Chapter 1427 — An Appointment

It was a café. Qiu Lingshan, wearing sunglasses, sat at a table before a great pane of glass, quietly waiting for Sun Jingyan to arrive.

Sun Jingyan was still driving her red Audi A4L. What had astonished her lately was that Wu Chengtian had not come to pester her at all! As her days returned to their old calm, she found herself missing Wei Zhao a little as well. Could it be that she had truly taken a fancy to this younger man?

Sun Jingyan flatly denied the thought. Wei Zhao, after all, had nothing about him worthy of praise, did he? A highway robber and nothing more, how could he ever be worthy of her, Sun Jingyan? And yet it seemed Wei Zhao was not merely a robber; he had other identities besides, and his strength was hardly to be taken lightly either.

In truth, turn the matter over as she might, Sun Jingyan could find no reason to invite Wei Zhao out again, and so she began belittling him in her heart, cutting him down to nothing, the better to remind herself at every moment not to take any further interest in him.

Sun Jingyan parked the car at the café entrance, walked briskly inside, and caught sight of Qiu Lingshan sitting by the window.

Though there had never been much of a connection between the Sun family and the Song family, Sun Jingyan still remembered this celebrated captain of the criminal investigation division in Songshan City; she had seen her on television as well, and lately Qiu Lingshan had cracked one major case after another.

"Miss Sun, I presume? How do you do!" Qiu Lingshan had of course looked into Sun Jingyan beforehand, so the moment Sun Jingyan stepped through the door she recognized her, rose to her feet, and waved her over.

Sun Jingyan nodded, came over, and sat down facing Qiu Lingshan. "Officer Qiu, what is it you wanted to see me about?"

Since she had chosen a café for the meeting, it certainly was not official business. Yet Sun Jingyan genuinely could not imagine what private matter Qiu Lingshan might have with her; the two of them appeared to share no personal ties at all.

"Call me Lingshan. This isn't a police station." Qiu Lingshan smiled. "I'll call you Jingyi, if that's all right?"

"Of course." Sun Jingyan grew only more perplexed. What did Qiu Lingshan mean by trying to get so familiar with her?

"Jingyi, come, sit. What would you like to drink?" Qiu Lingshan asked with a smile.

"Anything, really. Juice will do." Sun Jingyan pondered a moment, then decided she would not stand on ceremony with Qiu Lingshan. Her instincts told her that Qiu Lingshan must have come for a reason, so she meant to ask straight out: "Lingshan, you wanted to see me. There is something, isn't there?"

"Uh... well, it's like this..." Her purpose seen through, Qiu Lingshan suddenly looked embarrassed. "Then I'll speak plainly. The Sun family's mental cultivation method — what level have you cultivated it to?"

"Only the first level. Why? Don't tell me you mean to win the Sun family's support at the Great Families' Assembly?" Sun Jingyan had never been able to fathom Qiu Lingshan's thinking. At present, the only thing that could possibly bring the two of them together was the Great Families' Assembly, soon to be convened.

"No, it's not that... I only want to ask you to help heal someone's wounds..." As she said this, Qiu Lingshan looked troubled, the words seemingly hard to bring out.

"Heal wounds?" Sun Jingyan frowned slightly. "What do you mean? I'm not a doctor. How would I heal anyone?"

"His meridians have been destroyed. An ordinary doctor cannot help him. Only you can..." Qiu Lingshan said cautiously.

"Lingshan, since you are asking me for help, you must know how peculiar our Sun family's mental cultivation method is?" Sun Jingyan did not refuse outright, but asked obliquely.

"I know... but he truly needs help. If his wounds cannot be healed, then his family will never rise again..." Qiu Lingshan said. "So I am sincerely begging you. If you can help, then name any condition, and I will meet it!"

"Qiu Lingshan, don't you think your request is somewhat presumptuous?" Sun Jingyan decided she had best speak honestly. Where a matter of principle was concerned, she had no way to deceive Qiu Lingshan.

"That... I know it is presumptuous of me. But this is his last hope..." Qiu Lingshan said with a bitter smile.

"If you will forgive my bluntness: if I heal his wounds, then the true qi generated within my body can thereafter be used by him alone. He and I are neither kin nor friends. If you were in my place, would you do it?" Sun Jingyan said flatly. "Unless he is to be my future husband — otherwise, I am sorry!"

"Never mind... In fact, I knew the answer long ago. Jingyi, don't be angry." Seeing that Sun Jingyan had grown somewhat annoyed, Qiu Lingshan hastened to explain.

"I know you are worried... but this truly cannot be done," Sun Jingyan refused. "Rather than coming to beg me, you would do better to find some way to obtain a Meridian-Clearing Pill for him."

"A Meridian-Clearing Pill..." Qiu Lingshan smiled bitterly. "Among the hidden families, those are treasures. How could I ever lay hands on one?"

Sun Jingyan shrugged, equally helpless. Indeed, even at the level of the hidden families, a Meridian-Clearing Pill was rarely seen — to say nothing of someone like Qiu Lingshan. Otherwise, the Sun family's standing could never have been so transcendent, raising them into the ranks of the great families!

The Sun family's mental cultivation method was not solely for healing wounds; it could also raise a person's strength. But had Meridian-Clearing Pills been commonplace, it would have been impossible for that method to lift the Sun family's standing so high.

"I'm sorry, but that is not something I can consider." Sun Jingyan nodded to Qiu Lingshan. "Lingshan, if there is nothing else, I will be going..."

"All right. Thank you all the same..." Qiu Lingshan sighed. She was just about to call the waiter over to settle the bill when she suddenly heard a piercing alarm!

Qiu Lingshan looked up and saw a commotion break out over at the bank across the street from the café, and the alarm was coming from inside the bank!

"Oh no!" Qiu Lingshan grasped at once what was happening. She said "Sorry, I have to go" to Sun Jingyan, tossed two bills onto the table without waiting for change, and dashed out of the café at top speed!

Even so, Qiu Lingshan was a step too late. Out of the bank across the street ran a figure carrying a hemp sack, his movements and his speed extraordinary; in the blink of an eye he vanished into the mouth of the alley beside the bank!

Watching that vanishing figure, Qiu Lingshan was suddenly struck by a sense of familiarity, but she had no time to think it through. She crossed the road and charged toward the alley beside the bank — yet when she reached it, the alley was already empty. Where was there anyone to be seen?

Qiu Lingshan had witnessed the entire bank robbery with her own eyes. From the moment the alarm blared to the moment she left the café and rushed toward the bank, scarcely five minutes had passed — and yet the robber had completed the whole robbery in one unbroken, continuous motion. The speed of it was simply astonishing!

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