also beca upset, "Sir, you’re right, I’m Jieyou’s mommy, how could I hand her over to anyone else?!"
On the other side of the screen, it seed another shell was fired, causing the whole screen to shake violently.
Even amidst such chaos, Huangfu Huazhang sat straight, and instructed Senmu in a steady tone, "As planned, set off with the miss tomorrow morning."
After this order, the transmission signal was cut off. Senmu tried to dial again but could not get through temporarily.
Shi Nian was even more shocked, quickly asking, "Where exactly is the sir now? What’s he doing in such a place? Also, are we going there tomorrow when we leave?"
Senmu coldly stared at her, "Miss, you’ll know when the ti cos."
.
After the signal was cut, Huangfu Huazhang remained seated, quietly contemplating for a few minutes.
At this ti, the night outside the window was reddened by artillery shells, Xia Zuo and others were persuading him to go to the basent for shelter. But he paid them no mind.
In his mind, there were only two screams: one was his Jieyou, who was indeed missing!
The other was the guarded look his little girl again showed him...
Compared to these two screams, what were the screaming artillery shells outside?
He took a deep breath and stood up, "I think we should go see my dear George."
On such war-torn land, places that could still open their doors to guests, and had decent security, usually had special backgrounds, or the buildings themselves had special uses, hence possessing relatively good bulletproofing. The hotel where Huangfu Huazhang stayed had been the palace of a warlord in that country, the basent was an air raid shelter, and housed a heavily guarded prison.
George was locked in the basent prison.
Walking through the dark corridor, the white lights flickered dimly overhead, while the iron bars used to imprison convicts emitted a pungent sll of rust.
Among such chaos, George could still sit quietly. His face pale as though he erged from hell, the pair of blue eyes deep and eerie.
Huangfu Huazhang walked to the outside of the iron bars and faced George coldly.
In such circumstances, indeed they seed alike, at a glance as if two identical shadows in a mirror.
George smiled first, "You’re here."
Huangfu Huazhang stared at George, "You knew I would co, didn’t you?"
George shrugged lightly, "I acted as your puppet in M Country, doing so much for you. By rights, on the day you decided to leave, I should’ve lost my value, yet you went through all that trouble to bring over here. How could I not understand, my final bit of value to you is to die."
"Bastard, you want dead. Because only when I’m dead will no one testify that all those things in the past were done by you. Also, only when I’m dead will your hatred for the Ford family co to an end."
As George spoke, he laughed, "Knowing full well you want dead here, if I don’t think of a way to save myself, should I just let you use up and then take my life?"
Huangfu Huazhang’s blue eyes reddened, "Jieyou was indeed taken by your people!"
George laughed, bending backward and forward, laughing with great joy.
"Bastard, does it feel like you’ve dug a pit and buried yourself? Exactly, this was your idea in M Country, wasn’t it? Wasn’t I the one who helped you take your daughter away? I thought back, hey, this idea is quite good, so I might as well do it again."
George’s gaze also swept over Xia Zuo beside Huangfu Huazhang, "Even he knows your biggest weakness is your daughter, Huangfu Huazhang. Such an obvious issue, how could you just overlook it?"
George seed earnestly to help Huangfu Huazhang think, then clapped his hands and laughed heartily, "It’s because you felt you’d already won, no need to be on guard against , isn’t it? You thought I was truly knocked down by you in M Country, already ntally deranged, so obedient to your words, acting as your pawn, fulfilling your final plan that you no longer cared about , isn’t it?"
Huangfu Huazhang appeared pale, reaching out to tightly grip the iron bars.
The rusted iron bars, the rust jaggedly projecting outward, those sharp like knives, all pierced into Huangfu Huazhang’s palm. Blood flowed down, yet he seed oblivious to the pain, glaring furiously at George, "Where is Jieyou, speak!"
Xia Zuo was frightened, hurriedly stepping forward to help Huangfu Huazhang treat the wound.
Skin injuries are minor, but if oxidized iron gets into the wound, it could lead to tetanus or even more serious dangers.
Huangfu Huazhang waved Xia Zuo off, reached inside the bars, and grabbed the iron chain tethered around George’s neck, "Speak! Or I’ll make you wish for death!"
George showed no fear, instead, smiled full of pity, "Wishing for death? Bastard, you speak of yourself, right. As long as you don’t find your daughter, you’ll suffer more than I. In the threatening letter you asked to write for you, how did it go? Uh, I rember now, you wanted to say your daughter was also a beautiful little girl, very fit to be a Tong’s wife... Since you helped script my lines, shall I just act accordingly?"
Huangfu Huazhang raised his hand, fiercely slapping George’s face several tis.
George had an iron chain around his neck, unable to dodge. Yet throughout the beating, he grinned triumphantly. Those icy blue eyes stared at Huangfu Huazhang with pity, unblinking.
Unable to continue, Huangfu Huazhang loosened his grip, panting as he stepped back.
George spat a mouthful of blood, then shrugged and sneered, "Miserable creature."
Xia Zuo grabbed a whip and viciously lashed at him.
But Huangfu Huazhang reached out to stop Xia Zuo’s hand, "He can’t die. He now wants very much to die because he knows that as long as he dies, I can’t find Jieyou. So as long as he dies, I myself will go mad."
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