Chapter 463 Finding the Real Trace
The three of them chatted and laughed along the way. After a day"s flight, they finally arrived at Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport. As soon as they got off the plane, Alba was tired and started clamoring to find a hotel to stay in. However, Kris and John were both in high spirits upon having returned to China.
John denied Alba"s requests and said, "No, no. It"s still morning time. We have to get to my master"s city as soon as possible, and it"s quite a journey from here!"
Kris also glanced at her watch and said, "Yes, This country now has the fastest high-speed railway in the world. I believe we should get to Tiannan City at noon if we leave from Shanghai, and then we"ll be able to catch up with lunch at Tiannan University."
John shouted exaggeratedly, "Oh my G.o.d, the food in that place is terrible! I might as well just starve to death!"
Kris shrugged. "Then we can find somewhere to eat nearby."
John laughed. "Good idea. My treat!"
Alba couldn"t help but say angrily, "Are you two still ignoring me? Aren"t you worried about me making trouble?"
Kris and John turned their heads simultaneously and looked at Alba strangely. Suddenly, they began to chatter to one another in Chinese. John said, "Kris, I think we"d better use the methods from the movie Saw!"
Kris shook her head. "No way, too b.l.o.o.d.y!"
John said in an exaggerated tone, "Isn"t the Texas Chainsaw Ma.s.sacre b.l.o.o.d.y too?"
"I think you‘d better teach her a few curse words and then ask her to "greet" the government officials. If she does that, she"ll get thrown into some deep, dark dungeon, or be immediately deported," Kris said in a serious tone.
John smiled cheekily. "Hah, good idea. I like it!"
Alba could see them chatting furtively in Chinese and laughing insidiously from time to time. Although she didn"t understand what they were talking about, she still felt creeped out. She raised her hands and surrendered. "Well, I won"t cause any trouble for you guys. Stop whispering in Chinese and plotting to murder me or something."
John laughed. "Oh Alba, you"re so smart!"
Alba was so angry that she gave John a hard kick. "You b*stard, I hope you fall off a cliff and die!"
John chuckled darkly. "I"m not interested in mountaineering or bungee jumping!"
Alba rolled her eyes sardonically. "I know. Otherwise, would I dare to curse you like that? My curses are very effective, I"ll have you know!"
Kris stepped in to try and smooth things over. "Alright, alright, let"s take the high-speed railway. It"s getting late."
They began quickly making their way towards the train station with their luggage in-hand. The man was tall and the women were beautiful, so the trio automatically attracted many people"s attention.
They hailed a taxi when they arrived in Tiannan City. After Kris was safely sequestered in the car, she said, "Sir, please go to Tiannan University."
When the taxi driver heard the beautiful girl speaking Chinese so fluently, he was shocked and didn"t dare to try ripping her off, so he obediently drove the car to the gate of the university as requested.
By the time they got there, the cla.s.ses were just breaking up for lunch. They stood in the crowd of dark-haired people and looked really eye-catching, attracting the surrounding teachers" and students" attention.
Alba looked appraisingly at the school gate and architecture of Tiannan University. She kept shaking her head and saying, "Oh my G.o.d, this school is at least fifty years behind ours! Can this school really produce a superman? I don"t believe it!"
Just the thought that he would be able to see Li Yundong soon filled John"s heart with excitement, to the extent that he even chose not to bicker with Alba. Instead, he just looked around as if he was hoping to catch sight of Li Yundong.
To one side, Kris was standing on her tiptoes and peering around. After looking for a while, she suddenly caught sight of a familiar figure. She immediately waved her arms in pleasant surprise and shouted, "Feng! Feng!"
She shouted a few times, but she was ignored. Only then did she realize that she had yelled the wrong thing, so she shouted again, "Feng Na!"
With this shout, Feng Na, who was walking outside the school and chatting with Cheng Cheng, heard her. She raised her head and curiously looked in the direction of the sound. Upon taking a look, she was instantly stunned. "Kris? Why is she here? Is the university taking exchange students again?"
Cheng Cheng, who was standing to one side, rolled her eyes and said with an ambiguous smile, "Hey, this foreign woman has come here to s.n.a.t.c.h your lover!"
Feng Na glared at her. "What lover? I"m not involved with anyone!"
Cheng Cheng said with an evil grin, "Oh come one, stop pretending. You know who your dream man is!"
The smile on Feng Na"s face immediately faded, and she let out a soft sigh. "How could I even hope he"d look at me? Stop joking, I don"t dare to dream about it. Let"s go and see Kris. I don"t even know why they"re here."
Feng Na and Cheng Cheng had attended Zhou Qin"s birthday party with Kris and the others. Their relationship was actually pretty good, so they had exchanged gifts before leaving.
Feng Na walked over to her with a smile and said in English, "Kris, why are you here?"
Kris, however, replied in Chinese with a smile, "I"m here for Li Yundong."
Hearing this, Cheng Cheng quietly pinched Feng Na"s arm.
Feng Na glanced at Cheng Cheng and sighed internally, but still politely replied in English. "Kris, you"ve come so far just to find Li Yundong?"
Kris didn"t know that the girl in front of her was already feeling a little jealous. She blinked blankly and said, "That"s right, I came to make him my master."
John then approached and said, "I"m here to be apprenticed too!"
Alba didn"t want to be left out so she leaned over and said seriously, "And I"m here to scold him!"
Feng Na looked at Alba with a suspicious expression, thinking to herself, "Who the heck is this? Is she nuts?"
Although Feng Na felt suspicious, she still smiled at Alba politely, then said to Kris, "Li Yundong hasn"t come to cla.s.s for a long time."
Kris and John exclaimed at the same time, "What? Has he dropped out of uni?"
Feng Na shook her head. "No, he"s just deferred his studies!"
John laughed bitterly. "d.a.m.n it. Then what should we do? Where did he go?"
Kris quickly added, "Yeah, what"s he doing now?"
A strong light of admiration glittered in Feng Na"s eyes as she said proudly, "He has opened his own teahouse now. I was there when it opened a while ago."
Cheng Cheng was also excited to show off, although she had already used this topic to boast with more than once. "Do you know who else went to the opening celebration? The Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, the top leader! Ah, it"s equivalent to a governor in your country!"
"A governor!" Kris, Alba, and John exclaimed at the same time, looking at each other in shock.
Although it was common for politicians in the United States to make a show of being friendly, and meeting or talking to the governor was not a big deal, it was not a trivial matter to invite the governor to the opening of a business, which was a manifestation of resources and contacts.
Kris knew that Li Yundong was extraordinary and had superhuman strength, but she had been unaware that Li Yundong had such a weighty political background. She was immediately stunned and asked again, "Where is this teahouse? Could you take us there?"
Feng Na and Cheng Cheng looked at each other, then Feng Na said with a smile, "I"ll call him to check if he"s there."
She fished out her phone and dialed a number, but no one picked up. Feng Na couldn"t help but whine, "That scoundrel, I told him last time not to use his phone as a landline, but he just doesn"t listen!"
She helplessly said to Kris, "Forget it, let"s go and look for him directly. His teahouse has been open for less than a month and I expect he"s there every day to take care of business. We should be able to just rock up and meet him. This could be considered stealing from the rich and giving to the poor!"
Kris smiled faintly. "Sure!"
John cried in a loud, excited voice, "Master has opened a teahouse. Wow! I"m going to have tea there, too!"
Only Alba, who was dragging her luggage, shouted unhappily, "Hey, hey, are we going to have to drag our luggage around with us?" However, after complaining for a while, she saw Kris, John, Feng Na, and Cheng Cheng getting further and further away from her and talking amongst themselves, totally ignoring her. She immediately stomped her feet resentfully and chased after them angrily.
When they arrived at the Disanxian on Tiannan City"s pedestrian street, Feng Na was surprised to find that the door of the teahouse was tightly shut and it was obviously not open for business!
Feng Na was shocked and quickly went to ask the receptionist of the Tea Shop of Zhao across the street. "h.e.l.lo, why hasn"t the teahouse across the street been opened?" she asked.
The receptionist said with obvious relish, "It"s been closed for the past sixteen days!"
Feng Na was shocked. "What happened?"
The receptionist shook her head slightly. "I don"t know."
Feng Na stood rooted to the spot. It took her a while to react, but eventually, she forced a smile at the receptionist and said, "Thank you, sorry for the trouble." Just as she turned around and started walking back, she heard the receptionist at the entrance whispering, "Considering the way they carry out, it would have been strange if they hadn"t closed!"
"That"s right. How can they attract guests like that!"
Feng Na felt that something was odd after hearing their words. She turned around to look at them, but could see that the receptionists were looking straight ahead, as if they hadn"t said anything at all.
Her heart was filled with doubt. Beside her, Kris asked suspiciously, "Feng Na, what happened?"
Feng Na"s face was filled with worry as she shook her head, "I don"t know, but something must be going on! d.a.m.n it, I don"t know where Li Yundong lives, and he never answers his cell. What should I do? What am I going to do?"
Alba saw that they were speaking Chinese, so she asked John to translate. After finding out what they were saying, she sneered. "This guy named Li Yundong must be afraid of me scolding him, so he"s hidden like a coward!"
Upon hearing this, Feng Na and Cheng Cheng immediately flew into a rage and glared at Alba. Just as Feng Na was about to retort, she suddenly heard two people walking past and whispering to each other, "Zhenren Li is really careful. For the Taoist a.s.sembly, he actually handed the shop over to that bunch of coquettish foxes and let them manage it. Now, he"s even closed the shop! Hey, do you think he"s preparing some kind of powerful magical weapons?"
"That"s possible, but no matter how much he prepares, it won"t do anything! Hey, Shishiong, don"t worry about it. Once his powerful magical weapon has been refined, even if Li Yundong has great abilities, he"ll have to admit defeat!"
"That"s not necessarily true. Zhenren Li"s skills are not just for show, he"s built them up over numerous battles."
"Tch, what do you mean by fighting? This guy has a swarm of coquettish foxes around him. Even if he can fight, his skills must be weak. When the Taoist a.s.sembly begins, his legs will turn to jelly. How can he fight?"
Saying this, they both chuckled in low voices.
When Feng Na heard the two of them talking about Zhenren Li, she suddenly thought of something. Hadn"t someone called Li Yundong "Zhenren Li" at the opening ceremony?
She secretly thought to herself, "Is the "Li Zhenren" these two guys are talking about actually Li Yundong?"
Thinking of this, Feng Na couldn"t help but step forward and ask, "h.e.l.lo, may I ask if the Zhenren Li of which you speak is also known as Li Yundong?"
The two men had not expected Feng Na to overhear their casual conversation. Suddenly they were slightly startled, and they looked Feng Na up and down and said with a wary look, "Who are you?"