The male supporting character was actually myself.

"Young Master, Miss San is settled in." The assistant hurried over and reported in a deep voice, "She is with Li Jiangchen, the young marshal of the Li family army! Earlier, when General Geng's army was searching for fugitives, they almost cornered them in a Western restaurant."

Li Jiangchen?!

How did he get to know the younger sister? The city of Never Sleeps is in turmoil with constant infighting and power struggles. What is Li Jiangchen, a key figure in the Li family army, doing here?

Could the chaotic situation of the past few days be related to him?

"Keep them here. I need to talk to Li Jiangchen." Lin Rubin did not blame his subordinates for their incompetence.

Given Li Jiangchen's abilities, it was entirely possible for him to evade all the defenses and make contact with Wanyan. After all, his men were only slightly better trained than ordinary bodyguards, while Wanyan was rumored to be a war god whose city gates would automatically open to welcome the army into the city.

Hopefully, his situation aligns with the intelligence he has received; otherwise, he may have already won the heart of the young woman, and with the invading army poised to attack, handling the situation smoothly would be quite tricky.

"Host, are you full, meow?" The fluffy little ball of fur bounced over happily, rubbed against his face, and grinned mischievously, "Congratulations on meeting your brother-in-law ahead of time! Let me tell you, the Lin Wanyan family is no ordinary family!"

Her older brother was determined to get into the financial system of the City That Never Sleeps to obtain intelligence for the Red Revelation Society;

Taking advantage of opportunities to trade with foreign countries, her younger brother used various channels to acquire intelligence and pass it on to the Red Revelation Society.

Oh, by the way, I know Lin Wanyan and my older brother's identities in the Red Revelation Society, and sometimes I deliberately leak information to them... I don't know how much Lin Rubin knows about his younger siblings yet; time is limited, and this is all I've found out."

While Lin Wanyan was in the restroom, Jiang Chen fed the little white cat a bite of steak.

"Mmm, this is delicious!" The fluffy little dumpling smacked its lips in satisfaction.

The unexpected gain brought back by the fluffy dumpling gave him confidence and ease when facing Lin Rubin, and the two talked until late at night before reaching an agreement. The next morning, before leaving, Jiang Chen made a gentleman's agreement with the Lin siblings—on the day he led the Li family army to take over the City That Never Sleeps, he could come to their door to ask for Lin Wanyan's hand in marriage.

Two days later, Geng Daqi died suddenly at the Marshal's mansion.

The four sons of the Geng family seize power, and the city that never sleeps is in turmoil once again. Lin Rubin seizes the opportunity in the chaos and enters the Ministry of Finance as he wishes, secretly collecting and transmitting intelligence from business to politics.

A week later, a steady stream of news arrived, showing that Li's army was advancing southward with unstoppable momentum.

There are only two or three months between the cold winter and the breaking of the ice in early spring, and Jiang Chen must ensure that he will not be attacked from both sides at that time.

Facing the invading army isn't a big problem; at worst, we can use our superpowers with the help of the fluffy little ones to crush them. What we fear is a sneak attack from behind. It would be incredibly frustrating to be fighting the invaders head-on on the front lines only to be ambushed and buried by our own people from behind.

"Second Master, this kind of flat push is fast, but it's not stable at all." Zhang Mingyuan looked at the young marshal with a slightly haggard face and felt sorry for him. He didn't know what had happened to him. After returning from the City That Never Sleeps, he had been fighting like a madman.

He was either attacking a city or on his way to attack one. As soon as he captured a city, he would kill a group of leaders and incorporate the remaining armed forces. Then, he would leave the members of the suicide squad to oversee the implementation of new policies, and then lead his army to the next destination.

Seeing that the young marshal had lost a lot of weight, Zhang Mingyuan had no choice but to take some time to persuade him: "Let's stick to our previous steady approach, take one piece of land after another, otherwise... it's very likely that as soon as we leave, those restless people will rebel and declare independence."

"Then kill another batch of restless ones." Jiang Chen scribbled on the strategic map, replying coldly without even looking up, "We don't have much time. If we want to achieve initial unification before spring, we need to hurry. Have you received any telegrams from the war zone?"

Zhang Mingyuan: o(?Д?)っ!

Holy crap! Second Master's vision is too grand!

A preliminary unification before spring? That's ridiculous... even a leisurely stroll through the countryside in a tank wouldn't be that fast! Let alone a war!

"To catch the thief, first catch the king; the further you push, the easier it becomes." Jiang Chen looked up and saw his shocked expression, then smiled slightly and patiently explained, "We're having a tough time right now because we have too many small units to integrate."

Next, whether it's Dongwanglang or Xishanbao, as long as they control Datou and quell a wave of rebellion, and grasp the key generals below, they can initially control a large part of the territory.

With the addition of dedicated members of the Red Revelation Society to the management, we can focus on smoothly implementing the remaining reforms gradually.

Zhang Mingyuan was still a little uneasy and tentatively asked, "Although the Hongqi Society was introduced to you by Miss Lin, and it does have many progressive young people who are worth making use of, it is not one of our own people after all. Second Master, it would be better to be careful."

"So that we don't work so hard to build this empire only to have someone with ulterior motives stalk the fruits of our labor!"

"You're telling this to the overpowered assassin cat?" The fluffy little cat lay on the table with its feet up, eating dried fish, and said smugly, "With my soft and cute little kitten around, Host doesn't have to worry!"

Jiang Chen really doesn't need to worry. After all, as long as he nominally subdues them and pushes the new policies forward, the common people will benefit and be eager for the Li family army to enjoy long-term stability.

Even if someone tries to find a pretext to rebel and establish their own state, it will only be a small force and not a threat.

Moreover, with the addition of young people from all over the country who previously could only participate in the work of the Red Revelation Society in secret, possessing advanced ideas, the policy reforms can only get better and better and become more and more popular among the masses.

When the invading army was mobilized in the spring, even if some people were unwilling, they had to bite the bullet and go forward in the face of national righteousness.

The experience of being cleansed by war of aggression is a good opportunity to eliminate the scourges lurking within the armed forces.

Of course, while pushing forward, he had already contacted the Lin brothers, Rubin and Xubin. They used their connections in the business and financial departments to pass on a list of people who might abscond with large sums of money. Rongtuanzi then waited for them at airports, docks, and other places where they could escape. People could leave, but the wealth plundered from the people must be left behind!

As for money transferred to foreign banks, it's even easier to control. With the Little White Cat assistant system cheating, which bank transfer program can resist it?

These benefits, generated by our beautiful land, are the cornerstone of the new nation, and we must absolutely not allow them to flow into the hands of outsiders.

"Host, I have a few things to report." With the Spring Festival approaching and the festive atmosphere thick everywhere, the fluffy little dumpling, unusually sporting a festive bow, hopped over and meowed, "First of all, our first step in our plan to stop the invasion has failed..."

That's right. I went to the other side and found those big bad guys who wanted to invade, but killing two of them didn't help.

He tried to kill an even bigger boss but was warned by the main system, meaning he couldn't arbitrarily disrupt the mission world's settings.

If we kill off the Emperor, the powerful generals, and the like, the invasion will be impossible, disrupting the core setting of the mission world and affecting its balance. It could even cause the mission world to collapse.

Jiang Chen had just finished a call with Lin Wanyan. She had received the gift and clearly liked it, so she was in a good mood. When she heard that Plan A had failed, she simply nodded to indicate that she understood.

"The remaining issue concerns the male and female leads, whom we've been neglecting for a long time." The fluffy little dumpling stroked its ear and said with a serious expression, "The owner of the Paramount originally planned to give it a cold shoulder for a while and then deal with the Bai Jasmine sisters. Unexpectedly, an accident happened not long afterward..."

After being imprisoned for several days, Ruan Xiangqin knew that if she didn't find a way to escape, her fate might be worse than death.

But after many attempts, the thugs downstairs were too close to her, making it impossible for her to escape. So, after enduring a week of barely being able to eat even spoiled food, she finally came up with a plan to slip away unnoticed.

"Xiangyun, I'm sorry." The cold moonlight shone into the room in the middle of the night. Ruan Xiangqin tiptoed out of the bedroom and looked at her younger sister who was already asleep on the sofa. Her eyes were filled with tears, but a hint of ruthlessness flashed in them. "I was forced to do this! If I hadn't been desperate, I wouldn't have been so heartless."

Blame Li Dongchen for his cowardice and incompetence, and blame Li Jiangchen for his cold-bloodedness. They watched as we sisters were trapped in a desperate situation, yet neither of them was willing to lend a helping hand.

They could have made it so easy for us to live a good life with just a word from them!

Now, rather than let the two of us sisters be trapped here to die, let's be ruthless and fight it out. Don't worry, your sister will definitely kill their whole family to avenge you!

Besides... it's not actually that high up. You've always been strong and healthy. As long as you don't struggle and fall, at most you'll break an arm or a leg. Those people won't just leave you there. You might even benefit from this misfortune..."

After repenting to herself, Ruan Xiangqin saw that her younger sister was turning over and about to wake up. She immediately gritted her teeth, dragged her up, and pushed her off the third floor with the window open!

"what!"

Startled awake from her sleep, Ruan Xiangyun only had time to let out a brief, pitiful scream before falling silent with a "thud".

In the dead of night, under the bright moon, a figure suddenly screamed and struggled from the third-floor balcony before crashing to the ground with a loud thud. No one else witnessed this except Ruan Xiangqin, who trembled and peered down from the side.

The younger sister lay sprawled on the cold cement floor, oblivious to her fate. Deep red blood slowly seeped from beneath her disheveled silk pajamas, a chilling sight under the moonlight.

"I'm sorry, Xiangyun!" She covered her mouth, trying hard not to cry out loud, picked up her packed little package, and waited for the right moment to go downstairs.

Sure enough, after hearing the sound of someone falling, a large number of thugs rushed over immediately. They found that someone had fallen from the building and was unaware of whether they were dead or alive. They busied themselves around Ruan Xiangyun, who was bleeding from the head and had supposedly "committed suicide." Some people shouted for a doctor, while others hurriedly went to inform the manager. Ruan Xiangqin took advantage of the chaos to climb down from the back window on the second floor, carrying a small cloth bag and disappearing into the moonlight.

"I didn't see what actually happened, but the news I heard was that Ruan Xiangyun committed suicide by jumping off a building, and Ruan Xiangqin went missing that night." The little white cat pouted, looking helpless.

"Oh? Jump off a building to commit suicide?" Jiang Chen tapped his fingers on the table after hearing this, shook his head and said in a deep voice, "I don't think Ruan Xiangyun is the kind of person who would commit suicide. She has a fiery personality and seems carefree, but she rarely suffers real losses. People with that kind of personality wouldn't know to turn back even if they hit a wall. How could she jump off a building to commit suicide just because she was under house arrest?"

I think she might have been tricked by Ruan Xiangqin again. She wanted to risk her life by pretending to jump off a building to give Ruan Xiangqin a chance to escape in the chaos. However, Ruan Xiangyun is only a supporting character and doesn't have any special aura, so the result was that she died from the fall, causing a bigger sensation and allowing Ruan Xiangqin to get away smoothly.

The fluffy little dumpling blinked its deep blue eyes and tilted its head. "It can't be that dramatic, can it? Ruan Xiangyun was disfigured by her own sister. Such a beautiful girl had her face slashed like that. I don't think the two of them will make up. They even risked their lives to help each other attract attention."

"Then it's possible that Ruan Xiangqin pushed her down." Jiang Chen waved his hand and said, "The rest is not important. What's important is that Ruan Xiangqin took advantage of the chaos to run away. Although her protagonist aura has almost disappeared after several blows, she will have endless troubles if she escapes again before it is completely extinguished."

He got up, picked up the phone, and started dialing. After several twists and turns, he finally got in touch with Mr. Nangong, who held the title of inspector.

"Young Marshal, you've taken the time out of your busy schedule to speak with me. Is there anything you need?" Mr. Nangong, who had just taken a couple of bites of dinner, was slightly flushed and a little tipsy as he stroked his catfish beard and chuckled, "I've already checked the celestial signs for you. Everything will go smoothly and you'll be victorious in every battle."

"Focus on your battle. After the New Year, I'll give the young marshal his first divination of the year—I guarantee it'll be so accurate it'll blow your mind!"

Jiang Chen could smell the faint scent of alcohol even through the phone. He shook his head with a helpless smile and said, "I can tell that you're doing quite well since you got a permanent position, but don't be careless. I just heard that Ruan Xiangyun jumped off a building and died, while Ruan Xiangqin escaped in the chaos. She's a safety hazard and we can't let her get away with it."

"Well, I went to see what happened after I heard about it." Mr. Nangong casually grabbed a handful of peanuts and tossed them in to eat. "It wasn't a suicide by jumping off a building. Ruan Xiangyun was pushed off. You could see the resentment from far away."

A person who dies with unresolved grievances is prone to harboring resentment and causing harm.

As the inspector of Yucheng, it's my duty to serve the people. With the New Year approaching, how can I allow such unrest to fester? If it were to lead to an epidemic, that would be disastrous. So, I took the opportunity to channel that resentment, and I expect to see results soon. Don't worry, young marshal."

"With you here, sir, I feel much more at ease!" Jiang Chen exchanged a few pleasantries and hung up the phone, then thought for a moment and dialed again.

Since being rescued by the young marshal, Xiu'er has been living in the young marshal's mansion in the suburbs. Apart from pretending to be Mrs. Qiao a few times to guide Zhang Ziqiu, she spends the rest of her time in the young marshal's mansion and is very happy.

While she was in the Zhang family, she had to do a lot of chores, and could only learn bits and pieces of knowledge from the young lady.

Now that she has plenty of time and comfortable conditions, Xiu'er often spends her free time in the young marshal's study reading works full of new ideas, as well as some excellent translated foreign works.

The more Xiu'er read those new works that broke down feudal ideas, the more she felt that the young marshal was truly amazing.

Despite not having studied abroad, he instilled advanced ideas in every aspect of Yucheng. He would immerse himself in the ocean of knowledge, reading thick books and dictionaries with great enthusiasm, forgetting to eat or sleep.

When she received the young marshal's call, she couldn't contain her excitement and asked as her first question, "Young marshal, can I join the army in implementing the new policies? I've read your essays on gender equality! Women can do what men can do. I want to leave the mountains and see the world, and I want to join the tide of reform and contribute to your cause!"

"It's good that you have such thoughts, but it's still not safe while we're at war. Once we've achieved initial unification and pacification, you'll have plenty of opportunities to showcase your talents." Jiang Chen was delighted that a young maid who had grown up in a very traditional family could accept new ideas of reform so quickly. It seemed that the brainwashing in this mission world wasn't too severe, and it would be easier for him to implement his new policies.

"I called you to ask how Zhang Ziqiu is doing lately?"

"Miss, she fell ill after catching them in the act that night. I heard about it and went to visit her." Xiuer frowned slightly and lowered her voice. "I think Miss was quite traumatized. She didn't cry, didn't make a fuss, and didn't even complain. She just kept wiping and washing everything in the room, muttering that everything was dirty, too dirty!"

Later, after I recovered from my illness, I was fine. I was quite busy going to school to work every day.

Oh, by the way, she never mentioned again that she hadn't seen Li Dongchen. If it were before, she would have definitely sneaked off to see him long ago, but this time there was absolutely no word from him.

I watched coldly; she had probably truly given up.

Unfortunately, once she entered the Marshal's mansion as the eldest young mistress, she probably wouldn't be able to leave those doors again. With a husband so young and already like that, what difference was there between her and living as a widow?

Chapter 44: Strong Contrast

Zhang Ziqiu herself never expected that she would undergo such a sudden and complete transformation.

Even knowing that Li Dongchen was having affairs, she was only angry and dissatisfied and tried her best to drag him back and keep him by her side, but she never thought of cutting ties with him.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have been so proactive in devising a trap to catch her husband cheating in bed with his wife.

However, Zhang Ziqiu had no idea that what she saw and heard that night would completely overturn her thoughts.

Whenever she returned to their newlywed home, which was less than six months into their marriage, images of Li Dongchen and her intimate moments would constantly flash before her eyes. But in an instant, those images would transform into a scene of Li Dongchen in bed with those two prostitutes!

Then, the imagined scene would turn into the Bai Moli sisters entangled with men whose appearances were unclear in a tasteful room. The superimposed images impacted Zhang Ziqiu's mind, leaving her with only one thought—it's too dirty!

Flies were buzzing all over the two women, and Li Dongchen was covered in filth and a foul stench, which seemed to have permeated the entire room with an indelible odor!

She had scrubbed it countless times, but that faint stench of decay always lingered in the room.

Left with no other choice, Zhang Ziqiu had to move to her study to live, and gradually she came to the point that she didn't want to see the bedroom where she had lived for several months, as if the whole house was emitting a thick black aura and a foul stench.

She had no choice but to go to school, hoping to numb herself with work so she wouldn't think about those disgusting things.

One day, two days... As time went on, Zhang Ziqiu gradually found unprecedented joy in her busy work, especially in the happy smiles of her students and their respectful calls of "Principal." She found a new goal.

Zhang Ziqiu's mindset changed. The school was no longer a refuge to escape from, and she gradually lost that anxiety and fear. She began to integrate into this vibrant group.