Beauty and the Beast
Chapter 2/8
Around half an hour later, Yang Chen arrived at Mo Qianni’s apartment, and noticed that her door wasn’t locked. She was awaiting his arrival.
Yang Chen slowly pushed the door open before walking into the house. The smell of freshly cooked dishes filled the house. There was flour on the dining table while the kitchen was full of steam.
Wearing an ap.r.o.n, Mo Qianni tied her hair up in a ponytail. She busied herself in the kitchen, looking like a housewife. She noticed that Yang Chen entered the house. Wiping the sweat on her temples and forehead, she smiled and said, “The meal will be ready in half an hour.”
Yang Chen wasn’t in a hurry. He walked to the kitchen and stood behind Mo Qianni before wrapping his arms around her waist. Leaning forward, he whispered to Mo Qianni’s ear, “I’m not hungry yet. Why don’t we exercise for a bit before eating?”
Mo Qianni knew what he wanted to do. She reached her arm to the back to tap Yang Chen’s forehead. “Stop fooling around. We can start eating after I make two more dishes. You can busy yourself by watching TV for now.”
Yang Chen looked at the dishes placed on the kitchen cabinet. There were six to seven of them. Surprised, he asked, “Why did you cook so much? There are even dumplings later. How are we supposed to finish them?”
Mo Qianni let out a mysterious smile. “There’ll be guests coming later. Just wait.”
“There are guests? Who are they?” Yang Chen was confused.
“You know them as well. You shall find out later.” Mo Qianni didn’t want to answer his questions.
Before Yang Chen could guess, the door got knocked on.
“Quick, open the door.” Mo Qianni urged Yang Chen.
Feeling helpless and curious, Yang Chen walked towards the door before opening it.
The people outside included a well-built man and a pet.i.te beauty. Yang Chen blinked his eyes to make sure he saw them right. “Why are you guys here?”
“Brother Yang, long time no see!” Ye Zi said cheerfully.
Sky Dragon laughed as well. “Haha, why can’t we be here? Since you’re here for a free meal, we’re here for the exact same reason as well.”
The guests were Ye Zi from Dragon Group and Sky Dragon from Group of Eight. Why did these two come to Qianni’s place together? Yang Chen thought.
Mo Qianni carried a few plates to the living room. Smiling, she said, “Ye Zi, Sky Dragon, come in make yourselves at home.”
“Sister Qianni, I’ll help you out.” Ye Zi stuck her tongue out at Yang Chen before running to the kitchen to help her.
Yang Chen didn’t let Sky Dragon leave. Frowning, he asked, “This isn’t yet another trick you’re pulling off, is it? You guys tricked me into helping you out in Tibet back then. Where are you going now?”
Helplessly, Sky Dragon answered, “It’s not like that. It was the dead Broken Blade who betrayed us and plotted the scheme against you. That wasn’t our intention at all. Furthermore, we came to Zhonghai to partic.i.p.ate in the battle. Don’t you know about it already? I came to eat here with Ye Zi because of the friends.h.i.+p between her and Miss Mo.”
“Friends.h.i.+p?”
“Don’t you know that Ye Zi has been in touch with Miss Mo all this time?” Sky Dragon asked, confused.
Yang Chen really wasn’t aware about it. He looked at the two ladies in the kitchen who were happily chatting. They appeared to be rather close friends.
Qianni has been in contact with Ye Zi all this time without my knowledge. Ignoring whether or not she minded being tricked earlier, how did she manage to stay in contact with Ye Zi afterwards? Judging solely on how she maintained a close relations.h.i.+p with Ye Zi, it was clear that her nature of forgiveness was greater than most people. No wonder she could take on compet.i.tors in the industry with ease.
Yang Chen sat down with Sky Dragon in the living room and chatted about the recent situation after pouring two gla.s.ses of water. Yang Chen asked, “Why are you here with Ye Zi alone? Where are the other members of the Dragon Group?”
Sky Dragon smiled awkwardly. “Since you asked this question… it means you haven’t been able to tell my relations.h.i.+p with Ye Zi.”
“What’s your relations.h.i.+p with her?” Yang Chen really couldn’t tell.
“We’re currently a couple!” Sky Dragon finally couldn’t hold himself back from telling Yang Chen. He even looked elated after confessing.
Yang Chen took a double take and almost spit out the water in his mouth. Sky Dragon had such a huge build and a block face structure. Yang Chen then looked at just how small Ye Zi’s figure was. He really didn’t expect them to get together.
When the two ladies in the kitchen finished busying themselves, the dining table was full of dishes, while three plates of steaming-hot dumplings were brought out as well.
Yang Chen said to Ye Zi, “Kid, is there something wrong with your vision? Why did you choose Sky Dragon?”
Ye Zi blushed as she glanced at Sky Dragon in a shy manner. “I don’t know as well.”
“Ye Zi said she felt that I was a good and honest man,” Sky Dragon said shamelessly.
Ye Zi pinched Sky Dragon’s arm angrily, and didn’t allow him to continue speaking. In return, Sky Dragon grabbed her into his arms before hugging her in a thick-skinned manner.
Mo Qianni witnessed this scene and started laughing. “Can you two stop showing your affection in my house? I’m getting too sour.”
The four of them chatted away as they had their meal. Yang Chen initially thought he was eating with Mo Qianni alone, but somehow turned into a meal to welcome these two rare guests. He couldn’t help but to feel slightly gloomy.
After the food got wiped out, Yang Chen helped Mo Qianni by carrying the bowls and plates back to the kitchen.
When they finally had their lone time, Mo Qianni carefully asked Yang Chen, “Hubby, you aren’t mad that I’ve been in touch with Ye Zi, are you?”
“Why would I be mad?” Yang Chen asked.
“Because I haven’t told you about it before,” Mo Qianni said softly. Actually, she had wanted to tell Yang Chen in the past, but she didn’t feel the need to report her personal life due to pride. After all, she had only talked to Ye Zi on the phone before. But since Ye Zi was coming to Zhonghai today and wanted to see her, this dinner was a result of that exchange.
Yang Chen smiled relaxedly. “It’s fine as long as you don’t feel there are any issues. I can’t take charge of your personal life, can I? You’re not a little girl at the end of the day.”
“Alright.” Mo Qianni grinned as she relieved herself.
As they hadn’t met in a long while, the four had a lot to talk about while drinking tea and eating dried fruits.
Yang Chen found much fun in teasing the ‘Beauty and the Beast’, Sky Dragon and Ye Zi. Firstly, Ye Zi would blush as a result of shyness, while she’d bully Sky Dragon afterwards, before finally getting bullied again…
Time pa.s.sed really quickly during their conversation. They chatted until eleven o’clock at night. Ye Zi and Sky Dragon planned to leave as it was rather late already. They had serious things to do in Zhonghai after all.
During the conversation, the two from Yellow Iron Fire Brigade avoided talking about the confrontation of Sandstorm and Brahma. Evidently, they knew that Yang Chen was not in the mood to discuss it, while they hoped that Mo Qianni didn’t notice anything unusual.
However, when they wanted to leave, the lights in the house suddenly dimmed!
Shortly after, all of the electronics in the house stopped in their tracks!
Is it a power failure?
The house was almost in complete darkness. Yang Chen’s vision wasn’t affected very much. However, he had a feeling that it wasn’t an ordinary power failure.
Mo Qianni subconsciously moved towards Yang Chen. Softly, she asked, “It isn’t a problem with the power circuits, is it? Why would there be a power failure during winter?”
“It’s not a power failure. Sister Mo, look. The lights from all the other blocks are up, but ours have gone out.” Ye Zi pointed outside the window at the other buildings.
Yang Chen vaguely felt that something was off. Seeing that Sky Dragon and Ye Zi stood by the window, he shouted, “Sky Dragon! Ye Zi! Get down!”
Following his yell, before Sky Dragon and Ye Zi could react, two silhouettes fell from the sky and stopped outside the floor-to-ceiling windows of the house!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Guns strobed outside the window, while the bullets violently pierced through the window, straight at Sky Dragon’s and Ye Zi’s vests!
Being reminded by Yang Chen, Sky Dragon tensed up which allowed him to quickly react to the situation, having practised combat for many years. He pushed Ye Zi down before guarding her with his body!
Although he could dodge the bullets, he could clearly feel that Ye Zi who had mediocre combat ability wouldn’t have been able to avoid them!
Yang Chen had to protect the totally defenseless and frightened Mo Qianni. So, as soon as the silhouettes appeared, he hugged Mo Qianni before das.h.i.+ng towards a relatively safe corner in the room.
When Yang Chen turned his head back, Sky Dragon who was guarding Ye Zi had two bullets penetrated into his back!
“Brother Sky Dragon! Brother Sky Dragon!” Ye Zi who got hold of the situation was horrified. She noticed that Sky Dragon’s mouth was filled with warm blood, some of which spilled from his lips. Panicked, she started sobbing in fear.
Sky Dragon practised Shaolin Dragon Claws, not a technique like Golden Bell Coc.o.o.n that could grant protective abilities. As such, at this point in time, all he could do was absorb the damage dealt. The two bullets originally heading towards Ye Zi struck his organs, causing him to be in the zone of danger!
Mo Qianni who was s.h.i.+fted away from the danger by Yang Chen away instantly paled. The sudden disaster made her panicked and frightened.
However, the attacks didn’t stop there!