169: Side Story (3) Hengtang 02

So for the next two years or so, Wen Hengtang spent every day learning how to be a spy, listening to Wen Song's occasional talk of revenge.

It wasn't until two years later that Wen Song gave him a file on Yan Zhuohua.

"Take a good look. You will go undercover by his side and then act on my orders."

Wen Hengtang took the file and immediately saw the photo on the front page. He was truly beautiful. Wen Hengtang stroked the exquisite face in the photo, gave Wen Song a perfunctory reply, and turned to go back to his room.

Since the incident with the Yan Family's head, their security measures had increased significantly, so the information in his hands was only what the Yan Family was willing to let outsiders see. Yet even this tip of the iceberg was enough to make Wen Hengtang's heart flutter for this noble, favored son of heaven.

Unfortunately, it was this person who had made his heart race at first sight who discovered the anomaly, leading to his mother's suicide.

They were fated to meet, but not to be together. So be it.

*

Before he returned to the country, Wen Song saw him off at the airport.

"These are some of our 'nails' within the country. Use them as you see fit."

Wen Hengtang took the USB drive, nodded, and turned to walk inside.

"Wait!"

Wen Hengtang stopped in his tracks.

"Remember to go quietly to the ancestral graves and take a look," Wen Song murmured. "And your mother's as well."

*

The plane landed, and Wen Hengtang arrived in B City.

According to their plan, Wen Hengtang gradually learned about and approached Yan Zhuohua. Then, using the people at his disposal, he arranged their accidental first meeting, and they finally became friends.

During their time together, Wen Hengtang thought more than once how wonderful it would have been if it hadn't been Yan Zhuohua who discovered his mother. Or rather, he even stopped wishing for Yan Zhuohua to return, thinking it would be fine to just live a peaceful life like this.

Unfortunately, Yan Zhuohua still returned to A City. Even more unfortunately, Yan Zhuohua soon married Yan Qinghe.

No matter how much he didn't want to face it, Wen Hengtang still received the order to find a way to use Yan Zhuohua as an entry point to throw the Yan Family into chaos. However, this order actually aligned with Wen Hengtang's own thoughts: if I can't have him, why should you, Yan Qinghe, be allowed to have him?

But he didn't expect that Yan Zhuohua would not only be wholeheartedly devoted to Yan Qinghe but would also deal with the Zhao Family so quickly. Even more pressing was that Huaxia's mecha project seemed to have already produced results; with no other choice, he had to take action himself.

*

When planning the kidnapping of Yan Zhuohua, Wen Hengtang stayed in his room alone for a long time. He thought that a man as proud as Yan Zhuohua would certainly not be able to bear any physical deformity, and overly aggressive methods would also cross Yan Zhuohua's bottom line and drive him to suicide, which would hinder him from obtaining intelligence. Therefore, he had to prepare some chemical agents for interrogation.

Furthermore, according to his father's orders, Yan Zhuohua had to die after the interrogation. But he didn't want the person he was attracted to to die just like that. It would be better to do something to him after the interrogation before killing him.

After planning for a long time, Wen Hengtang finally kidnapped Yan Zhuohua.

But in less than a few hours, they were arrested.

*

When he couldn't sleep in prison, Wen Hengtang always thought about how smart Yan Zhuohua really was. He likely hadn't trusted him for a single moment. Indeed, he was unworthy, and he didn't deserve him.

He wanted to see Yan Zhuohua. It wasn't that he wanted some final confession—there was no need, and it would be meaningless. He just wanted to see Yan Zhuohua one more time and say anything at all.

But he couldn't help himself and voiced the questions he had held for years. His family's ordeal, the destruction of his home, the lack of justice, and being forced to flee his homeland. Was it still the fault of the victims like them for seeking their long-overdue justice and striving for revenge?

If he didn't seek revenge, was he supposed to just submissively endure all these injustices?

But Yan Zhuohua told him: the winner takes all.

Those four words shattered all his grief, indignation, and resentment.

Wen Hengtang's chaotic brain seemed to clear for a moment. He suddenly realized that the years of planning by his father and himself were seemingly no different from the enemies who had used their power to bully and destroy his own family back then.

After so many years, those people had long since paid the price and vanished, yet he and his father were still living under the shadow of hatred, becoming a new form of evil.

After a brief moment of clarity, fatigue and confusion returned, eroding Wen Hengtang's mind. He watched Yan Zhuohua turn and leave, appearing as though he truly didn't care about anything related to him at all.

In an instant, various emotions surged and then slowly sank. Stripped of the hatred and complexity that had entangled him for years, only one sentence suddenly remained in Wen Hengtang's heart.

I should have just been a passing traveler in his life.

*

The result of the deliberations came down quickly: he was to be sent back and kept under house arrest for life along with his father. The years of freedom and thrill were finally coming to an end.

But what he didn't expect was that before he even returned, his father committed suicide. It seemed to be in the same manner as his mother.

From then on, with no more family or friends, only he himself would remain, forever trapped in one place.

Not long after, Wen Hengtang was sent back to MR Country and placed under house arrest in the very villa where he had lived since childhood. On his first day back, Wen Hengtang entered the study that Wen Song had always forbidden him from entering.

Inside were two family photos: one of his grandparents and parents, and another of his grandmother, parents, and himself as a newborn. Wen Hengtang wiped the dust off the two family photos and then cleaned the study.

In a desk drawer, he discovered a diary left by his father.

It recorded much of his father's life and thoughts. Turning to the date he was born, many things were written messily on the page.

A line of poetry at the very top was particularly striking.

"Year after year, seeing guests off on the road to Qiong Tang; fine rain and weeping willows tie the painted boat."

Below the poem, the words "Qiong Tang" and "Qiong Tang" were written everywhere. It seemed that Wen Song must have agonized for a long time before choosing the name "Qiong Tang" for him.

Just like the land hidden in the depths of Wen Song's heart, the "Qiong Tang" of the place name had become the "Qiong Tang" of his name.

For a moment, countless emotions welled up in his heart. Wen Hengtang closed the diary and let out a deep sigh.

So that's how it was.

———— Extra III: End ————