Chapter 326 - Should I Hide Them?

After executing the mission, Wuming and Addison made their way back to the Qing's estate. "You know," Addison began. "I really don't think this is a good idea. I could just find somewhere else to stay."

Wuming smiled at her as he unbuckled himself from the driver's seat. "Did I finally find your weakness?"

Addison glared at him in challenge. "I'm not afraid of anything."

"Other than meeting some people, I guess."

Addison flicked her hair in the air and started fixing her face. "I knew you kind of used reverse psychology on that, but I don't give a fvck. I am going to meet your family and live like I'm the richest person inside that mansion." She finished her look with a swipe of red lipstick. "What? Let's go!"

Wuming only shook his head and got out of the car. "First things first, Qing Chen is the mature one. He came right after me and he's responsible for everything. Qing Lok is a tech genius. Feng Xuan is Qing Chen's wife, beautiful woman, smart and strong as hell—just like you. Then there's Qing Lok's girlfriend, she's staying with us too, she's Feng Xuan's step-sister, innocently beautiful. I haven't met her officially yet."

Addison took in the information quickly. "Now I know why you want me here."

"And that's because?"

"You don't want to be left alone, surrounded by couples. Low blow but okay."

Wuming laughed just as they reached the front door. "It's nothing like that. I just rather be at home and my own bed than in the hotel. Besides, I like home cooked meals." He pushed the door open.

"Hey, I'm home," he said.

Qing Chen was flipping through papers in the living room. "Great, now you can help us."

Everyone was too busy to even lift their heads to look at him. Addison pulled at his sleeve, signalling that they should just go up and escape all this awkwardness. 

He lifted a finger to her and in a louder voice, he said, "I'm with a friend."

He was right. That got their attention. Everyone stopped working and huddled by the entryway of the living room. He put Addison behind him. "Alright, don't stare. Her name is…"

He didn't think this through enough, that was why he was more than surprised when she said her real name.

"Addison," she said, stepping away from his back and shook everybody's hand like she was running for office. "I'm a… Qing Wei's friend."

"Qing Wei," Qing Chen repeated amusedly. "We usually just call him by his other name."

"Yeah, I heard about that. But I like his name."

Wuming glared at Qing Lok who looked so goofy on Liu Meilien's side.

"It's so nice to meet you," said Feng Xuan. "You two just missed dinner."

"Oh, another woman in the house!" said Liu Meilien who looked too pleased. "I'm so happy."

Wuming saw how Addison's lips stretched to force a smile. But she also did not want to sugarcoat what she was. "Yeah, you'll feel a lot safer now that I'm here," she winked at the pretty girl. "I can kill men."

There was no words that could explain Liu Meilien's face. "O-of course!"

Oh, so this was Qing Lok's girl. "Hi, I'm Wuming." He held out his hand and her shyness made his smile wider. "I hope you find our house fitting."

"I do," she chuckled, but it did not hide her nervousness.

Qing Lok was more than ready to swoop in. "There are still a lot of food. Have fun at dinner."

Wuming fished his pockets and tossed the phones to his brother. "That's all they had."

Qing Lok looked at the old flip phone and Wuming immediately knew what was going on his brother's mind. "They probably killed more than a dozen of people, Lok. Don't feel too bad. I don't want to see your face like that when we're at my funeral," he joked.

"Yeah," answered his brother, smiling but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Well, we'll go eat then we'll come back here," he said and steered Addison to the dining area.

"He's the soft one, then?" she asked.

"Qing Chen's the softest of us at the end of the day. But Lok has his moments from time to time." He shrugged. "It's sometimes hard to believe that we are cut from the same cloth."

"You're a good person, Wuming," said Addison, seating on the chair he pulled out for her. "You just have an odd job."

"I wish," he replied. But they both knew he was lying.

**

The following morning, Qing Chen's head was only filled with thoughts about his mother. He was slumped on his office seat. There were a lot of other things he should be thinking about but he could not push his mother to te corner of his mind.

Just what game was she playing? Who was she really?

Yesterday, they spent the rest of the night looking at the other clues. Half the team were on working on the possible map and the rest tried to decode the other items on Qing Chen's tattoo.

He badly wanted to close his eyes but he had worked to do. It was lunchtime when Feng Xuan came to his office. He was standing near his glass windows, just looking out te city, wondering where his mother was.

"Aren't you hungry?"

He shook his head. "I got too much on my mind to be hungry."

Feng Xuan stood next to him. She didn't touch him and looked at the city too. "In the end, it's our mothers who are worse than our fathers."

Qing Chen had to smile at that. "Who would've thought, right? It's kind of unbelievable if you come to think of it."

She turned to him. "How come none of you asked about her old life?"

"We did," he said, "but she didn't like talking about it. She said, her parents weren't the best and she preferred not to speak about them. My father once offered to help find them but she refused." He sighed. "Now that you mentioned it, I should really talk to Lok about how we could find more records of our mother. But we already assumed that she came here with a fake name and then changed it again when she married Father."

He smiled at her. "Lunch?"

**

The person who was seated behind his computer was breathing hard as he made his way to his boss' office. "They killed them. They killed the agents."

The boss laughed from his seat and had the nerve to put his feet up the table. "What? Are you scared? You're half a world away from them!"

"But they're dead."

The boss waved a hand. "They were not our men. But we'll be the one who would make the new move."

"What are you going to do?" he demanded.

"That's none of your business," said the boss. "Go back to your job and let me know when the Qings find something else."

"What about the files? Should I hide them?"

The boss shook his head. "Let them find her. It's about time they know who their mother really is."