Chapter Ten: Revisiting Xie Xiuyun

  The house that Hant found was a stone gatehouse with a 2-story small building, originally an outer courtyard of a Zhejiang merchant, used to hide his concubine. As a result, the Zhejiang merchant somehow offended someone and the whole family was imprisoned, only the concubine in Shanghai escaped. After receiving the news, Hant "kindly" helped her immigrate to the United States, and this house became Hant's property, now belonging to Zhao Zhi.

  The house has a small footprint, and upon entering, there is a square-shaped courtyard. On either side are the east and west wing rooms. Directly opposite is the guest hall with floor-to-ceiling windows. The guest hall is four meters wide and six meters deep, and is used for receiving guests and hosting banquets. There are also several rooms on either side of the guest hall, and in the back, there is a wooden staircase leading to the second floor. Further back is the rear courtyard, which has about half the area of the front courtyard's skywell, with one well. The rear courtyard also has two small houses, which serve as the kitchen and storage room. The entire residence has walls surrounding both the front and back, with the rear wall roughly the same height as the front wall, forming a nearly enclosed space. Therefore, despite being located in a bustling city, the residence has the advantages of having high walls and a deep courtyard, allowing for quiet seclusion amidst the noise.

  Zhao Zhi was very satisfied with this house, and the backyard had a hidden back door. Living here, it would not be easy to be blocked off from retreat routes. Zhao Zhi planned to wait until Hunter sent over the things he needed, then find some materials to do some decorating in the house, so that one day when he encountered danger, he could protect his own life.

  After being busy for several days, Zhao Zhi finally managed to organize the things that Han Te sent over. In both the living room and bedroom, Zhao Zhi had made many hidden compartments, where he stored his weapons, so no matter which room he was in, he could always get his hands on a weapon at any time. This was a habit that Zhao Zhi had developed in his previous life, never letting his weapons be more than 20 centimeters away from him.

  At 7 o'clock in the evening, when the neon lights just came on, in front of the International Grand Hotel, where people were coming and going like a weaving loom, Yue Xinhai, dressed in a suit and leather shoes, stood there wearing an overcoat, occasionally glancing at his watch. He raised his wrist to look at the time, it was already past the appointed hour, but the person he was supposed to meet had not shown up yet. Had something gone wrong or had he himself been exposed? Yue Xinhai took a glance around him, seemingly not noticing anything out of the ordinary.

  "Sir." A dirty little beggar ran over, tightly clutching a piece of paper in his hand, "A big sister told me to give this note to you and said you would give me a reward."

  Yue Xinhai was taken aback, looking at the small beggar's tense expression, his hand clenched tightly on the small piece of paper, and he couldn't help but smile wryly as he took out a silver dollar to exchange for the paper. Opening it up, there was an address and a few words written on it: "8 has defected, quickly go to 10's place to hide". Yue Xinhai calmly tore the paper into pieces, slowly walking along the street with his head hung low, looking like he had lost his love. After walking for a block, Yue Xinhai made sure no one was following him before finally feeling at ease and hailing a rickshaw to go to the address on the note.

  Unbeknownst to Yue Xinhai, when he stood at the entrance of the International Hotel, he was already being watched by at least a dozen secret agents, and even the rickshaw driver he called was an undercover agent. In the early hours of the morning, a burst of intense gunfire suddenly rang out in Shanghai's International Settlement, followed immediately by the sound of martial law sirens blaring to life. Military police went wild, setting up checkpoints all over the city and sealing off all roads leading out of the settlement. The French Concession where Zhao Zhi lived was also searched house-to-house by a team of foreign detectives.

  Zhao Zhi was fortunate that Han Te had brought some of his Western-style dishes to mix with their meal today. If the police were to rummage through their home, even though they wouldn't find anything, it would still be a lot of trouble. Zhao Zhi enjoyed cooking for himself in his free time. The last time Han Te came over to deliver something, he had eaten Zhao Zhi's fried rice and kept asking Zhao Zhi to invite him over for a meal at his new place.

  When Han Te and others were sent out of the French concession, it was already a starry night with a bright moon. With a house and friends, Zhao Zhi felt comfortable and strolled alone on the street. However, just as he walked to the entrance of his own lane, a black shadow suddenly darted out from the alley on the left side. Zhao Zhi quickly drew his gun and stood against the wall. This black shadow was surprisingly the cheongsam beauty Xie Xiuyun who had been seen at the Hui Huang Casino that day.

  "What's with you?" Zhao Zhi was extremely surprised, this woman's outfit today was even more exaggerated, actually a black tight-fitting cheongsam, her feet were in a pair of black boots, and her long hair was tied up with a black silk ribbon, looking like a heroic maiden who saves the world. Xie Xiuyun's proud figure curves were exaggeratedly highlighted by the tight black cheongsam, giving Zhao Zhi an eyeful, he had not been with a woman since coming to this era.

  "Is the master surprised? Does he still remember me?" Xie Xiuyun's face looked exceptionally pale in the moonlight, with fine beads of sweat on her forehead. Zhao Zhi caught a glimpse of pain in her eyes and saw the fine sweat on her brow, asking in a low voice: "Are you injured?"

  Xie Xiuyun's eyes flashed with a hint of surprise, but seeing the gun in Zhao Zhi's hand, she nodded slightly, "It's just a minor injury, nothing serious." Xie Xiuyun gritted her teeth and said. Zhao Zhi nodded, his piercing gaze fixed deeply on Xie Xiuyun for a moment, no wonder it was nothing serious, her face had turned as white as paper, how much blood must she have lost?

  "Come on, go to my place, I'll take a look at your injury." Zhao Zhi put the gun back under his arm and didn't even bother to help Xie Xiuyun, he just walked ahead leading the way. The two of them walked one in front of the other, Xie Xiuyun's legs were clearly uncomfortable as she walked, it seemed the injury was on her leg. Zhao Zhi furrowed his brow but said nothing.

  She is a strong-willed woman who doesn't like to receive charity from others, and her personality is very stubborn. The conversation between Zhao Zhi and her just now was quite enlightening. It seems that she has encountered something she can't solve on her own, and her injury is the best proof of this. Zhao Zhi may not be able to read faces, but based on his brief encounter with Xie Xiuyun, he is certain that she is not a bad person.

  Just a dozen meters away, Xie Xiuyun finally groaned in pain and couldn't lift her injured leg anymore. Zhao Zhi, who had been paying attention, shook his head and revealed a bitter smile: "Do you still want to hold on? Don't you need me to support you?"

  "No, I can do it myself" Xie Xiuyun's eyes showed a hint of annoyance, thinking that Zhao Zhi was mocking her. She struggled to walk a few more meters, and finally, large beads of sweat fell from her forehead, her right leg trembling uncontrollably, and everything went black in front of her eyes. When she opened them again, she was shocked to find herself lying horizontally in Zhao Zhi's arms, all of this happening within the span of a breath.

  "What are you doing? Put me down quickly!" Xie Xiuyun's pale face flushed red, and the strong masculine scent on Zhao Zhi made her breathing heavy. Zhao Zhi just smiled and didn't say anything else, striding back to his home quickly. After putting Xie Xiuyun on the bed in the guest room, Zhao Zhi asked: "Your face tells me that if you lose any more blood, you'll be dead soon. So please tell me, where are you hurt? I need to treat you."

  "Ah, my injury isn't that serious, do you have any painkillers? Just give me some and I'll be fine." Seeing Zhao Zhi roll up his sleeves to examine her wound, Xie Xiuyun, who was originally lying down, was startled into sitting up immediately and wanted to drive Zhao Zhi out of the room.