Chapter 718 - You’re Mistaken
The faces of the people in the room turned pale upon hearing the news. Some of them even went limp and fell to the ground.
“Even the military is here?! We’re doomed! The leaders must have run out of patience and they’ve come to finish the job!” One of them reacted immediately and yelled.
“This damned old man! Running off all on his own, leaving us to suffer the consequences?!”
These people were obviously unaware that An Xin had almost been taken away by people from the National Defense Ministry right before coming back for this meeting. They were delusional in their thoughts that everything would be fine so long as An Xin was willing to give up her part of the shares.
Fear surged like wildfire in the room as they started to speculate what was to become of them. As they chattered about, the outer gates of the building were opened. Two lines of sturdy-looking soldiers barged in, fully equipped with weapons and arms. They stood by two sides of the room. It looked like a military officer was about to walk in.
The enormous courtyard was suddenly filled by the cold aura of metal guns and weapons. Even the servants shunned away from the scene, afraid of being accidentally caught up in the mess.
The looks on Yang Chen’s face were changing back and forth. The Jiangnan military? he thought. He could roughly guess who might have come. Although he did not voice it out, he was still pretty frustrated at the way thongs had played out.
An Xin had spoken to Guo Xuehua before, and she also knew Yang Chen’s background pretty well. Thus, when she saw that Yang Chen was suddenly acting rather unnaturally, she immediately realized what was going on. She stood worriedly next to Yang Chen. At the same time, she was in a dilemma. If that person were to really walk in right now, how would she react to the situation in a way that both are polite and acceptable to Yang Chen?
Within a few seconds, a tall man in green military uniform walked firmly up to the entrance with two people beside him.
Yang Pojun wore a straight face, perfectly hiding all his emotions. It was as if a gloomy cloud was hanging over his face, hiding his feelings from outsiders.
Yang Chen was also standing by the entrance when this happened. When Yang Pojun lifted his head slightly, their glances met. Neither one of them spoke, yet the depths of their glances revealed a black bottomless pit of hatred.
The army was here to arrest people from the An clan. But there was actually no need for someone from the ranks of an army commander like Yang Pojun to appear in person. After all, the An clan was only filled with businessmen. The only thing that set them apart from commoners was their money!
However, the National Defense Ministry was enraged by the fact that the people they had sent to arrest An Xin were beaten to a pulp by a man who had appeared out of nowhere!
After learning of the incident, the National Defense Ministry took immediate action to identify the perpetrator through surveillance recordings and investigations of the scene.
With additional information provided by the National Security Bureau, the superiors in the National Defense Ministry finally realized the identity of the perpetrator. He was the long-lost grandson from the Yang clan! On top of that, the National Security Bureau had also provided them with some background information about Yang Chen. They had specially reminded the National Defense Ministry not to use force, but instead find a way to negotiate. Those who had attempted to use brute force had all failed miserably in the past.
With such instructions, not a single soul from the National Defense Ministry dared to undertake this mission of arrest. After all, they might fail and even end up offending the Yang clan!
In the end, the higher-ups made an emergency decision to enlist the help of the army commander who happened to be in Zhonghai — Yang Pojun. Since they were both from the Yang clan, not to mention the fact that Yang Chen was his son, Yang Pojun had no choice but accept the task.
Naturally, the nature of the relationship between Yang Pojun and Yang Chen was of no concern to the higher-ups at all!
Actually, arresting An Xin and An Zaihuan had no meaningful impact to improving the strained bilateral relations between the two countries. After all, this was a matter that was kept well hidden under the books.
However, if the government were to give up on a mission to arrest a traitor of the country just because of Yang Chen, it would be a sign of weakness from the Chinese military to outsiders. Losing their pride over a man was something that they could not accept!
Yang Pojun had been appointed the mission for those reasons specifically. Thus, without voicing out any objections, he rushed to the scene.
“Arrest and detain every single person in this room without exceptions!” Yang Pojun shouted firmly.
All the soldiers mobilized at once. They dashed into different directions and swiftly surrounded everyone from the An clan, including the servants and housekeepers.
The members of the An clan became more terrified of the situation than they originally were. All of them started shrieking or crying and begging for mercy when they saw the soldiers come dashing towards them. Their arrogance from before had practically vanished into thin air.
Two of the soldiers approached Yang Chen and An Xin. But before they could get within a meter of the two, they were already hurled aside by a surge of powerful wave!
The two soldiers flew and plunged straight onto the ground not too far from where Yang Pojun was standing. Yang Pojun’s brows furrowed immediately as he said, “I am here today to execute my mission. All I want to do is arrest the An clan for aiding and abetting a criminal. I’m not here to settle any personal disputes with you. Don’t make this more difficult than it has to be!”
Yang Chen wrapped his arm around An Xin’s waist to calm her down. He then said, “I have no personal disputes to settle with you either. All I want to say is that, An Zaihuan is the one who has committed the wrongdoing, not the others. I have no objections to you arresting members of the An clan. However, An Xin is my woman. I will not let you come within an inch of her.”
Yang Pojun snorted. “A married man hugging another woman in the middle of the night while saying such shameless nonsense. What a joke!”
“You can say anything you want. I’m not some celebrity who has to maintain my image. I am shameless and prideless, so what? I will protect all my women from any harm that is to befall them. And anyone can comment on my family matter but you. At least my wife is still willing to stay under the same roof as me. That is far more successful than some people whose wife isn’t even willing to meet him,” Yang Chen said mockingly and disdainfully.
While the rest were confused by this conversation, An Xin could understand most of it.
Isn’t that being a little too harsh? An Xin thought. She gazed at Yang Chen worriedly, and then she looked at Yang Pojun. She felt touched by Yang Chen’s protection, but also guilty for causing such a situation.
Yang Pojun’s expressions grew grimmer. “Don’t challenge my patience. I’m carrying out orders from the government. If you insist on continuing this little spite of yours, don’t come crying once you end up in the gutter!”
“Let’s see who the one who’ll really suffer is.” Yang Chen smiled as he dug out his phone and dialed a number.
Yang Pojun frowned. He didn’t know what Yang Chen was trying to do. But Yang Chen’s arrogant attitude pissed him off terribly, not unlike every time they met each other.
Yet, Yang Pojun was also well aware that guns and bombs were useless against this young man. Besides, his father Yang Gongming obviously favored Yang Chen. Although Yang Pojun was unhappy about it, he was not in the position to challenge his father’s authority. Thus, he chose to stay in the Jiangnan military most of the time, rarely going home.
As a matter of fact, he had no idea how to resolve the issues between him and Yang Chen. At times, Yang Pojun would hope that his younger son Yang Lie was as capable as Yang Chen.
Why did it have to be this eldest son, who never should’ve been here! His appearance has not only destroyed my dream of entering the political bureau, but he might even take over the position as clan master, skipping my generation entirely!
Yang Pojun was indignant. He had been toiling away for dozens of years, and the power and position he had yearned for would have soon been his. But now, it was all taken away by a child—his child, no less— who never should have been alive in the first place!
What irritated him even more was the lack of understanding from his wife and his father! The grandson is family. But aren’t I—the son—family too?! Why is it that Xuehua would leave me for him! he thought.
The anger and hatred that he bore made it impossible for Yang Pojun to admit the fact that this formidable young man before his eyes was his own son!
Yang Pojun could not do anything to him. And at that moment, Yang Chen’s call got through.
“Molin, connect me to the Chinese government’s National Defense Ministry. I need to talk to them.” Yang Chen had called Molin from Sea Eagles.
Molin was clearly surprised. But he did not dare to ask anything. It wasn’t as if it was a difficult task. After all, it wasn’t about infiltrating their defense system. All he had to do was make a phone call. Anyone with connections could do that.
“Sure, Your Majesty. Please wait a moment.”
He hung up the phone.
And within a minute, Yang Chen’s phone started vibrating. Clearly, the National Defense Ministry had received the news from Molin.
Yang Pojun was surprised to see that Yang Chen was contacting the National Defense Ministry. He was unable to process what Yang Chen was about to do. Suddenly, the entire courtyard was in complete silence.
“I am the chief of the National Defense Ministry. You can call me General Lu. Was it you who sent someone to contact us?” A deep male voice resonated from the other end of the phone.
Yang Chen went straight to the point. “I want to strike a deal with you.”
“A deal?” General Lu was puzzled.
“That’s right. You’re anxious about finding out An Zaihuan’s location through his family members. Besides, with hostages on hand, you want to force An Zaihuan into appearing on his own will. But let me tell you this—you will fail. Since An Zaihuan has already escaped on his own, what makes you think he will bother about what he left behind? The members of An clan do not know about An Zaihuan’s dealings with the other country, nor do they know about his whereabouts,” Yang Chen said analytically.
General Lu paused to think, and he said, “Continue.”
“I think you are doing this to put on a show, so that you can let the Americans know that the Chinese National Defense Ministry is not ignorant. But if you keep this up, it will only waste bothe your time and energy. Instead of all this waste, why not let me help you arrest An Zaihuan and bring him back? After that, you’ll stop blaming these innocent people of the An clan. What do you think?” Yang Chen asked.
General Lu had read about Yang Chen’s background. Therefore, he knew that Yang Chen was not just making an empty promise when he said so. Although it was quite hard to believe, he still said, “I’m glad that you can contribute to the country. You’re Marshal Yang Ye’s descendant indeed. If that traitor An Zaihuan can be arrested and brought back to the country, then of course the An clan can be cleared of their suspicion!”
“I think you’re mistaken. I don’t have such noble patriotism.” Yang Chen let out a contemptful smile. “I’ve been living in all sorts of territories and countries since young. So politics doesn’t really matter to me. I’m only doing this because his actions have put me—the person who had given him everything that he has—to shame. The second reason, and also the most important one, is that his daughter is my woman. He has made my darling very unhappy. That alone is enough for me to do this.”
Who knows what General Lu’s expression on the other end of the phone was? There was a brief silence before he said, “No matter what, I’ll place my trust in you for now since you’re willing to do it. But you need to give us an estimated time of completion. This mission’s status is volatile as it is.”
“Before sunrise,” Yang Chen replied decisively.
General Lu, thinking that he had heard it wrongly, asked, “Come… come again?”
“I said, I will send that An Zaihuan to Zhonghai, to the army before sunrise. If you have no other questions, I’m hanging up now,” Yang Chen said impatiently.
General Lu was clearly stunned. He was deliberating over Yang Chen’s words, Could this lad be lying to me? Before sunrise? Doesn’t that leave him with only three hours?! An Zaihuan has already been out on the sea for more than ten hours now. If he took a plane, he could already be in Australia by now! But then again, this fellow has no reason to lie to me…
Since it was only a few hours’ wait, General Lu clenched his teeth and said, “Alright, I promise. Commander Yang will be in charge of supervision. Once you arrest An Zaihuan, hand him over to Commander Yang. If An Zaihuan is brought back to the country, everything else will be open to negotiation!”