Chapter 194: Great Favor
Chapter 194: Great Favor
December 28th.
The weather in Shanzhou had cleared up as early as yesterday. The days of wind and snow had passed, and people saw the sun again after a long time.
But the temperature was still very low today.
The snow piled on both sides of Shapu Road hadn’t melted completely. No pedestrians or vehicles were in sight.
This road was quite close to the Shanzhou exit of the Jingzang Highway, but if you asked locals in Shanzhou, probably even few taxi drivers would know of it.
Gao Jing had found it using his car’s GPS.
He pulled over to the roadside and stopped his car.
After a few minutes, the phone on the passenger seat started ringing.
Gao Jing picked it up, answered, and told the caller his current location.
To be honest, Gao Jing hadn’t expected He Yuanbo’s family to arrive so fast.
He’d just finished washing up in the morning when He Yuanbo’s wife called.
She was already in Shanzhou!
It seemed unbelievable to Gao Jing.
Because He Yuanbo was from Beijing. Even by plane, his family would’ve taken two hours to come from Beijing to Shanzhou.
But was there really a flight that early?
Since she was already here though, Gao Jing didn’t ask too much. He just told her to contact him again in half an hour.
He couldn’t exactly hand over He Yuanbo’s body in the middle of the city, could he?
Getting out of the car, Gao Jing checked that there was no one nearby. Then he took out the ice coffin containing He Yuanbo’s body and placed it on the roadside.
Truthfully, Gao Jing had considered just leaving the coffin here and walking away.
That would avoid tedious talk.
But on second thought, that seemed wrong. He was doing a good deed, yet sneakily doing this felt…guilty.
Besides, this clearly wasn’t an ordinary family. They’d mentioned wanting to give him five million as reward.
If such a family seriously investigated him, it could put him in a tricky spot.
Better to clear things up face-to-face. Gao Jing wasn’t afraid of unreasonable people.
Leaning against his G-wagon, he took out a lighter and a cigarette, lit it, and slowly smoked.
Just as he finished the cigarette, he heard the sound of car engines approaching from the direction of the city.
More than one vehicle.
Soon, two black Mercedes-Benz sedans and a van appeared in his sight, driving in a line.
They’re here!
Gao Jing saw clearly; the lead Mercedes had a Beijing license plate with an impressive number.
It suddenly struck Gao Jing—these people might have flown these cars with them from Beijing!
Was that possible?
It really was possible!
Think big! Don’t let poverty limit your imagination.
This was escalating quickly.
Lost in his thoughts, Gao Jing watched as the lead Mercedes stopped directly before him.
All four doors opened at the same moment. Three men and one woman got out.
Gao Jing’s gaze first landed on the woman.
She was young, around late twenties or so, wearing a white fur coat.
Her face was even paler than her coat—ghostly white, utterly bloodless.
She seemed like an orchid caught in a blizzard, beautiful yet fragile to an extreme!
The three men who got out with her… two looked very fit and sharp-eyed; definitely bodyguards.
The other man was around thirty years old, thick-browed and clear-eyed, his face firm with sorrow.
Gao Jing noticed this man looked very much like He Yuanbo. Six or seven parts similar, at the least.
The fragile woman stepped forward. “Are you Master Gao?” she asked softly.
Gao Jing nodded and pointed to the ice coffin beside him. “He’s there.”
Crystalline tears instantly welled at the corners of her eyes and rolled down.
She flew to the ice coffin and threw herself upon it. “Yuanbo!” she cried out, grief-stricken.
Two female bodyguards, who had gotten out of the following Mercedes, rushed over immediately. Standing on each side, they helped support her.
That man who looked much like He Yuanbo approached the coffin. He reached down and carefully lifted the snow goggles from the body’s face.
He Yuanbo’s eyes were still open. In those unseeing pupils lingered a final expression: deep longing and reluctance, frozen from the moment of his death.
But no one knew exactly what he had longed for, or what he hadn’t wanted to leave behind!
Hot tears suddenly streamed down the man’s face.
He fiercely wiped them away, raised his head to the sky, and clenched both hands into tight fists.
As if demanding an answer from the heavens!
The people who’d accompanied him all bowed their heads silently.
The sorrow hung thick and heavy in the air.
After a while, the man walked over to Gao Jing and extended his hand. “Hello, Master Gao. I am He Yuanbo’s older brother, He Yuanpeng. Thank you for bringing my brother’s remains back to us.”
“Hello,” Gao Jing shook his hand. “Please accept my condolences.”
He opened the door of his G-wagon and pulled out He Yuanbo’s backpack. “This is his belongings. His ID and phone are inside. I haven’t touched anything else.”
“Thank you,” said He Yuanpeng. Taking the backpack, he passed it to a nearby bodyguard.
“My family and I are immensely grateful for what you’ve done, Master Gao.”
He looked directly at Gao Jing; grief remained in his eyes, but now mixed with an intense probing quality. “Yuanbo went missing over three years ago while climbing an unmarked peak in the Kunlun Mountains. We sent out five search teams afterwards without any sign of him. May I ask… when did you find him?”
Gao Jing answered plainly, “Yesterday.”
“Yesterday?”
He Yuanpeng froze. “You found him yesterday in the Kunlun range… and brought his body the same day to Shanzhou?”
Gao Jing nodded. “Correct.”
He Yuanpeng’s brows furrowed together tightly. “How is that possible?”
Just look at what the weather was like up there! The Kunluns themselves were sheer peril.
Forget why Gao Jing was there in the middle of such conditions. The point was… he’d located He Yuanbo’s body, then somehow transported it hundreds of kilometers over mountainous, frozen terrain? Impossible!
Unless… by helicopter?
He Yuanpeng couldn’t help asking, “Were you alone?”
“Indeed.”
Gao Jing stated, “Master He. I found your brother’s body. Then I brought it back. That is the simple truth.”
“I know you might doubt it. But the facts are what they are.”
As he spoke, Gao Jing bent down and picked up a stone from beside the road.
Cupping the rock tightly in his palm, he rubbed it with force. A shower of stone dust cascaded from between his fingers. “An ordinary person couldn’t manage this. But I am not ordinary.”
He Yuanpeng’s expression instantly changed. “You are…?”
The Kunlun Mountains were the supreme origin of all great land; the First Divine Peak of all Great Xia! Since ancient times, this place has generated endless legends and stories. Also sacred to many Daoists, homeland of obscure schools of mixed practice!
He Yuanpeng made the connection instantly upon seeing Gao Jing’s little demonstration.
Encountering such an adept person emerging at the Kunluns… made eerie sense.
Gao Jing offered a faint smile. If he hadn’t been worrying about future trouble arising from this, he wouldn’t have bothered to display anything at all—he’d expected gratitude, not complications shrouding his good deed!
“Elder Brother.”
Just then, the fragile woman approached with the support of her two bodyguards. “I promised Master Gao,” she stated firmly, though her voice remained weak, “that if we retrieved Yuanbo’s remains, we wouldn’t question how he did it.”
She gently pulled free from the guards, folded her hands formally before her in deep respect, and bowed towards Gao Jing. “Master Gao. I apologize for the trouble we’ve caused you.”
He Yuanpeng seemed ready to protest, but sighed instead and held his tongue.
“It’s alright,” Gao Jing replied evenly. “Please accept my condolences.”
Tears glistened in the fragile woman’s eyes. “Yuanbo… must have wished deeply… to come home before he died. Now he can finally close his eyes. Saving our loved one from endless exile… we know you did it expecting no return. Such rare and amazing kindness. Our family will be grateful… forever.”
The moment her final word left her lips, Gao Jing instantly sensed a stream of astonishingly pure Power of Faith flow towards his Bronze Anchor!
What stunned him came next…
The source of this power… was He Yuanbo himself!
A man who had died… over three years ago!!
A jolt of sudden insight resonated within Gao Jing’s understanding.
Composing himself, he simply waved a dismissive hand. “Please, let us not speak of it. Madame He. If there’s nothing else… I must be going.”
The fragile woman asked a bodyguard for her bag. Retrieving a subtle card, with practiced grace she presented it to Gao Jing with both hands held respectfully together. “Master Gao. Since you decline monetary reward. Please at least take this name card. Should anything unfortunate trouble you in the future… our family might still be of service.”
Gao Jing considered momentarily. Then accepted it. “Alright.”
He glanced down. Two Chinese characters were printed neatly: “Qin Qing.”
Undoubtedly her name. A phone number below held a discreet simplicity echoing Gao Jing’s own personal cards.
“Master He. Madame Qin. May fate allow our paths to cross once more.”
Gao Jing drove his G-wagon as he set off onto the road returning toward Yuncheng.
He Yuanpeng and Qin Qing watched his vehicle fade towards the horizon.
Uncertainty still lingered on He Yuanpeng’s face. “Sister-in-law…”
Too many strange inconsistencies surrounded this Gao Jing figure.
“Elder Brother,” Qin Qing said, her voice faint but resolute. “All I want now… is to finally bring Yuanbo home. Wherever he traveled beyond… he wouldn’t wish us to repay kindness with suspicion.”
He Yuanpeng fell into heavy silence.
Delivering one’s body home across thousand-mile distances… bringing peace to a wandering spirit… to surviving family? How could this ever be called less than a truly Great Favor?
He had too many secrets he wished to uncover about how this truly happened… but by digging, he feared he’d become that which wise men hated above all else: an ungrateful soul, parading pride while ignoring profound obligation owed.