Chapter 471 - Appetizer

The Qings were actually thinking that La Hiena was no longer going to show his face in Chengshi. The unsettling feeling that had been around them from the silence finally subsided. Whatever comes, they were prepared anyway.

They knew that one way or the other, La Hiena would find a way inside Chengshi and this would all start. But now that there was still nothing, The Qings decided to get back to their normal lives with a little more precaution.

Every night, Feng Xuan looked over the footages from Forest Haven, hoping that there was something that would tell her that her mother had been there. Maybe she really was delusional because so far, there had been nothing.

"Don't get too frustrated," Qing Chen told her over breakfast. She had not been talking too much the night before because she kept on thinking. "What you had was an inkling. We don't really know if your mother visits there."

"I would feel better if I know where my father is," she said. Her father still refused to talk to her and the unrest in her heart had never died. It only became dormant. "Maybe he's with my mother now. Who knows?"

She would laugh at the absurdity but she would not cancel it out of her suspicion lists. How on earth was she going to find her mother? There was nothing left for her to go on. Her mother had not been like Hao Suyin. She did not leave clues.

She just completely disappeared.

Feng Xuan could feel the burning behind her eyes. She bȧrėly slept the night before. She hated that it was getting in her normal routine. "Chen," she said, "you have to promise me that this would be the last time that we're going to do this. I don't want to live like this forever."

Qing Chen smiled at her over eggs and pancakes. "I promise. We're going to end this war."

Or this war is going to end us, followed her mind but she only returned her husband's expression.

=============

Like the rest of the Qings, they were both holding their breaths. "Do you think that we should just go away?" Liu Meilien asked, her finger touching the window. It was raining hard outside of the car.

"Where are we supposed to go?" he asked her, stepping on the gas as the light turned green.

"I'm not sure either. There are these apocalypse bunkers, right? Maybe we could go to one of them and we could disappear. They will never find us."

"That's the worst place we could be," he smiled at her. "We can't stay in a single place where there are no other exits. "It'll be the death of us."

Liu Meilien smiled back at him and touched his hand which was on the console. "We should get some dinner. It's been a while since we dined out."

"You know it's not safe."

"I'm missing the food from my favorite restaurant," she said. "It's really a shame that they don't do deliveries. I've been craving for it since last week."

"We could order one of the men to fetch some food for us. We have to go home."

"Okay," she said and went back to looking out of the window.

But Qing Lok thought that this was going to at least cheer up Liu Meilien. It must be driving her crazy staying inside the house for most of her day when she was so used to being outside.

"Fine," he said, "we're stopping by. But we're going to take the food home."

Liu Meilien beamed and gave him a quick hug. "Oh thank you! I'm starving!"

The restaurant was on the way home and he parked on the side of the road and waited inside the restaurant as the food was getting prepared. "Are you alright?" Qing Lok asked Liu Meilien as she dipped her bread on the mixture of oil and a black condiment. The free appetizer. 

"Yeah," she answered. "I didn't have a proper lunch earlier. My stomach's grumbling."

Qing Lok leaned closer to look better at her face. "I think you're getting a few pimples on your cheeks."

Liu Meilien's hand itched to touch it. "I don't understand it either. I think I'm getting too oily lately. I'm going to have to pay a visit to my dermatologist."

Just then a waitress came near them and placed the paper bags on the table. Qing Lok quickly paid and they went out to the car. The car had just beeped when he saw that there were men walking towards them.

Liu Meilien was chattering excitedly about having to eat the food when Qing Lok held her wrist and stopped her from walking. "Don't panic," he told her. "Get in the car as quick as you can."

"What's happening?" Liu Meilien's voice quick rose octaves higher.

Qing Lok took a quick look. He could see six silhouettes. Too many. The long bodies of the guns strapped to their shoulders did not escape his sight."Enter through the passenger door, okay? It's going to be fine."

As he said those words, he saw one of them moved. He only had enough time to pull Liu Meilien down with him as the bullets started to rain on them. Liu Meilien screamed in shock, her hands covering her ear. They were already beside the car—which was completely bulletproof.

"Get inside," he shouted over the rain fire. Liu Meilien did not move. He squeezed on her shoulders as hard as he could to wake her up. The sound of gunshots grew louder. "MOVE!"

Liu Meilien's eyes were filled with horror as Qing Lok pulled the passenger door open, giving them another layer of protection. He pushed her towards it, a hand on top of her head to keep it down.

All the while, he grabbed one of the handguns that were always at the floor of the car and ċȯċked it. He could hear Liu Meilien crying.

Qing Lok kept his head down as well. How was it possible that the bullets had not stopped yet? He needed their reload time to get to the other side of the car.

His ears perked when he heard the first gun clicking and the next followed. He was about to round but he saw a shadow moving towards him. He positioned the gun and squeezed the trigger once the person came to view.

However, before the man could drop to the ground, he also fired. Qing Lok curled onto himself to avoid the bullets then pushed Liu Meilien more inside the car. "You're going to have to drive!" he told her as she scrambled to the driver's seat, tears in her eyes.

Qing Lok hauled himself in the car and closed the door behind him.

It was like Liu Meilien did not know where to put her hands and Qing Lok turned on the car as the people grew closer and closer. He pressed her hands on the steering wheels as another round of bullets ricocheted off the windshield. "DRIVE!"

When they finally peeled off the ground, Qing Lok pressed a hand to his side. 

His hand came away stained with blood.