Miles in the Depths of Affection Chapter 4

Julian Qiao knew very well what a cruel and ruthless person Ethan Qiao was.

In the early days of the gang, there was a deputy who was highly trusted by Ethan Qiao. His surname was Victor and he was young and promising. Julian Qiao liked him very much because every time he came to visit the Qiao family mansion, he would bring a bunch of candies and snacks for the young master.

Julian Qiao regards whoever gives her milk as her mother. When he gets something good from someone, he hugs their thighs and calls them "Uncle Victor Xiao" sweetly.

Ethan Qiao is good at everything except parenting experience. Xiao Victor has a pair of children and thinks he has a lot of parenting experience, so he often gives Ethan Qiao advice on the education of his children.

"Boss, you can't always pamper Ming Shao like this. Ming Shao will inherit your business in the future, so you should let him get involved in gang affairs as soon as possible."

Xiao Luo’s opinion is that Julian Qiao cannot be nurtured and raised like a flower in a greenhouse, otherwise it will be difficult for him to convince the public when he takes office in the future.

Ethan Qiao held a different view. Children should grow up happily like children. If Julian Qiao is willing to inherit his mantle in the future, he will be sincerely happy. If Julian Qiao is interested in other places, he will not hinder his son from pursuing his dreams.

Xiao Victor made another suggestion: "You are willing to let Ming Shao grow up freely, which is of course good, but what about the gang? There must be someone in charge. You are still young, maybe you can have another one?"

Ethan Qiao was too lazy to waste words with him and smiled at him frivolously: "Give birth to me?"

"Boss, let's be serious," Xiao Victor blushed, "How about finding someone to assist Master Ming and help him manage the situation?"

Ethan Qiao was impatient: "Let's talk about it later!"

Julian Qiao, who was still a primary school student at the time, didn't understand what the adults were arguing about. He just thought it was boring that his father denied Uncle Victor Xiao in everything. Uncle Victor Xiao must be very sad.

One time after school, Julian Qiao was standing at the school gate waiting for his family's driver to pick him up. A silver-gray car stopped in front of him, rolled down the window, and Xiao Victor leaned out to greet Julian Qiao: "Your father asked me to pick you up. Let's go, get in the car!"

The classmate who was waiting for his parents with Julian Qiao asked cautiously: "Julian Qiao, do you know this person? The teacher said not to follow strangers casually. They are bad people who specialize in kidnapping and selling children."

"I know him, this is my Uncle Victor Xiao."

"Oh." The classmate was relieved.

Julian Qiao got into the car with his schoolbag on his back. Xiao Victor asked casually, "Tomorrow is the weekend, we can have fun today. Do you want to go to the amusement park, Mr. Ming?"

"think!"

So Xiao Victor took Julian Qiao to the newly built amusement park, took him to ride the roller coaster, the Ferris wheel, and watched the puppet parade at night. Xiao Victor bought Julian Qiao a huge cotton candy, and Julian Qiao wanted to bury his whole face in it.

"Did you have fun, Mr. Ming?"

"happy!"

Xiao Victor gave an ambiguous smile: "As long as you are happy. Then let's go home."

Julian Qiao held Xiao Victor's hand and jumped into the car. As soon as he sat down, a question suddenly popped up in his mind.

"Uncle Victor Xiao, you don't want to be my mother too, do you?"

Xiao Victor was so shocked that he almost pulled the seat belt around his neck. "What did you say?"

"Auntie Shasha often brought me to the amusement park before. Later, she said she wanted to be my mother, but I didn't want to, so she left. You also brought me to the amusement park. Do you also want to be my mother? If I don't want to, will you move away?"

"No, that's not the case! You think too much, Mr. Ming! I'm a man, how can I be a mother, ha...haha..."

Xiao Victor started the car while Julian Qiao folded his arms like an old man, thinking hard why men couldn't be mothers.

When Julian Qiao was in primary school, the city's traffic surveillance was not yet well developed, and the suburbs were even more of a "blind spot". Xiao Victor skillfully avoided the few cameras and drove out of the city.

The night deepened, and soon there were no buildings to be seen on the roadside. All that was visible was dark woods and fields.

Julian Qiao had been playing all day and was so tired that he dozed off. Half asleep and half awake, he suddenly felt someone dragging him out of the car.

"Are you home yet?" he asked drowsily.

"Hey, this kid is still thinking about going home!" a sharp voice rang out.

Julian Qiao was horrified. The building in front of him was not the Qiao family mansion, but an elm forest in the wild. Several strange men tied him up and dragged him into the forest. He looked at Uncle Victor Xiao for help, but the latter did not even look at him. He held a cigarette in his mouth and said to a leader among the strangers: "I have kidnapped the people, and the rest are yours. Don't leave anyone alive."

The leader chuckled and said, "This is mutually beneficial. Ethan Qiao, that B@st@ard, robbed my territory and my goods, so I will kill his B@st@ard to teach him a lesson. As for you, now that your B@st@ard is gone, you will be the next head of the family that everyone expects."

The two chattered about a profound topic that Julian Qiao couldn't understand. After talking for a while, they found that the boy was staring at them, his eyes shining like an owl in the dark. The leader made a "tsk" sound and ordered his men to blindfold Julian Qiao.

"He's had his fill, he's had his fun, the kid should die with no regrets! Send him off now!"

Then, a loud explosion-like noise broke through the night sky, followed by a scream, and a heavy body fell to the ground, while some warm and sticky liquid splashed on his face. He covered his eyes with a cloth, not knowing what the liquid was.

Countless cars came from all directions and surrounded Julian Qiao in the center. The shining car lights illuminated the wilderness as if it were daytime. Even through a layer of cloth, Julian Qiao could feel the overwhelming strong light.

Someone quickly approached him and untied the rope on his hands and the blindfold on his face. He stared at it all in amazement, not understanding what was happening at all.

Three or four big men in black jumped out of each car. They cleaned up the scene in a well-trained manner, tied up the unconscious Xiao Victor and the strange men, and dragged them into a van.

Finally, Ethan Qiao got out of the Rolls-Royce Phantom, walked towards his adopted son, knelt on one knee in front of him, took out a silk handkerchief, and gently wiped the suspicious liquid off his face.

"Ming Yi, are you okay?"

"Well, I'm fine, what happened to Uncle Victor Xiao?"

"Uncle Victor Xiao is sick."

"Then we have to rush him to the hospital."

Ethan Qiao smiled, his light-colored eyes glowing faintly under the car lights. He picked up Julian Qiao and covered his eyes with an unobtrusive gesture: "You are so good, you still care about Uncle Victor Xiao. He must be very happy to hear you say that."

"Yeah! Because Uncle Victor Xiao is so kind to me and took me to the amusement park." Julian Qiao yawned after saying that, "Dad, I'm sleepy."

"Then go to sleep."

Ethan Qiao patted his back rhythmically, and he fell asleep on Ethan Qiao's shoulder.

He never saw Uncle Victor Xiao again after that.

There are several basements under the Qiao family mansion, some of which are used to store sundries, and some of which are unknown.

Ever since he was old enough to understand, Julian Qiao has been warned: never go near the basement.

Sometimes, he would sneak into the underground corridor when the servants were busy at work, in an adventurous spirit. There were many iron doors on both sides of the corridor, each of which was locked, and some were even tied with iron chains. The cool air seeped out from behind the door, which gave Julian Qiao goosebumps and he dared not go any further. The adventure ended there.

Julian Qiao has read a fairy tale called "Bluebeard". The Bluebeard in the fairy tale is exactly the same as Ethan Qiao in real life. Both of them are mysterious and do not allow others to approach a certain door.

There must be some secret behind that door.

One day after Uncle Victor Xiao disappeared, Julian Qiao was bored and decided to restart his basement adventure.

He sneaked into the underground corridor and walked slowly along the wall. When he arrived in front of a door tied with an iron chain, he suddenly heard a familiar voice.

Someone was crying behind the door: "Let me out! Boss, I know I was wrong! I won't do it again! Please... please, for the sake of my child... who will take care of them..."

There’s no doubt about it, it’s Uncle Ronaldinho!

Uncle Victor Xiao is locked in the basement!

Dad told us not to go near the basement, but Uncle Victor Xiao didn't listen. Alas, the teacher is right. If you don't listen to the old people, you will suffer. Dad has walked more bridges than Uncle Victor Xiao has walked. This is the result of ignoring the advice of adults!

Julian Qiao found Ethan Qiao in the study, grabbed his sleeve and said, "Dad, Uncle Victor Xiao is locked in the basement, let's go and rescue him."

Ethan Qiao put down Thucydides's "The Peloponnesian War" in his hand and touched Julian Qiao's head: "You have been studying too hard recently. You must be hallucinating."

Then he winked calmly at the bodyguard standing outside the door.

The bodyguard nodded slightly and left quickly. Ethan Qiao closed the book and changed the subject calmly, asking Julian Qiao about his recent study. Not long after, the bodyguard came back. Ethan Qiao took his adopted son's hand and said, "Seeing is believing. Let's go to the basement and take a look."

They entered the underground corridor, surrounded by a group of thugs, and came to the door pointed out by Julian Qiao. Ethan Qiao asked his men to open the door. Behind the door was an empty room with nothing inside. Julian Qiao was in a fog. Did he really hear it wrong?

He looked helplessly at Ethan Qiao, who squatted down and looked him straight in the eye.

"Do you believe it now?"

Julian Qiao could only nod.

This experience gave Julian Qiao a deep-rooted and strange idea: I can no longer let others take me to the amusement park, and I can no longer let others be my mother, because once someone wants to be my mother, he/she will disappear.

It was not until much later that Julian Qiao overheard the two bodyguards chatting.

"I heard that the big boss paid to send the orphans and widows of the Victor family abroad. Is that true?"

"No way! Lao Victor is a traitor. The boss values   him so much, but he actually colluded with the Huai Gang to kidnap Young Master Ming! He murdered the son of the boss, so he must be implicated along with his entire clan, right?"

"It is said that Lao Victor wants to kill Ming Shao so that the big boss will choose him as the head of the family. Bah! Why don't you take a piss and look at your own moral character!"

"The big boss is kindhearted. He said that the fault was with Lao Victor. He should just be executed. His wife and children will not be implicated. But the people of the Huai Gang are not so lucky. Hehehe..."

There were many words in their conversation that Julian Qiao didn't understand, so he went to look them up in the dictionary.

The Modern Chinese Dictionary (5th Edition) explains:

【Kidnapping】Taking someone away by force.

【Poisonous Hands】Cruel means of killing or harming people.

【Execution】① To carry out the death penalty. ② To make a decision on the handling of the case.

When he was older and watched some thrilling police and gangster movies, the memory of that childhood scene suddenly came back to him, and he finally understood what happened. If he had walked deeper into the basement, into the shadows where the light couldn't reach, he might have seen a dark red trail, slanting towards a secret door. If he had followed the trail, he might have found Uncle Victor Xiao behind the secret door, covered in blood.

Then he thought, if his father had not arrived in time, he might have been the one covered in blood.

He shuddered.