Chapter 618: Half Sea Water, Half Ice
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
With a swift turn of his hands, Li Yi grabbed the person behind him and heard a yelp. She never expected Li Yi to act so lewdly and had instinctively grabbed Li Yi's arm and held it against his back.
Her actions were clean and efficient. It was eerily similar to arresting a criminal...
"Hooligan! You hooligan!"
Only then did Li Yi clearly identify the person behind him. She was dressed in a simple military outfit, looking dashingly handsome and valiant. She was Xu Man's sister, Xu Yue...
"Lil... Lil Yue?"
"You... You... You've gone too far!"
Xu Yue's small face flushed bright red while she held Li Yi's arm against him with significant strength.
"Ouch, ouch. My arm is close to breaking."
"Hmph."
Xu Yue released her grip furiously and took a few steps back while biting on her lips.
Even Li Yi was confused by her actions. "Why did you come to my house?"
"I'm in the Special Intelligence Division, and my badge number is 965877444. It's as easy as flipping my hands over if I wanted to find out a person's address."
When she spoke, Xu Yue even flipped her hand to gesticulate her speech.
"I didn't know it was you and thought that it was Lil Jiao messing around with me. Sorry about that."
Xu Yue did not reply. Instead, only the sound of her gritting her teeth was heard.
It took Xu Yue a long time before she finally regained her composure. She said, "I've come to you because I have a favor to ask of you."
"What favor?"
"Follow me."
Before Li Yi could ask any further questions, Xu Yue had marched away with a stride of a soldier. She had left the house.
Li Yi shut his computer down and washed his face before going outside. He realized that Xu Yue was already waiting for him in the car.
"Get in."
"This car seemed familiar."
Xu Yue blushed. "This was the car we drove last time."
"Oh, oh..."
Li Yi opened the car door and sat inside.
During the journey, Li Yi tried to ask Xu Yue about what was happening. Instead, Xu Yue maintained a mysterious expression and kept quiet. She drove Li Yi all the way to Xu Man's house.
Both of them exited the car. Li Yi asked her again, and Xu Yue finally answered him while stumbling on her own words.
"I'm not young anymore, and my family is forcing me to go on blind dates. I had no choice but to lie and say that I already have a boyfriend..." Xu Yue blushed and lowered her head.
"Surely you did not bring me here just so I would be your girl- no, boyfriend, right?"
"Mhmm, you're smart. That's exactly what I did."
Li Yi had his hand over his forehead, feeling a headache coming already.
The last time Xu Man had sought him out was due to blind dates as well. He never expected blind dates to be the reason behind this meeting as well! This... What's going on with the Xu sisters? With their gorgeous looks, why were they even worried about not getting a boyfriend?
Li Yi was conflicted. "Ahem, Lil Yue. I don't think I can help you with this issue."
"Why?"
"I have a girlfriend already. Ah, no, I don't just have one girlfriend. I have several girlfriends."
"I'm not even asking you to be my actual boyfriend. I'm just asking you to act the part for a while so that I can answer to my grandmother."
"Answering to your grandmother?"
Xu Man nodded with great effort before she clutched onto Li Yi's arm. "Yeah, my grandmother is already inside. Let's go in soon."
Li Yi hesitated for a moment. Then, he asked again, "Grandmother?"
Of course, there was a reason he had tried to plead away from this favor. Before this, Xu Man had already gotten him to pretend to be her boyfriend. This time, Xu Yue had come to him too. If he were to go in now and somehow run into the Old General...
Li Yi felt pins and needles along his scalp when he recalled the fiery temper of the Old General. Previously, he already suspected that the old man really had the guts to shoot him with a gun.
"Lil Yue, why haven't you come in yet?"
Just when Li Yi was still hesitating, a white-haired, amiable-looking granny walked out while chuckling. It was obvious from the get-go that she was Lil Yue's grandmother.
Li Yi quickly bowed his head in greeting. "Greetings, grandmother."
"Ah, Lil Yue, who is this?"
"His name is Li Yi."
"Oh, you're Lil Yi! Eh, why does that name sound so familiar?" The granny gave Li Yi a once over, a hint of confusion coloring her face.
Xu Yue went to take the granny's hand and stomped her feet repeatedly. "Ah, grandmother, let's talk after we're inside."
Although Xu Yue was wearing a soldier's uniform, her behavior was incredibly childlike when she was around her family. She did not look dignified at all.
Xu Yue then entered the house, tugging at her granny's arm. At this point, there was no way for Li Yi to back out now. He had no choice but to follow in their steps.
The three of them sat in the living room. The domestic helper served them tea while the granny made small talk with Li Yi.
Family background, age, occupation, ambitions, interests, dislikes. All of these questions bombarded Li Yi to the point that he was getting dizzy from them. He would sneakily glance at Xu Yue whenever he finished answering each question, fearing that he might have said something wrong along the way.
"Haha, the age was just right, and your family is quite good too. Hmm, you're too skinny though. Lil Yi, you should train yourself more, hm?"
"Yes, of course, yes..."
"You know what Lil Yue's job is, right?"
"Yes, I know." Li Yi was telling a bare-faced lie.
"That's good, that's good. Aih, to be frank, what business does such a gentle girl have being a spy? How great would it be if she could just marry a good man and assist her husband while she educates her child? All of this can be blamed on that terrible old man of mine..."
The granny was grumbling now.
Neither Li Yi nor Lil Yue had interrupted the granny's speech. Instead, they sat and listened to her, and would even nod occasionally to play along with her.
The granny was a great conversationalist. Li Yi sat there and listened to her for over an hour, and yet she was still going on.
He checked the time to find that it was almost noon already...
Li Yi shot a look at Xu Yue. It was easily understandable. Since such a long time has passed, the blind date session should end already, right?
Xu Yue understood immediately. She softly cleared her throat. "Grandmother, Li Yi still has something else scheduled for the day."
"Other plans? What other plans does he have? Oh, it's 12 already! I'll get the domestic help to start cooking. You can leave after you've eaten."
The granny laughed and went upstairs before Li Yi could reply.
Li Yi was helpless now.
The Brawl King Tournament officially started at 8 p.m. tonight. Initially, he had planned to get a nice, fulfilling sleep during the day. However, he was now having a blind date after being dragged by Xu Yue to this place.
He was incredibly exhausted...
"Lil Yue, it's not like I don't want to help you, but I have a tournament tonight. I'll leave now, and you can go and inform your grandmother that I've excused myself."
"Ah? That's not a good idea. My grandmother is really satisfied with you, so could you leave after the meal please?"
Xu Yue looked at Li Yi with her pitiful eyes. Li Yi could no longer bear to carry out his plans after gazing at those eyes.
After much contemplation, Li Yi finally nodded. "Alright, but you'll need to drive and send me back afterwards."
"Sending you back is a must!" Xu Yue was glad.
"Let me check on grandma. Wait for me yeah?"
Xu Yue skipped her way happily up the stairs. It was obvious that she was in a great mood.
After a while, the granny poked her head from upstairs and yelled, "Lil Yi, the meal will be ready soon. I'll make a call to get that terrible old man of mine here so both of you men can have a chat."
"Terrible old man..."
Li Yi shivered as he felt a chill shoot down his spine. The terrible old man that the granny repeatedly mentioned was undoubtedly the man that had drunk alcohol with him previously. How could he meet the old man now?
It was a solid no, 100%! Before this, he was pretending to be Xu Man's boyfriend. This time, he was pretending to be Xu Yue's... If the old man were to see him, would he shoot him with a gun on the spot?
Li Yi checked the time to find that it was already 12.25 p.m. He calculated his journey and concluded that he could still catch some good sleep if he were to go home now.
"I can't stay here anymore. Otherwise, something bad will definitely happen..."
Li Yi stood up and sneaked out of the mansion without bidding goodbye.
It was not that he was afraid of confrontation. Instead, he behaved this way because this was an issue that could be avoided entirely. If he did not do so, Xu Man and her sister would definitely be in trouble even if he might not be in much trouble.
He got himself a taxi with a wave of his hand and told the driver his address. Not long after that, he had fallen asleep in the car.
When Li Yi had reached his destination and got off the car, he realized that he had over 50 missed calls on his phone. All of them were from an unfamiliar number. It was obvious that it was Xu Yue that has called him.
Li Yi did not return her calls. He was almost half-dead with exhaustion now, and he still had a tournament to attend tonight. To him, his priority now was to get a good few hours of sleep in.
When he was at the lower floor of his house, he noticed that the door to Lin Qian's house was left unlatched. It fell open easily with a light push.
"Lady Big Boob's safety consciousness was too low. What if a pervert were to get in the house?"
Li Yi grumbled to himself and walked into her room fair and square.
"Qian'er! Qian'er! Ice! Ice!"
Li Yi called out twice but received no reply.
The living room was empty and no one was around. Could it be that they were in their bedrooms?
Li Yi's heart jumped violently at the thought of Qian'er in her room.
"Qian'er, are you there?"
Li Yi coughed softly and quickened his steps to the bedroom.
Qian'er's bedroom was very tidy and pristinely clean. However, Li Yi was slightly disappointed because he found that there was no one in the bedroom either.
"Is no one home?"
Li Yi then walked over to Fire Ice's room next door. Fire Ice was not at home either.
"This is strange. Where did they go?"
Li Yi sat on Fire Ice's bed, his mind muddled and groggy. He was so far to the point of exhaustion that he did not bother much with his circumstances. He lied down on the bed and was snoring within 10 seconds.
He was too exhausted.
Li Yi's sleep was amazing. When he woke up, the room was already dark.
He took out his phone to check the time. It was 7 o'clock sharp, and he immediately breathed a sigh of relief. He was right on time, just one hour away before the Brawl King Tournament commences.
Li Yi stretched lazily. When he was just about to sit up, his hand came into contact with something soft. He lightly grabbed it and his head immediately cleared.
There was a woman beside him. Who was it?
Li Yi slowly turned his head. The room had minimal lighting and thus was very dark. He could vaguely see that it was a woman in denim shorts that was lying beside him.
Even though he did not manage to see what the woman looked like, Li Yi still managed to recognize the denim shorts that she was wearing. Jiaojiao had the exact pair of shorts.
Li Yi was so disoriented from his sleep that he thought he was now in his room.
At the moment, the woman on the bed started to talk in her sleep. She merely mumbled a sentence for Li Yi to be stunned, astounded.
"Guild master... I'm in the wrong, I shouldn't attract the monsters... Mmh, don't kick me out of the party..."
"Ice?"
Li Yi quickly got down from the bed and switched on the light. What he saw were Fire Ice's flushed-red face and her tightly shut eyes.
This time, Li Yi finally got a close look. She was indeed wearing Jiaojiao's clothes...
Li Yi slowly approached her and smelled Fire Ice's breath. Then, he noticed the empty alcohol bottle by the bed. Only then did realization hit him like a truck - ah, she had been drinking...