Chapter 321 - Meeting w.a.n.g Xinyan Again
Uncle Fu"s Bentley was in front of the villa already- Lin Yi parked in an empty s.p.a.ce in the yard before going to Uncle Fu"s car. "Uncle Fu, wait for a second. I"ll go change."
"Alright, go prepare what you need." Uncle Fu nodded.
Lin Yi was currently in his uniform, not really something he should wear to the airport- it"d make him stand out too much.
It wasn"t so in Songshan, but other cities didn"t have that, let alone overseas. His mission required for him to keep a low profile.
Lin Yi put on the casual clothes he"d bought that night in the market before putting on a pair of sungla.s.ses. He took the blade out of his shoe and placed it in his drawer, since it wouldn"t get past the airport security anyway. He"ll just get another blade after landing.
He tossed even his phone onto his desk- he came out of the villa without bringing anything.
"You"re not taking anything with you?" Uncle Fu looked at Lin Yi oddly.
"What"s there to take? I"m just bringing someone back, that"s all." Lin Yi shook his head.
Uncle Fu didn"t say anything to that- he handed Lin Yi a credit card and plane ticket. "The withdrawal limit"s one million dollars. The pa.s.sword"s the same as what I gave you last time."
Lin Yi put them in his pocket without saying anything.
He was no stranger to planes, but it was the first time he was taking one as "Lin Yi". He"d always used different ident.i.ties when carrying out missions in the past.
It wasn"t long until he"d gotten to the airport, pa.s.sed the security, and gotten on the plane. The ticket Uncle Fu got him was first cla.s.s, not surprising considering who Chu Pengzhan was.
It was a transit flight- the plane would stop at Yanjing. Lin Yi closed his eyes and prepared to take a nap.
"Excuse me please, mister…" Lin Yi"s seat was by the walkway- it looked like he was sleeping with his head lowered.
He hadn"t fallen asleep. Lin Yi a.s.sumed that the pa.s.senger had a seat by the window, and he stood up to a face he found familiar. "Eh? It"s you?"
"?" w.a.n.g Xinyan looked at this man with a big pair of sungla.s.ses on- he did look familiar, but she couldn"t quite put her finger on who he was. "You are…?"
He took the sungla.s.ses off after a slight pause. "What about now?"
"It"s you! Lin Yi!" Xinyan said, surprised. "Why… Why are you here?"
She realized how stupid her question was the next instant- he was on the plane to get to Yanjing, what else?
"Ah, same reason you"re here for." Lin Yi shrugged. "Got any luggage? I"ll help you put it up."
"...Yeah." Xinyan nodded after some hesitation. It"d be a bit troublesome for a girl to do it, and she was thinking of asking the staff for help when Lin Yi offered to. "Thanks."
"Don"t mention it." Lin Yi opened the compartment with one hand and put the luggage bag in with the other.
Xinyan"s mouth was open with surprise- it wasn"t heavy, but Lin Yi had to be really strong to be able to get it up with one hand like that.
The two of them then sat down together.
"Thanks for what you did last time……" Xinyan had always wanted to thank Lin Yi- she"d have been in a lot of trouble otherwise.
"It"s nothing, don"t worry about it." Lin Yi shook his head. "Didn"t you help me out too, that time in the train?"
"Haha, that time?" Xinyan laughed. "I thought you got scammed, but turned out it was the scammers who were down on their luck! Ah, are you headed to Yanjing too?"
"Yeah, but it"s a transit flight." Lin Yi nodded.
"Oh, I see……" Xinyan said, a little disappointed. She"d wanted to treat him to a meal to express her grat.i.tude, but Lin Yi wouldn"t be able to go out the airport if it were a transit… The restaurants in there were all fast-food restaurants, not too appropriate for something like this.
"What about you? What"re you going to Yanjing for?" Lin Yi asked.
"There"s… some family issues I have to sort out……" Xinyan looked a bit sad when she said that.
"Oh?" Lin Yi noticed that Xinyan wasn"t too keen on talking about it.
The two then fell into silence- Lin Yi could tell that Xinyan wasn"t someone who was good with people- she was a bit of an introvert. She wouldn"t have been listening to her MP3 by herself in the train if it weren"t so.
It was evident from that accident she was involved in, too- she wouldn"t have been taken advantage of by Wu Huiru if it weren"t for this aspect of her. Needless to say, Huiru wouldn"t have had as easy a time if it"d been a girl like Chen Yushu or that violent Liu Xinwen… Things would"ve turned out very differently for her.
"What"s your phone number-"
"What"s your phone number-"
The two spoke at the same time- they made eye contact, smiles on their faces. "Give me your phone- I"ll type my number in there." Xinyan said, her face a bit red.
"I didn"t bring mine. I"ll give you my phone number, just send me a text later." Lin Yi said. "152x.x.xX1234…"
"Okay." Xinyan nodded and pulled her phone out to type in Lin Yi"s number. She sent a text over to his phone.
"Your house"s in Yanjing?" It was a long trip- if Xinyan wasn"t a good speaker then it was up to Lin Yi to make conversation.
"It"s my grandpa"s house……" Xinyan looked sad once more. "He pa.s.sed away… I"m attending his funeral……"
"Ah?" Lin Yi blinked. "I"m sorry for your loss. But, why"re you alone?"
"My parents went back first- I was still going to school, and I had to take a leave and stuff." Xinyan explained. "It"s nothing, really… I wasn"t too close with my grandpa in the first place, we haven"t met too many times. It"s just that my parents married against their parents" wishes- their fathers were enemies……"
Lin Yi thought that this family sure was complicated- so that was why Xinyan looked that sad. Her mother might"ve stopped going back a lot after going against her own family like that, and that also meant that her husband"s father wouldn"t treat her too nicely now that his enemy"s daughter was married into his house…
"Well, we all have our family problems. Your situation isn"t actually that bad- I"m a tad bit unluckier than you are. I still don"t know who my parents are!" Lin Yi consoled.
Chapter 322 - Misinformation
"Ah??" Xinyan paused. "You"re… You"re an orphan?"
"You could say that. Though, I do have someone looking after me, more or less my adopted parent. But he is at an awkward age……" Lin Yi scratched his head. "I call him old man."
"Ah……" Xinyan found herself cheered up by Lin Yi. "You don"t have to console me or anything, I"m really fine. It"s just that… I feel pretty uncomfortable that my uncles are fighting over the inheritance when my grandpa"s corpse is just lying in the hospital… It"s my parents who even bothered getting him a funeral at all…"
"......" Lin Yi didn"t quite know what to say to that- what were these uncles doing, leaving their father"s funeral to just his broken-up with daughter while they busied themselves fighting for the inheritance?
"But it"s alright… My family isn"t doing this for anything special. He"s a rich grandpa, a bit richer and more powerful than my grandpa on my father"s side, but my parents have managed to earn themselves a big piece of land over the years……" Xinyan hadn"t been able to share this with anyone- there were n.o.body to complain to. Lin Yi was someone she got along quite well, and they were in a pretty good setting for something like this. "It"s just that… My uncles are saying that my mom"s going back now for the inheritance…"
"......" Lin Yi only listened, not quite sure what to say. This was her family business, after all, not something he could just b.u.t.t into.
"Ah…… I"m just complaining a little, sorry." Xinyan shook her head with a bitter smile.
"It"s alright- like I said, everyone has their own family problems, right. It"ll always be complicated, so the best thing to do is to just try your best." Lin Yi said.
"Yeah- to just try your best." Xinyan nodded…
Xinyan seemed to have gotten tired after they"d talked for a while- she leaned back on her chair and drifted into a sleep after a while. Lin Yi lowered the AC and closed his eyes himself.
The plane was starting its descent by the time he"d woken up- Xinyan had gotten up before he had, and was listening to her MP3, a cup of juice on her table along with some bags of chips.
She took her earphones off after seeing Lin Yi was awake, handing him a bag of chips. "Here- they were giving these out. I got you one."
"You eat it- I don"t like that kinda stuff." Lin Yi said after a look- it was some sort of low-fat vegetable chips, not something he was interested in.
"Oh, thanks…" Xinyan seemed to like this particular junk food a lot- she"d finished her portion already.
The plane landed in Yanjing airport not long after, and they parted ways, Xinyan walking to the arrivals gate while Lin Yi made his way to the international transit one.
His chance meeting with Xinyan was a nice bonus, Lin Yi thought as he walked up the plane. There wasn"t anyone he knew here, and so he closed his eyes and drifted into sleep.
He was in a foreign land by the time he"d woken up- a city with a romantic setting, but not Blue Town. He was still a couple of kilometers away from where the airport was..
He hailed a taxi and used English to tell him to get to Blue Town.
English was an international language- people in this small European town used it as well. There were many tourists here, and the driver had gotten used to it- the place had been bustling with activity after the Bluewater mafia had taken control, filling it with prost.i.tution, casinos, red light districts, drug trading……
There were always famed tourists visiting Blue Town every day, too, and the driver just a.s.sumed Lin Yi was one such tourist. "Kid, it"s alright if you go there for a bit of fun, but remember not to get addicted there…… It"ll get really bad otherwise."
"Haha, thanks- I"ll keep that in mind." Lin Yi liked the driver- he even knew to warn him of stuff like that.
The driver stopped there with the warnings, and started introducing Blue Town as a tourism spot- Lin Yi was obviously Asian, and obviously a tourist. "Remember not to cross the people with blue baseball bats in Bluetown- they"re members of the Bluewater mafia, the gang that controls everything here, from the casinos to strip clubs. It"s the only mafia group here, and they"re very strong. You p.i.s.s them off and you might not make it back out!"
"I"ve heard of that!" Lin Yi nodded. "Oh, by the way- can I know where the Bluewater mafia HQ is?"
"HQ? Why"re you asking that for?" The driver tensed up.
"I wanna live somewhere farther away from there- it sounds too scary. I"m here alone, after all, I don"t wanna get into trouble." Lin Yi explained with a smile.
"Ah, I see!" The driver exhaled in relief before answering with a smile. "They"re located in an old castle to the west, but that"s not actually where the core of the Waterblue resides, since it stands out so much! The members in that castle are just normal members."
"I see!" Lin Yi said. Was the information Guangbo had given him wrong? It listed the blue castle as the Waterblue"s main headquarters! Did Guangbo not investigate properly something even a driver here knew about?
"Haha, that"s right. A cousin of mine is a Waterblue member, so I know a bit more! Their real HQ is in a car repair factory in the northern district. This is something only a small number of people know, but it should be fine since you"re not from around here. Just remember not to go near the northern district if you can!"
"I understand. I won"t go there." Lin Yi replied. So that was what it was- it wasn"t a big secret, but Songshan was simply too far away. Guangbo had only managed to get hands on more superficial info.
Just using the internet didn"t get you detailed information- you needed a hands-on investigation for that.
Lin Yi asked the driver to get him inside the city before switching to another taxi. He found a hotel room in the northern district and moved in.
Tourists like Lin Yi weren"t rare- no one paid him much attention in the hotel. He put on his sungla.s.ses and walked out of the hotel after taking a look at the room, strolling about in the northern district.
Naturally, Lin Yi wouldn"t go asking around for the repair factory- that might get him into unnecessary trouble. Who knew if the people he"d ask were connected to the mafia? He was here to get Xie Jinbiao back, not start a war with the Waterblue.