Something Valuable

After listening to the endless chit-chat around him, Fuyuki observed three things. First, Feng Liwei’s parents seemed to behave just like any ordinary parent would. Even though his guests consist of high-profile people like them, they are just as ordinary as anyone else in private. Two, they seem to be keen on making Feng Liwei marry the woman, who can’t keep her legs in her shoes, and three Feng Liwei seems to be indifferent to it. Or he is just the cold, indifferent type on the outside and passionate on the inside? When he thought back to their kiss it actually made sense.

But then does that mean that he thinks of her that way?

Whatever. None of my business.

Fuyuki remained sitting under the table and when he got tired of sitting, he lay back down, put his arms under his head, and crossed his legs as if he was lying on the grass at night watching the stars.

Well, it actually would be great to watch the stars. I haven’t seen them like this in ages. I wonder if Feng Liwei...

“It’s good to have ideals but when it comes down to actions what determines a person’s worth is not what he thinks but how he realizes his thoughts via actions,” Feng Liwei said in a serious tone.

Fuyuki regretted not paying attention before because now he was curious what could have triggered such a response from him. He also felt a bit attacked personally as if he were challenged to prove himself. Isn’t this similar to what their deal is based on?

He could no longer lay idly but also couldn’t bring himself to pay attention fully, so it felt like an eternity until the people sitting around the table finally stood up to leave. He wanted to be extra careful this time, so he didn’t dare move an inch until he was sure that the people were no longer inside.

He was just about to crawl out when he heard the door open and Feng Liwei speaking to someone as if giving an order.

“Mengxi, stay here and don’t let anyone come in. After ten minutes, open the door, and if there’s no one around, escort me to my room.”

His order was followed by two knocks on the tabletop which Fuyuki took as a signal to come out, and so he did.

When he was finally standing next to the dining table he didn’t dare look directly at the man before him and just clutched his left wrist with his right hand in embarrassment.

“Just stay here and wait until the time is up. I’ll try to make them leave by then,” he said and waited for Fuyuki’s response but the man in question just nodded, still avoiding eye contact.

After confirming that Fuyuki understood what was expected of him the Major left the room and left Fuyuki with the android maid he met earlier.

Fuyuki looked at her again, now a bit less nervous but still feeling a little fazed.

“Thank you for your hard work,” he said after a while just to say something.

“It is a pleasure to be of service, master,” came the reply and she even smiled at him as a real maid would.

“Do you know everything about this house?”

“I only know what I am supposed to know. Nothing less and nothing more,” she said obediently.

“Yeah, right. Never mind.”

After getting bored of using the maid to pass the time, he looked at his wristband and his eyes followed as the minutes passed by until he could leave.

When that time came, the maid opened the door just like she was ordered to do it, looked outside, and after seeing that everything is clear, she asked him to follow her.

The house seemed silent almost, perhaps even the other androids were ordered to clean up after dinner later so that they wouldn’t disturb the owners while getting ready to sleep.

Now, seeing the rest of the building not just its table, he had to admit that it was rather beautiful, exuding luxury and some sort of comfortable charm, something he didn’t expect to see here. He was sure that the carpet on the stairs under his foot must have cost a fortune but somehow it reminded him of those old movies where people had many of these things around before installing escalators in their homes.

“Good night, master,” the maid said suddenly making Fuyuki realize they had already reached their destination.

“Thank you, Mengxi,” he replied after recollecting how Feng Liwei had called her.

Mengxi waited until Fuyuki scanned his wristband and went in, a moment Fuyuki dreaded the most. He couldn’t avoid it but still closed the door as slowly as humanly possible as if trying not to make a sound which was already impossible given the new system settings in place.

“I am terribly sorry,” he said after taking a deep breath and turning to face the person who was leaning against the window facing the door.

“For what?”

Feng Liwei’s cold response made Fuyuki’s heart freeze over, not daring to move.

“Please, don’t make me say it,” he replied in a low voice, praying that he would let him go just this once.

A few seconds passed in silence then Feng Liwei finally came closer while not taking his eyes off him making Fuyuki’s throat tight and all the butterflies in his stomach die from too much flying.

“I won’t. And you were right,” Feng Liwei said, making Fuyuki finally raise his head in surprise and look at him forgetting his embarrassment for a moment. “This was a test. I wanted to see how dedicated you are to your goal. I’m not saying it was a total success but at least now I know that you meant what you said and weren’t just spouting empty words.”

“I never do anything half-heartedly.”

“Really?” he asked raising his eyebrow as if to test him. “I still have a reason not to trust you completely as I’m sure that you aren’t completely honest with me. That’s alright though as I haven’t yet told you everything either. But a deal is a deal. I promised to show you something valuable for your help and I always keep my word.”

Following this, he closed the curtains and switched on the night vision lamps installed on his desk. After a few seconds of clicking here and there on its touch screen, Fuyuki saw a row of folders before him. Fuyuki tried to memorize what he was doing but he gave up after realizing that it was probably pointless. He probably won’t ever come here again, and even if he would, Feng Liwei would make sure to encrypt it in a way not even he or Winter Breeze would be able to decrypt.

When the 3D hologram of a document appeared before him, he didn’t even realize what he was looking at at first. It looked like a huge report about a research with rows and rows of sentences making up several pages. All the explanations were accompanied by pictures and figures in order to make the explanations more concrete. Only after reading the paragraph mentioning the predecessor of the invention discussed did realization dawn on him.

What he was looking at was actually that so-called blueprint he would have done anything to get his hands on it.