Kongkong'er bowed slightly to He Tiandou, then said to Jing Ke, "Brother Jing, please forgive my offense." Finally, he turned to Zhao Bailian and said, "Today I am convinced of my defeat. If we are destined to meet again in the next life, I hope we can have another match."
Kongkong'er took the red pill from He Tiandou's hand and was about to put it in his mouth. Liu Bang suddenly shouted, "Wait, there's something else I don't understand. How did you get the anesthetic into our food? There's been a constant stream of people at home these past few days. Could there be a traitor among us?"
Kongkong smiled knowingly upon hearing this, but did not reply. He opened his mouth and swallowed the red medicine. After a while, he slowly closed his eyes and began to snore softly.
Liu Bang, holding a small hammer, asked, "What should we do with these foreigners?"
Wu Sangui said, "Yes, if it were up to me, I would just dig a pit and bury them all, but it seems that Xiaoqiang has not killed many people, so he still can't bring himself to do it."
Now I only have two choices. One is to kill them, and the other is to hand them over to the relevant authorities. In any case, I can't let them go. I sighed and called Fei Sankou. By then, He Tiandou had already unplugged the jammer. Fei Sankou answered the phone and said, "Usually when you call me, it's either a pleasant surprise or a shock. So, tell me, is this good news or bad news?"
"Sigh. I can't tell if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but you're the only one I can think of who can help me. Please bring a few more people with you."
After hanging up the phone, He Tiandou asked me, "What are you planning to do with those antiques?"
I knew he was asking about the items that Kongkong'er had stolen from the pawnshop, so I could only say, "Let's hand them over to the National Security Bureau as well. If we try to get them back, they'll eventually end up back in their hands anyway."
Before long, Fei Sankou arrived with his men. I pointed to the four foreigners on the ground and said to him, "Foreign Mafia, I don't know if you're interested."
Fei Sankou frowned as he watched his team members search them and find guns on them. "Why would the Mafia target you?" he asked.
"I'll explain this to you later. Anyway, you can take the person back and ask her; I can't run away. There's one more thing I need your help with right now."
Fei Sankou joked, mimicking my tone from that day, "Is it business or personal?"
“It’s both public and private. There are a few people here watching over some things that you need to take back. But I have to make it clear beforehand that I can’t give you any of the items. Some of them are borrowed, and some are my personal belongings.”
Fei Sankou said seriously, "What exactly is it? Even if you don't give it to us, we can't return it to you for the time being. You know I represent more than just myself."
At this point, I was exhausted and weak. Although the anesthetic had worn off considerably, my hands and feet were still limp. I said listlessly, "I really can't explain it to you right now. It's fine if you have the items, but you have to promise me that you'll minimize their contact with other things, and most importantly, you can't let them be discovered by those archaeological experts."
Unexpectedly, Fei Sankou said decisively, "I can't guarantee that. Once our operation is successful, we will immediately find various experts to authenticate these items. This is the rule, and it's our code of conduct."
I waved my hands repeatedly, saying, "Well then, you keep the stuff safe for now. We'll just find a few bomb experts to check if it's a bomb. As for the rest, I'll explain it to you quickly, okay?" Seeing his still hesitant expression, I knew it was understandable. As the nation's most loyal guardian, my request was already excessive. I put my hand on his shoulder and whispered, "Think about it. Since you met me, how many irrational things have happened? But none of them caused any damage to the country, right? On the contrary, you even found the Qin King's tomb and won Singapore's honor."
Fei Sankou stared into my eyes for a long time before finally saying, "Okay. But I'll only give you 24 hours. If you haven't contacted me by now tomorrow, they'll definitely be in our conference room."
I gritted my teeth and said, "Fine! But... I'll have to trouble you all to move my furniture back."
So, the few national security agents Fei Sankou brought started huffing and puffing as they carried the furniture back for me. The ones carrying it out were hostile foreign elements; the ones carrying it back were our country's loyal guardians, and we ultimately won—I thought this was a very auspicious sign. When the agents rummaged through the foreigners' pockets and found a huge pile of odds and ends, including pliers and screwdrivers, they exclaimed in surprise, "Are these foreigners desperate? They're stealing everything!"
The pearl had already been snatched away by the clever Li Shishi.
After Fei San and the others left, Kongkong slowly woke up. He opened his eyes and asked in surprise, "Uncle He, where are we?"
He Tiandou patted his head affectionately and said, "This is our new home." He then took out a set of keys and handed them to him, pointing to the villa across from my house and saying, "Go and tidy up that room a little. Uncle will be back in a bit."
Kongkong looked at us curiously, agreed, and left.
After he walked away, He Tiandou sighed and said, "This child has been with me since he was 13, so after taking the red medicine, he regained his memories from when he was 13. Fortunately, he is mature beyond his years. But in short, I owe him a lot, and I can only try to make up for it in other ways."
By then we were all back inside. Baozi was still asleep, slumped over the table, and seemed to have been drugged; her limbs were limp. I draped a coat over her and asked, puzzled, "I've been wondering too, who put the anesthetic in our food?"
Li Shishi said, "Moreover, Kongkong'er was unwilling to explain in detail before leaving, which is very suspicious."
Liu Bang said, "I still stand by my opinion: there must be a traitor among us."
Hua Mulan was bandaging Ersha's wounds; Ersha's shoulder was bleeding quite a bit. Suddenly, Xiang Yu slammed his fist on the table and exclaimed, "This man is despicable!" Zhang Bing jumped in fright. He Tiandou said calmly, "Since things have come to this, I'll tell you everything I know." We all looked at him, completely bewildered.
Unexpectedly, He Tiandou turned his gaze to Zhang Bing and said in the same regretful tone he used when speaking to Kong Kong'er, "Miss, why are you doing this?"
Zhang Bing's expression changed drastically. Xiang Yu asked curiously, "What do you mean by that, Mr. He?" He Tiandou simply shook his head and didn't say a word.
Zhang Bing regained her composure in an instant, then looked at Xiang Yu and slowly said, "Your Majesty, I fell in love with you the moment I first saw you..."
In front of so many people, Xiang Yu felt slightly uncomfortable, but he didn't flinch. Looking into Zhang Bing's eyes, he said softly, "Me too." We all felt a chill; I was about to grab my steamed bun and leave.
Zhang Bing's face was sorrowful as she slowly said, "You're not her. You just glanced at me casually, threw a bag of money at me, and said, 'It's her.'" Everyone gasped in surprise. Several men looked at Xiang Yu knowingly, thinking that the meeting between the Chu King and Yu Ji actually took place on a specific occasion...
Xiang Yu said blankly, "That's not right, I..."
Zhang Bing interrupted him, saying, "Just because of one sentence from you, I followed Yu Ji like a shadow from then on. Until later, I really became her shadow completely."
In that instant, I had a vague feeling that something was wrong...
Sure enough, Xiang Yu exclaimed in horror, "You... are Xiao Huan?"
Everyone seemed to understand but not quite, and asked in unison, "Who is Xiao Huan?"
Zhang Bing stood up, bowed slightly to us, and said, "Everyone, I'm sorry, I was the one who drugged you. It was in the cup of wine I just toasted you with. I... I'm not Yu Ji." She turned to Liu Bang and said, "Brother Liu, you've been suspecting me for a long time, haven't you?"
Liu Bang scratched his head, looking confused, and said, "Yes... but I really can't remember who Xiao Huan is."
Zhang Bing smiled bitterly and said, "Of course you don't remember. In fact, who would know me? I was just a maid that the king bought to serve Consort Yu."
We suddenly realized.
Zhang Bing looked at Xiang Yu, who was already petrified, with deep affection and said softly, "Your Majesty, I really love you. You ride on your black horse, and the enemies in front of you are slaughtered. You are a lonely hero, and only Yu Ji can relieve your loneliness. But why don't you even look at me? Xiao Huan understands you and loves you too."
Xiang Yu's lips were ashen, and he remained silent, seemingly lost in thought.
Zhang Bing continued, "Yu Ji stole all your hearts, but I don't hate her at all. After several hints from me, she also tried to persuade you to take me as your concubine. At first, you pretended not to understand, but in the end, to show your determination, you even gave me some money to go home. I really envy Yu Ji. A woman who did that, what else can I complain about?"
At this point, He Tiandou finally said, "So on the Bridge of Helplessness, you were so obsessed with becoming Yu Ji in your next life that you looked exactly like her after being reincarnated. Even your every move and every little detail was a reflection of Yu Ji. Furthermore, even without knowing who you were in your past life, you fell in love with Xiang Yu the moment you saw him. Not only in your past life, but in this life as well, you fell in love with him at first sight, didn't you?"
Zhang Bing remained silent, then nodded vigorously at the end.
I asked in astonishment, "You knew all along?"