You’re Mistaken

And within a minute, Yang Chen’s phone started vibrating. Clearly, the National Defense Ministry had received the news from Molin.

Yang Pojun was surprised to see that Yang Chen was contacting the National Defense Ministry. He was unable to process what Yang Chen was about to do. Suddenly, the entire courtyard was in complete silence.

“I am the chief of the National Defense Ministry. You can call me General Lu. Was it you who sent someone to contact us?” A deep male voice resonated from the other end of the phone.

Yang Chen went straight to the point. “I want to strike a deal with you.”

“A deal?” General Lu was puzzled.

“That’s right. You’re anxious about finding out An Zaihuan’s location through his family members. Besides, with hostages on hand, you want to force An Zaihuan into appearing on his own will. But let me tell you this—you will fail. Since An Zaihuan has already escaped on his own, what makes you think he will bother about what he left behind? The members of An clan do not know about An Zaihuan’s dealings with the other country, nor do they know about his whereabouts,” Yang Chen said analytically.

General Lu paused to think, and he said, “Continue.”

“I think you are doing this to put on a show, so that you can let the Americans know that the Chinese National Defense Ministry is not ignorant. But if you keep this up, it will only waste bothe your time and energy. Instead of all this waste, why not let me help you arrest An Zaihuan and bring him back? After that, you’ll stop blaming these innocent people of the An clan. What do you think?” Yang Chen asked.

General Lu had read about Yang Chen’s background. Therefore, he knew that Yang Chen was not just making an empty promise when he said so. Although it was quite hard to believe, he still said, “I’m glad that you can contribute to the country. You’re Marshal Yang Ye’s descendant indeed. If that traitor An Zaihuan can be arrested and brought back to the country, then of course the An clan can be cleared of their suspicion!”

“I think you’re mistaken. I don’t have such noble patriotism.” Yang Chen let out a contemptful smile. “I’ve been living in all sorts of territories and countries since young. So politics doesn’t really matter to me. I’m only doing this because his actions have put me—the person who had given him everything that he has—to shame. The second reason, and also the most important one, is that his daughter is my woman. He has made my darling very unhappy. That alone is enough for me to do this.”

Who knows what General Lu’s expression on the other end of the phone was? There was a brief silence before he said, “No matter what, I’ll place my trust in you for now since you’re willing to do it. But you need to give us an estimated time of completion. This mission’s status is volatile as it is.”

“Before sunrise,” Yang Chen replied decisively.

General Lu, thinking that he had heard it wrongly, asked, “Come… come again?”

“I said, I will send that An Zaihuan to Zhonghai, to the army before sunrise. If you have no other questions, I’m hanging up now,” Yang Chen said impatiently.

General Lu was clearly stunned. He was deliberating over Yang Chen’s words, Could this lad be lying to me? Before sunrise? Doesn’t that leave him with only three hours?! An Zaihuan has already been out on the sea for more than ten hours now. If he took a plane, he could already be in Australia by now! But then again, this fellow has no reason to lie to me…

Since it was only a few hours’ wait, General Lu clenched his teeth and said, “Alright, I promise. Commander Yang will be in charge of supervision. Once you arrest An Zaihuan, hand him over to Commander Yang. If An Zaihuan is brought back to the country, everything else will be open to negotiation!”