Chapter 356

Chapter 356 Lin Aoxue’s Keyword!

“This is such a mess.” Su Rui climbed down from the top floor of the hotel and noticed that the buttons on his shirt were gone, feeling utterly helpless.

　　A sea breeze blew past, and the restless heat that Qin Yueran had stirred up in him gradually faded. Thinking back on what he had done, he couldn’t help but laugh bitterly at himself.

　　In his moment of confusion and desire, he had nearly actually pushed Qin Yueran down. Although it had come close to happening in the end, if he were to face the temptation of those unparalleled legs again next time, he wasn’t sure whether his self-control would be enough to hold out.

　　”Why think so much about it, just go back, clean up, and sleep.”

　　Su Rui shook his head, called Li Yang, and had him drive him back to the Lin family villa.

　　Seeing Su Rui with his clothes in disarray, a knowing gleam flashed in Li Yang’s eyes. Men will be men, no matter how formidable their fighting ability, they can never let go of that kind of desire. But Li Yang had guessed wrong. Even though Su Rui’s shirt was missing all its buttons, this guy truly hadn’t done anything of substance.

　　One look at Li Yang’s expression and Su Rui knew exactly what this guy who loved watching model runways was thinking. He gave a cold smile, patted him on the head, and said, “What are you daydreaming about? Just drive the car properly!”

　　The poor boss of the Azure Dragon Gang was being bossed around like a lowly lackey, and didn’t dare utter a single word of complaint.

　　…………

　　All thirty-two competitors for the final bracket of the decade-long gang tournament had been determined, so the upcoming matches would no longer be straight elimination rounds. Instead, they were divided into eight groups of four, with each group playing a round-robin, and the top two from each group advancing to the elimination rounds.

　　Since those who had been injured needed time to recover, the competition was suspended for three days to give the participants time to rest.

　　At this point, the trend of the tournament had become very clear. The smaller gangs had been eliminated one after another, and aside from a few who had managed to hold their ground, the vast majority of spots in the final bracket were occupied by the major gangs. As the host, the Azure Dragon Gang had put in a decent performance. Besides Su Rui, Zhou Xianwei, and Muay Thai champion Yinglaji, who had all firmly secured their spots in the top thirty-two, two other members had also successfully advanced.

　　If not for the unexpected incident that night, the Heroes’ Association could have had ten members advance. The tournament rules strictly forbade violent brawls during the competition period, but since Su Rui’s targets had been the Eastern men, not a single other gang raised any objection — which was quite remarkable.

　　And so, with a few free days on his hands, Su Rui was finally able to drive Lin Aoxue to work.

　　Watching movies in the marketing department, wandering over to the finance department to tease the girls there — Su Rui suddenly felt that this kind of life was actually pretty great.

　　Just then, the phone at Marketing Group One suddenly rang.

　　Cao Tianping picked it up, and a knowing look immediately spread across his face. “Understood, President. I’ll send Su Rui over right now.”

　　”Lin Aoxue’s looking for me?” Su Rui was watching an NBA game with his feet propped up on the desk, and asked without turning his head.

　　”Yeah.”

　　”Tell her I’ll go once this game is over.” Su Rui kept his eyes glued to the screen. This was a crucial game for playoff seeding, and it was already in the fourth quarter — how could he miss it?

　　”The President said if you want to finish watching the game, you can come watch it in her office.” It seemed Lin Aoxue had anticipated Su Rui’s response and had specifically told Cao Tianping in advance.

　　”Hey, this girl really does know me inside and out. Interesting.”

　　As he said this, Su Rui pushed back his chair and stood up, giving Cao Tianping the same knowing look in return, then headed toward Lin Aoxue’s office.

　　”What incredible luck with women.” Cao Tianping rubbed his ever-growing beer belly and said helplessly, “You can’t compare yourself to others, it’ll just drive you crazy. We’re both men — how come I don’t have that kind of luck?”

　　Walking into the office, Lin Aoxue was standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window looking out at the scenery outside. The sunlight fell across her, adding yet another touch of captivating radiance to a woman who was already beautiful beyond compare.

　　”Did you miss me, or did you want to watch the game together?” Su Rui smiled and picked up Lin Aoxue’s cup, taking a sip of the flower tea. It was quite refreshing.

　　The tea was fragrant and the woman was beautiful — this kind of life was truly wonderful.

　　”I’m not interested in the game. There are ten minutes left, watch it yourself if you want. The San Francisco Fire Dragons are down by one point right now.” Lin Aoxue pointed to the large TV at the front of the office.

　　Su Rui looked up — it was the very game he had been watching. A playful smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “How did you know I support the San Francisco Fire Dragons?”

　　Lin Aoxue raised an eyebrow. “I just said it randomly.”

　　Su Rui walked up in front of Lin Aoxue and said in the most shameless way possible, “You don’t look like you’re just saying it randomly. Are you secretly in love with me? You even know which team I support.”

　　Although the two of them had grown much closer, and there had even been a nearly scandalous moment in the swimming pool last time, Lin Aoxue couldn’t possibly believe that she would fall for Su Rui. The feelings between a man and a woman were still completely uncharted territory for her.

　　With her usual icy expression, Lin Aoxue said coldly, “The Fire Dragons are down by five points now.”

　　Su Rui spun around and immediately flew into a rage. “That idiot Teris, and he has the nerve to call himself the best rookie — what kind of best rookie has defense that terrible? When I get back, I’m going to turn him into the league’s best defensive player. This is infuriating.”

　　Lin Aoxue raised an eyebrow. “When you get back? Where are you going?”

　　Die-hard fan Su Rui only then realized he had let something slip. He rubbed his nose and said awkwardly, “It’s nothing, where else would I go? I’m staying by your side for the rest of my life.”

　　Lin Aoxue turned her face away, and in a rare moment, a faint smile appeared. She went back to her computer, opened a document, and typed keywords like “San Francisco Fire Dragons” and “Teris” into the keyword field.

　　And in this document, there were already many other keywords written down, including words like “Sun God”, “Apollo”, “Dark World”, “Hades”, “Mata”, and more!

　　If one were to analyze them carefully, every single one of these words had an inseparable connection to Su Rui’s identity!

　　Lin Aoxue hadn’t managed to get much information out of Jin Taizhu and Holman, but for this formidable businesswoman, she had her own methods of gathering information.

　　Five minutes later, the game ended. The Fire Dragons won the championship with a two-point lead. Su Rui let out a long breath and asked, “You called me here — surely it wasn’t just to have me watch a game?”

　　”Of course not. I have a task for you.” Lin Aoxue’s eyes were still fixed on the screen. She bolded “Teris” and “Fire Dragons” in red, then closed the document.

　　”What task?” Su Rui asked with interest. Lin Aoxue rarely found work for him to do, so hearing this felt quite novel.

　　”Accompany Zhou Anke to the financial industry summit.” Lin Aoxue said calmly.

　　”Zhou Anke? I don’t know much about finance — just let her go on her own.” Su Rui was interested in accompanying beautiful women, but had no fondness for attending meetings.

　　”Zhou Anke has a heavy load this time. It involves the loans and financing for Bikang’s new project in the capital, and I’m worried she won’t be able to manage all the maneuvering on her own. Having you by her side would put my mind at ease.” Lin Aoxue said.

　　”Sounds like my role is pretty important.” Su Rui said cheerfully. “But there’s one thing I don’t quite understand — your company has so many professional managers, and they’re definitely more familiar with this field than I am. Why not send one of them?”

　　Lin Aoxue’s brow furrowed slightly. “They have more important matters to attend to. Bikang’s new project is about to launch, and there aren’t enough people to go around.”

　　As soon as she said it, even Lin Aoxue felt her own reasoning was a bit of a stretch. Bikang was such a large conglomerate — it couldn’t possibly be unable to spare a single person. Lin Aoxue didn’t think too deeply about it, only feeling that it was slightly tricky to handle, and that sending Su Rui would definitely get it sorted out.

　　When had this man already come to have such a great influence on her? When had the sense of security he could create grown this powerful?

　　It was clear that Su Rui had already made Lin Aoxue dependent on him.

　　”I see.” Su Rui smiled meaningfully, then waved his hand. “I’ll do my best to complete the task. But if I can successfully secure the loan for Bikang, can you give me a little reward?”

　　”What kind of reward do you want?” Lin Aoxue had a vague feeling that nothing good was about to come out of Su Rui’s mouth.

　　”The reward I want is simple.” Su Rui pointed to his own face. “Just one kiss.”

　　Before he even finished speaking, a throw pillow had already smacked him in the face.

　　…………

　　The so-called China Financial Summit was held at the Ninghai International Convention Center. It appeared to be quite a high-profile event — the Minister of Finance and the Governor of the Central Bank attended in person, the heads of all the major banks showed up, and the number of investment bank executives and corporate finance chiefs was beyond count.

　　The host, the Ninghai municipal government, attached great importance to this conference and deployed a large number of police officers to ensure it proceeded smoothly.

　　On one side was the China Financial Summit, and on the other was the decade-long gang tournament — with both the legitimate and the underworld holding their major events at the same time, the police of Ninghai were run absolutely ragged.

　　The top brass had issued orders: all major cases were to be set aside for the time being, and every effort was to be made to ensure security and stability, guaranteeing that no disturbances would occur during the financial summit — after all, China’s international standing had risen considerably in recent years, and the eyes of the global financial community were all fixed on this place right now.

　　If the decade-long gang tournament were to damage Ninghai’s international image, that was something the government leaders had no desire to see.

　　Standing before the landmark Ninghai International Convention Center, Su Rui looked down at his suit and briefcase, then glanced at the poised and lovely Zhou Anke beside him, and couldn’t help but feel a little self-deprecating.

　　”Never thought there’d come a day when I’d be all dressed up like a proper person attending this kind of event.”

　　He had once spent years deep in the underworld, yet here he was one day standing in the sunlight — the feeling was, it seemed, a little complicated.