Initially, Xia Lei had thought that leaving the resort would bring an end to his demise. Sadly, that was far from reality. The authority figures of the organization had really arranged a matchmaking meeting for him and Fan Fan. Soon, he found himself in a meeting room within the Academy of Sciences.

The three of them sat together. There were some candies, fruits and sunflower seeds served on the table but no one had half the mind to enjoy it.

Zhou Yunzheng started with reciting his plans for Xia Lei. After that, he did the same for Fan Fan. The man was very serious when it came to Xia Lei’s proposed future developments. But when it came to Fan Fan’s he was relaxed about it. Oddly, it wasn’t too weird. What did Fan Fan have to be concerned about? Marriage was a big deal and Xia Lei had taken care of her with a mere phone call.

“Comrade Xia Lei, this is a good beginning for the both of you.” Zhou Yunzheng flashed them both a smile. “A rash decision is not true love. True love is developed over time. True love should be able to withstand fires and bloodsheds. Most importantly, it must be able to withstand the test of time. I’m very hopeful that you two can get together. You’re a patriot and she’s also a patriot. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you two birthed a little patriot baby?”

Fan Fan looked a little bashful. All she did so far was glance at her feet shyly. Her cheeks were red and there was poorly concealed joy in her eyes.

“Comrade Fan Fan, there’s no need to be so bashful. Is there anything you’d like to say to comrade Xia Lei?” Zhou Yunzheng reminded the quiet woman.

It was only then that Fan Fan lifted her head. She seemed a little uncomfortable. “Officer Zhou, with you around, I…”

Abruptly, Zhou Yunzheng came to a realization. He swiftly stood up from his seat and excused himself. “Oh, I just remembered I have a very important meeting to attend to. Make yourselves comfortable. There’s no need to hold yourself back. It’s the twenty-first century now for god’s sake. You need to be more open-minded. Yeah, your ideology and behaviour should be more up to date.”

What was there left for Fan Fan to learn about Xia Lei and what was there left for Xia Lei to learn about Fan Fan? The relationship they shared was nothing new. There wasn’t a need for Zhou Yunzheng to urge them to for more interaction.

With that, Zhou Yunzheng left.

Xia Lei took a careful look at the door to make sure that no one was around. It was after a brief moment of silence that he felt comfortable enough to ask. “What the hell is going on?”

Fan Fan rolled her eyes at him. “What’s with you? Isn’t this what you wanted?”

“Yeah, this is what I wanted but I wasn’t expecting things to happen at such an exaggerated scale.” Xia Lei was still shell-shocked at the series of events that led to this.

“Do you mean Officer Zhou?” Fan Fan continued, “Look, if I hadn’t invited him to interfere, would the Tang family let you off like that?”

“Does Officer Zhou know that we’re faking the marriage?” Xia Lei probed.

“No.” Fan Fan shook her head.

“What about the authorities?”

“Of course not.” Fan Fan rolled her eyes again and scoffed. “Comrade Xia Lei, did you forget your brain today? If I were to tell Officer Zhou that you’re trying to propose a fake marriage to me and have him come get you with the news, would he have done so? Officer Zhou would’ve definitely yelled the shit out of me.”

Xia Lei was speechless.

Xia Lei was only expecting Fan Fan to appear alone and ‘snatch’ him away from the resort. It was certainly out of his expectations as Fan Fan had managed to invite such high-profile personnel to form the strongest matchmaking team in history. The current mess had certainly helped him out of the grasp of the Tang family but some bigger figures were alerted. Perhaps the whole ordeal might spiral out of control soon.

“Comrade Xia Lei, the authority wants us to be in love. What do you think about me?” One of Fan Fan’s pretty feet had escaped her heels and found its way onto the top of Xia Lei’s thigh. Thank goodness she was wearing long slacks today, or else this bold movement would’ve been extremely inappropriate.

Even though most of her skin was given modesty by the length of fabric, there was a sneaky outline of her privates against the tight taut fabric around her groin.

Unfortunately for her, Xia Lei wasn’t in the mood for this. He smiled bitterly. “Quit it. Can’t you see that I’m pressed?”

“If you don’t wish to marry me, I can go tell Officer Zhou of your refusal right away. I’m sure he’ll be able to throw you back to your lovely Tang Yuyan then.” She retracted her long legs. She seemed serious about informing Officer Zhou.

Xia Lei grasped her wrist. “Look, I’m not joking. Today was really tough on me.”

“Let me go!” Fan Fan pretended to struggle.

Getting irritated, Xia Lei raised a hand and landed a hard slap on Fan Fan’s full bottom. The plump behind rippled upon contact.

The impact elicited a moan from her due to her special constitution. Not only did it not drive her away, but she also took the chance to wrap her arms around Xia Lei’s waist. Within a split second, she captured Xia Lei's lips.

The light peck became a sloppy open-mouthed kiss before it evolved to a full-on French kiss. She was getting impatient due to her hypersensitivity while Xia Lei was slowly getting clouded by lust.

Fan Fan finally released Xia Lei after a few minutes. She panted, “Although this is fake, I’m actually really happy.”

“Why?”

“My child now has a father. Isn’t that something I should be happy about?” She replied.

Xia Lei was taken aback. “You… You’re pregnant?”

Fan Fan hesitated but nodded anyway. “Although it hasn’t been a full month yet, I’ve already confirmed it. Basically, I can confirm that there is a life budding in me. Do you know how crazy your sperm is? It swam into me during my safe period and waited for my ovum to appear in the fallopian tube. As soon as it appeared, they merged! Your sperm are like skilled assassins, staying hidden in the dark until the right time came up to kidnap the ‘queen’.”

Xia Lei could only gape in shock.

No wonder it only required him a phone call to convince Fan Fan. She was already pregnant with his child, how could she say no to his marriage proposal? From his perspective, this whole thing was fake but it had meant something different for Fan Fan. For her, everything was sufficient as long as the marriage certificate was real.

Now to look at this, this felt like destiny.

“She’s pregnant with my child and we’re about to get legally wedded. How am I supposed to divorce her in the future with a child coming?” Abruptly, Xia Lei started to ponder about the concern.

Within a day, Xia Lei had experienced a breakup, a matchmaking session, marriage preparations and even news that he was about to be a father. Now, he was already pondering about a future divorce. It was safe to say that Xia Lei was the only man on earth capable of experiencing these things within twenty-four hours.

“Are you not happy?” The lack of smiles on Xia Lei made Fan Fan nervous.

That brought Xia Lei back to reality. He smiled gently. “Of course, I’m happy. I’ve always wanted a child but I wasn’t expecting it to happen so suddenly.”

“Are you surprised?”

“Very surprised.”

Fan Fan whispered into his ear. “Since you can still have me before I’m heavily pregnant, I want to…”

Xia Lei was perplexed. “Here?!”

“Xia Lei.” Fan Fan bit the lobe of his ear. “This is the twenty-first century. You need to be a little more open-minded.”

Xia Lei laughed. He lifted her and pressed her against the meeting table.

He’d just leave the concerns of divorce for later. It was time to give his mind a well-deserved break.

It was already evening when they left the Academy of Sciences.

The streets of Jingdu were noisy yet lively. People of all walks of life crowded the city that reeked of lust and humanly desires. Perhaps, that was truly the smell of a city.

Xia Lei dug out his phone and dialled for Qing Caiyue.

“Sorry, the person you have called is unreachable…” Weirdly, the only response that returned was a system notification.

Xia Lei immediately frowned. “I’ve clearly told her to look out for my call and bring Zhu Xuanyue to me. Why is her phone turned off? “

Something was amiss.

Xia Lei immediately dialled for Qin Xiang.

“Qin Xiang, have you seen Qing Caiyue today?”

“No. She left the office in the early afternoon, she’s not back yet,” answered Qin Xiang.

“What about Zhu Xuanyue?”

“I don’t see her too. What’s the matter?”

Xia Lei had a bad feeling about this. “I’ll explain this later, Qin Xiang. Please get a few to help locate Qing Caiyue and Zhu Xuanyue immediately. Give me updates even if you don’t find them.”

“Alright, got it. I’ll do so now.” Qin Xiang ended the call.

A thought abruptly flashed through Xia Lei’s mind.

Was the black-robed man here in China?

The only one who could hurt Zhu Xuanyue was the black-robed man. With Qing Caiyue and Zhu Xuanyue unreachable, there was a possibility that they were in danger!

Ring… Ring… Ring…

As he pondered about the problem, his phone rang.

Without sparing a glance to his screen, Xia Lei immediately accepted the call. “Hey! Have you found them?”

“What are you talking about? Brother, did you lose something?” It was Ling Han’s voice.

Xia Lei was confused but managed to regain his composure before long. “Ah, it’s you, Brother Ling. I thought my employee was the one calling me, sorry about that. My employee had lost a very important blueprint and I was very on the edge about it.”

“It’s alright. We’ve been through the worst and managed to reconcile. There’s no need to be courteous next time. You’re still a brother to me no matter what.”

“Oh, Brother Ling… I’ve always treated you like my own older brother.”

“Hehehe… Say, where are you at?” Ling Han asked.

“What’s the matter?”

“Have you already forgotten about it? Remember, we promised to meet up tonight after Shi Boren’s birthday event today. Officer Yu has been waiting for your call all this while,” supplied Ling Han.

How could Xia Lei forget that? It was him that invited Ling Han and Yu Shanhe to an appointment after all and he had plotted a sneaky attack against them that involved Zhu Xuanyue’s ability heavily. However, with Zhu Xuanyue missing, what was the use of going on with the appointment with Yu Shanhe and Ling Han?

“Uh, I’m terribly sorry. As you can see here, there’s an emergency back at my company. I suspect that I’m dealing with a business spy. The situation is quite grim and I must return to them at once. How about we move this appointment to some other day?” Xia Lei tried to sound genuine.

“But…” The displeasure in Ling Han’s tone was prominent.

“Surely this is an acceptable reason. How about I come to visit you and Officer Yu personally and apologize to him straight? What do you think?” offered Xia Lei.

“Sure, that’ll do. Go deal with your work, I’ll look forward to your call.”

“Brother Ling, can you please help to relay a message to Officer Yu. Please tell him that I’m sorry and that Xia Lei is not an idiot. He understands that having one more friend is better than having another enemy. Do you understand what I mean?”

“Hehehe, of course. I’m glad that you think so. Alright, see you next time.” Ling Han hung up.

Xia Lei grinned evilly. “Next time? I can’t wait till you’re sent to hell.”

What on earth happened to Zhu Xuanyue and Qing Caiyue?

Xia Lei’s mind returned to the question.

Suddenly, a few police cars screeched past him. Following closely behind was another few SWAT off-road vehicles. Those police vehicles were carrying fully armed Special Forces, they even had a sniper. The whole situation seemed severe!

Ring… Ring…

At this moment, his phone rang again.