DDT - Chapter 104

Chapter 104: Tycoon's Daughter (12)

The days always flew by, and a week had already passed since Yi Shuhan joined the Secret Party.

Fortunately, in recent years, Yi Shuhan's parents had grown accustomed to her leaving early and returning late, her appearances and disappearances as unpredictable as a ghost. The fact that Chi Junluo brought her home every night when it was very late gave them some peace of mind.

Chi Junluo was also a girl. At first, the head of the Yi family, Yi Ming, wasn't very happy about his daughter fooling around outside with a classmate, especially at night. Two girls alone on the streets were in far too much danger. After all, it was a time of war. If something were to happen, they might never even find them.

But this matter was subsequently resolved by Chi Junluo.

She single-handedly took on three burly men from the Yi residence, men who usually served as Yi Ming's bodyguards. Two of them were former soldiers who had been on the battlefield, and the other had trained at a proper military academy. All three possessed considerable fighting skills.

For Chi Junluo, a twenty-year-old girl who looked completely harmless, to be able to fight three large men to a standstill was truly astonishing!

Yi Ming considered himself worldly and knowledgeable. He had also attended a military academy and could generally recognize the fist and footwork of a soldier. Like his three personal bodyguards, although they weren't taught by the same soldier or from the same unit, the content was largely similar, and their offensive and defensive moves followed the same patterns.

But the techniques displayed by his daughter's mysterious senior were completely foreign to him.

He had to admit, this young woman's skills were truly formidable. When he saw her forcing the three robust men to retreat step by step, giving them no room to counterattack, he immediately thought of the secret agents under various political parties or warlords. Agents who had undergone years of special training could indeed achieve what Chi Junluo had. But upon closer inspection, he realized that Chi Junluo's methods were not at all those of a soldier.

After inquiring about Chi Junluo's background, Yi Ming temporarily dismissed his suspicions. Chi Junluo explained that her family had a history spanning several hundred years. They were nobles from a previous dynasty and had once been immensely wealthy. Her ancestors included a great general, and the family had its own system of ancient martial arts. A few years ago, her hometown was razed by the Japanese Army. She and her butler escaped to Huaping City with some money and weapons. To make a living, she had started a small business of her own in the city.

For the time being, Yi Ming determined that his daughter's senior was at least not trying to use his daughter to get close to the Yi family for personal gain. As for whether she had other motives, he would have to observe her secretly and investigate her thoroughly before he could truly be at ease.

The rest was just the happiness of a father. Yi Shuhan had been a handful since she was a child, like a little monkey. The daughters of other noble families couldn't get along with her, and as for the sons of other families, Yi Ming was even more worried. Over time, Yi Shuhan was left to play by herself.

Now that Shuhan had finally found a friend to chat and have fun with, and a girl who seemed polite and well-mannered at that, he no longer had to worry about some pig coming to root up his precious cabbage.

Yi Ming would never have imagined that it was his own cabbage who wanted to go and root up someone else's.

In the end, the mutual "probing" concluded after Chi Junluo produced a pistol and two full magazines.

Chi Junluo expressed that the businesses under her name looked forward to collaborating with the Yi family. As for the specific nature of her businesses, she stated that it was not yet time to reveal them. This made Yi Ming believe her a little more, and he subconsciously elevated Chi Junluo's status in his mind.

She spoke elegantly and carried herself with poise. When the conversation touched upon some commercial matters, Chi Junluo had her own insights. Yi Ming's guard lowered considerably.

The two had a pleasant conversation, and Yi Ming took the opportunity to invite Chi Junluo to stay at the Yi residence. After all, the two children were out playing so late every day. For her to bring his daughter back and then return home alone was not the Yi family's way of treating a guest. The Yi estate was large, with plenty of rooms, and they certainly had space for one more guest. Moreover, this was his daughter's first good friend. As a father, he was naturally delighted to see the two girls getting along.

While the two were talking in the study, Yi Shuhan waited anxiously by herself in the lounge next door. She had tried to eavesdrop on the conversation between her Ah Yan and her father, but the study door was shut tight without even a crack, sealing all the sounds inside.

After her third glass of chilled plum juice in the lounge, the study door finally opened. Her efforts as the great young lady of the Yi family, straining her ears for so long, had not been in vain.

Yi Shuhan hopped out of the lounge and saw Chi Junluo carefully closing the door.

She walked over, slightly nervous. "Father didn't say anything harsh to you, did he?"

Seeing Yi Shuhan's eyes darting around and the nervous little expression on her face, Chi Junluo felt that this heroine was just too cute for words!

She fought back the urge to reach out and ruffle the heroine's fluffy hair, squeezing her palm instead. "Mr. Yi is very kind. He's a very charming father."

Hearing that Chi Junluo hadn't been given a hard time, Yi Shuhan breathed a sigh of relief. She pouted and complained about her own father, "Ah Yan, don't be fooled by his scholarly and gentle appearance as a businessman. In reality, he's a stubborn old fossil with antiquated ideas, completely inflexible. I really don't know how he managed to inherit the family business…"

Chi Junluo felt that the heroine's act of airing her father's dirty laundry to an outsider right at his study door was not very prudent. She had a feeling that if she didn't stop her, someone might overhear and it would be bad if word got back to Mr. Yi. So, she quickly interrupted the heroine's endless stream of complaints and changed the subject. "Shuhan. That math problem you asked me about after class the other day, I worked it out later. I'll explain the method to you in a bit, okay?"

Yi Shuhan paused for a moment. As she tried hard to recall when in the past week she had asked Chi Junluo a math question, Chi Junluo had already taken the opportunity to pull her away from the study door.

Chi Junluo's guess was correct. Just a door away in the study, the master of the Yi family was in a rather undignified posture, pressing his ear against the door crack. He had heard most of the unguarded conversation between the two. Unlike his earlier formal discussion with Chi Junluo from a distance across the room, now with only a door between them, he could hear everything. As expected of family, even their method of eavesdropping was perfectly in sync.

In short, the more the great master Yi listened, the darker his face became. They say a daughter is a father's little padded jacket, but it seemed his little jacket was black-hearted, only thinking of tarnishing her old man's name!

Hearing the footsteps fade into the distance, Yi Ming straightened up and paced back to his desk.

Near the end of their conversation, he had asked the girl a question. "Young lady, the situation in the Dragon Kingdom is not good right now. The Japanese nation is watching like a tiger eyeing its prey. If Huaping City were to be breached one day and become a Japanese colony, what would you do?"

Chi Junluo remained composed, but her mind raced. From the memories she had received about the heroine, Yi Ming clearly did not want Yi Shuhan involved in messy national affairs, as evidenced by the previous protests and the lecture he gave her in the study afterward. Yi Ming had seen far too much. He had the money and ability, and he only wanted to protect his wife and daughter, to protect everyone in the Yi household. He just wanted the people he loved, those who loved him, and those who depended on him for survival to live well. He had made his stance very clear, but the passionate Yi Shuhan wouldn't listen.

At this moment, the answer to this question was extremely important. A thousand thoughts flashed through her mind, but in reality, Chi Junluo only frowned slightly before answering, "I'd probably run away ahead of time?" After a pause, she added, "To another city or country would be fine. I have more than enough money, so I won't have to worry about food or clothing."

Yi Ming was somewhat surprised. He had thought that children of his daughter's age at Huaping Academy, having received the same education and with some secretly inciting them, would all be hot-blooded, eager to rush to the front lines and fight the Japanese Army, unafraid even of martyrdom.

He never expected that this girl before him lacked the passion and anger he had anticipated. "You hope to continue doing business and making money if Huaping City becomes a colony?"

Chi Junluo looked into Yi Ming's eyes. She was smiling politely, yet it sent an inexplicable chill down one's spine. She said, "In the hands of the Japanese Army, would a colony even exist?"

She didn't explain the sentence in detail, because she believed Yi Ming would understand. As an old tycoon of Huaping City, he lacked nothing in status, means, or money. He had ways of knowing what had happened in the cities trampled by the Japanese Army.

The young woman before him had said only this one sentence, and both understood. When you do business on a large scale, you have your own means and status. With just this sentence, Yi Ming greatly lowered his guard against Chi Junluo. Someone who could get firsthand information from outside the city couldn't be running a small business. But Yi Ming was more interested in her attitude. "Don't you hate them? Don't you want to kill this group of bloodthirsty Japanese soldiers with your own hands? Don't you want to avenge your family?"

Each question struck at the deepest, most sensitive parts of a person's heart. If she truly cared about these things or wanted to take action, Yi Ming believed he would see it immediately. Young people were always impatient.

Chi Junluo feigned a slight, perfectly timed pause, a flicker of sorrow crossing her eyes—not a bit more, not a bit less. She appeared very composed. "Mr. Yi, you jest. If hatred was useful, what would we need the government army for? My family gave their lives so I could survive, not so I could go and get myself killed. I just want to live on, carrying my family's hopes with me."

Yi Ming leaned back in his leather chair, staring somewhat absently at the bookshelf at the other end of the study. A friend with such a strong will to survive would surely not let herself fall into danger. Shuhan following her would be better than following the unreliable groups from the academy to protest on the streets… right?

For some reason, he had a vague feeling that he had missed something. It seemed there were some things he needed to prepare for in advance.

In one week, Yi Shuhan had become proficient at translating secret codes from newspapers and other inconspicuous items. However, she still hadn't been able to decipher the poem from that day. She had tried to solve it many times, but it always seemed unsolvable. When she asked her Ah Yan, Chi Junluo was also mysterious, saying she would understand once she figured it out. Putting this hair-pulling problem aside, what made Yi Shuhan happiest was learning to use a firearm.

Although the recoil of a pistol wasn't huge, it was still a bit much for a novice girl like Yi Shuhan, who couldn't even truss a chicken. For the first two days of shooting practice, she could barely lift her arm. But Ah Yan was always there, patiently guiding her, which made the training feel less tedious.

It was two days ago, when she arrived at the shooting range in the afternoon while Chi Junluo went to get the guns and ammunition, that a member next to her said with an envious look that he had been in special training for several years and had seen Chi Junluo train other new members, but he had never seen her be so patient and amiable.

Yi Shuhan listened with great interest, but unfortunately, Chi Junluo returned shortly after. Looking at this gentle, smiling, and patient North Goose, she couldn't at all connect her with the impartial, uncompromising "she-devil" or "black-faced chief" who would punish people at the drop of a hat, as the member had just described.

She felt that Ah Yan was truly so gentle with her.

The gentle "black-faced chief" was now standing behind her, her arms lightly encircling her to correct her shooting posture. In such a comfortable atmosphere, Yi Shuhan felt her heart suddenly skip a beat.

It was a cold, windy day, yet she felt a little… hot.

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