Yes, yes, yes. It will all be mine. Once I exposed the Qings for their crimes—once I had gotten away with mine, I will be able to win the hearts of the people, all their love will be mine and the people at the government will have to choose me as the next president because of that.
Senator Chang Yan laughed in his mind. "I'll be able to have it all," he whispered to himself.
The senator had a rough childhood, her mother had been a housemaid and his father worked in construction. There shouldn't have been a sliver of future in the cards for him. After seeing his parents lose their jobs repeatedly, their stomachs grumbling, not enough coal to keep them warm, and holding his mother as she died of pneumonia, he had vowed to himself he would never let another child suffer the same the fate as he did. He was going to make a better future—a better world.
He went to school diligently. Worked three jobs to sustain him and his father and his schooling. At college, he had met his wife when he had helped her in one of their law subjects. Only then had he known that she was a daughter of a very influential person. He had pursued her until she said yes. The father had been against them but as soon as he was making a name for himself, he had let them marry.
After what he had been through, there was nothing that was going to stop him from everything he wanted for this land. Not even if it was an gang.
He thought of the word as if he could spit it out. But there he was… he was going to bring them down…
When had everything turned to madness? Nobody knew.
He tilted his head back and laughed again.
**
"Seriously, this looks like it had been written by a high-schooler," commented Wuming as he examined the script the senator had given. He read the note at the bottom of the page. "Take all the time you need to practice. Call me when you're ready."
Qing Chen let out a disappointed sigh as he looked over another set of papers with what was currently happening at Dong Yi. "He's crazy."
Qing Chen did not want to believe it at first—that this man could be so desparate to win the favor of the people. He had used his power to access one of the on-going researches funded by one of his foundations to make marine life more abundant to drive livelihood.
Which had been a great idea. Until it was not. They ended up polluting the waters instead, making it undrinkable, and made the people sick. The government was having a hard time determining the source as it had not been released to the public yet.
That in itself already sounded bad. But it got worse.
Qing Chen took another paper and looked at the face of the long-term rival of Senator Chang Yan. Dong Yi was the hometown of this rival. And the senator did all of these to steal the people of his archenemy.
"How pathetic," he said and stood up from his place on the couch. They were still preparing how they were going to extract Feng Xuan out of that hole.
He walked to the kitchen and got himself a cup of coffee only to be surprised to find his father-in-law was already sitting in the dining. "How is the planning going?"
Feng Lizhao entered their house with an air of calm with him. Like his daughter's life was not in the hands of another person. "We'll be leaving soon, sir," he answered.
"It'll happen tonight."
Qing Chen was confused at first, then realized what he was talking about. "There's a huge possibility that it would." God, he hoped so. If she did, Feng Xuan might be able to fend for herself until they come.
"Trust me. It would. She'll not die tonight. That much I know." Feng Lizhao sipped on his tea and looked outside the huge windows on the side. "Bring me back my daughter. It'll be a long night for the three of us."
Qing Chen's head bowed as he took his cup. "Yes, sir."
**
"We're almost done," said Qing Lok. "We are just programming everything."
Qing Chen could see the living room from the screen of the laptop, adjusting to the camera moving in front. "It'll look exactly the same?"
"Yes, brother." His fingers moved at ease and noisily at the keys. "Just like you're sitting here. Don't worry about anything about it, we have really expensive men in our team, we've got in under control."
Qing Chen left and went to the other living room where a table had already been placed for weapons. He shrugged his coat off, took a shoulder holster. He slipped sheathed blades on his waist and legs.
"Are you ready, brother?"
He was not looking at Wuming but he knew he was grinning. "You missed this, didn't you?"
"Oh, I did," laughed Wuming. "It'll be nice to stretch some muscles." Wuming got equipped beside his brother and they made sure everything was in its rightful place. Wuming was helping Qing Chen shrug his coat on when their father walked in.
"Qing Lok says everything is ready."
Qing Chen gave a nod. "Okay, we'll be taking our leave then."
When he was about to pass, his father held up a hand to stop him. "Are you going to shy away from killing people again?"
Qing Chen gently pushed his father's hand away from his path. "I know what I'm doing."
His father's eyes deepened at him, in warning, in threat—in everything that was supposed to make him cloud his judgement. Qing Chen wave a hand to shoo them away. "Are you really sure you know what you have to do?"
"I'll kill the senator," Qing Chen grinned and started walking, "Not unless Feng Xuan beats me to it."