René Alejandro was busy befriending everyone present and doing his best to leave a good impression on them while categorizing each person on whether they would be usable to him or not. At the very least, the others were finding his presence more acceptable than Wei Lan who couldn't stop sniping at her ex-husband every chance she got and turning the atmosphere awkward.
It was good that Grandma Li and Huang Yuyan were both present to deter most of her vindictive impulses against Long Tengfei because Iris and Jin Liwei didn't want to bother about her anymore. The husband and wife decided to just ignore the woman instead of letting her pettiness ruin the festive Christmas gathering.
On a more positive note, Wei Lan's antics were quite laughable. If they didn't allow her to annoy them, she was a good source of comedic relief especially when backed up by Randy, her current best friend and sidekick.
Also, Iris appreciated that Wei Lan treated the mother and son, Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun, quite well. The presents brought by Wei Lan, Randy and René Alejandro had just been delivered and arranged underneath the Christmas tree with the other presents. There were a lot especially from Wei Lan. Iris immediately noticed that the majority of the presents from Wei Lan were addressed to Little Jun. Even though the woman was resistant to being called grandma, there was no denying that she doted on the child as if Little Jun was her own grandson. For that alone, Iris was willing to tolerate Wei Lan's presence.
The door opened again and in came Chen Fei. Clover noticed her arrival first and helped her carry the presents she brought. After another round of greetings, Chen Fei looked around with a frown.
"Jinjing and that asshole aren't here yet?"
Those who were far from her didn't hear her words but people with great hearing like Iris and René Alejandro heard her loud and clear.
Iris only sighed and shook her head. Jin Liwei noticed her actions and asked what happened. She whispered to his ear what Chen Fei said. He chuckled as if delighting that Lu Zihao was called an asshole. She smacked his hand and he only laughed harder.
René Alejandro watched all of these from a distance while pretending to listen to Yu Mo's tales. He raised an eyebrow. It seemed that Chen Fei didn't approve of her best friend's relationship with Lu Zihao. He was also intrigued upon seeing such a mischievous expression on Jin Liwei's face, laughing at his youngest best friend like that. This was the first time since René Alejandro arrived that Jin Liwei laughed with ease which was a complete contrast to his usual cold and indifferent countenance. He filed these interesting tidbits to his mental filing cabinet.
While doing so, he noticed that there was another person who wasn't paying attention to Yu Mo. Jin Chonglin was staring at Chen Fei with pursed lips as if annoyed by her presence.
"Why don't you say hello to her?" René Alejandro suggested to him, interrupting Yu Mo. "Isn't she your boss?"
Jin Chonglin's expression turned black. "Che. Who wants to have anything to do with that kind of bossy woman? If not for my generous heart that wants to help my sister-in-law to promote her new beauty company, I wouldn't want to work so closely with such a scary woman. She doesn't care that I'm a superstar at all. All she does is make me work like a horse. Hmph!"
"Huh, what?" Yu Mo was confused.
The two didn't pay him any attention.
René Alejandro chuckled but didn't question Jin Chonglin any further. He knew his limit. He only got to know them today after all. It wasn't wise for him to act too friendly and too close on the get-go lest he aroused their dislike, or worse, their suspicion. For now, his goal was to worm his way into Jin Liwei, and hopefully, Lu Jianhong's close circles as best as he could.
Moments later, another person arrived. It was Wang Yingjie. The man looked tired but didn't forget to greet everyone. Yu Mo dragged René Alejandro and introduced him to the group's second brother. Jin Chonglin trailed after them.
René Alejandro was all smiles as usual, but deep inside, he was taken aback at the doctor's calm but sharp gaze. Wang Yingjie seemed to have a similar cold disposition as Jin Liwei. The only difference was that Jin Liwei's coldness had an innate arrogance from his upbringing as an heir apparent to his family's business empire while Wang Yingjie's coldness was milder yet had deeper profundity. René Alejandro judged Wang Yingjie as a man who had sharp insight, and like him, had talent in deep observation.
His conclusion?
Wang Yingjie was dangerous, not useful to his mission at all, and must be avoided.
The man might not look like it but René Alejandro's instincts were telling him that Wang Yingjie's observational skills and vigilance must be on a high level that might pose harm to his mission. He felt that the doctor was more of a martial artist than the simpleton Yu Mo.
Then he remembered what their research said. According to the dossier they had on Wang Yingjie, the man had a fifth degree black belt in karate and still continued to train during his rare spare time. Now that René Alejandro met Wang Yingjie in person, he knew that the fifth degree black belt wasn't just for show. He even suspected that maybe Wang Yingjie's real abilities and skills had surpassed his current level.
As someone trained in combat arts, René Alejandro was extremely sensitive to anyone who had some sort of training in martial arts or any fighting discipline. From what he could sense just by relying on his combat instincts, Wang Yingjie should be the strongest in the room so far. Jin Liwei was second while Yu Mo was a close third.
Perhaps in terms of technical skills, Yu Mo should be the second as a seasoned Systema practitioner, but René Alejandro could feel a trace of wild power from Jin Liwei. This should be the result of additional training in other unorthodox combat arts.
'I wonder what he's training in and who's giving him this additional training.'
