Chapter 20
Going to London
Ye Wenxuan continued to face forward, vaguely hearing that kid named Lynn attempting to encourage someone else to do something.
"Just go and take a look…nothing will happen…”
"No.”
"Trust me…We"ll just stand by the door and look…”
That Ida kept on shaking his head. Ye Wenxuan still wanted to keep listening, but those people had already left the stairwell, and then that person closed the door, and shut the voices inside the room.
Ye Wenxuan"s feet paused for a bit, but he finally chose to continue to climb up the stairs. He temporarily didn"t investigate what the "door" this waiter was referring to was.
When he got to the third floor, he didn"t even need to seriously search around again, directly heading for the door with the bodyguards.
Sure enough, when he was reaching for the door, he was stopped again by the bodyguards: "Our boss did not ask for this.”
Ye Wenxuan showed a look of fear and whispered: "Miss Hannah let me send this over, is the boss still here?”
The black man who had stopped him: "The boss doesn"t need it, go.”
Ye Wenxuan wanted to keep talking, but all of the big guys around the door came over to surround him. The corner of his mouth slightly spasmed, and he could only hastily agree and turn back with the platter.
After all, he isn"t professional at investigation, so Ye Wenxuan would still feel quite guilty and sketchy.
He was not sure how long that hapless Asian in the back alley would stay unconscious, and the longer he stayed here, the more dangerous it would be. Ye Wenxuan calculated a bit in his mind, and finally decided to first return to the hotel, lest someone see through his ident.i.ty later and make him unable to leave.
Making up his mind, he immediately acted. He still returned to the kitchen from earlier, casually picking up another bag of trash from the chefs, and silently slipped out a back door.
He kept an eye on what was happening behind him, and making sure that no one was paying attention to him, Ye Wenxuan quickly walked into the depths of the alley and pulled out the unconscious Asian fellow from within a heap of trash. In March, this guy had been stripped of his clothes and pants, and was lying on the ground only wearing his underwear. Ye Wenxuan reckoned that he would definitely catch a cold and run a fever when he woke up.
Seeing that this unlucky ghost would still stay unconscious for another hour, Ye Wenxuan relaxed a bit. He sucked in a few breaths to attempt to calm his quickly beating heart, and rapidly took off the uniform and put his own clothes back on.
Doing a bit of simple cleanup, he looked at the time. It was already after 11 pm.
"Wilson…seems like it"s necessary to find out what"s going on with this man." He muttered to himself, putting his hat and mask on, he left the alley along the wall.
London was still very lively at 11 pm. Ye Wenxuan walked along the road for a while, and called a taxi far away from the Red Rose Clubhouse. He told the driver the name of his hotel and then leaned his head against the window, thinking aimlessly about what he had just seen and heard.
In the middle of the night, why on earth did Xing Yuan run to that clubhouse alone?
Was it to see that boss, or…to do something there.
Ye Wenxuan couldn"t figure it out. He felt the the amount of information he held was still too little, but he couldn"t do too much of this risky individual action. After all, he wasn"t someone who did investigation, so it would be very easy for him to make a mistake.
It"s just one night, there…shouldn"t be anything big happening ba.
Ye Wenxuan restrained his own restless mood. He simply no longer thought about this topic, just leaning his head back to watch the flashing and fleeting neon night lights outside his window.
And hundreds of meters behind him, on the third floor of the Red Rose Clubhouse, someone opened the door and went out. The bodyguards stepped to the sides, respectfully waiting for the people inside to exit.
The first person to come out was a beautiful woman with an enchanting appearance. She swayed seductively as she walked, her eyes seemed like they had hooks that would gently sc.r.a.pe people, and as she walked she would throw a wink to the person behind her from time to time.
Behind her, the black-haired blue-eyed man glanced at her and accepted the blatant seduction, his constant slight smile containing a touch of evil.
"My dear Xing, Hannah has only been looking at you tonight, not even putting her own boss in her eyes." Wilson walked next to him, a bit of taste in his tone: "Do you think that I might as well give her to you, well, let her go to work in your Xing group.”
Xing Yuan ignored the eyes and glances of the beautiful woman in front of him, smiling at his words: "You"re willing?”
"Not willing." Wilson was adamant: "She"s my baby.”
Xing Yuan didn"t want to keep discussing women, so he changed the topic: "What good goods does the Black Gate have this time?”
Wilson: "Since you"re coming, I would naturally prepare the best.”
"I"ll go and see, tonight I need to pick one back. I think you should have already heard that it hasn"t been very safe around me lately." Xing Yuan said: "Plus, the matter about the Flying Wolf, you better pay a little attention.”
Wilson: "Oh yes, I know. Rest a.s.sured, Xing, you will definitely be very satisfied.”
A black bodyguard next to him came over and whispered a few words in Wilson"s ear. Xing Yuan turned and glanced at him, as if he had sensed something.
Wilson continued smiling and waved that man down: "No need to be so rude. Just let him sign an agreement, cut off one of his fingers to scare him, and dismiss him.”
The black man turned and left. Xing Yuan turned back around, he had guessed what had happened, so he scoffed: "Wilson, your security here is getting worse and worse. If you go on like this, Red Rose"s development would really be getting precarious.”
"Oh, please do not worry, believe me, I can properly handle these problems." Wilson laughed: "Let"s go, we"ll go down, and take a look at my new shipment.”
This night, Ye Wenxuan did not sleep very well.
He always felt that Xing Yuan had some problems, but was also afraid about him only bringing one bodyguard when going out. If they met some terrorists wouldn"t he just die, and then his own task would also be declared a failure.
Would it have been better if he had just kept squatting outside that clubhouse, always ready to act?
But…that would really be a little too silly.
So he tossed and turned like this with his imagination running wild until after midnight, when a very drunk Zhang Zhen had been carried back by his colleagues, Ye Wenxuan finally forced himself to fall sleep.
His anxiety continued until the next morning, when he followed his colleagues to quickly eat breakfast, then returned to his room to tidy up his belongings, and then received a call telling them to prepare to head out.
Ye Wenxuan carried his camera and was dragged by Zhang Zhen like the wind downstairs. When he got to the entrance of the hotel, he ran into Xing Yuan getting ready to get on his car.
Zhang Zhen pulled him to the colleagues, gasping while patting his own chest: "Luckily, luckily, Xing boss didn"t notice we were late.”
Ye Wenxuan was still turning his head to look over at the other side, Xing Yuan still looked the same as yesterday morning, harsh and indifferent. He was turning to talk to a.s.sistant Ruan, a bodyguard next to him opened the backseat door, and Xing Yuan bent to sit down. Ruan Yushan stood by the door to say a few words to him, and then walked to the black sedan behind him.
Ye Wenxuan heard the people next to him whispering: "Doesn"t a.s.sistant Ruan usually always sit shotgun of Xing boss"s car, how did she switch cars today?"
"Who knows.”
Sitting shotgun on Xing Yuan"s car was a man Ye Wenxuan had never seen before. He was not one of the bodyguards who had flown over with them, a big and strong foreigner with deep-set, ferocious eyes.
He had learned with the teacher before how to study people, and could tell that this person"s skills should be pretty good, presumably he would also be some sort of bodyguard.
Ye Wenxuan seemingly unintentionally asked some of the colleagues around him but no one recognized this person, and were also unclear about when he had started following Xing Yuan.
Could it be…that he had found him after going to that clubhouse?
Ye Wenxuan was thoughtful, sitting in one of the cars in the back while listening to his colleagues gossip around him.
Today"s schedule was extremely tight, they were going to go to the Wright company in the morning to conduct an inspection, and then at noon they would eat lunch with the Wright CEO. In the afternoon they needed to rush to attend an European financial forum meeting, and if time permits, Xing Yuan might even have to take the stage to deliver a brief speech.
These were all highlights of this trip, and Ye Wenxuan needed to follow the entire way to take pictures.
This time he had prepared a more complete set of photographic equipment. Besides the camera around his neck, he even had a sort of camera harness, this thing was like a small vest. Around the waist it was designed into a circle of D-shaped buckles, where many camera lenses could be attached.
Coupled with a shoulder bag filled with photography gadgets, Ye Wenxuan"s outfit made his colleagues astonished, giving him a big thumbs up and praising that he was so heavily armed and extremely dedicated.
Only when Xing Yuan saw his outfit his eyes spasmed a little, seeming to have some aversion.
Ye Wenxuan pretended to be seriously checking over his own equipment, lowering his head to glance at that circle of expensive lenses around his waist, he also fell deeply silent about his own outfit for a second.
He always felt that he had added a bit too much, very possible to overturn the car.
Afterward, everything occurred according to the plan.
Because Ye Wenxuan needed to follow to take photos of Xing Yuan, he could brazenly pay attention to every one of his moves. No one felt that there was any problem with his gaze always staying on Xing boss. He just needed to pay more attention to that foreigner who had suddenly appeared, Ye Wenxuan wasn"t from a professional background, so frequently when he went to look at that person, that person would be aware not long afterward.
That person turned and met his gaze midway through. Ye Wenxuan didn"t dodge or avoid his gaze, and the two people could feel the alertness in the other person"s eyes.
But neither made any moves. After a moment they looked away at the same time, not probing further.
Ye Wenxuan didn"t notice that when he was meeting gazes with that person, Xing Yuan"s gaze swept over him, with a hint of scrutiny.
The subsequent inspection and meetings could all be considered pretty smooth. The financial forum meeting had also dispatched most of the British police to ensure that there would be no uncontrollable surprises during the meeting.
As Xing Yuan stood on the podium and spoke, Ye Wenxuan and a pile of photographers huddled below the stage. His eyes swept over the curtain on the side of the stage, and he could see half of that foreigner"s body peeking out.
That person"s eyes were very sharp, his gaze constantly scouring through the auditorium and aisles.
Ye Wenxuan turned his camera toward the audience seats, and taking advantage of his movements when taking pictures of the auditorium, he quickly looked for Xing Yuan"s other five bodyguards.
He wasn"t able to find three, and the other two were hidden near the auditorium entrance and exit. One of them was closest to him, right at the steps on the left side of the podium.
Ruan Yushan and the Xing group staff all sat in the second row of the auditorium, listening carefully to Xing Yuan"s speech.
Ye Wenxuan turned around and continued observing Xing Yuan through his lens.
## Professional bodyguard Ye xiao xuan ##
Ye Wenxuan: observe_secretly.jpg
Xing Yuan: …Lately I always feel like my back is a little chilly.
Ye Wenxuan: crazily_follow.jpg
Xing Yuan: …Seems like there"s someone tailing me?
Ye Wenxuan: hide around in disguise
Xing Yuan: …
Xing Yuan picked up his phone: "h.e.l.lo, please call me 50 more bodyguards.”
50 bodyguards arrived, of which 45 of them were undercover from the Special Affairs Department.
The plainclothesmen made friendly eye contact with Ye Wenxuan.
Xing Yuan: …Why does my back feel even colder?!
Translator Notes:
[1] face forward – 目不斜视, idiom, means not glancing sideways, staying focused
[2] swayed seductively – 一摇三晃, definitely seductively
[3] adamant – 斩钉截铁, idiom, literally means to chop the nail and slice the iron, figuratively means resolute and decisive
[4] tossed and turned – 翻来覆去, meaning to toss and turn sleeplessly, or to do something again and again
[5] imagination running wild – 胡思乱想, idiom, means to indulge in flights of fancy
[6] camera harness – a real thing, Google it, it"s actually pretty interesting
[7] astonished – 啧啧称奇, idiom, means to click their tongues in wonder
[8] pretend to be serious – 煞有其事, idiom, means to make a show of being very serious/earnest
[9] chilly – chill on back is basically like a bad feeling, something ominous
[10] in disguise – 乔装打扮, idiom, means to dress up in disguise, or to pretend for the purpose of deceit
Random Notes:
Around 1.5 hours: 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm, 7 pm – 7:30 pm, for 3.2k characters to 2.3k words. We are doing our translation for this one chapter at a time. Also, I have gotten into cooking Youtube channels lately. I would recommend bon appét.i.t and binging with babish!