Xia Lei gaped when the door was opened.
In the doorway was Long Bing, who was dressed in a tight-fitting sports top and exercise shorts. The clothing was black, and stretchy, hugging her body closely like a second skin.
She was a cold iceberg, but a very s.e.xy one.
Xia Lei didn’t know where to look.
“What are you looking at?”
Xia Lei laughed awkwardly. “You’re beautiful.”
Long Bing wrinkled her brows. “I’m not the sort of woman who likes sweet nothings. Come in.”
Xia Lei entered, and closed the door casually behind him. He put the things he had bought on the tea table, and looked about Long Bing’s home. He’d said that he would renovate her place for her, and buy appliances and so on. This was a sort of promise he had made, and since he had made this promise, he was going to keep it.
Long Bing looked at the things Xia Lei had bought. Some ingredients, red wine, chocolates and the like. “What did you buy all these things for?”
“I can’t let you eat instant noodles all the time, right? You should take better care of yourself. Don’t under-nourish yourself for the sake of convenience. It’s not good for your body to eat instant noodles so often,” said Xia Lei.
Xia Lei’s concern made a smile appear in the corners of Long Bing’s mouth, but this smile disappeared instantly. She abruptly turned sideways, letting loose a kick at Xia Lei’s shoulder.
Long Bing’s foot struck Xia Lei’s shoulder. There was pain upon impact, and he staggered two steps back.
“What the h.e.l.l are you doing?” Xia Lei rubbed at the shoulder which had been kicked, and was p.i.s.sed.
Long Bing said nothing. She stepped forward, and when she was one step away from Xia Lei, she suddenly turned and swept her foot in a whirlwind kick at Xia Lei’s neck. Her long leg moved in a black-white swis.h.i.+ng of movement, beautiful, but fierce.
Xia Lei did not retreat. He moved, and cut straight between Long Bing’s legs to block her thigh with his shoulder, grabbing the waistband of her shorts at the same time. He took her down. Long Bing had been going all out on the offense earlier, but was now riding on Xia Lei’s shoulder a second later.
But it was just one second.
Long Bing suddenly locked her legs around Xia Lei’s neck, and threw her upper body backwards to drop Xia Lei down on the carpet with her.
This was a familiar sight in the UFC No Hold Barred fights, and was called the triangular lock.
“Mwet mwe goh. Wha aa uu duuin?” Xia Lei’s mouth was covered by Long Bing’s part, and his voice was strange.
Long Bing was stranger. Her brows furrowed when Xia Lei talked, and a red blush flooded her pale jade skin.
“Ellooo? Staahp dooin deez.” Xia Lei kept talking.
“You… Hah… Don’t speak.” Long Bing looked like she couldn’t bear it, and there was a small s.h.i.+ver of pleasure in her voice.
“I’m gooin to taalg moore becauz yuu doan waan me to taalg.” Xia Lei was doing it on purpose now.
“No, I want to learn Wing Chun from you!”
“Aar we gooin to learn Weeng Chuun in deez pozizion? Oooh, wha iz deez perfuum? Smeels weeird.”
“You punk! You’re doing this on purpose! I… I’ll punish you!” Long Bing’s legs tightened, and she twisted her slender waist to flip herself up, up on Xia Lei, pressing him down.
It was still the triangular lock, but in an upright position. No matter if it was up or down, Xia Lei was not able to escape from the pressure of that part.
“Let me up. I’ll teach you p.u.s.s.y Wing Chun,” said Xia Lei.
“p.u.s.s.y Wing Chun?” Long Bing looked down at him, her eyes blazing. She looked a little sinister.
“p.u.s.s.y Wing Chun.” Xia Lei’s voice was getting more m.u.f.fled. He’d been trying to say ‘proper Wing Chun’.
“You’re provoking me.”
“So?”
A black sports top suddenly dropped from above, covering Xia Lei’s face. What happened next was… Proper Wing Chun? p.u.s.s.y Wing Chun? The man and woman were intertwined and could not be sure anymore…
One hour later, Xia Lei and Long Bing sat at the dining table and ate dinner. Xia Lei couldn’t bear to let Long Bing eat instant noodles, so he had painstakingly prepared delicious dishes for her, and opened a bottle of red wine too. Long Bing ate happily. This dinner was full of romance and warmth.
After dinner, Xia Lei and Long Bing lay on the sofa to watch TV.
“I’ll tell you something.” Xia Lei broke the warm silence between them.
“What is it?”
Xia Lei recounted the happenings of the past few days.
Long Bing’s expression grew serious. “You reached an agreement with Germany, and got the Eurofighter Typhoon technology for our nation? This is a state secret! Why are you so casually telling me this?”
“You’re not an outsider. You’re my woman, so what does it matter if I tell you?” said Xia Lei.
“Then will you tell Shentu Tianyin?”
Xia Lei thought for a bit. “No.”
It would be meaningless to tell Shentu Tianyin something like this. She was a businesswoman, not an agent. Matters like these were also safer with fewer aware of them. More people knowing meant more problems. Not telling her was also a form of protection.
Long Bing gave a laugh. “Looks like there is a difference between me and her in your heart.”
“What I want to tell you is not just this. That person who leaked the information… Her motive is to hurt me. She should still be unaware that I have struck this deal with the Germans. She wanted to harm me, but I reaped some benefit from this instead.”
“Have you found out who she is?”
“I’m telling you now, but you might not believe it when I tell you.”
“Eh? Then tell me.”
“I listened to the phone recordings of Philip’s conversations. Her voice…” After a pause, Xia Lei said, “It’s Gu Kewen’s voice.”
“Gu Kewen?” said Long Bing in surprise. “How’s that possible? I killed her myself in j.a.pan. How can she be alive? I stabbed her in the heart.”
“Did you only stab her once?”
“Just once. That female killer was right in front of me at that time, pointing a gun at me. I had no chance to stab her again. But I stabbed her in the heart, so it makes no difference if I stabbed once or twice,” said Long Bing. Memories of the scene surfaced in her head, and she was sure that she had killed Gu Kewen.
Xia Lei was silent for a bit before saying, “There are two possibilities. A woman who has a voice similar to Gu Kewen’s. Or Gu Kewen is still alive, and she has recouped and come back even stronger.”
“How’s this possible? She’s dead.”
“Nothing is for sure in this world. Maybe her heart is different, and your one stab was not enough to kill her. Maybe you were nervous because of the threat of that female killer, and you made a mistake.”
“It does seem plausible, now that you mention it.” Long Bing sighed. “If this possibility is true, then she really is as hardy as a c.o.c.kroach. Oh, right, you said you were going to Germany to build the workshop and lathe for the Germans. I’m a little worried now. Could this be a trap?”
Xia Lei was struck by a thought. “You mean… Whether the informant was Gu Kewen or not, her telling Germany was only part of her plan? Her real motive is to lure me to Germany, and deal with me there?”
“There is this possibility.”
Xia Lei thought for a bit, but shook his head. “This possibility is too low. First of all, I was the one who suggested going to Germany to build the workshop and the lathe.”
“Why did you have to do that? You know that going to Germany would pose a great danger.”
“I did it for the nation. Think about it — we bought so many Russian engines, but we are still unable to make a suitable engine. I believe that our scientists have taken those engines apart and studied them, but the technology on paper is not the same as actual technology. Our manufacturing industry is still lagging behind, and it’s not something which one or two lathes can improve. It concerns various industries, and several fields of science. I’ve thought about it. Even if we get the Eurofighter Typhoon engine technology from Germany, it will not be useful if it’s only the paper-level technology. That was why I’d suggested that the Germans send people to build the production workshop for the engine, and we go build the things they want. We can manufacture the Eurofighter Typhoon engine with the workshop, and we can learn more technologies at the same time,” said Xia Lei.
Long Bing stroked Xia Lei’s cheek. “You’re right. This is a risk worth taking. When do you plan to go to Germany?”
“After my wedding with Shentu Tianyin. Most of the preparations would be complete by then,” said Xia Lei.
“I’ll go with you.”
“Mm.”
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring…
Xia Lei’s phone rang all of a sudden.