Chapter 364: Chapter 363: The Jiang Family

Wen Chaowen and Wen Wen didn’t appear in uniform as they usually do, and didn’t fly here - they drove.

Their low-key approach wasn’t hard to understand.

The Management Bureau tends to keep a low profile.

After all, the Management Bureau is not the same as the Patrol Bureau.

Once the Management Bureau is involved, it will certainly be a major event that the Patrol Bureau cannot handle.

Unless it’s commuting during regular hours, seeing someone in the uniform of the Management Bureau flying around the city could easily draw public attention and speculation.

On top of that, Wen Chaowen and Wen Wen belonged to the Internal Affairs Department, which is exceptionally sensitive.

When this department moves, most of the time it means there are issues like dereliction of duty, corruption, or violations within the Management Bureau.

Each department within the Management Bureau has a uniform with different features.

The Internal Affairs Department stands out.

’Internal’ is directly written on the back of their uniforms.

Once you see them, it’s hard not to know which department they belong to.

If they wore uniforms in the city, it would cause more than just public attention and speculation, keeping a low profile is rather necessary.

Setting these aside.

Li Jing followed Wen Chaowen and Wen Wen out of the hotel and got into the car with them.

Wen Chaowen sat in the front, responsible for driving.

Wen Wen sat in the back, responsible for "guarding".

The engine started, and Wen Chaowen drove onto the driveway.

At first, Li Jing didn’t pay much attention.

As he quietly sat for a while, he gradually noticed something was wrong.

In the God’s Capital

He couldn’t say that he was very familiar with it.

But he clearly knew where the water meter circle was located.

The direction Wen Chaowen was driving wasn’t the way to the water meter circle.

He glanced at Wen Wen, who was sitting upright next to him, and asked with a frown.

"Where are you two taking me? The Administration Bureau seems not to be in this direction?"

In response to the question, Wen Wen smiled peacefully.

"Today is a rare day off, and a special day for the Director. We are going to the Jiang’s house."

"Ah... "

Li Jing blinked.

He hadn’t expected the Director of Management Bureau Jiang Liao to get involved.

What he even less expected was that Jiang Liao’s "summon" was for him to go directly to the Jiang’s house.

Considering the magnitude of the issue he had caused and that it was a rest day which happened to be a special day, it made sense that people were not on duty at the Bureau. So, Li Jing didn’t ask any more questions.

...

The journey continued in silence.

After about forty minutes, Wen Chaowen drove to the Jiang’s residence.

For many years, the Jiang family, which has dedicated itself to Longyu, does not have a large population.

However, due to their unique position in the system that forbids commercial activity, all members of the Jiang family live in the same realm, forming a residential area far larger than that of other families.

Unlike other families among the Seven Great Families in God’s Capital, whose businesses and internal status led them to scatter throughout the Capital, the Jiang family all lived in the same place – the Jiang’s residence.

It should be noted.

The Jiang’s residence is a special restricted area, which even patrols cannot easily enter.

The Jiang family is, after all, unique.

No one dares to mess with the Management Bureau.

However, this job is very likely to offend people.

Most members of the Jiang family, including the head of the family, Jiang Liao, do indeed operate in God’s Capital.

But in reality, in addition to Jiang Yini who "ran away from home" to develop on her own, there are also quite a few people in the Jiang family holding important positions in Management Bureaus in other cities.

The family members of these people are all high-priority protection targets.

On the other hand.

Not only the members of the Jiang family lived in the spacious residence area.

Most of the family members of Longyu’s top-ranking individuals also live here.

There’s a common saying both domestically and internationally.

Whoever can take control of the Jiang’s residence can control half of Longyu.

And it is indeed true.

However, to take control of this place is rather unrealistic.

Aside from the heavy troops of the Administration Bureau stationed here, next door to the Jiang family residence is another restricted area.

There are three restricted areas in God’s Capital.

One, the water meter circle.

Two, the Jiang’s residence.

Three, the Management Bureau Military Preparedness Area, where over two hundred thousand personnel are stationed.

Whoever dares to cause trouble in the Jiang’s residence is simply looking for trouble. They clearly don’t value their life.

There’s also a rumor among the people.

The three previous Longyu Guardian Gods who "retired" because they reached the Eighth Realm are now enjoying their retirement in the Jiang’s residence.

Three persons in the Eighth Realm.

And these are only the retired Guardian Gods.

There must be those in the Seventh Realm or higher...

Who dares to come here and start trouble?

Wen Chaowen drove to the main entrance of the Jiang family’s mansion, and the few members of the Management Bureau responsible for guarding the residential area immediately raised their hands to signal him to stop his car.

Following their gesture, Wen Chaowen parked the car and showed his identification.

In the back seat, Wen Wen also rolled down the car window and took out her identification, simultaneously speaking to Li Jing.

"Counselor Lee, please show your identification to the soldiers for verification."

It was Li Jing’s first visit to the Jiang family’s mansion, and he was looking around.

Hearing Wen Wen’s request, he subconsciously agreed and reached into his pocket to pull out his identification, handing it out the window.

This place was also a secure district.

The security level of the Jiang family’s mansion far exceeded that of the civilian area by several times.

Apart from the inability to control the sky, civilians could come and go freely in the civilian area.

Here, ordinary civilians were not allowed to come and go as they pleased.

Moreover, foreign visitors are required to present their identification to confirm their official identity, and the identification itself also needs to be scanned for authenticity.

Only those with the identification of the Management Bureau and the Inspection Bureau were possibly allowed to pass, and even though their identifications could not be forged, standard procedures still had to be followed.

A staff member of the Management Bureau came over and inspected and scanned the identifications of Wen Chaowen and Wen Wen in turn.

Seeing that the two were from the Internal Affairs Department, this person was outwardly calm, but was intrigued inwardly.

Why would someone from the Internal Affairs Department suddenly come to the Jiang family mansion?

Could it be...

That someone had committed a crime?

It couldn’t be!

Although not only Jiang family members live in the Jiang family mansion, the only ones related to the Management Bureau are members of the Jiang family.

The Internal Affairs Department of the Administration Bureau only manages internal problems of the Management Bureau.

When the higher-ups usually have problems, it’s the Inspection Bureau that usually intervenes.

Could the Jiang family members have made a mistake?

With a hint of curiosity, he moved to Li Jing’s side.

Just as he was about to reach out to inspect Li Jing’s identification, he furrowed his brows.

?

Feeling the man’s gaze, Li Jing looked back and asked curiously.

"What’s wrong?"

Upon his words, Wen Chaowen in the front seat and Wen Wen beside him both turned their heads.

As their eyes met, the two were momentarily taken aback, quickly followed by their foreheads furrowing.

???

Li Jing.

In the midst of his confusion, his eyes fell on his identification, and then he twisted his mouth.

What he was holding... 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Was not the identification of the Management Bureau or the Inspection Bureau, but that of the Special Situations Bureau of the God Kingdom.

The atmosphere became awkward for a moment.

Also a small red book.

The symbol of the Northern God Kingdom on the cover of the Special Situations Bureau was particularly conspicuous.

Muttering to himself as he stuffed the identification into his Little Universe, Li Jing fumbled in his pocket and pulled out his Management Bureau identification, coughing as he said.

"Sorry, I took the wrong one."

"..."

Wen Wen.

"..."

Wen Chaowen.

"..."

The Management Bureau officer who came to check the identification.

What Li Jing did just then had this officer, who had come to inspect their identification, a bit flummoxed.

The man in front of him was obviously associated with Longyu, but he had casually pulled out the identification of the Special Situation Bureau of the Northern God Kingdom...

If it hadn’t been for the fact that the two from the Administration Bureau’s Internal Affairs Department were in the car, and the Northern God Kingdom was a staunch ally of Longyu, he would have drawn his knife and apprehended the man by now.

So why...

Did he have identifications from the "relevant departments" of two countries?

As for the authenticity of this identification...?

Just as he was hesitating about whether or not to report this to his superiors, Wen Wen spoke up.

"This is Li Jing, Counselor Lee from Jianghai City Management Bureau. I can vouch for his identity. The Director of Management Bureau wants to see him."

Who is Li Jing?

The Management Bureau staff member wasn’t aware.

Although this person now has a fairly high-profile in the God’s Capital, he is essentially known only to top-level management and some special individuals with savvy information. Very few of the base-level personnel in the general administration knew what he had done.

However, this staff member of the Management Bureau dares not claim ignorance of who the Director of Management Bureau is.

Hearing that it was someone whom Jiang Liao had specifically asked to see, he took Li Jing’s identification, scanned it, and after confirming his identity, nodded and handed the identification back. Then he saluted and stepped back half a step.

Li Jing’s position as an action counselor was an honorary title, but his rank was not low at all.

Seeing that they had been given the go-ahead by the guards, Wen Chaowen in the driver’s seat looked at Li Jing with a weird expression before driving into the Jiang family’s mansion.

Wen Wen, realizing that they had passed the gate, couldn’t help but speak up.

"Counselor Lee, if I may, how come you have an identification from the Special Situations Bureau of the God Kingdom?"

"I have a personal agreement with the God Kingdom that allows me to lead a team to explore the Secret Realm once. You both should be aware of this, right? This identification was given to me temporarily for convenience when I went to the Northern God Kingdom a few days ago because they detected suspicious fluctuations indicating that a Secret Realm Passage might be opening."

Li Jing responded calmly.

Having identifications from two countries was a matter he couldn’t just gloss over by saying the other side has given him face.

Despite the friendly relationship between the two countries, their positions were ultimately different.

This kind of thing is severely taboo.

Between countries, only eternal interests exist.

And in fact,

The Northern God Country and Longyu weren’t so intimate from the very beginning, it was only through the mutual interests that a long-term strategic cooperative relationship were established.

Upon hearing Li Jing’s mentioning his personal agreement with the Northern God Country, Wen Wen realized.

What Li Jing had, she and Wen Chaowen originally didn’t know about.

In the Internal Affairs Department, the two of them were also at the grassroots level.

However, through this incident, out of mission needs, the two of them had thoroughly grasped his relevant information.

When facing internal issues, the Internal Affairs Department holds the highest level of information rights in the Management Bureau and can view any classified information about any individual.

Nodding her head, Wen Wen didn’t ask further.

Li Jing, to be honest, both siblings didn’t want to have too much contact with him.

His background and glorious deeds are just too... overwhelming.

If it’s not necessary, neither wanted to provoke him, all they needed to do was to complete the tasks assigned by superiors.

As for Li Jing mentioned that the Northern God Country recently discovered suspicious fluctuations of the Secret Realm Passage opening, this was not something the two of them would worry about.

The two of them are from the Internal Affairs Department, exploring the Secret Realm has nothing to do with them.

...

After a short while

Wen Chaowen drove and brought Li Jing and Wen Wen to the front of a courtyard deep within the Jiang Family estate.

The car had just stopped, Li Jing frowned, perplexed.

In front of the courtyard, a beautiful figure stood there, smiling like a blooming flower.

Jiang Yini.

Why is she here in the capital when she is not in Jianghai?

Baffled, Wen Chaowen turned his head.

"Counselor Lee, you can just go in alone, Wen Wen and I will wait for you in the car."

At his words, Li Jing nodded his head and stepped out of the car.

Jiang Yini waiting in front of the courtyard obviously meant to wait for someone to arrive.

Seeing his strange expression as he got out of the car, she greeted him with a laugh.

"So? Are you surprised to see me?"

"A bit."

Li Jing could not deny it and whispered.

"Why are you here?"

"Of course, it’s for you."

Jiang Yini replied seriously, then shrugged and corrected herself.

"This is a bit of a coincidence actually, today is my mother’s death anniversary."

Upon hearing this, Li Jing was taken aback and apologized.

"I’m sorry."

"What are you apologizing for? My mother has been dead for more than a decade or two."

Jiang Yini waved her hand and then scrutinized him.

"As for you, the longer you’re out of sight, the more trouble you seem to get into! All of a sudden, why did you run off to God Church Country? And it’s not enough that you ran off, you even practiced the Forbidden Skill on their territory!"

Seeing that Jiang Yini had directly accepted that he was responsible for the incident, Li Jing did not bother to struggle.

The Internal Affairs Department had already sought him out, there was no point in resisting, he was just pretending to be clueless symbolically.

There was no need to act in front of insiders at this moment.

With an embarrassed smile, Li Jing confessed.

"It’s a long story. I went there because of my patrol duties, not for other reasons. As for the details, let’s talk about them after I meet your father, to save the trouble."

With that, he asked.

"I’m sorry to disturb your father on this day, is it a bit inconvenient for your family right now?"

"No inconvenience at all, just consider it as being at your own home."

Jiang Yini laughed and said, adding.

"Besides, it’s him who wanted to see you, it’s not bothering at all."

With that, she pulled Li Jing directly towards the courtyard.

"Don’t stand outside, we have to go sweep the graves later, hurry up and finish explaining things. Your actions were quite severe, involving international issues I can’t help you on, you have to pass my dad’s test on your own."

At her words, Li Jing nodded.

Jiang Liao wanted to meet him in person, it couldn’t possibly be because he was close to Jiang Yini.

If it was just because the two had a connection, they should have met a long time ago.

His direct intervention meant that considering various factors, the matters could not be handled in the usual way.

After all, Li Jing personally held an agreement with the Northern God Country.

The saying goes that a woman can bring honor to her son.

Now, Li Jing could also be seen as somewhat special due to his opportune mission to explore the Secret Realm of the God Country.

...

Being led into the gates by Jiang Yini,

Upon entering the courtyard, Li Jing saw six people in Management Bureau uniforms busy packing up various sacrificial items.

Six people.

Two women and four men,

At a glance, Li Jing recognized them.

These six people were the other six children of Jiang Liao, namely Jiang Yini’s sisters and brothers.

As Li Jing saw the six people, they naturally saw him too.

As their gazes fell on him, the six of them each stopped their tasks, their gazes uniformly focused on Jiang Yini’s slender hand on Li Jing’s arm.

Li Jing knew them, but they didn’t know Li Jing.

However, at the moment,

Who is who doesn’t seem to matter.

Caught off guard by the stares of the six people, Li Jing paused, realizing something was off.

He and Jiang Yini have already developed a long-standing relationship.

Moreover, Jiang Yini herself tends to be quite carefree in private.

Something like linking arms has become a habit for both of them.

But something feels off about this place today.

Facing the synchronized stares of the six people, Li Jing felt as if he had a target on his back.

The youngest in a family is often the most loved.

With Jiang Yini, it is indeed true.

As the youngest of the Jiang family, she has been showered with love since childhood.

The six gazes currently fixated on Li Jing each carried different undertones.

Some were surprised.

Others were shocked.

Some were scrutinizing.

Some appeared unhappy.

Some were curiously observing.

And one had a knowing, chiding smile.

Looking at her six siblings’ synchronized stares, Jiang Yini smiled and squeezed the arm she was holding tightly.

"..."

Li Jing.

Jiang Yini could be somewhat a troublemaker in private.

This he knew.

But he had never expected that in front of her siblings, she would not only fail to explain the situation but also behave in such a way that it could be misunderstood.

Though he doesn’t know what Jiang Yini was thinking,

She was clearly doing it on purpose.

Seeing that the six people in the courtyard were staring at him because of Jiang Yini’s excessively intimate action, Li Jing laughed awkwardly and whispered to her.

"What kind of prank are you pulling now, Jiang?"

Before Jiang Yini could respond, a tall figure walked out from the first room in the middle of the courtyard.

Seeing Jiang Yini arm in arm with Li Jing so close that her chest was almost resting on his arm, the man who came out almost missed his step and fell down.

After regaining his balance, he frowned and looked over.

When Li Jing saw this man, he became somewhat unsettled.

Today is the day of mourning for Jiang Yini’s mother, and the Jiang family apparently chose to keep it simple.

There were no other members of the Jiang family in the courtyard.

There were only Jiang Yini’s six siblings. There were not even their wives, daughters, or husbands present.

In the information that Li Jing had previously checked,

Among the seven siblings of the Jiang family, only the youngest, Jiang Yini, remains unmarried.

The man who came out now,

is none other than Jiang Liao himself.

How could Li Jing remain calm about this?

Simply linking arms is nothing big.

Especially for a prominent family like the Jiangs who often attend formal events.

In such occasions, this action is just basic social etiquette.

But with Jiang Yini almost hanging onto his arm, it’s a different story!

With a restrained smile, Li Jing tried to pull his hand out from Jiang Yini’s embrace, but she had a tight grip.

Not only was she tightly hugging him, she kept throwing provocative glances at her "elderly" father.

Seeing this situation, how could Li Jing not understand?

This move by Jiang Yini was not aimed at anyone else, but to vex her father—to make his heart ache...

Why would it make his heart ache?

Li Jing is a married man, which Jiang Liao surely knows.

No matter how excellent Li Jing is, Jiang Liao wouldn’t accept his most spoiled youngest daughter making such a choice.

Being of the same Seven Great Families,

The status, position, and talent of Jiang Yini are unmatched by Liu Sisi.

Not only is she extremely talented, but she also has unlimited potential.

As Li Jing thought,

Jiang Liao was feeling somewhat uncomfortable at this moment.

But he also realized what his daughter was up to.

No one knows a daughter better than her father.

As a father, he was well aware of his daughter’s antics.

Jiang Yini has vexed her father more than once or twice.

His gaze lingered on Li Jing for a moment before Jiang Liao smiled and spoke.

"Counselor Lee, it seems we finally meet. Could you accompany me to the other courtyard for a chat?"

After he spoke, his expression turned cold.

"Yini, stay in the courtyard and don’t cause any more trouble."