Chapter 1008: Collision and Rear-end

Chapter 1008: Chapter 973: Collision and Rear-end

Ye Qingya said: “I told you it’s real; this spa is amazing. After soaking, I feel refreshed, and my skin is so smooth.” After saying this, she felt somewhat regretful, realizing she probably shouldn’t have said that in front of Xu Chunliang.

Xu Chunliang said: “If you like it here, stay a few more days. Once it’s open to the public, it won’t be as peaceful.”

Xue Anning said: “You guys keep talking. I still have to go back and write an inspection report.”

Ye Qingya said: “You go ahead; I’ll be there soon.”

Xu Chunliang gazed at Ye Qingya, who looked like a moonlight goddess after bathing, and felt somewhat moved. However, he kept his composure today and smiled: “How did it go?”

Ye Qingya asked: “How did what go?” knowing in her heart that he was referring to her reconciliation with her mother.

Xu Chunliang said: “Actually, your mother has some interest in the Xu family’s affairs, so she plans to use our family’s development history as a blueprint to write a novel.”

Ye Qingya said: “I heard her say that. She’s just into that kind of thing.”

The two slowly walked towards the courtyard residence where she lived, with Ye Qingya walking in front and Xu Chunliang following behind. The moonlight cast from behind them, enveloping them and creating the shadow of two people on the ground, almost stuck together front and back.

Ye Qingya noticed the shadow on the ground inadvertently, her face blushing, as she accelerated her pace to create some distance before looking down at the shadow again and sensing some sort of connection between the two shadows.

She considered that it might be her illusion, blinked her eyes, and discreetly glanced again, discovering that the shadow was fully immersed in her own shadow.

Ye Qingya stopped, prompting Xu Chunliang to promptly halt as well, bending down, with his hands in his pant pockets—the only action he could take to mask his current stubborn state.

Ye Qingya lowered her gaze: “You don’t need to walk me any further; we’re almost there.”

Xu Chunliang nodded: “I’ll walk you to the door.”

Ye Qingya said: “No need, the security here is pretty good.”

Xu Chunliang said: “Alright then.”

Ye Qingya waved him off with a smile.

Xu Chunliang kept his hands in his pockets as he restrained the serpent of emotions stirring within, so he could only bow to Ye Qingya.

Seeing his demeanor made Ye Qingya want to laugh, but she knew it wasn’t appropriate to laugh right now; otherwise, he might not understand. So, she quickly turned and left.

Only then did Xu Chunliang take his hands out of his pockets. Curse the Innate Realm and the moonlight, he raised his head to the sky, with the full moon illuminating the night as brightly as day.

The shadows on the ground were extraordinarily clear, and Xu Chunliang also noticed the wild growth appearing on the shadow.

Ye Qingya walked briskly, stepping carelessly on something soft. Feeling perturbed, she thought she had stepped in mud, but her foot emitted a low croaking sound, making Ye Qingya’s hair stand on end with alarm; she quickly lifted her foot, realizing she stepped on a plump toad.

The toad jumped with pain and landed on her other foot, scaring Ye Qingya into exclaiming aloud, as she kicked the toad away and ran towards Xu Chunliang.

Hearing her scream, Xu Chunliang immediately rushed towards her.

Ye Qingya didn’t expect Xu Chunliang to come so swiftly and wanted to stop but was too late. Although Xu Chunliang stopped on time, Ye Qingya couldn’t control herself due to the inertia, crashing into his arms head-on.

Ye Qingya’s heart suffered an unprecedented shock, which overshadowed the collision of the physical bodies.

Xu Chunliang raised his hands high, his bottom stuck out as much as possible; he had done all he could, but Ye Qingya’s inertia was too strong, directly crashing into him, resulting in this unavoidable mishap.

Both were well aware of who was responsible, as Ye Qingya felt like a small Mini had rear-ended a giant off-road vehicle; more critically, this off-road vehicle had a crash guard at the front, leaving her in some discomfort yet having to bear the losses on both sides.

Ye Qingya said: “A toad…”

Xu Chunliang nodded, as the ugly toad croaked twice more and slowly crawled towards the lake.

Xu Chunliang asked: “Are you okay?”

Ye Qingya shook her head. It felt like being poked with a stick—painful but too awkward to articulate.

Xu Chunliang pointed at a nearby bench: “Why not sit for a moment?”

Ye Qingya shook her head, took a step, but soon changed her mind. Xu Chunliang went over to help her settle on the bench first, sitting beside her on the left with his left hand in his pocket, then subtly crossed his legs to free his left hand.

Ye Qingya looked up at the moon, feeling unpleasant as she bit her lip hard—almost on the verge of tears.

Xu Chunliang said: “Forgot to tell you, there are quite a few toads here, but they’ll be gone in a few days.”

Ye Qingya took a breath, feeling some relief from the pain, secretly pondering why Xu Chunliang acted this way each time he saw her; this younger brother seemed a bit risky.

Xu Chunliang said: “I’m pretty sturdy, didn’t hurt you, did I?”

Ye Qingya shook her head, thinking to herself that sturdiness was not the issue.

Xu Chunliang said: “Well, at least compared to the toad, I’m relatively safe.”

Ye Qingya couldn’t help but laugh softly, “Actually, toads aren’t that scary.” In comparison, stepping on a soft, squishy toad didn’t hurt her, but the earlier collision did, although she didn’t really find Xu Chunliang scary either.

The moonlit night was enchanting, making it easy for one’s imagination to run wild, especially with Xu Chunliang sitting right next to her. Ye Qingya decided to leave quickly and whispered, “I’m going back.”

Xu Chunliang said, “I’ll walk you back.”

This time, Ye Qingya didn’t refuse, but she let Xu Chunliang walk ahead to avoid another awkward collision.

Xu Chunliang was using all his strength to control the reaction from his Innate Realm. He thought it shouldn’t be called Innate Realm but rather instinct realm. Why was his Innate Realm different from the legends? It was probably because the way he entered the Innate Realm was quite unique.

Ye Qingya watched Xu Chunliang walk ahead and remembered how he looked earlier. She then sneaked a glance at the shadow on the ground. Under the moonlight, Xu Chunliang’s shadow was straight and without any divisions.

Ye Qingya’s pretty face involuntarily turned red. Why was she starting to have wild thoughts? Anyway, this Xu Chunliang isn’t exactly a gentleman. I’m his god-sister, and he has impure thoughts about me?

But after all, she was a woman. If Xu Chunliang didn’t have the slightest ill intention towards her, wouldn’t that mean she wasn’t attractive at all?

Xu Chunliang suddenly stopped without warning, causing Ye Qingya to once again bump into him, thankfully this time it was his back.

Ye Qingya, annoyed, slapped his broad back: “You stopped without saying anything, scared me to death.”

Xu Chunliang pointed at the gate of the compound. Really, she wasn’t paying attention to where she was walking.

Ye Qingya swiped her card to enter.

Xu Chunliang softly said, “Goodnight!”

Ye Qingya closed the courtyard door, returned to her room, and saw her mother reading under a lamp.

“Mom, I’m back.”

Lin Sijin turned and smiled at her, “Why is your face so red?”

Ye Qingya said, “Is it?” She touched her face, which was burning hot. She knew the reason perfectly well: “Oh, the hot spring water was too hot.” She quickly headed to her room.

On his way back, Xu Chunliang ran into Wang Jinwu.

Wang Jinwu looked a bit embarrassed seeing him, nodding before trying to leave.

Xu Chunliang called out to him, “Brother Jin Wu, what are you doing so late?”

“Just taking a walk, had too much to eat tonight.”

Xu Chunliang said, “Why aren’t you walking near where you live? Why come all the way out here?”

Wang Jinwu’s place was about a kilometer from there. Why come to the hotel area for a walk? He was hoping to chance upon Xue Anning. Tomorrow, Xue Anning would be returning to Jizhou. He had to seize the opportunity.

Xu Chunliang said, “Brother Jin Wu, you need to stay calm. With women, you can’t chase too hard. You need to find a balance, mix fast with slow, and sometimes retreat to advance.”

Wang Jinwu said, “Retreating to advance doesn’t suit me. I have to strike while the iron’s hot and take preemptive action.”

Seeing the thick-headed Wang Jinwu, Xu Chunliang could only feel resigned.

This day at the Hu Shan Town Police Station was also eventful. In the day, they had just gone to the town government, and at night, they received a report of artifact theft.

The instructor on duty informed Station Chief Li Chengbo of the report as soon as he received it.

Li Chengbo felt a bit overwhelmed upon hearing it. During the day, he had already offended Lin Hongwei, the top guy, and was troubled over it. Now this issue was also troubling him. Li Chengbo said, “Can’t you handle it on your own? Just take a few people and go have a look.”

Zhao Hong said, “It’s not easy to handle. The report is against Da Heng Group, accusing them of digging illegal tunnels under the guise of laying hot spring pipes.”

Li Chengbo was taken aback, “What? Hasn’t work basically stopped over there at Da Heng?”

Zhao Hong said, “Such matters are difficult to handle. If we don’t respond to the report, and there is indeed an issue, we’ll get in trouble. If we do respond and there’s nothing, we’ll get into trouble with Da Heng, which isn’t an ordinary entity.”

Li Chengbo thought for a while and said, “Isn’t it simple? Just say it’s a security check. If anything happens, I’ll take responsibility.”

At one in the morning, a muffled gunshot rang out from the Da Heng Hot Spring Town construction site. During this routine police security check, they discovered a hidden tunnel inside Villa 89, extending towards the distillery hot spring.

That night, the five officers on the inspection encountered six criminals excavating the tunnel. The criminals resisted arrest, leading to a skirmish. In the confrontation, three officers were injured, and six criminals were also injured, but none were captured and all escaped.

After receiving Zhao Hong’s request for reinforcement, Li Chengbo immediately notified all officers to rush to the scene. At the same time, he reported the situation to higher-ups. He didn’t seek help from the sub-bureau but directly reported to Lin Hongwei, as he didn’t want the incident to escalate.

Fortunately, he reported to Lin Hongwei and learned that Dongzhou’s top official, Wang Jianming, was on the island that night, causing Li Chengbo to break out in a cold sweat.

Upon receiving the report, Lin Hongwei quickly got out of bed and ordered the Comprehensive Law Enforcement Office to mobilize all available forces to assist the police in capturing the suspects.

This night, many people were destined to have a sleepless night.