One day later, Thunder Horse Organization Jingdu Headquarters, China.
“Liang Siyao, what do you mean?” Tang Yuyan glared sharply at the woman blocking her way. “I need to meet Xia Lei. What right do you have to stop me?”
Oddly, Liang Siyao was not agitated. “Yuyan, Xia Lei is in the middle of a meeting. Meeting you right now is inconvenient for him.”
“Inconvenient? ” Tang Yuyan gushed angrily. “Who are you to him? Are you his wife? Even if you are, why do you feel the need to be so controlling? You’re just a hired employee, not his legal partner.”
Such words would trigger discomfort but Liang Siyao was ultimately unfazed. She listened to Tang Yuyan’s ramble with a faint smile.
Her smile was her response. Admittedly, she and Xia Lei hadn’t registered their marriage and there was no ceremony to celebrate their union. Despite all of that, she was indeed his wife. Not only was she Xia Lei’s wife, but she was also the mother to his child. Tang Yuyan had wasted a lot of time around but received nothing in return. In front of Liang Siyao, Tang Yuyan was nothing but a sore loser.
“What are you smiling at?” Tang Yuyan was extremely sensitive.
Liang Siyao threw her arms open. “Yuyan, you should go back. Come again tomorrow. Xia Lei will be free by then.”
“Move!” Tang Yuyan no longer wanted to continue their argument.
But Liang Siyao remained rooted in her position, continuing to block Tang Yuyan away.
The stubborn woman scowled. “I’m thoroughly impressed that you think you’re the female boss despite being one of his women. Between you, Fan Fan, Jiang Ruyi and Long Bing, which one holds the highest position? Where is your rank? I find this whole thing utterly nauseating.”
Liang Siyao continued to swallow her wrath. However, even saints had their own limits. Her expression darkened. “Tang Yuyan, watch your words!”
“What can you do about that? So what?” Tang Yuyan reached an arm and pushed at Liang Siyao.
“Move aside!”
With a raise of her wrists, Liang Siyao blocked off Tang Yuyan’s palm. Swiftly, her arms glided along the length of the assaulting arm and hooked. Tang Yuyan’s arm was completely locked in a hold.
“You want to fight?! I’ll fight you!” Abruptly, Tang Yuyan sent a kick to Liang Siyao’s lower abdomen.
The woman jolted in shock, frantically releasing Tang Yuyan to avoid the attack.
Tang Yuyan lunged forward, punching her pale fists vehemently at a fervent pace. The heavy exertion of force and power made her punches whistle as they travelled. The Tang clan’s martial art speciality was naturally their flying sword technique, but their hand to hand combat was not subpar.
Liang Siyao had spent most of her life honing her Wing Chun techniques, there was nothing for her to fear about Tang Yuyan. The only thing holding her back from going all out was her pregnancy. Before long, she found herself forced backwards by Tang Yuyan.
“What’s the matter? Is that all Wing Chun could offer? Come on, show me what you’re made of!” pressured Tang Yuyan unforgivingly.
Liang Siyao fumed, “I’m only holding back because I’m pregnant! If not, I’ll definitely beat the shit out of you!”
It would’ve been better if Liang Siyao kept quiet about her pregnancy. The knowledge had evidently triggered Tang Yuyan, to which the woman spat in absolute wrath. “You shameless bitch!”
Slam! Slam! Thud!
Punches were met with kicks and so forth. The two women attacked one another, wreaking havoc in the office.
In Xia Lei’s office, Liu Zhengnan sweated profusely as he paced around the room anxiously. There was no way he could concentrate on anything. If Tang Yuyan barges in, then he would have failed Xia Lei. The whole ordeal would spiral into a gigantic disaster if the higher-ups caught wind of Liu Zhengnan’s little undercover episode, Xia Lei would definitely find himself in great trouble.
“Brother, when the fuck are you coming home?” Liu Zhengnan gripped his hair in balled fists, trying to reach a solution. However, no probable solution had presented itself despite him pulling out a good amount of hair.
At this moment, a third female voice was heard from outside the door.
“What are you two doing?” It was Long Bing.
Long Bing and Tang Yuyan were here at the Thunder Horse Organization headquarters for the same reason. They needed to clarify the information provided to Bureau 101 by Xia Lei through Liang Siyao. They needed further confirmation if the FA Organization was planning to hijack a plane then execute a suicide terrorist attack on Thunder Horse’s Jingdu headquarters. Tang Yuyan had arrived at the premises one step earlier because Long Bing had an appointment at the Women’s Hospital before coming over.
Long Bing’s arrival was welcomed by the sight of a fierce brawl between Liang Siyao and Tang Yuyan. The woman immediately panicked. On one hand, Liang Siyao was pregnant. The excessive exercise might harm the fetus! On another hand, if she did not step in to stop Tang Yuyan, the woman would soon find out about Liu Zhengnan’s cover. As soon as the ‘fake Xia Lei’ was exposed, all hell would break loose!
What could she do?
The question had only lingered in Long Bing’s mind for a second before she charged ahead and hugged Tang Yuyan’s waist. At that moment, Liang Siyao’s punch travelled towardsTang Yuyan’s forehead. The woman watched the punch approach her but could do nothing to avoid it for Long Bing had restrained her.
The impending punch came to an abrupt stop an inch away from Tang Yuyan’s head before returning to its master.
It was then that Long Bing released Tang Yuyan.
If it wasn’t for her, Liang Siyao’s punch would have definitely collided with Tang Yuyan’s head. But if Long Bing had played a part in this and allowed her to punch Tang Yuyan, Long Bing’s work life in Bureau 101 would be all but over. After all, Tang Yuyan was the current head of Bureau 101. Liang Siyao and Long Bing were both Xia Lei’s women and could be considered his family, which made all the more reason for her to put in more considerations on Long Bing’s part.
“Go on! Hit me!” Tang Yuyan huffed. “Xia Lei got your back. Go on! I’d love to see what his women can do to me!”
Liang Siyao relented, “Calm down. Why are you so desperate to create a scene?”
“You’re stopping me from meeting Xia Lei, how dare you tell me to calm down?! Are you insane? I’m here to deal with official matters!” hissed Tang Yuyan loudly.
Liang Siyao sneaked a glance at Long Bing.
To which the other woman returned with a slight nod, her heart pounding as hard as hers. Liang Siyao had told Long Bing the piece of intel earlier. With such a severe matter ongoing in the back, Long Bing would have certainly reached out to Bureau 101 without delay. That was the main event that led to Liang Siyao and Tang Yuyan’s catfight.
Ah, so she was here because of that. Liang Siyao zipped her mouth shut and decided to rest her case with Tang Yuyan.
Tang Yuyan averted her gaze onto Long Bing. “Long Bing, you’re the head of a department in Bureau 101. How could you join forces with Liang Siyao? What are you trying to do?”
“I…” Long Bing explained, “Siyao is pregnant, I was worried that you might hurt her child. That’s why I restrained you. I’m just trying to stop the fight. I did not side with Liang Siyao to attack you.”
“Hmph! Xia Lei’s women sure do get along well. I have to ask how he manages to have a relationship with four women at the same time!” Tang Yuyan strode towards Xia Lei’s office.
Liang Siyao found herself blocking Tang Yuyan again. “I repeat, he’s not available now to meet you.”
Without warning, Tang Yuyan drew her pistol and aimed it at Liang Siyao’s head. “You better think this through. The attack that the intel described would be the worst terrorist attack since the establishment of this country. If you continue to interrupt my work, don’t blame me for being heartless.”
Though she had yelled at Liang Siyao and a fight had erupted, Liang Siyao had not suffered from any consequences. However, Tang Yuyan had the status and power to arrest Liang Siyao. Banters and brawls were not uncommon among women who practised martial arts but things would be different if she arrested Liang Siyao. If that happened, she wouldn’t be able to face Xia Lei. Tang Yuyan had owed a lot to Xia Lei in this life.
Liang Siyao’s head was pounding, trying to devise an appropriate measure to handle the sticky situation. There was no way she could keep Tang Yuyan from entering Xia Lei’s office. But if Tang Yuyan really did go through, she couldn’t even bring herself to imagine the chaos and shit Xia Lei was bound to get afterwards.
“Yuyan, we’re all sisters. There’s no need to use the pistol, put that down.” Long Bing’s eyes were focused and cold.
Tang Yuyan ignored her. She cackled dryly. “What the hell is going on? Is Xia Lei not in his office? Are you hiding something from me?”
Liang Siyao and Long Bing couldn’t help but turn to look at each other, expressions equally troubled. Tang Yuyan was intelligent. She had already guessed the situation half right before even meeting Xia Lei’s imposter!
At that moment, Shi Boren made a sudden appearance. The older man emerged from the stairway with a few military men trailing behind him. These soldiers were all dressed in Air Force uniforms.
If the FA Organization was serious about replicating the al-Qaeda’s September eleven attack, the Air Force would most definitely take action. It only made sense for the Air Force generals to appear in this place. Though Tang Yuyan had taken over Shi Boren’s position, the older man would still be required as her mentor for the time being. His real retirement would have to wait until she could execute her job independently. Hence, Shi Boren was still the main decision-maker of Bureau 101.
“What’s going on?” Shi Boren’s eyes widened at the pistol in Tang Yuyan’s grip. His expression darkened scarily. “Yuyan put your pistol away!”
Tang Yuyan immediately heeded his instructions.
“What’s happening?” Shi Boren scowled and took in his surroundings. “What is wrong with you three?”
The three women remained silent, actively avoiding Shi Boren’s eyes.
“Speak!” Shi Boren yelled, “Is this a fight stemmed from jealousy? If that’s the case, I’ll give each of you a slap! You’re being unreasonable!”
“Old Shi.” A general interjected, “I think it’s best to go straight to Xia Lei. This is an emergency.”
“Hmph!” Shi Boren huffed. “I’ll deal with you three later! All of you are acting insane!”
The older man began to walk towards Xia Lei’s office. This time, Liang Siyao let them have their way. Her heart was palpitating heavily, guilt twisting her guts. “If only I waited until his return to tell Long Bing about that. It’s all my fault. I clearly caused this mess. What should I do now?”
Long Bing was regretting her decisions. She thought to herself darkly. “For something so severe, I should’ve known that the higher-ups were going to assign people to rectify the information. Hubby isn’t here and… God! What do I do?! I’m so stupid! I’m so fucking stupid!”
Sadly, crying over spilt milk did nothing to help the situation.
Shi Boren came to Xia Lei’s door and extended an arm to grip the doorknob.
Liang Siyao and Long Bing immediately clamped their eyes shut.