Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Miserable Wang Lei

“Xiao Jin, Xiao Wang, you two handle this matter. I’m playing chess with Chu Feng,” Old Chen instructed, waving off Old Wang and Old Jin to deal with the situation before returning to his game.

Old Wang and Old Jin left the pavilion together and called for the guards upstairs to come down.

“If these eight people take one more step forward, open fire. Remember to use silencers—don’t cause a panic.” This was Old Wang’s order to the two armed soldiers beside him.

Old Wang now held the authority to protect Old Chen’s safety. If those men in black dared to move another inch, the two soldiers would not hesitate to shoot.

Wang Lei, standing at the back, nearly collapsed in fright when he saw the guns being raised. He hadn’t expected that the people in the pavilion would be armed.

Seeing the weapons, Wang Lei realized there was no hope for his plan today. He tried to whistle to call his men back, but just as he put his fingers to his lips, a steady rhythm of footsteps sounded behind him.

He turned around and nearly screamed—over a dozen armed men were running toward them.

Abandoning the idea of calling back his eight henchmen, Wang Lei dove into the nearby garden to make his escape.

Bang! One of the soldiers in the pavilion noticed the flowers shaking in the garden and, suspecting someone was hiding there, fired a shot.

It was a casual shot, but the bullet struck Wang Lei squarely in the backside. With a loud scream, Wang Lei fainted from the pain.

Old Jin, seeing there was someone in the flowerbed, told Old Wang to keep watch and went in with his pistol.

The eight men in black, held at gunpoint, dared not move. They knew that any wrong move could mean a bullet to the head.

The soldiers Old Wang had summoned soon arrived at the pavilion. Seeing the soldiers with automatic rifles, the eight men in black began cursing their fate.

“Wang Lei, you little bastard, you really got us into this mess. Of all people to provoke, you had to pick the military. Now we’re stuck with no way out.”

“Take all of them back for strict interrogation. Find out who sent them,” Old Wang commanded with a wave of his hand, and the soldiers escorted the eight away.

“Two of you, come here. There’s another one in the bushes. Take him to the hospital first—get the bullet out before anything else,” Old Jin said as he found Wang Lei wounded in the flowerbed.

Two soldiers carried Wang Lei to the hospital, where doctors were called to extract the bullet from his backside.

Wang Lei’s misfortune was complete. He had come here to propose to Han Xuefang, had his ring snatched by Chu Feng, and was beaten up. Then, after hiring eight men in black for revenge, he found himself outmatched by firearms. All eight of his men were captured, and while fleeing, he’d been shot—right in the rear.

“Old Chen, the men have all been taken away. We also found a young man hiding in the bushes. He wasn’t carrying any weapons—looked just like a college student,” Old Jin reported, puzzled as to who this young man could be. If he were an assassin, why would he be unarmed?

“Do as you see fit. If those men really are up to no good, deal with them accordingly. As for the young man, if he’s committed no crime, let him go. But make sure he doesn’t talk about what happened today,” Old Chen instructed calmly. Situations like this always had designated handlers; his main focus was on recovering his health.

“I know who that young man is. Let’s see if he admits his mistake. If he does, release him. If not, root him out completely,” Chu Feng added, surprising Old Chen with his words.

Still, Old Chen didn’t inquire further. Everyone had their secrets, and Chu Feng was no exception.

Old Jin quietly stood by, observing Old Chen and Chu Feng’s chess game, leaving the rest to Old Wang, who was an expert at these affairs. Many foreign spies and agents had failed to last half a day under Old Wang’s interrogation before revealing their identities.

Chu Feng and Old Chen continued playing chess in the pavilion until noon, when Old Chen finally asked Old Jin to put the board away for lunch.

He had played against Old Chen for hours without winning a single match, always being completely overwhelmed by the elder’s skill.

Chu Feng wheeled Old Chen back to his room on the second floor, where the nurse had already delivered his nutritional meal.

“Chu Feng, there’s more than I can eat by myself. Join me,” Old Chen offered. In truth, there wasn’t much food, but Old Chen’s poor health meant he couldn’t eat much at once.

“These meals were specially prepared by the hospital for you. I’m a healthy young man—if I ate this, I’d probably get nosebleeds tonight,” Chu Feng replied with a smile. He wanted to eat with Old Chen, but these were nutritional meals formulated for the elder’s condition. If he ate such rich food, he really would suffer, considering how different their physical states were.

“Old Jin will bring food for me soon. I’m not in a hurry,” Chu Feng said, sitting by as Old Chen ate.

Soon after, Old Jin brought over a meal for Chu Feng as well. Like the others, he had to buy food from outside, since the hospital meals were all nutritional and not to their taste.

After lunch, Chu Feng checked Old Chen’s pulse, then asked Old Jin to fetch some documents—but this time, Chu Feng set a strict limit: no more than one hour of reading per day.

At first, Old Chen objected and tried to bargain, but Chu Feng refused to budge, so the elder finally agreed to the one-hour limit.

While Old Chen read, Chu Feng stayed by his side in case the old man fainted unexpectedly.

Afterward, Chu Feng gave Old Chen a gentle massage to ease his fatigue.

“Old Chen, I’ve already found out the identities of those men in black. They were all acting on orders from someone named Wang Lei. Their target this time wasn’t you—it was Chu Feng.”