Chapter 17
Going to London
This trip was not any safer than being back at home. When traveling Xing Yuan did bring five bodyguards, but the UK allowed citizens to hold guns, and security measures were far less comprehensive than in China.
Zheng Xingguo warned Ye Wenxuan that the "Flying Wolf Club" was very likely to move again, and told him to do his best to keep watch on Xing Yuan 24/7. This way, in case something happens, he could at least help this rich man ward off some trouble.
As long as he could block the first wave of surprise attacks, Xing Yuan"s bodyguards are not ordinary, so they should at least have the ability to protect their employer.
Ye Wenxuan opened his suitcase and quickly flipped through, pulling out a hoodie. He changed all of his original clothing and pulled up his hood, bringing those extremely Asian facial features into shadow.
Then he tucked everything that might reveal his ident.i.ty back into his suitcase, and stuffed his silenced phone into his pocket. Finally, he took out a mask and put it on, covering the lower half of his face.
When he was about to go out, Ye Wenxuan thought for a bit, and then took off those black-framed gla.s.ses perched on the bridge of his nose, leaving them next to his pillow.
Those beautiful peach blossom eyes were hidden under the hood. Ye Wenxuan gently blinked, and there was a slight thread of current silently flashing across. If no one looked carefully, they would not be able to see anything wrong.
Having done all his preparation, he turned and walked out the room.
Ye Wenxuan walked down the luxurious hallway for a couple of minutes. He only considered for three seconds between taking the elevator and climbing the stairs before resolutely heading straight for the elevator.
Are you joking, right now he"s stepping on the wood planks of the 11th floor, with a difference of 18 floors from Ruan Yushan"s floor. If he were really to climb up the stairs like this, he might not even see Xing Yuan before first already consuming half of his own life.
He waited in the elevator room for a while. The first two times it came, there were people inside. Ye Wenxuan was concerned about too many eyes seeing him, so he just waited a while longer before finally getting an empty elevator.
He went in and pressed 29, then leaned against a wall of the elevator and turned his head to avoid the security camera in the corner.
This hotel"s business seems to be going well, with guests constantly checking in and going to different floors.
The 2nd floor is a lounge with bar and pharmacy, the 3rd floor is a restaurant, the 9th floor is a living museum, the 15th floor even has a gym. The higher floors also provided large meeting rooms and open air restaurants, and as to whether there were any other entertainment venues, you could only know if you went to ask a staff member.
He leaned against the wall and looked closely at the simple English logo on the b.u.t.ton panel, while pondering where Xing Yuan might be.
If he wasn"t in his room, where would he most likely go?
As he was thinking, the elevator suddenly stopped. Ye Wenxuan instinctively raised his head, and saw that the display showed a 21.
This meant someone wanted to go upstairs.
Sure enough, a young man stepped in as soon as the doors opened. Ye Wenxuan casually glanced at him and found that the other person was even more tightly covered than he was, not only wearing a mask but also a pair of sungla.s.ses.
The two people looked at each other, but neither could tell what the other person looked like.
Ye Wenxuan sized the other person up while asking in English: "Which floor?" He was standing in front of the b.u.t.ton panel, so he thought he should help the other person select his floor.
The other young man leaned against the opposite wall and looked him up and down. He said quietly: "29, thank you.”
Voice actually sounds quite nice.
Ye Wenxuan casually thought, while looking at the single lit 29th floor b.u.t.ton.
Well, looks like he doesn"t have to do anything.
Since he could live on the 29th floor with its luxurious business suites, presumably he would also not be some ordinary person. Ye Wenxuan didn"t want to make any trouble, and seeing that this person also wanted to keep to himself, he just leaned back to wait for the elevator to go up.
Later only a hotel staff member came onto the elevator, wearing a black uniform and pushing a trolley full of cleaning supplies. She smiled and greeted the two people, completely ignoring both of their bizarre outfits.
This hotel probably receives many low-key celebrities like them, so the cleaning staff seemed to act very naturally before getting off on the 26th floor.
After this no more people came in, and when they got to the 29th floor, Ye Wenxuan politely gestured to let the other person go out first.
That man was also not polite, first stepping out of the elevator and without pausing his footsteps, directly turned toward the hallway on the right.
Ye Wenxuan came out and first looked at the room numbers nearby. After figuring out the order, he finally slowly walked forward and also turned into the right hallway. He turned left at the second fork and walked all the way to the end of the corridor.
At the end is a transverse corridor, and based on his colleague"s description, a.s.sistant Ruan"s room should be the first one on the left after turning right.
Ye Wenxuan walked very slowly. He didn"t know whether or not Xing Yuan really lived next door to Ruan Yushan, and also didn"t want to be caught for suspicious behavior, so he could only show a leisurely att.i.tude. As if he just didn"t want to go back to his room too fast, so he was strolling around in the hallway to observe the paintings hung on the walls.
Just when he was raising his head to "affectionately gaze" at a freehand painting of a flower and bird, the sound of a door opening came from around the corner. Then it seemed like someone came out of the room, walking while whispering.
Ye Wenxuan immediately p.r.i.c.ked up his ears. He stepped forward while making appreciative gestures about the painting.
"Xing ge, I"ll just sit on the side and not say anything, is that not even fine?”
"Xiao Xia, you should go back.”
"Xing ge……”
Ye Wenxuan: "……”
What does it mean to travel far and wide looking for something, only to find it easily?
It"s just that both of these voices sounded familiar. Ye Wenxuan silently walked close to the wall, then turned around near the corner of the corridor, only showing a pair of eyes secretly watching.
Not far away there was a security camera. Ye Wenxuan pulled down the hood of his sweater again, covering his entire face.
A few small current filaments flashed from his fingertips to the wall, scuttling across the walls to the nearby security cameras. There were even some that swam toward to the upper and lower floors and squeezed into different security cameras.
A slight bit of electricity wouldn"t damage these machines, but they could disrupt their functioning condition.
In the hotel"s control room, the security guard blinked and turned to his captain: "Chief, there"s something wrong with the cameras on the 25th floor and above.”
Half of the screens had turned into static. Seeing this, the security captain immediately connected to the intercom, contacting the members on duty to go upstairs and see what was going on.
After nervously waiting for a moment, the team members responded one after another: no problems.
The captain exhaled a sigh of relief, then scolded: "d.a.m.n, really scared lao zi to death, it was definitely Hanson that old devil not properly maintaining the equipment last week!”
The monitoring security guard waited for his captain to finish scolding before saying: "Chief, everyone living on the 25th floor and above are celebrities. I definitely can"t monitor them up there, so let the brothers go up and patrol a bit more.”
The captain swore: "You just keep watch on the other functional cameras, and for the 25th floor and above I"ll let the guys patrol a bit more carefully. There is a big rich man with extremely high status staying here today, we definitely cannot have anything happen at this time.”
In the hallway on the 29th floor, in front of Xing Yuan"s door, the conversation between the two people was still continuing.
Ye Wenxuan leaned forward a bit to look over secretly. He found that the room with the open door was still some distance away. A young man was standing at the door to speak to someone in the room, and the person talking to him didn"t come out, probably standing in the entrance.
That young man looked pretty familiar, it was actually the one who had just joined Ye Wenxuan earlier in the elevator.
The five bodyguards who had been following Xing Yuan earlier were not there, and he didn"t know where they had gone to guard.
Ye Wenxuan lay on the wall, working hard to eavesdrop on the two people"s conversation.
"Xing ge, please, let me accompany you tonight.”
"No.”
"You…I really like you, not in order to find some sort of financial backer. I thought my behavior was obvious enough." The young man whispered: "I don"t lack fame or money now, I…just want to stay with you a little longer, is that not fine?”
Under his mask Ye Wenxuan let out a string of silent "ohohoh"s.
"Whether you like me or not is your business, I have no right to interfere. But whether or not I want to see you is my business. I said that I do not, which means I am rejecting you. Xiao Xia, who told you I was here?" Xing Yuan"s voice didn"t change, and when Ye Wenxuan listened to his voice, he could only think that that face must have been cold and indifferent.
That xiao Xia didn"t answer this question, still making a final effort: "Xing ge, please tell me where I"m lacking, I will definitely change. Let"s not talk in the hallway, just let me in first…”
"Xia Yanbin." Xing Yuan faintly said: "You have bothered me for two months, it is time to collect your heart.”
A "ding" sounded in Ye Wenxuan"s mind, and he finally knew why he always felt that the other person"s voice sounded familiar.
As long as it was someone who had the least bit of interest in music, they would have heard of Xia Yanbin.
Xia Yanbin was only 26 years old this year, but in China he had long already been a tremendously popular rock emperor. His voice was full of explosive power, with handsome yet aggressive looks. He walked the rebellious and prodigal route, beloved by countless young girls.
But who knew that that in front of Xing Yuan, this rock superstar changed his unruly and naughty att.i.tude in front of the camera and actually behaved so pitifully.
If not for the circ.u.mstances not being right, Ye Wenxuan would really have wanted to grab a bunch of melon seeds and sat down on a small bench, fully invested in watching this dog blood drama.
Just as he was thinking this, a faint cry of pain came from behind him. This meant that someone had stepped on the electrostatic trap that Ye Wenxuan had left at the other end of the corridor.
Ye Wenxuan was afraid that someone would discover his peeping behavior, so when he was walking over he had deliberately left a bit of non-lethal trace static electricity in a few hallways. As long as someone stepped on the carpet near the trap, the static electricity would immediately jump into the other person"s shoes and lightly sting them a bit.
Someone was coming this way.
Ye Wenxuan quietly pushed away from the wall. He tidied up his hood and began to walk back down the corridor.
Turning the corridor, he came across a uniformed security guard, who would shake his feet occasionally. It seemed like his feet and legs were somewhat uncomfortable.
Ye Wenxuan acted just like every other customer staying at the hotel, casually glancing at him a few times, and then pa.s.sing by that security guard who had just stepped on the trap.
The security guard carefully watched him walk into the elevator room, and seeing that the other person was holding a hotel key card, he finally took back his sight and put down his guard slightly against the suspiciously masked man.
The author has something to say: Every day you can witness the boss"s all sorts of sensational news.
Ye Wenxuan: I"m telling you, if you keep acting like this I will electrocute you to death, did you know.
Xing Yuan: I"m wronged.
## Little Theater ##
Ye Wenxuan, showing a suffering expression: "You are cruel you are heartless you are merciless you are unreasonable!”
Xing Yuan: "……”
Ye Wenxuan pointed at Xia Yanbin: "You both went together to see the snow and see the stars and see the moon, talking about everything from poetry and songs to life and philosophy……I haven"t even gone with you to see the snow and see the stars and see the moon, talking about everything from poetry and songs to life and philosophy!”
Xing Yuan: "……”
Xing Yuan: "Turn off the TV and talk to me.”
Ye Wenxuan: (⊙▽⊙)
Translator Notes:
[1] luxurious – 富丽堂皇, idiom, means sumptuous and usually for houses
[2] living museum – 生活馆, I know, what is a living museum? I also had to google this, and apparently it"s somewhere you can go to buy things e.g. beauty supplies, furniture, and also get services like hairdressing, fitness, salons. You can try out things like electronics and furniture, and you can also go there to learn things like how to cook.
[3] want to keep to himself – 生人勿进, basically means that he doesn"t want people he doesn"t really know/strangers to come too close
[4] transverse corridor – 横向, basically means that it"s a T-shaped corridor. pls advise on how to use architecture terms
[5] travel far and wide… – 踏破铁鞋无觅处，得来全不费工夫, long idiom/phrase, pretty literal
[6] Hanson – 汉森, pinyin in han sen, can either be Hansen or Hanson
[7] rebellious – 桀骜不驯, idiom, means arrogant and obstinate
[8] pitifully – 期期艾艾, idiom, means like stammering, awkward?
[9] unreasonable – 无理取闹, idiom, means to make trouble without reason, to be deliberately provocative
Random Notes:
About 1.5 hours: 9:30 pm – 11 pm, for 3.2k characters to 2.4k words. Honestly sometimes it still surprises me how this takes longer than CFCS. Unfortunately I didn"t translate during my break, so I"ll have to just keep up with the translations over the next few weeks.