Chapter 85

Chapter 85: Yin Soldiers [3]

The next morning, there was a layer of snow outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the lake was frozen, and on the surrounding weeping willows hung strands of icy crystals. When the breeze blew, the snowflakes were scattered everywhere, it was absolutely beautiful. 

Last night Zhang Qiu was tossed ruthlessly. When he opened his eyes, he saw Li Shu sleeping next to him. Without even thinking about it, he went up and bit him fiercely. His waist was heavy, and he was hugged by Li Shu’s hands. Suddenly, he fell into Li Shu’s arms. 

“Do you want it? So enthusiastic so early in the morning.” Li Shu’s lips curled. When he woke up in the morning, his voice was low and hoarse, very sexy. Zhang Qiu’s ears were numb, and his face firmly said: “If you bend over and let me top, I will have unlimited enthusiasm[1].”

“I’d better do that kind of hard work.” Li Shu kissed the person in his arms. 

Zhang Qiu sensed that the atmosphere was not right. If it went on like that, he would have to spend the morning in bed again. Moreover, there was a stranger in the house. It was okay that he occasionally had a shameless nightlife, but he couldn’t bear to use his testes all day long. He didn’t know whether or not Li Shu had four testes. How could he be so energetic! 

Getting up with his arms, Zhang Qiu got out of bed and walked to the bathroom as if to escape, and conveniently locked the door, like a thief. Li Shu looked at the closed door, and said with a low smile: “Do you really think this door can stop me?” But thinking about Song Bao hoarsely begging for mercy last night, he decided to let him rest today. Only after resting could he change to more positions.

Zhang Qiu didn’t know what Li Shu was thinking, otherwise, he would’ve spit out the toothpaste foam on Li Shu’s face. 

After cleaning up and exiting the room, Zhang Qiu sniffed, “What smells so good!”

A pink little princess came out with Xiao Jiang, who wore a big, yellow autumn duck suit and rabbit-ear slippers. He still had Xiao Fei on his head, and he was so sleepy that his eyes couldn’t stay open. The little tiger’s teeth showed up and he said: “Very delicious!” 

“Good son, you are not awake, you’re eating in a dream!” Zhang Qiu rubbed his son’s face and touched Xiao Fei on his head. Xiao Fei was smiling, “Good morning Dad.” 

Zhang Qiu suddenly felt that today was really a beautiful day, his family’s Xiao Fei was so good and beautiful. 

“What did dad make that is so delicious and fragrant!” Xiao Jiang sobered up. When he mentioned food, Zhang Qiu saw his son’s biubiu eyes widen in a daze. He glanced at the kitchen downstairs, just in time to see pitch-black sunglasses, he was dumbfounded, the other party smiled and said: “Do you mind if I use your kitchen?” 

“I don’t mind at all.” Zhang Qiu said and waved his hands. He had just finished talking, and Xiao Jiang lay against the railing, stuffing his head through the gap, looking down with his big eyes, “Tall-Gege, what are you making that smells so delicious?” 

Zhang Qiu wanted to cover his eyes. When his family’s Xiao Jiang saw beauties and food, he couldn’t move his feet, but his mouth was very sweet.

“You’ll know when you come down and eat it.” Hei Qian said with a smile, “You guys got up just in time. I can make more food if needed, consider it a lodging fee.”

When Li Shu went downstairs, he saw his wife and sons gorging, and to top it all off, Xiao Jiang’s star eyes were worshipping the other party. He really wanted to go up and pinch Xiao Jiang’s big face, but it was time to put cooking lessons on the agenda. 

Zhang Qiu didn’t expect Hei Qian to look like someone from a crime syndicate, with a long face and fierce clothes. However, from yesterday to today, this person had never been angry, and his cooking skills were also very good. There were several flavours of steamed dumplings and buns, the thin-skinned soup was delicious. After taking a bite, the stomach was awakened after sleeping all night. He couldn’t help but glance at Li Shu, he looked unhappy, and the frequency of using chopsticks was higher than before[2]. 

After breakfast, Xiao Jiang’s mouth was so sweet, and it was almost revolving around Hei Qian. Hei Qian was happily coaxed, he smiled and touched Xiao Jiang’s head, and promised that there would be more tomorrow. Xiao Jiang cheered, thanked him and took Xiao Fei out to play. 

Zhang Qiu was not at ease. Xiao Jiang patted his chest to prove it was alright. 

“You can only play at the door of the house for a while, and don’t freeze.” After he said that, Xiao Jiang jumped out. He turned his head back and saw Hei Qian looking at him, he smiled embarrassedly: “Today we really troubled you.”

Hei Qian waved his hands, “This is one of my pleasures---.” After a pause, he said with a smile: “This is my first time seeing someone raise a small Jiangshi as an ordinary child. It’s very special.” Despite the fact that the fat boy with a mouth full of oil was young, he was no match for a few ordinary men. Not to mention, there was a boy with a god vein on his head. 

“Xiao Jiang is still young, of course I have to worry more about him.” Zhang Qiu was relieved when he saw his two sons playing in the snow in the yard through the floor-to-ceiling windows. There were too many crooks abducting and selling children in society nowadays, even at the door of the house, he didn’t dare be at ease. 

Hei Qian didn’t understand Zhang Qiu’s worry very well, but he didn’t say anything. He smiled and said: “I’m on official business this time. The Boss asked me to travel and help you, and the reward is the Military Tally.”

Military Tally? Oh, the Imperial Jade Seal. 

“It’s not very useful for you to hold the Imperial Jade Seal---” Hei Qian said, looking at Li Shu, still smiling: “Or do you want to borrow the Yin soldiers to have power?” 

Zhang Qiu shivered, Hei Qian was obviously smiling, but he felt that what the man said was cold. 

“I have no interest in power, but I won’t give you the Military Tally if you don’t tell the truth.” Li Shu said coldly. 

Hei Qian was silent. After a while he said: “This is a secret of the Underworld. I also guessed two or three points.” He didn’t want to say it, but he didn’t make it clear to the other party that it seemed that the business trip this time was in vain. Tsk, these people are getting increasingly harder to talk to. 

“Since the Qin dynasty, the soldiers who died in each war were being secretly refined, accumulated year after year. These soldiers were immortal and did not feel pain. They are superior in force, and by the time they were discovered, the number of these Yin soldiers was already huge. Later, the Boss didn’t know that the first few officials had taken them as soldiers of the Underworld. Anyway, there was a shortage of manpower underneath, and there were soldiers at hand, so they made the best use of them. But I don’t know when the Military Tally was lost and the soldiers underneath disappeared.” Hei Qian frowned and said: “There are also some underlying things that I cannot tell you, but right now the Military Tally is very important. After the Military Tally is recovered, the Yin soldiers can be summoned. If the Military Tally falls into the hands of someone who has a heart, your world peace will be empty talk. Of course, I don’t want to increase business for myself, after all, it is the humans who sacrificed the most in war.”

When Zhang Qiu heard this, he felt that the Military Tally was a headache, and ordinary people like him couldn’t afford to touch it. In case he lost it, he can’t afford it. He looked at Li Shu.

“The conditions are met.” Li Shu said.

Hei Qian smiled, “You really don’t want this person to suffer.”

“You suffer?” Li Shu raised his eyebrows and looked over.

Hei Qian laughed, “There is only one person in this world who can make me willingly suffer.” 

Hearing that, Li Shu’s cold face changed, which was originally unpleasant, smiled, looked at Zhang Qiu beside him, and said: “Same.” 

Zhang Qiu: ……

So, when on earth did the topic change to be about him?

As he was thinking, the phone rang. Zhang Qiu pulled it out and saw that it was Qi Xi. Li Shu had already leaned over, Zhang Qiu smiled helplessly and put it on speaker, but Qi Zhirong’s indifferent voice was on the opposite side. 

“I found some clues that you should be interested in.”

“Xiao Rongrong, you look pretty when you’re jealous.” Qi Xi’s alluring voice was heard over the phone. 

The other side was silent for a while, Zhang Qiu held the phone with an embarrassed expression, coughed and said: “What clue?”

“Aiya, look at you hitting me. Not in the face. If I am disfigured and you abandon me, what will I do?! I only have this face, meow, meow, meow~” 

Zhang Qiu: ……

A blind tone came from the phone, the other side had apparently hung up. Zhang Qiu didn’t call back. It’s not good to disrupt Qi Zhirong’s domestic violence!

Not long after, the penguin sounded, there was a document sent from Qi Xi’s number. Zhang Qiu opened it and after reading two lines, his expression changed and said: “I found the father Christine talked about. Christine was an abandoned baby who was adopted by a foreign-born Chinese antique dealer, Du Qiao. Du Qiao returned to China more than two months ago, but is missing now….” 

“Two months?” Zhang Qiu thought it was a coincidence. That was about the same time as the professor set out to investigate. 

Scrolling down, in the data, Du Qiao had returned to China two months ago for an investment. The bank statement made Zhang Qiu’s pupils shrink. It had Professor Fang’s name on it. But the destination of the project Du Qiao invested in was never mentioned. There was no way to find Professor Fang. 

Zhang Qiu was a little anxious. Li Shu took the phone and scrolled to the bottom of the list, looked up and asked Hei Qian, “Are you able to find out the backgrounds of these people?”

“The civilian work is under Shengsheng’s control, I’ll ask him.” Hei Qian smilingly took out his phone and dialled a number. The tone rang for a long time but the other party didn’t pick up. Zhang Qiu though Bai Shengsheng would not be busy. He saw Hei Qian call again, with his very commonly seen expression, waiting for the tone to automatically hang up every time, until the other party finally answered on the seventh try. 

Hei Qian didn’t put it on speaker, but Zhang Qiu could hear Bai Shengsheng’s anger. 

“Old demon Hei, are you sick?! It’s rare for me to take a vacation and do nothing! 

“Shengsheng I want you to help me with something.” Hei Qian didn’t get angry and said it with a smile, his voice softened a bit. Zhang Qiu got goose bumps on his arms when he heard it, and turned his head to see Li Shu staring at him with a smile. Others might think it was gentle when Li Shu looked at him like this. Zhang Qiu’s heart was filled with ‘fuck’. Are you going to play tricks again! Ideas like that.

“Old demon Hei, I’ve said it eight hundred times, you’re not allowed to call me Shengsheng---” 

“Then Xiao Bai is fine.”

The phone was hung up, Zhang Qiu glanced at Hei Qian, “Did he hang up?” 

“Three, two, one---” Hei Qian sat on the chair and counted with a smile. As soon as the word fell, there was suddenly one more person in the living room. Impressively, it was Bai Shengsheng, angry and murderous; and he put his hands on Hei Qian’s neck. 

Hei Qian just sat there motionless. When Bai Shengsheng put his hands on his neck, he put his arms around him, pulling Bai Shengsheng into his arms. He said with a smile: “Xiao Bai appeared very quickly today! Did you miss me?”

Zhang Qiu swore that he saw Bai Shengsheng’s veins stand out.

“Old demon Hei, I’ll say it again, if you dare call me Xiao Bai again, I’m going to chop you!”

“Are you willing to?” 

Compared to Bai Shengsheng’s rage, Hei Qian was acting as if the other party was joking and flirting. He was always smiling. 

At that moment, Zhang Qiu’s heart hurt for Bai Shengsheng. He didn’t expect that Bai Shengsheng, who looked unpleasant and bad tempered, was actually quite good at pinching. Looking at Hei Qian, the tall gangster seemed to smile like a fox. He was a cunning man. 

Finally, before he was about to push Bai Shengsheng over the edge, Hei Qian released his hands with a smile. His fingertips seemed to have the tenderness of the other party, and he kissed his fingertips in front of Bai Shengsheng. It was very affectionate, and Zhang Qiu felt that Bai Shengsheng was about to explode. 

“Shengsheng, only you can handle this matter. You also know that I have always been rough headed and not as smart as you. The first thing that I thought of about this matter, was to beg you.” 

When the explosive Bai Shengsheng heard that, his brows’ anger was calmed a little bit, and he asked coldly: “You beg me?” 

Hei Qian sincerely said: “Yes, I beg you. You have always been more outstanding in terms of business ability. I came in from the back, as you know, and I admire your work very much.” 

Zhang Qiu felt that the corners of Bai Shengsheng’s mouth, who was about to explode a second ago, curled up. He hadn’t seen Bai Shengsheng smile for so long. 

This person is also too good at coaxing.

“Consider your place, simple-minded and well-developed idiot[3]. What’s the matter? Bai Shengsheng said, pressing the arc of his lips. 

Hei Qian read the list with a smile, “See, I really can only ask you about this.”

“It’s really troublesome. You can’t handle such simple things.” Bai Shengsheng’s mouth said this, but it was very obvious that he benefitted from Hei Qian’s self-deprecation. 

“Wait.” Bai Shengsheng said coldly and disappeared. 

Hei Qian’s lips curled up when looking at the place where Bai Shengsheng had disappeared. He turned his head and asked Zhang Qiu, “Isn’t our family’s Xiao Bai cute? Especially the way he gets fired up.”

Zhang Qiu: ……

He didn’t understand and didn’t want to understand the bigshot’s aesthetics. 

There was a chill behind him, Zhang Qiu turned his head to see Li Shu staring at him with a smile and immediately said: “You can stop. If you dare to do anything, we will perish together.”

“Sure enough, explosive fear is cute.” Li Shu nodded thoughtfully. 

At that moment, Zhang Qiu really regretted letting Hei Qian stay with them. Fuck, it hasn’t even been a day and Li Shu has learnt something amazing. 

Bai Shengsheng may have wanted to show off his business ability in front of Hei Qian, so his work efficiency was very fast. Less than ten minutes later, he had brought the information. Hei Qian naturally praised; ‘Bai Shengsheng is so awesome. You’re better than me, I admit defeat. You will be like my boss from now on.’ The arc of Bai couldn’t suppress the arc of his mouth, and he still had a look of disgust on his face, saying: “You are so stupid, I would die of anger if I wanted you to be my subordinate.”

“Yes, yes, yes.” Hei Qian nodded, and suddenly said with a smile: “Today takes up your vacation time, I will give you money. After all, you love money so much.” 

Bai Shengsheng originally nodded his head in agreement, but when he heard the last sentence old demon Hei said, it was weird. When he met the other party’s joking eyes, his face became black with anger, “I love what money? I don’t love money. Old demon Hei, I warn you, don’t speak nonsense.”

“I just said you love money, sigh, it was a slip of my tongue, okay, don’t be angry Shengsheng, I was wrong.” Hei Qian’s voice softened. 

This made Bai Shengsheng’s face like a colour palette, in the end, he really couldn’t talk to Hei Qian, disappearing with a snort. 

Hei Qian was holding his chin, with a smile on his face, but his voice said coldly: “I can’t see Shengsheng’s cute explosive look anymore, so let’s hurry up and deal with these trivial things.”

There was the feeling of ‘Tian Liang Wang Po’[4].

Zhang Qiu didn’t think about it anymore. Hei Qian’s position was really abnormal, and he didn’t understand it, so he quickly picked up the information and looked at it.

“A captain from Qingdao……” Zhang Qiu thought about what Mrs Fang had said about warmth and humidity. Now it seems that it might have started in Qingdao, but he still didn’t know where to go from there. He was just thinking about it, when he heard the sound of penguin video on his phone. He took it out and saw that it was Senior Brother. He quickly answered. Senior Brother’s eyes were full of excitement. He said: “Junior Brother I know where our teacher has gone. Did you know? The lettering under the Imperial Jade Seal is part of a map.” 

“I have rubbings of all the leather and jade calligraphy maps. Last time I always felt that the words under the jade seal were strange. After spreading out many maps over the past two days, I discovered that the word had to be disassembled and these maps can be put together…” 

Hua Ting put together the patchwork map, circled a piece of land with a red pen, pointed and said: “This is it, crossing the Yellow Sea, passing through the Korean Strait, and sailing to an island in the Sea of Japan. I’d been looking at a map for a long time, but I still couldn’t find it. Finally, according to an ancient map, there is a small island that has no name. I’ll send you the coordinates and latitude.” 

Zhang Qiu hurriedly shared the news they had received today. It seemed that the way the captain from Qingdao and Senior Brother talked about the terrain was coincidental. It must be right. 

He sent the information to the group. Yue Qincang was the first person to reply. He wanted to know if it was Kai Ming’s instigation. Later, Qi Xi sent a smile emoji and talked about how few opportunities he has to travel abroad. Then he tweeted that foolish Lei Ou[5] could have a honeymoon with Xiao Rongrong, or something like that. 

Zhang Qiu had a headache when he saw the news sent by Qi Xi. The group was silent for a while. Finally, Pei Qing sent a meme about suicide, he then said that he would go because of the sea. 

Er-Ge and Er-Sao weren’t going. Uncle had been in poor health lately, and Er-Sao was close to giving birth, they really couldn’t leave. However, Senior Brother said he would also go. 

Time couldn’t be delayed. If you delay for a day, it is another day that the professor’s life is in danger. 

Finally deciding on a date to go to sea, Er-Ge sent many safety charms, and gave Xiao Jiang his ritualistic compass and mirror. Seeing his son’s ugly reflection in the mirror, could Zhang Qiu still have illusions about this short-legged god stick?

This time, going out was much more convenient. With Xiao Fei here, Zhang Qiu prepared two sets of things. The most important clothes, medicine and food were placed in Xiao Fei’s space, the other things were carried by him. Hei Qian was still wearing the black coat, with empty hands, not taking anything. He was very confident and relaxed, saying: “I borrowed the Boss’ boat. Can we go now?”

They went directly to Qingdao to meet up. Zhang Qiu was shocked speechless when he saw the Boss’ boat Hei Qian talked about, at the dock. 

A luxury cruise ship!!! It’s very big!!!

“Your boss is still so prevalent above that he buys estate?” Zhang Qiu was tempted to go work as a civil servant in the Underworld, the benefits were so good. The Boss’ cruise ship was ready to use. He drove his father’s small BMW secretly at night, while his father was sleeping, and of course, in the end he was too nervous and drove directly into a tree. He was then scolded by his father. 

Hei Qian said with a smile: “Uncle, he prefers to eat, drink, play and make money.”

“Uncle?!” Zhang Qiu was stunned, and then suddenly remembered last time, when Hei Qian was telling Bai Shengsheng that he came in from the back. It turned out that the big man in the Underworld is his uncle. He never expected that Hei Qian was a second generation official?

Soon everyone had arrived. Hua Ting had sent Huahua to Yang Bao’s house for a few days. Yang Bao’s father was the one who lent them his private plane from Yulin last time. The two families are old friends, and the children play well, there was no need to worry.

Kai Ming’s clothes were very thin, with a black shirt and a brown checkered sweater. Zhang Qiu felt cold looking at him, but Kai Ming looked fine, and his eyes were less hot and hostile. He smiled a little, but Yue Qincang, who was pushing the wheelchair, was obviously angry. His face was kind of cute. He wore a plump down jacket and whispered: “You wear these kinds of things in winter. I’m telling you that it is cold at night, so don’t invite me to warm your bed……” When he saw them, he waved.  

Zhang Qiu: I seem to have heard something terrible.

After getting on the boat and assigning the rooms, Zhang Qiu found the sailors on the boat to be quite strange. He saw Xiao Jiang lick his little tiger teeth and the sailors trembled. He immediately knew what some of the strange sailors were. 

“You can’t eat these. Uncle Hei Qian asked them to come and help us.” Zhang Qiu held his son’s big face and urged. 

Xiao Jiang reluctantly took back his eyes. A wisp of Xiao Fei’s crimson fog touched his Gege’s face, like a kind of persuasion, and Zhang Qiu’s heart softened. He touched his son’s chubby face, and said: “Just now, did it hurt?[6]”

“It doesn’t hurt at all dad. I know you can’t eat friends.” Xiao Jiang said with a big face, suppressing his desires. 

“Good son.” Zhang Qiu chirped and gave Xiao Jiang a kiss. Seeing Xiao Fei look at him with watery eyes, he immediately smiled and took advantage of Xiao Fei, giving him a big kiss. As a result of Zhang Qiu’s kiss, because Xiao Fei was too small, he tumbled over, sitting on Xiao Jiang’s head. his face was muddled.

Zhang Qiu laughed. Xiao Fei covered his face in embarrassment, saying softly: “Dad is bad.”

“Dad is not bad; Dad likes Xiao Fei.”

Xiao Fei tilted his head and crimson fog stretched out, touching Zhang Qiu’s face. It was as soft as cotton candy, with a bit of a milky fragrance. That was Xiao Fei’s essence. Crimson fog puffed against Zhang Qiu’s face, and Xiao Fei said softly “Good dad, kiss.”

‘Very fun’ Zhang Qiu thought with a smile. Now he realised the fun Hei Qian has when teasing Bai Shengsheng. 

Oh------

How could he think that! Sure enough, he shouldn’t have Hei Qian around him for too long, that man is poisonous. 

The group’s first dinner on board was delicious. There were two chefs, Chinese and Western, and they ordered their food according to personal tastes. Zhang Qiu ordered the famous local seafood congee. Xiao Jiang was gnawing on a piece of strawberry cake. He ate a mouthful of cream and went to kiss Xiao Fei. Xiao Fei giggled but did not avoid. It was so sweet that Zhang Qiu wanted to kiss his son too but was pulled by Li Shu into a kiss. 

“Do you want it?”

What the hell! Daddy Li Shu, which eyes of yours see that I want it!!!

______________________________________________________

Translator’s notes:

[1] I am 80% sure this is what it means. I sure hope I am right.

[2] Probably means that LS was eating more than he was speaking.

[3] Simple minded – A naïve/stupid person.

Well-developed limbs – Hands and feet are moving, but nothing is being done.

An explanation I found online added at the end:

“Only humans can make up such boring curses.”

[4] It is a popular online phrase that is shortened from ‘It’s cold, so let the Wang Group go bankrupt.’ This buzzword comes from the novel <My Fiery Bodyguard> and <Fighter of the Destiny>. After a long Weibo post by netizen @kevin that caused a hot discussion on the internet.

[5] 本傻逼雷偶 – Really wish I could translate this better, but I have never seen anything like it before. I hope at some point in the near future I can understand and fix it. Pardon it for now as it is more of an additional comment than something major to the plot.

[6] Not quite sure what is supposed to have hurt. It could be about the crimson fog or the fact that he can’t eat the sailors. My guess is on the latter.

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