The Trump Card to Be Destroyed After Use

Meng Xingyao liked to tease Uesugi Chigenki because he was a bit of a goofball, like an adorable human child. Facing his fair and tender little face, she always had the urge to take a bite.

“Eat up, I won’t bully you today,” Meng Xingyao smiled. Today, this big goofball seemed unusually gentle, making her reluctant to tease him further.

Under Meng Xingyao’s complicated and conflicted gaze, Uesugi Chigenki finished his breakfast.

Meng Xingyao hesitated, wanting to say something but holding back.

“Do you want to tell me something?” Uesugi Chigenki noticed Meng Xingyao’s unease.

“…What do you think,” Meng Xingyao stammered, “what do you think about women?”

“…” Uesugi Chigenki was puzzled. “Women… what about them?”

Meng Xingyao felt nervous. She didn’t know what Uesugi Chigenki’s answer would be. She was gambling, not asking if he loved her, but if he hated her.

Summoning her courage, she asked, “Do you… hate me?”

“…Yes, I do.”

After a moment of contemplation, Uesugi Chigenki delivered his verdict, leaving Meng Xingyao speechless.

Meng Xingyao thought she had treated him well but lacked self-awareness. “Why do you hate me?”

“Because you’ve always bullied me,” Uesugi Chigenki replied earnestly.

Meng Xingyao pondered for a moment, nodded, and got up to leave. “I won’t bully you anymore.”

…

In the hotel, the little goofball lay on the bed, staring at her phone, occasionally swiping the screen.

Su Ze sat nearby, his legs crossed and shaking incessantly.

He wanted to see what tricks the girl was up to. He didn’t believe she had simply given the phone to the little goofball out of kindness.

The two had apparently met once when he wasn’t around, but giving a phone after just one encounter? There had to be a reason, unless she was out of her mind.

Soon, the little goofball’s phone rang.

Heh, just as expected.

Su Ze was about to help Uesugi Akizuki answer the call, but the clueless little goofball instinctively pressed the reject button.

“…” Su Ze’s hand froze mid-air.

The phone returned to normal, and the clueless little goofball continued fiddling with the apps.

Soon, another call came in. Su Ze was about to answer it, but the little goofball was quicker and rejected it again!

Su Ze: “…”

In a hotel room, Situ Jiajia was dumbfounded as she listened to the dial tone on her phone.

What the heck? The first time, you didn’t know how to answer, so hanging up was understandable. But the second time? Shouldn’t you know by now that red means reject and green means answer?

It never occurred to her that the little goofball simply didn’t want to answer the call and didn’t know how to do it anyway.

No! The plan hadn’t even started yet. How could it fail so miserably?

Situ Jiajia was stubborn and called again.

Uesugi Akizuki skillfully rejected it once more.

Situ Jiajia gritted her teeth, her face filled with determination and frustration. Every time Uesugi Akizuki rejected the call, she would call again.

On the other side, the little goofball’s cute face was full of resolve. Every time Situ Jiajia called, she would reject it.

She just wanted to play with the phone and had no intention of answering calls. She didn’t even know it was a call. She only knew that the phone could be used to contact someone, but she didn’t understand how it worked. She just knew that pressing this button would make it stop.

Su Ze: “…”

Watching the two of them go back and forth like this, he found it hilarious and buried his head in the blanket, laughing until his body shook.

A minute later.

Smack!

“Are you kidding me?!”

Situ Jiajia, furious, slammed her phone on the ground, shattering it into pieces. Then, with a look of utter defeat, she picked up the pieces, removed the SIM card, and humbly inserted it into another phone, waiting for it to power on.

Su Ze noticed that the calls had stopped. It seemed she had given up.

Uesugi Akizuki’s expression also shifted from determination to relief, and she continued swiping through her phone.

Su Ze lay down beside her and immediately saw that Uesugi Akizuki was browsing the app store, with dozens of apps in the download queue!

Su Ze was speechless. “Let me have a look.”

Uesugi Akizuki hesitated for 0.0002 seconds before handing the phone to Su Ze, her amber eyes filled with reluctance.

Su Ze smiled and gently pinched her soft, adorable cheek. This little goofball was just too sweet.

Seeing how engrossed she was with the phone, he thought it would be difficult to take it from her.

But with just one word from him, she handed it over without hesitation.

The two of them lay there, gazing at each other.

Seeing Su Ze’s smile, the little goofball’s soft, fair face broke into a simple, innocent smile.

Her cute, goofy smile was warm enough to melt snow, her eyes sparkling like stars.

It was like a serene autumn lake in a desolate wilderness, rippled by a fallen leaf by the shore.

In her heart, no matter how fascinating the phone was, it couldn’t compare to Su Ze.

Su Ze was dependable and handsome. The phone couldn’t match Su Ze’s looks or reliability.

Even if there were things that surpassed Su Ze in looks and dependability, she would still choose Su Ze without hesitation.

Because Su Ze was the first ray of light that pierced through her dark world. In the days they had spent together, she had been happier than she had been in all her years in Japan.

To her, Su Ze was irreplaceable and incomparable.

Su Ze dialed Situ Jiajia’s number and handed the phone to Uesugi Akizuki. “Talk to her later.”

Su Ze understood that the girl wanted to get close to him through Uesugi Akizuki. As for her motives, they would be revealed in this call.

Beep, beep, beep…

The dial tone echoed from the phone.

Su Ze was stunned. She… rejected the call?

How bold! Earlier, she kept calling and getting rejected, and now she rejects the call when I call back! It’s like I’m begging to talk to her.

Su Ze immediately tossed the phone onto the bed and took Uesugi Akizuki’s hand. “Let’s go eat.”

Situ Jiajia was sulking, thinking she would reject the call a few more times when the other party called back.

But clearly, the domineering CEO scenario she was waiting for, where the CEO would coax her, didn’t happen.

After waiting a few minutes, there was no call.

She realized something.

In Su Ze’s hotel room, the white, soft bed was empty, and the phone kept ringing in the deserted room.

After several days of the enforcers’ major actions, nearly all cities and rural areas, along with billions of people, had been arranged into shelters.

Since they had already experienced several disasters, shelters had been established in remote areas like the countryside.

Thus, the execution was relatively smooth.

Uesugi Akizuki also sensed that something was wrong. In recent days, her subordinates had been ordered by the enforcers not to leave Yu Province.

No matter how powerful she was, she wasn’t foolish enough to clash with them over this.

She thought it was because her influence had extended too far into this land, causing dissatisfaction in Huaxia.

No matter how she tried to explain, given the current situation in Yu Province where people were being gathered into shelters, even a fool could guess what this meant.

After a moment of thought, she stood up, and a call came in.

Uesugi Akizuki frowned and answered the phone. “Is another disaster coming?”

“Yes,” came the calm, weathered voice on the other end. Li Zhenlong leisurely sipped his tea.

“You promised to send people to help me rescue him!”

“We’ve already sent people. You can rest assured.”

Uesugi Akizuki snorted. “Do I trust you? In this situation, would you dare send a single ‘Rolling Flame’ to rescue him?”

“We are indeed in a difficult position, and it’s time for desperate measures. But don’t you have a clear understanding of your own situation?”

Li Zhenlong took another sip of tea. “You’re living under someone else’s roof. You’re free to go rescue him yourself. We won’t stop you.”

“By the way, the disaster is about to strike.”

“Are you planning to take your two daughters and thousands of clansmen to rescue him in the face of the disaster?”

“Or will you leave them behind and go alone? Do you really think I’m magnanimous enough to continue sheltering them?”

Here, the subtle detail was that Li Zhenlong said “I” am not that magnanimous, not “the country.”

This almost indicated that everything he had done was unrelated to the country, and it was all his own doing.

Uesugi Akizuki’s frown deepened.

Li Zhenlong continued, “After rescuing him, where do you plan to go? To America? Do you think they’ll take in a traitor from Japan?”

“Or will you return to Japan? Do you think you can survive there with your clansmen?”

"I also know you’ve left yourself an escape route in another country, but are you really going to save people first and then rush over there at a time like this?"

"Are you threatening me?" Uesugi Akizuki was visibly angry.

"How could I?" Li Zhenlong chuckled. "We’re just saying, you’re free to leave or stay, but you’ll need to take all your belongings with you. Otherwise, I’ll have no choice but to dispose of them for you."

Uesugi Akizuki seethed with anger, but then a wave of fear washed over her. She truly had no way out!

In the past, she had secured a backup plan in another country, backed by formidable strength, which was why she dared to act so arrogantly in this land.

But now, should she lead her people to that country amidst such a calamity?

No wonder they had tolerated her actions all this time—they had been treating her as their most crucial pawn, a piece to be used only once.

To be played at the most critical moment!

Afterward, as a mere pawn, she would be powerless against them.

The two sides had completely torn off the mask of civility, and Uesugi Akizuki was clearly the losing party.

"Some things are understood without needing to be said aloud, don’t you think?" Li Zhenlong laughed softly, like a kindly old man. "Head of the Uesugi family, your task is to defend Yu Province alongside your people."

"Please don’t act impulsively or irrationally. You’ve never been out of our control."

Li Zhenlong’s final words carried both a threat and a hint of well-meaning advice. "Don’t act rashly. It will doom your people."

"Including you."

"And your husband."