Hidden Assassin 271

They say, “When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter.”

Alright, we have to admit that the god mentioned above is purely fictional. But, ever since Huang Bingxiang was put under investigation, the situation of the Huang family over the past month has been like a tree falling, the monkeys scattering, becoming completely out of control.

In April of 1999, the atmosphere of spring arrived like a tide. In the cool air of a light drizzle, Jia Ming lay on the balcony of the second floor of the Huang family villa, watching the occasional crowd movement below, the occasional quiet stillness, experiencing the feeling of a family gradually disintegrating.

For over a month, Huang Bingxiang and his wife had been under investigation. As a provincial party secretary-level leader, this kind of situation wouldn’t be short-lived. All sorts of problems would be laid out on the table and clarified one by one. The biggest blow to the Huang family was that this wasn’t something that could be resolved by one person confessing. It would basically implicate a wide circle of people. The Huang family’s uncles and older cousins, those in charge of various companies and departments, basically anyone with some status, had already been scrutinized.

The third uncle, Huang Bingxing, had been arrested. His son, Huang Haoyun – who had pursued Ya Han before – had also been questioned several times, and things seemed quite dire. Even Huang Bingxiang’s son, Huang Haobing, had been questioned multiple times. Although he was only seventeen, it was unlikely that he would be implicated. However, for this vibrant young man who used to love basketball, the current situation at home was like falling from heaven to hell.

In fact, due to China’s national conditions, a strictly structured, large family like the kind seen in Japan wouldn’t typically occur. The emergence of these so-called family forces mostly arose after the founding of the People’s Republic, influenced by the long-standing political power of elder generations. In the case of the Huang family, for example, Huang Bingxiang’s father – Jia Ming’s grandfather – was a high-ranking official in the central government. As a result, many people who were originally related by blood used this connection to gain a certain level of power. After the reforms and opening up, the Huang family started to engage in business, Huang Bingxiang entered politics, and people who originally had connections to the family gradually became dependent. They gained their own benefits, secured positions in certain companies, or established their own businesses through connections. Big or small, they formed what is now known as the Huang family.

Cohesion came from mutually beneficial relationships. In the second generation, it might not have been that large. But by the time Jia Ming’s generation emerged, this network became tangled and complex. The so-called Dongfang family and the Zhang family, were all formed from these Chinese-characteristic family business groups. The rise of the Huang family wasn’t solely due to Huang Bingxiang, but over the past few years, the Huang family’s various connections were able to operate smoothly. Most of their business was profitable, guaranteed to make money, because Huang Bingxiang’s political umbrella provided protection. But when Huang Bingxiang fell, this family that lost its protective umbrella immediately plunged into a storm.

Potential orders were completely rejected, checks issued previously were now demanded to be cashed immediately, and the various bank loans that had been greenlit before now demanded repayment, forcing some smaller companies to file for bankruptcy. It can’t be denied that Huang Bingxiang was a traditional Chinese in the sense that he was very good to his family. He took care of the development of his relatives’ industries, and because of this, dozens or even hundreds of businesses, big and small, along the Huang family’s line faced various potentially fatal problems almost overnight when the giant figure hovering above the Huang family disappeared.

Over the past month, the Huang family’s relatives had been coming and going. Some came to discuss countermeasures regarding Huang Bingxiang’s situation, others came to seek help or complain about their own small businesses. But political prosecution, this kind of death sentence, made the Huang family realize in despair that they had no power to intervene. It’s been said that “even a centipede doesn’t die immediately,” and while under Huang Bingxiang’s protection, many of the collateral relatives’ businesses were mostly superficial and lacked a solid foundation. However, the main industries of the Huang family group still maintained a considerable scale, even if the situation was dire for the time being. This would undoubtedly allow the Huang family to maintain a wealthy lifestyle and enjoy themselves. But for those companies that relied solely on Huang Bingxiang’s name to make money and had nothing to show for it, the Huang family naturally couldn’t offer any help.

The results of the investigation hadn’t yet been released, but the signs of decline had already begun to emerge. Even Jia Ming, occasionally felt the stares and whispers in school. Huang Haobing took a break from school for a while, but recently started attending classes again. However, he had become silent and sluggish, like someone with severe autism.

Xu Yiting, on the other hand, who used to be ignored and overlooked by everyone after her father died of drug addiction, suddenly became the object of attention. It was evident from the way the Huang family members, both intentionally and unintentionally, approached her to talk to her over the past month. This was mostly because she was close to Dongfang Wan. Of course, it was only the younger generation who did such things. The adults were not yet at the point of deliberately building relationships with Xu Yiting.

As if overnight, all the relationships within the family had changed. The people who had once been so close-knit began to argue and become impatient due to the collapse of various benefits, unsure of what to do. Over the past month, the adults had been wearing worried expressions, and most of the children dared not smile. Occasionally, a few clueless children would play in the courtyard, only to be scolded. The Huang family still had money, the servants were still working in an orderly manner in this villa area, but the occasional glances directed at these people, the whispers under their breath, had completely changed.

Over the past month, Jia Ming had returned from school several times. He watched the people rushing back and forth, occasionally seeing representatives from banks seeking to reclaim loans, creating a scene of commotion and noise.

He wasn’t someone who yearned for family. He didn’t have much love for this family before, and naturally, there was no need to talk about hate. However, it was undeniable that for the past six or seven years, his identity had been linked to this family. At least in the eyes of others, he was a member of the Huang family. He occasionally had conversations with the elders of the Huang family, and no one thought he was not part of the family. This feeling was indifferent to him, but now, facing this situation, he suddenly felt something quite interesting – a sense of home.

He had once thought that maybe he would have a family, a home. What was home? The Huang family hadn’t given him any different feeling, and he had just accepted it. After all, it was all indifferent. Then there was Lingjing, Sha Sha, and Ya Han. The Huang family became even more insignificant to him. However, in the midst of this continuous decay and the bleak gray atmosphere, he could feel a kind of beauty similar to death or destruction, similar to the blood that splattered when he killed. Regardless, these mediocre and hopeless people were indeed different from the people on the street to him. Family, relatives?

Ah, regardless, they did have an innate connection, perhaps that was true. A sense of home?

He had killed many people. He had seen many families break apart, but this time, he was truly a participant. This feeling was novel and interesting to him.

He remembered Saturday night last week, sitting on the rooftop watching the scene below. The spring night was a bit chilly. The children who usually liked to play outside were now watching TV or doing homework in their rooms. The big shots were probably planning countermeasures again or making phone calls to pull strings. The water in the swimming pool was a beautiful blue, and a cleaner was using a net to scoop up garbage. Uncle Huang Bing’an suddenly came out of the stairwell, smoking a cigarette. He saw Jia Ming sitting on the edge, looked startled for a moment, then waved.

“Jia Ming, don’t sit there, it’s dangerous.” He patted the chair on the balcony. “Come sit here.”

As the head of this branch of the Huang family, Huang Bing’an had always been relatively low-key. He wasn’t as prominent as his second uncle, Huang Bingxiang, or as hands-on as his third uncle, Huang Bingxing, who was in charge of the company. Therefore, in this incident that affected the entire Huang family, he might have been the least affected at the top level. But with both his brothers in trouble, he didn’t seem to be doing well either. He pulled Jia Ming aside, perhaps because he couldn’t find anything to talk about, and for a while, he started talking about his sister – Jia Ming’s mother – with a hint of regret in his voice.

A large family often develops various rules, some that may be beneficial for its expansion, others that are rather nonsensical. Back then, the Huang family insisted on Jia Ming’s father joining the family through marriage. Jia Ming’s father refused, and Jia Ming’s mother was also stubborn. She had an argument with several of her brothers, and with Jia Ming’s father leaving the Huang family, they wouldn’t have gone to work in another province and died in the landslide if it hadn’t happened.

After briefly talking about Jia Ming’s mother, he talked about Huang Haobing’s recent situation. They were brothers from the same family, and they were in the same class. He should take care of him, blah blah blah. Jia Ming naturally nodded in agreement, not really taking it to heart. But the image of his parents, which had always been vague, became a bit more concrete now.

However, even if the feeling of home felt novel to him, he wouldn’t do anything for the Huang family. To put it bluntly, even if he sold himself to Yan Huang Jue Xing, he wouldn’t be able to get involved in something like a provincial party secretary being put under investigation. But, the National Security Bureau was a bit wary of the Flower-Picking Great Thief Yu Jin Xiang, who had connections to the Huang family. The first time they called people in for questioning on a large scale, there were police officers as well as some low-level personnel who were probably from the National Security Bureau dealing with domestic affairs. But among them, there was also Ye Lian, the team leader responsible for domestic and international counterterrorism. It was conceivable that there had been a conversation like this before they were deployed.

“Ah, are you going to the Huang family to arrest people today? I’ll go too.”

“No, do you really need Team Leader Ye for such a simple task? We’re just bringing a few people in for questioning. Don’t worry, I guarantee that these people haven’t taken anything from the Huang family…”

“It’s none of my business what you take. Just remember to treat me to a meal at the hotel. I’m going there this time… cough cough, I’m just afraid that you guys won’t pay attention to your methods and touch someone you shouldn’t. You won’t know how you died…”

This was a conversation that Ya Han later imagined jokingly, but it was probably not far off. Jia Ming was home that day, and while everyone was talking in the living room, this man, dressed in plain clothes, with a feminine beauty, walked directly to Jia Ming’s side: “Cough, Jia Ming, this is our first time meeting, you probably don’t know me, but maybe you know… I’m Ye Lian. I’ve seen Miss Jian’s moves a few times… The truth is, we’re very sorry about Secretary Huang’s situation.”

“Oh…” Jia Ming looked around, shrugged his shoulders. “I also find it regrettable, my second uncle was pretty good to me… Don’t get any ideas, politics is politics, Suyan Jie never had any intention of getting involved in this.”

“Of course. Secretary Huang has always been good to his family. He just had some issues with his attitude towards the country… Please give my regards to Miss Jian. By the way, this is our first time meeting, I don’t have anything on me, here, take this red envelope, Jia Ming, buy some candy with it…”

Ye Lian was quite tall, and he patted Jia Ming on the head with a smile, handing him a red envelope. When he opened it, there was a ten-yuan bill inside. Jia Ming appreciated his morbid sense of humor.

Then, I’ll find a chance to kill him off.

While thinking about something boring, he suddenly heard a faint call. He looked up and saw a girl in a green tracksuit holding an umbrella, jumping and waving at him from the street outside the courtyard. The seventeen-year-old girl exuded vitality and a refreshing feeling. She appeared particularly clear in the rain-moistened streets and under the shade of the trees.

It was already Sunday afternoon, and there would be evening self-study at school. He smiled and waved back, grabbing an umbrella and turning to go downstairs. As he reached the stairs, he saw a few maids carrying a cabinet upstairs. Huang Haoyun, with a full beard and a haggard appearance, was also swaying his way up. For a moment, the large cabinet and the people going up and down almost blocked the stairs. Seeing Jia Ming in front of him, Huang Haoyun, who had always had little affection for him, shouted: “Move aside!”

Jia Ming stepped aside, shrugged, and waited for Huang Haoyun to go upstairs before jogging downstairs. Soon, he met up with Lingjing outside the villa.

“I saw Huang Haoyun driving back, swaying all over the place, he almost hit someone. It’s already afternoon, he still looks like he hasn’t woken up. He must have been drinking again.”

“Ignore him. That guy is finished, just like Huang Haobing.” Jia Ming held up his umbrella and shrugged.

“I think Huang Haobing is quite pitiful. He used to be pretty good at school, he was good at basketball, and his grades were okay. He changed completely in a month…” Looking at the villa area, which was particularly clear after being washed by the light rain, Lingjing said as they walked.

“He used to bully me when we were kids.”

“That was when we were kids.” Lingjing laughed. “Back then, you deliberately let yourself get bullied, and I always wanted to help you. You even called me Lingjing Jie back then, why don’t you call me that anymore? When I think about it, you bullied me more!”

Leaving behind the familiar sight of the villa, they held hands and walked in the rain.

They had been entangled for seven or eight years, had a physical relationship, and had been living together for almost two years. They were already very familiar with each other. They were now in their second year of high school, and they would be separated into classes based on whether they chose arts or sciences after the midterm exams. Recently, Jia Ming, Lingjing, and Sha Sha had been discussing whether they could all be in the same class after the separation. They could ask Ya Han, but Jia Ming guessed that Ya Han would secretly put the three of them in three different classes. Of course, he couldn’t say this out loud.

Sha Sha had something to do at home and didn’t meet up with Lingjing at the martial arts school. Seeing that they still had time, the two of them talked about trivial matters while walking along the street in the rain. When they passed by a wedding photography shop at an intersection, the traffic light turned red. Lingjing stood in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling display cabinet, looking at the new wedding dresses inside.

“What’s wrong? Do you want to wear a wedding dress?”

“Don’t you think this one is beautiful? I’ve seen it on TV.”

“Seen it? I don’t remember.”

“Of course you wouldn’t, you’re a guy. Every wedding dress in the TV commercials looks the same. I remember this one is the one that Fang… oh, it’s the one that Yu Si Jie recently did a commercial for.”

“That washed-up female star… you still admire her?”

“Okay, I know that you and Sha Sha both hate her. I won’t admire the real-life her anymore. But she’s getting more and more popular recently. You don’t know how many people at school admire her. It’s all because her latest album is so good, it boosted her popularity again.” Lingjing smiled and hummed a few notes: “La la la la… la la…”

“That song was written by me, okay.”

“So, I’m actually admiring you.”

“…”

Jia Ming smiled, not knowing what to say. He frowned and looked towards a place behind them. The traffic light across the street had turned green. The two turned to leave, Lingjing looked towards the corner on the other side, and exclaimed in surprise, “Jia Ming, that’s your fifth uncle.”

“Huh?”

On the other side of the corner, which was the front door of the wedding photography shop, there were already many cars parked, as if some big shot had arrived. There were even two reporters lurking around. Huang Bingwen, the fifth “master” of the Huang family who had never married and was now nearing forty, was standing next to his car with a briefcase in his hand, seemingly hesitant about whether to go in.

Previously, he had been taken care of by Huang Bingxiang, and this Huang family member had started his own company and had been involved with many female stars and models in Jiang Hai. However, after Huang Bingxiang was put under investigation, although his company had a better foundation than the other small companies, it was also facing many problems. Although his family could provide some help, he had to start working hard to succeed. Seeing him in his business attire, it was clear that he was going to talk to someone about business. But since he had come to a wedding dress shop, it was likely that he was going to buy a wedding dress or take wedding photos. If he tried to talk business at this time and was rejected, the consequences would be predictable.

At this time, the Huang family’s various businesses were in dire straits, and Huang Bingwen was obviously hesitant. During this moment, he also saw Jia Ming and Lingjing on this side. He smiled and waved, and the two quickly nodded in response. At that moment, a voice sounded behind them, “Hey, isn’t that Jia Ming?”

Jia Ming sighed and frowned.

He turned his head and saw a middle-aged man standing not far behind them, holding a bunch of Jianlibao sodas. He looked surprised and raised his hand in greeting, but Jia Ming knew that this man had been watching them for a long time. Only now did he decide to greet them. Seeing that it was a stranger, Lingjing looked at Jia Ming, who was already smiling and saying, “I saw you guys standing here looking at the wedding dresses for a long time. My friend owns this shop. Would you like to go in and try them on?”

“Ah.” Jia Ming didn’t react to that, but Lingjing smiled happily, then realized something was wrong. “But these are wedding dresses…”

“What wedding dresses, they’re just pretty skirts. It’s popular to take photos in them overseas now. If you like, you can go in and wear them and take some pictures for memory. I think you… uh…”

“Ye Lingjing.” Seeing that the man pretended not to know Lingjing, Jia Ming said. The man laughed heartily: “Hehe, Jia Ming, I think your little sister Lingjing would look great in this dress. If you like, why not take some photos to keep? It will be a beautiful memory in the future.”

“What little sister? I’m his older sister.” Lingjing shouted with a smile, “But we have something to do today…”

Jia Ming was a little reluctant to interact with this person, but seeing that Lingjing was refusing but still looking at the wedding dress with anticipation, he nodded with a smile. Then, Lingjing happily asked, “Uncle, what’s your name? How do you know Jia Ming?”

“Hehe, my name is Cui Guohua, just call me Brother Cui. As for how I know Jia Ming… it’s because…”

His lie hadn’t even been fabricated yet. When Lingjing heard this name, the delicate features on her face suddenly darkened, and she stopped walking towards the wedding dress shop. Then, she turned quickly, took Jia Ming’s hand, and walked towards the other side of the road:

“Jia Ming, let’s go!”.

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