True Solution of the Sword Dao

After lunch, Lin Fei took Xu Ke out of the restaurant.

"Where do you want to go today?" Lin Fei seemed to treat these few days as a time to relax.

"Anything’s fine, how about the zoo?" Xu Ke asked.

"Sure." Lin Fei said indifferently.

Just then Xu Ke’s cellphone suddenly rang. She took out a dark red small phone from her purse and glanced at the screen, her brows slightly furrowed.

"I’ll take a call."

She turned and walked to a corner.

"Hello, Mom, what’s going on?"

"Keke, are you in Capital City now? There’s trouble at home again." From the other end of the phone, the tired voice of a middle-aged woman came through. "Your brother got into a fight, his legs are broken, and he has major internal bleeding, they are trying to save him..." The woman’s voice choked up before she could finish.

Xu Ke’s face turned pale.

"Trying to save him?? Mom, don’t scare me... Wasn’t he fine when I left? He even promised me he wouldn’t go looking for trouble with those people..."

"It’s true..." Her mother was about to continue, but suddenly the voice on the phone changed to a middle-aged man’s. "Keke, focus on your studies at school, your mom and I are here, don’t worry about home! Just concentrate on your education! Your brother is fine now, he just got through the critical period." The man’s voice tried to sound strong, but Xu Ke still heard a profound exhaustion.

She was silent for a moment before speaking.

"Alright, I understand. Mom and Dad, take care of yourselves. The family is depending on you. If you fall apart, what will my brother and I do?"

"Understood, just focus on your studies, don’t worry about home," the man said sternly.

"Okay."

"Alright, hanging up now." The line was abruptly cut off.

Xu Ke still held the phone, her expression somewhat wooden. It wasn’t until the busy signal beeped in the phone for quite some time that she came back to herself and put down the phone.

Lin Fei came up from behind.

"What’s wrong? A call from home?" he asked with a slight frown.

"Yeah." Xu Ke forced a smile. "There’s been a bit of trouble at home. I might need to rush back immediately."

"Of course, family is most important." Lin Fei had actually overheard the phone call. At a distance of four or five meters, his hearing was so sharp that even if he didn’t want to listen, he heard everything clearly.

"So, how bad is it?"

Xu Ke nodded, "Can you help me book a flight ticket for this afternoon? I need to go back to Ping City."

"No problem." Lin Fei nodded. There were several places nearby where he could book flight tickets. "Can you tell me more about it? Maybe I can help."

"It’s okay." Xu Ke shook her head, "Don’t worry about it."

Lin Fei saw her somewhat pale face and pondered for a moment, "Wait here."

He strode into the restaurant and asked a waitress at the front desk for a paper and pen. He quickly wrote down a phone number, tore it off in one swift movement.

Then he returned to Xu Ke and handed her the piece of paper.

"This is a friend’s number. If you’re in trouble, you can call him for help."

Xu Ke nodded. Although she didn’t have much hope, it was Lin Fei’s kind gesture, so she carefully tucked the paper into her wallet. She didn’t know why Lin Fei didn’t just send the number via cell phone but chose this handwritten method instead.

This turn of events meant neither of them were in the mood for the zoo anymore.

They went straight to book a flight ticket, then hung around the school as they waited for the time to pass until they went to the airport.

It was past three in the afternoon by the time they left. Because of Lin Fei’s terrifying driving experiences, they decided to take a taxi instead.

When they arrived at the international airport, it was almost five o’clock.

Xu Ke stood in line in the lobby to check her luggage, not having thought that she would need to return so soon after just a day.

"If it really doesn’t work, make that call," Lin Fei said softly from the side.

"Okay," Xu Ke nodded. "You should go back first. I’ll deposit the items and then go through security. You don’t need to keep waiting with me." She forced a smile, a very strained one.

"Alright." Lin Fei also knew that what she needed now was peace. He just nodded and turned to leave.

After seeing Xu Ke off, it was already past six o’clock. The sky had also grown darker.

Lin Fei flagged down a taxi and got in.

The car had just started when suddenly a black sedan sharply darted out, almost scraping the taxi’s body. The driver angrily honked the horn twice.

"Are you trying to get killed?!" he yelled loudly.

However, Lin Fei noticed the two young men with mohawks in the black sedan ahead. One had red hair, and the other green, both sporting a peculiarly hippie style. But Lin Fei’s attention was not on this.

He sensed an extremely subtle fluctuation of supernatural abilities emanating from them. Clearly, both had special methods of concealing their aura. Such methods might be effective against ordinary powerhouses, but for Lin Fei, they were completely exposed.

The black car carrying the two sped away.

Only then did the taxi driver, still fuming, start the car and slowly drive forward.

Lin Fei became thoughtful. He vaguely sensed that there seemed to be an ominous prelude to a storm looming over Capital City.

*****************

Ping City, Night, 9:21 PM

Inside a high-end residential complex in the city center.

The spacious living room was filled with swirling smoke.

A middle-aged man sat on the sofa, puffing heavily on a cigarette, the glowing cherry intermittently visible through the white smoke.

The usually bright yellow light of the living room, too, seemed drowsy and hazy enveloped in white smoke.

Xu Ke sat silently on a couch opposite the man, saying nothing.

"Why did you come back? Didn’t I send you off to school?" the man asked in a deep voice. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Xu Ke didn’t reply, but instead asked, "Dad, how is my brother now?"

This man was Xu Ke’s father, Xu Shichang, also the president of a major real estate company in Ping City. But now, he obviously lacked his usual self-assured demeanor and looked disheveled and decayed.

Hearing Xu Ke’s question, the man was silent for a moment before he answered.

"Your brother is alright now, just needs to rest and recover for a while. Your coming back isn’t helpful; you might as well attend your classes to avoid missing out on your studies."

"That’s my brother, how could I not come back!" Xu Ke became slightly agitated. "Dad, tell me, who beat up my brother? What’s been happening to our family lately? Why have people from the prosecutor’s office been coming to question you?"

Xu Shichang frowned deeply, his voice impatient: "These matters are not for you to worry about! You just need to focus on your studies, the rest is none of your business!! Alright, you rest now, and go back to school in a few days. We’ll handle the matters at home!" He stood up and swiftly left.

Xu Ke’s chest heaved violently. Watching her father leave, she felt an indescribable turmoil inside.

"Do they think I’m not aware?" she thought. She actually knew everything, but her parents thought it was still hidden from her.

Her father’s company faced a huge problem when a building project suddenly ran out of funds, leaving it unfinished. With too much invested and no hope of recovering, while covert relationships between her father and certain officials had started being investigated.

Her brother had also been attacked and had his legs broken.

Even if naive, Xu Ke knew well that this was a deliberate move against her family.

Generally, major conglomerates continue to take loans, accruing debt to ensure the maximum use of funds. In other words, using a portion of capital to leverage more funds for investment to make more money, naturally yielding more returns.

Xu Shichang did the same, but in such times, when funds are tied up in the unfinished building project, the construction can’t continue, and money is short. Only selling at a reduced price remains an option, and this time the investment was almost a do-or-die attempt by Xu Shichang. If he has to sell cheap, he might not even be able to cover the debts, potentially plummeting from millionaire to deeply indebted in an instant.

Running a business on debt has its benefits, but also severe drawbacks.

As Xu Ke sat on the sofa, her emotions stirred, and she choked on the smoke filling the living room.

(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to visit qidian.com to cast your recommendation vote or Monthly Ticket. Your support is my greatest motivation.)