Severing Ties and the Villa of Armed Beauties
At noon, Chu Fei rushed home and filled in his mother, He Peiling, on the situation. He also met up with He Shishi and Lin Juan, letting them know he planned to send them somewhere to study for the next two months. Once he'd squared everything away, they shared a meal together, and then he packed a few changes of clothes before heading out.
But just as Chu Fei was driving to link up with Xie Qin, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He fished it out and froze—the caller ID read... Li Ran.
After a moment's hesitation, Chu Fei hit end call. He figured there was nothing left to say to her anyway, and he was determined to cut that chapter of his life for good.
Yet Li Ran's phone rang again, persistent and unrelenting. It was totally out of character for her—especially during the last half-year before he'd left Wuhan, when ignoring her would've meant she'd treat him like a total stranger from then on.
So when the third call came in, Chu Fei finally picked up—but he didn't say a word.
"What are you doing? Why aren't you answering my calls?" Sure enough, it was Li Ran, her tone laced with dissatisfaction, coming off a bit sharp and demanding.
"I'm driving," Chu Fei replied flatly. "What do you want?"
"It's already the seventh. Aren't you coming back?" Surprisingly, Li Ran didn't press the issue and instead hit him with that out of nowhere.
It's already the seventh...
Her design firm had always been pretty laid-back, though. Hadn't she said they weren't starting back up until after the fifteenth? Was she already back in Wuhan?
Chu Fei's mind raced, but then it hit him—Why the hell am I even thinking about this?
What does it matter to me when she heads back?
A faint, bitter smile tugged at his lips as his voice grew quiet. "Li Ran, I'm not coming back."
"..."
"Sorry..." Chu Fei started to say more, but with a sharp click!, Li Ran had already hung up.
And just like that, it was over. With Li Ran. With all his past struggles...
A twinge of bitterness stirred in Chu Fei's chest, mingled with an odd sense of relief. When he finally pulled up to Xie Qin, she gave him a long, puzzled look. "Huh. You seem... different somehow."
"Different how?"
"Can't put my finger on it. Like you've been freed from some weight... Weird!"
"Haha..." Chu Fei let out a dry chuckle, but an inexplicable lightness flooded his mood. Yeah, I'm free now—completely!
Time to shake things up under Shenzhen's skies!
Strangest of all, Duan Lin owned a standalone villa in space-strapped Shenzhen, complete with a sizable yard. When Chu Fei pulled in with Xie Qin, he found the grounds packed with all sorts of bizarre plants. But the real shocker? Duan Lin's villa housed a squad of armed-to-the-teeth... female security guards!!
Not that calling them elite policewomen would be a stretch—who else packs heat like that on the job?
They swarmed the car to open his door, and Chu Fei just gawked. Are those real guns?
His expression must've been priceless, because the guards shot him looks of faint disdain—and even Xie Qin couldn't stand it, yanking his arm. "Come with me!"
With a guide leading the way, Chu Fei followed her into the villa's grand hall. Duan Lin was there, all right, but lost in her flower arranging. Guests or no, she didn't offer a hello, a drink, nothing. Xie Qin, knowing her quirks, just plopped down on a sofa with Chu Fei. A steaming cup of tea sat on the coffee table, fresh green leaves floating on top—hard to tell what kind.
Xie Qin blew on it gently, then downed it in one go. She stood abruptly. "Master Duan Lin, Chu Fei's in your hands now. Two weeks, as agreed—I'll pick him up after."
Duan Lin kept staring at her flowers, as if she hadn't heard a thing. Xie Qin didn't bat an eye, just patted Chu Fei's shoulder and headed out. They'd covered all the details on the drive over—what happened next was up to how much he could absorb.
Truth be told, Chu Fei was intrigued by Duan Lin's vibe. He still didn't know Xie Qin's full story, but Zhang Lin had clued him in that she was a big deal. Hell, Xie Qin had whipped up his driver's license in half a day flat—that took serious pull. Yet even someone like her got zero play from Duan Lin, who Xie Qin took in stride, sipping her tea and bouncing.
Chu Fei sat on the sofa with his backpack for a good while, utterly ignored. Seeing Duan Lin totally immersed in her own world, he got up and started poking around the hall. After all, he was supposed to trail her for the next fifteen days anyway.