Chapter 38 (1/2)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Zhang Heng returned home unscathed the next morning.

The news broke out across the city before noon. Vice Chief Wang Shouyi of the Chongzhou city branch of the Public Security Bureau was suspended and under investigation after being suspected of severely violating professional principles. No further details were being disclosed other than that.

Zhang Heng had a hard time explaining to his parents as well. His mother initially wanted to ask in detail but she was quickly stopped by his father. From his father’s perspective, his son had grown up and was no longer that boy that needed his father to shelter and protect him. He was able to tell from what happened that day that his son was more than what was seen on the surface.

Zhang Heng’s father sighed deep down, but pride and relief were seen in his eyes when he looked at his son. The baby bird had grown up and was finally about to leave the nest. Keeping Zhang Heng by his side with notions of filial piety and whatnot would have only served as a selfish way of limiting his son’s growth.

Zhang Heng had outgrown all that he had planned for his son back then without a doubt and he saw it fit to let him soar for greater skies and fly free instead of limiting him to who he is now.

The love of a father knew no bounds.

Zhang Heng thanked his father deep down for not pestering him for more details. He didn’t want to lie to his parents, yet there were secrets that he couldn’t share with the people around him. As such, the best course of action to take was to simply stay mum.

Their doorbell rang suddenly when the four of them were having lunch back at home. Zhang Heng exchanged looks with his father before getting up to answer the door. He saw Yang Yang and her parents standing at the door with bags full of stuff outside. All of them had swollen and reddened eyes.

“Uncle and Auntie here really couldn’t thank you enough, Heng!” Yang Yang’s parents walked up to him with reddened eyes before Zhang Heng said anything or even had the chance to, grabbing his hands with their own trembling ones. Zhang Heng didn’t know how to react to what was happening and things looked really awkward.

“We’ve been neighbors for years, there really is no need for all this! Come in, come in.” Zhang Heng’s father came up and eased things down for his son, having all three of them come into the apartment and saved Zhang Heng from further awkwardness.

He rubbed away the cold sweat on his brow and took a look at his sister, who was busy eating. Zhang Xin was only shocked for a bit when she saw her brother came home before becoming silent all over again. She had been crying for almost the whole night from remorse and residual fear, knowing that she had done something very wrong. She had only gradually quieted down after finding that Zhang Heng returned home safely.

Zhang Xin had calmed considerably since then and she made a face at Zhang Heng when she saw her brother looking at her before smiling sheepishly like she was trying to curry his favor, but Zhang Heng simply returned the antic with a glare.

“We’re here today to specifically thank Heng. If it wasn’t for him, our daughter would have been…” Yang Yang’s mother couldn’t help but cry her eyes out again after the family were taken into the living room. Yang Yang kept wiping her tears away to the side as well, frightening Zhang Heng’s parents, and they went on to try to comfort her.

“Uncle, Auntie, it shouldn’t be you who are coming to thank me. I should be the one thanking the both of you instead.” Zhang Heng felt a headache and interjected after seeing how both his parents failed to comfort the girl.

“Why are you saying that, Heng?” Yang Yang’s parents stopped crying almost right away and turned to look at Zhang Heng with curious looks on their faces.

“If it hadn’t been for Yang Yang’s text message, I wouldn’t have known that something like that was happening in the first place and I definitely wouldn’t have gone to save both of them. As such, you could say that it is she who had saved my sister.” Zhang Heng nodded solemnly.

“Sigh, don’t bother giving any credit that this stupid brat doesn’t deserve. I scolded her really well as soon as we got home earlier today. All of this happened because she went to do something stupid instead of spending her time studying! She also almost got Zhang Xin in trouble! If something were to happen to Zhang Xin, I don’t think my wife and I would ever be able to come to meet with your parents again!” Yang Yang’s father added, feeling vexed about what his daughter did.

“Uncle, I’m sincerely thanking Yang Yang for this.” Zhang Heng didn’t say any of that out of an attempt to sugarcoat things; those were his real thoughts deep down. If it hadn’t been for the text message that she sent him, there was no way he could have gone out to save her and his sister. It would have been pointless if he were to take revenge for his sister and kill Wang Shouyi’s family as there would have still been trauma that could never be erased left in his sister’s mind, which was something that Zhang Heng deemed unbearable. As such, his gratitude for Yang Yang was sincere.