(Didn't manage to write a thank you for 100 monthly passes last night, making it up this morning. Old Lai will continue writing, hoping everyone keeps supporting with monthly passes! A new activity has been added, see the end of the chapter for details.)

Yurong had called Li Yan before, but it was usually when she had something specific to talk about. A call just to check in like this was unusual for her. After chatting a bit and reminding him to buy warm clothes, she hung up.

Her call reminded Li Yan that there were still many people back home who cared about him. Hai Fu and Huang Ying knew he was there on business, so they wouldn't disturb him or wait for his call. But what about Yu Xiao Di? She would definitely be waiting for his call.

Because of this, Li Yan put things aside and instead of waiting for Qi Zhongtao's call, he called Yu Xiao Di back home.

Sure enough, Yu Xiao Di was waiting for his call. She had even gone to the airport to see him off earlier that morning. It hadn't even been a day without seeing each other, but to her, it was already a long distance with him being in another country. She was worried about his safety and more.

After chatting briefly, Li Yan felt a bit embarrassed to mention that he had spent the entire evening shopping with three girls, so he just mentioned resting a bit and preparing for work.

After the call with Yu Xiao Di, Qi Zhongtao finally called.

"Old Qi, no problem, right?"

Earlier at the restaurant, Li Yan didn't know where they were staying or how long it would take to get to the restaurant, so he kept it brief and asked them to come over. When they met outside the restaurant, he only pointed out the two people following them without speaking. Now he had time to talk.

"That guy Kawada, based on the information you gave me, I did a rough check, but that address doesn't belong to him. I've asked someone to help, and we might have more details tomorrow. Tonight, I followed one of those two guys and found out where he went; the other guy was followed by Liu Xi, who just tracked you guys the whole time, no photos or video recording. When you went back, he gave up and returned to the same place.

Tonight, Liu Xi and I will try to gather more information here, and we'll tell you everything tomorrow. Perhaps they'll follow you again tomorrow, when you're alone with a few girls. For safety, we both, or at least Liu Xi, will follow them."

After hearing Qi Zhongtao's report, Li Yan connected many thoughts. Some things didn't need to be explained too clearly to Qi Zhongtao, so he agreed with his plan.

"OK, do what you need to tonight. Contact me when there's news."

After hanging up, the face of Matsushima Kui popped into Li Yan's mind. He couldn't help but smile wryly. Where to eat was discussed between you and the Future, and all four of us, including the driver, knew only when we got there. Yet somehow, someone could show up ahead of time. Who else but you could it be? Perhaps you also leaked tomorrow's itinerary? Kui, what are you doing this for?

As soon as he thought of Cao Cao, there he was. While he was pondering, someone knocked on the door, and it was Matsushima Kui.

Seeing her in person, Li Yan put away his suspicions and showed his usual smile. At least she didn't know she was exposed. Revealing it now would make things difficult, so better to wait and see!

"What's up? They're still changing clothes in the room. Do you want to continue what we talked about this afternoon?"

Matsushima Kui quickly glanced back to make sure no one overheard, then shook her head and whispered, "No, I'm here to invite you to play."

Li Yan was a bit surprised. Wen Qianyi wasn't someone she could create opportunities with, and even if she could, it would be hard to succeed. And with Shinohara Mirai, she didn't need to create opportunities. Earlier, at the lingerie shop, he thought she was joking, and now she mentioned it again, seemingly with a plan. This made him even more suspicious...

And the purpose didn't seem to harm him, but it was closely related to him, like an invisible hand quietly affecting the circumstances around him...

This idea made Li Yan's heart tighten slightly; he didn't like this feeling! In this world, there were very few who could manipulate him outright. But influencing him was different. If it was done by affecting those around him to indirectly affect him, that was a kind of indirect manipulation!

"Don't believe me? You'll find out soon," Matsushima Kui saw his shock as disbelief. After speaking, she turned and left, "Hurry up and come over!"

...

Listening to her words and watching her back, Li Yan snapped back to reality. He couldn't help but chuckle, feeling he might have overthought it. Maybe Matsushima Kui had some difficulties, some leverage against her, or perhaps she was selling out friends for benefits. All those were possibilities. But if it were a grand conspiracy targeting him, using her as a key piece seemed too rash; she wasn't up to the task!

Of course, he didn't think he was too cautious. Even though the past two years had been quite peaceful, he still had suspicions now and then.

Maintaining suspicion about everything is always a way for an assassin to live longer!

Because there are no eternal relationships in this world. Be it friends, enemies, or even brothers!

Interests, threats, both are factors that can change the relationship between people. Interests big enough to make one's heart flutter and threats strong enough to make one's heart shudder can turn enemies into friends, and make friends become enemies.

After some suspicion, Li Yan only kept this thought but didn't continue to delve deeply into doubt. Certainly, Matsushima Kui is hiding something now, and there's no need to doubt this anymore; it's just waiting for her, them, to reveal more slip-ups.

After relaxing his mind, Li Yan went to Wen Qianyi's room, where the door was ajar and he pushed it open directly.

"What did you call me to play?" Li Yan closed the door with a smile.

All three of them were inside, and at some point, Shinohara Mirai had ordered some pastries, snacks, and drinks to be delivered, placed on a table at the bedside, and now the three of them were shuffling cards on the bed.

"Playing poker..." Matsushima Kui waved him over with a smile, "We all slept on the bed earlier, and you took a nap in the afternoon too. Can't sleep now, right? No need to go to the company tomorrow, we can play a bit later."

Shinohara Mirai also gestured for him to come over.

Li Yan watched, of course not being coy, and walked over to the bedside straightaway. However, he noticed that Wen Qianyi was not as enthusiastic, only playing along for a while because they both said to play.

Seeing the beer and wine on the table beside him, Li Yan was secretly sweating; wasn't Matsushima Kui trying to get Wen Qianyi drunk? Though, getting her drunk doesn't mean they have to physically act on her, but rather they can both have a blast together.

"Playing poker, huh. I'm not very good at it. And I don't know the style you Beihai Country folks have; plus, I'm alone, I'm afraid you might all gang up on me..." As he spoke, Li Yan sat on the bed.

The bed was large, four people each sat at one side with plenty of space in the middle.

Upon hearing this, Wen Qianyi giggled, "As shameless as you are, worried we'd gang up on you! I'm afraid you might gang up on me!"

That was indeed her vigilance; with a woman's instinctive sixth sense, she could perceive that Li Yan's relationship with those two was not purely platonic, there were some subtle implications.

"No way, no way," Shinohara Mirai hurriedly shook her head.

Matsushima Kui also laughed, "Hah! As if saying, both Future and I are accomplices here? Then let's get separated!"

"Sounds good." Shinohara Mirai nodded in agreement.

The suggestion was to play the most common game of partner tractor upgrade, two versus two, eliminating the possibility of three against one. Wen Qianyi agreed, and since the girls all agreed, Li Yan certainly had no objections.

Next was agreeing on the game rules. The flexibility of poker games is huge, especially when friends play privately; even in the same place, people with different habits may play differently. With two Yun Country people and two Beihai Country people, they had to agree on rules that everyone could understand and accept.

After discussing the rules, it came to the penalties. They were friends playing for fun, and it didn't involve money, but there had to be some stakes, a penalty, even the purest form should have some tick-offs, otherwise only leveling up wouldn't fear losing.

Seeing them discussing the rewards and penalties, Li Yan hurriedly declared, "I'm not very good at it, your punishment can't be too severe. Otherwise, I might be very tragic..."

"We're not very good either!" They all shouted, then laughed together.

"How about this, winners get to eat snacks, losers drink a glass of wine. How's that?" Wen Qianyi suggested. When it came to alcohol, she wasn't saying she had a huge capacity but it wasn't bad; knowing Li Yan's drinking capacity also not bad. What's next to them are just beer and wine, and the cups aren't big, from 3 to A, a round if going smoothly would only be a dozen cups or so, so two Beihai Country girls wouldn't dare to get them drunk.

Shinohara Mirai and Matsushima Kui saw that the cups weren't big and the alcohol wasn't high in beer or wine, and agreed readily.

Li Yan understood their intentions, secretly amused, such a setup, if the game isn't one-sided and the skill levels don't differ much, with similar luck, very possibly winning one round and losing the next, which glue at level one, drinking on both sides would greatly increase.

"Drink when losing a game, what about losing a round?" Matsushima Kui added weight, "You definitely drink often, capacity is better than ours. Drinking alone isn't enough punishment, I suggest the losing side for a round should remove one piece of clothing!"

Li Yan was stirred, losing? Indeed a good suggestion! To thank the generous support from brothers and to push persistent procrastinators, an additional event in August—every new addition to the Mix Fans Leaderboard above the position of Squad Leader will get a special acknowledgment with an extra chapter! (Fans points accumulate from subscription, tipping, urging, monthly pass, etc., details in the explanation on the leaderboard's right side.)

Thanks to the brothers who tipped on the 2nd: Sea of Falling Leaves, Sai Clan's Little Fish, A Kind of Love Called Breakup, CP Pampas, If Back Then~Snow, dongmin8061, Book Friend 100125192830461, ╃ Wounded Brat╃, Dragon Traveler of Tea Guest, sabcdefg, 888 Pepsi 888, Absolute Envoy (To be continued, to know more, please log on to www.qidian.com, more chapters, support the author, support legitimate reading!)

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