Empress Of The Lost Kingdom

Li Juan walked out from the suite room in elegant strides and got into the escalator and exhaled in relief.

"Damn! it feels good after using some informal language," 

Li Juan grinned and looked at her reflection.

"Is it enough or do you want me to become more badass?" Surprisingly Li Juan felt that her mind is at peace. She went back to the banquet hall without any worry. 

On the other hand, Han Guang was on pins and needles. First of all, Tang Fei wants to fire Li Juan from the expedition team. He was practically begging to Tang Fei for Li Juan, however, Li Juan came with her reckless behaviour and poured water onto his plan. Then he came down to meet the chief doctor to found out that Li Juan is unfit for the expedition. No wonder she acted recklessly in front of Tang Fei. There was nothing to lose at that point.

Han Guang looked at Li Juan with worry.

"That old man kicked me out of the team," Li Juan said casually.

"Huh, what happened ?"

"He said he is kicking me out from the expedition team but I can still be part of the project."

"And you agreed to that?"

"I said I quit." Li Juan replied with a grin.

"What?"

"The doctor said that I am unfit, anyway I won't be able to go. Then why should I beg?" Li Juan was surprisingly calm about the situation. Han Guang noticed that looked at her startled.

"Are you okay? You act....weird." Han Guang hesitated to continue, 

"Do you want me to cry and throw tantrums like a child?"

Li Juan smiled. "I will better go and pack my bags," 

"Li Juan," Han Guang called her name in concern. 

" There is nothing to worry professor. I will come back for the second phase of the expedition," 

"Hmm." 

Within half an hour, Li Juan packed her bags and came down to meet Han Guang.

"Why are you leaving now? It is already late."

"I am in a good mood right now, if I leave now I can save my tears" Li Juan nonchalantly said.

"At least wait for them to come back," Han Guang looked at Li Juan who looked determined.

"No professor, I won't be able to go back if senior Cheng or Tae Min returns,

"Goodbyes" are always difficult." Li Juan said with a faint smile.

"What should I tell them, Li Juan?" Han Guang didn't know how to handle the current situation. He never expected that Li Juan will be kicked out from the grou.

"My health condition doesn't allow me to go for this expedition. So I went back home to recuperate, and I will join the team for the second phase." 

"Hmm, how will you go back?"

"I want to try the over-night train ride." Li Juan said thoughtfully. "Ah professor, Can you give this to CEO Tang?"

Li Juan removed the jade ring from her finger. Han Guang glanced at her with dubious eyes.

"It is a burden, CEO Tang and his ring."

"Li Juan, I am sorry that I couldn't help you." Han Guang tried to apologise.

"No, professor, you did your best to help me. It is just bad luck. And I really need a break. Please don't worry about me."

"Hmm, take a break and try to look after your health."

"Goodbye, Professor, please stay safe," Li Juan bid adieu to him and walked towards the entrance. Ning Jing who was waiting at the entrance stopped Li Juan with a triumphant smile.

"You should have listened to me in the first place and left Xi city at that moment. But you decided to stay and challenged me. Now you got to know what happens a lowly rat like you, challenges to go against me. I can finish your damn career with a single phone call."

Li Juan looked at Ning Jing with an expressionless face.

"I think there is a misunderstanding miss Ning, Chairman Tang indeed kicked me out of the team, but nothing has happened to my career." Li Juan looked at her with overflowing confidence.

"You see, I don't work under Tang Corporations. I am a research scholar at Jing university. So I can still come back and work on this project. But what about you, miss Ning?"

Li Juan sniggered. "How long you can remain happy? You can kick me out from here. But even if you try a thousand times, you cannot kick me out from "Wei Sheng Gege's" life. Li Juan gave more stress on the term "Gege".

"So you better be prepared, who knows if one day I decided to come back and retrieve what is lawfully mine. Have a nice journey, miss Ning."

Li Juan grinned and walked away from her.

"That bitch,How dare she," Mei Lin complained.

"Let her enjoy the final days of her life." Ning Jing commented. 

"What do you mean?"

"Did you think that I will let her leave like that? kicking her out from the team was just a beginning," Ning Jing said with poisonous eyes.

Li Juan took a taxi to the train station. The overnight train ride from Xi city to Jing city is famous and the tickets were cheaper than flight tickets. That was one of the reasons Li Juan decided to go by train., Though the journey will take more than one day staying one more day in Xi city will only make things worse. Though Li Juan acted brave and decided to take a break, deep in her heart, she was sad and hurt.

After all, she came this far and had to call it, to quit.

Li Juan walked towards the ticket counter and bought one train ticket to Jing city for the train departs at 10 pm in the night. 

Since there are three hours left for the departing time, Li Juan decided to go to the public library. Last time when she went to the library, she got intimidated by Liang who acted like a stalker. Upon his sight, she left the library immediately and got into real trouble.

What would have happened to her, if Liang was unable to rescue her from those thugs?

Li Juan's train of thoughts got broken by her mobile phone's ringtone.

It was Zhang Zi Zhong. He called Li Juan to ask that is she on her way to their home for dinner.

Li Juan forgot about the dinner plan, due to various incidents that happened on the day.

She searched for the location of Manager Zhang's house on the internet. It was roughly 30 minutes far away from the railway station. She can come back within two hours. Li Juan immediately dropped the plan to visit the library and hailed a taxi to Zhang Zi Zhong's house.

Li Juan took her mobile and looked at the screen. 

There weren't any missed calls or messages from anyone.

Tang Wei Sheng and his team haven't returned yet. How will they react when they hear that Li Juan has left the expedition team and went back?

Don't think about it!!!! At least for now.

"Let's celebrate the last night at Xi city peacefully." Li Juan reminded herself. 

Li Juan reached Zhang Zi Zhong's house earlier than she expected. 

The house was situated in a posh residential complex in the centre of the city in the banks of Xi river. Li Juan got down from the car right in front of the gate. She adjusted her clothes and pressed the doorbell. Within a few seconds, the door was opened by Zhang Zi Zhong and his wife. 

"Good evening Mr and Mrs Zhang." 

Li Juan greeted them and handed over a fruit basket she brought from a store on the way.

"Good evening Miss Li, please come inside" Zhang Zi Zhong invited her to their house.

The interior of the two-storied house had a perfect blend of modern and traditional styles. 

"Miss Li, this is my wife, Lin Li-Hui," Zhang Zi Zhong introduced his wife.

"Nice to meet you, Mrs Zhang. I am Li Juan."

"I have heard a lot about you from my husband. Please take a seat, Miss Li," Lin Li- Hui said with a welcoming smile.

Li Juan looked at Lin Li Hui with an amazed expression. 

Even in her mid-fifties, Lin Li-Hui appeared extremely beautiful and elegant.

What made her more attractive was her big black eyes and darker skin tone. 

No wonder when Zhang Zi Zhong said that Li Juan reminded him of his late daughter. His daughter must have taken after Lin Li-Hui.

"When my husband said that Miss Li looked like our daughter, I didn't believe him at all. But when I saw you in front of my eyes, I am amazed." Lin Li-Hui commented.

"I am glad that I've finally met you, Mrs Zhang."

I will get you something to drink, Lin Li-Hui stood up and walked towards the kitchen.

"Are you going somewhere, Miss Li?" Zhang Zi Zhong looked at Li Juan's luggage. 

"Ah, I am going back to Jing city."

"Oh, what happened to the expedition?"

"I failed in the medical test."

"Huh?" Zhang Zi Zhong looked at her in disbelief.

"I got high blood pressure. The doctor told me to avoid travelling to high altitude."

" That's so sad, you were so excited about the expedition."

"I can join for the second phase of the expedition." Li Juan said with a smile.

Lin Li-Hei came back with Chrysanthemum tea and served it to Li Juan.

" Thank you, Mrs Zhang. I actually needed it" Li Juan thanked her and sipped her tea. "You have a beautiful house," 

"Thank you, Miss Li. It is designed by my wife." Zhang Zi Zhong said with a proud face.

"Oh, that's so great Mrs Zhang."

Would you like to see around Miss Li?" 

"I would love to," Li Juan replied enthusiastically.

Lin Li Hui took Li Juan for a house tour. Every corner of the house oozed class and elegance. Though Li Juan is not a fan of living in a big house, she likes to house tours. The way one keeps and takes care of their houses, says a lot about their character. When it comes to the Zhang family, both of them are well disciplined and has a modern approach to everything, but still rooted in their traditional values.

Finally, Lin Li Hei led Li Juan a neatly arranged bedroom on the second floor.

"This is my daughter's room,"

Li Juan looked around, with lots of bright colours and wall decorated with photographs, the room definitely, stood out from the rest of the house. 

The room reflected the bright personality of its owner including the various artworks kept in the room.

" It seems like your daughter inherited her mother's talents." Li Juan praised.

"This is our Li Jun," Lin Li-Hui smiled and pointed to one of the photo frames.

Li Juan walked closer to her and glanced at the girl in the picture.

It was true, their daughter did look like Li Juan.

They can't be called as twins, but a third person can easily mistake them as siblings.

Even Zhang Li Jun's pictures from childhood were similar to Li Juan.

Li Juan carefully looked at Zhang Li Jun's photographs. Even in the old family photos, she saw many people with similar skin tone as her. 

Li Juan knew that people with dark complexion were common in the south region, unlike the other the parts of the C country. 

However, one photograph caught Li Juan's attention.

It was a picture of three kids, two boys and a girl.

The elder boy was around seven years old and the girl was four years. The younger boy was in the age where he started walking. 

Three of them looked incredibly cute.

But why this photo looks so familiar, especially the elder boy.

"Even his smile feels familiar. Where did I saw this picture?" Li Juan was curious.

Who is he?