“My wife died… ten years ago. She died at the hands of an enemy I made… Afterward, I rooted that enemy out by the cruelest means I could devise… But what of it? My wife could never come back. And our daughter — the daughter she shielded with her body, whose life she bought with her own — became my last remaining family, and the most precious thing in this life of mine. All these years I’ve granted her every request, only so that she might be happy every day… I never imagined… I was wrong the whole time.”
He lifted his head and let out a long, mournful sigh at the heavens. This side of a man who shook the world and commanded storms — perhaps only Ye Tianxie had ever seen it. He turned around and faced him. “If this truly is the choice Feifei wants, I won’t stand in her way… I only hope that here, with you, she’ll truly be safe. If she can wake up in good spirits every day in this place, then I will be grateful to you for the rest of my life.”
“If your gratitude can be exchanged for a great deal of money, I’d be very glad to accept it.” Ye Tianxie smiled, and the meaning behind that smile needed no explaining. Su Luo had gone on for a good while without once mentioning the “protection fee” — the matter Ye Tianxie cared about most. A reminder seemed in order.
“Ten million! If you keep my daughter safe and unharmed, I’ll give you ten million every year.” Su Luo composed himself and spoke. He felt no distaste at Ye Tianxie’s bluntness. Money was his reason for accepting Su Feifei — and what Su Luo could least have accepted was no reason at all, because that would have magnified every uncertainty many times over.
Ten million… an astronomical figure an ordinary family could never save up in a lifetime. The scale of the offer showed the boldness befitting Asia’s foremost tycoon.
Yet to Su Luo’s surprise, Ye Tianxie not only failed to accept it cleanly — his brow twitched, and the faint smile on his face slowly faded. His eyes narrowed slightly and he said mildly, “Your daughter’s safety is worth only ten million? This so-called most precious treasure of yours isn’t worth even a ten-thousandth of the assets you hold?”
Su Luo’s brow furrowed as well. “That has nothing to do with how much Feifei means to me. Ten million — your ability is worth that sky-high price, and I believe that for the protection of a single person, it is the highest offer ever made to this day.”
Even Black Panther and Crimson Wolf at his side received only two million a year apiece. And what they did was not merely protection.
“The highest offer?” The corner of Ye Tianxie’s mouth twitched. He gave Su Luo a strange look the man couldn’t read and said offhandedly, “Someone once offered me two hundred million a year to be his personal bodyguard… Do you believe that?”
Two hundred million… a year?!
Su Luo’s expression shifted violently, but then he slowly shook his head. “Impossible! There cannot be anyone in this world mad to such a degree. And besides — if there truly were, how could you possibly be short on money?”
“Heh. I simply refused him. Being his personal bodyguard would have cost me my freedom. But your daughter… protecting her, I lose no freedom. And besides, your daughter is a rare beauty, easy enough on the eyes — far more pleasant than watching over some man. And the crucial thing is… I believe you’ll offer a price higher than two hundred million. Do you believe it?” The corner of Ye Tianxie’s mouth curved, his smile unfathomable.
To “hire” a bodyguard at two hundred million a year — even Su Luo, whose vast wealth towered far above ordinary men’s, felt he was listening to a fantasy from the Arabian Nights. What sort of person could be worth such an astronomical sum, and who would have the audacity to offer a price so insane? Even he could never have accepted such a figure.
“That person — who is he?” Su Luo said, his brow lowering. Such a nearly laughable claim ought not to have been believed — yet faced with Ye Tianxie’s expression, he found himself beginning to think it might be true… And if so, then just who possessed such wealth and such audacity? And for a man to be granted a sky-high price of two hundred million, what lay hidden beneath the mysterious surface of the man before him?
“You should know him too,” Ye Tianxie said, then slowly spoke the name: “His name is… Zuo… Zhen… hua!”
Three syllables struck Su Luo like three thunderclaps against his head, against his heart. His whole body shook violently, his pupils contracting in an instant to pinpricks, his body swaying several times in the extremity of his shock. The look he turned on Ye Tianxie had undergone an earth-shaking transformation.
Zuo Zhenhua… the name of the man who held the highest power in the nation of Huaxia, and the youngest supreme leader in Huaxia’s history.
A colossal figure who need only stamp his foot to send the whole of Huaxia into upheaval and the whole world trembling. Such a man was, without question, guarded by Huaxia’s strongest soldiers, and by espers whose abilities far surpassed ordinary men’s. He held the highest power in all Huaxia and commanded the strongest protective force… and yet this man had been willing to pay a sky-high two hundred million a year, purely to make a man not yet twenty-odd years old his guardian.
Could his ability surpass the strongest soldiers at his side — even the strongest espers?
“Do you believe it?” Ye Tianxie said slowly, watching the tremor in Su Luo’s eyes.
In Ye Tianxie’s eyes he saw only calm and clarity, without any abnormal disturbance or strange glint. With Su Luo’s experience, so far beyond an ordinary man’s — words spoken with a gaze like that simply could not be a lie.
He suddenly understood why he had been unable to uncover so much of what he wanted to know about this man, and understood too where that sense of danger came from. Everything about Ye Tianxie was shrouded as if in mist, and beneath that mist, the plane he occupied had already risen to a height ordinary men could not comprehend…
Just what kind of man was this?
And a man for whom the supreme leader would offer two hundred million — a man with the nerve to refuse the supreme leader — if such a man were to guard his daughter, then which of his enemies could ever harm her?
“Three hundred million… As long as you keep my daughter safe, I’ll give you three hundred million a year, and I’ll pay you the first year’s three hundred million six months from now.” Su Luo said. And as that astronomical figure — one even he could scarcely believe — left his mouth, he found that a great stone had been lifted from his heart, leaving him at ease, unburdened, and even somewhat satisfied. His daughter was his most precious treasure. He no longer had a wife; and if his daughter lived in the shadow of fear, and one day left him too, then what use was all the money he earned, all the wealth he held?
Three hundred million… a true sky-high price, higher than that of Huaxia’s supreme leader Zuo Zhenhua… because his daughter’s safety, his daughter’s everything, mattered far more than Zuo Zhenhua — far more than anything else in this world.
“Very good. I accept that price. With your wealth, Boss Su, three hundred million a year couldn’t possibly shake your foundations…” Ye Tianxie’s smile was brilliant and utterly at ease. “But aren’t you afraid I’m talking nonsense — that I’m deceiving you, Boss Su? You could be called the shrewdest businessman in all of Asia. Being this direct, this hasty, hardly seems your style.”
(End of Chapter 76)