The banquet Xia Lei wanted finally started on the tenth day of the Spring Festival, after a week's preparation. It was eight in the evening and the banquet was being held at Hai-Zhu International Hotel. The people attending were the movers and shakers of Hai-Zhu and people of note from the Hong Kong and Macau area. Some stars and celebrities were even specially invited to add colour to the banquet.
A long line of luxury cars snaked to the entrance before it was even eight, all carrying VIPS as lofty as clouds.
Xia Lei parked his car in the allotted space and surveyed the area before he alighted. A killer hovering around him was no joke and he did not want to be killed off in a moment of carelessness like being sniped by the hidden killer once he stepped out of the car.
Xia Lei had tested his ability to look at things in the distance in order to guard against himself being ambushed. The tool he used for testing was an eyesight test chart which he first placed at a thousand metres. His left eye could see all the letters clearly at a thousand metres. Next was two thousand metres - he could not see the the letters on the last two rows of the chart. Then he tried a distance of three thousand metres; the third and fourth rows from the bottom were impossible at that distance. Last was an even further distance - he was unable to see the chart clearly at over four thousand metres, much less the letters on it.
He did this test multiple times and reached a conclusion - his effective long-range vision was four thousand metres. His fantastic range had already far outstripped the vision of all humans and was on the same scale as the eagle in the natural world. The eagle could see its prey on the ground clearly and he could use his left eye to focus on a target four thousand metres away!
There was currently no sniper rifle produced which had an effective range of four thousand metres, so Xia Lei only needed to check his surroundings to avoid becoming a target of sniping.
Xia Lei looked at the watch on his wrist and his brows wrinkled. "We've set the time - why is that punk Qin Xiang not here yet?"
At that moment, a taxi stopped in the entrance of the hotel and a woman in a long red dress alighted from it. She was tall and slender, and the lines of her waist and hips were mature and sexy. She had a head of black hair and a delicate face. What she lacked in her beauty profile was a chest - she would definitely have been a sexy stunner if she had bigger breasts.
The woman in the red dress looked about and her searching gaze stopped in Xia Lei's direction. She waved at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei paused, thinking, 'I don't know her. Why's she waving to me?'
He was curious but he still walked over. Before he got close, however, he discovered who it was - Qin Xiang!
Xia Lei broke out in sweat. "Qin Xiang, you… are you male or female?"
Qin Xiang grinned. "Must there be a distinction?"
Out of curiosity, Xia Lei quashed the guilt in his heart and sneakily shifted his left eye's gaze to the space between Qin Xiang's legs. He was seen through in a second - Qin Xiang was a person who had to use the male bathroom. He just looked too much like a woman and practically nobody would think he were a man when he had a wig on.
"Relax, I don't want Shentu Tian-Yin to see me as a love rival. I'll do my stuff and you do yours later when we go in. We must find that killer tonight," said Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei nodded. "Let's go in."
Xia Lei showed his invitation at the doorway of the banquet hall and entered, taking Qin Xiang with him.
He was the mastermind behind this banquet but had come as a guest.
Shentu Tian-Yin was in the hall greeting guests as the host of the banquet. She saw Xia Lei and Qin Xiang enter right away and her gaze stopped on Qin Xiang. Her first reaction was the same as Xia Lei's and it was clear that she thought Qin Xiang was a beautiful woman.
"Look, she's seeing me as a love rival already. Forget it. Let's part ways now." Qin Xiang sashayed off.
Xia Lei smiled wryly and shook his head, then walked towards Shentu Tian-Yin. He could guess what her first words to him would be based on the strange look she was giving him.
"Who was that woman?" Yep, her first words were exactly as he'd guessed.
Xia Lei drew close to her ear and said in a low voice, "It's a person from my company, the supermarket director, Qin Xiang. You've seen him before. He's actually a man."
"Huh?" Shentu Tian-Yin looked at him even more strangely. "You two…"
Xia Lei stared blankly, then said in embarrassment, "No, it's not what you think. I'm very normal. I brought him here to help me do something."
Shentu Tian-Yin pursed her lips and smiled. "I was just kidding. Please, come in. I'll come look for you later."
She knew what Xia Lei wanted to do but the people she had invited were important people and she had to greet them personally.
"Tian-Yin!" Gu Ke-Wu walked over with a bouquet of roses in his hands.
Two women trailed behind him - Gu Ke-Wen and Dong Qing-Yue.
Xia Lei had not walked off yet and Dong Qing-Yue stared at him with eyes full of hate. Xia Lei was the person who had caused her father's death. If it were just the two of them here, she would not hesitate to charge at him and bite off a chunk of his flesh, no matter if she won or lost in a fight!
"Tian-Yin, you're so beautiful." Gu Ke-Wu handed the bouquet of roses to Shentu Tian-Yin with both hands, a gentle and humble smile on his face. "Please accept my sincerest apologies."
How could any woman reject such a romantic apology?
Shentu Tian-Yin glanced at Xia Lei out of the corner of her eye, seemingly checking his reaction.
Xia Lei was calm. He looked indifferently at the Gu siblings.
Shentu Tian-Yin's regular self would definitely not accept Gu Ke-Wu's roses but she thought of the aim of Xia Lei in asking her to hold this banquet and she put a smile on her face. She reached out to accept the roses Gu Ke-Wu held out to her. "Ke-Wu, Ke-Wen, why don't you go inside and have a seat. I'll come chat with you later."
Gu Ke-Wen smiled as she said, "Big Sister Tian-Yin, we haven't chatted in a while. You must come look for me later; let's have a good talk."
Shentu Tian-Yin just gave her a faint nod, then handed the roses in her hands to Fu Ming-Mei, who was standing next to her.
Fu Ming-Mei wanted to throw the roses away but she couldn't find a bin.
Gu Ke-Wu walked to Xia Lei with a nice smile on his face. "We meet again, Mr Xia."
Xia Lei smiled too. "Yes. Hai-Zhu is not a big place so we'll keep bumping into each other in the future."
"Oh? I don't think we will." A faint sneer appeared on Gu Ke-Wu's lips. His meaning was clear - your life's been marked so how many more chances would you have to meet me again?
Xia Lei's left eye twitched and he quickly scanned Gu Ke-Wu's body. Gu Ke-Wu had no weapons on him; he had a wallet and a mobile phone. Xia Lei's gaze went to Gu Ke-Wen and the evening gown on her body disappeared. She was his arch enemy but she did have a smoking hot body from a man's point of view. A certain place of hers also had very lush vegetation and one would not even have guessed if one did not see it; it was surprising.
Gu Ke-Wen was clean - she had nothing else other than her red dress and a blue bra. All her things were in the little clutch she brought; a mobile phone, a wallet and a mess of makeup items like lipstick, a mirror, an eyebrow pencil and so on.
Xia Lei moved his gaze to Dong Qing-Yue last. Her body could only be described as sturdy. Her legs were round and thick, and her chest and buttocks were big but lacked beautiful curves. Put next to Gu Ke-Wen, she had nothing of the charms of a woman. She did have more things on her - a mobile phone, a wallet, a combat knife, two throwing knives and two small items which looked like a listening device and a tracking device.
Xia Lei was struck by a thought. 'A listening device and a tracking device? Who does she want to spy on? And who does she want to follow?'
Gu Ke-Wen brushed past while Xia Lei was in thought. "Let's go, Big Brother. Just the sight of some people disgusts me."
Shentu Tian-Yin's brows wrinkled. She was displeased no matter who insulted Xia Lei.
Gu Ke-Wu glared at Gu Ke-Wen and gave Xia Lei a smiling face. "Sorry, my sister surely doesn't mean you. We do have some misunderstandings between us, Mr Xia, but it's just misunderstandings. I've been putting the things which happened between us in order and found that I had also made a few mistakes. I do beg your forgiveness."
Xia Lei smiled. "It's fine. I'm not bothered by Miss Ke-Wen's words."
"That's good," said Gu Ke-Wu warmly, "Let's have some drinks together later and have a good chat. There's nothing that can't be resolved."
Xia Lei was polite too. "Thank you. I think so too." He extended a hand to Gu Ke-Wu after he spoke.
Gu Ke-Wu paused, just slightly, but still reached out his hand to shake with Xia Lei. Xia Lei shook extra warmly with him and even suddenly drew close to him to give him a hug.
Xia Lei spoke in Gu Ke-Wu's ear, "Stop acting. I'm warning you for the last time. You can hurt me but hurt my sister and you die."
Gu Ke-Wu laughed. "Oh, really? I'd like to see who dies."
Xia Lei let go of Gu Ke-Wu. His left hand dipped into his trousers in the moment he separated from Gu Ke-Wu.
Gu Ke-Wu gave Shentu Tian-Yin a toothy smile. "See you later, Tian-Yin."
Shentu Tian-Yin fought her disgust and smiled as she nodded.
Gu Ke-Wen, Gu Ke-Wu and Dong Qing-Yue entered the banquet hall.
Fu Ming-Mei swung her arm and the bouquet of roses sailed into the hands of a hotel waiter. "Throw that in the bin," she said loudly.
Shentu Tian-Yin wanted to say something to Xia Lei, but he had walked off in the direction of the washroom.