Chapter 173 A Second Challenge

Ming Guang gingerly scooted away, mentally cursing Captain Mu. Why couldn't he be assigned with a more professional bodyguard colleague? Instead, he was stuck with motor-mouth Wei Yan who had no qualms about speculating about the relationship and bedroom dynamics of his bosses.

Urgh. He shuddered.

"But if you think about it, isn't it great!" Jingwei exclaimed, cutting short his monologue of sorrow to beam at her.

"What's so great," Xue Ning retorted hotly. "I've found out that I'm in love with a cybercriminal who robbed me when I was 12!"

"You're in love with me!" Jingwei repeated, delighted at her admission. "You love me! I'm so happy!"

"Did you not hear the part where you robbed me?" Xue Ning asked dryly even as her cheeks reddened at her accidental admission. She crossed her arms and pretended to stare at the wall next to Jingwei. "Don't change the subject!"

"Okay! But you love me!" Jingwei said cheerfully, just to get the last word. He wanted to say it over and over, scream it from the top of his lungs as he stood on the Great Wall, on top of the Eiffel Tower, on top of the Statue of Liberty.

(He had to savour this, before Xue Ning no longer loved him.)

"In return… I'll return the stuff I stole from you!" He promised.

"You don't even know what you stole, idiot," Xue Ning said with a scowl.

"But I'm sure you do." Jingwei smiled winningly and waggled his fingers. "I'll give it back now."

"No thanks, I've stopped playing for over 10 years." Xue Ning said, smacking his fingers. "So is this the extent of your hacking skills? Robbing poor innocent children of their hard earned equipment?"

"Of course not!" Jingwei replied, offended. "Do you want to rob Zhou Enterprises? I can do that too! I'm sure your parents wouldn't mind a new set of kitchenware, or a new washing machine. I can make sure that they get that for free!"

"And make my parents accomplices to your crime? No thanks." Xue Ning said, then she thought for a moment. "But how do you plan to rob them anyway?"

"Watch and learn, my darling wife, the light of my life, the best thing - "

"Shut up and just get to it, you braggart." Xue Ning grumbled, even as the corners of her lips turned upward at his blatant flattery. The worst thing of all was how Sun Jingwei meant every single flowery word that emerged from that sexy mouth of his.

What an annoying man! She wanted to kiss him sometimes and it was All. His. Fault.

"I'll hack into their ecommerce site to give us, and anyone who just happens to visit, a 100% discount on all their items," Jingwe said cheerfully. "After all that Zhou Yu did today, this is compensation for you!"

"How kind of you," Xue Ning said, still refusing to believe Jingwei had the skills he boasted of. Even if she did want to rob them blind, Jingwei's offer still sounded too good to be true!

Surely an enterprise as wealthy and well-known as the Zhou's would have great cybersecurity that wouldn't be so easily bypassed, unlike old gaming accounts held by children, which had passwords that hadn't been changed in years!

"Are you sure you're up to this task?" Xue Ning asked.

"My lady, do you doubt my abilities?" Jingwei asked, affronted. "I'm hurt."

"What gave me away?" Xue Ning retorted. "But seriously, are you sure they won't find out and arrest you?"

"Let's find out!" Jingwei replied cheerily, eagerly visiting Zhou Enterprises' ecommerce site. Xue Ning saw the website load to reveal a new brand of vacuum cleaner. Huh. Her mom would like that.

"I'll get you that vacuum cleaner," Jingwei promised, catching the look of interest in Xue Ning's eyes. If she wanted everything in the damn product catalog, he would give it to her!

Jingwei started to work his magic on the site. Just like before, lines of code began to appear. Wei Yan and Ming Guang came closer, and the three of them huddled behind Jingwei to watch him work with baited breath.

Jingwei smiled, everything was going just as he planned! All it needed was a few workarounds and…

But wait a minute! He watched as parts of his code began drifting and shifting without his input. He frowned; was there another hacker overriding his code? Was this the Zhou's family idea of investing in better cybersecurity?

What on earth was going on?

"Oi, why are you frowning?" Xue Ning asked, starting to panic. She knew nothing about coding, but she could read Jingwei's expression, and the look on his face wasn't that carefree, happy look he had when he was robbing gaming items from old accounts. "Are you in trouble? Are you going to be arrested?"

"No no no! Everything is fine!" Jingwei hastily assured her, but he didn't take his eyes away from the screen. Instead, his fingers flew faster over the keyboard, a competitive light dawning in his eyes. He hadn't done this for a long time, but seeing someone dare to interfere with his hacking lit a fire of competitiveness in him. He didn't want to lose to this unnamed hacker! If he did, he'd lose face in front of Xue Ning - and he refused to let that happen! If Xue Ning already called him a cybercriminal, he would at least work to be a good competent cybercriminal, and not some run-of-the-mill scrubb that got stopped by this obstacle!

"Don't worry Xue Ning!" Jingwei declared fervently. "By hook or by crook, I'm going to get that vacuum cleaner for you!"

"You could just buy it with your own money," Xue Ning grumbled, but she watched Jingwei as he continued to type furiously. This side of him was new, and she was surprised at how much she liked it.

She always did like people who refused to give up, people with their own passions, and people who were competent. Somehow, Sun Jingwei was slowly becoming all of these people the more time she spent with him!

Seeing him code, she had to wonder if he kept this part of him hidden all this while. But no, he said that he hadn't done it in a while. That was strange.

If he was that good and he was interested in this… unorthodox hobby, why on earth would he give it up?