Chapter 31
Going to London
After that, Xing Yuan straightened, then turned and walked forward without any change in expression. He opened the door and sat down in the driver’s seat like nothing had happened.
Ye Wenxuan’s hand was still hovering above the keys. He heard Xing Yuan saying at the front: “a.s.sistant Zhang, there isn’t enough room at the front. Trouble you to go to the back for a while.”
Zhang Qingxue delicately said: “Xing boss, let brother Ye go ma, people want to sit with you ne.”
Xing Yuan: “Hurry up, otherwise you’ll just be left here to take care of yourself.”
a.s.sistant Zhang no longer spoke. Ye Wenxuan felt like he was a huge shiny light bulb. He walked over somewhat awkwardly, and Zhang Qingxue immediately looked at him with big watery eyes: “Brother Ye, there’s no seat in the back, how would I sit ah, don’t you think?”
Ye Wenxuan coughed dryly: “There are several boxes of milk inside, you can sit on those. If you’re thirsty you can also open them and drink one.”
Zhang Qingxue: “…Ah?”
Xing Yuan again said: “a.s.sistant Zhang.”
Zhang Qingxue looked over, full of hope.
Xing Yuan looked her over and then opened the bag at his feet, taking out a milkman’s uniform from inside and throwing it to her: “Except for cash, throw out everything else, including your cell phone. In addition, put this on, and throw away the clothes you’re wearing now.”
Zhang Qingxue widened her bright eyes and leaned against the pa.s.senger seat, saying hesitantly: “Xing boss…”
Xing Yuan covered his mouth with one hand: “Hurry up, don’t be coquettish.”
At the very least she was still an experienced Xing group a.s.sistant. Zhang Qingxue really had no way of satisfying her wishes, simply flipping her hair and opening the car door, twisting her waist to the back of the car.
With a bang, the cargo door slammed shut.
Ye Wenxuan and Xing Yuan exchanged a glance. Xing Yuan raised his chin: “Get in.”
Ye Wenxuan didn’t hesitate any longer, he flipped to climb up to the shotgun position. He had just closed the door when Xing Yuan put his foot down on the pedal and rushed out.
Ye Wenxuan only had time to grab the handle above the window, yelling: “Seatbelt! I still haven’t put on my seatbelt!”
Xing Yuan put the pedal to the metal: “Hold on, don’t fly out of the window.”
Ye Wenxuan: “I didn’t see you being this anxious when we were changing just now…you give me a second——to put on my seat belt ah——”
He shook around in the car, and from time to time he could hear “dong” “dong” sounds, which was the sound of that a.s.sistant in the cargo struggling to bang against the wall of the cargo in protest.
The minivan went south along the highway, president Xing kept the pedal pressed to the very bottom, as if the car was a F1 car. When they drove out several hundred meters, he finally gradually slowed down.
Ye Wenxuan finally fastened his seatbelt, so he had the time to pay attention to the surrounding situation.
The school had already been left behind them. They were currently on a less frequently used side road, on both sides were large fields. In the distance he could see hidden mountains and a jungle. If they hadn’t just gone through a thrilling escape, he would probably admire the good scenery here.
But those gunshots and explosions were still fresh in his memory, and the death of innocents made everyone’s hearts gloomy.
Xing Yuan looked back at the school in the rearview mirror and suddenly said: “Make a phone call.”
Ye Wenxuan raised his head: “To who?”
“Call the police stations in Eltham, Adare, and Scotland Yard, as well as the Metropolitan police, and say…” Xing Yuan took his gaze back from the rearview mirror and said faintly: “Just say that the terrorist attacks that happened here have escalated, and the police in the city of Westminister can’t handle it. Let them search in the church to the north of Westminister University, as well as the forest to the west. I suspect that one of those two places should still have a lot of ammunition hidden, en, and probably some more mercenaries as well.”
Ye Wenxuan raised an eyebrow: “How do you know?” But he still quickly pulled out his cell phone and quickly unlocked it.
“I guessed.” Xing Yuan placed one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the side, his fingers casually tapping on the wheel. “There are no other places to hide near Westminister University, the nearest town is spa.r.s.ely populated, without any new faces. If they can fill the scene in that short of a time, those places would be good places for the mercenaries to hide.”
He continued: “Compared to the little town, the church in the north is the most suitable place. That is closest to the school, and the people living there are all weak missionaries.”
“The other option is the forest in the northwest. That place should be quite desolate, and when we came I heard that the forest is very large. It would take at least three days to cross the forest on foot, and opens directly to the city of Eltham.” Ye Wenxuan followed his train of thought. He pressed the alarm and after the beep, said in English: “h.e.l.lo, h.e.l.lo, I want to transfer to Scotland Yard.”
“The line is busy, please try again later.”
Ye Wenxuan: “…”
He changed to the other police stations. Besides the Scotland Yard headquarters, all of the other police stations gave the same result. In the end he could only give up: “What’s the situation, what kind of bad luck did we happen upon today, we can’t even go through on an emergency call?” Then he said: “The Scotland Yard headquarters are far away from here. By the time they rush over, the terrorists must have long gone away.”
Xing Yuan muttered: “I guessed this would happen.”
“Such a big thing happened, the phones in the nearby police stations must have been blown up.”
He held the steering wheel in one hand and threw a pile of small items to the pa.s.senger: “Leave IDs and cash in wallets, take out the phone cards in the cell phone, and throw out everything else.”
Ye Wenxuan busily caught the pile: “Wow, all high end goods ah, you are actually willing to throw them away!”
Xing Yuan: “Yours too, no protests accepted. If you want to protect your small life, first ‘clean’ out all of the items on your body.”
Ye Wenxuan raised a hand: “Report, can I apply to keep a cell phone?”
Xing Yuan: “The application is rejected, no.”
Ye Wenxuan’s mouth spasmed, but he first took out that black leather wallet and opened it.
“Well, could this be…the legendary black gold card?” He pulled out a card with the words “ameri express” on it, which was American Express.
He whistled: “Rich man, you’re also going to throw this one?”
Xing Yuan self-deprecatingly said: “Probably…it won’t be useful soon anymore.”
Ye Wenxuan couldn’t hear clearly what he said, but this did not prevent his exploration.
He removed more than a dozen cards from the wallet. Ye Wenxuan flipped through and then took out a photo from one of the pockets, shaking it in front of Xing Yuan’s eyes: “Boss, do you also want to throw this out?”
In the photo was a little girls with braids, her face full of innocence. The girl looked somewhat like Xing Yuan, but her eyes were black. Ye Wenxuan guessed that this was probably the Xing Peiwei who had never showed her face in front of the media.
Which was Xing Yuan’s little sister.
Sure enough, Xing Yuan glanced at it and immediately reached out for the photo, folding it and stuffing it into his trouser pocket.
“Little sister?” Ye Wenxuan asked, wanting the gossip.
Xing Yuan gave him a warning glance, keep working, don’t talk so much.
Ye Wenxuan shrugged and lowered his head to continue to study the pile of miscellaneous items on his lap.
“We’re almost to town, I’ll go to the convenience store to buy some food. We won’t stay too long.” Xing Yuan drove while saying: “If you want to buy something, remember to use cash, don’t swipe your card.”
“Oh.” Ye Wenxuan opened the window and threw that pile of high end goods, together with the messy things from his own body, to the gra.s.s along the road. Seeing his own belongings leaving him like this, Ye Wenxuan only felt physical pain.
“Boss.” He rolled up the window and turned to look at that gra.s.s: “I have made a lot of sacrifices for you ah, can you give a reimburs.e.m.e.nt when we go back?”
Xing Yuan raised the corners of his mouth: “Give.” If he still could go back.
Ye Wenxuan received his promise, and finally felt a little comfort. He turned and saw Xing Yuan handing over a black sports bag.
It was the one that he had brought over from the back of the car.
Xing Yuan: “Excuse me, throw this away.”
“…” Ye Wenxuan handily threw out the sports bag full of the two people’s clothing, complaining: “You really know to order people, opening the window and throwing it out yourself would tire you to death huh.”
He still wanted to say a few words when “dong dong dong” knocking sounds came from the back again.
Ye Wenxuan turned back and shouted: “Beauty, what now?”
“Annoying~” Through a layer of metal, a.s.sistant Zhang’s weak voice was almost drowned out by the engine: “People want to go to the toilet…it’s urgent…”
Very good, we still have to take care of this female comrade.
Xing Yuan parked the card by the side of the road and pushed open the door to lean against the cargo. Then he knocked on the wall of the box: “Give you two minutes, hurry up.”
Zhang Qingxue: “Good~ thank you Xing boss~”
While Zhang Qingxue ran off to take care of business, Ye Wenxuan also got out of the car and blocked the sunlight with his hands. He looked back in the direction they came from for a moment and finally sighed: “Don’t know how Westminister University is right now, hope the casualties aren’t terrible.”
Xing Yuan held a cigarette between two slender fingers. He bowed his head and put it in his mouth, slightly wrinkling his forehead: “When they find out that I ran, those people should naturally withdraw.”
Ye Wenxuan turned to look at him: “Where did this cigarette come from, weren’t all your things thrown away by me!”
“I didn’t bring this kind of thing on me originally.” Xing Yuan squinted at him, his two hands stuffed in his pockets and leaning back against the milk truck: “I found them in the sports bag in the back. Unfortunately there’s no lighter, so I can only bite it in my mouth for fun.”
Ye Wenxuan leaned next to him and held out a hand: “Give me one too.”
Xing Yuan: “In the car, take it yourself.”
Ye Wenxuan went back and searched around. Sure enough, he found half a box of cigarettes under the driver’s seat. He took one out and put it in his mouth, and then returned back to Xing Yuan, looking down at the little town on the other side of the road.
“Boss.” Ye Wenxuan ground on the cigarette with his teeth: “Ask you a question.”
Xing Yuan: “Huh?”
Ye Wenxuan: “Why are you being chased by that group of people?”
Xing Yuan did not speak, just turning his face and looking at him.
Ye Wenxuan looked up at him and asked: “What is the ident.i.ty of that group of people?”
Xing Yuan smiled and bowed his head, slowly approaching him. He casually asked: “You want to know?”
Ye Wenxuan turned his head slightly to avoid his burning breath. He impatiently asked: “Are you willing to tell me?”
Xing Yuan took the cigarette out from his mouth and played with it in his fingers. He slowly said: “Then I also have a question that I want to ask you.”
The other person’s att.i.tude didn’t seem like he had any resistance or antipathy toward him, but Ye Wenxuan still vaguely had some sort of bad hunch. He always felt like this fellow seemed to be somewhat excited. From his point of view, even Xing Yuan’s eye color had turned much darker.
He intuitively felt that Xing Yuan harbored some sort of malicious intentions. Sure enough, that person then stretched out two fingers and pinched his chin before Ye Wenxuan could avoid him. That handsome face came very close, as if their noses were going to touch.
Xing Yuan leaned over to him, that pair of blue eyes were like those of an eagle, locking onto his pupils firmly.
He lowered his head, and said as if it was nothing: “You have electricity in your eyes, it’s not my illusion, is it?”
Ye Wenxuan pushed him away.
Reckless. He thought, while pulling away from Xing Yuan, he said coldly: “This kind of pickup line is not attractive.”
Footsteps sounded in the distance, Zhang Qingxue finally came back.
While she hadn’t gotten close, Xing Yuan smiled lowly: “You are on guard.”
Ye Wenxuan: “No.”
“Then you’re angry.”
“I just want to say one more thing to you.” Ye Wenxuan took a deep breath and looked at him expressionlessly: “I hate men taller than me, and hate even more getting my chin pinched by men.”
Xing Yuan playfully pinched the cigarette in his hand: “You are afraid that I will find out your secret.”
Ye Wenxuan coldly said: “I know that you want to test me, but I refuse.”
Zhang Qingxue’s return ended this unfriendly dialogue. Ye Wenxuan did not speak again, turning and directly getting back into the car. Xing Yuan was instead entangled by the lady again. A few minutes later he finally opened the door and held that unlit cigarette, restarting the engine.
For the next drive, Ye Wenxuan did not say a word to Xing Yuan, fully expressing that he very much did not appreciate this person’s previous frivolous behavior.
After another stretch of road, they finally reached the little town.
There were not many people in the little town. The scene was very casual and relaxed, completely unlike the chaos and mess at Westminister University just over a dozen kilometers away.
Ye Wenxuan always felt like it was all not very real.
## What is in my eyes in the end ##
Xing Yuan: “Your eye…”
Ye Wenxuan shouted: “No electricity!”
Xing Yuan: “Oh.”
Xing Yuan said again: “Your eyes…”
Ye Wenxuan shouted: “Really no electricity!”
Xing Yuan: “Oh.”
“But…” He hesitated: “Your eyes really have…”
Ye Wenxuan patted the table: “I already said no electricity no electricity, if you mention my eyes again lao zi will electrocute you to death!”
“But,” Xing Yuan calmly said: “Your eyes have eye p.o.o.p.”
Ye Wenxuan: “…”
Xing Yuan: “The left one.”
Ye Wenxuan: “Stop saying it…leave…”
Translator Notes:
[1] hesitantly – 欲语还休, apparently not exactly an idiom, but means when you have something you want to say but find it embarra.s.sing/hard to talk about
[2] experienced – 千锤百炼, idiom, means experienced vicissitudes of life
[3] Adare – 亚达尔, help I have no idea what city this is, it translates to Adare but I think that’s in Ireland not London??
[4] weak – 手无缚鸡之力, idiom, literally means lacking the strength even to truss a chicken
Random Notes:
Over an hour: 8:45 am to 10 am, for 4k characters to 2.6k words. 100kV is just so much harder to translate than CFCS for some reason.