Pu Li Ming isn’t actually stupid. He notices these things. Even if others think he is oblivious.
Everything could be explained by paranoia. But everything seemed to have gotten worse after he told Zhou Fi Hai about his problem.
He knows for a fact that Zhou Fi Hai has eyes keeping track of him now as well. This means the gut feeling he had before wasn’t just paranoid hallucinations of some sort. Zhou Fi Hai’s own reaction to it just solidified that answer.
But why is he being watched? Why is Zhou Fi Hai having him watched?
And what kind of person is Zhou Fi Hai that his immediate reaction is to extract watchers for him? Who is Zhou Fi Hai that he even has people in place for something like this in the first place?
Even now as they sit in this restaurant, PuLi Ming would bet his whole wallet, bank account, and inheritance that some of the ‘customers’ sitting here to eat are people placed by Zhou Fi Hai.
The extra sets of eyes now trained on him only make him feel even more paranoid and unsafe.
He’s been sitting tensely in his seat, trying desperately to seem unbothered all the way eating as fast as he can so they can go back home (where fewer eyes follow him around).
Something behind him shifts, and Zhou Fi Hai’s eyes immediately snap to it. Before he could even try to turn and look for it, Zhou Fi Hai already reacted.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Excuse me for a second, Xiao Ming.” Zhou Fi Hai says, standing up and walking towards the exit after a pat on Pu Li Ming’s head.
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He inwardly sighs when he realizes Zhou Fi Hai would take a while.
Outside, one of their men waited for him dressed in their signature black suits. In the parking lot, a nondescript black car was parked with two other men dressed just like he was.
As soon as the man caught sight of onyx phoenix eyes, he immediately straightened his back and turned to face him.
“Shaoye Zhou.” The man greets him with a small bow.
A flash of discomfort rus through his eyes at the action, “Report.” Zhou Fi Hai says sternly.
The man nods before immediately answering, “It took a while to find exactly who was at the head of the operation. It seemed like a wild goose chase going almost nowhere. We realized soon enough it was because we weren’t looking at the right place, but we finally found them.”
He continued as he took out an envelope filled with the pieces of evidence and the resources they had gotten the information from, “It’s a man named Ryuuji Kan. One of the main leaders of a criminal organization named Seizhì.”
He passed it to Zhou Fi Hai who immediately took out the contents, eyes zipping back and forth to look through them, “Their organization has steadily been growing for years. This time, their influence seems to be at the highest point they could reach.” the man said.
“Seizhì’s activities have been reported to be breaching C-Country since last year. The people in the know here seem to not give him any notice yet, I’m sure you would know.” There’s a pointed pause as the man’s eyes flicker to Zhou Fi Hai before looking away, “I believe they aren’t taking Kan seriously.”
With a sigh, Zhou Fi Hai shakes his head and waves in dismissal, “Nevermind them. Do we have a motive for the Pu family’s involvement?”
The man pauses then frowns, “Nothing for certain yet, Shaoye. We think it’s possible that they may know about you and have pinpointed the boy, Pu Li Ming, as an area of weakness to take advantage of.”
As much as Zhou Fi Hai is loathed to admit. It made sense in a way. They only seemed to have started keeping tabs on the family once Zhou Fi Hai himself had started interacting with them.
A pit immediately dug itself into his stomach. He didn’t want this. This was one of the reasons why he stayed away from his family and everything that came with it.
But now it’s too late, and he’s dragged Pu Li Ming and his mother into it too.
Once he finally came back inside, Pu Li Ming leaned forward in his seat, fingers interlocked with each other on the table and twiddling his thumbs idly. His eyes somewhat unseeing as they were turned forward.
“Hey,” Zhou Fi Hai says making the younger man turn towards him, “I’m really sorry about that, just had to deal with something important real quick.”
Hearing the words ‘important’ causes something to flash in Pu Li Ming’s eyes before he shakes his head, “It’s alright. Just be glad that we didn’t order ice cream for dessert, it would’ve melted by now.” He jokes lightheartedly making Zhou Fi Hai snicker.
Zhou Fi Hai teases, “I somewhat recall a certain man who actually first chose the banana split before being persuaded into having strawberry cheesecake.” And isn’t that just amazing? Pu Li Ming has come so far.
“What do you mean ‘persuaded’? I wasn’t persuaded into anything! I actually really like cheesecakes!” Pu Li Ming insists, cheeks puffing up.
“Alright, alright. Your change of order was definitely not because I pointed it out to you that you’ve completely missed the last page of the menu.” Zhou Fi Hai teases again.
“Zhou Fi Hai!” Pu Li Ming says in mock outrage before completely falling into giggles as Zhou Fi Hai laughs with him.
God, Pu Li Ming was so precious.
This author has something to say:
Zhou Fi Hai: If smth happens to Xiao Ming, I will kill everyone in this room and then myself
Pfft the last line