Hou Liangping arrested a hawkish general, and his father-in-law panicked

In the past, what she could get done with just one phone call was more effective than many people running around.

That was her other home turf.

However, when the majestic gray building came into view, Zhong Xiaoai's heart sank suddenly.

The building that she used to feel friendly and reliable now looked like a silent giant beast, entrenched in the center of the city, staring at her coldly.

The flashing police lights at the door were particularly dazzling in the night, as if warning anyone who attempted to cross the line.

She suddenly lost the courage to get off the car.

The soldiers' words, "We don't know any Zhong Zhengguo," pierced her heart like a poisonous thorn.

in case……

What if the people from the Public Security Bureau treated her with the same attitude?

As soon as this thought came to her mind, she felt a chill all over her body.

She couldn't bear that humiliation again.

The car stopped in an inconspicuous corner on the side of the road.

The driver turned off the engine and the car fell into silence.

Zhong Xiaoai looked at the building not far away, and her fingers unconsciously clenched her phone.

There is one last card.

It is also the biggest card.

Her father, Zhong Zhengguo.

No matter how strange the game in Handong becomes, no matter who Zhao Yuanchao is, she doesn't believe that this force can completely ignore her father's existence.

She had to let him know what was happening here, and let him put an end to this ridiculous farce.

With trembling fingers, she found the familiar name in the address book - "Father".

This name was once the source of all her sense of security and her greatest confidence in walking in the world.

She took a deep breath and pressed the dial button.

There was a "beep" connection tone coming from the receiver, and each tone was like a hammer hitting her heart.

She held her breath, waiting for the calm, majestic voice that would instantly put her at ease.

A sound.

Twice.

Three sounds...

Just when she almost thought that no one answered the phone, the voice in the receiver suddenly stopped.

It wasn't the tone of a voicemail, but a much colder, more decisive busy tone.

"beep."

The phone call was hung up.

It's not that the call was not received, but that someone on the other end personally hung up the phone.

Zhong Xiaoai's body froze, and it was as if her soul had been drained away in an instant, leaving only a cold shell.

She stared in disbelief at the words "Call Ended" on her phone screen.

how come?

How can it be?

Is Dad in a meeting?

still is……

She didn't give up, and her fingers pressed the redial button again almost instinctively.

This time, she didn't hear the connection tone.

A cold and mechanical female voice came from the receiver: "The number you dialed is turned off."

Shut down.

After she was hung up, the other party turned off the phone.

The meaning behind this action was like an ice-hardened knife, stabbing into Zhong Xiaoai's heart and stirring it violently.

This is not a refusal to help.

This is a cut.

An unmistakable political statement.

Her father told her in the most direct and ruthless way: You and Hou Liangping have to bear the consequences of the trouble you have caused.

The reputation of the Zhong family and my political career will never be paid for by your stupidity and recklessness.

At that moment, Zhong Xiaoai finally understood.

From the moment she decided to accompany Hou Liangping to Handong, from the moment Hou Liangping arrested the man named Zhao Yuanchao regardless of the consequences, she was no longer the protected "Zhong Xiaoai".

She became a discarded pawn.

A pawn that can be sacrificed at any time to preserve the overall situation.

Outside the car window, the city’s neon lights are dazzling, and the city is bustling with traffic, presenting a prosperous scene.

But all this has nothing to do with her anymore.

The world she was familiar with, the world built of power, rules and human relationships, had closed its doors to her.

Her proud surname, her wisdom, her background, were all vulnerable in the face of a more powerful and rule-abiding force.

An unprecedented panic and confusion completely overwhelmed her like a tide.

She never expected that she would be unable to move forward without her father's protection.

Chapter 97 Zhong Zhengguo and Zhong Xiaoai sever their father-daughter relationship!

The taxi traveled through the night, and the heater inside the car was on high, but Zhong Xiaoai only felt the chill running up from her spine, freezing her limbs.

The phone screen had already gone dark, but the two words - "powered off" - were like a brand, deeply engraved on her retina.

She is not a stupid person.

On the contrary, she has known how to interpret the deeper meanings hidden behind words and actions since she was a child.

The way my father hung up the phone and the cold sound of the shutdown notification were more hurtful than any harsh reprimand.

That's a stripping away.

She and Hou Liangping were quickly and neatly stripped away from the huge umbrella of the "Zhong family".

"Ma'am, we're here."

The driver's voice pulled her back to reality from the cold seabed.

She looked up and saw the majestic building of the Provincial Public Security Bureau through the car window. The guards standing in front of the door stood straight, casting long shadows under the light.

go back?

Can she still go back?

Zhong Xiaoai's mind suddenly flashed back to the scene of herself taking advantage of the power of others a few hours ago.

In a calm tone, she half-truthfully brought up her father's name and the rules of the capital to scare the young guards.

But now?

If I go there again, will they still believe it?

The man named Zhao Yuanchao has enough power to silence the entire officialdom of Handong.

The people in the provincial department must have received a gag order long ago, and may even have known her father's attitude.

She could almost imagine that if she got out of the car again, she would no longer be greeted with cautious inquiries, but with polite but distant obstructions, or even contemptuous disregard.

Those words she once used to bluff people would just become a joke if she said them again now.

A woman abandoned by her family tries to save her husband who has caused such a disaster.

No.

Absolutely no go.

That would be self-humiliating.

"Master, please turn around and take me back...to a random hotel."

Her voice was dry and hoarse, like it had been sandpapered.

The driver glanced at her in the rearview mirror, and without asking any questions, he smoothly turned the car and merged into another lane.

The car started moving again, and the city lights quickly receded outside the window, like a grand but empty firework display.

After the panic and despair, a more intense emotion surged from the bottom of my heart.

It's unwillingness.

Why?

Just because Hou Liangping touched someone he shouldn't have?

Just because they stirred up a hornet's nest?

She admitted that Hou Liangping was wrong. He was too impatient and wanted to prove himself too much. He was ridiculously naive politically.

But wasn't his original intention in doing all this still for the so-called "justice" in his heart?

And her father, the man who taught her to stick to principles and to distinguish right from wrong, chose the most prudent way to protect himself when the real storm came.

He abandoned Hou Liangping, just like a chess player throwing away a chess piece that was trapped without hesitation.

She was also buried with this abandoned child.

No...