Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

Zheng Shaopeng was not the sort to repay kindness with ingratitude. The boss had taught him impressive skills, and he had gone from a small-time thug to a senior consultant. Only Zheng Shaopeng himself knew the distance between those two stations in life.

"Mr. Zheng, rest assured, we won't let anything happen to you." One of the two bodyguards seemed to have sensed Zheng Shaopeng's nervousness and offered a word of comfort.

"It's all right. Even if I die, I don't mind. It's just—hard to keep my feelings calm." Zheng Shaopeng shook his head with a bitter smile.

One of the bodyguards patted Zheng Shaopeng on the shoulder again and smiled. "We're all men risking our lives for the boss. But if anyone dies, it'll be the two of us first."

Hearing this, Zheng Shaopeng's heart settled. He took a sip of red wine, then gritted his teeth and nodded. "It's about time, isn't it?"

One of the bodyguards checked his watch and said, "In five minutes your phone will ring, and then we act according to plan."

Zheng Shaopeng nodded and randomly took some dishes with a tray and began to eat.

Five minutes later, Zheng Shaopeng's phone rang right on schedule. He drew a deep breath and took out his phone.

"Hello, yes." Zheng Shaopeng walked toward where the crowd was thickest, speaking as he went.

"Shaopeng, you can move now." On the other end of the line was the boss's voice.

"Understood," Zheng Shaopeng said firmly.

After hanging up, Zheng Shaopeng went to the person in charge of the event to ask for leave. "President Zhang, something's come up at home. I need to head back now. Would you mind—"

"Go ahead, if you have business to attend to. The seminar's over anyway; now it's just a dinner, everyone chatting together. It doesn't matter if you don't stay." President Zhang had seen Zheng Shaopeng take a call a moment ago and had no suspicions.

Besides, there was nothing to be suspicious about. Though he was president in name, he had been chosen out of everyone's respect for his seniority; he served only to rally and organize people, and had no standing to meddle in others' private affairs.

After asking for leave, Zheng Shaopeng hurried off. Several friends who knew him well greeted him. "Old Zheng, heading out?"

"Yeah, something's come up. I'll be off first—let's get together again next time." Zheng Shaopeng brushed them off with a smile.

Outside the villa, the two bodyguards got into a Buick Park Avenue one after the other. The first bodyguard took the driver's seat and started the engine, while the second bodyguard and Zheng Shaopeng sat in the back.

With the engine running, the Buick Park Avenue slowly pulled out of the villa's courtyard.

Although her employer had not told Wang Yanqiu where Zheng Shaopeng would be that night, he had told her in advance the assassin's name and identity, so Wang Yanqiu had naturally done some investigation first.

She had already obtained Zheng Shaopeng's photograph, and she knew that he usually rode in a Buick Park Avenue with license plate xxxx, accompanied by two bodyguards whose skills were quite ordinary. What she did not know was that the bodyguards at Zheng Shaopeng's side had already been replaced with others.

Looking at the photograph in her hand and then at the Buick slowly emerging from the villa's gate, Wang Yanqiu's nerves instantly tensed. That was right—this was the car, and through her binoculars she could see clearly who was sitting inside.

And inside the car, the second bodyguard was also holding two photographs—one of Wang Yanqiu, and the other of Yang Ce.

As for Yu Heng, the two bodyguards had been handed that job at the last minute. Originally they were only responsible for dealing with Wang Yanqiu; Yang Ce had been tacked on afterward. Not that it mattered. One sheep needed herding, two sheep needed herding just the same.

They just could not understand why the boss had instructed them to be especially careful with Yu Heng. What was so formidable about this young man?

Wang Yanqiu flagged down a taxi and followed after them; Yang Ce likewise hailed a cab.

Yang Yongjin knew what pretext Wang Yanqiu would use this time to tail the car ahead, but Yang Cenbin resorted to a different trick altogether. Use the same trick too often and it was bound to look unnatural.

Yang Ce put on a show of holding his phone, saying into it as he got in: "Right, I'm in the car. Go ahead, tell me how to direct the driver."

Once seated, Yang Ce said to the cabbie, "Master, just drive straight on. I'll tell you where to turn, and you turn."

"Got it." The driver had heard what Yang Ce said earlier and assumed he was heading to a friend's place on an unfamiliar route, guiding the driver along while on the phone, so he thought nothing of it and simply started the car.

"Turn right at the intersection ahead." Yang Ce had spotted Wang Yanqiu's taxi from afar turning right, and gave the driver his instruction.

The cabbie assumed it was the person on the phone telling Yang Ce the way, and never grew suspicious. He simply did as Yang Ce said and turned right at the next intersection.

The Buick Park Avenue at the very front was not driving fast, though in downtown Macau there was no driving fast to be had anyway.

Wang Yanqiu frowned and stared at Zheng Shaopeng's car ahead. This was all crowded downtown; a chance to make a move would be hard to come by, and even if she did, her odds of getting away were slim at best. Uniformed police were patrolling the streets at intervals that were anything but wide.

For now Wang Yanqiu had no idea where Zheng Shaopeng was actually headed, but before long she smiled. This was a chance in a thousand.

To be continued.

841. Something Suspicious

841 Something Suspicious Zheng Shaopeng's car turned right at the intersection ahead, then headed in the direction of Coloane Island.

Of course, in anyone else's case, heading this way did not necessarily mean going to Coloane, but Wang Yanqiu was certain Zheng Shaopeng was bound for Coloane.

According to the earlier investigation, Zheng Shaopeng owned three residences in Macau, and in this direction, the nearest was his villa on Coloane.

He rarely went there, only retreating to it for holidays on weekends, and today happened to be a day off for Zheng Shaopeng.

Coloane counted as Macau's outskirts; at night there were not many people about, especially in the villa district, where there were fewer still. And Zheng Shaopeng lived alone, with no one in the house besides the two personal bodyguards who followed him—just convenient for making a move.

Of course, all of this was an illusion Zheng Shaopeng had deliberately created, and the purpose was to lure Wang Yanqiu out. She wanted to kill him; he, in turn, wanted to kill her.

Zheng Shaopeng sometimes wondered why the boss had not simply disposed of Wang Yanqiu in Songjiang, and had instead gone to such lengths, drawing the snake from its hole to get her to Macau for the assassination.

Though the boss had never spelled it out for him, Zheng Shaopeng had later guessed at some of the reasons. Killing a person on the mainland was not so easily glossed over, but here it was different. Wang Yanqiu had come to Macau in the capacity of an assassin, so she certainly would not have entered through normal channels under her real identity; that way her identity would never show up in the immigration records, and she would become a genuine "black account." If a black account died here, no one would notice at all.

And the choice to use himself to draw Wang Yanqiu out was probably made for the sake of caution. Wang Yanqiu was no fool; she could not possibly take on a hit without first investigating the target. If they had simply grabbed some random person to stand in for him or fabricated a person out of thin air, the seams would show and arouse suspicion.

So choosing him—a consultant of considerable repute in the gambling industry—merely made the whole thing look more reasonable.