Chapter Seventeen: What Exactly Is His Identity!

Bai Meijian stood where he was, caught between leaving and staying, his expression one of profound awkwardness.

"Little Sun, you're at such an age now, stop huffing and puffing at the younger generation all the time." Ye Yuan spoke slowly, his voice steady.

Sun Weiguo looked equally awkward. He was nearly seventy years old, yet he was being lectured like a child. However... why did this feeling stir such a surge of emotion in him that he felt his eyes misting over?

"Understood." He grinned at Ye Yuan.

Bai Meijian hesitated for a long time, but eventually turned and looked at Liu Dehai. At this moment, Liu Dehai was trembling, his teeth chattering uncontrollably. The local tyrant of Hehe County, upon realizing that he had truly met his downfall, was finally overcome by fear.

Bai Meijian moved his lips; although he did not speak, his lip movements were clear to Liu Dehai. Since Bai Meijian’s back was turned to the others, no one else noticed this small gesture.

"What? Reluctant to let go?" Xiao Bo couldn't help but mock him. "I told you that you wouldn't be able to take him away, and you won't."

Bai Meijian didn't respond; he simply turned around. He first faced Sun Weiguo and gave a respectful military salute. "Old Chief, I am leaving now."

"Hmm." Sun Weiguo nodded faintly, a look of regret in his eyes. He had once admired Bai Meijian, which was why he had helped him rise to his current position. But now, Bai Meijian walked his own path. Although many things about him caused dissatisfaction, Sun Weiguo felt he was not in a position to say much more.

Bai Meijian turned again and bowed deeply to Ye Yuan. "Old hero, as for today’s events, I was caught in a difficult position. I ask for your forgiveness."

Ye Yuan remained silent. These words from Bai Meijian sounded like an apology for what had just happened, yet for some reason, he felt that this sudden apology was not truly about this matter.

"Let's go." Bai Meijian gave the order and left with the soldiers who had accompanied him.

"Phew..." Cong Gui wiped the sweat from his brow, his face showing relief. "Thank goodness, everything has finally come to a successful conclusion."

"Chief Cong, thank you," Ye Yuan said softly, looking at Cong Gui.

Hearing this, Cong Gui waved his hands repeatedly, looking embarrassed. "No, no, no, please don't do that, sir! With Chief Xiao and Old Sun here, I really cannot bear to be called 'Chief' by you!"

Everyone burst into laughter. Although Ye Yan'an didn't fully understand the context, seeing the smile on Ye Yuan's face, she joined in the laughter as well. Once the laughter subsided, Cong Gui remembered Liu Dehai. He turned to look at him. "Liu Dehai, now that things have reached this point, do you have anything else to say?"

Liu Dehai did not speak; he only felt lightheaded, and then collapsed onto the ground.

"Pathetic. Where did that aggressive spirit you showed earlier toward the old hero go?" Cong Gui sneered.

"Old Sun, what should we do with this guy?" Xiao Bo asked, turning to Sun Weiguo for his opinion.

"If this were back in the day, I would have had him shot on the spot. But now, the laws are sound; one must pay the price for the crimes they have committed," Sun Weiguo said calmly.

As soon as these words were spoken, both Xiao Bo and Cong Gui frowned. Liu Dehai’s crimes were heinous enough to warrant the death penalty. If they only went by the law, charges of kidnapping and arson seemed far too lenient for a man like him! They had always known Sun Weiguo to be a man who abhorred evil; why was he being so lenient with Liu Dehai now?

Beside them, Ye Yuan let out a soft chuckle. The two men looked at him, confused as to why he was laughing.

Political Commissar Liu Ping caught on and explained, "What Old Sun means is that while Liu Dehai’s current charges might not seem severe enough, he won't be able to withstand a deeper investigation. Now that he has been captured, those he previously bullied will no longer fear him. Once the news is made public, there will surely be many citizens coming forward to report his crimes."

Xiao Bo and Cong Gui realized the truth and their faces lit up with smiles again. That was more like it. How could Sun Weiguo, who had always hated evil, ever let a social cancer like Liu Dehai go?

"Send him back. Without my orders, no one is to take him away," Xiao Bo commanded. Immediately, two soldiers hauled the now-collapsed Liu Dehai back to the detention center.

"I will go to the local Public Security Bureau right now to announce the news of Liu Dehai’s arrest," Cong Gui said excitedly. "Let everyone who has been bullied by him come forward to testify!"

"Yes, go ahead," Sun Weiguo nodded. He then turned to Ye Yuan. "Old Commander, shall we go and have a drink?"

Ye Yan'an grabbed Ye Yuan’s hand, worried. Ye Yuan was already so old; what if drinking damaged his health?

Ye Yuan noticed her concern and smiled gently. "Don't worry, Grandpa won't drink too much."

"Hahaha... let's go!" Seeing that Ye Yuan had agreed, Sun Weiguo laughed heartily, hooking one arm through Ye Yuan's and taking Ye Yan'an's hand with his other, and they walked off into the distance. Even his own daughter, Sun Ting, could only follow behind alone.

At the restaurant, the group sat around a private room, talking and laughing. If anyone from the military were here, they would be absolutely stunned. Provincial Military District Chief Xiao Bo and Political Commissar Liu Ping were merely acting as companions, and the highly regarded Cong Gui was also among them. Yet, the war hero Sun Weiguo didn't even qualify to sit at the head of the table.

Sitting in the seat of honor was an old man wearing dirty, tattered military fatigues!

"Old Sun..." Xiao Bo clinked his glass against Sun Weiguo's and asked with great curiosity, "By the end of the War of Resistance, you were already a brigade commander, and in later campaigns, you were promoted to army commander. What was this old hero Ye doing back then? Why is it that we haven't heard a single thing about him?"

"Why are you asking so many questions, you young pup?" Sun Weiguo scolded with a smile. "Trying to pry information out of me? Don't you know my mouth is famously tight?"

Xiao Bo laughed sheepishly. Liu Ping then took over, asking, "Then who was that 'Big Pillar' you mentioned earlier?"

Sun Weiguo replied quite casually, "The most stubborn guy in the Southern Military District."

Liu Ping and Xiao Bo exchanged glances. The Southern Military District... the most stubborn one... that sounded exactly like the Chief! Could that person have once been a soldier under Ye Yuan’s command? Just what kind of status and position did this old hero Ye hold in the past? The two men were burning with curiosity, desperate to unravel the mystery of Ye Yuan's identity.

"Why talk about such things?" Ye Yuan waved his hand. "Let's drink."

He had just raised his glass when the door to the private room was pushed open. A young soldier, his face pale, ignored all disciplinary protocols and blurted out, "It's terrible! Liu Dehai has committed suicide in the detention center!"