Zheng Qiuyi knew her daughter was working part-time at a university classmateās flower shop. She nodded, then suddenly brought something up.
"You mentioned before that your friend, Lin Li, helps you out a lot, right?
When your dad and I come to visit this time, you should ask him if heās free. If he is, invite him out to eat with us!"
"..." Su Yue was stunned for a moment when her mom suggested inviting Lin Li out to eat. She quickly shook her head. "Heās been busy lately. I doubt he has the time."
"Itās just one meal; it wonāt take that long. Heās helped you out so much. Your dad and I feel we should at least treat him to a meal to show our gratitude!" Zheng Qiuyi said with a cheerful laugh.
"Um... weāll see," Su Yue replied vaguely. She knew her momās dinner invitation was just a pretext. What she really wanted was to meet Lin Li and do some snooping.
"Alright, thatās all I wanted to say. Iāll let you go! Get back to your workout routine." With that, Zheng Qiuyi ended the video call.p>"Phew..." After finishing the call with her mom, Su Yue let out a long sigh and muttered, "If I actually do as Mom says and call Lin Li out for dinner, Iād probably scare him off..."
With that, Su Yue tossed her phone aside and continued with her workout routine.
...
ćSu Yueās hometown.ć
Su Chen finished his work and came out of the study. As he walked into the bedroom, he saw his wife doing something unusual. She was dressed in a white yoga outfit, practicing on a yoga mat.
"Honey, what are you doing?" Su Chen asked, looking puzzled.
"Yoga!" Zheng Qiuyi replied, in the middle of a difficult pose.
"I know youāre doing yoga. What I mean is, you donāt normally do it. Why the sudden urge?" Su Chen asked.
"Just exercising! I felt like I havenāt been moving enough lately, so I took out the yoga mat to do some yoga," Zheng Qiuyi explained with a smile.
"Oh." Su Chen nodded and didnāt ask any more questions. He then took his pajamas from the closet and went to the bathroom to take a shower.
Seeing her husband go to take a shower, Zheng Qiuyi breathed a sigh of relief. She hadnāt told him the truth.
The real reason sheād suddenly pulled out her yoga mat was that during her call, her daughter had jokingly said sheād put on a little weight.
Even though Zheng Qiuyi was so graceful and elegant you couldnāt guess her age, with a well-proportioned figure that wasnāt the least bit fat, women of any age tend to be concerned about their bodies.
So, after her daughterās joke about her putting on weight, Zheng Qiuyiās immediate impulse was to exercise. The only question was how long her newfound resolve would last.
......
Inside South District Prison, after ten oāclock at night, all inmates serving their sentences had returned to their cells to sleep.
ćCell 501.ć
A man, one-point-nine meters tall, with a square face, a shaved head, thick eyebrows, and corded muscles, lay sleeping on a wooden plank bed, dressed in a blue-and-white prison uniform.
STEP... STEP... STEP...
In the dim corridor, the sound of unhurried footsteps suddenly rang out.
Normally, the prison staff wouldnāt be patrolling the corridors at this hour, so it was exceedingly strange for someone to be there now.
"Cell 501," the visitor muttered before stopping in front of a cell.
Tie Qiu Heng was lying on his bed with his eyes closed, about to fall asleep, when he heard the footsteps from the corridor stop right in front of his cell. He was instantly filled with suspicion.
"Itās late. Is there something you need?" Tie Qiu Heng asked, opening his eyes. He turned his head and peered through the bars at the staff member standing before his cell.
The visitor stared at Tie Qiu Heng in silence for several seconds, as if confirming whether this was the person he was looking for.
"Hmm?" Seeing that the staff member didnāt speak, Tie Qiu Hengās brow furrowed. Just as he was about to speak again, he heard the other person say a word that made his expression freeze.
"Cyan Blue," the staff member at the cell door said softly.
"You...?!" Hearing the word, an unbelievable possibility flashed through Tie Qiu Hengās mind.
"Hurry. We donāt want to be discovered," the man at the door said succinctly, seeing Tie Qiu Hengās reaction and knowing he had the right person.
Tie Qiu Heng quickly got up from the bed, put on his shoes, and hurried to the cell door.
"Brother, who sent you to rescue me?" Tie Qiu Heng asked excitedly.
"Steward Zhang," the man who came to rescue Tie Qiu Heng said in a low voice.
"So it was Steward Zhang! Brother, Iām wearing this bracelet. The moment I leave this prison, the Superpower Administration Bureau will know..."
Tie Qiu Heng raised his left hand and pointed to the metal bracelet on his right wrist as he spoke to his rescuer.
"Donāt worry about the bracelet. I have a way to deal with it." As he spoke, the rescuer took a small paper packet from his pocket.
He unwrapped the small paper packet, revealing some pink powder inside.
"Hold out your hand."
Tie Qiu Heng extended his right hand, the one with the metal bracelet. The rescuer immediately sprinkled the pink powder from the packet onto the metal bracelet.
HUMMM.
A faint golden Spiritual Light immediately appeared on the surface of the bracelet where the pink powder had been sprinkled. Then, with a CLICK, the metal bracelet came loose.
Tie Qiu Heng immediately sensed that the metal bracelet had stopped working. āThis thingās useless now.ā
This metal bracelet was a Spiritual Artifact developed by the Spiritual Energy Research Institute. Besides tracking the wearerās location, it had another important function: to seal the Spiritual Energy in a Cultivatorās Dantian, rendering them unable to use it.
He didnāt know what the pink powder was made of to have such a miraculous effect.
To think a sprinkle of pink powder could disable a Spiritual Artifact developed by the Spiritual Energy Research Institute was truly amazing.
Freed from the metal braceletās restraint, Tie Qiu Heng could immediately mobilize the Spiritual Energy in his Dantian.
Ever since being captured by Investigators from the Superpower Administration Bureau, he had been unable to mobilize the Spiritual Energy in his Dantian.
As a Cultivator at the Second Order Middle Stage, he had possessed power far beyond that of ordinary people for many years.
Ever since his power was sealed, reducing him to an ordinary person, Tie Qiu Heng, who had once possessed extraordinary strength, had been in agony.
Now, having regained his extraordinary power, Tie Qiu Heng trembled with excitement.
CLICK.
After using the pink powder to disable the metal bracelet, the man who came to rescue Tie Qiu Heng immediately took a key from his pocket and opened the cell door.
"Follow me..."
Tie Qiu Heng suppressed his excitement, slipped the metal bracelet off his right wrist, and tossed it on the ground. Then, he followed the man who had come to rescue him and quickly left.
......
Under the hazy night sky, a man in a staff uniform and another in a blue-and-white prison uniform moved quickly through the grounds of South District Prison, heading toward a high wall in the distance.
A guard with poor eyesight walked out of the restroom.
He suddenly spotted two figures in the distance. Feeling a pang of suspicion, he shouted at them.
"Hey! What are you two doing out here this late at night?"
When Tie Qiu Heng heard the shout, he cursed inwardly, āDamn, weāve been spotted.ā
Then, his muscles tensed, and he mobilized the Spiritual Energy in his Dantian, ready to strike the guard.
......