Chapter 159 - Activities
It was already raining heavily when the family of three returned. The dark grey-ish sky reflecting the solemn mood inside the car as they drove back to their home after visiting the old Xiu’s.
Xiu Mei watched the drops of water rolling down the window and the hazy figures of the buildings along the way. Lu Qiang was busy opening the gifts that he received from his ’aunts’ and ’uncles’ and playing with the presents. Lu Chen was reading the doc.u.ments that Grandfather Xiu handed to them.
The sound of the rain hitting their vehicle fell in a calming rhythm that slightly comforted Xiu Mei’s mind. However, she couldn’t get off her mind the thing her Uncle just told her a while ago.
A short flashback of their conversation.
"Xiu Su Yi’s woman was pregnant? With whose child?"
"It was still too young to confirm whether it was Xiu Su Yi’s or not but he repeatedly claimed that it was his child."
"Well, if it was the Fan family who was behind it then why did Xiu Su Yi leave the family?"
"When he learned that his lover died from a car accident, Xiu Su Yi came here blinded with resentment and blind with rage. He assumed that it was us who was behind her death and I remember he got into an argument with Father and Grandfather back then. Even though we tried convincing him that it wasn’t our doing, he wasn’t himself anymore."
"Is that why he left the family?"
"Yes. And before he left, I remember that he was saying something along the lines that he’s blaming us that if we didn’t stop them from getting married to each other in the first place, he said that she wouldn’t have died at all."
Flashback end.
Xiu Mei deeply sighed. She didn’t why but her hands had been trembling since a while ago.
As she continues to recall the contents of their conversation, the flashes of that night kept appearing in her mind.
Her memory was hazy but she could slightly feel the lingering feeling of the disgusting hands touching her body that night. Just like a snake wounding up its cool body around her trying to encage her with its body.
She didn’t know why she was remembering that now. Maybe it was because of the shudder and chill when she tried to imagine the seething anger from that man’s eyes and the possibility that maybe it led him to kidnap her in an attempt to get back to her family.
Or was it because of the cold death of the mother and unborn child caused by their own kin.
"Death of two lives, one body." She mouthed.
It was this tragedy showing her proof of how ruthless a person can be even to its own family.
Even though the dirt of this circle has been known to her for so many years, it seems like she would always be an innocent lamb who is truly blind to how dirty it really is.
They all think that power and wealth is everything. But for Xiu Mei, it is also a heavy weight on her heart. Power and wealth also have two sides as well—the good and the bad side.
She was leaning her head on the glass window, contemplating her entire life when she felt something warm covering her left hand.
She looked down and saw that it was a pair of hands, one small and big, gripping her hand firmly.
She raised her head to see Lu Qiang’s beaming smile and Lu Chen’s comforting gaze on her. Her heart felt lighter so she couldn’t help but smile back at them.
"Thank you." She dropped a kiss on Lu Qiang’s forehead. Then she turned towards Lu Chen and mouthed another thank you again.
She shrugged off her depressing thoughts and distracted herself by playing with Lu Qiang instead. Her mood stayed like that until they got home.
After tucking Lu Qiang to bed that night, Xiu Mei and Lu Qiang had a short meeting in the study room that night. She hasn’t read the contents of the doc.u.ment that her Grandfather Xiu handed to her but Lu Chen already made the necessary preparations to tighten her security for her business trip tomorrow.
"Lee In will be overseeing your business trip tomorrow at the resort." Lu Chen briefed her about her security detail.
"She won’t be in your sight, but she will keep your eyes on you for the entirety of the trip to secure your safety. Then the other would be the people second brother-in-law assigned on you."
Xiu Mei didn’t complain about the tight security detail they put on her. She knew it wasn’t the time to whine about it. Her safety prioritizes above anything on her list right now.
"What about the doc.u.ment?" She inquired about the papers he was reading back in the car.
Lu Chen reached over the envelope and pulled out the papers. Then he flipped it to a specific page.
"It’s a compilation of all the activities that Xiu Su Yi has been doing for the past twenty years, even including before the accident. It seems like he has been involved in some shady activities since before but it visibly got more common after the accident. You see, there’s even this conversation he had with someone from the underground. I’ll be ordering some of my subordinates tomorrow to look into the people he interacted with that’s connected underground then maybe we can find something related to your kidnapping."
Xiu Mei skimmed through that page. It was a security camera screenshot of when Xiu Su Yi was talking with someone in a bar. She flipped it to other pages and saw his interactions with different people. Even his activities internationally and then when he was spotted back in China.
It seems like he was too busy to say that he was just visiting the country. It was very obvious that he sneaked back here with the intention of doing something. Especially with all the suspicious transactions he had been doing for the past year.
"He seems to be onto something." She muttered while skimming through the file.
"He is, and I think he’s up to no good. He had been acquiring some illegal gunpowder from the black market."
"Maybe he’s planning on bombing someone or somewhere?"
"That’s most likely to happen. I’ll be informing second brother-in-law about this then we’ll coordinate accordingly with the police. If his intention is bombing, then we’ll have to trace the amount of gunpowder he acquired and estimate the radius size of the impact with it."
Xiu Mei had a passing thought. If we’re talking about a somewhat large amount of people...
"If he’s targeting the Xiu family, wouldn’t it be the upcoming reunion this December? The Xiu family even from the other branches gather together for some lowkey party. Even Xiu Su Yi is aware of this tradition so it’s most likely that he’ll remember it and maybe, use it to his advantage."
Lu Chen’s pursed his lips as if thinking.
"If he knows it then that’s definitely the most likely place he will want to wipe out. Is there any possibility of canceling it?"
Xiu Mei shook her head hesitantly. "I don’t know. I don’t remember any instance that it was canceled at all ever since I was little. But if we consider the danger this time, we can convince them to cancel it or just handle it probably, at home if it’s safer that way."
After discussing about the doc.u.ments for quite some time, Xiu Mei already decided to call it a day. She still has to pack up some of her stuff for her flight tomorrow and she still has to get up early to catch her flight.
Xiu Mei yawned after closing the file. Lu Chen already noticed that she was already exhausted enough.
"Wife, I’ll see you tomorrow." Lu Chen lowered his head and dropped a kiss on her forehead while almost hugging her. Xiu Mei felt comfortable with his warmth and didn’t think twice when snuggling into herself into his arms.
"You’ll drop me off there?"
"Of course, I will. Call me once you arrive and then call me every morning and night okay?" He said while combing her hair with his fingers as he rested his head on hers.
"Mm, will do."
"..."
"..."
Both of them fell into a comforting silence. Xiu Mei snuggling without a care in the world on Lu Chen and Lu Chen welcoming the intimacy that his wife was showering him with. While enjoying this simple intimacy, a thought hit him.
Lu Chen pondered whether he should bring it up to her or not... but wouldn’t right now be a perfect time?
"Wife."
"Mm?" Xiu Mei’s response was a bit muffled as she was buried on his chest.
"Can I stay with you tonight?"
"...What?" Xiu Mei slightly loosened her hold to him and pulled away to look up to his face. She thought she must have heard it wrong. Her thoughts temporarily went wild for a second when she heard him.
"Ehem." Lu Chen cleared his throat as he resolutely repeated his request.
"Can I stay with you in your room tonight?"
Xiu Mei’s heart did a flip.
Okay, Xiu Mei. Calm down. Let’s calmly think about this. No wild thoughts. Just simple ones.
"...Like what we did back in the hotel?"
Lu Chen nodded.
"Yes, just sleep together."
"...Oh."
Xiu Mei:...so she really was just overthinking it ah.