Chapter 73 - Free Chef
Li Fu wasn"t expecting Lin Yi at the doorway when he stopped his Bentley in front of the villa.
"What are you doing here, Mister Lin?" Li Fu asked, curious.
"Just wanted some fresh air, also see what our neighbors are like." Lin Yi answered.
Li Fu nodded in response. "Are the girls ready yet? Shall I get them?"
Li Fu was just finishing his sentence when Mengyao and Yushu came walking out, their bags on their back as they chatted. They greeted Li Fu before getting in the car.
Lin Yi, as usual, seated himself at the front, and Li Fu started driving the three to school.
The girls hadn"t stopped talking ever since getting in, whispering softly to each other the whole time. The girls were pretty far away from Lin Yi because of how s.p.a.cious the car was, and he tried to refrain from eavesdropping on what the two girls were saying.
The whispering stopped a moment after, when Yushu pushed at Mengyao. "So you do like it! Why can"t you say it then?"
"Like what? It was just a couple mouthfuls, it"s fine if you don"t want to say it, I don"t really mind either way." Mengyao hmphed in response, turning her head away from Yushu.
Yushu only pouted helplessly. "Alright, alright, fine! I"ll say it."
The last few sentences were slightly louder than the whisperings, and Lin Yi picked up on them in the front seat, despite not making any sense out of them.
"Uncle Fu, can you get some fresher ingredients when you come over tonight?" Yushu requested.
"Oh, ingredients?" Li Fu asked, a little startled at how sudden the request was. "Are you talking about vegetables and meats?"
"Yeah, eggs, spices, as many types of ingredients as possible- we"re running low on them." Yushu said with a couple of nods.
"Sure." Li Fu answered, not sure where this was coming from. The girls had always left the ingredients he prepared for them alone, and he"d reduced the amount seeing how everything just expired without being used. He"d never expected Yushu to request for more ingredients out of nowhere.
Judging by the conversation between the two, Li Fu understood that it was what Mengyao wanted, as well.
"Nice! We"ll have plenty of good food from now on!" Yushu said excitedly as she raised her hand for a high five with Mengyao.
Mengyao only glared back in response. "Food, food, food, all you think about is food!"
Lin Yi could only groan speechlessly inside his head- he"d be an idiot if he still didn"t understand what this Chen Yushu was planning. What did she think she was doing, getting so many ingredients- did she think Lin Yi was a chef now?
Dammit! Lin Yi cursed, annoyed at how Yushu was threatening him like this with a couple of tissues. His teammates would die laughing if they learned what was going on.
It was worse still because of the nature of that incident- it was a deep hole Lin Yi was in, and there wasn"t much he could do but endure it. In all honesty, however, cooking here and there for the sake of the rewards the chairman promised wasn"t that big of a deal. Lin Yi decided to just think of it as part of the mission.
His life now was heavenly in comparison to those days in North Africa"s jungles, where even a simple spider bite took lives. He could go to school like he"d always wanted now, and he could hit on girls, too… Though that part didn"t seem very feasible considering his situation.
Lin Yi was contemplating when he noticed Yushu making faces at him in the rear view mirror, squinting her eyes and moving her eyebrows around. Lin Yi shut his eyes in response.
Yushu was making new combinations, managing to form a very complex expression when she realized Shield Guy wasn"t even looking!! Her face tensed up in irritance, resulting in a facial cramp.
"Shu, what"re you doing? What"s wrong with your face?" Mengyao asked as she looked at Yushu"s face, puzzled.
"It"s… It"s nothing… My tooth hurts…" Yushu endured- Mengyao would just laugh at her if she told him what had happened.
"Your tooth, huh? I thought there was something wrong with your eyes; you kept squeezing them." Lin Yi commented faintly, a little salty about Yushu treating him like her chef.
Ha! Yushu only smiled happily at the comment- So the guy did see her making faces at him- She didn"t cramp her face up for nothing!
"Why"re you smiling when your tooth hurts?" Mengyao asked, not understanding why Yushu was baring her teeth one second and smiling happily by herself the next.
"It"s nothing!" Yushu said with a wave of her hand.
The car parked in one of the school"s nearby alleys, and the girls got out without question. Lin Yi remained in his seat, intending to wait a while before following them inside- Mengyao did tell him to keep their relationship a secret, after all.
"Shall I drive you to the hospital, Mister Lin?" Li Fu offered.
"Oh, the checkup…" His leg didn"t hurt anymore, and he"d have forgotten about it already if Li Fu hadn"t mentioned it. "Sure."
Lin Yi made a mental note to visit an Eastern medicine shop later- normal medication healed too slowly. He had to get Huaijun"s medicine prepared, as well.
Li Fu stopped his car in front of Songshan"s First Hospital, and Lin Yi got off by himself.
Guan Xin was nowhere in sight when Lin Yi entered the clinic. In her place was a middle-aged woman, and Lin Yi sighed in relief, glad that Guan Xin wasn"t here. He didn"t want another awkward moment like that again.
"Hi, I"m here for my checkup." Lin Yi said as he handed his file to the nurse.
"Take a sit there." The nurse ordered after taking a quick look at Lin Yi"s file. It was only a moment before she turned back to him with everything prepared. "Pants off!"
"Um… Shouldn"t we close the doors first?" Lin Yi asked, a little embarra.s.sed as he glanced at the wide open door.
"No one"s gonna look at your b.u.t.t, boy. Let"s go!" The nurse said curtly.
"Um… okay…" Lin Yi was speechless, recalling the shy Guan Xin from yesterday. This middle-aged nurse must have been like that too, once… The years had turned her into a strong mother, and Lin Yi couldn"t help but imagine Guan Xin becoming like that a couple tens of years in… The thought chilled Lin Yi.
His first impression of Guan Xin was a good one, after all.
Although, he had to admit this nurse"s skill- she was nothing like Guan Xin, taking only a couple strokes before completely replacing the bandages. She tossed the used cotton pads into the bin. "Done. You"re healing up nicely, boy- come again tomorrow and you"ll be fine!"
"Okay… Thanks…" Lin Yi thanked the nurse before quickly exiting the clinic. He exhaled in relief- the halls were empty, his b.u.t.t was safe.
Chapter 74 - Man in the Washroom
Lin Yi had wanted to get himself some Eastern medicine, but decided otherwise as he exited the building- medicine was usually more expensive in hospitals. He had the money, and the bank card Chu Pengzhan provided him as well, but what he was looking had prices reaching the thousands and even the ten thousands.
"Mister Lin, the chairman just called- he said to bring you to him if you"re free." Li Fu said as Lin Yi got in the car.
"Oh, Uncle Chu"s looking for me? I"ll pay him a visit, then. But Uncle Fu, you should know that there isn"t anything much I do other than go to school anyway." Lin Yi didn"t know why the chairman wanted to meet him, but it was probably something about the bank robbery, or the incident with Heibao Bro yesterday.
"Alright, I"ll inform Mister Chu right now." With that, Li Fu pulled out his phone, dialing the chairman up and informing him that they were on their way.
The security at the underground parking area recognized the Bentley Li Fu drove, raising the bar for them before the car even got close. Lin Yi didn"t comment on what the guards were doing in order to please Li Fu.
Li Fu"s Bentley was expensive, and it wasn"t easy to replicate an identical car for the sake of sneaking in, but it wasn"t too hard either- the bank robbers at the bank that day were very much capable of the feat, especially when backed up by someone powerful.
A couple of strangers sneaking into the company"s underground parking area wasn"t much of an impact to Pengzhan Industries itself, and Lin Yi kept quiet because of that.
The two of them went up the elevator, knocking on the chairman"s office door after reaching it. Li Fu took a peek inside- he was the chairman"s most trusted man, and it wasn"t above him at all to do so; he had free access into and out of the office.
Li Fu, however, pulled his head back and closed the door. He turned to Lin Yi. "The chairman"s currently occupied, let"s wait a bit before entering."
"Sure." Lin Yi said with a nod. Chu Pengzhan was the chairman of a superpower company- he didn"t expect the guy to just sit around waiting for him. There was so much a man like him could arrange and do within that short window of time. "I"m going to the toilet- call me if you need anything."
"Will do, Mister Lin. The bathroom"s that way." Li Fu pointed away from the office.
The floor they were on hosted the top tier leaders of the company, and all the offices were equipped with their own washrooms. It was only natural then that the public washroom would be located as far as possible from the personal ones.
Lin Yi got to the washroom quickly, faintly hearing a man"s voice coming from inside. The guy was probably on the phone.
Lin Yi never planned on eavesdropping- he wasn"t that type of person. His ears, however, were extremely sensitive, and he couldn"t help but continue listening after picking up a particular name from the conversation.
"You know how long I"ve waited for a chance like this? Chu Mengyao going to the bank was as good an opportunity as it gets, what kind of men did you get for the job?!" The man was furious, but made sure to keep his voice down best as he could- it wasn"t something he"d want people overhearing.
Pa.s.serbys would most likely not pick up anything, as well- Lin Yi only heard the man because of how good his hearing was.
The man had mentioned Mengyao"s name a couple of times, compelling Lin Yi to get closer for a better listen. Lin Yi"s guard went up the moment he brought up the bank.
Lin Yi remained completely silent as he listened to every word the man spoke.
"How"d you expect me to continue working with you people when you can"t even get something like this right? It"s not even anything big- I only needed you to hold onto the girl for a couple hours! The guys with Chu Pengzhan, all they had to do was hint to him that we had his daughter, and the contract would"ve been signed already! Just a little hint, that"s all we needed! The chairman would press his anger down for the sake of his daughter, there"s no doubt about that, don"t you get it??" Lin Yi could tell that the man was very p.i.s.sed off at the whole thing.
"Hmph. What else did you guys mess up? No one"s caught on yet, I a.s.sume? What? You don"t know where your man is? What?! What the f.u.c.k!! How am I supposed to work with a pig like you?" The man cursed. "Alright, I"ll get some info from the police here- settle the things at your end. If things get out of control… You know what you"re expected to do, I hope?"
A phone rang, and the man shut up instantly, clearly very startled at the abrupt noise.
Lin Yi jumped up in shock, as well! He could only smile bitterly at his ringing phone- it was near impossible to continue eavesdropping at this point.
The shock was hard on the man- he"d never expected anyone to even near the public washroom, not when all the offices on that floor had private ones. Only outsiders and staff visited this restroom- it was also why he chose this particular spot to make the call.
Only the janitors came for cleaning every morning and night, in most cases.
Lin Yi pulled out his phone helplessly, seeing Li Fu"s contact on the screen. He hung up before mumbling to himself. "Jun Hua Bro, I"m Liang! Li Xiaoliang! Where are you, I"m at Pengzhan Industries already! I"m at the top floor! Oh, I a.s.sumed that"s where you"d be, as a business manager… Third floor, okay, okay, I was going to use the toilet but I"m coming! What? The top floor"s for the leaders? Alright, I get it- I"ll come to you first!"
Lin Yi walked out the washroom as he spoke, making his way to Pengzhan"s office. Li Fu, on the other hand, didn"t think much about Lin Yi hanging up- he"d probably presumed that Li Fu was calling him back to the office.
The man in the bathroom let out a deep breath of relief upon hearing Lin Yi"s words. Just someone visiting the company for affairs, huh. f.u.c.k, coming up to the top floor for a business manager- how the f.u.c.k did this idiot think a business manager would be all the way up here? Doesn"t he know that they just call themselves that for the sound of it? They"re just clerks!
Lin Yi"s voice got smaller and smaller, and the man started talking again, his voice even more suppressed than before...