Chapter 836: Chapter 836: The Grudge between Zong Zhan and Xi Luo

Shang Yu pressed his thin lips together, glaring at the handcuffs on their wrists, “Let’s talk inside.”

Zong Zhan frowned, “Shaoyan…”

Xi Luo walked ahead without a care, “If he tells you to go inside, just go. Why so much useless talk?”

With their hands cuffed together, Zong Zhan had no choice but to follow her into the villa.

Even handcuffed, Xi Luo was completely unfazed, sitting at the table eating fruit and drinking water as if nothing was amiss.

Especially since she insisted on using her handcuffed right hand to eat, her fidgeting movements kept Zong Zhan unsettled.

At this moment, Shang Yu crossed his legs, took a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it, his gaze briefly scanning over, “Where did these handcuffs come from?”

“Is it that hard to get a pair?” Zong Zhan retorted confidently.

Xi Luo, with a slice of watermelon in her mouth, nodded seriously, “Illegally owning handcuffs.”

“Will you keep quiet?” Zong Zhan barked in a thick Beijing accent, then glared at Shang Yu, “Shaoyan, you know about us. I won’t say more, I’m leaving.”

Xi Luo didn’t move, while Shang Yu turned his head and blew out a puff of smoke, his voice becoming deeper and more playful, “Wait a minute.”

“What is it?” Zong Zhan’s brows hardened, and his handsome face grew a few degrees sterner, “Are you going to stop me?”

Xi Luo’s eyes and brows were full of smugness, she leisurely propped up her leg, looking completely confident.

Shang Yu leaned in, tapping his cigarette, a slight smile on his lips, “I won’t stop you. After tonight, you can do whatever you want.”

The smile on Xi Luo’s face froze instantly, “What? Master Yan, are you reneging on your word?”

“What goes around comes around.” Shang Yu looked at the stunned Xi Luo, curling his thin lips sagely, “Am I that easy to manipulate?”

Xi Luo felt like she had just been doused with cold water, realizing for the first time that her scheme had backfired.

All she wanted was to use Li Qiao’s connection and exploit Shang Shaoyan’s deterrent force to dissuade Zong Zhan, the wolfhound. How did it turn against her?

“Master Yan, you won’t have friends like this.”

Zong Zhan tugged at the handcuffs, “He doesn’t need a friend like you.”

Xi Luo took a deep breath, then stared ahead expressionlessly, “I need to use the bathroom.”

Zong Zhan sneered, jerking his chin towards the direction of the restroom, “Go ahead, I’m not stopping you.”

“How can I go like this?” Xi Luo shook the handcuffs, her eyes shifting, “Either unlock them or come with me?”

Zong Zhan glanced at her sidelong, “Trying to provoke me?”

“Then let’s go.” Xi Luo got up on her own and walked toward the restroom without looking back.

Zong Zhan didn’t want to move, but since their wrists were cuffed together, he had no say in the matter.

Shang Yu looked on with an unruffled demeanor, pursed his lips, shook his head, and turned away from the living room.

The grudge between Zong Zhan and Xi Luo could be considered both significant and petty.

It was essentially about a military man, full of righteousness, who could not stand Xi Luo’s ambiguous ways and casually destroyed a money-laundering Entertainment City within Myanmar’s borders.

And the underground boss of the Entertainment City just happened to be Xi Luo.

To get even, after a long investigation, Xi Luo figured out that it was Zong Zhan who was interfering and seized the chance to steal his tactical exercise maps, broadcasting them to the Myanmar military involved in the joint exercise.

Zong Zhan’s loss wasn’t substantial. Although he won the exercise, he became the first commander to be ‘killed’ in the battle simulation.

…

When Li Qiao woke up, the evening had already descended outside her window.

The tree shadows swayed, and she propped herself up, touching her forehead.

“Feeling unwell?” At that moment, Shang Yu was seated by the bed, looking at her with an inquiring gaze, phone in hand.

Li Qiao smiled and shook her head. “What time is it?”

“Half-past six.” The man casually put his phone down and picked up a glass of water from the bedside table to hand to her. “Hungry?”

Li Qiao took a sip of water, her gaze unintentionally sweeping over his phone screen. She didn’t make out the content, but the title was conspicuous.

——Diet and Precautions for Pregnant Women During Pregnancy.

Li Qiao felt a warmth in her chest and knelt up on the bed to give Shang Yu a peck on the lips. “A little, let’s go eat.”

The man ruffled her hair and draped a coat over her shoulders, and they left the room together.

Downstairs in the restaurant, just as they were getting settled, Xi Luo and Zong Zhan arrived.

Li Qiao glanced at them. Huh? Hand in hand?

On a closer look, she realized it wasn’t hand in hand but… both of their left and right hands were cuffed together, back of their hands close to each other.

Li Qiao looked at Shang Yu with a deep gaze. What had happened in the few hours she had been asleep?

The man placed the bowl and chopsticks in front of her and tilted his chin up. “Eat.”

Li Qiao picked up the chopsticks, her eyes still frequently sizing up Xi Luo and Zong Zhan.

How should she put it? It was just very odd.

Xi Luo’s right wrist and Zong Zhan’s left wrist were cuffed together. Eating was not an issue, but Zong Zhan’s left hand had to follow Xi Luo’s movements of picking up food, making for a dizzying sight.

Li Qiao drank a few mouthfuls of porridge, her interest piqued. “What’s this about…?”

Xi Luo glanced at Shang Yu before picking up some food with unaffected grace. “It’s nothing, we got played.”

Zong Zhan thought she was talking about him. He tugged at their joined wrists, and forcibly pulled away the chopsticks that Xi Luo was bringing to her mouth. “Who’s playing whom first?”

Xi Luo retorted coolly, “That question is as intriguing as who tops and who bottoms.”

Zong Zhan: “…”

Being a straight man, he couldn’t stand such innuendos with colors, his eyes filled with discontent as he huffed coldly, “You have no shame.”

“You know all about shame yet you still insist on being cuffed to me; you really are quite the authority on the subject.”

Zong Zhan was speechless for the second time.

Xi Luo was a woman with a glib tongue, and every word she said left one at a loss for words.

Zong Zhan tossed his chopsticks aside, his handsome face dark as ink. “What about you is worth peeping at?”

“Did I say you peeped?” Xi Luo smiled and continued her verbal assault. “With the way you are, if you were captured by the enemy, you’d confess without a fight.”

Oh, she’s saying he’d spill the beans without being coerced.

Zong Zhan licked his teeth, the lines of his jaw tightening. “Instead of worrying about irrelevant things, you should think about how you’ll confess leniently when you’re in front of a military court.”

Li Qiao, biting her chopsticks, watched their verbal duel without blinking an eye.

It was too exciting; it had even escalated to the military court level.

Xi Luo twirled her hair seductively, her tone asking for trouble, “Confess what? That you peeped at me?”

Zong Zhan’s face was both cold and sour. “Illegal possession of a firearm, money laundering, illegal…”

With a “click,” Xi Luo tossed a laser pen onto the table. “Illegal possession of a firearm? Haven’t you ever seen a red laser pointer? You’d rather meddle in things that aren’t your business instead of doing your job as a soldier. You’ve taken over the duties of the people’s police; why don’t you just become Superman?”

Zong Zhan was burning with anger, but he couldn’t come up with a retort.

He had absolutely no idea what he had done to offend Xi Luo.

Initially, he thought she was a girlfriend introduced to him by He Chen and Feng Yi. After adding her on WeChat and chatting a couple of times, he started to feel that things were not that simple.

The last time at the South Sea police station, he had seen her frivolously flirting with the driver, a young pup. It was an image he couldn’t forget, still fresh in his memory.