Chapter 31 The Rival

 “This is Se Cai, my colleague. If not for him, I would be in the bad guy’s clutches by now.”

Xin Yu let go of Se Cai’s hand and said huffily.

Wu Bin quickly reassumed his normal countenance, and offered his hand to Se Cai.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Wu Bin, Xin Yu’s fiancé!”

Wu Bin said politely but his tone betrayed his irritation. The fact that he purposely stressed the word ‘fiancé’ made the message he wanted to send very clear.

“The pleasure is mine. I’m Se Cai, Xin Yu’s colleague…”

Se Cai took his hand out of politeness but didn’t hold it for long. Se Cai’s experience as a reporter provided him with a keen sense at reading people. This Wu Bin was definitely hostile against him.

Then again, could one really fault Wu Bin? His fiancé had spent a whole night in the company of a stranger guy without telling him. It took all the composure he had to not pummel Se Cai into a pulp.

Xin Yu interjected hotly, “Wait a minute, fiancé? Who said I was your fiancé, is it your commander-in-chief father or my dad? Regardless, I don’t agree!”

“But this is an agreement on both of our parents’ parts, furthermore this will cement the history that our families shared that goes back years…”

Wu Bin argued helplessly, obviously used to Xin Yu’s willful nature.

“I thought leaving the central news station was a clear enough message for you but who would have thought you would be stubborn enough to follow me to County S!”

Xin Yu leveled a death gaze at Wu Bin before turning on her heel and scurried back inside her car.

“I know you’re reluctant to see me but I had no choice because Uncle Zhang personally requested me to come meet you and make sure you get up the helicopter!”

Wu Bin caught Xin Yu’s ascending car window and pointed at the helicopter that was landing.

Even though Xin Yu was averse to following Wu Bin, she knew she shouldn’t worry her father by defying his orders.

She tossed a glance at Se Cai and uttered hesitatingly, “Do we have to leave now? Couldn’t I stay for one more night?”

“I can’t allow that. The Cobra Syndicate has been known to be extremely vicious in their dealings. They had even brought a rocket launcher to one of their devious plans before. This small group of army platoon might not be able to hold them off if they attempt anything crazy.”

Wu Bin replied seriously.

The Cobra Syndicate was an internationally infamous mercenary group. They might have restrained themselves for the sake of kidnapping but now that cover was blown, who knew what lengths they would go to?

“Go with him, you’re their target, it’s not safe for you to stay here! Plus, your father must be worried about you.”

Se Cai advised.

He had personally confronted the man from Cobra Syndicate before. He knew how savage they could be. Wu Bin’s fear and cautiousness wasn’t unfounded.

After all, County S was a small township, its army garrison couldn’t be powerful enough to stop a professional mercenary group.

“Alright then, you take care of yourself. Before I forget, this is for you.”

Xin Yu smoothed down her hair that was getting increasingly disheveled by the helicopter draft. She took from her coat pocket a key with a black crystal car model keychain and handed it to Se Cai.

“It’s late and I’m afraid you won’t be able to find a ride home so I’ll leave the car with you!”

Then, Xin Yu pulled him in for a hug before getting on the helicopter. She waved tearfully down at him as the helicopter carried her away…

“Goodbye!”

Se Cai yelled into the night sky. He was unsure whether she could even hear him from her altitude but it felt like the right thing to do.

“Miss her already?”

Wu Bin walked before Se Cai and commented snidely. Now that Xin Yu was gone, his animosity towards Se Cai was displayed openly.

The lingering hug Se Cai shared with Xin Yu only pushed him that much further. It irked him Xin Yu was so open with her affection towards Se Cai.

Se Cai heard the barb in Wu Bin’s comment, and he frowned.

He was expecting at the very least a ‘thank you’ from Wu Bin for keeping Xin Yu safe. Wu Bin though turned out to be such a narrow-minded guy, no wonder Xin Yu wanted nothing to do with him.

“I don’t think that’s your business, Battalion Commander Wu.”

Se Cai shrugged and headed to the car without even acknowledging Wu Bin with a glance. He added, “It’s late, I’m going back home. I’m sure you can wrap up things at the house nicely!”

“Wait, I’m not done. You still haven’t explained why the 2 of you are together tonight.”

Wu Bin was annoyed by Se Cai’s actions. He extended his hand to grab at Se Cai’s shoulder.

Se Cai felt the movement behind him and sidestepped out of the way. After battling 2 experts, Se Cai had gotten much used to utilizing the system in physical confrontation.

“I told you before, Xin Yu and I are mere colleagues. As to why I am accompanying her, you can ask her that yourself,” Se Cai said succinctly.

Since Wu Bin was not going to treat him courteously, Se Cai didn’t want to waste his breath explaining himself.

“Well, I didn’t expect you to evade that, how about this?”

With murderous intent in his eyes, he pitched a left hook at Se Cai.

“Deputy Battalion Commander Wu, don’t be rash!”

An officer beside Wu Bin yelled, trying to stop him. This was Wu Bin’s superior and thus was familiar with Wu Bin’s background.

Wu Bin was trained in the country’s main military camp. Even though he was the commander-in-chief’s son, he wasn’t given special treatment. On the contrary, he trained even harder than the rest to live up to his father’s name. He was one of the best fighters in the main camp, and was without a doubt the greatest fighter in County S.

A few days ago, when some of the veteran soldiers, who thought he was a daddy’s boy shielded by his father’s influence, challenged him to a duel, he knocked them all out without even taking a break.

This time, his opponent was a common civilian. Wu Bin’s superior really didn’t want to have civilian blood on his hands.

“Why, you prefer the hands-on approach?”

Se Cai smirked. He lifted the crystal keychain’s pointy end to block Wu Bin’s punch.

Wu Bin caught himself and huffed in frustration.

“Xu Jin Feng who betrayed Mr. Zhang is unconscious inside the house and her Cobra Syndicate accomplices are still around but you decided to attack me? You better get your head checked.”

Se Cai chided and slammed the door in his face.

The Tesla sped through the night like a ghost and within 10 minutes, Se Cai already arrived at his own place.

If this was any other day, Se Cai would have continued to stroll around town in such an impressive car but he was feeling indefinably crestfallen that night.

He parked the car and headed to his apartment.

The light in the old apartment’s stairwell was dim from a thick layer of dust and the whole building smelled like mildew. When Se Cai reached the door of his apartment, he was surprised to find a person snoring lightly in front of it, reeking of alcohol.

“Gao Xiang? Why are you so drunk?”

Se Cai squatted down to shake his housemate lightly.

“Bro… Is that you? Damn, Director Bai is such a drinker, I swear he’s trying to give me alcohol poisoning…”

Gao Xiang mumbled incoherently. He tried but failed several times to stand up using the wall.

“You’re still too young to try to outdrink Director Bai!”

Se Cai chuckled in spite of himself.

Hai Dong was known in County S Tv Station for his alcohol tolerance. He felt weirdly relieved that he didn’t follow the rest of the crew to supper.

Se Cai couldn’t leave his housemate out there in the open so he pulled the drunk Gao Xiang in and deposited him on the bed.

Se Cai was going to retreat out of Gao Xiang’s room when he remembered something. He searched Gao Xiang’s pocket for his phone and found his SOS message on it.

“I knew I shouldn’t have relied on him. When he woke up to call the cops, it would have been the next day!”

Se Cai uttered with a speechless expression. He deleted the message, deciding that the less people that knew of this the better.

Se Cai then removed his clothes that had hardened from the dried mud and got into the shower.

To his exasperation, the water heater was broken and he had to content himself with a cold shower.

“What’s with my luck today?!”

Se Cai dried his body and curled up in a fetal position under the covers.

Too cold to sleep, Se Cai stared blankly at the ceiling. Like a panorama, everything that happened that day replayed in his mind.

A suicide, bomb, kidnapping and somehow the appearance of a love rival… Se Cai realized he had gone through a lot that day. It was more compact and frantic than his whole life combined.

His thought eventually wandered to Xin Yu and the kiss that they shared in the rain.

Se Cai shook his head to push the picture of his mind.

“It is a shame though, the 2000000 RMB! I should have accepted it and still warned Xin Yu. It would have been a poetic justice in a sense…”

Se Cai sighed as he tossed and turned in bed. However, he was sure he wouldn’t be able to look Xin Yu’s in the eyes if he had accepted the money.

He might be poor but he knew he couldn’t have violated his own dignity and principle for the sake of wealth.

Which then brought him to the thoughts of the Tesla that had fallen into his possession… Se Cai told himself, it was just a loan. He would eventually return it to its rightful owner.

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