On their way back from the gun test, the car radio was blasting the popular song âLittle Appleâ*. âYou are my little, little apple⊠I love you so much Iâll never get sick of youâŠâ
Annina sang along and even did some dancing.
The lyrics of this song, plus what happened earlier made Xia Lei smile a wicked smile.
Xia Lei did not encounter anything special on their way back to Jingdu. Ahn Suhyeongâs people did not appear and he did not discover anyone suspicious.
Xia Lei brought Annina to get the roast duck and asked for a private room. He ordered dishes.
âLukas,â said Annina in German, âThe international light weapons exhibition in Moscow is starting soon. We have to make preparations.â
Xia Lei replied in German, âIâve already asked Senior Tang Tian-Long to help me do the applications. We should go visit him on our way back and ask about the application progress.â
âThen Iâll have to prepare more guns for the exhibition,â said Annina.
Xia Lei smiled. âDonât worry. It might be difficult to go to countries in the west but Russia is no problem.â
âYeah, I have a feeling that our XL2500 sniper rifle will make an impact in Russia. We can build on that and get even more results too.â
Xia Lei nodded in agreement. The effective range of most advanced sniper rifle in the west was not as good as the XL2500, and the XL2500 had a very high degree of automation, as well as a magazine which could load ten bullets. The current world record by an American sniper was a target-hit as 2,200 metres, which was a huge difference from the XL2500âs range of 2,600 metres. This was very important because even a difference of ten metres was a matter of life or death for a sniper, let alone 400 metres!
Just imagine - what furore will the XL2500 cause at the international light weapons exhibit in Moscow?
âThe foreign sniper rifles with similar specifications are being sold for at least one million Chinese yuan. What price should we set our sniper rifle at, Lukas?â asked Annina.
Xia Lei thought for a bit. âThe production and adjustment for every sniper rifle is fairly troublesome so the price cannot be low. The foreign guns are inferior to ours and are being sold for over a million so ours should be even more expensive. Iâm thinking it should be priced at 1.2 million in foreign markets and one million locally.â
âIsnât this cheaper?â
Xia Lei laughed. âWeâre just starting in the military firearms business. We have no contacts yet and our product is also not known yet. Itâs not good if itâs too expensive.â
âHm, makes sense.â Annina was not used to the business side of things.
The server wheeled a food trolley into the room and placed the dishes on their table.
Just then, some guests arrived in the room next to theirs and a man called for a server in Korean.
A female voice said laughingly, âAhn Sujun, the servers here donât understand Korean. You should speak Chinese. Your Chinese is good - you should have no problem.â
Xia Lei froze when the girlâs voice entered his ears.
He was intimately familiar with this voice because it was Xia Xueâs voice.
Why was Xia Xue here?
And who was that Korean man?
Xia Leiâs left eye twitched and the wooden wall separating the rooms vanished. Xia Xue and a young man of similar age entered his field of vision. The young man was tall and lanky, had a nice face with red lips and white teeth and was very handsome. However, he had not a bit of manliness about him. He was one of the so-called âFlower Boysâ which were currently popular.
Xia Xue was chatting and laughing with this Korean youth and they looked rather affectionate.
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. âThis punkâs surnamed âAhnâ and called âSujunâ. Itâs just one word different from âSuhyeongâ. Is this punk from the Ahn family?â
Flames of anger crackled in Xia Leiâs heart at the thought.
It seemed like Ahn Suhyeongâs best method to get back at him was not hiring someone to beat him up, nor hiring killers but to hurt Xia Xue!
Xia Xue was unaware that her brother was watching her next door with anger written all over his face and flames almost spitting from his eyes.
Xia Lei could not be blamed for being so angry. He did not forbid Xia Xue from dating but he would never let her fall in love with a Korean man - and one who might be related to Ahn Suhyeong at that!
âWhy arenât you eating, Lukas? Why are you looking at the wall? Is there a spider?â The female mechanicâs thought process jumped erratically.
âThereâs a cockroach!â said Xia Lei angrily.
âA cockroach! Where?â
âNever you mind. Iâll go to the washroom for a bit.â Xia Lei exited the private room.
Annina carefully scanned the wall which Xia Lei had been glaring at and pursed her lips after a while. âHis vision must be suffering because his kidneys are weak.â
Who knew what Xia Lei would think if heâd heard her.
XIa Lei went to the door of the room next to his and reached to open it but he hesitated, then put his hand down.
Go in, give that Ahn Sujun punk a slap and take Xia Xue away? He could do that but Xia Xue would definitely throw a tantrum and rebel. If that punk then sneaked in under those circumstances⊠Xia Lei was not going to want to see such a result.
Xia Lei called upon the power of his left eye again and watched quietly...
âXue, youâre so pretty.â Ahn Sujun looked at Xia Xue with great passion, his tone so gentle it could give people goosebumps.
Xia Xue was a little shy and she was blushing. âWhat a honeyed tongue. Iâm not falling for that.â
Ahn Sujun raised a hand. âXue, Iâm serious about you. I swear, you are the person I love most in my life.â
âYeah, right. Weâve only known each other for a month and Iâve become the woman you love most in your life?â Xia Xue said dismissive words but a sweet smile appeared on her lips.
A honey-tongued flower boy was just the type of men that the girls of Xia Xueâs generation liked.
Ahn Sujun reached out and grabbed Xia Xueâs hand. âXue, will you believe me only when I dig my heart out and show it to you?â
Xia Xue pouted. âThen dig it out and show me.â
Ahn Sujun abruptly unzipped his jacket to reveal his white T-shirt underneath. On his chest was a line written in red: Only Love Xia Xue Forever!
âYou⊠youâre so naughty.â Xia Xue smacked Ahn Sujun with a feather-light fist.
âXue, I love you.â Ahn Sujun reached out and held Xia Xue tightly by her slender waist.
Xia Xue tried to pull apart but couldnât. She was nervous and her face reddened further.
Ahn Sujun drew closer to her and went in for a kiss.
Xia Xue moved her head back. âDonât. My brother will scold me if he knew.â
âYour brother, your brother⊠him again.â Ahn Sujun was unhappy and he released her. âYouâre already an adult. Is your brother going to take care of you your whole life? I love you and you love me - why canât we be together?â
Xia Xue hung her head. âI didnât say that we canât be together. I just want my brother to meet you. We also need some timeâŠâ
Outside the door, Xia Lei breathed a sigh of relief. Based on Xia Xueâs reaction this Ahn Sujun punk had only progressed to hand-holding with Xia Xue and they hadnât even kissed yet.
âOkay, I respect your views. I want to meet your brother too. I hope he will like me and accept me, or I really donât know what Iâll do. I cannot be without you.â Ahn Sujun spoke passionately.
âYeah, my brotherâs not some old stick in the mud, heâs open-minded.â At that point, Xia Xue suddenly laughed. âMy brotherâs really impressive. He knows Wingchun so youâd better not bully me or heâll hit you.â
Ahn Sujun held Xia Xueâs hand again and said tenderly, âHow could I bear to bully you, Xue? I couldnât treasure you more. Iâll protect you in place of your brother next time and Iâll beat up whoever who dares bully you!â
Outside the door, a server walked over, pushing a food trolley. He saw Xia Lei in the doorway and said, âSir, please move out of the way.â
Xia Lei moved out of the way and said, âSorry, I seem to have gone the wrong way.â
The server went into the private room and Xia Lei hid by the door to continue watching.
The server placed the dishes on the table and opened a bottle of red wine.
The server left the room and saw that Xia Lei was still standing by the door. âSir, did you not find the place? Do you need my help?â he asked curiously.
âNo, no, you can go about your business,â said Xia Lei.
âWeirdo.â The server muttered under his breath and went off, pushing the food trolley.
Xia Lei looked in the private room again.
Ahn Sujun suddenly pointed behind Xia Xue and said, âXue, look! Whatâs that?â
Xia Xue turned to look.
Ahn Sujun dropped a white pill into Xia Xueâs wine glass when she had her head turned. The white pill dissolved in the wine in two seconds and Xia Xue did not see anything after he turned back.
âYou bluffed. Meanie! Iâm not going to bother about you anymore.â Xia Xue pretended to be annoyed.
âWhy would I bluff? I actually wanted to give you a surprise.â Ahn Sujun opened the palm of his other hand to reveal a pair of exquisite ruby earrings.
âOh, itâs beautiful.â Xia Xue was very touched.
âLetâs have a toast, Xue. Iâll put the earrings on you after that. These will definitely look good on you.â Ahn Sujun picked up the long-stemmed glass from the table.
Xia Xue pursed her lips, smiling, and raised the glass in her hand too.
âCheers.â Ahn Sujun clinked glasses with Xia Xue.
Xia Xue tilted the glass to her mouthâŠ
Bang! The door of the private room was kicked open and Xia Lei strode through the doorway.
âBrother?â Xia Xue was shocked. Her face turned pale.
âYour brother?â A flash of disgust appeared in his eyes but he covered it with a smile as he stood, reaching out a hand for a handshake. âMr Xia, Iâve long wanted to meet you. I am Xia Xueâs boyfriend. My name isâŠâ
Before he could finish, Xia Lei suddenly slapped him across the face.
Pah! The slap rang out.
Ahn Sujun staggered from the force. He held his face and said in anger and surprise, âWhat the hell?â
âBrother!â Xia Xue reacted then. She stood.
But that slap was not enough to quell the anger in Xia Leiâs heart. He grabbed Ahn Sujun by the collar and pulled downwards as his knee went up to smash into Ahn Sujunâs lower abdomen. This put Ahn Sujun on his knees on the floor.
âBrother! What are you doing?!â Xia Xue came rushing over to try to stop Xia Lei.
Xia Lei pushed Xia Xue aside and did a Knife Hand on Ahn Sujunâs carotid artery. The Korean youth let out a grunt as he collapsed bonelessly to the floor.
Xia Xue was scared silly.
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