Chapter 191: Damn It, This Is a Trap
Chapter 191: Chapter 191: Damn It, This Is a Trap
At her words, the flunky’s face twisted as if he were constipated.
’How had he never noticed before that Lei Li was so love-struck?’
With Xue Can gone, Lei Li had no reason to stick around.
’She hadn’t gotten the answer she wanted today, so she’d just come back tomorrow. There were still a few days before the departure. She refused to believe she couldn’t win Xue Can over.’
Lei Li left the Gale Mercenary Corps’ base, leading her crew to Gold Street to let loose.
When they got to their usual club, Lei Li announced that everything was on her tonight. Her crew roared, "Sister Li, you’re the best!" and scattered to enjoy themselves.
Lei Li found a booth, sat down, and ordered drinks, snacks, and a male escort.
You might ask, if she liked Xue Can so much, why was she ordering a male escort?
Well, what did you expect? Was she supposed to save herself for Xue Can?
First of all, she hadn’t even won him over yet. And even if she had, she still wouldn’t do that.
As a mercenary, you lived one day at a time. Of course she was going to live every one of them to the fullest.
Besides, she was just going to have a few drinks with the escort, chat a little, maybe hold his hand. Nothing more.
Lei Li lounged in the escort’s arms, already a little tipsy as she poked a finger into his chest muscles.
"What’s wrong with me? I’m beautiful, I can fight, and I’m rich. Why on earth doesn’t Xue Can like me?"
The escort was just an ordinary guy; he couldn’t take Lei Li’s prodding. It felt like his sternum was about to crack.
But he didn’t dare push her away, so he endured the pain and placated her. "It’s his loss."
Lei Li gave the escort a half-hearted slap across the face. "Don’t you dare talk about him like that!"
The escort: ’...Fucking bitch!’
"Well, if it isn’t Miss Lei." A mocking voice cut in. Lei Li looked up, and the first thing she saw was a shiny, bald head.
It was hard to miss, with a light shining right on it and making it gleam.
Lei Li’s eyes were bleary with drink. She pointed at him for a good while but couldn’t come up with a name.
’He looked kind of familiar, but she couldn’t remember who he was.’
Jin San could tell right away that Lei Li didn’t recognize him. Cursing her internally for failing to recognize someone important, he plopped down in the booth.
"I used to be with the Gale Mercenary Corps. I quit recently. Now I’m working for my boss."
Lei Li sat up a little straighter. When she saw Jin San was about to light a cigarette, she kicked it away.
"No smoking in front of me!"
Jin San: ’...Fucking hell, did you have to kick it? You could have just used your words!’
"Fine, no smoking it is." Jin San consoled himself. ’A little humiliation is nothing. It’ll be worth it once I get what I want.’
"I remember now." Lei Li propped a foot on the coffee table as the perceptive escort fed her a drink. "Aren’t you that corps member Xue Can kicked out recently? Quit? Hah."
Jin San’s fists clenched instantly.
’That mouth of hers is so damn irritating!’
"Yes, I was kicked out!" Jin San suddenly slapped the table in resentment. "But do you know why?"
Lei Li shot him a sideways glance, her expression clearly saying, ’Spit it out.’
"It was because of a woman!" Jin San seethed. "I pissed off the woman Xue Can likes. To get even for her, he trumped up two baseless charges against me and kicked me out of the Mercenary Corps!"
Before the words were even out of his mouth, Lei Li’s hand cracked across his left cheek.
"I hate liars like you more than anything!" Still not satisfied, Lei Li raised her hand for a backhand slap.
Jin San quickly caught her wrist, roaring, "I’m not lying! If you don’t believe me, go ask anyone else in the corps! You’ll find out if I’m telling the truth!"
He sounded so certain that Lei Li’s brows furrowed.
’A woman Xue Can likes?’
’He’s always either working or training. Where would he find the time to meet some other woman?’
Lei Li slowly pulled her hand back and crossed her legs. "Who is she?"
"The owner of Little Deer Cuisine, Shen Lu." Seeing her reaction, Jin San knew he had an opening. "She used to run a stall on Gold Street, but now she has her own place. She’s even got guys from the Gale Mercenary Corps working as security. Miss Lei, you know as well as I do that we mercenaries hate playing bodyguard, right?"
Lei Li’s gaze was probing. "That has nothing to do with liking the job. They’ll do anything if the pay is right."
Clearly, Lei Li wasn’t completely convinced by his story.
"I may not be in the Mercenary Corps anymore, but I know how devoted you are to Xue Can, Miss Lei. To be honest, I thought he was starting to come around. Then this girl showed up out of nowhere and got him all twisted around. He’s not even thinking straight anymore."
Jin San sighed. "I just feel bad for you."
Lei Li sneered. "What, are you trying to stir up trouble between us?"
’Do I look that stupid?’
"Of course not!" Jin San put on an expression of protest. "I can actually understand the girl. Latching onto Xue Can is like finding herself a powerful backer."
"You sure talk a lot of crap," Lei Li sneered. "When you get down to it, you’re just trying to goad me into getting revenge on Xue Can, aren’t you?"
"No, no, no, that’s not my intention at all," Jin San said, waving his hands. "I just didn’t want to see you kept in the dark, Miss Lei. I didn’t realize you’d misunderstand. Alright, then let’s just pretend we never saw each other today. As an apology, the tab’s on me."
With that, Jin San stood up and left without another word.
Lei Li lowered her gaze, remaining silent.
’She couldn’t completely trust Jin San, but there was probably some truth to what he said.’
With this weighing on her mind, Lei Li lost her mood for fun. She said a word to her crew and left on her own.
Lei Li asked Little Bei to come out for a late-night meal, and he showed up without hesitation.
"Sister Li, I feel bad making you treat me to supper again." As he spoke, Little Bei was already ordering a full page of items off the menu from the waiter.
"And two dozen beers," Lei Li added, not even looking at what Little Bei had ordered.
"One dozen should be enough. It’s not good to drink too much." It wasn’t his day off, so Little Bei didn’t dare let loose. If Xue Can caught him, he’d be fined.
"Alright, one dozen to start, then."
Soon, the food began to arrive, and the two made idle small talk.
After a few drinks, Little Bei relaxed completely.
’It wasn’t unusual for Lei Li to treat him to a meal.’
’As Xue Can’s right-hand man, he couldn’t count the number of times Lei Li had tried to get on his good side.’
’But Little Bei knew where to draw the line. He never accepted money or gifts; a free meal was the most he’d take. That’s why Lei Li was always asking him out to eat.’
’Sigh. This barbecue still isn’t as good as Boss Shen’s cooking.’
’It’s easy to get used to the good life, but hard to go back.’
Little Bei shook his head slightly, grumbling to himself.
Lei Li took a sip of beer, her eyes flicking to Little Bei as she asked out of the blue, "How are things going with Xue Can and Shen Lu?"
"Not well—"
He’d barely gotten the words out before he jolted to his senses. The piece of beef he was chewing fell from his mouth and hit the table with a SPLAT.
"N-no, that’s not what I meant! Sister Li, how do you know about Boss Shen?"
Lei Li’s eyes were bloodshot, and a vicious smile played on her lips. "Shouldn’t I know? Go on. Tell me. What else don’t I know?"
A chill shot up from the soles of Little Bei’s feet to the crown of his head.
’Fuck, this is a trap!’