25 Flowers remain beautiful until the water runs dry

The ride to Ying Yue's apartment in the city was quiet.

They were already halfway to their destination before Xi Shenghui spoke up. "Phoenix team has already secured your apartment." The address on her resumes and files had always been different from her actual location. If anyone broke into that address, the place would be empty.

"Oh, so you do know how to make conversation." Ying Yue gave him the side-eye.

He wasn't fazed at all by her sarcastic remark and ignored it completely. He'd been through worse than that. "You don't seem very worried about what happened."

She looked out the window. She was, but she had plans. "Flowers remain beautiful until the water runs dry."

He merely nodded. Xi Shenghui knew what she meant because he was the same. He would never show any sign of weakness until he'd truly lost.

"And water, in its natural course, runs away from high places and hastens downward." She turned her head to Xi Shenghui, her eyes a bit cold and distant, much unlike how she was a moment ago. "Do you understand what that means?"

"I think it means that we run away from the strong."

"Yes it does." Ying Yue laughed lightly, her thoughts flying to Fei Huangjin and the memory of their recent conversation. "But sometimes, turning to the strong is the best thing we can do."

He suddenly became uncomfortable with the topic, and he shifted the conversation to a more practical one. "I advise you not to take public transport starting tomorrow. Perhaps you could get a car."

"Or you could drive me," she suggested, a smile on her lips.

Xi Shenghui glanced at her but just kept silent. She had reverted back to her bubbly self again.

She was just kidding of course, but she wanted the guy to loosen up a bit. "I was kidding. Normal people would smile at the very least, you know."

He was still silent.

Ying Yue rolled her eyes at him. So much for conversation.

In no time, they arrived at Sea View Horizon where her apartment was. He didn't make a move of getting out the car and just glanced at her. It was obvious to Ying Yue he was already bothered with her presence. Mo Yiling and Big Boss gave her the same look whenever she was at Juyan.

Was she really that annoying to them? She laughed at the thought.

When she was about to get off, Xi Shenghui took hold of her arm and she turned back to look at him with a mocking smile. "What's up? Missing me already?"

His face was serious, looking at her with a frown, and he handed her what looked like a pen. "This is a pen, but it's also a tracker. If you click it three times, it will send a distress signal directly to me." Xi Shenghui released her and turned to the steering wheel. "Don't play with it."

Play with it? Her brows briefly rose up.

Well, she wasn't going to refuse it. She needed all the help she could get. "Thanks." She gave him a bright smile and took off.

***

"Boss." Guan Ting called and Fei Huangjin put his phone on loudspeaker. The door to his study was slammed shut. He was not in a good mood.

When he left the office, it was only then that he realized Ying Yue had left without telling him. It was the first time she had done so and he didn't like it one bit. He pursed his lips in frustration. That woman was really something.

"It's been almost 24 hours, why haven't I heard from you?" He mumbled, sitting down behind his desk and rubbing his chin.

"We're having a difficult time dealing with the information we've gathered. I want to talk to you about that knife." Guan Ting blew out a breath of frustration. How was he going to report this to Fei Huangjin?

"Speak."

"That knife… it was one of ours. They're from the batch of weapons we sold to Juyan a couple of years back." Guan Ting shuffled through the documents in his hand. He had double checked the records before calling him up. It wasn't a mistake.

"Juyan?" He stilled. Why would she have a knife from Juyan?

"Yes, sir."

"Hmm." Huangjin cocked his head to one side. If she got the knife from Juyan, then there were only two explanations for it: 1) Juyan's been selling off some of the weapons they've acquired; or 2) she was one of their agents. The first one was highly unlikely since Juyan needed weapons for their own agents. But the second one…

He thought back to the way she protected him, handling the incident with ease. It certainly wasn't impossible.

"How about the man who tried to kill me?"

"Boss… I don't think someone was trying to kill you last night. I think they were after your secretary." Guan Ting scratched his head. It took them time to find out who was behind the incident, but what he'd found had confused him, too. "There's some talk that Jade Circle's been looking for your secretary, but we're not sure why. Our mole in Jade Circle said Wang Longwei put up a notice this afternoon to take the girl alive."

Fei Huangjin frowned. His secretary? "Did you find the hitman from last night?"

"His body was found off a cliff at the North, just an hour ago."

"Wait," Fei Huangjin stood up, looking alarmed, "you said Longwei ordered to take the girl alive?"