Chapter 30 Visitors from Sicily

Sure enough... he shouldn't have teased him so casually, Xu Qi thought to himself, feeling dazed. Fortunately, Si Qiang understood that he wasn't ready to be teased right now, and let him go after she had kissed him enough.

"How long have I been asleep?" Xu Qi asked before the man turned around. He needed to recover as quickly as possible; he couldn't let his work fall behind.

“You’ve been sleeping for two days, so you’re very weak and need to rest.” Si Qiang noticed his gaze and immediately raised her hand to make a negative gesture. “Don’t think about working. With Wei Lan here, there won’t be any problems.”

“Wei Lan…” Xu Qi thought of this capable subordinate and fell into deep thought. In fact, since that incident, he and his father had had an open exchange of ideas, and he learned that Wei Lan’s other personality did indeed obey his father, but in a different way, and was not fundamentally contrary to the main personality. At that time, his father had also given him the main information on Wei Lan’s other personality so that he could smoothly take over later. He hadn’t expected that this information would be needed so soon; it was certainly not what he wanted.

"Knock knock knock," a knocking sound rang out. The two looked towards the door at the same time, only to hear Wei Lan's voice from outside: "Young Master, I have something to report."

"Come in." Xu Qi glanced at Si Qiang, just as expected.

Wei Lan pushed open the door and walked in. He nodded in greeting, then walked to the bedside and said in a deep voice, "Although this matter may not be related to us, I just received intelligence that the twelfth patriarch of the Francisco family in Sicily arrived in New York yesterday and is currently with Young Master Yang." After speaking, he turned to look at Si Qiang, his meaning clear: the other party was probably here to cause trouble for Si Qiang—after all, as far as he knew, Si Qiang had really messed up Antonio in Sicily.

Si Qiang frowned, knowing that this matter was inextricably linked to him. According to old Francisco, given his son's personality, being repeatedly toyed with like this would surely wear down even the greatest enthusiasm. If that person was indeed looking for trouble, it would be quite a problem.

Xu Qi's expression was even worse than his, and he angrily shouted at Wei Lan, "Why didn't you say so earlier!"

Wei Lan wanted to scoff. Yesterday afternoon, you were still asleep. If I had barged in then, that doorman by your side would have eaten me alive. But if he told Si Qiang directly, Si Qiang would definitely go to that gentleman without a word. He felt that Xu Qi would eat him alive if he found out later—neither way was good, so he'd better wait and see. Today, he had asked the housekeeper beforehand and only dared to come after learning that Xu Qi was already awake.

While he thought this in his heart, he wasn't foolish enough to say it aloud. He maintained a respectful demeanor: "That gentleman is traveling privately. He arrived yesterday and has been with his cousin, Lancelot Miller. I don't believe there's any need to disturb your rest..."

Si Qiang spoke up in time: "Forget it, if the Godfather really wants to cause trouble, you can't stop him. If he's coming after me, then he'll come looking for me sooner or later."

Startled by Si Qiang's interruption, Xu Qi calmed down a bit. He thought for a moment, then looked up and asked, "Can you communicate with your other personality?"

Unexpectedly, he suddenly changed the subject. Wei Lan was taken aback, but still nodded and replied, "Okay."

"Then please tell him that what my father can offer him, I can offer as well. Please ask him to consider it." He had made his point so clear that he believed the man would make the right choice.

Wei Lan smiled helplessly: "You don't need to worry about this at all. He told me yesterday that if you are willing to provide enough weapons and ammunition like Mr. Xu, he will serve you—it's no different from before anyway."

There was no conflict of opinion between "him" and himself from the beginning. That arms maniac was simply naive to a certain degree, and had no interest in power struggles or intrigues.

Xu Qi nodded. The man was indeed as described in the file—a pure arms fanatic. Such a person could be a valuable pawn, but also a ticking time bomb. However… if Xu Qi didn't even have this much confidence, he might as well quit the underworld: "Very well, you can go now."

"Yes, Young Master." Wei Lan responded and withdrew. Although Xu Qingjue and his wife had passed away, he was still used to calling Xu Qi "Young Master," and Xu Qi did not ask him to change his form of address, so he continued to call him that.

After the door closed, the two people in the bedroom fell silent, and for a moment the air seemed to freeze.

Finally, Si Qiang broke the ice, coughing somewhat awkwardly: "I know that negotiating with a tiger is very risky, but at the time, it was the only way I could go. As for now, I should also bear the possible consequences..."

Xu Qi snorted and sat up: "You know it's like dealing with a tiger for its skin. But I won't be so bored as to interfere with your decision. Do whatever you want."

"..." Faced with the man's frank attitude, Si Qiang couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. He said softly, "Thank you." Then he turned around, pushed open the door and left.

It was practically a hasty retreat. Was his expression really that terrifying? Xu Qi felt somewhat helpless. It was impossible for him not to mind that Antonio; he hadn't forgotten the awful things that guy had done before. However, since Si Qiang had clearly stated that she wanted to handle it herself, it was best not to interfere—at least not outwardly. In reality, he had already given Wei Lan a signal, but Si Qiang hadn't noticed it. Back when Si Qiang was part of the Rose organization, he and she had a fixed code, but it was completely different from theirs, making it impossible for them to understand each other.

It wasn't that he didn't trust Si Qiang, but rather that the man was far from easy to deal with; he needed an extra layer of protection. Xu Qi felt a slight pang of guilt, but he would never change his mind. Being meticulous was his style, and he wouldn't change it even with Si Qiang.

After some consideration, Si Qiang contacted Shao Yang first to get a general understanding of the situation. He discovered that Shao Yang's words were filled with strong hostility towards Antonio and did not reflect the reality objectively at all.

Just as Si Qiang was pondering how to approach the situation, Antonio finally contacted her. Receiving his call, Si Qiang breathed a sigh of relief. It's better to be direct than to be overtly aggressive; it's always better to be blunt.

It was still the "Golden Rose" restaurant. The man sat alone by the window, casually plucking petals from a rose he held in his hand. Si Qiang pushed open the glass door, slowly approached the window, and sat down opposite him. He observed the man discreetly, but found his demeanor completely different from before; he could no longer discern the man's thoughts. Sure enough, this man only revealed his weaknesses to special people; when that person was no longer special, he would perfectly armor himself before them. Si Qiang felt a pang of emotion, and at the same time, a secret admiration for the former godfather's understanding of his son.

"Have you counted how many times you've schemed against me?" The blond man opposite him suddenly looked up and gave him a cryptic smile.

Si Qiang was a little embarrassed. Even with his thick skin, being asked such a direct question still left him somewhat speechless. After all, the only thing Antonio had truly wronged him about was that "drug-feeding" incident—and even then, it hadn't been successful. As for him, he had schemed against and used Antonio multiple times, which was rather unethical.

“Dear Mr. Francisco, as far as I know, you have just succeeded to the position of patriarch. Please allow me to congratulate you.” Si Qiang avoided his question and brought up another matter instead.

“Sigh…” Antonio stared at him for a while, then suddenly sighed heavily, “You haven’t changed. You never show weakness, no matter what.”

Upon hearing this, Si Qiang raised an eyebrow: "There are too many people who submit to you, and there must be countless insignificant people like me. You don't need me, do you?"

Antonio waved his hand: "You don't need to be so wary. I'm not that petty."

Si Qiang had been waiting for these words. He smiled and said, "I'm relieved that you can see things this way. You know, someone as insignificant as me would never want to be your true enemy."

“That’s enough,” Antonio frowned, exasperated. “Stop your disgusting way of speaking.”

Si Qiang shrugged: "That's just how I always talk."

Antonio shook his head, his expression suddenly changing as he stared intently at him. "I came here to tell you that no matter how you view my past actions, my feelings for you back then were absolutely genuine. In my nearly 30 years, this was the first time I'd ever fallen in love—unfortunately, love isn't a one-sided affair. I've recently realized that since we're not meant to be, I shouldn't cling on. I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused you before, and thank you for letting me experience love. Originally, I didn't want to come, but after thinking about it seriously for a few days, I felt I should come to say goodbye and formally bid farewell to my first experience of being moved… I hope that next time, I can truly find the right person."

Si Qiang listened quietly as the man before him spoke earnestly, a gentle smile appearing in his eyes. He hadn't expected Antonio to come to him just to talk about this, and while he was surprised by how serious the other man was about relationships, he began to truly change his opinion of him.

"I've rambled on for so long, I hope you don't think I'm a wishy-washy man. Even now, I don't want someone I once loved to have a bad impression of me." Antonio chuckled self-deprecatingly. "Maybe it's just for the sake of saving face."

“I’m glad we reached an agreement… To be honest, I’m starting to admire you a little.” Si Qiang blinked. “After all, people as honest as you are rare these days.”