One hundred eighty-three

The field members of the Dragon Club, including Guan Ting, were at the training grounds. Bars were suspended from the ceiling, and the overhead lights reflected the sweat trickling down from their arms, their foreheads, to their necks, shoulders, and dripping in pools on the ground.

Fei Huangjin was watching all of them with a statuesque face, the coldness radiating off him like the Antarctica wind. "One hundred eighty-one!" He bellowed. He was even more upset when he arrived at the Dragon Club headquarters and had received word from Juyan that the spy they assigned to the case hadn't discovered anything yet. The other shareholders were quiet about what had happened.

The men lifted themselves up over the bar, muscles flexed and pulsating, before letting their bodies hang limply once more. Before that, they were subjected to push-ups, butt-ups, and hitting each other's backs with 2x2 wooden bars. Guan Ting personally didn't find these hard to do, because as designated field men, these were standard exercises they did. But after the first one hundred pull-ups, his body started tiring out.

"One-hundred eighty-two!"

Pull-ups were not meant to be done over a hundred, Guan Ting thought.

"One-hundred eighty-three!" A piercing call broke the intensity of the moment. At first, Fei Huangjin ignored it, thinking it might be from Fei Haocheng or his mother, but the call kept coming through. He sighed, slipping the phone out of his pocket.

The call was from Ying Yue.

He staggered a bit, his sharp eyes widening a bit, and for once that night, the steely look on his face hinted on a bit of color. His lips opened and closed, and then he walked off to the corner to answer the call.

The men hanging on bars looked at each other, not knowing what to do.

"Ying Yue?" His voice came out too eager, so he cleared his throat over the phone. "What is it?"

"Hey." Her voice was soft and alluring, and he felt his chest tighten at the sound.

"Hey."

"I'm sorry about earlier, and thank you for the flowers."

Fei Huangjin's heart immediately softened, and his glacier-like mood immediately melted into a puddle of warmth. Even his voice sounded gentle, which was a far cry from his harsh words and orders to his men just a moment ago. "I don't blame you. It's alright."

Guan Ting was the one nearest Fei Huangjin at that moment, and the silence of the training grounds made it easy for him to hear him from afar. He could hear him sounding like a lost puppy that was just found, and it made Guan Ting cringe incredulously, his face morphing into an ugly expression.

"Are you busy?" Ying Yue purred.

"No, I'm not busy -- it's nothing of great importance."

The statement reached Guan Ting's ears and he could feel his head about to explode. He was hanging on a bar after 183 pull-ups and this was nothing of great importance?

"Why don't you come over? I want to talk to you about something."

A smile threatened to break out from Fei Huangjin's lips. He could practically spell excitement right then and there. "I'll be there right away." He hung up and turned to exit the training grounds.

The coat flowing behind him hit the back of his legs as he abruptly stopped, and he turned to face his men, as if he only just remembered that they were still hanging on the bars, waiting for further orders from him.

They felt like their arms were about to pop out from their sockets any time now.

"All of you are dismissed." He made no room for further discussion and left.

***

Ying Yue sat on her couch, staring at the blue hyacinths on her coffee table as her fingers tapped against her thigh. She wondered if Fei Huangjin would get angry at her that she went off to investigate things on her own.

Maybe she could coax him tonight? Her face warmed up, and a blush crept up as she bit her lip. Dirty thoughts had filtered in her mind and she slapped both cheeks several times to get that out her system.

"Bad Ying Yue. No!"