20 Bride's Cry

It was already evening at Ji Li Zhao's house called Evergreen Estate when his people finally gathered. He was walking towards their meeting room when one of his Grand Secretaries approached him with his phone.

Huang Xun was out to accommodate his relatives who came for a visit which is why Yu Chao came in as a substitute.

Yu Chao was a brunette in his 20s and his physical body was like Fang Tao's. He wasn't as muscular as the others but rather skinny and even sickly. However, like others, he wasn't someone to be underestimated.

He was donning a smile on his face as he stopped in front of their boss. "Boss, a call from Uncle Gu."

Ji Li Zhao accepted the phone and nodded his head. "Gather up the Kings."

Yu Chao immediately nodded his head and followed his order without saying anything. He left in an instant to look for the Kings and gather them up before the call ended. Based on his boss's face, it was important, and by important, it's most probably related to their Lady Boss.

"Uncle Gu," he greeted once he was left alone in the hallway towards their meeting room.

Gu Man looked outside the mansion and made sure the guards were at their posts before closing the doors. He had already checked everything and made sure Hou Wei Yan's safety was ensured. "Madame is already fast asleep in your bed chamber."

Ji Li Zhao stopped and looked at the big moon of his villa. His wife is already asleep. Somehow he was glad she fell asleep without worries.

"Did you give her some milk?" he asked, quite worried about her welfare.

"Yes, young master," he answered and smiled at how much his master takes care of his wife despite his distance.

Although he knew he could not be seen by Gu Man, Ji Li Zhao still nodded his head in gratitude. But in the next second, he became worried again upon remembering how she usually was in the past, and based on his team, she still suffers in the present.

"She might have trouble adjusting to her surroundings. When she wakes up, don't carelessly approach her. Let her calm down for a minute before conversing with her."

Gu Man's smile grew even bigger when his young master said this. He knows all of this. In fact, it's common knowledge to not approach them directly. He felt overwhelmed that his master had found someone he could really pour his heart into and care for. "We will be monitoring her thoroughly, young master."

"Call me if something happens," he said and hung up the phone. He sighed and prayed Hou Wei Yan would have a peaceful night on her first day.

After the call, Ji Li Zhao proceeded to the meeting room and was greeted by a very noisy crowd. Most of them were talking to each other. The quieter ones and those who were on the more serious radar remained silent—occasionally giving death glares to those who were chattering and bickering like there was no tomorrow. Ji Li Zhao shook his head at their actions and coughed to make his presence known.

All of them immediately stood up to bow down to their mighty Emperor. "Boss!"

He signaled them to sit down and they obeyed without hesitation before taking his throne. He swept his eyes around and was already in his emperor mode. The warmth he had when talking about his wife earlier was no longer there. It was replaced by his icy cold gaze that would make newbies wet their pants in fright. However, the people inside the room were already veterans of this change of aura.

There was a total of 20 people inside the room and each of them had terrifying roles in the business, entertainment, military, and even underground society.

"As you know, Fang Tao cannot join us this evening as I've assigned him to guard my wife along with the other Great Nobles," he said and looked at the other nobles who nodded their head.

They were all aware of this. The reason why there are a lot of vacant seats tonight is that the others were sent out on an important mission.

A Dutchman with a scar on his face frowned as he remembered Fang Tao. "We know. That idiot's been bugging me all day for a fight."

He was Laurens Schreurs, a Dutch special action force brought in by Ji Li Zhao. He was internationally acclaimed as Psycho Schreurs—an ally of the military and enemy of all terrorists. He's a killer machine which made him really special to an organization like this.

In this organization, he is considered Ji Li Zhao's machine gun and no one can dare say it's false. He was codenamed Maxim totally befitting of his role.

Ji Li Zhao nodded his head at him. He was also bugged by Fang asking for a bit of time to fight Laurens. The two are beasts he cannot easily tame and so he always allows them to battle since their prowess is seemingly on par.

Afterward, he turned on his Japanese IT Genius codenamed Einstein. "Makio, how is the monitoring system?"

Shun Makio was nibbling his lollipop at that time. When he was asked by his boss, he instantly discarded it which he only does when around their boss. His long and untamable black hair that came into view made some of them sigh at his seriously unchecked appearance.

He was a sweet-addicted genius and he seemed to fail on things when he was not eating sweets. "I have access to every CCTV in the area where Madame might frequent."

"And the Mansion's?" Ji Li Zhao asked in concern.

"Li Wei Mansion already has the most advanced monitoring system, next to this one, Evergreen Estate, and we have already delivered the latest weaponry for our men's use in case something does bypass our security system," he said with a smile.

He was the master of their weaponry and he was confident with his skills, thus there was no reason to be very concerned about their monitoring system. The one who could bypass it was surely not born yet. That was how confident he is and such confidence is well-founded.

"Well, whoever tries to do that is seeking only death," a 17-year-old woman said making some of them inside the room nod their head. It was Yan Xi Lan, the terrifying sword of Ji Li Zhao and the only female of the Kings.

Her twin, Yan Zhu who has the exact same ability as her when it comes to swordsmanship yawned. He considered everything quite boring on his side. "Fang being present there is already freaky much more having the Great Nobles act as ordinary guards."

"It's only right for this. Angeles Clan is always looking for trouble and they will do anything to get Lady Boss once they find out of her existence," one of the Great Nobles finally spoke up after much silence.

It was Mi Shen, one of the top assassins of the Great Nobles. He was there when they took Hou Wei Yan to Li Wei Mansion. There was no anomaly but being too confident is no good especially when they have many enemies still waiting for their demise.

Chu Shan, another member of the Great Nobles frowned. If they lose their Lady Boss, hell will surely break loose. "We cannot allow that."

"What are you talking about? They are not even worthy of our worry. We're only sparing them because they saved Lady Boss once!"

It was Ke Bai who spoke, the terrifying member of the Great Nobles known for his merciless killing. His voice clearly soured because they took the time to spare such a tiny organization. They were all trained assassins but amongst his peers, Ke Bai was known to be the least forgiving. It takes great effort for them to pull him away from a mission that requires a higher form of EQ.

Because of what he said, the people in the room fell into small discussions regarding Angeles. It was indeed true that they were no threat to them. They were just being too cocky by causing a lot of trouble and brewing fights when they were only being spared.

They were spared because of the information they gathered during Hou Wei Yan's stay in America. If it wasn't for one of their people saving Hou Wei Yan once in America, they would have already perished.

A cold voice suddenly spoke up. "That's enough. Her existence cannot be revealed yet. Not unless we take out Ji Boqin and the one supporting him."

It wasn't Ji Li Zhao, but the big brother of the organization. He was an American man, a bit older than Ji Li Zhao, and his coldness is just like Fang's when it involves heavy matters of their organization.

Brett Ramos, codenamed Centro, nodded when they grew silent and turned his head towards his boss for the report. "Boss, I have already called our branches and asked them to send in some of their men here."

The door creaked all of a sudden making all of them grab their guns and point them at the one crazily disturbing their meeting.

"Woah Woah Woah! Are you insane?!" he shrieked out of fright. He knew that all of the psychos were gathered but he never imagined they would point their guns at him.

All of them looked at him with poker faces without any plans of placing down their guns. This weirdo is here again and he even dared come in late when it's already clear in the rules not to disturb when the meeting has started.

"Han Yu Shou," Ji Li Zhao spoke up to ease the tension. His men immediately placed down their guns when they heard their boss acknowledging his presence. Han Yu Shou went inside with a smile on his face, relieved that his life was spared.

After taking his seat as one of the Crowns, the co-creators of the organization, Han Yu Shou turned to his cold side. "What are you planning?"

"The Great Nobles' identity is unknown but we cannot just depend on that. For Li Wei Mansion not to attract attention, we need to make Evergreen Estate much more appealing," Xiong Chongan, one of the Grand Secretaries said with the tablet in his hands.

Ji Li Zhao nodded his head and looked at all of them seriously. "We'll make it your personal training base."

"The branches will send in men for us to train," Brett added and made sure all of them agreed to this.

As all of the men present nodded their heads in agreement, Ji Li Zhao spoke up once more. "Success is what I need, so we can send them back on their branch and strengthen our forces."

He then looked at the King of Kings who was living at his estate including some of the Great Nobles. "You've been staying here for a long time, it's time we add on the Summits."

His organization had its groups, according to ranks: the Crowns— the co-creators of Palisades; Grand Chancellor—his representative in international affairs; Grand Secretaries—the assistants he has who handle most of their secrets and ensure the circulation of their information; Head Ministers—head of the operation in different countries where their organization is already established; King of Kings—the strongest of the men that directly serve him; 7 Summits—trained men assigned to monitor each continent; the Great Nobles—his high ranked men and seniors who mostly handles information gathering and assassination without their identity getting leaked; and his Five Punishments—his deadliest of soldiers who specializes in torture and are sent out to hunt down those who greatly wronged the organization.

Of course, the one who towers over them is the Emperor, the ruler and founder of the organization, Ji Li Zhao himself.

"Yes, Boss!" all of them said and smiled at his orders.

The Summits are his toughest trainers and they are rarely seen because they are spread out across nations. Most of the Great Nobles came to be because of the Summits' crazy training. Their presence means another batch of Great Nobles will arise.

Now that his orders were made, Ji Li Zhao finally turned to Yu Chao. "How's the selection of her assistant?"

"Fang has sent in his recommendations this afternoon. We've checked them in and only two are suitable," he said as he showed on the projector 10 women chosen by Fang. There were two women at the top who were boxed in red for emphasis.

Laurens looked at all of them and asked. "How so?"

"Well, the others have big missions and they cannot just abandon them. There are only two who are about to finish their task."

Ji Li Zhao suddenly butted in. "I want the best."

Yu Chao smiled at what his boss said. That's right. Their Lady Boss deserves the best. "Luckily, the best is among the two."

He then proceeded to show a woman in her 30s. She has short hair and has an icy expression on her face. All of them were curiously waiting for the introduction to be made which Yu Chao immediately gave without further ado. "Qiu Meixiu, 33. Daughter of the late Lieutenant-General Qiu."

"Her family is ranked 12th amongst the Regal Families and she's currently the head of her Household. Her father is the mentor of Xie Zedong, the current head of the Xie Household ranked 10th in the Regal Families, and the older brother of Xie Na. She was orphaned after her father's death and since the age of 27, she's been living alone but she has countless connections in the Military and Regal Families."

"A soldier and a physician assistant at the Military Hospital. She's been sent on countless missions to aid the medical team of the military. By far, she is the one at the top of the recommendation because of her survival skills and her perfect marksmanship. She is also a champion of countless Karate competitions and has trained in different martial arts skills which gave her the ability to survive any close combat. As for her ability to detect poison, she is simply the best."

Ji Li Zhao nodded his head upon seeing her achievements. This woman can surely be trusted. Based on her records, she wasn't someone who abandoned her comrades for her safety. He needs someone who is brave enough to handle dire situations and save his wife from danger.

Aside from that, he could vividly remember her appearing during his childhood with Hou Wei Yan. "Then scout her in."

Xiong Chongan who was just on the phone a minute ago suddenly spoke up from the corner. "There's no need boss. Qiu Meixiu has already volunteered."

"That's good," he said and smiled. Now he can rest assured that his wife won't overwork herself anymore.

As the meeting nearly reached its end, a sudden call disrupted them. It was the mainline of their meeting room and only a few had access to this. It only rings for an emergency when they are in a meeting.

Yu Chao who was beside it immediately answered the call. After a while, he was furiously nodding his head and his face displayed both seriousness and horror. Once he hung it up, he turned to Ji Li Zhao.

"Lady Boss woke up. Uncle Gu said that she was crying nonstop and refused to talk. She's sulking on the dark side of the room." he said with his voice wavering.

They knew she had trouble adjusting to her surroundings since young and this caused her to have nightmares when she slept in a new room. But even though they knew, they were still taken aback. Ji Li Zhao immediately stood up, his eyes now clouded with worry. His fear came true once more.

"As what I ordered, Evergreen Estate will be your training base. Make preparations and move as soon as possible," he said as a final order.

All of them nodded their head and stood up for a bow. Ji Li Zhao did not linger anymore. He walked out of the room and was followed by Han Yu Shou and his Grand Secretaries, namely Yu Chao and Xiong Chongan. "Chongan, prepare the underground transportation."

"Already prepared boss," he said as they entered the underground facility of the villa.

Yu Chao took out the voice changer on the corner. Makio had already prepared all of his needs to hide his identity. As the current Grand Secretary, Yu Chao had to be meticulous in keeping his identity hidden.

"Boss, your voice changer," he said as he handed it to him. Ji Li Zhao accepted this and entered the capsule without any word said.

Han Yu Shou who was trailing behind them ran up to him, his eyes displaying the same worry as Ji Li Zhao. "Remember, her nightmare came from the kidnapping incident when she was young. Don't mention anything besides that or she will relive her trauma."

Ji Li Zhao nodded his head in understanding. [ That's right, it's the kidnapping incident, not the incident I caused to her. ]

Han Yu Shou patted his shoulders and gave him a friendly smile. "Now go, take care of your bride."

With that, Ji Li Zhao closed the capsule and Yu Chao generated it towards Li Wei Mansion. Ji Li Zhao who was inside was already clenching his fist in anger at himself, he vowed not to make her cry but she was now crying alone in their room.

His bride is crying...no his wife is crying. This is not something he can easily forget.

Han Yu Shou, Yu Chao, and Xiong Chongan continued standing there even when the Capsule was already long gone. The three of them were left sighing and hoping everything would be okay on Hou Wei Yan's side.