The First Order

The Qing Consortium, Stronghold 111.

At the stroke of midnight, the copper bell in the middle of the stronghold was struck by someone working for the Qing Consortium

The sound of the bell that symbolized peace in the new year resonated across the stronghold. Soon after, firecrackers, of which many of the rich could afford, started popping in front of their houses. The children had also come out onto the streets and were excitedly taking in the sights. They were all wearing their new clothes and even holding little firecracker tubes that they picked off from the main bunch.

Qing Zhen was standing out in the yard of his villa. His hair had grown much longer since he wasn’t even able to get a barber to come over after being put under house arrest here with

Luo Lan.

Suddenly, a crow flew over in the dark of the night. It soared between the sound of the firecrackers going off and did not seem one bit affected by it.

Qing Zhen raised his hand, and the crow shrewdly landed on his arm. Qing Zhen picked up a tiny piece of bread and said with a laugh, “I hope you won’t mind this. We don’t have much food around here either. Luo Lan has almost been starved thin as well.”

The crow lowered its head and pecked the bread into its mouth. Qing Zhen helped it ruffle its feathers straight with a smile.

The black crow was always an ominous symbol in the eyes of many people, because it loved flying to wherever there were dead people. But Qing Zhen did not shy away from the crow at all. Rather, he seemed to love it.

His gaze shifted to the crow’s legs where a tiny bamboo tube was attached. Qing Zhen detached it and removed a slip of paper from it. The more he read it, the bigger his smile grew.

“Alright, I got the letter. You may return to your owner and have him feed you something nice. It’s the New Year, but he didn’t let you get any rest,” Qing Zhen said as he threw his forearm up and released the large crow that spread its wings and flew into the night sky.

When Qing Zhen walked back into the villa, Luo Lan was lying down on the sofa and saying, “Don’t you agree that those old fogeys of the Qing Consortium are too much? It’s the New Year, but they won’t even give us a full meal to eat, let us get a haircut, and our water and electricity keep getting cut off as well. We’re accomplished servants of the Qing Consortium. How can they do this to us!”

Qing Zhen smiled and said, “You can have my share of the bread. I guess we can only blame it on ourselves for losing the strongholds we were put in charge of.”

“Was that our fault?” Luo Lan said unhappily, “Who could have predicted that there would be an earthquake? Besides, it’s the New Year now. Surely they can’t make us go hungry during the New Year, right?!”

“Don’t worry.” Qing Zhen smiled and said, “These days will be over soon.”

At this moment, the doorbell rang. Luo Lan stood up from the sofa, his fat rolls bouncing. “Could they be sending us food?”

“That uncle of yours isn’t that kind. He did everything in his power to ride on the coattails of the Qing Consortium, so why would he risk all of that to help us?” Qing Zhen said calmly, “This is an especially good time to draw the line against us.”

The infighting of the consortiums had always been downright dirty and nasty.

The Qing Consortium had not only imprisoned Qing Zhen and Luo Lan in this isolated villa, it even sent Luo Lan’s uncle to watch over them.

Perhaps it was because the directors of the Board suspected that Qing Zhen and Luo Lan had betrayed the clan, so they decided to let the two of them have a taste of being betrayed by their own family as well.

Luo Lan and Qing Zhen shared the same father but different mothers. This uncle of Luo Lan’s had obtained some status within the consortium with Luo Lan’s aid in the past. And now he had been sent to watch over Luo Lan.

However, this uncle was not one for old times’ sake. Instead, he was even harsher when it came to watching over the two. He even tried to express his stance and drew a line between Qing Zhen and Luo Lan by persecuting them.

Cutting their food rations, cutting off their water and electricity, refusing Qing Zhen and Luo Lan’s demands, all of that was done by Luo Lan’s uncle.

Sometimes, people found it hard to imagine what a person would do to play up to those in power.

Luo Lan went to open the door while mumbling, “My relationship with him isn’t good either, so don’t keep ridiculing me with those words of yours. The same goes for that uncle of yours…”

He opened the door and saw a middle-aged man standing at the entrance. He was holding a plate in his hand and smiling as he looked at Luo Lan.

Behind this middle-aged man were two rows of soldiers. Ever since Qing Zhen slipped away the last time, the consortium had deployed even more troops in the vicinity surrounding the villa. Even on New Year’s Eve, they did not let their guard down.

Luo Lan looked at the middle-aged man at the door and said, “Is something the matter?”

The middle-aged man smiled and said, “Aren’t you gonna greet your uncle?”

Luo Lan said disdainfully, “Are you fit to be my uncle?”

But the middle-aged man was not bothered. He smiled and said, “It’s New Year’s Eve. I came to see you two and also brought along some food.”

“What food?” Luo Lan asked.

The middle-aged man smiled and said, “I had some leftovers from my dinner at home, and I knew that you two would definitely be hungry, so I quickly sent it over for you.”

Luo Lan laughed. “Am I, Luo Lan, someone who would eat leftovers?”

The middle-aged man threw the plate in his hand onto the floor. “Since you don’t want to eat it, I won’t force you.”

Luo Lan’s face turned dark. He kept staring at the middle-aged man who was a blood relative.

Qing Zhen suddenly said to the middle-aged man, “Hey, go outside and wait for a while.”

The middle-aged man was startled. But it was Qing Zhen who had spoken. Whatever influence this silent tiger of the Qing Consortium had left was still enough to strike some fear in him. The middle-aged man stayed silent for a long while before finally stepping out of the villa in the end.

As he stood outside and watched the fireworks bursting above the stronghold’s sky, he was overjoyed.

But at this moment, the two rows of soldiers raised their guns when the villa’s front door opened and took aim at it. They watched Qing Zhen lead Luo Lan out of the villa and stand still.

Qing Zhen said to everyone with a smile, “Because of us two, we’ve made it so that everyone can’t go home to spend time with your families on New Year’s Day. As such, we would like to extend our condolences to you.”

Luo Lan said, “That’s right, we just want to extend our condolences.”

Qing Zhen smiled and said, “Let me introduce myself. I’m Qing Zhen, and standing next to me is Teacher Luo.”

“Right, that’s who I am.”

Qing Zhen looked at Luo Lan and said, “Since we’re expressing our condolences, we definitely have to put on a performance for everyone.”

“What are we going to perform then?”

Qing Zhen looked at the middle-aged man and said, “Let’s perform… a haircut on the first day of the New Year where the uncle dies!”

“Alright!”

The middle-aged man was so angry that he laughed. “Are you two still kids? What kind of dumbass games are you still playing?”.

“Shh…” Qing Zhen put his index finger over his lips. Then he raised his right hand that was holding a pair of scissors and snipped off a bit of Luo Lan’s hair.

The middle-aged man sneered. “Arrest them and lock them up!”

Qing Zhen looked at him and said with a smile, “Happy New Year.”

A bright firework suddenly shot up into the sky above the stronghold. That shining, bright light illuminated Qing Zhen’s smile as a sniper’s bullet fired out of a gun several hundred meters away. In an instant, a bloody mist burst from the middle-aged man’s chest in front of Qing Zhen. His body was even sent flying back by the inertia of the bullet!

Qing Zhen’s gaze turned from the fireworks back to those two rows of soldiers. He smiled and said, “Did you all… enjoy this performance?”

Everyone was frightened. They had thought Qing Zhen was only trying to provoke them. But they never expected him to really do as he said he would

A soldier trembled as he said, “Mr. Qing Zhen, aren’t you afraid the Board will mete out punishment on you?!”

Qing Zhen stood still and said with a sunny disposition, “They won’t. After all, they need me now.”

Right at this moment, a car whizzed down from the end of the street, with the white ginkgo leaf symbol becoming visible under the glow of the fireworks.

The car came to a stop outside the villa, and Secretary Zhou from the Board jumped out. When he saw Qing Zhen, he said coldly, “The Board has ordered that Qing Zhen and Luo Lan immediately head for the front lines to serve as military advisors!”

After saying that, he noticed the bloodstains in front of the villa’s door. He looked at the soldiers and asked, “What happened here?”

The soldiers said, “They killed the commander.”

Secretary Zhou looked at the broken corpse on the ground and said in contempt, “Dumbass.”