Xiao Bing had to take Zhan Hongyan to the Ye family"s mansion because she had nowhere to go. But Xiao Bing soon after decided to rent an apartment for her from online as quickly as possible. Although Xiao Bing was c.o.c.ksure that Zhan Hongyan harbored no other thoughts, he felt it uncomfortable when his woman was with an a.s.sa.s.sin.Fortunately, Zhan Hongyan preferred to be alone, so she did not come out after she walked into the room that was arranged for her.
Xiao Bing lay in bed and Yezi was all over him. "Yezi, you keep crossing the line. I might have to bang you one day when I can no longer resist it."
"How dare you! I"m not gonna do anything with you before our marriage..." Yezi blinked her eyes and asked with prudence, "You still haven"t told me what"s the situation with that women. I remember that she wanted to kill you and my brother, but then you set her free. Why does she do your bidding now and why did you bring her here?"
Xiao Bing grinned. "It"s a long story."
"I have the patience for it."
Then Xiao Bing told her that the Ghost Nest had sent an a.s.sa.s.sin to kill Bi Tingting today and how he forced Zhan Hongyan to swear her fealty to him. But he omitted the part where he stripped her and sprawled over her.
Upon hearing Xiao Bing"s story, Ye Xiaoxi collected her thoughts. "It seems that there"s really something going on between you and Bi Tingting."
"I..."
"I"m just kidding. I don"t care about what you do outside this house. I only want you to love me when we"re home. By the way, can we trust this woman?"
"We can," said Xiao Bing with iron certainty. "She has already betrayed her organization, which means that she can no longer be the a.s.sa.s.sin she used to be. There"s no other way for her aside from working for me. And she"s already at the early stage of Clear-strength, which makes her a true master of martial arts. She will greatly be of help to me after I instruct her in martial arts."
Ye Xiaoxi stared at Xiao Bing gently. "Brother Bing, I feel that you"re more and more like my father."
Xiao Bing put on a wry smile. "I don"t even know if that"s a compliment or not. If I were your father, then what does that make the two of us?"
"That"s not what I mean. I"m saying that you resemble him in some aspects. For example, you two are both ambitious men."
"Really?" Xiao Bing was interested.
"You"ve started building your own force. The reason you made Zhan Hongyan turn against her kind is that you want her to work for you. Everything you do is proof that you are an ambitious man."
"Ambitious?" Xiao Bing rubbed his nose, and the dying Su Peiya swam up before him. He thought of the Long family, which he was about to fight, then he thought of the Four Heavenly Kings working under Master Hou"s leadership. His eyes gradually turned complicated. "I"ll never want to be a hero. I merely want to protect the ones who need protection: The good people in this city, my friends, my girl... I will do anything to fulfill that wish."
Ye Xiaoxi pressed her face against Xiao Bing"s chest. "I know now, Brother Bing," said she in a soft voice.
Xiao Bing continued, "Unlike Master Hou, who can command thousands of rascals, I"m not involved in a gang and I only seek the best of the rascals. That"s why there are few men who can be of help to me. Gao Fei"s might is unfathomable, but he just regards me as his boss. Technically, he isn"t really loyal to me.
"Dumba.s.s has always been loyal to me since I got him out of prison. And indeed he"s an honest man. I take him as my friend and brother and I believe that he"ll never do anything against me.
"Lil Bei is also my good brother and he"s a powerful martial artist. But he has not retired yet. He could be gone whenever the country needs him.
"Strictly speaking, they are the only three that can be of help to me, but two of them might leave at any time. I"m still short-handed. So I managed to take Zhan Hongyan here with me."
Ye Xiaoxi nodded and said smilingly, "Brother Bing, I want to sleep while staying in this position. It feels so good."
Xiao Bing gently patted on her back while smiling lovingly. "Then sleep. Goodnight."
Obviously, Ye Xiaoxi was so tired, physically and mentally. Her father, brother, and sister were all gone. She had to manage the company alone. She didn"t even have time to go to the concert. Xiao Bing felt his arm get a little numb because of the pressure. But he did not dare to make any movement. He did not want to wake her up.
Xiao Bing fell asleep not long after.
The next morning, Xiao Bing woke up and found Ye Xiaoxi was not on top of him. But she was still holding his arm while her legs were clamping onto one of his.
Xiao Bing smiled sincerely when he watched Ye Xiaoxi sleeping. He found her very cute. He carefully kissed her nose while murmuring inwardly, "You"re my baby, Yezi."
Yezi did not know what he was thinking and she did not know that Xiao Bing had secretly kissed her. But she could always feel the inornate love Xiao Bing offered her. The love was as strong as the affection a teenage boy could have for the girl in his heart.
Xiao Bing felt the warmth from her body because his body was against hers. And he seemed to be sated as long as it could always be like this. Yezi might have been the only one who could satisfy this man so easily.
Yezi woke up and found Xiao Bing staring at her. She felt there was something on the corner of her mouth. "Ah! I drooled. It"s so embarra.s.sing!"
Her cuteness made Xiao Bing laugh. "It"s all right. It"s absolutely normal."
"Then why are you still laughing at me?"
"No, I"m not laughing," said Xiao Bing smilingly, "I just think you"re very cute."
"Cute." Ye Xiaoxi tensed at the word. Staring at Xiao Bing"s mild eyes, she could not help asking, "Brother Bing, why are you so nice to me?"
"Because I like you."
Ye Xiaoxi"s eyes glittered with tears. She buried her head in his chest and lay huddled up in his embrace. "Brother Bing, thank you. You have always been so kind to me. I feel that I"d still have you even if the whole world were to fade."
"You"re the world to me."
Ye Xiaoxi nodded and leaned on Xiao Bing"s chest. The two did not speak for a long time and they could not even breathe freely. They did not do anything, but their scalding love made them breathless.
Quite a while later, Ye Xiaoxi finally disengaged herself from his embrace. "I wish we could do this forever. But there are so many things waiting for me at the company."
Xiao Bing sat up and fetched Ye Xiaoxi her clothes. "I a.s.sume the work must be exhausting," said Xiao Bing while watching her dress.
"It is tiring. But whenever I think about my father spending his whole life building this empire, the idea that I must not disappoint him grows stronger and stronger. Maybe I"m new to all of this and I know there"s a lot I need to learn. I bought many books about management and economy and I read them whenever I have time. Even though I hold the biggest share of the company and I"m the director of the board, the employees won"t obey me if I can"t prove myself."
Xiao Bing sighed. "That"s true. Even graduates need time to learn and be familiar with their work. There are still two years before your graduation and now you"ve started working and need to manage so many employees. It"s too much for you."
"It"s okay as long as you are here with me." Ye Xiaoxi suddenly approached him, making the two very close. "I"ll go brush my teeth and wash my face. We"ll have breakfast together later. But I need to kiss you first."
Their lips touched and Ye Xiaoxi got out of bed grinning. She put on her slippers and walked out.
Xiao Bing licked his lips and smiled. "It smells good."
Zhan Hongyan joined them for breakfast, but she did not utter a word the whole time. Ye Xiaoxi put aside her usual casualness because of Zhan Hongyan"s presence. After all, she was not familiar with this woman and she even tried to a.s.sa.s.sinate his brother.
Yezi left home after breakfast. Zhan Hongyan looked at Xiao Bing and asked, "Is she your girlfriend?"
"Yes. Why did you ask that?"
"Then who is Bi Tingting?" Zhan Hongyan threw out another question.
Xiao Bing felt a little awkward. "She"s a superstar."
"What"s your true ident.i.ty?"
Xiao Bing straightened his face and said sternly, "Don"t ask me too much about these personal things. Many of them involve the secrets of this country."
Even Xiao Bing himself felt the words he just said sounded like a lie. After he finished breakfast, he dropped his chopsticks in haste and walked out of the dining room. Upon seeing the embarra.s.sment on Xiao Bing"s face, Zhan Hongyang smiled triumphantly. She finally found that this devil"s weakness was Yezi.
After breakfast, Zhan Hongyan went to the living room and sat opposite Xiao Bing. "Last night, I did some research on the Internet and found some apartments we can rent near the noodle house. You should take a look at them. When you have a place to live, you don"t need to come to the noodle house every day. But you must be there whenever they need your help."
Zhan Hongyan nodded. Then she spoke with no emotion on her face. "I know I was being such a b.u.mmer last night. But I feel this house is well-soundproofed. So was it still so inconvenient last night?"