Chapter 25
The three quickly got into Lisa's car. While rushing back to the hospital, Lisa made a call to Auntie Mi-kyung to inform her that everybody was safe and sound. Auntie Mi-kyung cried tears of joy, and asked them to hurry back to the hospital so that they could check on Jieun.
Jennie kept pestering Lisa about what actually happened. Even though the cold Jieun pretended not to care, she too, occasionally glanced at Lisa, obviously pretty curious about it as well.
To be honest, her evaluation of this cheap wife of hers, changed from the initial disgust, to disregard. Gradually she began to have some interest in her, particularly with regards to these few days' of miraculous performances. This was the first time Jieun ever had the impulse to understand a person, but if it's about liking her, it was still a far cry from that. Simply based on that carefree attitude of Lisa, not bothering to climb higher made Jieun, who took her work seriously, despise her.
Lisa couldn't endure Jennie's barrage of questions, and casually cooked up a lie. She said that when she came she had already called for the Zhong Hai's Special Forces to deal with their criminal gang. If they didn't leave at once, they would be encircled and wiped out by the Special Forces. Byung-hun lied to them that there were no Special Forces in this area, so Byung-hun was the true evil-doer. In the end, they wisely chose the money and leave, and no longer gave a damn about the three of them.
A lie like that probably couldn't even convince a 3-year-old kid, but Lisa was dead set on this story without letting it go. In the end, while panting with rage, Jennie gave up, sat back against her seat and no longer bothered Lisa.
Fact was, if it wasn't for Lisa ignoring her personal safety and following those people's request to rescue them alone, they wouldn't have let Lisa off so easily. They would definitely have smashed through every barrier to find the truth.
Jieun didn't ask about that, and abruptly asked just one question, "What language were you using to speak to that man earlier?"
"Oh, Vietnamese." Lisa knew that she wouldn't be able to conceal this.
Jennie couldn't help but look at Lisa with the expression of looking at a freak, "You're proficient in English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Japanese, and even know Vietnamese?"
"Is it really that strange? Actually, I know Thai too, the two languages are pretty similar." Lisa shamelessly took Jennie's expression as reverence, and slightly boasted.
Jieun was slightly touched, when it came to languages, perhaps this punk was truly a genius. Yet when she thought about it for a while, she noticed that there was a problem, "Why did you learn Vietnamese?"
Lisa grinned and replied, "My wife, you must have heard of this before. That year, Vietnam had a slogan called 'Sacrificing a generation of maidens, prospering Vietnam's economy'. Vietnamese girls are pretty good, high quality yet cheap. I decided to learnt the language, and went to Vietnam to play a few times."
"......"
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After dropping Jieun off at the hospital, Lisa didn't stay for long, and left the remaining matters for Jennie and Auntie Mi-kyung to settle. Luckily, nobody had called the police yet, so they were saved from a lot of trouble.
After Lisa went outside the hospital, she made a phone call. The phone soon connected, and a familiar boorish voice came from the other side of the line.
"Ms. Lisa, the person you wanted us to catch has been brought here, awaiting you to personally deal with."
"It's at Sung Resi--Oh no, now it's called Tiger Residences, right? Lisa laughed as she inquired.
On the phone, Hong-nae also straightforwardly laughed, "It's all thanks to Ms. Lisa and Ms. Rose for secretly helping, otherwise I wouldn't have this day."
Lisa didn't remain courteous to him, and said, "Tiger, I'm coming over now. Before that, you can begin giving that fella some suffering, but remember this, you're not allowed to kill him, everything else is fair play. I want him to never ever have the claws to scratch someone ever again.
"Yes Ms. Lisa, please be at ease and leave such things to me." Hong-nae's voice carried a trace of cruelty.
Hanging up the phone, Lisa slowly got into her car and drove towards the Tiger Residences, this was also to give Hong-nae a little more time to teach Byung-hun a lesson. If it were up to Lisa, she would definitely prefer to get rid of Byung-hun once and for all. But since she decided to assimilate into society, killing her father-in-law was somewhat wrong. Moreover, although Jieun was completely disappointed by this father, if she found out that Lisa killed her father, she will definitely never forgive her.
The relationship between people is the most difficult to understand, just like her and Jieun, a number of days ago, they were just strangers to each other. But now, she already couldn't help but take Jieun's feelings into consideration.
By the time Lisa found an empty lot to park her car, about half an hour had passed before she arrived at the Tiger Residences on foot. When the door guards saw Lisa, they simultaneously bowed.
Lisa saw fear in their eyes, it seemed like their memories of her intruding that night was still fresh in their minds.
"Ms. Lisa!" Hong-nae's familiar voice was heard from the door, alongside him were five robust subordinates, and they walked towards Lisa. He wore a white shirt and a gold Rolex watch, which gave this boorish man the air of a boss.
"Seems like your days have been good, you look more like a boss now." Lisa playfully joked.
Hong-nae's face blushed, "Hehehe, this was all thanks to Ms. Rose's great leadership. I'm just a boorish person, and my subordinates are all sworn brothers, I don't understand those things."
Lisa puzzlingly asked, "Has Rose been keeping close contact with you?"
Hong-nae stared blankly, and immediately gave a relaxed laugh, "I know what Ms. Lisa is worried about, do not worry, Ms. Lisa. The people from the West Union Society that were planted by my side were all shunned by me. My connection with Ms. Rose is also very covert. West Union Society's President even had a drink with me yesterday. The old ghost's opinion was that he was actually thankful that I brought down Sung Dong-il."
"Oh? Park Seo-joon didn't suspect a thing?" Lisa didn't believe the big shot of the west region's underworld could be so stupid.
Hong-nae excitedly said, "Ms. Rose prepared a good play several days ago, her Red Thorns Society and my subordinates battled for a piece of territory, and several people died, in the end the territory was snatched by me. To be honest, that is just a place for me and Ms. Rose to discuss things, and is a hideout. However, after sacrificing several of the low-level waste, Park Seo-joon has already allowed me to enter West Union Society's group of elders."
"You cannot be careless, before the final moment, nobody knows what the result will be." Lisa kept feeling that things couldn't be this simple, and so she offered this advice.
Hong-nae seriously nodded, but he continued looking at Lisa with great confidence. So what if Park Seo-joon doesn't really trust me? With Ms. Lisa here, in the worst case scenario, we could always break into the old ghost's hideout and slaughter him, wouldn't that be about the same as the way she single-handedly got rid of Sung Dong-il!?
Lisa roughly understood what was on Hong-nae's mind, but was too lazy to say more. Although she wasn't afraid of making a move, the trouble that will be drawn to her if she personally made a move more or less could force her out of her current tranquil lifestyle. This was also the reason Lisa doesn't easily make a move herself.
"Where is that Byung-hun?" Questioned Lisa.
Only now did Hong-nae know that old man's name was Byung-hun, pointing towards a garage far away he said, "He's inside, my sister heard about what you said earlier, and volunteered."
"Your sister?" Lisa thought of that delinquent girl who asked her the silly question "Why did she volunteered?" that day. It seems like after her brother became the boss of this place, life has been comfortable for her.
Hong-nae weirdly smiled as he said, "Ms. Lisa might not know this, but my sister has many more tricks up her sleeve than me. Since you said that as long as he doesn't die anything is fine, my sister immediately charged in after hearing that."
Lisa believed what Hong-nae said, because she remembered being tortured by Ten on the bed that day. Receiving such inhumane treatment, it was inevitable that she became psychologically twisted. Naturally, she would also want to perform some perverted things on others.
With Hong-nae leading the way, Lisa walked towards the inconspicuous little garage. Before she even reached the doors, Lisa could already hear yelling coming from inside the garage, those shouts were from Byung-hun, and they sounded full of grief and pain.
There wasn't much sunlight in the garage, so the space was lit up by several white incandescent lights.
Pervading the air was a charred scent, while the surroundings were filled with discarded furniture, curtain fabrics and so on.
In the instant they walked in, the scene gave Lisa goosebumps, well, not just Lisa, even Hong-nae and the other robust men all had goosebumps!
In an empty area, Byung-hun's branded clothes were strewn all over, even his underwear was thrown somewhere. His years of debauchery made his pale body's flesh loose and heavy.
His hands were tied together by a rope to the ceiling, and couldn't move an inch, while his legs were also tied together. He could only bend up and down.
If that was all, everybody's expressions wouldn't be this strange, but behind Byung-hun stood a skinny youngster. He was also naked, and was even hugging Byung-hun by the waist, doing a certain something. While panting, he released hoarse cries that resembled liberation.
Byung-hun was actually being raped by another man! No wonder he kept releasing those wails of grief and pain. It had always been him toying with others, now it was him getting toyed with, as of this moment he probably didn't even have the energy to cry!
While she was overseas, Lisa had seen such scenes before, but they truly weren't as disturbing as this one. Moreover, this was in her face, and she could see every little detail clearly.
"Ms. Lisa, Bro, how is it? This tactic of mine is pretty good, right?" At this moment, a girl who stood at a corner of the room saw the people who entered, and walked over with an enchanting smile, like she wanted a praise.
"Ja-yeon, this tactic is too cruel isn't it!" Hong-nae trembled.
Ja-yeon disdainfully snorted, "For someone who dares to anger Ms. Lisa, this is considered going easy!" Said Ja-yeon, as she looked at Lisa with bewitched eyes.
Yet Lisa didn't dare to have more contact with this eccentric woman, she didn't agree or disagree as she smiled, and once again glanced at the sight that could lead a man astray. This time, she suddenly noticed something about the youngster violating Byung-hun.
Why does he seem a little familiar?
"T-Ten?" Lisa finally recognized that pitiful fellow, she didn't expect that it would be him.
Compared to the last time she met Ten, he looked hell of a lot different. His originally slim face was now even more slender, his hair was so messy as if he rolled around in the grass, his cheeks were sunken in, and there were quite a number of scratches and bruises on his body.
What made him even harder to recognize was his muddleheaded and crazed smile. Rather than calling him human, he could be called an animal in the shape of a human, that has zero intelligence.
The original Ten has now turned into something that doesn't look like a human or a ghost, perhaps this was heaven's will.
However, Lisa did not pity him in the slightest, karma naturally has its way of doling out retribution. The Ten of now is the result of him being an evildoer in the past.
Ja-yeon looked at Ten with a malevolent gaze. It was Ten who ruined her life, and so there was no reason for her not to hate him.
"That's right, he is no longer called Ten, now he is just a dog I'm raising!" As Ja-yeon spoke, she suddenly pulled on the rope in her hand!
Ten who was just desperately banging Byung-hun was suddenly dragged down to the ground with a hoarse yelp. Then like a dog he quickly crawled to the front of Ja-yeon's feet and began licking her toes.
At that moment, Lisa noticed that on Ten's neck was a leather collar used for pets, with the leash in Ja-yeon's hand!
Ten's movements had already lost all rationality, it seemed like he had received too many mental shocks and became deranged.
"Everytime I see that bastard I feel like putting a bullet through his head, but my sister just won't allow it." Tiger fiercely said.
"Killing him will be letting him off too easy. I want to torture him, he toyed with me in the past, so I've let other men toy with him. Every night there are men and women who he bullied in the past, coming to toy with him. Soon, I'll kill him after we play with him till we are sick." Ja-yeon said, "Ms. Lisa, do you still need my pet to serve that old man?"
Lisa glanced at Byung-hun who had fainted from the pain, and expressionlessly said, "You guys can handle it, but that line remains, as long as he doesn't die, nothing else matters."
With her purpose here fulfilled, Lisa turned to leave, she did not have the mood to continue watching. Whether it was Byung-hun or Ten, she doesn't care.
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But in this world, plans will never keep up with reality.
While Lisa was on the way to the hospital, Tiger again called, he informed Lisa of a piece of news that stunned Lisa; Byung-hun became insane!
The failed revenge attempts, being thrown into garbage bins, then being tied up by the very mercenaries he hired; he had high aspirations but all his efforts were for naught. In addition, he lost all of his shares in Lee International. Byung-hun who had practically nothing was already downhearted, yet today he was stripped away of his final bit of dignity as a man by that bastard Ten.
Originally a rich family's son who had played to his heart's content for half a lifetime, in the end he received such a miserable ending.
Perhaps turning insane was a type of liberation for Byung-hun.
Lisa just asked Tiger to bring Byung-hun to Zhong Hai's mental hospital. As for everything else, Tiger should understand what to do.
Just as Lisa was sighing over the matter of Byung-hun, she suddenly received a call from Jennie. This beautiful superior had never shown her any kindness, even though she saved her this time, she still maintained that expression as if she owed her money; Lisa felt exceedingly helpless about this.
"Hello, what commands do you have, My lord?" Lisa dispiritedly greeted.
On the line, Jennie was a little annoyed, "What? From your tone, it seems like talking to me is a torture to you?"
"It's not torture, I feel overwhelmed by favor." Lisa frowned, this woman really likes to pick a fight.
Jennie snorted over the phone, "Let me tell you, this lady is inviting you out for dinner tonight, don't reject her kind offer."
Lisa was extremely skeptical, and vigilantly asked, "Ms. Kim, can it be that you're going to send me to some eating place to chase a debt again?"
"Go die, Lisa! I'm showing great kindness by thanking you for saving me, which is why I invited you out for a meal. You think I'm the type that likes to pick a quarrel, the type that is insensitive and heartless, that kind of woman!?"
That goes without saying...... Lisa silently criticized, but she still agreed . After all there was no reason for her to reject Jennie's offer, she was truly a little hungry too.
"If that's the case, come to our company's parking lot, we'll take my car there." After she said this, Jennie hung up without allowing any rejection.
Lisa's stomach was rumbling, and so she drove faster, and arrived at Lee International's basement car park. Most people had already got off work, and so the car park was relatively void of cars.
Jennie's red Audi A4 was conspicuously parked in a corner, while its owner was staring at her watch waiting for Lisa.
Jennie had already changed into casual clothes, a black cotton dress, perfectly covering her slim waist and outstanding butt, beneath that pair of beautiful short jade-like legs were a pair of crystal high heels. A head of smooth long raven hair was untied, complementing her attire. As before, the beautiful face was full of intelligence, and had a little makeup on it, meeting the requirements as a traditional elegant and polished eastern beauty.
If she didn't know how "vicious and merciless" this woman is, Lisa would be like the others, captivated by Jennie's elegance and charisma.
"Get in." Jennie did not beat around the bush, seeing Lisa walk over, she immediately opened the door and sat in the driver's seat.
After Lisa got into the car, Jennie turned on the audio system, using the AUX mode to connect to a silver iPod, and an old Sarah Chen song, 'Dream to awakening' melodiously sounded in the car.
Jennie didn't take the initiative to talk to Lisa again, and minded her own business while driving.
After the car got on the highway, Lisa was rather surprised to find out that Jennie's iPod was filled with classical old songs, including the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and other old school western works.
"Looks like you enjoy nostalgia." Lisa was rather moved, this young city woman also had a side like this.
Jennie rolled her eyes at Lisa, "The new things are easily forgotten, things that aren't easily forgotten are the ones worth ruminating over......" Having said that, she paused for a moment, then said, "A punk person like you wouldn't understand such a thing."
"I understand." Lisa seriously replied, "Two years ago I felt that Hollywood's Jessica Alba was incredibly pretty, she was hot and sexy. But after she got pregnant, I felt that the dreams of the past became much more flavorful."
Jennie almost puked blood all over the steering wheel. If it wasn't because she had to step on the accelerator, she really wanted to kick this shameless fellow off!
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The rest of the journey was awkwardly silent, there was only the English rock and roll and its relaxing beat.
When the car stopped, Jennie finally spoke, "We're here, get out."
Lisa bewilderedly looked out of the window, and suspected that she might be wrong about something, she couldn't help but point at that signboard with neon lights asking, "Are you sure we're eating at that place?"
"Why? Am I not allowed to?" Jennie asked with an unkind expression.
Lisa shook her head, "I'm just curious as to why you would eat at a place like this. I thought you would bring me to some classy restaurant, and have some western or French meal or something, befitting your status."
"I just like to eat at food stalls, I even like to eat street food. Unfortunately you guessed wrong." Jennie glared at Lisa, "Get out!"
Food stall? Fine then. Lisa didn't mind as long as there was someone to settle the bill for her, because she didn't bring her wallet.
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Along the riverside in Zhong Hai's suburbs, the food stall's business was so prosperous like a long dragon, one cannot see the end of it with a single glance. The many colors of tents were supported using bamboo or metal poles, and had many different sizes.
The brilliant colors of the neon lamps made the food stalls' signs show up bright and clear. The street had an unending flow of people walking by, but what made Lisa a little surprised was, majority of them were Zhong Hai city center's white collar workers. Many of them wore western suits here, there were also those who were afraid of heat and hung their ties on their hands, chit-chatting on the streets as they walked.
The river's wind slightly eased the heat at this time, so it wasn't that insufferable, it also made the area's air quality better. However, the smell of seafood, fruits and vegetables still gave this place the distinctive smell of the earth. Perhaps this was also what these people from the city needed.
But no matter how bustling it was, Jennie, who walked amongst them in her black cotton dress remained as beautiful as ever.
If she didn't open her eyes wide and criticize somebody, Jennie was indeed a really alluring, beautiful woman. She was dignified and elegant, walked nimbly, had a slim waist, and had a great butt that obviously provoked daydreams.
Walking with a woman like that, Lisa easily received numerous gazes of jealousy from some men.
"Do you visit here often?" Lisa casually asked. She didn't know there was a place like this in Zhong Hai, it was new fresh and she looked around curiously.
Jennie nodded, "I used to be a regular, but I haven't come here for a long time."
"There're so many of them, which are we going to?" Lisa realized that there were so many food stalls to the point that it can make one dizzy. Although they looked similar, there was a discernible difference between their standards when it came to cooking.
Jennie shot her a glance, and said, "Just follow me."
Lisa did not ask more, she realized that Jennie became much quieter after they arrived at this place. It wasn't her usual kind of silence, it was like there was something on her mind, as if she was recalling something.
After walking for about 8 minutes, under Jennie's lead, Lisa walked into a stall bearing the name "CL's Food Stall" which was obviously a food stall that served Sichuan cuisine.
In the shop, a slightly chubby lady noticed Jennie, and revealed a happy expression as she walked to her, "Nini, you haven't come for a long time, I missed you so much!"
Jennie also revealed a warm and sincere smile, walked up to the lady and gave her a hug, she didn't even care about possibly getting dirty from the oil and grease on the lady's clothing.
"CL, I've been busy lately, and I'm treating my friend to a meal today, so I came here to find you." Jennie held CL's hand as she smiled and said.
CL glanced over to Lisa who stood behind Jennie with a weird smile, like she understood something, "You didn't tell me that you found a girfriend!"
Jennie blushed, and hastily waved her hand, "N-No, she's already married, her wife is a good friend of mine. Today, she helped me out with something, which is why I'm treating her to a meal."
"Ohh, okay......" CL regretfully smiled, then greeted, "Hello, please don't be shy, take a seat. Since it's your first time here, I will cook some good food for you, free of charge!"
Lisa thanked her, and after they found an empty table and sat down, CL served tea, then went back to work in the kitchenette.
"You're very familiar with the boss, is she your relative?" Lisa curiously asked.
Jennie drank a cup of tea, rubbed away the beads of sweat on her forehead, and replied, "We're both from the same village. Years ago, when I first came to Zhong Hai, I wasn't familiar with this place, and she helped me out a lot; she's a nice person."
"So you're from Sichuan." Lisa was quite surprised, "Previously at the hospital, you said that you've known Jieun for many years. Doesn't that mean that you came to Zhong Hai by yourself when you were 13 or 14 years old?"
"Why, is that strange?" Jennie replied with a question.
Lisa shook her head, "I'm just impressed, for a 13 or 14 years old girl to come to a big city like this all by herself, yet somehow managed to get up to a position like that in a few years. But why would your parents allow you to come here by yourself?"
Jennie's face darkened, she softly said, "My hometown is in the mountains, it's a poor town, all year round we depend on several tenths of a hectare to survive. My dad died due to illness when I was thirteen, when he died I didn't even know what illness he died to. My mother had difficulty raising me, so she remarried another man in the village.
Lisa had difficulty finding a word to say, she didn't expect that behind the bright and beautiful woman was such a murky past.
"You don't agree with your mom's remarriage, so you left the village alone?" After a brief moment of silence, Lisa asked.
"Yeah." Jennie turned her head away, and her hand rubbed the corner of her eyes. She said, "Anyways, I have my reasons for leaving that place. Besides, that place doesn't have a junior high school, and obviously no university. I didn't want to waste my whole life there."
Lisa noticed that Jennie's eyes had turned red, and knew that she didn't like to think of those matters. So she didn't continue with questions on that topic, and asked, "For you to bring me here for a meal, it can't be just to reminisce about your hometown, right nini?"
Jennie rolled her eyes at Lisa, "You're not allowed to call me that. We're not close. Well, I just want to thank you for saving me today."
"I just did what I should, among the two of you, one is my wife and the other is my superior, I can't possibly leave you alone when you're in peril." Lisa honestly stated.
"Yeah, whatever. As for Jieun, she's already unfortunate enough being your wife, so there's no need for her to thank you with a meal like I do." Jennie replied like it was a matter of fact.
"Hey, how can you be like this, what do you mean by unfortunate being my wife?" Lisa gloomily said, "Is marrying me so terrible? I already put my life on the line to save her, I'm such an honorable wife!"
Jennie said, "For you to save her is something you ought to do, and is a totally different matter from whether or not you deserve her. Other than playing games, acting like a punk and being good looking, what else do you usually do? You don't have motivation, ambition and more so, don't have any good qualities. Graduating from Harvard and knowing so many foreign language is all in vain. In this world, it isn't the ones who don't have capability that is disgraceful, it is the ones who obviously have the capability yet do not put in any effort!"
Lisa was completely stunned by this evaluation, and was nearly convinced that she was too disgraceful. It's no wonder that this girl can become the head of PR, she's so good at talking!
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