The Chevrolet Suburban drove slowly towards Thunder Horse Military Factory.
“Yelena, you can speak Chinese, but it’s just conversational. Can you read and write?” asked Xia Lei as he drove.
“I’ve been by your father’s side for years. Do you really think that I am only at the conversational level of Chinese?” said Yelena.
She spoke in Chinese, but it was accented with a foreign accent thought it was fluent. Xia Lei felt like he had asked a useless question.
“Do you have a Chinese name?”
“I’ll just sound out my Russian name in Chinese. Won’t that be my Chinese name, then? My surname will be Ye, and my name will be Lena.”
Xia Lei shrugged. “I have no more questions. About that, I can say that you’re a foreign talent I recruited from the talent pool. You’re Russian…
Yelena interrupted him. “All the fake files have been done. Full paperwork.”
Xia Lei shut up and drove. He was worrying about there being holes in her cover, and arousing suspicion, but everything had been taken care of. What was there for him to worry about?
Back in Thunder Horse Military Factory, the head of human resources department, Du Bai, brought a girl to Xia Lei.
The girl Du Bai brought was very young, in her early twenties. She had an oval face, large eyes, and a nice figure.
“Director Xia, her name is Qing Caiyue. I’ve just scouted her from the talent market. She is a graduate of Qingda University, and she majored in materials science and engineering. She also has minors in economics and finance, and had a scholarship. She is fluent in English, Japanese and German too; a rare talent indeed.” Du Bai made the introduction with a pleased look on his face.
“Hello, Director Xia.” Qing Caiyue greeted Xia Lei politely with a smile on her face. She put her hands in front of her, and did a small bow. Her movements were graceful and natural, and she was quite a pleasing presence.
“Hello, hello.” Xia Lei responded with a polite greeting too, then pulled Du Bai to one side.
Truthfully, this Qing Caiyue was quite a talent he was tempted to hire. This wasn’t just because she was beautiful and sexy, but because of her academic achievements and capability. Her material science and engineering majors were a good match for Thunder Horse Military Factory, and her economics and finance minors meant she could also help him out with the business side of things. She was a very good fit to be his secretary. However, he had already given this position to Yelena. What could Yelena do? Destroy, assassinate, track, gather intelligence…
“Are you satisfied, Director Xia?” Du Bai had a wicked smile on his face. He had been through ups and downs with Thunder Horse Group, since it was established, and was a great support to the company. He was also on close terms with Xia Lei, so he did not stand on ceremony with him.
“Well, I am quite satisfied but I’ve also recruited a secretary from the talent market,” said Xia Lei quietly.
Du Bai glanced at Yelena and said in surprise, “What do we do then, Director Xia? Assistant Liu told me what you wanted and I went to look for someone. Do you know how many company bosses were fighting to hire Miss Qing? But I said that we are Thunder Horse Military Factory, and that this position is for a secretary, and she immediately rejected the other offers.”
Oh dear. If that was the case, then this really was tricky.
Yelena walked over and pulled at Xia Lei’s sleeve. Xia Lei picked up on the cue and walked a little further off with her.
“Let her be your secretary then.” Yelena went straight to the point.
“What about you?”
“She will be your secretary number one, and I will be secretary number two,” said Yelena. “You should know very well that I have no way of beating her when it comes to doing the work. My task is to clear away all the threats around you, and protect you. You can’t hope for me to go through documents while I’m doing all that, right?”
“That works. It’s decided, then.” Since Yelena had no objections, and even suggested it herself, it made it easy for Xia Lei to come to a decision.
And just like that, Xia Lei got two secretaries. One was the blonde, blue-eyed Yelena, and one was a seductive-looking woman with great talent, Qing Caiyue.
There were many people at the table for dinner. Xia Lei had specially invited Sylvia and Qing Caiyue to the table. Liu Zhengnan and Xia Xue were also at the table, and it was quite lively with Yelena too.
Qing Caiyue was quite attentive. She filled Xia Lei’s glass with red wine just as it ran dry, saying, “Director Xia, you should drink less. It is bad for the body to drink too much.”
Her voice was gentle and pleasant to the ear. Add her seductive look, and her pretty face, and she was very attractive to men indeed. It wasn’t just Xia Lei — Liu Zhengnan couldn’t help giving her a second look too. Unfortunately for him, Xia Xue caught sight of him doing that, and her punishment was swift. She reached her hand under the table and gave him a hard pinch. Liu Zhengnan dared not get angry with her, or talk back; he took the punishment quietly and behaved himself.
Xia Lei had a smile on his face. “No need to tend to me, Caiyue. Just have your dinner.”
“Nn, okay.” Qing Caiyue seated herself quietly by Xia Lei’s side again.
Compared to Qing Caiyue, Xia Lei’s other secretary, Yelena, gave off a totally opposite vibe. She had said not one word since the start of dinner. She sat by Xia Lei’s side eating her dinner, and giving off a cold aura.
“Zhengnan, go to the mayor of Bailu Town tomorrow.” Xia Lei changed the topic. “Ask him about purchasing land.”
“What you you need land for, Brother?” Liu Zhengnan was puzzled. “We still have unused land from the time we purchased some for the expansion.”
“I don’t want this land for expansion. I want it to build a house. I haven’t bought property in Jingdu, and it’s about time for me to buy a house too. I’ll just get land that is next to our factory and build my house there. After you get the land, hire some construction crew and build… Hm. Build an ancient-styled manor. No need for a four-walled courtyard like the northern style. I want the southern style.”
“Brother, are you settling down here?” asked Xia Xue excitedly.
Xia Lei nodded. “We spend most of our time in Jingdu, so how can we not have a house here?”
Xia Lei used to live in Shentu Tianyin’s houses before they were divorced, so he had not needed to build his own house. After their divorce, the Leiyin Home was not his home anymore. His old man Xia Changhe would return soon, so he had to give him a place to enjoy his silver age. Having the house close to Thunder Horse Military Factory meant that it was safest, with ordinary soldiers and Special Forces Soldiers guarding the place, as well as Bureau 101 agents active nearby and being in charge of security detail. Having his old man Xia Changhe live here would be safe for him, and also be easy for the whole family to be together.
“That’s great! I approve.” Xia Xue looked quite happy. “But Brother, with your status now, you can’t just have a few hectares of land. The new house you lived in with Sister Tianyin took up dozens of hectares, so you can’t have less when you’re building one now. I think you’ll need a huge plot of land have a manor built; beautiful, and pretty like a palace. This is what’s suitable for your status.”
“What do you know? There’s a saying which goes ‘selfishness draws disaster’. Building a gorgeous house could bring me a lot of trouble. A house is just a place for people to live in, and regular people only need dozens or a hundred square metres. What would I need such a big house for? A few hectares of land would be nice for a house. Some part of the land will be for some greenery, and some other part can be used for planting fruits and vegetables and so on. I’d be satisfied with that.”
A simple thatched house with framing fields in the back appeared in Xia Xue’s head, complete with Xia Lei working the fields in farmer-trousers. It was not going to be like that in reality, of course, but she was still rather disappointed. However, this was something Xia Lei had decided upon and he wouldn’t change his mind so easily. There was no use in trying to persuade him otherwise.
“I’ll go talk to the major of Baili Town tomorrow,” said Liu Zhengnan.
Xia Lei nodded, then raised his glass in a toast. “Let’s have a toast to building a new house.”
After the dinner, Qing Caiyue returned to the company, to the dormitory room which had been arranged for her. Sylvia and Yelena followed Xia Lei to the villa. His authority had increased since the time he had blown Fan Fan’s laboratory up. He gave Wu Xiaoguo just a greeting, and brought Yelena right into the villa without bothering about Wu Xiaoguo’s opinion on the matter, then arranged for a room for her to stay in.
“You can live here. Just ask if you need anything.” Xia Lei made to leave after arranging accommodations for Yelena.
“I don’t need anything for now. I’ll tell you if I do need anything. Plus, I’ll be taking action if some special circumstances occur, so don’t be surprised if I burst into your room in the middle of the night while you’re being intimate with some woman,” said Yelena.
Xia Lei laughed awkwardly. “No, I understand.”
“All right, I’m good. You go ahead and take your rest,” said Yelena.
“Good night.” Xia Lei left Yelena’s room.
Back in his own room, Xia Lei flipped through the top secret files of the FA Organisation, and the pictures of his father in his youth. He needed to consider if these should be handed in, and to whom.
‘I want to ensure my father’s safety. If I don’t explain his identity and what he had done in the past… What should I do if he gets investigated? I’ve sacrificed and done so much, and this is a good chance too so I have to do it right and get it all done in one go. I’ll ask to meet with Tang Tianlong and Shi Boren and show them these files. Right, that’s decided, then.’ Xia Lei made his decision.
That’s right. He was using the merits he had built up with the Chinese government in exchange for his father’s safety. There would be some hidden danger involved if he did not reveal his father’s identity and the things he had done in the past. He had to reveal his father’s identity and his past deeds in one go, then ensure his safety. Based on the secret deal he was going to have to make with the Germans and the higher-ups, there was no reason that they would not grant his request!
There was another advantage of doing this too, and that was that he would not have to worry about the FA Organisation threatening him with his father’s secrets anymore.
Xia Lei put the documents and the pictures away, and his gaze landed on the wall to his left. Behind that wall was Sylvia’s room. What was the German machinist doing at this hour?
Xia Lei’s left eye twitched at that thought, and the wall disappeared from his vision.