Beauty and the Bodyguard

Chapter 331 - Calm and Composed

Lin Yi remembered that he didn't have the room card anymore- he'd given it to Jinbiao.

He knocked on the door to find no one responding. He frowned, wondering what was up- was the guy still not in the room yet? Or did he get kidnapped again?

"Xie Jinbiao?" Lin Yi called out.

"Bro?" Lin Yi heard Jinbiao make his way to the door and open it, his pale and starved face appearing in front of him. The room was pitch black without even a single light on.

"Why're all the lights off?" Lin Yi said as he entered the room, closing the door behind him.

"I didn't dare turn them on! Someone was knocking earlier, think it was a cleaner or something… I kept quiet and kept all the lights turned off! What if the Bluewater come look for me here, I don't wanna die……" Jinbiao said weakly. "You're strong, bro, but I'm not! I'm still afraid of them, there's no way I can beat them! I'd just die if they got to me! So I figured the safest way was to pretend the room was empty…

"......" Lin Yi was a bit speechless. Even the Bluewater mafia wouldn't be looking through every single room of every hotel in the city, that'd be plain unrealistic and a futile waste of time.

"Pack your things, we're leaving now." Lin Yi wasn't interested in staying here any longer now that the matter had been taken care of. The plane ticket Uncle Fu had bought was for tonight, although he could've changed the flight date if the mission still wasn't completed.

There were two tickets for the return trip, one for Lin Yi and the other under Xie Jinbiao's name. Guangbo had been quite prepared as well, predicting that his son might not have identification on him.

He'd managed to get a new set of replacement identification for his son, giving it to Lin Yi for the return trip.

Jinbiao's clothes weren't very clean, but he'd taken a shower earlier. With nothing packed, Jinbiao walked down with Lin Yi, who told him to get to the car through the back door first as he checked out of the room.

A couple Bluewater members burst into the lobby all of a sudden- one of them barked at the staff at the counter. "Did you people see two Bluewater members bringing an injured girl in black here?"

"N-No……" The staff replied after a fright.

Lin Yi, on the other hand, wasn't afraid at all- he'd made sure his face was obscured by the hat the whole time, and no one should've been able to see his face. They probably didn't even know that the girl was an Asian! Lin Yi decided to look like he wanted to stay out of trouble. "Please give me the deposit first… I'm leaving……"

The staff handed Lin Yi his identification card and deposit, and Lin Yi took off without turning back, attracting a couple of disdainful looks from the Bluewater members. "Pussy!!"

The other members laughed. "Let's go to the next hotel. That assassin just headshotted the second captain."

"Yeah, we're gonna have to look for these fucks overtime, dammit."

The staff let out a breath of relief as the Bluewater walked out the door while Lin Yi was driving for the airport already.

He threw one baseball cap away and put on the other.

"Bro…… W-Why're you still wearing that cap?" Jinbiao was clearly shocked. There were being hunted by the Bluewater!!

"Shh!!" Lin Yi glared. "Just sit there quietly if you wanna live!"

Jinbiao shut up, troubled. This bro wasn't a reckless person, so what was his purpose here?

He drove the car to the city entrance- someone had set up a roadblock, stopping all the vehicles trying to get out and only letting a small percentage pass. Some were waiting anxiously for their turn, while others just turned back.

Lin Yi didn't follow suit, driving right at the roadblock instead.

"Bro, you're gonna slam through?? They have too many people there..!!" Jinbiao was getting worried.

Lin Yi turned his head to look coldly at Jinbiao, who shut his mouth instantly. Lin Yi told him to stay quiet!!

He shouldn't be doubting this bro's capabilities- he must have a plan in mind. Jinbiao decided to calm himself down with that.

"Stop your car!"

A Bluewater flashed his flashlight at Lin Yi as he neared the roadblock, signalling for him to stop with a gesture……

Lin Yi stopped the car, and a couple of Bluewater came up to surround him. "Get out the car! What're you doing, don't you know we Bluewater are sealing this road off?? Eh? You're one of us? Show me your face. How come I've never seen you around before?"

"Bro… I… Can I ask what happened there? Why's there a roadblock…" Lin Yi asked 'carefully'.

"I'm asking the questions here! Where did you get your hat??" The member was clearly very suspicious of Lin Yi.

"Bro, I just bought this car from the Bluewater factory today… This hat is a gift from York Bro, I bought the car from him… He said that I'd be safe in Blue Town if I wore this hat……" Lin Yi explained 'carefully'.

"Oh? The car's one of ours?" The member nodded and turned to another member. "Boss, this guy's saying that he bought his car from us! He said that York gave him the hat when he sold the car to him!"

"Then call York to confirm it! Let him pass if it's true, take him if it's not!" The captain was busy checking another car.

"Wait a second, then!" The member's attitude softened quite a bit, now that Lin Yi was a potential customer of the Bluewater.

He looked through his contact list for a long while before finding York's name. York evidently didn't know about the roadblock when he answered the phone. "Lazlo? What's up?"

Chapter 332 - Safe and Sound

York and Lazlo were both Bluewater members, but there were more than a thousand of them- they weren't very close with each other at all, but knew of each other's existence.

"Something I wanna confirm with you- this guy here's saying that he bought a car from you, he's wearing our baseball cap. You know him?" Lazlo asked.

"Oh? Yeah, I remember, an Asian tourist. I sold him an old Santana, it should be fine if it's him." York said after some thought. "Maybe you should give him the phone, I'll make sure it's him."

"Alright." Lazlo thought that being cautious would probably be better. He handed the phone to Lin Yi. "Here, it's York."

"York Bro! It's me!" Lin Yi said with a big smile on his face. "You see, I'm just going back after getting a car, but they're blocking the road off… I don't know what's going on here!"

"It is you. Alright then, hand the phone to Lazlo- I'll talk with him!" York said, relieved after the confirmation.

"Alright!" Lin Yi handed the phone back to Lazlo. "York Bro wants to talk to you, sir!"

Lazlo took the phone and talked with York for a bit before nodding at Lin Yi. "Alright, you can go now. I'm Lazlo- you can come to me if you ever wanna buy another car."

"Of course, Lazlo bro!" Lin Yi nodded. Buy a car from you? Maybe in the next life.

Lin Yi then drove out of Blue Town peacefully.

Jinbiao blinked at Lin Yi, confused. Was that all it took? There were a ton of cars stopped at the side, and Lin Yi was given a pass just because of a couple words and a phone call?

Jinbiao, however, didn't voice his concerns- he'd earned enough scary glares from Lin Yi today.

Lin Yi wasn't explaining anything, either.

The Bluewater that showed up at the hotel earlier suggested that there would be other Bluewater members posted at the entrance. He put on the cap and prepared some sentences along with York's name for that scenario.

He took the cap off and threw it out after leaving the city- it had no value outside of Bluewater territory. 

Lin Yi reached the airport without obstacles- he parked the car in the parking lot and abandoned it, leaving the key inside.

"Let's go. What, you still wanna stay?" Lin Yi looked at Jinbiao, who was staring at the airport blankly.

"N-No… That's not it, bro. I was just thinking that I'll probably never come back here…" Jinbiao sighed meaningfully before following Lin Yi inside.

Jinbiao remained silent as the plane took off into the skies… He seemed to be thinking about something.

He only spoke carefully as they were making the transit. "Bro… How much money did my father pay you……"

"All of his shares." Lin Yi said faintly. "He'll have nothing by the time you get back."

"Oh……" Jinbiao nodded. He felt depressed about it, but didn't say anything- as far as he could see, it was a price reasonable for services of Lin Yi's caliber. Their assets didn't even add up to one hundred million dollars, too- he actually got the better end of the deal. His father would have to shoulder a lot of debt if he'd went the ransom way, let alone just lose everything he had now…

Jinbiao's attitude took Lin Yi by surprise- he wasn't crying or complaining at all, seemingly having accepted the news already. Had he grown up after these events?

Jinbiao had thought things through after an experience like that- he'd come to understand that he was a young master of a rich house with money, but trash without it……

The plane landed- they were home.

Lin Yi didn't think much of it, but Jinbiao's body was shivering from the excitement and emotions he was feeling.

"The addiction acting up?" Lin Yi looked at him.

"No, I'm just a bit excited… I got rid of the addiction already……" Jinbiao said a little embarrassedly.

"You got rid of it..?" Lin Yi wasn't expecting this- the kid wasn't completely useless after all?

"They locked me up for two months, there weren't any drugs there at all! It was pretty hard at first, but… I managed to pull through……" Jinbiao still looked embarrassed as he explained.

Lin Yi nodded without saying anything. People in Jinbiao's situation could still get rid of the addiction completely if they never touched any drugs again, but trying it once more might very well be enough to throw them back down into the pit.

But that wasn't Lin Yi's business- he'd fulfilled his end of the bargain by bringing the kid back.

Uncle Fu wasn't waiting for Lin Yi at the airport, since he never told him what time he'd be back by- it depended on how successful the mission was.

Lin Yi stopped a taxi and got in with Jinbiao.

"Chinalead Shore District." Lin Yi said.

"Alright." The taxi driver nodded before starting the car, finding the duo odd. Lin Yi had normal clothes on, but that other guy looked like he'd run out from a refugee camp, skinny like a drug addict with his clothes tattered. What were they going to Chinalead Shore for? It was a very luxurious area!

But he didn't say anything- it had nothing to do with him.

It'd been many years since Jinbiao had come back to China… His eyes were filled with emotions as he looked at the Songshan streets- he was moments away from home…

Lin Yi paid the taxi fare and headed towards area F with Jinbiao…

Guangbo hadn't been to the company the past two days- he was officially 'sick' and resting at home. It was causing Jin Gubang quite some trouble……

Why did the guy have to catch a cold now out of all times? Right when they had this critical meeting??

Gubang visited Guangbo at his villa once, and found him to appear very pale… It didn't cross his mind that Guangbo might be faking it.

Guangbo hadn't caught a cold, but he did pale from worry- Lin Yi was good, but as the saying went, it was hard to overcome four fists with two. He was operating in an unfamiliar, foreign environment as well, inside the enemy's territory… It was nothing less than an extremely difficult task……

He didn't manage to get any sleep at all- of course he'd look pale. Gubang didn't say anything after one look at Guangbo, only telling him to rest and get well soon…...