Chapter 23 – First Attack
TL: Milaryn
Edit: IlkonEbi

TL Note: Bold is spoken in English.

Jiaming naturally concealed the situation about Heidi and her mother from Lingjing and Shasha. He would bring them food every afternoon and evening, and it felt like he was secretly taking care of two mistresses.

Worried that Marilyn’s cold had persisted for too long and could have become pneumonia or worse, Jiaming browsed through various medical texts. He made beimu[1] congee, garlic congee, chuanbei snow pear and pig lung soup[2], and similar dishes for her to eat. Over the next few days, her fever finally receded and Jiaming could relax a bit more. However, while he was giving injections to this beautiful, seductive lady, he had been subjected to an eyeful of curves every time. No matter what she was wearing, it hugged her body closely and made his heart beat faster. However, he naturally pretended that everything was as per usual.

Even though he did not stay long when he visited, Heidi still stuck to him like glue when she could, and would ask him to play with her. After a few days, Jiaming realized that this little girl was especially interested in kung fu. Because she saw how incredible he was at his young age, she misunderstood and thought that he was one of those legendary martial arts experts. Her mother also had a similar impression of him, but he could only smile helplessly; he knew that their knowledge of kung fu was likely only from movies. Despite their expectations, it was just not possible for him to fly through the sky or pull out some invincible kung fu moves.

Over the next week, Marilyn’s symptoms subsided, and Jiaming could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Thus, he spent the weekend with Lingjing and Shasha at their secret base. On Monday afternoon, when he returned to the apartment, as soon as he opened the door, a small figure suddenly leapt at him and clung to him while crying furiously.

Naturally, this was the little girl, Heidi. However, because he did not detect her presence, when he felt someone recklessly charge at him, he released a strong killing intent. The little girl’s actions had taken him off guard and a dagger appeared in his right hand, before he noticed that it was only Heidi who was clinging onto him like an octopus.

He was examining the apartment warily, when Marilyn came out from the master bedroom with a towel in her hand. It looked like she had just finished showering, as her half-wet half-dry hair lay loosely draped over one shoulder, and the open collar of her shirt showed off an expanse of milky whiteness. It did not look like she was wearing a bra because he could see her erect nipples pushing against the shirt. While he was processing this, he determined that the situation was safe and returned the dagger to its sheath. He quietly breathed out.

On the other hand, Marilyn was quite intimidated by Jiaming’s sudden burst of killing intent. She had just gotten out of the shower and had barely pulled on her clothes, when she heard someone enter the apartment. Knowing that it was probably Jiaming, she casually walked out with a small smile as a greeting. However, when she encountered Jiaming’s reaction, she froze in fright. She had never done anything bad or killed anyone before even though she had grown up in a mafia family. As her father was a mafia don, she had naturally met countless assassins, mercenaries and desperate people. Nonetheless, she had never experienced such an ice-cold killing intent. She originally thought that this youth was quite miraculous and was an expert in kung fu, but she now understood that he must have gone through countless life and death struggles, or he would not be capable of having such an imposing manner.

One did not know what to expect from people that had this type of manner.

Before she could say anything, the killing intent disappeared, and the young man before her transformed back into a harmless looking fourteen-year-old.

“What’s the matter, Heidi? Why are you crying so hard, who bullied you?”

As the little girl clung to him – her legs wrapped around his waist, and both of her arms flung around his neck – as she cried nonstop. Jiaming was having some difficulty breathing, but he gently patted her back and closed the door behind him. Having heard his question, the little girl’s hands formed into fists and thumped him on the back a few times.

“It’s you… because of you, you—you, butthead…”

“Uh…”

“You deserve it.” Marilyn smiled shakily at him, “Who told you to disappear for two days and not say anything at all? Look at Heidi, this is the result.”

She finished saying what she needed and retreated back into the master bedroom, shutting the door behind her so she could change. Jiaming pinched the little girl’s cheeks and examined her face; her originally delicate features were now red and swollen from crying, and she thumped him again on the back. “You’re a big buttface!”

“Ok, ok it’s my bad, I’m a buttface. Heidi, you’re a good child, please forgive me ok? You cried so much, you won’t be pretty any more.”

As he carried the little girl over to the sofa for a seat, she refused to let go and clung tighter to him. If the two of them were a bit older, they would be in the standard missionary position… (please note this is the author’s thought, not the main character’s thought ;D) “You’re a big butthead, a buttface… sniff… I thought mister wasn’t going to come back…” the little girl said while crying and thwacking him on the back. He gently replied, “Don’t think like that. I still have to teach you how to do qigong[3]. I was wrong, it’s my fault for the past two days. So please forgive me, ok?”

At the word ‘qigong’, the little girl instantly brightened up. She choked back her sobs and asked, “R-really?”

“Yes, really. But qigong is difficult to learn. You can’t complain or give up halfway ok?” He took some tissues and carefully wiped the girl’s face until he was satisfied, “There, now you’re all pretty again. We can’t have you looking all teary and snot dripping everywhere.” He could not do anything about her eyes since they were still swollen, but he could clean up her face so that she looked delicate and cherubic-like again.

“Heidi… Heidi is not afraid of it being difficult…” She tried to stop crying, but tears kept leaking out. In the end, she kept wiping her face with a sleeve, while smiling happily as she sniffed away. It tugged at Jiaming’s heartstrings to see how adorable she was.

Moved by the little girl, he smiled at her sincerely and then placed her on the sofa. Even though kung fu was not miraculous like how it was in dramas and movies, qigong could steady the heart and mind. After practicing it for a while, one was less likely to get sick, and it could help prevent aches in the body as well. He taught her the basics of qigong, and as the little girl sat cross-legged on the sofa with her eyes closed tightly as if afraid to move, Jiaming could not help but suppress his chuckles.

At this point, Marilyn finally stepped out of the room fully clothed. Even though Jiaming had ranked her as someone that he could go to bed with, Marilyn obviously only considered him a child. When she saw Heidi and him on the sofa, her face filled with motherly affection. This difference in point of view was a strike to Jiaming’s ego and he could only smile bitterly internally.

“You two really seem like actual siblings, if I had a child like you…”

“Let me guess, you want me to take care of Heidi if you die?”

That sentence startled Heidi out of her meditative state and Jiaming stroked her shoulder to calm her down. Marilyn panicked. “I… I…”

“I’m saying I don’t care what you want to do. As long as you two stay here until your family comes and picks you up, there shouldn’t be much trouble. If nothing I say can persuade you, then you need to think about Heidi’s circumstances. Also, I’m only a kid as well, don’t expect me to be invincible!”

As he coldly said those words, he looked directly at her; their eyes clashed and sparks flew.

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Jiaming had always known that women were generally unreasonable creatures. From the various interactions that he had with Marilyn, he saw that it was in her character to be independent and not rely on anyone. Jiaming had tried to prevent anything from happening in advance, but to no avail.

On Thursday evening, school had just finished; the students were on their way home, and the sunset dyed Jianghai City in beautiful hues of orange and red. Jiaming, Lingjing and Shasha were also heading home when they they saw a little girl standing on the other side of the road, crying terribly. Jiaming had a nagging feeling that something had gone wrong.

Heidi did not know where Jiaming went to school, but she had a general idea of which area he was in and which roads he could take. He assumed that she had been waiting at home, but when Marilyn had left the apartment and did not return, she was worried and had taken the risk of looking for Jiaming.

When Jiaming noticed Heidi, Shasha saw her as well and tugged at Jiaming and Lingjing. “Hey, isn’t it the mixed-blood little girl that we saw the other day? The one we gave some clothes to? Why is she alone, did she get separated from her mother?”

“We should ask her, in case bad people come to take her away,” Jiaming suggested, and as the three of them started walking towards her, the little girl finally noticed Jiaming. Heidi’s eyes widened in surprise, and she was about to wave at him when a yellow van suddenly stopped in front of her and blocked their view.

Not good…

Lingjing and Shasha did not even have time to react, when Jiaming had already rushed forward like a rocket. He vaulted over a meter high railing that separated the sidewalk and the road, but he had leapt without looking. Just as he was about to dash across the road, frantic honking came from oncoming traffic and he was forced to twist his body back. The car barely missed him as the brakes screeched.

The van started to move.

This road prohibited cars from stopping, so the driver only opened his window and shouted at Jiaming for nearly getting hit. The two girls were terrified after witnessing the close-shave; they climbed over the railing and thumped Jiaming really hard.

“What are you doing, acrobatics?”

“Was it impressive?”

“Do you know you nearly got hit by a car…”

Shasha was so angry that her face had turned red, while Lingjing had tears in her eyes after thinking back to the previous scene. Jiaming only looked at the opposite sidewalk, devoid of the little girl’s figure. “That little girl has been taken by the people in that van just now.”

“Huh…” The two girls stopped scolding him at that. They looked across the road and said in unison, “We need to hurry and call the police.”

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Of course, the police could not be notified in this situation. As night settled, Jiaming returned to the apartment and saw that Marilyn had left a note. It basically said that she wanted to find Tang Jingyao, and hoped that Jiaming would take good care of Heidi and not get further involved in this matter.

“Big breasted bimbo…”

He murmured with a slightly hoarse voice, similar to a middle-aged uncle. This time, Jiaming wore a suit and tie, a pair of soft-soled shoes, and he disguised his face. He decided on looking like the bearded dwarf men from those freak circus shows, as he had to consider his own height. This was an identity he had prepared in advance for before he became an adult.

He became a rather funny-looking, dwarf-like assassin.

Because he was an assassin, he considered offence as the best defence. Even before Marilyn got better, he had already gathered the necessary intel and set up a plan of action in case of any emergencies.

“My first time in action, I’m such a rookie.” One hand over his heart and one hand pressed against the makeup mirror, he could hardly believe that the reality now and his assassin life had actually converged.

“Time to go!”

[1] Beimu is a type of Chinese herbal ingredient. This porridge consists of powdered beimu, short grain rice and rock sugar. It is said to help clear the sinuses and alleviate coughing symptoms. This is suggested to be used for acute or chronic bronchitis and emphysema (shortness of breath). ↩

[2] Chuanbei is pretty much beimu (have a link) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulbus_fritillariae_cirrhosae Asians also consider snow pear to have soothing properties, especially when it’s boiled in a nourishing soup or made into sweet soup dessert (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrus_nivalis) – for your reference. ↩

[3] Qigong – a system of deep breathing and meditation exercises (basically cultivating your qi) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qigong ↩

2 / 3 chapters of the week (next release is Friday, Feb 16).

Jiaming finally gets to make his move :3