Careful

When Fei Huangjin and Guan Ting got to the village, the first thing he did was to check his phone for any network service. There was none.

The villagers were curious of the Chinese men who had arrived; one with a beautiful but cold and stern expression, and the other with a scary scar on one side of his face. Both of them looked fierce and foreign. Whispers traveled amongst the men and women.

Guan Ting didn't feel the least bit uncomfortable that they openly stared at him. He was used to it. The scar on his face made sure that he was always going to be noticed somehow.

His eyes scanned the crowd until he found the man he was looking for. His informant, Ricardo, who often went back and forth to see them, or send messengers to them, while he followed their target at the same time. If Guan Ting and Fei Huangjin did it themselves, they'd attract too much attention together.

Ricardo nodded his head and jutted out his chin to the direction of a nearby hut, silently telling him that they were to talk over there.

"Boss," Guan Ting turned to Fei Huangjin, who was now talking to a couple of kids, asking if any one of them knew what a phone was and where he could get some signal. The kids didn't understand him of course, and they settled with smiling and laughing at him as they replied with some English words. "Boss, let's go."

Fei Huangjin turned to him with an ugly look on his face. He was still in a bad mood for not being able to contact Ying Yue. Would the woman have forgotten him by now?

He followed Guan Ting to the hut, but before he could enter, a woman was pushed to him by the other young female villagers and she collided against him.

"Careful," he frowned.

The young woman blushed. She had seen very few foreign men in her lifetime, and Fei Huangjin was exceptional as he was handsome. She held out a wild flower as a welcoming gesture to their village. "This… this is for you."

Fei Huangjin regarded her coldly, only briefly glancing at the flower she held out before turning to the hut. "I have a wife. Go give it to the other man with me."

The young woman was rendered speechless; and she could only let her jaw drop as she watched him go.

When Fei Huangjin got inside, Guan Ting and Ricardo had already started discussing things. "The man you're looking for is at the outskirts of this village. He's had the locals help in setting up his own hut. He's fluent with the local language, so he doesn't stand out as much as you two do, and the villagers like him," Ricardo remarked.

"Is he alone?" Guan Ting asked.

"Oo[1]. He's alone. But he carries his own firearm and I've seen him use a bolo[2]. He's armed. He looks fit. He might be anticipating a visit from you."

Fei Huangjin and Guan Ting glanced at each other before the former spoke up. "He used to be one of our own. I just want a talk with him. Nothing more."

Ricardo pursed his lips for a moment and then nodded. "Do it peacefully. The villagers don't approve of violence, but when they want to protect their people, they're willing to fight. And he's already been here for about a week, and he's welcomed by the village. The children have even started paying him visits in the morning." He glanced outside the window to look at the sky. Dusk had already come, and the cicadas all started to chirp as the light dimmed. "You can see him in the morning. Night is about to fall, so I suggest you sleep here until then."