“Understood,” Zhao Liangze said. It was obvious that Huo Shaoheng had rescued Gu Yanran, then drifted to one of the islands belonging to the Gu family. As for the masked sniper who kidnapped Gu Yanran, either he was shot, dead, or captured by Huo Shaoheng. There were no other possibilities.
Zhao Liangze and Yin Shixiong admired Huo Shaoheng’s execution during tasks. He never disappointed them.
Huo Shaoheng removed his Bluetooth earpiece and placed it beside the basin. Then he took a quick shower. He intended on wearing his own clothes once he was done. Even though they were drenched, they were still wearable.
Huo Shaoheng came out of the shower wrapped in a towel. He heard someone knock on the door, then Gu Yanran’s voice followed.
“Mr. Huo, I have some of my father’s clothes here. He’s about your height, and all these clothes are brand new. They even have the tags. I’ll put them on your bed. You can wear them after you’re done.” She left after that.
Huo Shaoheng did not respond. After waiting for a moment, he opened the door to take a look. He made sure Gu Yanran had really left and examined the three sets of clothing placed neatly on the bed.
One of them was sky blue, the other light grey, and the last one was a dark olive color. Huo Shaoheng liked the simple colors and designs. He was slightly taken aback by her forethought, but he picked up the clothes and took a closer look. They were all made from a combination of linen and cotton, and their thread counts were high, which made them extremely suitable for a tropical country. The designs were plain and simple but had amazing workmanship. One look and you could tell they were expensive. A second look confirmed that the clothes were still new, with their tags intact. Of course, the price tag had been removed.
After a while, Huo Shaoheng removed his towel and selected the dark olive colored set of clothes. It appeared that Gu Yanran’s father was almost as tall as Huo Shaoheng, but perhaps not as muscular as him. The shoulders were smaller than Huo Shaoheng was comfortable with, but thankfully, the fabric contained lycra, so it was slightly stretchable. It would have looked more casual on a slimmer man, but it accentuated Huo Shaoheng’s muscles and made him look even more masculine. Once he was done changing, Huo Shaoheng came out of the room. He was rather surprised to smell food.
He did not look for the source of the smell but took a tiny device out of his button and moved around in the house. It appeared as if he was only looking at the house’s decor, but he was really testing if the house had any hidden cameras. The members of the Special Forces were trained to do this every time they went to a new location, and it had become an occupational habit. When Yin Shixiong and Zhao Liangze had gone to America with Gu Nianzhi, they’d used the same device to discover hidden cameras in the house they were staying in.
Huo Shaoheng had also tested the bathroom before he showered. He only began his shower after he’d made sure the bathroom had no hidden recording devices. He wasn’t being suspicious. This was merely a habit. Huo Shaoheng walked around the house, but the device showed nothing out of the ordinary.
Looks like this is really just a normal holiday villa with no hidden devices, Huo Shaoheng thought. He turned and walked to the bedroom and placed the device back into his button. Then, he picked up his seawater-soaked clothes and walked into the kitchen to speak to Gu Yanran, who was busy cooking.
“Miss Gu, do you have a washing machine and a dryer here?”
Gu Yanran wore a mustard yellow apron and was about to open the pot and give the soup a taste when she heard Huo Shaoheng’s voice from behind her. She turned and was taken aback to see a tall, muscular, handsome man walk into the kitchen. His features were even more handsome than a Greek sculpture. His face was expressionless, but there was no coldness in his gaze. He walked over calmly. His eyes looking like stars in the night sky, able to drown anyone who looked into them…
Gu Yanran’s heart skipped a beat, and she suddenly became nervous. She felt her cheeks turn red, and she knew she was blushing furiously. It reminded her of the time she’d had a fever as a child. Her mother had been worried and stayed awake the entire night to take care of her. She would place her cheek against Gu Yanran’s to test for the change in her temperature.
She felt the same way now, like she was running a high fever.
“Yes, we do have a washer and dryer. They’re in the garage there. Just place your clothes in the basket, Mr. Huo. I’ll wash them for you.” Gu Yanran turned away and pointed at the laundry room.
Huo Shaoheng walked over and noticed her face that was unusually red. “Are you feeling well?” He asked.
Gu Yanran lowered her face and shook her head. “Yes. I’m just feeling warm because I’m making soup.”
Then she moved over to show Huo Shaoheng two pots of soup.
Huo Shaoheng smiled. “Sorry to trouble you, Miss Gu, but I don’t eat soup. You can have them for yourself. You’ve gone through a great trauma today. The soup will give you your strength back.” He looked around the kitchen then left.
He never ate anything others cooked, much less at a place like this. Huo Shaoheng’s job had trained him to be careful about every little thing.
Taking risks was part of his job, but he never took unnecessary risks.
Gu Yanran did not expect him to not eat the soup and felt disappointed. “Mr. Huo, are you worried this soup isn’t safe to eat? I can eat it first to show you.”
She took a small bowl of creamy white soup, lowered her gaze, and used the tip of her tongue to test the temperature. Then she sipped all the soup gracefully. She raised her head and smacked her lips.
“See? It’s safe.” Gu Yanran said carefully and looked at the sky outside the kitchen. “It’s raining cats and dogs out there, and the temperature will drop soon. It’ll be better for you to have some soup to keep you warm. I’ve added ginger powder. That’ll warm you up as well.”
She turned around and stirred the soup. “My little sister had a weak stomach when she was a child, and she was a fussy eater. Mom and Dad doted on her, but I doted on her even more. I wanted her to be exposed to more food types, so I learned a lot of herbal recipes from famous Chines physicians, just because of her fussiness.”
Huo Shaoheng stopped in his tracks briefly and said, “oh?”
Then he left the kitchen. Gu Yanran waited for a while. She turned around when she felt that there was no one in the kitchen and saw the door to the kitchen was open, but Huo Shaoheng wasn’t there.
It’s pouring. Where did he go? Oh lord, please don’t leave, Gu Yanran began to panic. The island belonged to the Gu family, and she knew it better than anyone. In order to preserve the natural feel of the land, her parents had insisted on only building one villa on the south side of the island. The rest of the island remained untouched. There were animals, poisonous snakes, crocodiles, and Komodo dragons on the land.
Gu Yanran went pale. He removed her apron, put on a poncho, grabbed a torch used for camping, and went into the rain.
“Mr. Huo? Mr. Huo? Mr. Huo?”
Gu Yanran called out for Huo Shaoheng in between sobs, but all she heard was the rain. It drowned out even the echoes of her voice.
At that moment, Huo Shaoheng was walking amongst the coconut plantation. He was wearing a poncho and a pair of rubber boots from the garage of the villa. Looking up, he saw fresh coconuts high up on the coconut tree. Gulping, he realized that he was actually thirsty.
He would not touch anything in the villa, but wild coconuts were natural sources of water. There was also plenty of edible fruit growing in the jungle like bananas, passion fruits, jackfruits, custard apples, and durians. It truly was a tropical island.
Huo Shaoheng threw some stones at the coconut tree, and a couple of huge coconuts fell onto the ground. He picked up a coconut and hit it against a rock. The husk cracked, revealing the flesh and water inside. Huo Shaoheng began drinking from the coconut. Only after drinking from the third coconut, each one the size of a basketball, did Huo Shaoheng feel his was finally quenched.
…
Holding the torchlight in one hand and a poncho in the other, Gu Yanran moved slowly through the muddy grounds, hoarse from all the shouting. She walked until she saw a tall figure emerging from the forest, parting the branches as he moved.
It was Huo Shaoheng in a poncho. He had an entire string of fruit in one hand and a huge snake, its body the thickness of a mug, in the other.
Gu Yanran was shocked.
“Be careful, Mr. Huo! That snake is poisonous!”
“No worries. I’ve already removed its teeth and eaten its gall. We’ll have snake soup when we get back.” Huo Shaoheng threw the snake to Gu Yanran. “Miss Gu, do you know how to make snake soup?”
Gu Yanran screamed and moved back. Trembling, she stammered, “Mr. Huo, I- I- I have no idea how to make snake soup.”
Huo Shaoheng shook his head. “I’ll do the cooking then. I’ll borrow your kitchen, Miss Gu.”
“No- No problem.” Gu Yanran entered the kitchen nervously behind Huo Shaoheng.
Using a Swiss army knife, Huo Shaoheng skillfully skinned, washed, and chopped the snake up. Then, he threw the nicely chopped snake pieces into a pot of boiling water. After that, he added some coconut water, salt, and some unknown herbs for taste.
Upon seeing the snake being chopped up into pieces, Gu Yanran did not feel afraid anymore. Moving towards the kitchen, she peeked into the pot of creamy white stew containing snake meat. Taking a deep breath, she couldn’t help but say, “it smells so good! Mr. Huo, I didn’t expect you to be able to cook so well!”
