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Chapter 1187: Chapter 1045: Truly Troublesome (Subscribe please!)
Morning.
Rong Ying’s news was released.
Accompanied by several clear pictures, it once again became a hot topic of discussion.
The inland media were fine.
At least they were fair and objective and did not fan the flames, except, of course, for entertainment news. The media in the surrounding areas were not so friendly, such as in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Each one acting high and mighty.
Some said Tang Qing had begun a life of luxury and was heading towards decadence.
Others suggested Tang Qing should spend the money on funding education in mountainous areas.
In short.
There was no good word to be said.
Faced with these "unscrupulous media."
Tang Qing just laughed it off. After all, these people lived off sensational headlines, expecting them to have something called "professional ethics" was too naive. Sending out a "hehe" would suffice.
"Tang Qing, how does it feel to have a private jet?" As soon as Tang Qing entered the classroom, Zhong Liang immediately came up to him.
Tang Qing put his book on the table, "It’s okay, spacious, allows more freedom of movement."
"I really want to take a ride."
"Where do you want to go?" Tang Qing asked.
"It’s because I don’t know where to go that I’m troubled. I even missed the chance to hitch a ride. I didn’t know you were going to Beijing, otherwise I would have gone too," Zhong Liang said regretfully.
"Next time."
"That’s all I can hope for."
At this moment.
The class had already gotten used to Tang Qing’s startling actions.
Their nerves had grown much thicker.
...
Meanwhile.
In Japan.
Nagoya.
A significant event had occurred in the Maruyama Family.
A week earlier.
Maruyama Takeshi’s mother had been in a car accident and had tragically passed away, leaving Maruyama Takeshi dazed for several nights. His mother had always been the beacon of the family, providing guidance whenever he was lost.
"A son wants to support his parents, but they are gone."
Maruyama Takeshi had never experienced this before.
But losing a respected loved one who had guided him was an indelibly painful feeling. From now on, returning home meant there would no longer be anyone nagging in his ear, or bringing up embarrassing stories from his childhood.
That desolate emptiness.
It was the first time Maruyama Takeshi had experienced this; his father was very rigid and would never speak gently to him.
After the rituals were completed.
And the ashes buried.
Maruyama Takeshi stood in the garden, blankly staring at the flowers his mother used to tend, memories of her caring for them resurfacing, bringing tears to his eyes once again.
"Father, pull yourself together," Maruyama Miyuki sobbed.
Maruyama Takeshi gave a bitter smile.
Just days ago, he was comforting his inconsolable daughter; now, she was comforting him.
"I know, mother was healthy. She could have lived another ten or twenty years. I thought she would see your children grow up, but what... what was mother doing out so late?"
That was what Maruyama Takeshi could not understand the most.
Maruyama Miyuki said, "I don’t know either. The butler said that mother often went out alone."
"What? Why didn’t anyone tell me?" Maruyama Takeshi suddenly flared up.
Maruyama Miyuki was somewhat afraid of her father’s temper, "They... they said grandma didn’t allow them to talk about it to us. This time, after grandma passed away, the butler felt so guilty that he told me everything."
"Damn, these bastards," Maruyama Takeshi angrily said.
He clenched his fist.
He wanted to punch the butler, but remembering the butler’s age, he realized a punch might end up being fatal. With many years of emotional connection, Maruyama Takeshi reluctantly abandoned the idea of striking him.
The butler had served their family for three generations.
He was almost like family.
Moreover, since his mother had asked the butler to do so, he couldn’t entirely blame him. In Japanese culture, loyalty is valued highly. In this family, it was normal for the butler to be more loyal to his own mother.
Maruyama Miyuki said earnestly,
"Father, it has come to this point. The driver said that grandma suddenly dashed out from the jungle, causing him to fail to stop in time and strike her dead. But we don’t know why she would run out like that, I suspect there’s something fishy."
"Indeed, we need to thoroughly investigate," Maruyama Takeshi nodded.
The matter certainly wasn’t that simple.
The mere fact of his mother going out was suspicious enough.
Moreover, her dashing wildly onto the road. No matter how one looks at it, there were problems. The Nagoya police were investigating, but the scene was beside a park and it was night-time, situated in a surveillance blind spot with completely no leads in the investigation.
Nor had they discovered any suspicious person.
"Should we hire a private detective? The police don’t believe it was murder and are not investigating intensely. What they most hope for is to deem it an accident to close the case quickly," suggested Maruyama Miyuki.
She understood the police’s mindset quite clearly.
If this case was classified as murder, without finding out everything, the Maruyama Clan wouldn’t let it go. This would greatly pressure the police, almost extinguishing their motivation to investigate.
It would indeed be better to hire a private detective.
She also felt quite helpless.
"Hmph, these trash," Maruyama Takeshi harshly despised the Japanese policemen.
While Maruyama Takeshi and his daughter were chatting,
Not far from the villa,
A Toyota passenger car was parked.
Inside the car,
Two people were smoking.
They spoke in Chinese,
"Group leader, shouldn’t we inform Maruyama Takeshi? Our intelligence operation here has always been problematic. If Maruyama Takeshi joins in, it would be really helpful," said one of the younger men.
The middle-aged man beside him shook his head,
"Xiao Liu, as intelligence officers, we can resort to any means, but that’s against enemies. His mother did not wish Maruyama Takeshi to be involved like her. The departed are gone, the organization has decided to follow her last wishes."
Last wishes.
And certainly, it wasn’t spoken just before her death.
It was something Maruyama Takeshi’s mother had informed them long ago—if she died unexpectedly, they should not let Maruyama Takeshi and the others know about her identity. If her identity were exposed, they must quickly relocate Maruyama Takeshi and the others abroad.
Today,
The two of them only planned to take a distant look and didn’t intend to go in.
In the future,
They wouldn’t come here again.
After smoking five cigarettes,
The middle-aged man finally stopped.
He had stayed here for fifteen years, always acting as Maruyama Takeshi’s mother’s contact person and was the Nagoya urban area’s team leader in charge of general intelligence, directly led by the military commission.
Fifteen years.
How many fifteen years does a life have?
The work of intelligence is fraught with immense risks—one mistake could mean death. He had seen many outer intelligence officers go missing or die. Each lost connection was a tremendous loss.
This time,
Maruyama Takeshi’s mother had an accident, and they also had no idea what had happened. At the time the contact person went to meet her, by the time he arrived, Maruyama Takeshi’s mother had already met with the accident, and they also were utterly confused.
The phone rang. 𝒏𝒐𝙫𝙥𝙪𝙗.𝒄𝙤𝙢
The group leader hastily answered.
"The mochi at home has been eaten by rats, don’t forget to buy a pound on your way back."
The group leader’s expression suddenly changed.
Thinking it was bad, his forehead creased into a furrow.
This sentence meant their hiding place was exposed. Where exactly had the problem arisen? Had the Japanese intelligence headquarters obtained their information and already made a move?
Was Maruyama Takeshi’s mother’s death really not an accident?
The group leader thought: We need to leave quickly.
He hurriedly started the car, preparing to execute the exposure contingency plan. What he didn’t know was that after their car had entered the main road, a silver Honda SUV quietly followed them.
...
Inside the classroom,
Hearing Tang Yi’s report, Tang Qing also felt helpless: these people really caused worry. But now that he knew, he couldn’t just ignore it. Never mind, he might as well start the plan ahead of schedule.
