Zhao Qiang said, "I swear to God, it used to exist, but it really doesn't exist now."
Yang Shiqi said, "You're lying. You'll look down on me even more in the future because you can't accept me like this. You don't know whether to see me as a man or a woman."
Zhao Qiang was dumbfounded. This woman was not stupid at all; she had said everything he was thinking.
It's not surprising that Yang Shiqi could guess Zhao Qiang's thoughts; it was something she was already worried about.
After a long pause, Zhao Qiang said, "Hey, stop crying. It's not a big deal. I think you shouldn't act like a man anymore. Being a girl is pretty good too. With your beautiful face and delicate skin, you'll definitely be a great beauty if you turn back into a woman."
Yang Shiqi said, "Don't be ridiculous. I have an Adam's apple and a beard. What girl has that?"
Zhao Qiang said, "What's the big deal? You can use lasers or something to remove your beard. Besides, yours isn't that long. There are a few girls in our school with even thicker mustaches than you. There's nothing we can do about it. Maybe your body will change its hormones after you find a boyfriend, or maybe they'll develop a safe hair removal product in the future and then it'll be fine for you."
Yang Shiqi felt much better. "You said it yourself, you'll develop it when we get back."
As long as she doesn't cry, Zhao Qiang said, "Okay, but you have to pay for it."
Yang Shiqi said domineeringly, "I have no money, what can you do to me?"
Zhao Qiang muttered, "It's fine if you don't have money. Actually, I should have known from your name a long time ago that you're not a man at all. No wonder the senior sister and you are so intimate and the teacher doesn't care. He already knows you're a woman. Does Hu Qian know too? She's just waiting to see me make a fool of myself today."
Yang Shiqi said, "Don't blame her, I told her not to talk about it. It's an open secret in our Beijing circle. My grandfather had two daughters and one son, but my two aunts each had three sons. My father, on the other hand, had three daughters. My eldest sister is named Yang Shishao, and my second sister is named Yang Shilin. They are both normal girls, but my grandfather raised me as a boy since I was little. He hoped that I would be able to take over the Yang family business when I grew up. So, as I grew up, I became like this under their influence. It's ridiculous, isn't it? You can laugh out loud, but I can bear it now."
Zhao Qiang said, "It's not laughable, it's pathetic! The Luo family is one example, the Hu family is one example, and your Yang family is one example too. What's the point? Is family fortune really that important?"
Yang Shiqi replied without hesitation, "Yes, if you don't believe me, go home and ask your dad and grandpa. Although we are talking about different family businesses, the parents' wishes are the same!"
Zhao Qiang remained silent. Recalling his father's and grandfather's usual words and actions, he believed Yang Shiqi's words. It was just that families varied in size, and the problems of his small family were not as serious and prominent as those of the Yang, Hu, and Luo families.
Yang Shiqi wiped away her tears and suddenly said firmly, "I must inherit the Yang family business and make it even more prosperous!"
Zhao Qiang gave a thumbs up, but this wasn't a compliment; he was saying, "Congratulations, you've been poisoned—poisoned by your parents' patient guidance."
Yang Shiqi grabbed Zhao Qiang: "You have to help me!"
Zhao Qiang tried his best to back away, making the tree branches behind him creak loudly. "Me? How can I help you?"
Yang Shiqi said, "It's about carrying out the plan we discussed yesterday. I think it's great. If we have the power you envisioned, and you're backing me financially, who in China can stand against us?"
Zhao Qiang hesitated: "That... is based on the premise that you are a man, now..."
Yang Shiqi jumped up, almost slipping off the tree trunk, but finally fell into Zhao Qiang's arms. She pulled open her coat, revealing her fair and delicate breasts to Zhao Qiang. "I am a woman in front of you, but I am a man in front of others! Why not? Give me a reason."
Zhao Qiang closed his eyes and tied Yang Shiqi's clothes together. He accidentally touched her small and cute breasts again. "Hey, hurry up and put them on. What are you doing? Fine, fine, whatever you say. Just don't be so rough in the future. My heart isn't very good. As people get older, their blood pressure tends to rise."
Yang Shiqi chuckled. She suddenly understood what Xu Xiaoya meant. So this is what being a scoundrel is all about. Women may not have an advantage in other things, but it's so easy to use a woman's identity to deal with Zhao Qiang. Damn it, how do I get rid of this Adam's apple? Looks like I need to consult a big hospital.
Yang Shiqi fastened her coat, her face slightly flushed, after all, it was the first time she had let others see her body. "Hey, you said you wouldn't laugh at me and that you would help me, you have to keep your word."
Volume 2 [319] Another group of people appeared.
Zhao Qiang covered his eyes and peeked through his fingers to see that Yang Shiqi had already buttoned her coat before putting his hands down and saying, "Okay, as long as you don't take off your clothes again."
Yang Shiqi rolled her eyes at Zhao Qiang: "Am I that casual? You're the one who clearly took these clothes off me!"
Zhao Qiang chuckled: "An accident, an accident. I already said it was an accident. If I hadn't helped you, you would have been in great danger."
Yang Shiqi laughed and said, "You saved me, so does that mean I should repay you with my body?"
Zhao Qiang hurriedly waved his hand: "No need, no need, you know I have a girlfriend."
Yang Shiqi sneered: "I not only know, but I know more than one. Don't think I don't know that you and Hu Qian are messing around behind my back, and there's also Su Xiaosu. I'll cover this up for you in front of Xu Xiaoya for now. This is the exchange condition for you to help me hide my identity. But from now on, you must treat me and Hu Qian equally."
Zhao Qiang hadn't originally intended to treat both sides equally, so he said, "Okay, I agree."
Yang Shiqi considered for a moment: "If we do things according to the original plan, I may have to stay in the army for a long time. Otherwise, I can't guarantee that I can have 100% control over this army."
Zhao Qiang said, "Please bear with it for a while, it's for the good of our group."
Yang Shiqi said solemnly, "I will listen to you, but I don't want to be ordered around by Xu Xiaoya or Hu Qian. Although we are already a group, I only recognize you as my leader. No one else can interfere in my affairs."
Zhao Qiang said, "Don't worry, if you think someone is overstepping their bounds, you can come to me."
Yang Shiqi added, "I can help with small things, such as providing support for some operations, but for big things, I must make the decision, or you must give the order."
Zhao Qiang said, "Okay, but the initial development will probably be a bit slow. You know we don't have any heavy industrial production enterprises right now, so we can't produce some improved aircraft or tanks right away."
Yang Shiqi said, "Of course your methods won't work, but my uncle has plenty of arsenals. We can get whatever we need. If he doesn't agree, I'll make a scene at his house."
Zhao Qiang gave him a thumbs up again: "You're awesome. Why don't you talk to Xu Xiaoya about this?"
Yang Shiqi asked with some dissatisfaction, "Then what are you doing?"
Zhao Qiang said, "Don't I have to do research? Or should I bring back a bunch of military factories to use as firewood?"
Speaking of the firewood, Zhao Qiang got hungry and, seeing the large wild boar lying below, asked Yang Shiqi, "Are you hungry?"
Yang Shiqi nodded: "I've been running around with you all night and all morning, I'm hungry even if I wasn't."
Zhao Qiang chuckled: "This is for physical training, just think of it as an outdoor adventure trip."
Zhao Qiang first climbed down the tree to observe the surrounding situation. The big black bear was probably badly injured by the wild boar, so it had already run away and disappeared. Only then did Zhao Qiang call Yang Shiqi down. Zhao Qiang went to cut some flammable firewood and brought it back. The two of them started a fire on a flat rock and then set up a firebreak around the area to make sure the forest didn't catch fire. Although this might not be in China anymore, fire and water are merciless, and who knows if it might spread into Chinese territory. Besides, it's our shared home, and no one should destroy it.
Yang Shiqi rummaged through the items in Zhao Qiang's carrying pole, "Do you have any clothes? It's uncomfortable to wear like this."
While processing the wild boar meat, Zhao Qiang said, "I don't know, I just picked one from a carrying pole. You can look for it."
Yang Shiqi rummaged through everything in the carrying pole, but found nothing except pots, pans, food, and a tent. She could only give up in frustration.
Zhao Qiang found some salt and soy sauce, and used a screwdriver to grill the wild boar meat over the fire. The meat sizzled and oil gushed out. Seeing this, Yang Shiqi also felt hungry. She sat down next to Zhao Qiang, hugged his arm, and kept urging him, "Is it cooked yet? Can we eat it now?"
Zhao Qiang said, "The outside is almost cooked, but the inside may not be. Wild animals have a lot of parasites these days, so it's important to cook it thoroughly."
Yang Shiqi said cautiously, "Do you still dare to eat this? You mustn't get sick."
Zhao Qiang tested the inside of the meat with a fork and felt it was okay. He placed the roasted meat on a plate, then used his monstrous screwdriver to cut the meat into slices, threw a piece into his mouth, and said while chewing, "Why don't you not eat it yet? You can eat it after I've tested it and it's okay."
Yang Shiqi initially nodded, but seeing Zhao Qiang stuffing pieces of meat into his mouth, she finally couldn't resist and snatched the plate away, saying, "Fine, if you're sick, so be it. These are mine."
Seeing Yang Shiqi eating with her mouth full of oil, Zhao Qiang laughed and said, "Aren't you afraid of getting fat?"
Yang Shiqi said, "There's slimming tea, what's there to be afraid of? If you can't even handle something this small, what's the point of us following you?"
Zhao Qiang was speechless at Yang Shiqi's carefree personality. He cut another piece of wild boar meat and put it on the fire to roast. Just as the meat was about to be cooked, a muffled gunshot suddenly came from afar, followed by a barrage of shots. Zhao Qiang threw the meat away, and his monstrous screwdriver immediately turned into a shovel. He used it to extinguish the fire in a few quick motions, and then pulled Yang Shiqi up into a tree!
"You stay here, I'll go check it out."
Yang Shiqi was a little worried: "I'll go with you."
Zhao Qiang said, "The anti-gravity device is malfunctioning, and it's inconvenient to carry you around. Listen to me, I'll be back in a bit. You take the compression gun and shoot if anything happens!"
Yang Shiqi took the gun and said, "Be careful, come back soon, don't make me worry."
Zhao Qiang leaped out from under the tree trunk. The lack of an anti-gravity device was indeed troublesome; a person's weight was a major obstacle. Following the sound of gunfire, Zhao Qiang jumped step by step towards the scene. By the time he arrived, the gunfire had stopped, indicating that the battle was over.
On the way, Zhao Qiang observed the surrounding terrain. Because he couldn't tell which way to go at night, he had been running around blindly by feeling. He was now far from his original route. Moreover, because the terrain was lower than before, Zhao Qiang couldn't see through the layers of trees and mountains. And because it was cloudy, he had even lost his way. How pathetic!
"Kill them all, leave no one alive!" a foreign man with skin color who spoke English shouted the order. Zhao Qiang was, after all, a college student and had a certain level of understanding of English. Perhaps he couldn't understand the conversations very well before, but now with the help of the super biochip, it was no problem.
Bang, bang, the people who were caught and kneeling on the ground were counted one by one as their heads bounced.
"No, don't kill me! Don't kill me! I'll talk, I'll confess..." a man shouted. Zhao Qiang recognized him; he was one of Big Beard's team members. Among the others killed were Big Beard's team members, porters with the same status as Zhao Qiang, and even a guide. How did they end up fighting with people?
Among the victors was someone who understood Chinese, who translated for the foreign man leading the team. The leader waved his hand and said, "Speak! If I find out you've lied to me, you'll be cut to death!"
The defector said, "No, no, I wouldn't dare lie to you. We were escorting a man to Mengta Valley. This man is the target that General Li is looking for with a lot of money. For him, we sacrificed nearly a hundred team members who had been infiltrating China for more than ten years. We finally brought him to the border, but last night our team was attacked by a pack of wolves, and then we were chased and beaten by the People's Liberation Army at the Chinese border post. I don't know how we got separated from the main force."
The foreign tour leader's brow furrowed with delight: "Where are the men you were escorting?"
The traitorous member said, "He got separated from our group before we were separated from the main force. Someone saw him and said he was hanging out with a porter, and the two seemed very intimate..."
Bang! Ignoring the team member's continued ramblings, the foreign team leader pulled out his gun and shot him in the head. Having obtained enough information, he holstered his weapon and kicked the kneeling team member's corpse to the ground. The foreign team leader waved to the surrounding team members, "Attention everyone! Search outwards from this center. Maintain communication between teams. The target is a young man with effeminate features, accompanied by a porter. Whoever finds them will receive a five million dollar reward! Whoever captures them alive will receive a ten million dollar reward! Then we'll bring him back safely, and each of you will receive a fifty million dollar reward! From now on, you can live a life of debauchery!"
These words were very persuasive, especially since the reward was high. As a result, groups of foreigners jumped out of the bushes. They were tall and each carried heavy weapons and equipment. There were about fifty of them in total. They split into four directions and searched outwards. Every few minutes, they would communicate with each other using short-range wireless devices to report their progress.
Zhao Qiang did nothing. He quietly sneaked back to the spot where they had been grilling meat, unsure if the smoke would alert them. He knew he couldn't stay there any longer. Zhao Qiang began tidying up the cooking utensils and tent on the ground. Yang Shiqi saw Zhao Qiang return and slid down from the tree, asking, "What happened? Who fired the shot?"
Zhao Qiang said, "Another group of people has appeared, with a total number of no more than sixty. Their weapons are even more powerful than Hu Zi's. They are searching this way, and their target is a man who looks like a woman and a porter."
Yang Shiqi was taken aback and said, "You can just say it's you and me."
Zhao Qiang picked up the load and said, "Let's go."
Yang Shiqi said, "Where do we go? We're already lost."
Zhao Qiang said, "Of course we should turn our backs on them, otherwise we'll just be walking into their trap."
Yang Shiqi hurriedly followed Zhao Qiang's steps, took a couple of steps and touched her face in surprise, then looked up at the sky: "It's raining?"
Zhao Qiang looked up and tried it. Sure enough, the raindrops fell very quickly and heavily. In just over ten seconds, it was pouring down. The two of them were completely unprepared and were soaked to the bone. However, they still dared not stop to take shelter from the rain. They braved the rain and walked through the forest, sometimes deep and sometimes shallow. After walking for about three miles, Yang Shiqi couldn't take it anymore and sat down on a dead tree trunk.
"I can't go on anymore, the rain is too heavy, let's find a place to take shelter from the rain."
Volume 2 [320] The Tree Hole
Zhao Qiang wiped the rain off his face. In fact, most of the raindrops didn't fall directly on people, but rather after passing through leaves and tree trunks. The rain was less intense after being cushioned by these coverings. Zhao Qiang opened his carrying pole and sorted through the items, putting the tent, a pot, and some food into his backpack. He threw the rest into the dense bushes and then tossed the backpack to Yang Shiqi: "You take the bag, I'll carry you."
Yang Shiqi was a little embarrassed: "Is it okay? The road is difficult to walk on."
Zhao Qiang said, "Let's try it first. Who told me to insist on taking you straight to the lair? If we go back to Xiahe Village, we won't have to suffer like this."
Yang Shiqi smiled and said, "You can't say that. As the saying goes, every cloud has a silver lining. We might encounter some dangers even if we escape back to Xiahe Village. Besides, the anti-gravity device has failed, so it won't be easy for us to get back to Xiahe Village. Anyway, this matter is not going to be easy no matter how you look at it. Let's take it one step at a time."
Zhao Qiang held Yang Shiqi's bottom with both hands, "You're really open-minded. Let's go."
Yang Shiqi initially kept a distance between her chest and Zhao Qiang's back, but later she felt uncomfortable, so she hugged Zhao Qiang's neck. Who cares? Yang Shiqi thought to herself, in front of him she is a woman. Apart from having short hair and slightly smaller breasts, how is she inferior to other girls? Even if she has a mustache, it's not as heavy as some girls'. It's just that most people have preconceived notions and overemphasize this flaw. She'll fix it when she gets back.
Zhao Qiang's physical strength was still quite good, mainly because Yang Shiqi was not very heavy. Compared to the search teams behind them, their movement speed was much faster. In addition, they had eaten some wild boar meat, so they had plenty of energy and had walked five kilometers without realizing it.
"Zhao Qiang, do you like your senior sister?" Yang Shiqi suddenly rubbed her eyes and woke up while on Zhao Qiang's back. She had actually taken a nap while lying on Zhao Qiang's back. Although the journey was bumpy, Yang Shiqi felt that she slept very comfortably. Could this be the wonderful power between men and women?
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Zhao Qiang lifted Yang Shiqi's buttocks firmly, finding them to be more bouncy than Xu Xiaoya's and Hu Qian's.
Yang Shiqi chuckled in Zhao Qiang's ear: "Still denying it? She's so cute, any man would like her."
Zhao Qiang got angry: "If you mention her again, I'll throw you down."
Yang Shiqi could only compromise, "Okay, okay, I won't mention it anymore. I originally wanted to introduce her to you two to keep Xu Xiaoya in check, but it seems you don't appreciate it, so forget it."
Zhao Qiang chuckled. Xu Xiaoya held considerable power, so it was normal for these people to have their own ideas. He didn't believe they would blindly follow Xu Xiaoya without any ulterior motives. Everyone has their selfish side, and he couldn't hold a grudge against Yang Shiqi over this matter.