The car had just started when Ye Jianming, inside, said, "There's something I need to tell you before we go. When we get back to Bei City, we'll announce to the public that you are an adopted daughter of the Ye family."
Yu He looked up at Ye Jianming. This was not something they had discussed on the phone before. Her eyes were dark, her gaze distant, with an aloofness that kept people at bay, completely unlike the obedient girl she had seemed just moments ago.
Being looked at like that made Ye Jianming uncomfortable. As expected, she wasn't raised by him, so she would always be a stranger. He suppressed his unease and explained, rather annoyed, "Our Ye family's business has always relied on the Gu family's support to reach its current status. Now, the Gu family's young master has taken a liking to Zisu, and they already have a marriage agreement. To stabilize the interests of both families, we can only let you suffer this indignity in name."
He feared that if the Gu family discovered the truth and realized his biological daughter grew up in the mountains, the alliance might fail.
"Oh," Yu He replied indifferently. Then, she took out her phone from her bag, opened a game, and started playing, as if the matter had nothing to do with her.
Seeing that she had no objections, Ye Jianming breathed a sigh of relief. Someone raised in the mountains was indeed easy to control, which was a small advantage. If his wife hadn't pleaded with him repeatedly, and if he wasn't worried about someone discovering Yu He's identity and it being detrimental to the Ye family's reputation, he wouldn't have bothered picking her up to bring her back to the Ye family.
He glanced at Yu He again, leaning back lazily against the car seat, her gaze focused on her phone. Her thumbs moved skillfully across the screen, a clear indication of someone who played often. Ye Jianming frowned, glancing specifically at her phone screen. She was playing a simple match-three game. The last shred of good feeling he had for this daughter vanished instantly. He even regretted coming to pick her up; she was rude, wasted her time on frivolous pursuits, and would likely embarrass the Ye family one day.
However, what Ye Jianming didn't see was that on the phone screen, she was playing a memory-matching game. Ninety-nine pairs of identical icons were shuffled. They were displayed face up for one minute, then all flipped face down. She had to memorize their positions and then flip pairs of identical icons to eliminate them. For this level, she only memorized for ten seconds before starting. She finished eliminating them in forty-eight seconds with a 1% error rate. Yet, she wasn't satisfied with this speed and refreshed the level, starting again.
The car drove to the airport, and after boarding the plane, they arrived at Bei City airport two hours later. Aside from meals, Yu He spent almost the entire time refreshing this level, finally breaking the highest record. Three seconds of memory, twenty-seven seconds to eliminate, 0% error rate.
Just then, a few messages arrived on WeChat.
A Pig: [Crow crow, are you really not taking any jobs anymore?!]
A Pig: [Someone is offering three times the price for you to take a task, are you really not considering it?]
A Pig: [Three times the price! Three times!!]
Yu He huffed impatiently and replied to the sender with two words: [Not taking]
A Pig: [You're not taking eight-figure jobs, what are you trying to do?]
Crow: [Resting]
A Pig: [How long will you be resting? So I can reply to them.]
Crow: [Mood dependent]
A Pig: [So willful!]
Yu He's continuous phone gaming was seen by Ye Jianming as an addiction. Compared to Ye Zisu, who was diligently studying practice questions on the plane, the two were like heaven and earth. It was indeed the right decision not to publicly announce Yu He as the Ye family's biological daughter, lest she embarrass the Ye family in the future.
***
In the mountain village.
Old Mrs. Yu was drying medicinal herbs in the yard when two men in camouflage uniforms walked up to the fence. The man in the lead had a handsome face, as if meticulously sculpted by God. He was tall, but his right chest was heavily stained with blood, clearly indicating an injury, though it had already been treated. Behind him followed a man with a baby face.
"Are you here for a consultation or to get medicine?" Old Mrs. Yu asked, putting down the herbs in her hand.
"Looking for someone." Qin Beiting took a blood-stained strip of cloth from his pocket.
Old Mrs. Yu glanced at the cloth and her expression immediately became guarded. The embroidery on the cloth was her own handiwork! She thought of Yu He's appearance when she returned that morning and then looked at the bloodstains on the man's chest. She asked, "Are you..."
Qin Beiting noticed Old Mrs. Yu's change in expression and explained in a gentle tone, "We are special forces soldiers from the country. We are on a confidential mission, and this young lady assisted us in apprehending a criminal and saved my life. The team needs her to come back with us to make a mission report, and I also want to thank her in person."
"I see. But you're too late," Old Mrs. Yu said, her guard lowered. "She left two hours ago and won't be back."
Qin Beiting frowned slightly. "Where did she go?"
Old Mrs. Yu hesitated for a moment, then finally said, "Bei City, the Ye family."
"Alright, thank you," Qin Beiting said, thanked her, and turned to leave.
Lu Yiming caught up with Qin Beiting and asked with a grin, "Boss, have you been away from the army too long? Or has your memory gone faulty? Since when did the team require mission reports after completing a task?"
"A minute ago."
Lu Yiming: "..."
Qin Beiting handed the blood-stained cloth strip to Lu Yiming and instructed, "Wash it clean and send me the address of its owner tomorrow."