Cause

That night, he slept on the sofa until a little past four in the morning, then got up, opened the door, and went downstairs.

Right next to this residential complex was a fairly large vegetable market. Although it was only a little past four, some vendors from the countryside—selling vegetables or meat—had already arrived to start their preparations. A Western-style bakery on the roadside had its lights on as well. Jiaming knocked on the door, explaining that a cousin who had been living abroad had just arrived, her biological clock still out of sync, and she was clamoring for food in the middle of the night. He then bought two large bags of bread, ham, condensed milk, butter, and other items before heading back.

As he closed the door, a commotion came from the master bedroom. Jiaming knew the blonde woman named Marilyn was already up. He set down the two bags of food, poured a cup of hot water, and just as the bedroom door opened, he handed the cup over.

"Th-thanks... cough... cough, cough..."

"You're still coughing badly. Your fever doesn't seem to have gone down much either. You should rest a bit more."

"I... cough... can't sleep. Heidi, she..." As she spoke, Marilyn also spotted the little girl sound asleep in the other room. After a moment, she sat down with the cup in her hands. "Thanks."

"It's what a Young Pioneer ought to do." Jiaming smiled, sizing up the blonde mature woman from the sofa. There weren't many of his father's clothes in that room; what she'd found from the wardrobe were probably clothes his mother used to wear. But his mother had a petite build, so now a shirt worn by this woman had her chest straining as if it might burst through the fabric, and the pants had almost turned into the low-rise style popular in later years—quite a sight. Still, he said, "So... why not go to the hospital?"

"The hospital... they'd find me..."

"They?" Jiaming frowned. "I don't think the reach of either the Salieri family or the Gambino family extends this far, does it?"

The Peiluojia Jiaming used to belong to, though its headquarters were in Japan, was a worldwide assassin organization. Compared to ordinary criminal syndicates, their roots ran deeper, even allowing them to come into contact with the rare Ability Users and Evolved Ones in this world. Back then, Jiaming was an assassin in the Asia branch, but he'd had some dealings with the Mafia and the like. These criminal organizations were family-based groups that followed an elite path. At the time, there were over twenty well-known Mafia families entrenched in New York; Salieri was one of them, and Gambino was another.

From his limited memory, the Salieri and Gambino families had been locked in a fierce struggle for years. Although the Salieri family was at a disadvantage, up until Jiaming encountered that Fire Phoenix, they hadn't reached a dead end. Even stepping back, if the Salieri family had been completely wiped out, the Gambino family's power would still struggle to extend into China for a manhunt. In this territory of China, Hong Kong was occupied by the Triads, while the mainland had always been strictly controlled. Even if Mafia members could cause some trouble, they absolutely couldn't take over hospitals, embassies, or even communication systems.

"It's..." Marilyn hesitated for a long time before gritting her teeth and saying, "It's Heidi's father. His name is... Tang Jingyao..."

That gave Jiaming quite a start. Tang Jingyao was the deputy party secretary of Jianghai City and had been a notable figure in the city's political scene for over a year. He'd studied abroad, gilded his resume, and was said to be capable and hardworking. A year ago, he'd even visited the Huang Family to call on Huang Bingxiang, the provincial party secretary. But that time, he'd brought his wife along...

Under Marilyn's explanation, Jiaming finally understood the whole story. More than ten years ago, Tang Jingyao had gone to the United States to study with state funding. It was also then that he met Marilyn, who could be considered a young lady of wealth. They fell in love at first sight, and thus Heidi was born.

Americans' views on love were ultimately different from the Chinese. At the time, Tang Jingyao was focused on returning to China to build a career, while Marilyn's father, the boss of the Salieri family, didn't like Tang Jingyao and, moreover, didn't want his daughter to go back to that "barbaric and ignorant" China to suffer. With various reasons intertwining, Tang Jingyao eventually abandoned his wife and daughter and returned to China. It wasn't until the beginning of this year that he seemed to remember he still had two close relatives in America and sent people to bring them over. By then, the Salieri and Gambino families were already fighting openly, and Marilyn's father had been forced to compromise for her safety.

But it wasn't until she arrived in China that Marilyn sensed something was wrong. Although she wasn't good with a gun or skilled in combat, she was still a woman from a Mafia family. All along, Tang Jingyao had only arranged for the two of them to stay in a remote villa. Though he visited often, he always subtly probed Marilyn for inside information about the Salieri family. What he didn't realize was that in the ten years since he'd left America, Marilyn, longing for her lover, had long stopped paying attention to most family matters, so she couldn't provide any valuable leads. Through her own reverse investigation, Marilyn roughly understood that Tang Jingyao had built up considerable power in Jianghai City. He had connections with the Gambino family and had taken another wife. Before she could confront him, Tang Jingyao had already hired assassins from Peiluojia to eliminate her, a useless pawn—leading to the scene that night.

Hearing this, Jiaming roughly understood everything. Still, since there were no wanted posters or the like outside, it meant Tang Jingyao wasn't entirely confident in the police. Although he could easily fabricate a charge to mobilize them, he also feared someone in the police might follow the trail and find his leverage. If he couldn't control the government's power, then the force he'd built up on the surface must be a gang. The only question was...

"Why not call back home? No matter how powerful Tang Jingyao is, he can't intercept every overseas call. If you'd called back then, I think they'd have come to pick you up long ago... Come to think of it, no wonder customs suddenly got so strict recently, both openly and covertly—it was that guy's orders..." Though he was just a student, he knew quite a bit about what went on in Jianghai City; it was practically an occupational hazard.

"I... cough... cough, cough..."

Seeing Marilyn hesitate to speak, Jiaming caught on after a moment. Since Marilyn's father hadn't approved of their relationship back then, he probably still didn't now. Though the situation had forced him to think it was okay for Marilyn to come to China to lie low, there might have been arguments between them. Most likely, when she left, Marilyn had already cut ties with her family. Now that she understood Tang Jingyao's power, she was even less willing to let her family's forces take risks—a kind of pride that had nearly cost both her and her daughter their lives.

Jiaming cursed inwardly and rolled his eyes. "Stop coughing. I get it. Regardless, give me a number—one where I can directly contact your father."

"Ah..."

"Ah what? If I hadn't saved you, you and your daughter would be dead by now—one raped, the other starved. And now, I'm getting dragged into it too. Do you think I'm a god? Fighting against an organization—you can ignore yourself, you can not care about your daughter, but my life is precious. No matter what, I want to survive safely. Less nonsense. There's paper and pen—write one down for me."

"I..." Marilyn's gaze was complicated as she looked at the paper and pen before her, then at Heidi sleeping in the room. After a long pause, she finally made up her mind and wrote a number on the paper. "Cough, my father's name is..."

"Tom Ford Salieri. People usually call him Old Tom. I know a bit about him." Jiaming took the paper and cut in. A moment later, he lit the paper with a lighter and crushed even the ashes. When he looked up, the blonde mature woman across from him was coughing softly, but her eyes held an incredulous smile as she gazed at him.

"Chinese kids are really amazing... Do you guys really have that legendary Chinese kung fu?"

Jiaming helplessly pressed his forehead. "Chinese kung fu? That's nothing. Our streets are full of horse-drawn carriages, and this room you're in is actually a thatched hut. You're just sick, so maybe you're hallucinating..."

"Heh, cough, sorry." The blonde mature woman couldn't help but laugh, then said, "Can I know your name?"

"No need for names. Your condition hasn't improved at all—you're just in a better mood, so you're talking this much. If complications show up, I'll have to take you to the hospital. If you get caught then and mention me, what then? Besides, Young Pioneers do good deeds without leaving their names..." He thought he'd made a joke, but she didn't get the reference. After a moment, he added awkwardly, "It's getting late. I should go. You and Heidi stay here and don't go out. There's bread here—eat some for breakfast. I'll come back at noon with groceries, check on you, and give you a shot. I'm off. Say good morning to Heidi for me."

He waved and pushed the door open to leave. Marilyn asked, "You... where are you going?"

Jiaming sighed. "Chinese Young Pioneers have to go to school. Don't you have Young Pioneers in America?"

He knew the answer already. When she shook her head, Jiaming put on a pained expression.

"No Young Pioneers at all. What a barbaric, backward country..."

******************************************************

By the time he stepped outside, the sky had brightened. Jiaming jogged all the way to the Huang Family villa. As he neared the back door, he spotted Lingjing about to go in. He quickened his pace, covered her eyes from behind, and said in a gruff voice, "Guess who? Guess wrong, and I'll poke you with my stubble."

"Jiaming, you jerk, always copying my dad's voice. I'll hit you, you know."

The little beauty pulled Jiaming's hands away, her flushed face showing a playful pout. "Why are you coming from the back today?"

"Heh, I got up early today. Saw you running over, so I came around the front to surprise you."

"You're full of mischief." Lingjing tapped Jiaming on the chest, then said, "Come on, Shasha's definitely waiting for us on the lawn."

The two kids chased and played their way toward what was more of a secret date spot than morning exercise. Sunlight rose slowly from the eastern mountains, and under a sky full of morning glow, a new day began.