Chapter 163: A Flag

Chapter 163 -160: A Flag

That night, in Celestial Mountain City, at the Wildgrass Folk Bar.

An old singer was on stage, singing a folk song full of soul.

The patrons ate snacks, drank, and chatted.

In a corner booth sat a mature woman in a tight, leopard-print top, a hip-hugging leather skirt, and black stockings.

The woman drank alone in sullen silence, a hint of sorrow on her brow.

Her name was Wang Xiuqiao, and she was the owner of a construction company.

She had inherited the business from her father.

To many, she was one of the lucky ones, born with a silver spoon in her mouth. As long as she wasn’t foolish, she would never have to worry about food or clothing for the rest of her life.

But in reality, when you inherit your father’s business, you inherit his troubles as well.

Wang Xiuqiao threw back a glass of hard liquor.

A few drops trickled down her fair neck and into the snowy valley of her cleavage.

At the next table, a young man stared at the alluring woman, his eyes burning with desire.

Wang Xiuqiao ignored the blatant stares, lost in her own sorrow.

Her father had left her a construction company, but he had also left her a hot potato.

A flag. A magical flag.

The flag’s origin story began with her father’s former profession.

Back then, Celestial Mountain City was still just a small city, barely larger than a town.

Her father was a logger at the foot of Changbai Mountain.

In those days, there was no environmental awareness, no reforestation orders to close off the mountains.

Her father made a living by logging, selling the timber to construction companies and supporting his family on that meager income.

The work wasn’t just manual labor; it was also incredibly dangerous.

Back then, Changbai Mountain was teeming with far more wolves, tigers, and leopards than today. Each one was a life-reaping King Yama.

As soon as dusk fell, you had to be home, or you’d surely become dinner for those wild beasts.

Her father was always muttering, ‘If only I wasn’t afraid of tigers.’

A tiger eating a person would make headlines today, but back then on Changbai Mountain, it was nothing special.

Countless loggers had died in the jaws of tigers.

Later, her father heard a rumor of some kind, took all the family’s savings, and went to the South Sea.

When he returned, he had a flag in his hand.

From then on, her father logged day and night, no longer fearing the wolves, tigers, or leopards.

The strangest part was that he always managed to bring back huge amounts of timber. Sometimes, he could even haul the logs down the mountain without a horse-drawn cart.

And that was how her father made his fortune.

Later, when the mountains were closed for reforestation, her father had already saved up enough money to open a construction company.

Ever since their family was no longer poor, she never saw her father take out that flag again.

As Wang Xiuqiao grew up, she almost forgot about the flag, to the point that she wondered if it had just been a childish fantasy.

After all, how could a mere flag defeat wolves, tigers, and leopards, and also help transport logs?

Before her father died, he took out the flag she had long since forgotten.

He warned her:

“This flag was lent to me by someone else. You must not use it.

One day in the future, the benefactor who gave me the flag will come to take it back.”

Wang Xiuqiao was an obedient daughter.

Besides, she wasn’t greedy to begin with.

Her current life was already better than most people’s; there was no need to covet even greater wealth.

Wang Xiuqiao waited for that benefactor for a full ten years.

The benefactor never came. Instead, two outsiders did.

Those two outsiders had only recently arrived in Celestial Mountain City to expand their business, but they had astonishingly deep resources.

In just two short years, they had become the leaders of Celestial Mountain City’s construction industry.

They knew about the flag’s existence and gave Wang Xiuqiao two choices.

The first choice: hand over the flag.

Wang Xiuqiao had hidden the flag well and would rather die than hand it over.

Frustrated, the two outsiders gave Wang Xiuqiao a second choice.

The second choice: use the flag, join them, and obtain unimaginable wealth.

Wang Xiuqiao wasn’t interested in wealth.

‘We common folk aren’t destined for riches, so we shouldn’t crave them,’ her father often said. ‘Being honest and principled is better than anything else.’

After being rejected by Wang Xiuqiao, the outsiders flew into a rage out of humiliation.

They didn’t dare kill Wang Xiuqiao.

If they killed her, no one would know where the flag was.

So, they squeezed her out of the industry, trying to force her to submit.

Wang Xiuqiao’s business declined day by day, until she was drowning in debt.

But she gritted her teeth and held on.

This evening, the two outsiders came again.

They gave Wang Xiuqiao an ultimatum.

Either hand over the flag or join them. She had to give them an answer before dawn.

Before leaving, the two outsiders sneered at Wang Xiuqiao:

“We have ten thousand ways to torture a woman.”

Wang Xiuqiao was terrified, but there was nothing she could do.

Escape was impossible.

She was already being watched.

So Wang Xiuqiao had come to the bar to get drunk, hoping the alcohol would numb her stress.

“Hey, beautiful, can I get your WeChat?”

Wang Xiuqiao looked up. It was the young man from the next table.

His friends were watching them, smiling.

The young man said shyly:

“Miss, I’m a college athlete.

I lost a game with my classmates. If I don’t get your WeChat, they’ll make fun of me. Help me out, please~”

Wang Xiuqiao felt a wave of disgust.

‘I don’t know why, but maybe the internet has overhyped these so-called ‘college boys.’ Do they really think that by acting all young and innocent, older women are supposed to cling to them like lechers? Not a shred of masculinity!’

Wang Xiuqiao looked up at him and said seriously:

“Either get lost, or I’ll have someone throw you out.”

The young man froze. He glanced down, saw the tattoo on Wang Xiuqiao’s thigh, and scurried away, looking frightened and resentful.

Wang Xiuqiao picked up a glass, her eyes filled with contempt.

‘A sissy who hasn’t even hit puberty, trying to pick up women.’

She tossed the drink down her throat, set the glass down, and sensed someone beside her.

Wang Xiuqiao glanced up.

It was a clean-cut man wearing a suit with a black trench coat draped over it.

He wasn’t as old as her, but he exuded a world-weary aura, as if he had seen all of life’s joys and sorrows.

His eyes, in particular, were chillingly detached.

This was a dangerous type of man.

‘On any other day, I would’ve been happy to buy this man a drink. But right now… I’m not in the mood. God knows if I’ll even live to see tomorrow!’

Wang Xiuqiao said coldly:

“You should find another seat.”

The man impolitely sat down across from her.

Wang Xiuqiao frowned.

“You…”

The man began to speak.

“You have something of mine.”

Wang Xiuqiao was left speechless.

‘What a cliché, tacky, and lame pickup line.’

The young man from before was watching the scene with a smirk, clearly enjoying the show.

‘Now what? Are you going to say you left your heart at my place?’

Wang Xiuqiao sighed.

“I’ll give you two choices. Either get lost, or…”

The man cut in, his expression flat.

“Wang Fugui should have told you I would come to retrieve that item.”

The words died on Wang Xiuqiao’s lips.

She stared at the man in disbelief.

‘How does he know my father’s name?’

‘Could it be? Did my father really borrow something from him?’

‘Did my father borrow money?’

When her father passed away, besides the flag, he had also left behind a ledger.

It listed all the debts he had incurred over the years.

Wang Xiuqiao lowered her gaze.

“Oh, I’m sorry. How much did my dad owe you?”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Wang Xiuqiao froze.

‘Wait a minute… it might not be about a debt!’

And sure enough, the next second…

The man frowned.

“He took a flag from me.”

…..

PS: Happy Lantern Festival!

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