5
Anthony stared blankly at the glass of colorful liquid in front of him, completely dumbfounded. Although cocktails are made by mixing various liquors and they don't actually blend together, downing such a glass would still make him quite drunk, no matter how good his alcohol tolerance was. At that point, forget about picking up girls, he might not even be able to stand up straight. He finally understood the meaning of the Chinese idiom "riding a tiger and finding it hard to dismount."
He glanced at the beautiful yet cold face, gritted his teeth, picked up the wine glass, and was about to pour it into his mouth. He couldn't possibly lose face in front of such a beauty!
Seeing his resolute expression, Rose chuckled: "You're actually going to drink it?"
The beautiful woman, who had just been aloof, suddenly broke into a smile. Her striking eyebrows relaxed, her lips parted slightly, revealing pearly white teeth, as if the first snow had melted. In that instant, all the scenery in the world paled in comparison. Anthony froze, putting down his wine glass, staring intently at the beauty, his eyes completely frozen, his heart pounding as if it would burst from his chest.
Surprisingly, the man's infatuated gaze didn't annoy Rose, perhaps because it didn't contain any blatant lust. This man was unexpectedly innocent.
"How long are you going to stay here? You're so big, don't block other people's view," Rose said seriously.
"Huh? Ahh!" Anthony snapped out of his daze and immediately moved back. "Sorry! I was blocking your view!"
Rose couldn't help but laugh again: "You actually believe that?"
Anthony was once again captivated by the beauty's smile, his mind filled with only the poem he had read when learning Chinese: "In the north there is a beautiful woman, whose smile can topple a city, and whose second smile can topple a nation."
This man, despite his clever appearance, is actually a fool. Rose shook her head, picked up another glass of wine, and took two sips.
By the time Anthony finally came to his senses, the beauty had already stood up to leave. He quickly stood up: "My name is Anthony, may I ask... your name?" His tongue involuntarily tied itself in knots, and he wanted to slap himself. From the moment he saw the beauty tonight, he had made a complete fool of himself! Now the beauty's impression of him was definitely not good! And he had only been so focused on swooning over her, wasting precious time alone with her—how incredibly stupid!
"Name? My name is Calvin." Rose glanced at him, said this, and then drifted away.
Anthony stared at her beautiful, elegant back, wishing he could be the trousers that clung to her long, slender legs. Only after her figure had completely disappeared did he return to the bar, dazed, and stare blankly at the table as if trying to bore a hole through it.
"Hey! Are you stupid?" Lance waved his hand in front of his eyes. "Calling Anthony, are you still there?"
"Stop messing around!" Anthony slapped his hand away, then slowly resumed his usual roguish demeanor. "She really is a great beauty, even more beautiful up close."
Lance shook his head: "We're doomed. He's got a truckload of men and women who've fallen for his tricks. Do you think you'll be one of the lucky ones?"
Anthony slammed his hand on the bar: "I admit I messed up. I was a complete idiot tonight! So I'm going to get him!"
"Wow, my playboy cousin actually fell for a man! Should I celebrate for all the men and women in the world who have been spared your 'poison'?" Lance raised an eyebrow in surprise.
“Go to hell.” Anthony rolled his eyes at him, then asked, “Tell me, when does Calvin usually come?”
“Not bad, you already know the name. But this isn’t her real name, is it?” Lance smiled somewhat maliciously, then quickly raised his hands in surrender after Anthony glared at him. “Alright, alright, I’ll tell you. This beauty doesn’t come often, usually once a week, but not always on any particular day. So…”
Anthony frowned, his blue eyes appearing even deeper: "Not fixed? Does that mean I have to come here every day to stake out the place?"
"You don't even have this much determination, yet you expect to win the heart of a beauty?" Lance scoffed.
“How could that be? Although I’m not free to come every night, I naturally have ways to keep ‘bumping into’ him.” Anthony was determined.
Lance rolled his eyes: "Isn't it just sending your bunch of unlucky subordinates to play with surveillance? I really feel sorry for my uncle. The only son of the Sicilian Godfather came to New York on business, but instead of getting anything done, he spent his manpower and resources chasing after a beauty."
"You have the nerve to talk back to me? The youngest son of a South American tobacco tycoon comes to work as a bartender in a run-down bar in New York. His uncles must be eager to know your exact location," Anthony retorted.
Lance immediately surrendered: "Spare me, I don't want to go back to selling cigars. Besides, this place is fine, what's so bad about it?"
"Forget it, I'm not going to argue with you anymore. I have important business to attend to." Anthony stood up and walked towards the door, while the bodyguards hidden in the shadows quietly withdrew.
“There’s an old Chinese saying: ‘Lust is a double-edged sword.’ Cousin, you’d better not actually fall for it.” Lance murmured, watching Anthony’s retreating figure.
After Qiangwei picked Xu Qi up from the airport, they met Shao Yang, who was about to enter, at the door.
"Brother, you're back? I was busy and didn't have time to pick you up. But I came to talk to you about something." As soon as Shao Yang saw Xu Qi, he immediately came over and pulled him inside.
Xu Qi raised an eyebrow: "When you act like this, nothing good ever comes of it. So, what is it now?"
Shao Yang smiled mysteriously: "This isn't my business. Actually, my father told me that you've reached an agreement with the Fuqing Gang. And I happen to know some information that might be useful to you."
"Oh? You've always been lazy, when did you start caring about this kind of thing?" Xu Qi laughed.
"Where am I lazy?" Shao Yang's handsome face immediately turned serious, but he quickly couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Never mind, let's talk about it inside."
Rose followed behind them, listening to their laughter and chatter (mostly Shao Yang doing the talking), and a pang of sadness began to well up inside her. More than half a year ago, Xu Qi had made up his mind to take Xu Yi back to New York, and naturally, Rose had to come along. It took nearly five months for Xu Yi's hypnotherapy treatment to finally end.
Qiangwei adopted a teenage orphan girl in China and cared for her like a younger sister. She thought Xu Yi would return to China, but unexpectedly, after only three months, Xu Yi started having nightmares again. Although he couldn't clearly remember the dreams after waking up, and the dreams themselves were very blurry, it was impossible for him to recover his memories just like that. However, Xu Yi himself continued to investigate the matter, even getting Xueying and Feng Chuyi to side with him.
In such a potentially problematic situation, he couldn't easily return to China. Moreover, Xu Qi himself couldn't possibly return because of his brother's situation—this was a major reason for Qiangwei's decision to stay.
However, the days spent constantly watching that person's back were unbearable. So sometimes, he would go to bars at night to kill time. Sometimes Xu Yi would go with him. Xu Yi would occasionally sleep with men or women who approached him, but Qiangwei would never accept their invitations. The man from last night was one of the many who approached her.
To be fair, the man wasn't off-putting. He was handsome and dashing, in no way inferior to Xu Qi, and his personality was even somewhat endearing—far better than Xu Qi's cold and aloof nature. More importantly, the man clearly had feelings for him, and if things progressed, they might become a good couple. However, he couldn't get past his own hurdle. It just wasn't him.
"Brother, do you know Don Cristiano Francesco, the Sicilian godfather?" Shao Yang asked quite seriously.
“Francesco? Of course I know him. Most of Sicily's drugs come from him.” Xu Qi's expression also turned serious. “Do you want me to traffic drugs?”
Shao Yang shook his head: "Not really. But didn't the Fuqing Gang reach an agreement with you? Besides, you're about to marry Yao Yinxiang's only daughter. Don't you plan to take over the Fuqing Gang's business?"
Rose, standing behind him, shuddered, staring in disbelief at Xu Qi's retreating figure. He's getting married? And to Yao Yinxiang's daughter? So the reason he'd been staying in Seattle these past two days was to be with his fiancée?
"Hmph, did your uncle tell you this too? It's true that we reached an agreement, but as for the marriage, I still need to consider it." Xu Qi's face darkened as he thought of that so-called socialite.
However, in the last two days, he received some more favorable news. On the first day they were alone together, Yao Jinghan had laid her cards on the table: she already had someone she liked and hoped he would refuse the marriage proposal. Both of them knew this matter was quite tricky and were prepared to drag it out.
“As far as I know, that young lady is first-rate in both appearance and temperament, and what’s most rare is her gentle nature. Brother, you still don’t have a girlfriend, and you also know that as the eldest son, you will eventually have to accept a marriage of convenience. So this young lady is an excellent candidate.” Shao Yang blinked. “Brother, you should consider marrying her.”
Xu Qi waved his hand impatiently: "If you came here just to talk about this kind of boring stuff, then you can leave."
"Hey bro, if you're always so serious, you'll get wrinkles!" Shao Yang said with a grin, but after receiving a "fangirl" look from Xu Qi, he immediately changed his tune, "Just kidding. What I'm going to talk about is the secret about this godfather's only son coming to New York."
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