Chapter 41: A Pawn
"You should try and be more subtle about secretly inching away from me." Yang Feng spoke up, tilting his head to see Zhao Lifei's entire body curled up on the opposite side of the car.
She was sitting so close to the window, he was surprised she hadn't thought of jumping out of it already.
After walking out of the hospital, Yang Feng didn't allow her to take a taxi. It was potentially dangerous to take taxis because of their unverified background.
For all she knew, she could've been riding a car with a convicted murderer. And Zhao Lifei seemed like the perfect victim. With her beautiful face and the way she carried herself, one could tell she came from an influential background.
What was stopping rogue drivers from taking advantage of her and potentially driving her off to the middle of nowhere?
It took two minutes of arguing for Zhao Lifei to childishly stomp into the car, slamming the door behind her.
Yang Feng would have normally been angered or annoyed by her daring behavior, but for some odd reason, he wasn't.
He finds himself amused by everything she does. She always did the unexpected and went against his wishes. Unlike most people that catered to his every word and whim, she argued against it.
Most men would find it tiring to spend time with a feisty woman, but Yang Feng actually enjoyed it.
He didn't like demure and submissive women like Xia Mengxi. Women like her would readily agree with a man and never fight back.
He was constantly surrounded by people like that, and having a woman that refuses to think for herself would surely be boring.
When Zhao Lifei didn't answer, Yang Feng turned to look at her again. Upon closer inspection, he noticed she had fallen asleep. Curled into a tiny ball with her hands resting underneath her head, he saw her shiver.
"Hu Wei, lower the air conditioning." He instructed his driver who immediately adjusted it to a warmer setting.
Hu Wei was surprised at the command. He had been working with Yang Feng for a decade now, thus, he knows of his behavior.
His boss was the type of man to easily feels hot, hence the air conditioning would always be on the highest setting so that any place he's in is always abnormally cold.
He stole a glance at the rear view mirror and was surprised to see his boss take the unused blanket provided in the car to drape it around the woman huddled in the corner.
This was the first time he had ever seen his boss show an act of kindness towards a woman. She must be someone special to him.
Hu Wei duly noted in his mind to never cross this woman. With the way his boss gently treated her as if she was a precious treasure passed down from generations, he knew this woman might be his future lady boss.
Just then, a light buzz could be heard throughout the car. Yang Feng looked around and noticed that the vibrating sound was coming from Zhao Lifei's purse. He opened it and pulled out her phone.
Seeing it was a phone call, he debated the idea of not picking it up. But then he saw that it was a male caller named "Lu Minhong", and he picked up.
Yang Feng didn't say anything but the man on the other line certainly did.
"Hey Feifei, I'm sorry for taking so long with the report you wanted. Whoever did the assassination was really good at hiding their tracks. They hired someone to delete all of the footage from the surveillance cameras. But your Minmin is really good at digging the backup files. I will send you the information through your email."
Curious lines formed on Yang Feng's forehead. Assassination? On who?
He glanced at Zhao Lifei's sleeping face. She looked so innocent and serene, one would never guess she was well-acquainted with all sorts of people — including an expert hacker that referred to himself as 'your Minmin'.
"Feifei? Why aren't you talking?" Lu Minhong asked, frowning when he heard no response.
"Did you accidentally pick up the call? Hello?" He persisted when he heard a light shuffling in the background.
"Ugh, I can't believe you would do this to me! Whatever, I already sent you the files." Lu Minhong scowled. He debated the idea of calling her back later. Without waiting for her reply, he hung up.
Yang Feng scowled at her phone as if it had wronged him. Why the hell was he calling himself 'Minmin" like he was someone close to her? What was his role in her life? And why did he sound so intimate with her? What is up with that stupid nickname?
He decided to also research into Lu Minhong's personal background. Yang Feng didn't realize how sketchy and stalkerish he seemed until he was about to text Chen Gaonan, then debated against the idea.
Just when Yang Feng was about to place her phone back into her purse, an idea came into mind. He tried to unlock her phone and realized there was a password.
He wondered if she was stupid enough to use her fingerprint as her password, and alas, she was. He was able to unlock her phone with her index finger.
Just when he finished his plan, her phone rang again. This time, it was someone he was familiar with. It was Zhao Moyao calling her but Yang Feng debated the idea of picking it up.
How would the fierce and grumpy man react when a man picked up his granddaughter's phone?
It was the final ring when Yang Feng picked up the phone for her.
"Xiao Fei where are you right now? Li Xuan spoke to the front desk and said you were discharged. Why didn't you stay longer?" Zhao Moyao reprimanded her, clearly unhappy she left the hospital so early when he was planning to go and visit her.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Zhao." Yang Feng spoke up, the male voice completely surprising Zhao Moyao who instantly became alert.
"Who is this?" Zhao Moyao instantly lost the warmth in his voice. Why did a man have his granddaughter's phone? He turned towards Li Xuan, ready to have sent a private team to look for her.
"It's Yang Feng. Don't worry, your granddaughter is on her way back home."
Zhao Moyao wasn't surprised to know Yang Feng was with her, but he was surprised this man even cared for her to personally send her home. He realized Yang Feng's relationship with his granddaughter wasn't as simple as he had thought it was.
One of the handful of people that knew of Yang Feng's Underworld background was Zhao Moyao who also had a hand in it. He had personally witnessed what Yang Feng could do and how heartless he can become. Being friends with Elder Yang also made him understand why Yang Feng was as aloof and cold as he was.
Zhao Moyao was conflicted.
On one hand, he was glad his Lifei had finally found a man whose power and reputation was enough to rival the nearly unbeatable Zheng Tianyi.
There were very few men in this country who could go head-to-head against Zheng Tianyi, but there were only three people in this country who could actually win against him. And it just so happens, Yang Feng was one of them.
He was slightly happy his granddaughter might finally find a guy to replace the useless Zheng Tianyi, but he was also very worried for her.
Yang Feng wasn't an easy man to deal with. His underworld connections made him a very dangerous man. There was a very high price on his head, which forced the security around him to be very tight.
Yang Feng was not immune to pain, but he was very good at not giving into it. He could withstand any ounce of torture and had little to none weaknesses. If pain and torture can't get to him, what can?
The answer might become Zhao Lifei.
Zhao Moyao was terrified at the idea of his granddaughter being used as a pawn for people to get to Yang Feng.
She might've been strong and trained by the best, but she wasn't invincible. Unlike Yang Feng who didn't flinch at the idea of being tortured to death, Zhao Lifei was different.
Her walls were visibly cracked and barely holding itself together. If she suffered something as traumatic as what happened two years ago, Zhao Moyao wasn't sure if she could ever recover again.
Her loss had forced her to enter two years of therapy and rehab. He even had to pull some strings to force her into a place isolated from the world, where the security was top notch.