CHAPTER 355: CHAPTER 354: LEAVING

"You don’t need to worry about the wedding, turn off your phone for the next few days," Jiang Kechu said.

The sudden halting of the wedding would inevitably bring a multitude of issues to deal with and explanations to provide. Jiang Kechu took all these responsibilities upon himself.

With teary eyes, Wan Chu’er nodded. This man had always been so kind to her, which made her feel even more heartbroken.

In the end, Jiang Kechu left alone, leaving Wan Chu’er a bank card. Dividends from the businesses he had shares in would be deposited into this card every year. Although Wan Chu’er said she didn’t lack money, Jiang Kechu still left the card with her.

Despite the wedding being called off, Jiang Kechu always believed that a wedding was merely a ceremony, and without it, Wan Chu’er was still his, in body and heart. Supporting a wife meant spending money; materially, she must not be shortchanged.

After Jiang Kechu had gone, Wan Chu’er put on a brave face, tidying up the room to its original state, then headed to the old mansion.

Old Mansion.

To Old Sir Zhong, Wan Chu’er said, "Grandfather, the wedding tomorrow is canceled."

Old Sir Zhong seemed to have anticipated this, not showing surprise but nodding gravely. It was evident that his granddaughter was upset, her red eyes pulling at his heartstrings.

Wan Chu’er forced a miserable smile, then asked, "I want to know the truth."

Hearing her words, a flicker of shame crossed Old Sir Zhong’s face as he spoke slowly, "I am sorry to you, sorry to your father."

"Grandfather, tell me the truth," Wan Chu’er said again.

Old Sir Zhong sighed deeply and nodded towards Li Shan, who was silent beside him. Reluctantly, Li Shan went to the study and after a while, came back with an old file bag.

"Here, this contains what you want to know. It wasn’t easy for the old man to get his hands on this," Li Shan added.

Wan Chu’er took the file bag, which had a conspicuous red stamp on it, marked "Top Secret."

She hesitated. Having prepared to join the Special Action Department before, she had learned about confidentiality and understood what "Top Secret" meant.

Seeing her hesitation, Li Shan immediately took the file bag back from her.

"Better you don’t look at it. Let me tell you," he suggested.

Wan Chu’er: "..."

Without waiting for Wan Chu’er’s response, Li Shan started speaking on his own:

"As you know, we started from little and always had enemies all around us. We’ve been laying low these years, appearing subservient on the outside while secretly building our strength—because without strength, anyone could trample over us. Many actions were to cover for this purpose."

Wan Chu’er nodded, acknowledging the truth of his words.

Li Shan continued, "Eleven years ago, to acquire a weapon technology, we made a deal and got what we wanted. Your father and a few others were assigned to execute the trade-related mission, the details of which were classified.

They encountered conflict on-site, then news came that our people had been eliminated.

We didn’t believe it and sent someone secretly to investigate. They discovered that it was a conspiracy. Indeed, our people had clashed, but not all were lost; they were seriously injured and sold off.

Your father and the others were captured by certain forces and turned into—which cannot be spoken—and thrown into the sea.

Our people searched secretly for a long time and indeed heard that during that period, a power had conducted an unspeakable event by the sea. It’s not easy to recover a body from the sea. On top of that, we didn’t obtain the technology, so we had to accept that narrative."

"If we had known your father was still alive and suffering such inhuman torment, we never would have abandoned the search."

While Li Shan spoke, Old Sir Zhong kept his eyes shut, his face remained calm, revealing nothing, but his heart was turbulent.

He had been part of that event, sending people to search for Wan Shiguo and others’ whereabouts.

After hearing all this, Wan Chu’er bit her teeth and asked, "In the end, giving up was also for the deal to go through smoothly, right?"

No body found in life, no body found in death; giving up like that was surely due to some exchange and compromise.

When Wan Chu’er asked this, Li Shan bowed his head and said nothing, while Old Sir Zhong spoke up, "Yes."

"Then after so many years, our military strength has improved, Country H isn’t even a match for us, why didn’t we look for them later?" Wan Chu’er asked again.

Old Sir Zhong replied solemnly, "Too much time has passed, no one would believe they could still be alive."

Yes, without seeing for oneself, who could imagine that after more than a decade, they could still be clinging to life.

Wan Chu’er felt heavy in her chest. She could no longer blame anyone, as the country had made efforts, but the enemy was too cunning.

The room was filled with a heavy silence, and no one spoke for what seemed like an eternity—the atmosphere was depressingly stifling. Li Shan simply carried the file bag and returned to the study.

After a while, Wan Chu’er suddenly said, "I want to study abroad, I have an offer from MIT in the U.S."

During her junior year, she had received offers from several top computer science colleges in the US because she was the youngest girl in the world to crack the security vulnerabilities in a multinational software company’s operating system and the sole recipient of a US$100,000 reward.

She had never considered studying abroad before, but now she wanted to leave. Therefore, studying abroad seemed like the best option.

Old Sir Zhong agreed without hesitation, "Go ahead, it’s good for you to get away for a while. I have some old friends over there in the US who can take care of you if you need anything..."

"No need," Wan Chu’er interrupted what Old Sir Zhong was about to say. As if remembering something, she laughed at herself, then said:

"I’m someone who attracts trouble. Don’t have your old friends encounter some young talent who falls in love with me at first sight. I don’t have the energy to deal with that."

This made Old Sir Zhong laugh, "You stubborn girl, come back early. Your grandfather doesn’t have many years left."

"Don’t talk like that. You’re the only relative I have left," Wan Chu’er replied unhappily, then added after a moment, "You have Li Shan and Yan Hui by your side. If you’re all right, find them wives to settle down with."

Old Sir Zhong thought of Yan Hui’s profound feelings for her, and for a moment felt a headache, "Before you go, if you need to bring anything, tell Li Shan to arrange it for you."

"I understand, grandfather, you must take care of yourself," Wan Chu’er admonished.

Her visa was processed smoothly, and the day after she received it, she left quietly without telling anyone.

Xiao Bai cursed Wan Chu’er as an ungrateful wretch when he found out the news, indignant at how well he had treated her, and that she hadn’t mentioned such a significant event to him.

Xiao Bai, along with many others, didn’t know about Wan Shiguo’s situation. Many were shocked by Wan Chu’er’s sudden departure.

A week after Wan Chu’er had left, Jiang Kechu took part in an overseas operation and also left Beijing.