Chapter 402 - Bloodl.u.s.t

After a week of silence from his brothers, Qing Chen finally received a message from Wuming. "Let's have lunch." He was not that surprised when he saw that Qing Lok was there too.

"Where the hell have you been hiding?" he asked his younger brother as he slid inside the booth.

"Just here and there. Couch surfing," Qing Lok shrugged.

There was a look of disdain in Qing Chen's face. "You're a partial owner of a huge hotel and you sleep on people's couches?"

Qing Lok laughed. "At least I have friends."

"Sure," Qing Chen said. It was a low blow, but he knew that Qing Lok was only joking. As he said, and he will say it again, he didn't need friends. All he needed was his family. "So, what is this for?" he directed the question to Wuming.

Wuming shrugged his leather jacket off. "I just want to have a nice meal with the two of you."

"Are you finally going to tell us that you're going back to your mountain?" asked Qing Lok.

"No. I'm not going back there. Not until things quiet down here. I am here to stay." He waved a waitress over. Qing Chen's eyes looked around the place: neon lights, sepia and black and white photos on the walls, a jukebox… it was like one of the diners you would see in the movies.

Not one of their properties.

After taking a massive order, the waitress walked away. 

"Have you heard anything from the house?" Wuming asked.

Qing Chen shook his head. "Not at all."

"I did," said Qing Lok. "I'm text mates with grandma. She said, mother's doing fine."

"No plans of leaving yet?"

He shook his head.

Qing Chen shrugged, not really knowing what to say about it. He knew that Feng Xuan wanted for him and his mother to reconcile. He was going to forgive his mother at some point. He just didn't know when.

"What have you two been doing all week?" he asked his brothers as the drinks were placed on their table. 

"Staying home," Wuming answered.

"Hiding," answered Qing Lok.

"Well, I am actually looking at some contracts around the area," Wuming sipped from his avocado shake. "There aren't much."

"Why don't we play with the people from the streets? Should be fun?"

"How?"

"We're going to pretend like we're really weak then we're going to jump and beat the shit out of them. That kind of stuff."

Wuming almost choked on his drink. "What the hell happened to you?"

Qing Lok bowed his head in embarrassment for a second. "What? Can't I be interested in that kind of stuff? Is that only your kind of thing?"

Wuming laughed. "I am not owning anything, okay?"

Qing Chen interrupted. "Why don't the two of you just focus on Enigma, huh? And actually help me?"

Wuming smiled and sighed. "Yeah, I am going back to work tonight."

"Me too," said Qing Lok. "I think I needed that one week of isolation from our family."

"Is Addison staying with you?" Qing Chen asked Wuming.

"Yeah, she'll be around."

"From now on or for a while?"

"Who knows," Wuming waved a nonchalant hand in the air. "What has your wife been up to? Is she busy with the spring fashion shit that Liu Meilien is into as well?"

Qing Chen shook his head. "I think Feng Xuan's having a little existential crisis."

"Ah, getting tired of all these crap, huh?"

"I guess. I threw her out of the office."

"You did what?!" exclaimed Qing Lok.

"I fired her. For the time being. She's not happy with working at the moment."

"How did you know that?"

"In meetings, she just stares off into space. I don't know what it was she was doing in her head. But it's definitely more interesting than bar and pie graphs."

"Everything is much more interesting than bar and pie graphs."

Qing Chen's finger traced the mouth of his glass. "There was one thing that she mentioned though. I think that was what she was thinking about."

"What was it?"

"Slicing someone's neck open."

Wuming's laughter echoed in the room so loud that people stared to look at him. Of course, he didn't care. Just then, the waitress headed to their table, holding a tray filled with plates of huge burgers.

"Your girl has it," Wuming said.

"Bloodl.u.s.t," Qing Chen answered with a slight sigh.Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="#&apos;s-rose-married-the-ceo_15939261805465305/bloodl.u.s.t_52087059199881488">#&apos;s-rose-married-the-ceo_15939261805465305/bloodl.u.s.t_52087059199881488</a> for visiting.

Wuming could not stop smiling at that. "Come to think of it, Chen. You hated that stuff. And plot twist! Your wife loves it."

Qing Chen took a bite. "It doesn't really matter. She's going to do whatever she wants anyway. But for now, she's going through some sort of bucket list."

"You're stalling."

Qing Lok nodded at that. "But she's Feng Xuan anyway. She'll figure it out."

"She sure will," Qing Lok said with a slight heaviness in his heart.

=====

Feng Xuan almost laughed her head off when she fished a strip of paper from her jar. "Get a pet" was written on it. She woke up alone this morning and she got up late. 

He sent a picture to Qing Chen after lunch about the paper and told him that she was going to the nearest shelter. She didn't want to buy a new dog when a lot of dogs were up for adoption. 

She was directed by the staff to the back and she entered that long hallway. On either side of her were barred rows. The female attendant kept on steering her on the smaller dogs. While they were cute, none of them really appealed to her.

"I want something bigger," she said.

"Oh," the attendant looked appalled. "Are you sure about that, Mrs?"

She nodded with a smile. "Something ferocious perhaps?"

The attendant explained to her that they do not really have violent dogs around but lead her to the end of the hallway. 

At first sight, she knew what she wanted.

"I want that black one."