Genius Club

Chapter 128: Chapter 121 East Sea 007

Looking at the wrinkled bouquet of flowers in front of her, Zhao Yingjun blinked, somewhat caught off guard.

But then…

She let out a soft laugh, her gaze instantly softening considerably as she took the disheveled bouquet into her hands:

“This really is a surprise.”

Zhao Yingjun looked at the damaged roses with interest, laughing as she lifted and pressed them one by one with her hands, arranging all the petals into a beautiful solitary form.

This was a relaxed smile Lin Xian had never seen before.

She was always so busy,

always furrowing her brows,

always pondering one thing or another.

She was like a robot.

Systematic and never making mistakes.

But Zhao Yingjun at this moment…

was indeed very pretty, laughing like a 24-year-old woman.

Another breeze blew by, swaying her shoulder-length hair and setting the crystalline blue earrings sparkling in the moonlight, shattered like a river of stars.

After admiring for a while, Zhao Yingjun looked up at Lin Xian with a smile:

“This might be the most special birthday gift I’ve ever received.”

“As long as you don’t mind, that’s good.”

Lin Xian smiled:

“Definitely can’t compare to those you’ve received before.”

Zhao Yingjun, as a young lady from a prestigious family, likely received as much pampering at home as Chu Anqing did.

The birthday gifts she received from childhood must have been beyond the wildest dreams of others in terms of luxury and value.

“Past gifts, huh…”

Zhao Yingjun turned her head to look at the rippling water of the riverbank reflecting the trembling Oriental Pearl tower and shook her head:

“I really don’t remember them; too many.”

She blinked her eyes, shifting her gaze from the water’s surface:

“However, this bouquet… I will probably remember it for a long time.”

“Let’s go.”

She turned briskly, her hair tracing a half-circle in the air.

Lifted by the wind.

Was the unique fragrance of her shampoo.

And…

Tap tap tap tap tap, the sound of high heels walking towards the police car.

…

The police quickly found the criminal and the flung away shotgun.

The criminal was lucky to survive the fall from the overpass with no major injuries… but considering his crimes today, he wouldn’t see the light of day for ten or eight years.

A tow truck hauled away the wrecked Bentley Continental GT, and a police car brought Zhao Yingjun and Lin Xian back to the station for their statements.

“Why is it you two again?”

The officer came in and was surprised to see these two familiar faces.

Lin Xian looked up…

and recognized this officer as Officer Liu, the same one they had encountered that night in the hospital.

He was also the one who had taken their statements then.

“You two… don’t have some sort of special constitution, do you?”

Officer Liu opened his notebook, sitting opposite them.

“Are you suggesting… Conan’s Physique?”

“Yeah, that’s it! Seems like that’s the term,” Officer Liu laughed:

“Just kidding, don’t take it seriously, just trying to lighten the mood. As a cop, I’d rather we meet less often… after all, meeting with our kind usually isn’t for anything good.”

Officer Liu asked about the details, and they responded truthfully, wrapping up the statement quickly.

“Alright.”

Clap, Officer Liu closed his notebook and stood up:

“That’s all for now then. We’ve got your contact information, and we’ll get in touch if anything else comes up.”

“But I’d advise you both to be careful for a while… avoid dangerous places. There’s a possibility of retaliatory attacks, you can never be too sure. If we find any risks in our follow-up investigation, we’ll notify you promptly.”

They nodded and left the police station.

At the entrance, Zhao Yingjun’s driver had already been waiting for a long time in the Alfa Romeo executive car.

“Come on in, Lin Xian. I’ll drop you home first.”

“Okay.”

…

By the time he got home, it was almost dawn.

Lin Xian, nursing his twisted waist, took a hot shower in the bathroom and lay in bed, staring at the ceiling.

Recalling the scene where he drove the Bentley across the overpass…

For a moment, he indeed had a hard time distinguishing between dream and reality.

Probably, it was precisely that sense of recklessness that allowed such a wild car stunt to succeed.

Any hesitation in that situation would have led to a devastating crash.

Lin Xian blinked his eyes.

The light of the rising sun, cutting through the gaps in the curtains, sliced into the room like blades…

He remembered the scene where he and Zhao Yingjun were leaning on the railing and chatting.

For some reason…

At that time, Zhao Yingjun began to talk about her family, her parents, and her initial motivations for starting her business.

She had indeed never discussed these things at the company; even the several founding elders and vice presidents who had been with her from the start knew very little about her personal circumstances.

Yet, she chose to share it with him alone.

Could this be considered a form of trust?

“At least… our relationship has gotten much closer.”

“Take it slow.”

Turn off the lights, go to sleep.

…

The next day at noon, Lin Xian was woken up by the sound of his cell phone ringtone.

The caller ID showed it was Gao Yang.

“Hello?” Lin Xian answered the phone groggily.

“East Sea 007!!”

“Buzz off.”

“James Band!!”

“If there’s nothing important, I’m hanging up…”

“Wait, wait, wait! Don’t you know you’ve gone viral?”

Lin Xian sighed in resignation:

“How could I not know? I saw it this morning…”

When he got up in the morning to use the restroom, the many chat groups Lin Xian was in had exploded, with short videos comparable to Hollywood action special effects blockbuster scenes spreading like wildfire through each chat group.

Some were from surveillance angles, others from high-rise overhead views, and some from upward views beneath the overpass.

Although shot from different perspectives, the videos all shared the same content—

a handsome blue Bentley Continental GT convertible flying across the overpass of Donghai City in the moonlight.

The video with the most likes and widest distribution was shot under an elevated bridge.

Although the video was somewhat blurry overall, one could roughly make out a man and a woman sitting in a convertible car,

According to the uploader, he was taking pictures of the moon scenery for his girlfriend at the time because the moon was so round and bright that night, so he wanted to take a beautiful photo of her with the moon as the background.

By a stroke of luck, this “iconic scene” came into existence.

Because photos taken with an iPhone have a few seconds of video replay functionality, he went ahead and posted the video:

A roaring blue Bentley convertible sports car, like a wild beast, shot out from the east side of the elevated bridge! Soaring through the sky in a parabola!

Just then, the moon in the night sky provided the perfect backdrop. Casting behind the man and woman in the sports car, it looked like a spectacular movie poster, as romantic as a fairy tale, and as thrilling as anime’s iconic scenes.

The comments below were all sorts of memes:

“Holy shit! East Sea 007 spotted in Donghai City! James Bond has arrived!”

“The Oscar for Best Picture goes to ‘Flight over Donghai’.”

“Is this the authentic ‘Wild Fury’? What about that fishmonger’s film that just premiered yesterday?”

“Donghai has its own Hollywood!”

“Sss… What on earth are this man and woman up to? Is he risking his life for a date? Did she agree in the end?”

“A 7 million yuan Bentley Continental GT, W12 beast engine, is that how you’re supposed to play with it?”

With various people adding fuel to the fire, the moniker East Sea 007 went completely viral.

Fortunately, it was night, and since all the videos were quite unclear, it was impossible to make out who was in the car.

But… For those who knew Lin Xian and recognized the car, it was definitely no secret.

In Gao Yang’s words:

“We’ve known each other for so long now, I could recognize you even if you turned to ash! Even if you were pixelated, I could still make out who you are just by squinting at the colored blocks!”

“I’ve got nothing else, I’m hanging up.”

“Wait, wait! I wanted to ask about your plans for the New Year.”

On the other end of the phone, Gao Yang stopped joking around and said seriously:

“This New Year, you should go back on your own, I won’t be joining you.”

“What’s up?”

“Some family matters at home, an uncle passed away yesterday, so I have to go back today… I might as well take an extended leave, all the way through the Spring Festival, and come back after the seventh day of the new year.”

“That’s a pretty long vacation you’ve got there…”

Lin Xian yawned and didn’t pay much mind.

Donghai and their hometown, Hang City, were not far apart.

Since Gao Yang had family matters to attend to, it was best to go back first; there was no need for them to stick together.

“You go on ahead then, I still need to stop by the office this afternoon, so I won’t see you off.”

“Mm, don’t forget the reunion! The one on the fifth day of the new year!”

Gao Yang reminded him cheerfully:

“You don’t know… a lot of female classmates we’ve contacted, they all asked about your current situation! They also asked if you have a girlfriend!”

“Heh heh, just take it easy at the reunion, alright?”

With that said, Gao Yang hung up the phone.

Lin Xian looked at the calendar.

January 15, 2023.

The 24th day of the twelfth lunar month.

There were still six or seven days left until the Spring Festival. Gao Yang was heading back quite early.

The date for the high school reunion was the fifth day of the first lunar month.

It was still quite some time away.

Ding-dong.

Just as he put down his phone, WeChat pinged.

He picked it up to see, and it was a message from Chu Anqing.@@novelbin@@

Chu Anqing: [Video]

Chu Anqing: Senior Lin Xian! This is you and Sister Zhao Yingjun, right? I’ve seen Sister driving that blue car!

Lin Xian didn’t even need to open the video… He had seen the cover featuring the moonlight, the Bentley, and the overpass countless times.

He typed a message to Chu Anqing to explain the situation at the time.

Chu Anqing expressed her shock:

“This… This is more thrilling than a movie, no wonder everyone calls you East Sea 007! Speaking of which, Senior, are you good at driving?”

“A bit.”

“Hahaha! Can I get a ride to experience it myself sometime?”

“That would depend on whether the Bentley agrees or not.”

“What did the Bentley say?”

“The Bentley is dead.”

“…”

After finishing the chat with this cheerful nut, Lin Xian tidied up and went to work at the company.

The company was abuzz just like a stirred-up beehive, everyone discussing the “East Sea 007” and “Leap over Donghai City” incident.

Having seen the car in the underground parking lot, they all guessed it must have been Zhao Yingjun and Lin Xian in the car.

So when Lin Xian walked in, he felt the strange gazes everyone gave him, filled with sly smiles.

“What’s up?”

Lin Xian was somewhat uncomfortable under their stares.

“Awesome.”

Brother Wang from the marketing team came over, patted Lin Xian on the shoulder, and looked up to him:

“You really are awesome! President Zhao has never been late for work in all these years… and today you made her take a day off.”

“What do you mean I made her take a day off? I’m a victim too, okay…”

Yesterday, the thug had prodded Lin Xian with his gun barrel several times, leaving his scalp still aching.

“President Zhao went to the hospital.” Elder Sister Juan, the design team leader, walked past with a smile and said to Lin Xian:

“She hurt her leg a bit, but it’s nothing serious. She’ll probably be back at work in the afternoon.”

“Oh.”

Lin Xian nodded:

“Must have been the impact.”

“You caused the impact?” Brother Wang leaned in closer.

“The car did…” Lin Xian was speechless:

“Seriously, Brother Wang, why does everything get twisted when it comes out of your mouth?”

“The situation was too dangerous at that time, I was dizzy and couldn’t stop the car, I never really thought about flying over the overpass, this isn’t a game…”

Brother Wang chuckled, wrapped his arm around Lin Xian, and pulled him aside to the corner of the lobby, whispering:

“You little rascal… I’ve been with President Zhao since the start of her business venture, don’t I know what kind of person she is? Let me tell you, for all this time, President Zhao has never gone out alone with any man! You are the first, and the only one!”

“Aren’t drivers people too?”

“Drivers are drivers, and you are you. Hey, how come you are so clueless? You can’t be thinking I’m implying that President Zhao has fallen for you, are you!”

“So what are you trying to say?”

“President Zhao trusts you a lot! That’s rare!” Brother Wang said earnestly, leaning in:

“I have some good news to share with you.”

“What is it?”

“This morning, when I visited President Zhao in the hospital, she mentioned that the company’s business has grown, and she’s genuinely overwhelmed with managing everything, so she’s considering promoting a secretary!”

Brother Wang grinned and slapped Lin Xian on the back:

“She thinks highly of you!”