Finding Xie Lin

[I saw you last night.]

Xie Yi's fingers quivered, her eyes bloodshot as she scanned the rest of the letter.

[Come find me this afternoon. If not, you know the consequences. – Xie Lin]

The letter crumpled under Xie Yi's tightened fists. Xie Lin… just who was this person? 

She resolved to find her answer from Xiao Jun.

"Xie Lin? Why are you asking for him?"

In the cafeteria, Xiao Jun raised his eyebrows, seemingly unhappy at the sudden inquiry. Seated beside him, Zhang Mo's face didn't look well either when he heard her mentioning the name.

"There's something that I need from him." Xie Yi vaguely said, not wanting to pull the two into this mess and complicate things.

However, Xiao Jun seemed to be dissatisfied by her curt reply.

"And what that might be?" He persistently insisted, only realizing that he seemed to have crossed the line when Xie Yi shot him a questioning stare.

Xiao Jun finally relented, but not before warning Xie Yi with a serious tone.

"Xie Lin is a 4th-ranked wind ability user. That man… isn't a good person. You should be extra careful if he were to approach you."

Xie Yi frowned, deep in thought. If this Xie Lin turned out to be as bad as Xiao Jun told him to be, wouldn't it be too risky to let her secret fall in the hands of someone like him?

Unbeknownst to the two, it was at that moment that a dangerous decision materialized in Xie Yi's mind. As she had expected– this man couldn't be remained!

She once again turned her eyes to Xiao Jun. "Alright, I'll keep your words in mind. Where can I find this Xie Lin?"

Xiao Jun sighed when he saw her determination. Knowing that he couldn't stop her from meeting the man, he told her with a shrug, "Go to the right wing and ask from the Xie members there, they should be able to tell you where he stays."

"Thank you for telling me, Brother Jun." Xie Yi flashed him a grateful smile and Xiao Jun merely shook his head, not saying anything else.

"Xie Yi, I'll contact you once there's news from the Trade Centre." Zhang Mo quickly added when he saw Xie Yi readying herself to leave.

"En. Sorry for bothering you, Brother Mo." Xie Yi nodded.

"No worries."

***

After exchanging numbers with Zhang Mo and Xiao Jun, Xie Yi straight out headed to the Xie residence's right wing to search for Xie Lin. It was only now that she recalled the insides of the residence.

Broadly speaking, the Xie residence was divided into three main parts, the right wing where Xie-named members dwell, the left wing where Auntie Zhang and the other non-Xie members live, and the training grounds that was placed in between the two wings, taking a little more than a third of the whole space combined.

Although Auntie Zhang had briefly spoken about this topic before, she didn't heed much to the older woman's words as Xie Yi herself had her room prepared in the left wing.

The Xie residence was vast and the distance between the right and left wing was quite far. After walking for quite a while, Xie Yi finally arrived at her destination.

Along the way, she noticed that unlike the left wing members who mostly wore blue training outfits, the Xie clan members were cladded with clothes of different materials and colors, each one brighter and looking more extravagant than the others.

Xie Yi did wonder if it was a matter of discipline or something else.

Looking at the stream of busy people passing by, Xie Yi stopped a random woman to ask her about Xie Lin.

"Are you certain that you're searching for Brother Lin?"

The woman asked Xie Yi in an abnormally high pitch as if she was astounded by the fact that a girl would come to seek for that 'Xie Lin', eyes moving to examine the girl from head to toe in an exaggerated manner.

"Brother Lin isn't in a good mood recently, you better not disturb him lest you get yourself into trouble."

"En, I get it. Thank you for your advice, Big Sister. But, can you bring me to Xie Lin? There's something that I really need from him." Xie Yi softly said, looking all meek and obedient.

Suddenly, as if she was reminded of something, she rummaged through her pockets and pulled out a couple of bills, before stuffing them to the woman's hand.

'This will probably work, right?' Xie Yi sheepishly thought.

Staring at the messily folded bills in her hands, the woman almost burst out laughing. She shook her head whilst sighing. "Forget it, don't blame me for not warning you then."

The woman grasped Xie Yi's hand as she turned her head around to search for someone, before shouting out loud when her eyes locked onto her target. "Xie Mu, come here!"

The woman then amicably smiled at Xie Yi and introduced herself, "My name is Xie Mei and that's my cousin Xie Mu. He'll bring you to Xie Lin for free and thus, don't even think of bribing him with money! He's very sensitive to these kinds of things."

Xie Mei winked, embracing Xie Yi's shoulders before she patted her back and pushed her towards Xie Mu's direction.

"Now, there you go."

"Oh, right! My bad. I almost forgot, who are you to Xie Lin by the way?" Xie Mei suddenly pulled Xie Yi's hand to stop her. After all, she didn't want to get into trouble with Xie Lin for bringing him someone she shouldn't.

"Me?" Xie Yi paused for a while, before replying in an honest manner, "I'm here to take his life."

Xie Yi instantly regretted when those words just so naturally rolled out of her tongue.

Meanwhile, Xie Mei: "..."

"Oh, never mind then."

'Blame me for thinking that the iron is finally becoming a steel.'