Note:
I have totally forgotten whether Wen Ning got Lan Xichen's number, and - trust me! - I searched for that point in the story for half an hour! This fucking book is 560 000 words long already!
But I found it - it's a Chapter 196: Wen Ning's Graveyard (Shift). reference, where Wen Ning gets Lan Huan's business card from Bobby Chan.
~
the 8th of February, 2026
Today, it seemed, was a bad coffee day all around town, because the young man had zero time for any drinks at all.
As soon as he approached the bar, half-running, he noticed a big makeshift sign, scribbled over a large piece of unevenly-torn white cardboard paper that read:
"SORRY, WE ARE CURRENTLY CLOSED!!!"
He frowned at the triple exclamation, but boldly pushed the front door open, a little surprised to see that today the forever-ubiquitous bouncer was absent, and that, inside, there were just his boss and a couple of his personal bodyguards, all of them – ex-mob members. There was no sign of Mister Bobby, and no sign of any new replacement for Mister Jiang, and Wen Ning felt his stomach churn a little.
He approached hesitantly, feeling all of the tugs' eyes on him, even though all of them were stupidly wearing sunglasses in the daylight, an American action movies' from the 80's cliché that just would not die. Mister X was too busy yelling over the phone, but he couldn't make a head or tail out of it. However, one name rang familiar, loud and clear:
- DID I ASK FOR YOUR ROTTEN OPINION, MISTER JIN ZIXUAN???
He held his breath, not daring interrupt, and just waited for his boss to pay attention to him. That phone call ended in quite the colorful bit of refined cussing and Wen Ning shuddered; he hated the unnecessary vulgarity. But when the small pig eyes got fixed on him, and the air around him got thicker with the stench of the slow-burning cigar that Mister X was chewing on, while slowly smoking on too, he lost his cool, and coughed, involuntarily taking a step back.
He fat man grinned.
- Good. – he smirked, pleased. – You arrived in record time, boy. This is good. Loyal. And loyal is FUCKING IMPORTANT!!!
He screeched the last words with unexpected lung strength and force of voice and all men, standing around the arm-chair he was currently sitting in, flinched.
There was a definite angry silence now, as his boss was smoking on, and Wen Ning felt the reek get to him, get into his clothes. He weirdly craved to run away from here, right now; yet, something bad was going down, he was now sure of it, and he ventured, suddenly brave:
- Has something happened, sir? Has something bad happened to Mister Jiang?!
His voice betrayed him, as the second question sounded more urgent and desperate than the first, and the poor boy blushed slightly, now shifting his weight from foot to foot awkwardly, staring at his feet.
The older man squinted his eyes at him, and left him without an answer for the longest time. The only sound was the traffic in the street outside. The only smell was the heavy cigar odor that was suffocating everyone, minus the smoker himself.
