(8 Fresh Coins) Chapter 24 (Part 1) Each with their own secrets

Although the phone call broke the sweet and ambiguous atmosphere, letting Xu Yi know he was there was definitely to his advantage. Si Qiang hung up the phone happily.

Xu Qi stared at him, his gaze unfriendly. This guy... how dare he do this! Thanks to him, he wouldn't have the courage to speak to A Yi for a while. Thinking of this, Xu Qi's face darkened further, and he almost snapped.

"Thank you." Si Qiang suddenly spoke, her fair face flushing slightly again, a gentle and sweet smile on her face as she slowly lowered her eyes. "Really... thank you..."

Xu Qi was stunned. Thank you? Thank you for what? He frowned and said in a hoarse voice, "What nonsense... what are you talking about?"

Si Qiang quickly looked up at him, her eyes flickered, and after hesitating for a moment, she continued in a low voice, "Thank you... for saving Xiao Yan, thank you for forgiving me, thank you..."

He choked up, his face flushed, and for a moment he couldn't utter a single word.

Forgive? Xu Qi keenly grasped the word. He frowned and thought for a few seconds before finally understanding. He sighed and laboriously raised his hand to touch the man's flushed cheek: "This matter isn't resolved yet... We'll be busy from now on..."

A large, well-defined hand gently touched her face. That hand, which should have been strong, was now somewhat weak and limp. Si Qiang couldn't help but grasp that hand, gently rubbing it, then turning her head to kiss the smooth fingertips. Her bright red tongue lightly circled the dry nails, the clear liquid reflecting a shimmering luster on her fingertips, filling the air with an ambiguous atmosphere.

Xu Qi blushed and reflexively tried to pull her hand back, but the other person held it firmly. She could only pretend not to care and continue, "Have you contacted Yan Jun? How is the situation on your end...?"

"Hehe..." Si Qiang chuckled softly, knowing that this man would never let him off the hook if he didn't explain clearly. "Yan Yun is indeed efficient. He just told me that Yao Jinghan is with my father now, and Lian Sheng is also being handled well by Wei Lan."

Xu Qi was stunned. He hadn't expected that the matter that had been bothering him for so long would be resolved so easily, and he was momentarily speechless. Back then, when Ji Ruofei discovered the mole, Xu Qi suddenly realized that his subordinate who had followed him for many years had betrayed him. This made his supposedly hardened heart waver. After several twists and turns, he still couldn't truly catch Lian Sheng. Instead, he discovered that Lian Sheng had some connection with a high-ranking member of the Fuqing Gang. His mind was immediately overwhelmed by the thought that "Si Qiang might be the mastermind," and he could barely think straight.

After much deliberation, he finally decided to meet with Si Qiang, but then received intelligence that Lian Sheng planned to use this opportunity to trap Si Qiang, so as to quickly seize control of most of the Fuqing Gang's power to counter Long Ming. The sudden emergence of Yao Jinghan made him realize that he had misunderstood Si Qiang. The matter of Yao Jinghan was also very troublesome, and he risked losing on both fronts. In the end, he had no choice but to ask Yan Yun to intervene, hoping to get her out first so he could deal with Lian Sheng more effectively. However, Lian Sheng had a hidden move; he cleverly escaped with a group of subordinates and rebelled. He had no choice but to prepare for a period of attrition. Although the enemy's power was not yet significant, it would take time to completely dismantle them.

He forgot that Yan Jun's specialty was the "capture the leader first" tactic—this man, though called a mercenary leader, was more accurately described as an assassin. Given his style, by casually taking down Lian Sheng and his group of leaders, he was essentially doing Xu Qi a huge favor.

"This guy... Hmph." Xu Qi didn't know whether to be happy or annoyed, and finally snorted and stopped talking.

Seeing his expression, Si Qiang wisely kept quiet. He was also startled when he received Yan Yun's call. He had never expected things to take such a dramatic turn. First, he suddenly received the news that his sister had been taken away by Xu Qi, and he was so desperate that he wished he had never been born. Then, he was suddenly tricked by Lian Sheng and Yao Jinghan, and almost fell for them. Later, he woke up next to Xu Qi and was overwhelmed by the fact that they were in love, and several times he thought he was dreaming.

After he finally processed all of this, he began to deal with Yao Jinghan's matter. Just as he was making some progress, he received good news from Yan Yun. While he was happy, he was also annoyed that he had been tricked so badly by this woman. Then he thought that thanks to this incident, he had the opportunity to open up to Xu Qi. He was truly at a loss for words.

"Oh right, I just had the cook make some food. Wait a minute, I'll have someone bring it over." Si Qiang suddenly remembered that Xu Qi hadn't eaten yet, so she quickly stood up and picked up the internal phone.

Xu Qi watched his practiced movements quietly, and for a moment, he felt as if he were back in that time—15-year-old Qiangwei, who couldn't yet perform her work well, yet stubbornly refused to let others do it for her. Although she had been with him for a while, she was never close to him, and after being assigned to A-Yi's side, the distance between them grew even further. Later, when A-Yi returned to China, he had to stay in New York to handle family affairs due to his father's health. At that time, Qiangwei was constantly running back and forth, busy with this and that for her brothers, always having endless things to do. When A-Yi returned to New York, Qiangwei also came back, and from then on, she stayed with him—now that he thought about it, he hadn't hesitated to send someone else to A-Yi's side to replace Qiangwei, he simply wanted this child to stay by his side forever.

Author's Note:

Highly recommended – a must-have when you're stuck: ChaCha melon seeds! Just crack one open and inspiration will come instantly!

ORZ I'm not a shill for Chacha... I was really stuck on the word flow, scratching my head and then picking up some sunflower seeds and cracking them open, and suddenly it clicked! 囧