"Guess that settles it then," Qing Chen said and folded the paper and slipped it under his plate. "The speakers are working."
"What's the news with Clown?" asked Wuming. He had spent the entire afternoon working out in the bas.e.m.e.nt until he felt like his muscles were going to fall off. "If I have to stay another week in this house, I'm going to start killing some plants."
Qing Lok rolled his eyes. "Do you want to die? Grandma will surely chop your fingers one by one if you touch her precious plants."
"What's our next plan?" Feng Xuan asked.
"Clown is about to send the reports by tomorrow morning. I expect there would be results. We better get ready. Lok, you check with the armory. I need a complete inventory by tonight. Wuming gather some men and group them up. We need backup plans."
"And me?" Feng Xuan asked.
"You," he smiled at her. "I need you with me so I'll stay sane through all this."
"Gee, you're making a display," she playfully said.
"You can help me plan," he said. "But for now, those are the only things that we need done."
When dinner was over, everybody retreated in their bedrooms. The couple took a shower. "I miss -our bed," Feng Xuan said as she fixed the pillows. Qing Chen's childhood bed was queen-sized. They fit just fine but she missed their California king bed.
"What do you think about staying in this house?"
"What do you mean? Are we not going to go back to our house?"
"We are. But… if father you know... passes away, this estate would belong to me." Qing Chen sat on the side of the bed while toweling his hair. "I'm asking you because if you don't like this house, maybe I'll give it to Lok."
"What about Wuming?"
"I think Wuming is going to go back in his mountain. If not, I'll be sure to get him one of our houses. Heavens know we got too much property in our hands. He can even stay in one of the penthouses in the hotel."
She snuggled the pillow. "Did you hug this pillow a lot?"
"I'm not much of a hugger when I sleep," he said. "Only when you came along."
She smiled at him. "To answer your question, I think you should give this house to your brothers. We're going to buy a new house near the city if you want. We'll make the other house sort of a vacation home. We can even have people rent it. We're so near the airport and a short drive from the city. Surely, it would be easy to advertise with rich foreigners."
"And risk that those rich foreigners are actually spies and bug our whole house? I don't think so." Qing Chen tossed his towel to the back of a chair and leaned down on Feng Xuan. "Are you excited to meet The Zookeeper?"
She held onto his sleeve. "I'm just excited to get things over with in general. I just want to get back to our lives. This is driving me nuts."
"Hmm," Qing Chen said. "What do you plan on doing when we get this over with?"
"I don't know," she said, looking in his eyes. "I haven't seen that far ahead."
"You want to start a family?"
Feng Xuan haven't thought about it but now that he said it, her lips automatically smiled. "Really? You want to be a parent?"
"Well, there's no harm in it. But I'm asking you if you want it."
"Why me? Of course, you should also think about it."
He pressed a kiss on her cheek. "I already thought about it. Once we're done with The Zookeeper and the reforms in the mafia then… we're going to be okay. Everything would be fine. We can live our lives the way we want to."
She held onto his face, her eyes scanning his every feature, looking for a sign that he was just being forced to say this. There was none. "Okay."
"What do you mean okay?"
"Let's start a family after this."
Qing Chen chuckled. "I don't think you should decide that quick. Think hard about it, wife. It's going to change our lives. It's your body."
"I don't care about my body," she said and drew him closer. "I want to be with you. Forever."
"I think forever is such a vague word."
"Until my last dying breath, then."
"What if I die first?"
"I wanna die with you."
Qing Chen couldn't help it. He wrapped her arms around her and gave her a kiss. It was his way of saying thank you to her. For always being there. For not being too hard. Certainly, there would be no other perfect wife for him.
At one point, he was grateful for everything that has happened in the past for it led him to where he was now. The life they were living was not perfect. But at least he knew that they would not be separated.
**
When the morning came, they have not even had breakfast yet when the news arrived. Clown sent a new message.
"Sir, there are two prospects. One in Russia and one in Africa. We have crossed out the other pings. We are sure that it's just either one of these two. We're getting close to The Zookeeper. Please get ready, sir."
Qing Chen was actually smiling as he read the letter. After his talk with Feng Xuan last night, he just wanted to finish everything and get started with the new chapter of their lives. It was as if they haven't really had the chance to enjoy their married life because of all the issues that they were facing.
Wuming and Qing Lok both read the message and they both nodded. "We're finally closing this down," Qing Lok said.
"Yup, then we'll be free."
Qing Chen looked at Feng Xuan and grinned. "Are you ready to go to war?"