Stolen Love’s page has been updated with a synopsis, which I pieced together from a really detailed review written by a Chinese fan of the novel. I contemplated adding character profiles, but they’re somewhat spoiler-y so I decided against it.
Also, as I know a lot of people must be wondering: The ML comes into the story at Chapter 20, so hang tight, we’re nearly there!
Chapter 17: The Diamond
Li Xin clasped her hand around the enormous diamond she was holding; it belonged to some European royal family. She stood next to the window of her luxurious presidential suite, mindlessly running her fingers over the jewel.
"Long time no see, Li Xin," came a steady male voice after a while.
She turned around to face the owner of the voice, an Afro-Asian man whose originally handsome face was dull with exhaustion. "Long time no see, Ya."
His motorcycle had given him away. Li Xin had known the moment she saw the familiar vehicle that it was Mu Ya, one of the best male thieves in their organization. He was known for his calm, steady demeanor and impeccable skills. Jewels and diamonds were his specialty and he never failed. The two of them had also grown up together.
Ya glanced briefly at the diamond in Li Xin"s hands and then made his way over to the couch in the room, plopping himself down heavily. He poured himself a gla.s.s of wine. "Didn"t think I"d see you here," he said. "I need your help."
Li Xin joined him, sitting on the opposite side. She shifted the diamond between her fingers. "I"m not part of the organization anymore. Their business isn"t my business."
"Li Xin, why lie to yourself? You know how important you are to them. Boss isn"t going to let you go. If you help me, " Ya said, peering at her detachedly from the couch, "I"ll pretend I never saw you. Run, hide, do whatever you want. Whether you get caught or not won"t be my business."
Li Xin was naturally aware of the fact that there was no way their boss would let such an easy money-making machine like her go just like that — not after the twenty years he had painstakingly spent making her into what she was.
That was the reason she rarely stayed long in any place after leaving them. Their network was huge, but she wouldn"t give them the opportunity to locate her. The world was immense, and by the time she"d drifted through it all, she"d have aged past her prime.
She just hadn"t expected to run into one of her old comrades so coincidentally.
"You"re such a hotshot, what kind of trouble would you run into?"
So she was going to help him then. Ya"s lips creased into a humorless smile. "I underestimated the European royals. They caught up to me nearly as soon as I took the jewel; I never got the chance to deliver it. I"ve circled pretty much half the globe, from Europe to here, and I still haven"t gotten rid of them. I need you to help me get them off my trail."
Li Xin couldn"t help raising her eyebrows at him. It was rare for Ya to make such a serious blunder; just the fact that they were capable of following him all the way around the world was a surprise. She wasn"t sure who she ought to admire — Ya"s ability to evade capture, or his chasers" ability to stay on his trail for so long.
Her stare made Ya feel humiliated. It shamed him that he was being chased all over the world and had been unable to return to headquarters. Instead, he was wandering around all over the place.
Li Xin watched as he collapsed sideways on the couch in embarra.s.sment. In the ten plus years they"d worked together, she had never seen him blush. This was a novelty. She laughed and tossed the precious jewel over to him. "Have you looked at it?"
"It"s the real thing, 100 percent," he said.
She rolled her eyes. "I know it"s genuine! If you stole counterfeit gems, you wouldn"t be in this business," she said. "I meant, have you taken a good look at it?"
Her words prompted Ya to sit back up and inspect the diamond from multiple angles. "This side here seems to be less polished."
Li Xin nodded. "When you look at it from a 120-degree angle, there"s a layer of jade powder on the surface. This kind of powder comes from a soft jade that has been preserved for a long time, so it possesses a unique scent that is imperceptible to humans. But it"s machine-detectable, and that would be the reason why you haven"t been able to get them off your trail."
Her friend threw the diamond back at her. He was visibly seething and beyond humiliated at losing to something he"d never even heard of. "Help me out. Antiques are your specialty."
She caught the stone neatly and laughing, began grinding the jewel against the tempered gla.s.s surface of the coffee table between them. Ya jumped up in shock. "You"ll ruin its surface!"
Li Xin smirked. "That"s your problem, not mine," she replied. "All I"m doing is helping you get rid of your dedicated little entourage." After she finished, she threw the diamond back at him.
The jade powder was made using ancient methods and could therefore not be gotten rid of with modern ways. It couldn"t be pried off or melted, but it could certainly be eliminated using the most primitive method: grinding. Even the strongest powder cold be blotted out.
Ya stared at her in exasperation. "Well, a gem is still a gem, even if it"s been ground," he finally said, furrowing his brows in defeat and holding the jewel to his chest.
Li Xin started laughing. He was right… even if the stone was broken in two pieces, it was still a coveted gem. Who cared? Besides, a bit of wear and tear was normal in such an old object; no one would deny its value regardless of whether the sc.r.a.pes were man-made or natural.
"Let me crash here for a night," Ya demanded, falling back on the nearest bed. "I haven"t had a good night"s sleep in so long because of this."
Li Xin raised her eyebrows at his lackadaisical manner. It seemed that just a mere few months away from the organization had made Ya blasé.
"Li Xin, why is your lock broken and your door open?" Jun Qi"s voice sounded from somewhere outside.
Li Xin glared at Ya, who shrugged helplessly. He couldn"t help it. As someone who barely had any trouble with professional standard safety locks, he found the average standard door lock extraordinarily boring. Although he could easily pick the lock, it wasn"t worth his time — so naturally, he just broke it instead.
His idiocy was entirely predictable and Li Xin was not unaware of it. Hearing Jun Qi"s footsteps come closer, she rolled her eyes at Ya.
Upon entering the room, Jun Qi"s eyes took in Li Xin on the couch before drifting immediately towards the attractive man nearby on the bed. He raised his eyebrows.
"Did you need something?" Li Xin asked. She picked up her wine gla.s.s and took a sip, savoring the rich, red liquid.
Jun Qi stood still for a moment, his glance still shifting between Li Xin and the mysterious young man. Finally, his face broke out into his trademark smile and he went over to sit next to Li Xin. He revealed a bag of takeout he"d been carrying, and said, "I promised to treat you."
She peered down into the bag and started. It was the dish she"d wanted more of earlier that night, before they had been interrupted by Ya on his motorcycle. She felt slightly moved at Jun Qi"s dedication; he"d apparently gone back to retrieve their lost dish. She raised her head and looked at him in silence.
"You don"t need to be moved," Jun Qi said with a smile. "That would make me proud."
It occurred to Li Xin that he was completely ignoring Ya"s presence, as if the other man were air. She glanced towards her fellow thief, who appeared to be asleep on the bed. Ya was over six feet tall and had always had a particularly commanding presence — the fact that Jun Qi could completely pretend he didn"t exist was astounding. She couldn"t help thinking how great it would be if people would do that when they were being robbed.
*tn: 飞驼拉之星 is the original name of the diamond that Ya steals. I have no clue what esteemed European jewel this is (more than likely it doesn’t exist), and googling it just led to images of camels (presumably because 驼 is “camel”) so I decided to not name it and just refer to it ambiguously.