South Island Deepwater Port looked even more festooned with flowers than it had a little over a week earlier when they first departed, while the sea breeze carried waves of coconut fragrance and the fresh scent of bluebells.
Elio’s Notes: “The cicada sheds its shell” is a classic stratagem and idiom for escaping unnoticed by leaving behind an empty shell, decoy, or false appearance while the real person slips away.
The clerks in the duty-free luxury shops lining both sides of the pier were alert and energetic, watching like tigers as they waited for the wealthy suckers who never looked at price tags to come ashore and sweep up merchandise. Luxury-route cruises did not sail often to begin with, so every single arrival counted. Earn what you could from each wave of customers; miss this cruise and the next might not appear for another half month.
Yet several shops had received unfamiliar customers dressed in odd, mismatched clothing. They entered in pairs and browsed near the counters without buying anything, asking any prices, trying anything on, or leaving.
Luxury-shop employees were excellent judges of faces and body language. The moment someone entered, they could practically see straight through the person’s coat and body shape to count how many black cards were in their wallet, how much cash was stuffed into their underwear, and exactly how much purchasing power they possessed. They would never waste smiles and saliva on some penniless loser. Several unusual groups had appeared today: some grim-faced men with obvious bulges tucked at their waists, some ugly and nondescript characters, and finally a group of men with close-cropped hair, black jackets, black jeans, and cheap nylon cross-body bags who looked exactly like a pack of door-to-door insurance salesmen.
That last group of “insurance salesmen” looked the poorest of all. They entered shops without even buying tropical fruit smoothies, each carrying his own bottled water instead, and instantly earned a circle of contemptuous looks from the staff.
What kind of important guest was aboard the cruise ship that so many underlings had come to welcome them home?
The enormous Cloudtop pushed aside the rippling water of the blue harbor and slowly approached the pier. Seagulls and nameless waterbirds greeted the ship like an old friend, circling its masts and crying cheerfully.
The guests were caught in the final rush and commotion before disembarking. Some arrogantly barked at bodyguards and crewmen to move their luggage. Company bosses shook hands, clapped one another on the shoulders, and arranged to meet later for another round of golf at some club. Others had only just crawled out of bed and were reluctantly waving goodbye to lovers who had lasted no longer than the morning dew.
The crew set up the gangway and prepared for the guests to disembark one by one. At precisely that moment, however, the group of “insurance salesmen” with cheap nylon bags blocked the entrance and announced that they needed to board the ship to meet someone.
Naturally, the cruise manager and attendants refused to let them aboard. If you were meeting someone, you waited outside. Who knew whether this bunch had come to cause trouble en masse or recruit everyone into some pyramid scheme?
On the top deck of the Cloudtop, guests hurried through the corridor, and no one noticed two hard-faced men with baseball caps pulled low over their features slowly approaching the suite door. Neither man was a passenger. Perhaps they had slipped aboard separately during the confusion at the pier. In any case, they headed directly for the top-deck VIP suite, clearly knowing exactly where they were going.
The men in baseball caps confirmed the room number once more, then slowly reached for the door. A universal lock-picking wire slid into the lock and turned as quietly as possible. The movement was smooth and slow—and then one man suddenly kicked the door open.
The suite was completely silent. The white gauze curtains had been drawn halfway open and billowed gently in the sea breeze.
In the exact center of the spacious living room sat the wheelchair. Following its momentum, it completed the final half-circle of a turn before stopping squarely and steadily, almost as though it were mocking the intruders for their stupid miscalculation.
“Fuck. He ran?”
“Check upstairs.”
One of the men in baseball caps had barely set foot on the stairs when a miniature black box placed beside the outer edge emitted a beam of red light and gave a quiet beep, as though whispering a secret to the newcomer.
“Run! Run!!!…”
The two bastards fled as though their asses had caught fire, dramatically forward-rolling and tumbling out through the doorway with absurdly exaggerated technique….
The sea breeze continued playing with the white curtains.
Nothing exploded.
There was no bomb in the room at all.
It was an infrared detection device, and a crude portable version at that, little better than a child’s toy.
A server’s panicked voice came over the radio from downstairs. “What? A major inspection?… Police are boarding?”
The cruise manager ultimately failed to stop the “insurance salesmen” from boarding, because less than two minutes later the man leading the group solemnly showed him a police ID. They were plainclothes officers conducting a search after receiving a report that people aboard the Cloudtop were using drugs and engaging in obscene sexual activities.
The atmosphere and entire tone aboard the cruise ship changed in an instant. Many guests were utterly bewildered and had no idea what was happening. A smaller number with guilty consciences immediately began rummaging through luggage, hiding things, and rushing toward toilets…. Others who had intended to take advantage of the confusion of disembarkation to do something quietly put away their harder methods and withdrew their hands….
Sweat poured down the cruise manager’s face. South Island was practically beyond the emperor’s reach, and there certainly should not have been any enthusiastic neighborhood informants lurking around. How the hell had they been reported at exactly the one moment when nobody was prepared, with the timing so impossibly precise?…
Three figures moved quickly around a corner in the staff passage on the ship’s lowest decks.
All three wore ordinary uniforms belonging to low-ranking crewmen, their clothes spotted with filthy engine oil.
Their retreat went extremely smoothly. Ling He laughed. “Mr. Yan really is skilled at crawling through cat holes and dog dens like this. Somehow you always manage to carve out a route nobody else would think to use.”
Yan Xiaodao shot back, “If Mr. Ling finds dog holes too beneath him, I can send you upstairs. You can ride in a sedan chair down that broad and glorious avenue of yours.”
Ling He snorted. “Mr. Yan can forget about dumping his burden.”
Yang Xifeng found it rather entertaining listening to the two men trading insults in perfect rhythm while addressing each other as “Mr.” every other sentence.
There was nothing particularly difficult about crawling through cramped passages and dog holes. The troublesome part was that Ling He could not walk by himself. Yan Xiaodao led the way while Yang Xifeng laboriously carried Young Master Ling on his back. Ling He rolled his eyes. “Young man, trouble you to bend your waist a little farther.”
Yang Xifeng turned his head to glare at him. “What now? Are the toes of your shoes dragging again?”
Ling He snorted. “Young man, my knees are practically scraping raw.”
Yan Xiaodao could not hold it in and burst into deep laughter from his chest, the sound carrying that infectious masculine warmth peculiar to him. Yang Xifeng had to think about it for several seconds before realizing that the bastard surnamed Ling was indirectly mocking him for being too damn short!
After laughing, Yan Xiaodao turned around and reassuringly ruffled Little Brother Yang’s hair before taking the tall, heavy Young Master Ling from him.
The two men looked at one another face-to-face. Yan Xiaodao’s eyes carried that broad, tolerant smile unique to him, and for no reason Ling He began to feel reluctant to leave behind the warmth revealed in those brows, eyes, lips, and teeth. Very few people had been willing to tolerate his eccentric arrogance since his teenage years. Because of that, whenever Ling He rested his hands on this man’s shoulders, there was always a strange sense of finally having found someone to hold, of finally getting what he had wished for—a quiet relief and happiness he could not explain. Nor could he understand where that inexplicable closeness, safety, and joy had come from.
Yan Xiaodao showed no such sticky affection or happiness. “To keep your precious shoe tips and delicate knees from getting scraped, I’d better carry you upside down!”
As he spoke, he hoisted Ling He up and tossed him over his shoulder exactly as he had when leaving the casino last time, with Ling He’s head and feet pointing toward the floor as he lay across Yan’s left shoulder. It was the only way to keep Ling He from dragging along the ground like a sack of potatoes.
Yan Xiaodao mocked him. “What the hell did you eat growing up? Fed you pretty damn well. I’m almost at the point where I can’t carry you anymore.”
With his head hanging down, Ling He’s voice sounded muffled. “I can hear your bones and joints creaking and rattling all over the place. Mr. Yan, were you calcium-deficient as a child?”
Yan Xiaodao’s well-built, inverted-triangle upper body filled Ling He’s vision: broad shoulders narrowing into a lean waist, undeniably an excellent physique. Ling He decided that all the blood must have rushed into his head and made him dizzy enough to develop tastes unlike anything he usually experienced, because he stared at Yan Xiaodao’s waist and backside for quite a while without looking away. He truly had never had this particular interest in anyone else….
In the middle of his dizziness, Ling He suddenly said, “Watch your right arm. Don’t put force through it and strain it again.”
The last time, Ling He had grabbed Yan Xiaodao’s waistband. This time he did not reach for anything at all. Some invisible string inside him quietly pulled back the fingers that instinctively wanted to cling upward. He could tell Xiaodao disliked close physical contact and did not want anyone touching the blades concealed against his body. Somehow, Ling He also felt that grabbing Yan anywhere would be discourteous and disrespectful.
At last he was leaving the Cloudtop, a ship full of hidden traps and killing intent, thanks entirely to Yan Xiaodao. Presumably the next place waiting for him would be another place filled with hidden danger and murderous intent!
…
The cruise ship’s entertainment venues and guest rooms were searched by plainclothes police, and the officers caught people with uncanny precision, as though they already knew exactly which rooms contained hidden methamphetamine and which massage rooms were conducting illegal prostitution. Within a short time, they detained several low-level lackeys and outside girls while leaving the more prominent figures untouched.
People with identities like Liang Youhui, Jian Mingjue, and You Haodong had no trouble at all. They were merely forced to remain aboard the ship for two extra hours, each waiting in his own room to answer questions from the plainclothes officers.
The entire operation was nothing more than a hastily arranged raid for appearances’ sake. The local police had no desire whatsoever to take on this thankless work and offend powerful people. The authorities already knew perfectly well that high-profile gatherings like Blue Sea Cloudtop existed. Whether to raid them was another question entirely, involving considerable political calculation. A wolf had to be fattened before there was enough grease to squeeze out of it, but let it grow too fat and it might become a tiger and turn into a genuine threat. If someone truly intended to wipe out an operation like this completely, that would require orders from above.
The local authorities were currently cooperating with the Jinmen Municipal Public Security Bureau on another investigation, and Bao Zhengwei had used the opportunity to lean on his counterparts, insisting that they conduct a vice and narcotics sweep aboard the Cloudtop. They only needed to make a show of it, keep an eye on suspicious people aboard the ship, ensure every guest’s safety, and prevent kidnapping, murder, fighting, or bloodshed.
The reason Bao Zhengwei privately gave the local police was simple: “We have someone extremely important aboard that ship. I need to guarantee his safety.”
The unidentified groups of grim-faced men and ugly characters who had originally gathered around the pier took one look at the black-clad men with nylon bags taking control of the entire ship and wisely scattered in every direction like frightened birds and beasts.
So when the plainclothes officers who had boarded eventually split apart again and abruptly left the Cloudtop without a backward glance, everyone aboard felt as though they had been played!
Yan Xiaodao did not carry Ling He through the VIP passage. Instead, he used the side entrances meant for servers and crewmen coming on and off the ship. Cats had cat paths and dogs had dog holes. Even aboard one measly ship, every kind of person had to be separated into strict social ranks and ordered classes, forbidden from walking through the wrong entrance lest they somehow damage the aristocratic atmosphere of the business.
Yan Xiaodao could not have cared less. He crawled through the dog hole, followed the ordinary tourist road leading from the port toward the city, got into a car, and disappeared.
By the time they were strolling leisurely through the airport terminal, they had finally relaxed completely. They even had enough peace of mind to browse local souvenir shops, while all those people aboard the Cloudtop had yet to disembark.
From the moment Yan Xiaodao stepped off the ship, every kind of messy phone call began coming in for him. Apparently Mr. Yan was extraordinarily popular; practically everyone seemed to be thinking about him.
Liang Youhui reminded him mournfully not to forget that his “debt of favor had to be repaid in flesh,” and Yan Xiaodao laughed and agreed.
Jian Mingjue called to invite him to go have fun together at the Baiyue Atrium Hotel sometime. The moment Yan Xiaodao heard the location, he became sensitive to it and briefly considered formally introducing Young Master Liang to Jian Mingjue so the lot of them could go have fun together. Then he decided that would clearly amount to harming the landlord’s foolish son and dropped the idea.
Yan Xiaodao had already transferred Jian Mingjue a modest payment by phone, counting it as the “brokerage fee” owed to Second Jian for Yan having “booked” Toshita Mayumi. A broker earned money by standing between both sides, and this was simply the customary courtesy fee Yan Xiaodao knew the circles required him to pay.
Several of Yan’s younger brothers also called to check on him and confirm what time they should meet him at Linwan Airport. Yan Xiaodao did not forget to curse them with a laugh. “Did you feed Master Bear and Third Lady all three meals and their snacks? If you let my two babies get skinny, none of you gets meat for a month!”
His little brothers laughed uproariously over the phone. They fed them, they fed them! That shameless dog couple had been living in drunken bliss on Yan’s double bed every single night, doing Heaven knew how many indecent things. Boss had better hurry home and straighten out those two shameless bastards. If he waited any longer, they would have a whole litter of puppies hatched before he got back!
Yan Xiaodao pushed Ling He into the accessible stall in the men’s restroom, then leaned into a secluded corner to make a call.
He had something weighing on his mind and deliberately procrastinated over making the one call he most needed to make. In the end, he decided to call Bureau Chief Bao first. After all, he owed the man a favor.
“Uncle Bao, thank you. I’m safe now. I’m at the airport. You can pull your people out,” Yan Xiaodao said very politely.
“Mm. They withdrew a while ago. I figured you weren’t in serious trouble. As long as you’re safe.” Bao Zhengwei’s voice remained deep but not without warmth and concern. A man in an important position knew precisely how much softness to show those beneath him, enough to make people feel their boss was generous and loyal without ever making them forget that provoking him would be a terrible idea.
Yan Xiaodao exchanged a few polite words and was just about to hang up when Bao Zhengwei suddenly changed the subject. “Don’t rush off yet. As it happens, I need something from you too.”
Yan Xiaodao deliberately sounded relaxed. “What could someone like you possibly need from me?”
“What do you think?” Bao Zhengwei snorted. “You think I helped you for free? I have a troublesome case on my hands. We need information from several directions before we can find a breakthrough. Because of confidentiality, I can’t tell you anything unnecessary, but I need you to come over and take a look at something.”
The moment Yan Xiaodao heard You think I helped you for free? he could not resist grumbling inwardly. Bureau Chief Bao really hasn’t changed at all. Fucking cops are all crafty as hell. Of course he wasn’t going to help me for nothing. Yan Xiaodao was most afraid of some government lord assigning him a task—or calling him in to question him about a case and squeeze a confession out of him.
“I know, Xiaodao. I won’t make things difficult for you. It’s a case from more than ten years ago, not something that just happened, so you don’t need to put yourself under pressure. I want you to look because the deceased died from a rather unusual blade wound,” Bao Zhengwei said very seriously.
“…All right. I’ll contact you as soon as I get back.” Faced with this King Yama of the government yamen, Yan Xiaodao did not dare refuse.
…
Under the pressure of all the worries piled on his mind, Yan Xiaodao finally called his godfather, Qi Baoshan. He could not keep avoiding it.
The ending he had imagined was Qi Baoshan ordering him to take Ling He to another city some distance from their home base, far away from any possible attention. At some remote resort in the countryside or an unfinished, deserted villa complex, Qi Baoshan would meet Ling He personally and then “deal with” him. Yan Xiaodao would cover Ling He with a mound of yellow earth afterward, take another road home, and pretend nothing had ever happened—pretend he had never known the man at all.
That imagined scene had circled through his mind for several days. Even now, he could still smile calmly at Ling He and reveal nothing, yet a cold desolation and a lonely hollow had slowly begun spreading through his heart. The feeling was as though he had spent his entire life moving along a familiar track, only for it to become strange and uncomfortable on this particular day. All at once, rebellion and divided loyalties had begun growing inside him, all because of the person standing before him… Because of Ling He?
Could he really treat Ling He as though they had never met?
Yet the phone call developed in a way completely outside his expectations.
The background on the other end was chaotic. One of Qi Baoshan’s bodyguards answered the phone. “Master Yan, we’re escorting the boss through the airport right now.”
“The airport?” Yan Xiaodao did not understand at all. He had fully expected Qi Baoshan to be waiting for them at home. “Which airport?”
The bodyguard sounded hesitant. “The boss said he needs to… leave for a while temporarily….”
At that moment Qi Baoshan took the phone. His breathing came through rough and unsettled, as though he kept looking ahead and behind him, while waves of footsteps surged around him from every direction. “Xiaodao, I’m leaving the country soon. I may stay away ten days or half a month before coming back. Don’t worry about me. Watch the house for me.”
Yan Xiaodao instinctively agreed, but his stomach was full of suspicion. In his experience, Qi Baoshan was calm and cautious by nature and almost never acted this hastily or without a clear plan. This obviously was not some scheduled overseas holiday or business trip arranged by the company and family. Qi Baoshan looked almost as though he were hurriedly “fleeing” the country!
Yan Xiaodao asked, “Where do you think you’ll be staying? Is there anything else you need me to do?”
Qi Baoshan said, “I’ll go to the Special Administrative Region first and decide after that. There’s nothing you need to handle. Stay home and don’t worry! I’ve already given instructions below. You have full authority over anything involving the company and the port. There’s no need to ask me.
“And Pei Yi is leaving with me.”
Qi Baoshan added the last sentence.
“Understood,” Yan Xiaodao answered calmly and cleanly, while his insides churned like a storm.
He truly did understand. Qi Baoshan was probably standing at some airport’s Hong Kong and Macau departure gates. His destination should be the Jinggang Special Administrative Region, where he would likely check into some luxury hotel and remain for ten days or half a month—or perhaps immediately reroute onward to Europe or America.
An indescribable feeling rose inside Yan Xiaodao. Was he supposed to be unhappy that Qi Baoshan had abruptly left the country with Pei Yi without telling him or taking him along—or should he feel relieved, even secretly grateful that it had happened?
Driven by hidden pity and a selfishness he could never admit aloud, at this crucial moment Yan Xiaodao did not even ask what should be done with Ling He.
If he did not ask and Master Qi forgot to mention it, then it could hardly count as disobeying his godfather’s orders.
When he turned around, Yang Xifeng was pushing Ling He around a souvenir shop in the airport. The airport provided temporary wheelchairs for travelers for a small fee. Ling He sat comfortably in one now, looking perfectly leisurely, with a pile of carefully selected snacks in colorful packaging stacked across his knees as he directed Yang Xifeng toward the register.
Yan Xiaodao waited until Ling He had finished paying and turned around, then tried to sound as casual as possible. “Master Qi has to go away for a few days to handle something. He’ll be back later. I’ll take you to Linwan first and find somewhere for you to stay.”
Ling He did not seem surprised in the slightest. A smile curved across his lips. “Where are you planning to put me, Mr. Yan?”
Yan Xiaodao said, “My place for now. The house is big enough.”
Ling He’s smile deepened without a trace of false modesty or hesitation. “All right. Thank you for troubling yourself to look after me, Mr. Yan. I’ll impose on you, then.”
“No wonder a kid like you managed to grow so tall!” Once the serious business had passed, Yan Xiaodao’s entire body abruptly relaxed. Every pore seemed carefree again, and he could not resist mocking him. “You haven’t even digested that eight-ounce steak yet, have you? How many snacks did you buy now? Planning to keep eating on the plane?”
Ling He disdainfully tugged the shopping bag open and showed him. “Dog treats. None for you, Mr. Yan.”
Yan Xiaodao: “…”
Yan Xiaodao was often secretly startled by Ling He. Hadn’t he only told Ling He the danger was over and they were going home together after the bastard had already finished shopping?
Ling He’s eyes held a smile beneath their concealed sharpness, as though every event in the world had already been calculated within his palm. “Didn’t you say I’d be staying at your house for a few days? I ought to bring your babies a meeting gift and buy their favor. Otherwise I’m afraid they won’t let me through the door.”
Yan Xiaodao bent down and braced both hands on the wheelchair armrests. By now, he could calmly look straight into the devastatingly beautiful face in front of him. His gaze traced Ling He’s eyes with amused interest. “Mr. Ling, why don’t you guess what kind of dogs I keep?”
After speaking, he quickly shot Yang Xifeng a look. Yang Xifeng immediately waved both hands in protest. “Boss, don’t look at me! I really never told him anything!”
Ling He mocked himself. “How would I know what kind of dogs Mr. Yan keeps? I only just met you. I’ve never even been to your house.”
Yan Xiaodao said, “Guess. Let me hear it.”
Ling He said, “German Shepherds.”
Yan Xiaodao shook his head.
Ling He immediately gave a second answer. “Alaskan Malamutes.”
This time Yan Xiaodao could no longer shake his head.
Ling He smiled with the innocent delight of a big boy and admitted frankly, “Mr. Yan, you don’t need to guard against me. I can’t read minds. I’m only reasoning from common sense. Someone like you was hardly going to raise two corgis, Pomeranians, Yorkies, or Chihuahuas!”
The way Yan Xiaodao was bent over brought their faces very close together, near enough to see the movement of every eyelash, every dim spark slowly kindling deep inside the other man’s eyes, and every cluster of laughter neither could quite conceal at the edge of his lips.
Whenever that grown boy unexpectedly broke into a pure, straightforward smile without calculation or scheming, there was something genuinely moving about it.
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