Chapter 64 - Our House is a Target

There was a flurry of meetings right after the detective's visit. About a hundred suggestions were created to do damage control because of what happened. His employees looked sleepless yet again and he sent them all home the minute the meeting ended.

After checking his schedule for the rest of the week, Qing Chen packed up and returned home. What happened today had been bothering him. He did not blame Feng Lizhao for making that decision for his daughter, still he was against it. Now, there was no other way to keep her safe than adding layers of protection for her.

And since his wife was clueless about everything, when he opened the front door, she rushed from upstairs with a concerned look in her eyes. "Father was here."

"Huh?" he asked as he took off his coat.

"There are men here, Qing Chen. Father said they're just there to stand guard."

Qing Chen took a peek back on the open door and saw a man in a complete black suit with an earpiece making his way around the house. "How many?"

"Four, I think. Two at the front, two at the back."

Well, that layer of protection came fast.

"Why is this happening? Are we not safe anymore? Why?!" she demanded.

Qing Chen gave her distressed face a small smile. He touched her shoulder and trailed it down her arm where he squeezed. "I know this is upsetting, wife. But you have nothing to worry about, okay?"

"I have nothing to worry about? There are men standing guard on our house! Why wouldn't I be worried? Are we going to die? I think they even have guns with them!"

Qing Chen let out a low chuckle and pressed on her arm tighter. "You're not going to die. I am not going to die. Your father is probably making sure you are protected until all this stuff about the murder dies down."

Feng Xuan's lips clamped shut and for a moment it looked like she was going to cry. Qing Chen turned his gaze to his feet. If only her father would tell her anything then she would not be so scared.

"Come here," he said and pulled her down the remaining steps of the stairs. His arms went around her and her head pressed on his chest. In the next moment she was already crying, her shoulders rocking. Qing Chen soothed her back. "You'll be okay, wife. You're not going to die."

"What about you?" she asked. "Is your life not in danger?"

Always, he wanted to answer. "It's not. You have nothing to worry about." To make her feel better, he shared some news to her. "They already found out who the victim was and apparently, he made a lot of enemies while he was still alive. It has nothing to do with our family. Okay?"

Feng Xuan nodded and raised her head. Her eyes were rimmed with red and when he took her face in his hands, he did not know why this came as a surprise, but she looked so beautiful even when she was crying. Her eyes were bigger and shone with tears. "Will you please update me with everything that is going on? I feel like I'm walking in the dark and something would just grab and kill me."

Despite the reality, Qing Chen laughed at this. "That's why there are people guarding this house. So you'd feel safe."

"It didn't make me feel safe. It only made me feel that our house is a target. I don't even think I could stay home now."

"Well, if you want you can come to the hotel with me. You can go straight there after your classes."

"I can do that?"

"You are my wife," he smiled. "Of course."

Feng Xuan nodded.

"You feel better now?" he asked and pushed her hair back behind her ear.

"Yes, it's better now that you're home."

Qing Chen released her but kept his hand on her shoulder. "Why don't we get you some sweets to calm you down?"

Feng Xuan matched her steps with him to the kitchen and wiped the tears on her eyes. When she wiped her hands on her skirt, she suddenly felt where Qing Chen's hands were and where it had been. On her shoulder, on her face, and on her hair. Those spots suddenly burned hot and her heart drummed.

"What did you do today?" he asked her.

"Classes were online. Our professor had a conference, he had to get to overseas. I stayed home and did the final budget computation for Gretel's. It's a good thing you gave me the idea of getting into business. The housewife life would not suit me. I'd go crazy here."

"It might for the mean time but when we start a family your hands would be full."

There it was again, the talk about children. Her stomach dipped and she walked away from Qing Chen's hand. She opened the fridge so she could hide her face. "When do you think we should have children?"

"At least before thirty."

"Me or you?"

"Me," he answered and if Feng Xuan was chewing on something she would've choked. It would be six years from now. "Are you good with that?"

Feng Xuan pulled a small cake and brought it over the table where Qing Chen was already sitting. She fetched two forks. "I seem to remember that if I would not give you a male heir it would be a ground for divorce."

"It could be, but it is not like I'll divorce you just because of that," he said and ate.

"What if we would only have girls?"

"A boy would come."

"What if," she pressed.

"Then we'll have as many girls as it would take to make a boy," he grinned at her over the cake.

More babies meant a lot of… Feng Xuan blushed profusely that spread down to her neck. Her fingers tingled.

"I'm kidding," Qing Chen said. "I think we could try until a third kid, if we don't have a boy, then the entire Kingly Empire would be headed by a woman for the first time in history."

"But what about Wuming? Isn't he first son?"

"He's no longer part of the equation. When he left, he was disowned—well, more like he disowned us," Qing Chen chuckled. He suddenly felt the insistent vibrating of his cellphone in his pocket. "You know what, why don't we spend some time tonight? Let's watch a movie."

Feng Xuan's eyes brightened up. "Really?"

"Yeah," he smiled at her. "Let's order pizza or snacks, whatever you prefer, take a shower, and let's meet in the bedroom."

Feng Xuan returned his smile and it looked like there were stars in her eyes. "Okay."

"Alright," Qing Chen said and walked out of the dining area. When he was finally out of sight, he rushed upstairs and closed the door behind him. "Hello?" he answered the call.

"Mr. Qing, this is Detective An."

"Good evening, Detective," he said.

"I'm sorry for having called you at this hour."

"It's alright," he said and rubbed his forehead. "Any news?"

"Yes," Detective An said. "We found a paper in a false pocket in one of Mr. Wei's bag that was also in the crime scene. It had a date written on it. Sending you the doc.u.ment now."

Qing Chen's phone vibrated and he scanned through the picture. It was an advance doc.u.ment dated on the weekend. "What is it about?" he asked. There were just random letters and symbols on the page in a single line.

"Our decoder worked on it and he said he could only devise 'The Kingly Hotel'."

Qing Chen's brows furrowed. How on earth did they get that? "So something's going to happen at the hotel on the weekend?"

"We are assuming the same. Let us talk some more about this tomorrow, Mr. Qing. We are looking to create a potential setup."

"Of course," Qing Chen answered. "Thank you for the update, Detective. Good night."

Another threat in the hotel, he thought. But that could be just something else entirely. But it was in code. What the hell did that mean? What in the world did Mr. Wei got into? Qing Chen knew the old man was troublesome especially with his repeated offenses in The Underground but he didn't really think someone would murder him for it. Could it be another mafia?

"Qing Chen?"

He raised his head at the sound of Feng Xuan's voice. "Yeah?"

"I'll order pizza. What do you want?"

"Pepperoni, please," he answered.

"Okay."

Qing Chen sighed and unbuttoned his shirt before stepping in the bathroom. He swore to himself, when all of this was over, he would take Feng Xuan and they would leave this world for a few days.

On the other hand, The Fox and The Badger were on another stake out on the top of the hill overlooking the house of the couple.

"We can't really see anything from here!" Badger said in his low voice.

The young Fox was still looking at his scope and was putting the heads of the guards in the crosshair. "There are two at the gate, two at the front of the house, two at the back probably. We need more people here."

"We have to get inside that house," Badger said. They would've made their move yesterday morning if only that stupid Wuming did not choose that moment to visit his brother's house. Now the house was guarded and there would be no way of getting in. "We have to tap their phones or the signals at least."

"Yup," the Fox said and raised himself to a standing position. "Let's get back to the headquarters and find a tech guy to help us with this. Come on. We're going to get in that house one way or another."