novelraw Chapter 106: Food and Family
Chapter 106: Food and Family
The transition from the rooftop of the Mall to the safety of the safe house felt like moving between two entirely different dimensions.
Mo Chou had barely had enough time to peel away the layers of the "Old Granny" disguise before the helicopter carrying her parents landed on the private airfield.
She had swapped her tattered clothes for a pair of oversized, pale pink sweats that made her look exactly like the "spoiled princess" the world expected her to be.
Reaper stood beside her, he still had his tactical gear on, his knuckles were bruised, and his expression was a mask of cold professionalism. However, if one looked closely at his eyes, they would see a flicker of uncharacteristic anxiety.
He was a man who had survived a thousand death matches, but the prospect of a family meeting was making his hands go numb.
"They’re coming," Reaper muttered, his voice dropping. "Little one, what am I supposed to say?"
Mo Chou nudged him with her elbow, offering a small, exhausted smile that reached her eyes. "Just be yourself, Brother."
As the doors of the helicopter opened, Mo Li practically tumbled out. Her face was a wreck—tear-stained, streaked with soot, and pale with terror—but the moment she saw the two figures standing on the tarmac, her expression transformed into one of joy.
"My babies!" she sobbed, the sound torn from her lungs. She didn’t walk; she sprinted, throwing herself at them with a force that nearly toppled them over.
Reaper’s large, scarred arms came up awkwardly, patting her back as if she were made of the finest glass, while Mo Chou just enjoyed the embrace.
"Mom," he choked out, the word sounding foreign, heavy, and absolutely right. "We...we’re here. Don’t cry."
Liu Qiang stepped up behind them.
"I’m glad you guys are safe," Liu Qiang said, his tone was sincere but there was also a questioning look in his eyes which Mo Li didn’t catch. "Let’s head home first".
---
The Liu Mansion
The drive back to the mansion was filled with silence. The family was physically exhausted, the adrenaline of the "Phoenix Trap" finally leaching out of their systems.
But as the iron gates of the Liu estate swung open, the silence was shattered by a very different kind of storm.
Standing on the front porch, illuminated by the security lights, was ’Liu Dai’.
The usually cold and aloof eldest Liu brother currently looked like a man who had spent the night in a wind tunnel. His hair was a chaotic mess, his silk tie was hanging loosely around his neck, and his shirt was partially untucked.
He was pacing the length of the porch with a frantic energy that was entirely un-Liu-Dai-like. The moment the car doors clicked open, he was down the steps like a shot.
"Where have you been?!" he asked right away, his voice cracking with a mixture of anxiety and terror.
He grabbed Mo Chou by the shoulders, shaking her slightly as if to ensure she was real. "The news is reporting a full-scale terrorist attack at the mall! The building is literally a pile of rubble! I called your phone forty-two times! I was ten seconds away from calling the Ministry of Defense!"
He turned his fierce, watery glare to Liu Qiang and Mo Li. "And you two! Do you have any idea what it’s like to sit here and wait for a body count to be released?! To think that the entire family was... was..."
Mo Chou blinked, her jaw dropping. She had seen her brother cold, she had seen him arrogant, but she had never seen him lose his cool so spectacularly. A slow, mischievous grin spread across her tired face. This was too good to pass up.
"Aw, Brother Dai... were you actually worried about us?" she cooed, her voice dripping with artificial, sugary sweetness. She leaned in, squinting at his face. "Are those tear tracks? Did the big, bad CEO actually cry because he missed his favorite sister?"
Liu Dai stiffened as if he’d been electrocuted. His face instantly flushed a deep, embarrassed crimson.
He let go of her shoulders immediately, stepping back and frantically smoothing his hair. He cleared his throat, his expression snapping back into a mask of icy indifference with impressive, albeit hilarious, speed.
"I was merely concerned about the nightmare of a mass funeral during a peak business quarter," he snapped, though his ears remained a bright, telling red. "The paperwork alone would have been a PR disaster for the group. It was a purely professional concern."
"Sure, Brother. Keep telling yourself that," Mo Chou laughed, poking him sharply in the ribs. "You overreacted! You were a total mess! I’m going to tell everyone. Haha"
"You will do no such thing," Liu Dai muttered, though the tension finally left his frame as he looked at his safe, whole family. He spotted Reaper standing awkwardly by the car and offered a stiff, respectful nod. "And you. Good to see you aren’t dead."
Reaper blinked, a slow smirk forming on his lips. "Good to meet you too. I’ll try to stay alive for the sake of your company ’PR’."
***
Later that evening, the mansion was finally, blissfully quiet. They had shared a meal that felt more like a holy ritual than dinner, though the "Ghost" of Liu Feng lingered in the eyes of the adults.
Mo Li was quiet, staring into her tea as if she could see a phantom in the reflection, while Liu Qiang remained unusually attentive, his hand never leaving hers. Only Liu Dai remained blissfully, grumpily clueless about the literal underworld war his family had just fought.
Reaper caught Mo Chou in the hallway as she headed toward her room. "Little one. I saw him. In the lower level." He leaned against the wall, his expression darkening. "I saw how the two of you moved together. It wasn’t a coincidence."
He looked her dead in the eye. "I want the full files. I want to know everything about the Shadow Council, the Lu family, and... who that man really is to us. No more diversions."
Mo Chou sighed, the weight of the day returning to her shoulders. "I promised you the truth, big brother. I’ll send everything to your secure drive tonight. But be careful—once you know who the Ghost is, you can’t un-know it."
"I’ve spent my life in the dark," Reaper said simply. "I’m not afraid of a few more shadows. Goodnight, kid."
Mo Chou walked toward her bedroom, her mind a whirlwind of data and emotions. As she reached for her door handle, a small, dark shadow suddenly darted across her path from the linen closet.
She froze. Her heart leapt into her throat as her old, instinctive fear of felines flared up for a split second. Her breath hitched, her body tensing to flee—but then, she looked down.
It was ’baobao’
The tiny, fluffy kitten Mo Li had brought home—the one that usually sent her jumping onto the nearest tall surface —was sitting there, tilting its head. Its big eyes reflected the hallway lights, and its tail gave a soft, rhythmic twitch.
Mo Chou took a deep, shaky breath. She didn’t scream. She didn’t retreat. She simply sidestepped the kitten, her movements careful and deliberate. "Not tonight, Baobao," she whispered, her voice surprisingly steady. She reached the door and looked back, a small, genuine smile playing on her lips. "Goodnight, you little monster."
Baobao let out a tiny, high-pitched *mew* and curled up on the rug.
Inside her room, Mo Chou sat at her desk and initiated the massive encrypted data transfer to Reaper. Once the progress bar hit 100%, she switched to her private messenger.
She hesitated, her fingers hovering over the screen, then typed: ’I’m home. You’re still in so much trouble for leaving... but goodnight. Lu Jinhai.’
A minute passed. Then, her phone buzzed against the desk.
[Rest well, Little Rabbit. The trouble was worth the reward. I’ll see you in your dreams.]
Mo Chou pulled the covers up, a warm, genuine glow settling in her chest. For the first time in two lives, the world felt like it was exactly where it was supposed to be.
---
The Lu Estate
While the Liu family found their peace, the Lu estate was a whole different picture.
Madam Lu sat behind her massive mahogany desk, her hands trembling so violently she had to clench them into fists beneath the table.
Across from her stood her son. He hadn’t changed his clothes; he still smelled of smoke, gunpowder, and the cold air of the rooftop—a physical reminder of the empire she had tried to burn down.
"You’ve ruined us," Madam Lu hissed, her voice a jagged shard of ice. "You broke the contract. You attacked the Shadow Council’s assets. Do you have any idea what they will do to us? If I go down, Jinhai, I am taking you with me. I will strip you of every title, every cent of the Lu inheritance, and I will reveal every dark secret you think you’ve hidden."
Lu Jinhai let out a low, dry laugh that sent a shiver down her spine. He stepped forward, placing a single, plain black flash drive on her desk.
"You think I’m afraid of your secrets, Mother? You think you’re the only one who has been playing a double game in the dark?"
Madam Lu frowned, her eyes darting to the drive. "What is this? More of your childish rebellions?"
"That is ten years of evidence," Lu Jinhai said, his voice dropping into a register of pure, terrifying authority. "Every bribe you paid to the Shadow Council, every hit you ordered to maintain the Lu stock price, every offshore account you used to bypass the board. But more importantly... it contains the proof of who I really am."
Madam Lu’s lip curled. "You’re a Lu. That’s all you have ever been. A puppet I dressed in a suit."
"Is it?" Lu Jinhai leaned down, his eyes—cold, predatory, and ancient—inches from hers. "Tell me, Mother... have you ever wondered why your most aggressive rival always seemed to be three steps ahead of your every move?"
Madam Lu’s face went a sickly shade of white. The name ’Evan’ was whispered in the underworld with more fear than the Shadow Council itself. Evan was the ghost in the machine, the man who had built a shadow empire that rivaled the Lu family’s wealth ten times over.
"No," she whispered, her voice failing. "That’s impossible. Evan is a veteran... a monster. You’re just a boy..."
"I stopped being your ’boy’ the day you tried to sell my soul to the Council," Lu Jinhai growled. "I didn’t need your inheritance, Mother. I ’am’ Evan. I have more liquid assets than the Lu family has debt. I was just waiting for you to trip over your own greed."
He turned toward the door, pausing with his hand on the handle.
"The authorities will be here in twenty minutes. Huo Zhai has already neutralized your personal guards. You can go quietly, or you can try to fight."
He stepped out into the night, the weight of the Lu name finally falling off his shoulders. He had a Little Rabbit to get back to, and a world to build where she would never have to wear a mask again.
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