At this moment, Chen Lu and her father emerged, surprised to see me greeting Xiao Liu, and even more so by the strangers behind me, including a foreigner.
Xiao Liu approached and whispered something to Chen Jianguo and Chen Lu. He added a few more words, and Chen Jianguo nodded, subtly inviting us inside.
Once inside the villa, Chen Jianguo informed me that suspicious individuals had been monitoring the place not far away.
It was obvious they were from Mohe.
The Eagle Demon hadn't descended yet. She was an important "marker" connected to me, so I immediately sent her a WeChat message, telling her to wander off on her own and stay away from here to avoid suspicion.
However, Chen Lu still had doubts about my true identity. Although my voice matched, she wanted to see me back to my original form. I gave Chen Ke a look, and she came up behind me, fiddling for a moment. Chen Lu gasped in astonishment: "What kind of dark art is this? It's more powerful than Photoshop!"
"The Four Great Dark Arts of East Asia are mere children before her," I chuckled.
It was past lunchtime. Chen Jianguo politely asked if we had eaten. My stomach chose that moment to rumble, and Chen Jianguo immediately went to the underground kitchen to make arrangements for lunch. I introduced my team members to Chen Lu and had a friendly chat. After talking for a while, Chen Lu gave me a meaningful glance and whispered, "I bought you a gift. It's in my room upstairs. Would you like to come up and see it?"
"What gift? Can't you just bring it down?" I asked.
"Tsk," Lin Xi frowned. "If he asks you to go up, just go. Why so many questions!"
Looking at Chen Lu's shy eyes again, I finally understood her true intentions.
It had to be Lin Xi. She saw through everything, observing and analyzing people's expressions, more powerful than my qi-reading skills.
We went up to the second floor. One round of passion, three stages of bliss, four limbs intertwined. Well, I won't go into detail. In short, it was like the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, each displaying their unique powers. Chen Lu found it perfect, even wanting to have another round.
But I couldn't. I could smell the food. Lin Xi also messaged me in WeChat, telling me to take it easy, that they were downstairs and felt like the ceiling was about to crumble.
After tidying up, I went downstairs for lunch. Midway through the meal, the assistant returned empty-handed.
"Didn't you buy it?" I asked.
"I did," the assistant said, pulling out a stack of "money" wrapped in joss paper and handing it to me respectfully.
One hundred billion? That's all?
I unwrapped the joss paper and carefully examined the denominations. I realized each sheet represented one billion. No wonder there was so little. It was equivalent to ten thousand yuan in Chinese counterfeit money.
I needed a red pen to write the address, but Chen Lu's house didn't have one. I remembered seeing a string of red marks on my neck when I looked in the mirror in the bathroom earlier. An idea struck me. I asked Chen Lu for her lipstick, and used it as a pen to write Meng Po's address on the joss paper. To avoid drawing attention, I burned it on the gas stove in the underground kitchen. I wondered if using such an artificial flame was against the rules.
Returning to the first floor to continue eating, I had just taken a few bites when a WeChat message came in from Meng Po. It contained only four characters: Received, processing.
I replied with four characters: Half, for you.
Bu Shan said five hundred billion was enough. The other half was Meng Po's finder's fee.
Meng Po replied: I dare not. I can purchase properties for everyone. I will handle it.
I replied: If it's not enough, find me again.
Meng Po: It's more than enough!
Chen Lu, sitting beside me, looked bewildered as she watched me communicate with someone whose avatar was "Snow King": "Who is this person? Is he a businessman?"
I nodded: "Sort of."
"Then you should have told me," Chen Lu giggled. "Didn't you say you'd let me manage all your businesses from now on?"
Chen Jianguo frowned: "Lulu, don't be so informal with Director Wu!"
Director Wu... Which of my identities was a director? I had too many identities, even I couldn't keep track of them.
I whispered into Chen Lu's ear, telling her what kind of business it was. Chen Lu's face turned pale with fright, and she quickly waved her hands, saying she wouldn't do it anymore.
"What won't you do anymore?" Lin Xi teased, pointing upstairs. "Are you not going to do it with him anymore?"
"That's not it. Oh, Captain Lin, please don't tease me, I'm so embarrassed!" Chen Lu covered her blushing and paling face and ran off.
We finished lunch in a pleasant atmosphere. Although my identity hadn't been exposed, there was a possibility of being targeted by Mohe members lurking near the villa. I decided not to return to Benxi immediately, but to wander around the provincial capital for a while. It would be safer to return to base only after I had completely evaded Mohe.
My decision was the right one. When I reverted to my previous face and the group, along with Chen Lu's family, set out again, we were indeed being followed from behind...