Chapter 103: Liang Zheng and Brother Hu

It wasn't until Qi Jin finished snorkeling and came back that that striking pineapple-yellow head finally made its way back into frame.

A wave of disappointment welled up inside him, cresting again and again. Qi Yuan decided he couldn't wait any longer—he needed to figure things out faster.

He needed to get back to China, and soon.

Smiling, he said to Qi Meili, "I've got some personal matters to attend to, so I won't video call you for a while."

Qi Meili didn't push him, nodding happily. "Sure thing, Dr. Qi. We can video chat again next time we're free!"

The moment the call ended, she thought she caught a glimpse of a familiar handsome face in the corner of the screen.

"Huh? Isn't that...?"

Before she could get a closer look, the call had already disconnected.

She rested her chin on her hand and thought, what a handsome face! And strangely familiar too. Who was it?

Out on the reef, Liang Zheng stood in his wetsuit with a grim expression.

He had spent two afternoons sitting in the lobbies of two different hotels, and hadn't run into a single soul.

He was starting to wonder—had they even come to Sava at all?

He couldn't help but call Liang Ye and ask, "Didn't you say that He Huanhuan from the Gu family was traveling in Sava recently?"

Liang Ye nodded. "Yeah, Huanhuan won the grand prize and went to Sava with Meili for a seven-day trip!"

Liang Zheng frowned. "But I haven't seen them."

"What?"

Liang Ye was confused. "Bro, how would you have seen them? They're in Sava—you're not there!"

Liang Zheng replied flatly, "The company is expanding into Southeast Asia. I came to Sava for a business inspection..."

"You're talking nonsense!"

Liang Ye, as if blessed with a sixth sense, immediately saw through his brother's real motive: "How big could Sava's market possibly be? There's no way they'd send you to inspect it!"

Liang Zheng's heart skipped a beat. Before he could come up with an excuse, Liang Ye had already lost it: "Bro! Are you into our Huanhuan or something?"

......

What on earth was this nonsense?

"How could you do this! You're my brother! How can you compete with me over a girl?"

Liang Ye was in full meltdown mode: "Han Mo's already generous enough—if you come in too, I won't stand a chance at all! I can't live like this! I really can't!"

When his brother went all out, he could spend just as lavishly as Han Mo.

By then, Huanhuan would have Han Mo on her left, whooping money transfers left and right, and his brother on her right, casually gifting apartments and cars...

And he'd be stuck crying on an electric scooter!

He wailed so loudly that Liang Zheng's head began to throb. "Stop crying."

The voice on the other end sniffled hard and lowered the volume by three notches. "Waaaaah..."

Liang Zheng sighed in exasperation. "How old is He Huanhuan? How could I possibly like her?"

As far as he remembered, he had even attended the Gu family's daughter's first birthday banquet back in the day.

He Huanhuan was probably about the same age as the Gu family's young lady. How could he ever be interested in such a young girl?

Liang Ye wasn't buying it. "Huanhuan's gorgeous—how could you not like her? You're not telling me you like Qi Meili, are you? She's so fierce!"

Liang Zheng blurted out, "Where's she fierce?"

She's just a bit forgetful and way too fond of good-looking men, that's all.

"Ha!"

Liang Ye got excited. "You still say you don't like Huanhuan? You won't even admit Qi Meili is fierce! Bro, love the person, love their dog—you're head over heels, admit it!"

......

There was no reasoning with a fool. Liang Zheng hung up and called Gu Jingchen instead. "I heard your sister won the grand prize and is in Sava? I happen to be here too for the next couple of days..."

"She doesn't have a passport. She didn't go. What's up?"

In one sentence, Gu Jingchen crushed all his probing.

Liang Zheng was stunned. "She... they didn't what?"

Gu Jingchen replied calmly, "No passport."

The young master born with a silver spoon never dreamed he'd get such an answer after waiting around for two whole days.

For a moment, he didn't even know what to say.

Gu Jingchen waited a beat, got no response, and followed up: "Are you looking for Huanhuan about something?"

Liang Zheng snapped back to his senses. "I just happen to be in Sava on business. I remembered your sister and her friend really like dyeing their hair all sorts of wild colors. I had an event I was thinking of inviting them to. Since they're not here, never mind."

Gu Jingchen nodded. "Huanhuan does like that kind of thing. If you don't mind, I'll ask Huanhuan and Meili later and add you as friends on both their contacts."

Liang Zheng frowned. "You have both of them as friends?"

Qi Meili too? They were that close?

Gu Jingchen was puzzled. "Is that strange?"

He Huanhuan was his sister—of course they'd be friends.

And as for Qi Meili, needless to say, she'd want to add Gu Jingchen right away.

Sis only adds handsome men as friends, and the more, the better.

Liang Zheng replied with a hint of sourness, "I don't mind. When you get the chance, ask for me."

"Sure."

The call ended, and Gu Jingchen went about his own business.

Huanhuan was playing over at Jinghan's hotel lately, so there was no rush to ask.

But it was torture for Young Master Liang. He waited from day to night, then from night to day again, and still no word came.

He sat on the bed with a darkened face. She wouldn't even add him as a friend?

He hadn't done anything wrong—so why?

Just the last two times they met, she was calling him "handsome" and shamelessly taking advantage of him.

And now, just like that, she'd changed?

He couldn't wrap his head around it. He really, truly couldn't.

Love baffles the mind.

And women baffle it even more.

Brother Hu lay back on his recliner all night. Sang Biao didn't come back. Xiao Qian didn't come back either.

Brother Hu really couldn't figure it out—who exactly were those two women?

How could he have sent four of his men out, and all four of them simply vanished?

Where were they?

Success or failure, at least give him some kind of signal!

His phone buzzed furiously in his hand, but he didn't dare pick it up.

He couldn't bear to think about how angry Brother Bao would be if he found out it had failed again.

But then again, ignoring the call would probably make Brother Bao even angrier.

Either way, it was a knife to the throat. He steeled himself and switched the phone to airplane mode.

Don't call him—he was busy.

Why airplane mode instead of just turning it off?

Heh, because he didn't have Brother Bao on social media, and this way he could still play his online card game.

After a few rounds of cards, having lost two hundred million happy beans, he finally calmed down a little.

He sat in his chair, lit a cigarette, and thought—hell! They're just two little girls. I'll go catch them myself!

He refused to believe he'd end up disappearing too!

After waiting anxiously at the shop until past midnight, he shoved a gun in his left waist and a cleaver in his right, then strutted out the door, full of swagger.

No matter how skilled you are, fear the cleaver.

No matter how fast you are, one shot drops you flat!

Hey, little ladies—big bro's coming!

Following the information on his phone, he crept up to the suite door.

The hallway was dead silent, the only sound being his own heartbeat thumping wildly in his chest.

He couldn't help but swallow hard. This wasn't his first rodeo, so why was he nervous?

He pressed the master key card against the door. Click—the door opened.

He peeked inside. The room was pitch black, impossible to see anything.

All he could make out was a thick, human-shaped lump rising from the bed against the wall.

He slipped into the room and groped his way toward the bedside.