Super Soldier in the City-Chapter 1975 - 2038: Just an Ordinary Man
"In ’Aida,’ there are three protagonists: Aida, originally an Ethiopian princess but forced to become a slave in Egypt; Radames, a capable and charismatic young Egyptian general; and Amneris, an Egyptian princess who harbors an unrequited love for Radames. The story depicts the tragic love among these three individuals."
"In the Egyptian palace, Minister Ramfis informs Radames that Ethiopia is threatening Egypt’s security. Soon after, the Egyptian Pharaoh appoints Radames as the supreme commander of the army, and Radames vows to marry his beloved slave Aida upon his triumphant return. When the Egyptian princess Amneris learns about the love between Aida and Radames, she becomes extremely jealous and torments Aida in every possible way. Upon his victorious return, Radames learns that among the captives is Aida’s father and requests the Pharaoh to release him. The Pharaoh agrees but simultaneously announces Radames’ marriage to Amneris. The Ethiopian King Amonasro asks his daughter Aida to extract military secrets about Egypt from Radames. For the sake of love, Aida suggests eloping with Radames. Torn between Egypt and Aida, Radames involuntarily leaks military secrets. At that moment, Amneris, who had been eavesdropping, calls in soldiers to arrest Radames. Amneris promises to spare his life if he forgets about Aida, but Radames refuses and is entombed alive in the temple’s vault. Aida, who arrives later, enters the vault as well, choosing to rest eternally with Radames."
Li Yifei listened very attentively, and after hearing it all, he said, "This is a story about resistance, a tale of resistance in the face of racial and class oppression."
The expression of true meaning lies within, yet the words to express it are forgotten. The Saintess was left stunned by Li Yifei’s summary. Both being intelligent people, they could understand the subtext, leaving the conversation tacit. The Saintess had spent so much effort narrating a story that was anything but new to Li Yifei. Whether it be Aida, Huaxia’s Cowherd and Weaver Girl, or many other similar tales, beneath the tragedy, they all depict people’s declarations and struggles against many uncontrollable forces.
This also held deep meaning for the two of them. As the saying goes, "The speaker is unintentional, but the listener is intentional." One sentence from Li Yifei left the Saintess stunned. She was thinking about herself; in her heart, she loved the man beside her, but she was compelled to kill him because it was her duty, a mission passed down through generations of Saintesses. If they did not kill them, they would not be able to fulfill the role of a Saintess and would face punishment from the organization.
Not all the Saintesses before her died natural deaths; some died in battle, and some deaths were unnatural. As for how they died, no one knows. The elders would not tell her, but it would be a terrible end.
Li Yifei saw the Saintess suddenly sink into some kind of emotion without speaking, and he did not disturb her. Instead, he crossed his arms and stood beside her. From this meeting, Li Yifei sensed that the Saintess was not herself. She seemed to carry a hint of sorrow, an unresolved sadness between her brows. Li Yifei knew what troubled her, so his goal was to defeat her, to cut off her thoughts of advancing further, and to live a life free from burdens, relieving both himself and others.
Of course, he didn’t speak out these thoughts now, as it was meaningless. Li Yifei knew well that if they didn’t fight this battle, the Saintess would never give up nor abandon the idea of killing him.
Sighing, Li Yifei leaned back. The Saintess remained silent, focusing on watching the show. However, Li Yifei still wasn’t in the mood to watch. He considered himself an ordinary person, not even interested in concerts, just occasionally enjoying Uncle Guo’s comedy or Mile City’s unique two-person skits for fun. But watching such highbrow art... while others watched with great interest, nodding occasionally, Li Yifei fell asleep.
His body, which didn’t need to adjust for time zones, hadn’t been particularly tired on the plane, yet he still fell asleep.
After a long while, the Saintess heard a slight snoring by her ear. She glanced over to find Li Yifei asleep, visibly annoyed, her cheeks puffing visibly. She halfway reached out to wake Li Yifei but then withdrew her hand, pursed her lips, and gave a soft hum before turning back to continue watching.
"Bumpkin!" Song Qingshu, having finalized his plan, glanced over at Li Yifei, seeing him asleep with his head tilted, leaving the beauty beside him to watch by herself. He couldn’t help but curse. Apparently, he had already categorized Li Yifei as one of those domestic tycoons, rich yet clueless about anything beyond their understanding. In truth, there were quite a few such people; Song Qingshu had encountered many. For this reason, he was even more determined to make the other party suffer and learn a lesson before taking the beauty for himself.
"Damn it, just wait, I swear I won’t give up until I achieve my goal!" Song Qingshu clenched his fist.
When the opera ended, Li Yifei awoke from his sleep. He hadn’t slept soundly; in such a place, it was impossible for him to do so. Opening his eyes, he met the Saintess’s gaze, noticing a hint of annoyance in her eyes, albeit not much. So he quickly sat up straight and said, "It’s over, let’s go."
"Philistine!" the Saintess remarked. If it wasn’t for her poking Li Yifei twice, his snoring would have disturbed others. Under the gaze of so many, she felt quite embarrassed. This was her first time watching an opera in Vienna, what should have been a very elegant event, yet Li Yifei had lowered its standard.
"There’s a saying in Huaxia that you probably won’t understand," Li Yifei said, rubbing his face with his hand while speaking unclearly.
"What saying? I not only learned to speak the Chinese language, but I also learned its writing. I can write many characters now," the Saintess promptly replied, unconvinced.
Li Yifei glanced at her, surprised at how capable this young woman was. While speaking multiple languages wasn’t unusual, learning Chinese in a short time was notoriously difficult, widely acknowledged. Yet, not only could the Saintess speak it, but she could also write many characters, earning Li Yifei’s admiration.
He quickly asked, "Do you know how to write the character for ’vulgar’ in Chinese?"
"Of course, it’s this plus the radical for grain," she replied.
"That’s right, the character next to it is called ’single person’, which is a radical, just part of a character, representing the meaning of ’person’. People eat grains, which is mundane, and no one in the world doesn’t eat these things, so no one can escape being mundane. When you call me mundane, you’re absolutely right." Li Yifei finished with a smug smile.
The saintess seemed to understand. She nodded seriously, memorizing the character. She even tried to write it several times, but soon said, "You got that wrong. I know there’s an indigenous tribe in Australia where people eat only meat, not the grains you mentioned."
"Uh..." Li Yifei was stunned. He didn’t expect such a tribe to exist. So he casually asked, "And then? Do they still exist now?"
"Of course, they still exist, but unfortunately... After modern people discovered them, they succumbed to various diseases humans introduced. A common cold almost wiped out the entire tribe, and they couldn’t handle other minor illnesses either, so... they were exterminated."
"Damn!" Li Yifei almost swore. After composing himself, he shrugged and said seriously, "See, people who don’t eat grains have low immunity."
The saintess had been frowning originally, but hearing Li Yifei’s forced nonsense, she couldn’t help but smirk. She gently tapped his shoulder with her small fist, saying, "Alright, stand up, let’s go."
"Hold on, my leg’s numb!" Li Yifei had been sitting cross-legged earlier, so his leg was numb now.
The saintess didn’t rush him, instead saying, "We’re not in a hurry, you can rest a bit."
"Do you know how to write the character for ’elegant’?" Li Yifei looked at her and asked.
"It’s the ’tooth’ character with an ’exist’, no, that’s not the right character."
"Close, but it’s missing a horizontal stroke. It’s ’佳’, meaning excellent, so the character means ’teeth excellent as elegant’, implying that what’s commonly spoken about is what is elegant. So, what’s widely spoken is elegant, self-cherishing and arrogant is mundane."
The saintess frowned, saying, "I feel like you’re describing a certain type of person..."
Li Yifei propped himself up. His leg was fine long ago; a flow of True Qi through it would fix any small ailment. Li Yifei gave a knowing glance, and the saintess understood. She turned her head slightly and saw those Huaxia people who had been harassing her still standing there. When she looked over, the short man even smiled at her before turning to leave.
"These people..." the saintess frowned.
"Are we supposed to be afraid of them?" Li Yifei laughed heartily, casually trying to wrap his arm around the saintess’s waist as they walked out, but the saintess sidestepped to avoid Li Yifei’s hand, saying, "If they weren’t your compatriots, I would have dealt with them myself."
"So, leave it to me." Li Yifei nodded and said, "Even if a dog raised by your own family is unruly, you’d still get angry if an outsider hits it."
"Dog?" The saintess looked at Li Yifei suspiciously, then understood and smirked, saying, "Then let’s go see what they’re up to."
As they spoke, the two walked out, and outside the opera house, Song Qingshu and others had been waiting there for a while. Song Qingshu crossed his arms, looking gloomy. He had just spent a hundred thousand euros hiring a group of thugs through Eldest Young Master Hua.
These thugs were paid to do the job, each even carrying some weapons. They were members of a local gang, coincidentally known to Eldest Young Master Hua, who connected them to Song Qingshu.
A gang leader stood beside Song Qingshu, holding a check for a hundred thousand euros in his pocket, the same one Song Qingshu had issued earlier. To spend such a significant amount of money to merely hire them to teach a man a lesson and abduct a woman was a ridiculously lucrative deal. He even waved his hand to gather about twenty people, intending to make a strong impression, scare the opponents out of their wits.
