After saying goodbye to his parent and grandparent, Li Yun headed up to Wu Bin's apartment. He knocked once, but no answer. He tried again and then pounded the door. Wu Bin swung open and door and walked back inside without a greeting.
"Wow, you really are moody," Li Yun commented as he walked into the apartment.
There were boxes and papers laying in disarray, very atypical of the Wu Bin that he knew of.
"What, aren't you here to talk about your mission?" Wu Bin asked in a snide manner. "Just sit down."
"No, I think I'm saner than you at this point," Li Yun took a seat on the sofa and made himself at home. He meant what he said. Even if there were scientific explanations for Qivi and spirit detection, the ability was convincing enough to assure himself that he wasn't completely insane. "I probably won't need your consultation for a while"
"Seriously?" Wu Bin looked skeptical and dragged his feet over to the recliner. "Are you staying over?"
"No, I'm going to leave after I talk to you," Li Yun was heading out to see Rouxi. "What happened with Little Ling?"
"About Little Ling?" Wu Bin forgot for a moment that he lived in an apartment with noisy neighbors. "Gee, everyone in this apartment doesn't know the meaning of privacy."
"Well, it's rare to see Little Ling upset, so everyone is worried. What happened?"
"She's live streaming with a friend."
"Little Ling is streaming?" Li Yun was shocked. His cousin wasn't the type to broadcast herself or cause any unnecessary attention. "Like live broadcasting?"
"Yeah, on one of those apps. Doesn't she know that there are a lot of creeps online?"
"How did you find out?"
"Someone from our apartment saw her on the broadcast, and sent me the contact information to her friend who was doing the live streaming. I messaged her friend and asked her to stop streaming with Little Ling."
"Old Bin, you can't be serious," Li Yun shook his head at Wu Bin's intrusion. "She's a grown woman, you could have asked her to stop instead of doing such a roundabout method."
"You honestly think she'll listen to me?" Wu Bin was the only blood relative to Wu Ling in the apartment and took it upon himself to raise her after their father abandoned them. After she left for college, it was difficult for Wu Bin to let her be.
"No, but it's her choice. No wonder she's pissed."
"Can you ask her to stop live streaming? She seems to listen to you more than me."
"That's only because I'm paying her. Do you know what app they are using?"
"I don't know, you can have her friend's info. They are using her account."
Li Yun looked at the phone and raised his eyebrow, "You got to be s********* me."
"Yeah, isn't this crazy?" asked Wu Bin. "10 thousand people watch this crap?"
Li Yun thought it was crazy, but only because he recognized the owner of the account. After talking to his cousin, Li Yun left the apartment in a hurry and drove to a hotel where Rouxi was staying. He had already contacted her yesterday to tell her that he would be in Yide, and she booked a hotel for them.
He walked into an upscale hotel, it was different from the previous hotels they had been to. Arriving at the room, he knocked, and a woman with soft features greeted him with a kiss. Forgetting what he was planning to say, Li Yun kissed her back, closed the door, and completely drowned himself in lust.
"F***!" Li Yun swore to himself, looking at the new light fixture the hotel had installed.
Laying in bed, he didn't know whether to be annoyed at himself or at her. Li Yun couldn't help himself since it was the first time she greeted him without any makeup on. Rouxi cuddled her head on his arm and then looked at him.
"Are you angry?" She asked, seemingly knowing the source of his annoyance.
He would be lying if he said no. As soon as he saw the chibo clip that Wu Bin had shown, he knew she went by another name. "Is your name really Chu Rouxi? Or Song Meilin?"
"It's the name that I gave myself in the States, so it is my real name. You can check my passport. Song Meilin is my birth name, so I prefer you call me Rouxi."
"Did you know Little Ling before we met?"
"Of course, she's the campus goddess, everyone knows her. I didn't know she was your cousin until after seeing you on the news."
Li Yun thought about everything that had happened. If she knew Little Ling, it wouldn't make sense for her to hide it. There was no real purpose to hide it, especially since they also know Xuxu. He would eventually find out that she knew his cousin. The reason he couldn't figure out was why didn't she tell him.
"I get to listen to all her stories about you, it was fun," Rouxi said, guessing what Li Yun was thinking about. "If I told you, it wouldn't be as fun and you'll probably make her stay quiet."
Li Yun rolled his eyes, "Of course, it would be something stupid." Sometimes the simplest reason, no matter how ridiculous, was the often truth. It was why the truth was harder to believe. "Little Ling is upset with her brother, and why are you streaming?"
"The reason for the broadcast is quite funny, I'll tell you later. But the point is, I only got Little Ling into streaming because of you."
"Why is it because of me?"
"Because you got some very sketchy people following her for a week. I saw a guy following her at the mall, and I had to pull her into my stream. I tried to capture them on my camera screen, but he evaded it pretty well. Definitely look like someone with reconnaissance training."
Li Yun's body tensed up as he remembered the Monk Luba. "When was this?"
"A little before you appeared on the news. The guy looks dangerous, but I think he was just a scout gathering information. He wore a cap, but probably bald since his eyebrows looked drawn in. I followed her around for a week, but then he stopped showing up. Later, Little Ling asked me if she could continue streaming. I didn't want to at first, but she really wanted to earn some money."
"How do you know they were really targeting me?"
"That's not too difficult. I don't think she's the type to involve herself with something that dangerous. And I knew she ran a shop for you with all the Taoist texts. I must admit, it's pretty impressive that everything is hand-drawn. They must be searching for a high-end forger?"
"That's what I thought, but I'm not sure. They never showed up again. Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"I thought you would have solved the problem by now. They say when you were in college, you were a bit of a busybody who could solve anyone's problems."
"I was not, people came to me for help." Li Yun did try to help people because it gained him action points, but then other students started to seek him out for help.
Rouxi laughed as though she didn't believe him. Her eyes smiled, and the knot in his chest loosened.
"I just realized, I'm your college senior," Li Yun pulled her up to meet his face and kissed her, sealing her mouth from laughing.