บท 21: Niu Xiaolin (1)
Shao Lin washed up and put on a soft-pink floral dress before it was time to meet with Long Yat-sen.
The clothes Long Xia had picked for her were catered to her style, and she appreciated the effort put into her small new wardrobe.
Long Xia met with Shao Lin by the elevator, who pressed the button for the level above. Long Xia then stepped away just as she said to her with a genuine smile. "Good luck with everything. I will be waiting in the apartment for you."
Shao Lin gave her a small smile in return before the elevator doors shut between them. She felt nervous. Nervous that she would be meeting with Long Yat-sen, nervous that his very presence always seems to bore in her mind and ignite parts of her that she never knew could light on fire.
But Shao Lin was there for answers, and she was afraid he would not give it to her. Would he be evasive as everyone else? Will he distract her with sweet words like Zhong Bai? Would he lie?
Shao Lin wanted to find out, to have an impression on Long Yat-sen and to determine if she was willing to work with him.
She approached his apartment door and buzzed the doorbell. The door unlocked on its own. It astonished her.
Shao Lin then stepped into the quiet penthouse alone.
Inside she saw a kitchen, a dining and living area, a double staircase, three levels, and the apartment was filled with all the furnishings of a home. But there was no sight of Long Yat-sen. Was he here?
She walked through the living room, heading toward the floor-to-ceiling windows. She gazed out toward the city. From her view, the building seemed to have towered over others, and the penthouse stretched so far and wide that she wouldn't have believed that this was actually an apartment unit. But judging from the size, it was the biggest one in the building.
"The view is beautiful. Is it not?" she heard a deep and honeyed voice cut in behind her.
Shao Lin turned to face Long Yat-sen, who wore casual clothing. He fit into a white shirt and black joggers well, and his inky hair fell over his eyes.
"Yes," she breathed in answer. "The view is lovely."
Long Yat-sen smiled and then he waved a hand to gesture her to take a seat in his living room. She settled on a beige leather armchair. He took the seat opposite of her.
"Is my sister treating you well?" he asked, his glacier eyes meeting her brown ones.
Shao Lin nodded. "Yes," she started. "Xia makes exceptional company. She treats me like a friend."
At that, Long Yat-sen looked at her with amusement. "I'm glad to hear."
His slight smile caught her off guard completely. He appeared as if he was happy she was doing better, well even. She wondered why.
Shao Lin looked at him. "Xia said I could come to talk to you…about some things you may know."
Long Yat-sen's face softened, giving her a sombre expression. "I'll answer any questions you have, Miss Shao," he said smoothly.
Shao chewed down her lower lip. She straightened in her seat, her chin held high, meeting Long Yat-sen's curious gaze. She went straight for it. "Do you know who killed my father?"
Long Yat-sen straightened and crossed his hands together. Shao Lin was prepared for him to be evasive, but he said. "No, I don't," he began. "Even for me, that is a mystery I have not figured out. I can say I suspect the detective just as he suspected me. But either way, you don't really know for sure Miss Shao with the lack of evidence, but I can tell you there is one other person I do suspect…"
Shao Lin's eyes widened. "Who?"
"Your grandfather."
"My grandfather?" she questioned. "But…I was told they weren't around."
"Not around," he replied. "But very much alive. One of them, at least, an ambitious man who can't seem to let go of the past."
She scrunched her brows. "Why would you suspect him? Who is he, really?"
Long Yat-sen cleared his throat. He looked at her, their eyes colliding. "Your grandfather—Niu Wen—was the last person that ruled the Eighth Syndicate."
Shao Lin gaped at him before she let him continue. "My grandfather, Long Huojin, disbanded the Eighth Syndicate many years ago, stripping its power from Niu Wen's hands. The Ox Syndicate was the most ruthless of all our organizations. They were messy, brutal, out of control, unorganized. As a child, I thought they were a myth my father told to scare me…that was until Mr. Shao came to see my father."
He paused before he continued. "Mr. Shao joined the Dragon Syndicate many years ago to undermine my father's work and to break down the organization from the inside out and reclaim their title. Niu Wen had borne those ambitions onto his own son so much that Mr. Shao had planned to assassinate my parents and his children too."
Shao Lin's heart sped up, her lungs seemed to be robbed of air. "I…why would he do that?"
"I don't blame him," he said. "He was a man raised with envy, ambition, rage, and anger that his father passed onto him since he was a boy."
Shao Lin was too afraid to listen anymore but knowing that Long Yat-sen was still around, she wondered what happened.
He continued. "Your father had spent years plotting against mine, but he did not carry it out. He came to my father one day unexpectedly and confessed to everything. He said he wanted nothing to do with it anymore. He admitted his Niu Wen was a traitor and was tired of his ambition. He confessed he betrayed the Dragon Syndicate, and he asked for forgiveness and mercy for his wife and…his daughter." Long Yat-sen expressed softly.
"My father questioned why Mr. Shao confessed his betrayal, and Mr. Shao said he wanted a better life for his wife, for his child. He begged my father never to allow any harm to come to them because he wanted his daughter to do nothing with that world." Long Yat-sen paused to smile. "Instead of giving Mr. Shao execution for treason, my father sent him to exile. He told him to move, to take on a new name, to be with his family, and to leave this world and to never come back."
Shao Lin's eyes widened. "I thought no one could leave?"
Long Yat-sen looked at her with a grin that reached his eyes. "It depends on the leader, I'd say. You see, everything thinks of my father as this cold and calculating man. In some ways, he is…but in other ways, he was also a bit of a romantic. He told me after that Mr. Shao reminded him of himself with his urgent need to protect his wife and children, the wanting of a better future for them. He was also impressed that Mr. Shao came to him when he could have been killed for it."
Shao Lin stared at him with wide astonishment and amazement. "So, my father followed through and went into exile?"
Long Yat-sen nodded. "He erased everything about himself and his family and started new. What this also means, Miss Shao, is that you are Niu Xiaolin of Beijing, the last descendant of the Ox Syndicate and your grandfather had spent years looking for you."
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