20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 470 New Year
Zhao Lingchun seemed to have been frightened out of his wits in an instant. He huddled up on the head of the bed, screaming and wailing like crazy. Apart from begging for mercy, he uttered no other words.

No matter how I whispered to comfort her or how I yelled at her, I couldn't stop her crazy reaction.

It was not until Jiang Lianheng threatened her - "I will kill you if you scream again" - that she hurriedly covered her mouth with her hands and forced herself to swallow her inner fear.

The surroundings finally became quiet again.

As we approached the "dungeon", we thought the door was locked, but we discovered that the chain on the fence was just a fake and it opened with a slight push.

Jiang Lianheng walked slowly to the bedside and looked down at Zhao Lingchun. His eyes were extremely calm, without any regret or pity.

Time can calm the raging anger, but that does not mean relief.

The two of them had already formed a feud, and there was no room for maneuver.

Without Zhao Lingchun, it is very likely that "Sea Owl" would have succeeded in smashing Baijia Kiln. Even if it had not succeeded, "Chuan'erhong" would not have fallen into Xiao Dongyang's hands.

However, Jiang Lianheng no longer has any resentment now.

Zhao Lingchun is an enemy, not a traitor.

The winners are the kings and the losers are the bandits, it’s just a matter of different positions. Jiang Lianheng can understand it, but he cannot forgive it.

The main reason is that he has already won, and won completely.

As his status in the underworld continued to rise, the current situation could no longer bring him the slightest pleasure of revenge.

Besides, he had no interest in torturing a woman.

Seeing Zhao Lingchun's silence, Jiang Lianheng turned around with disgust and sat down on the chair. After thinking for a moment, he asked coldly, "Lingchun, it's been six or seven years. Can I let you choose again?"

He leaned forward, and his deep voice echoed in the basement.

"Do you want to continue living like this, or do you want to end it cleanly?"

Zhao Lingchun covered his mouth tightly and shook his head desperately, his eyes full of panic.

Jiang Lianheng frowned, raised his chin towards her impatiently, and ordered in a deep voice: "Speak!"

"Do not kill me."

This was the first and only sentence Zhao Lingchun said after he let go of his hand.

"So you still want to live like this?"

"Do not kill me."

"If you're scared, I can have someone send you some medicine, or you can do it yourself."

"Do not kill me."

No matter what he heard, Zhao Lingchun's answer was always just these three words.

Although her physical condition seemed to be good, the long-term confinement in darkness had caused her spirit to collapse and she had almost lost the ability to communicate normally with others.

Survival is just an instinct, while death is a determination.

If Zhao Lingchun really had this determination, perhaps he would not be here at this moment.

At first, she hesitated because of the gold and silver; now, she was in the same room with her enemy's huge wealth.

This seems to be "being happy with what one is doing" in a sense.

Seeing this, Jiang Lianheng had no choice but to shake his head, feeling helpless and disdainful.

Immediately, he stood up from the chair and walked slowly to the head of the bed.

Zhao Lingchun was so scared that he immediately turned away, put his hands on his head, and curled up in a corner, not daring to open his eyes. He sobbed and said, "I won't run away anymore. I really won't run away. Please don't kill me."

Jiang Lianheng watched silently for a while, then suddenly sighed and said, "Lingchun, I actually have no grudge against your family. I just caught up with you. I can only say that it was fate!"

After saying this, he turned and left, muttering to himself as he walked:

"I still have some impression of you. The old man is very fierce and not afraid of anything. I admire him."

There was no response, and it was unknown whether Zhao Lingchun heard it.

Jiang Lianheng didn't care and continued walking towards the stone steps. Today was New Year's Day, and he didn't plan to stay here for too long.

But at this moment, a series of hurried footsteps suddenly sounded behind me!

Was it a sneak attack?

Jiang Lianheng turned around and saw Zhao Lingchun quickly running to the gate of the fence, closing his cage, and then tightly wrapping it with an iron chain. Then he immediately dodged and hid in the shadow in the corner again.

Seeing this, Jiang Lianheng couldn't help but shake his head and sigh: "It's true that each generation is inferior to the previous one."

…………

Upstairs, they packed tray after tray of dumplings until they had enough. Everyone finally gathered in the living room, eating melon seeds and chatting and laughing.

Hu Xiaoyan and Xu Ruqing were whispering, as if they were "plotting" something big.

The night deepened outside the window and the sound of firecrackers could be faintly heard in the city.

Jiang Chengye shook his mother's arm and asked with a pout, "Mom, I'm hungry. When are we going to eat?"

Sister Hua grabbed a handful of peanuts for her son and said to him in a soothing voice, "Come, have a bite first. If you're really hungry, go ask Auntie when dinner is served."

Jiang Chengye glanced at Hu Xiaoyan from a distance, then immediately turned around, lowered his head, picked at his fingers, and timidly muttered: "...I dare not."

"Then you eat peanuts first." "I don't want to eat peanuts."

The mother and daughter started whispering to each other on the sofa.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Ya had sharp eyes and sharper ears. After hearing these words, she immediately ran to the middle of the living room, put her hands on her waist, and shouted at the top of her voice:
"Stop talking, stop talking, I'm hungry, when is dinner?"

The living room suddenly became quiet.

Everyone's eyes fell on the little girl, and then they immediately burst into laughter.

"What are you laughing at?" Jiang Ya frowned and asked, "Are you not going to eat?"

"Eat, eat." Hu Xiaoyan smiled and waved to her daughter, then looked at Xiaohua and asked softly, "Chengye is hungry?"

Sister Hua quickly shook her head and said, "He is just greedy. Let's wait for the master to come out before we start eating."

Hu Xiaoyan turned around and glanced at the grandfather clock, muttering, "Why hasn't he come out for so long? It's time for dinner... Xifeng, go call your brother, and ask Song Ma and Yingzi to start cooking. We'll have to wait for a while after they're done."

Li Zhengxi responded.

However, just as he was about to get up, Jiang Lianheng's voice came from the other side of the corridor.

"When the child is hungry, let's eat. What are you waiting for? Song Ma? Song Ma, let's get started!"

As he spoke, Jiang Lianheng walked into the living room and raised his hand to greet them, "Come to the table, come to the table, put down the stools, and cut some cooked food first. Don't let my eldest son go hungry!"

Hearing this, everyone stood up and walked towards the restaurant.

Jiang Ya fiddled with her fingers and counted the number of people: "My father, my mother, my godmother, my second mother, my aunt, my younger brother, Uncle Dong, Second Uncle, Third Uncle, Fourth Uncle... Oh, yes, and my... mother! A total of eleven people!"

Hu Xiaoyan smiled and said, "I checked too much, your fourth uncle is not coming back."

Jiang Ya's eyes widened, her expression extremely shocked: "What should we do? He won't be able to eat dumplings during the Chinese New Year!"

Jiang Lianheng came over, pushed Hu Xiaoyan's wheelchair, and said to his daughter, "Don't worry, your fourth uncle is in the camp, he won't starve!"

"Dad, are there dumplings in the camp?"

"You're just a little bit old, not enough for you to worry about. Just take care of yourself."

Jiang Ya had a worried look on her face and followed everyone silently.

At this time, Zhang Zhengdong walked to the entrance, turned around and said to everyone: "You go first, I'll go set off the firecrackers."

As soon as he finished speaking, the two children immediately became excited, clamoring to go outside to watch Uncle Dong set off firecrackers.

Xue Yingqing also suggested: "The meal isn't ready yet, why don't we all go out and take a look?"

Everyone was in high spirits, so they put on their coats one after another, walked out of the house, came to the steps at the gate of the mansion, and huddled together shiveringly.

At this time of year, the entire Fengtian city was ablaze with lights, a fine snow was floating in the night sky, the sound of firecrackers could be heard faintly in the distance, as well as the laughter of neighbors.

Suddenly a cold wind blew on their faces, and everyone stamped their feet hurriedly, with smiles and festive joy on their faces, and unknowingly they snuggled up to each other even more tightly.

Soon, Dongfeng came over with two strings of red whips, hung them on the top of a bamboo pole, and stretched them to the street in the alley at the door.

Everyone started to make a fuss and asked the leader Jiang Lianheng to set off the firecrackers.

Jiang Lianheng smiled and lit a cigarette, then walked down the steps, picked up the fuse on the whip with one hand, blew up the cigarette butt twice to light it, and as soon as it lit, he immediately let go of his hand. He saw a puff of smoke from the fuse on the whip, followed by a festive "crackling" sound.

Jiang Ya covered her ears with her hands, jumped high, and shouted happily:

"It's Chinese New Year! It's Chinese New Year!"

Jiang Lianheng also hurried back to the steps, stood with his family, and watched the light from the hanging firecrackers rise up little by little.

He couldn't help but glance at Hu Xiaoyan and his two children. There were only them in his eyes, not himself anymore.

Thank you for your hard work—he said so in his heart.

Hu Xiaoyan seemed to feel Jiang Lianheng's gaze, so she raised her head, looked at him, smiled, and seemed to say something, but that was no longer important.

After the firecrackers were set off, a thick cloud of white smoke was blown past the entrance of the alley by the wind.

Jiang Lianheng called out in a clear voice: "Okay, come in and have dinner!"

"Let's go, it's time for dinner!"

"Dinner is ready! Dinner is ready!"

Everyone turned around with a smile and walked towards the courtyard.

But at this moment, there was a sudden burst of violent coughing in the alley, mixed with a few curses.

"Oh my god, this gunpowder face was not wasted at all, I inhaled it all!"

Everyone turned around in response, their brows furrowed, with a bit of confusion, but they saw a tall figure walking towards them dimly in the thick white smoke.

"You haven't eaten yet, do you have any dumplings?"

The man lowered his head, covered his mouth and nose, and waved his hands to disperse the thick smoke in front of him.

Jiang Ya's eyes suddenly lit up, and he quickly rushed over, opened his arms and shouted, "Fourth Uncle!"

Zhao Zhengbei squatted down, hugged his eldest niece in his arms, kissed her face twice, then raised his head and smiled heartily at Jiang Lianheng and Hu Xiaoyan.

"Brother, sister-in-law, I'm back!"

(End of this chapter)