Iris checked on the twins and left them to her mother-in-law and Grandpa Lu. Then she headed to the training grounds.
According to Bacon, her big brother was there supervising the security teams in their daily drills.
To her surprise, her husband was there, too.
"What's happening?" she asked the person nearest her.
"Young Madam," the man greeted. He was a Shadow Winds member stationed at Dragon Palace Home #10. "Sir Jin asked Boss Hao for pointers in close combat."
"I see. Thank you."
"You're welcome, Young Madam."
Iris found a seat that had a nice view of the spot where her husband and big brother were sparring. The others gave way to her. Someone even got her a can of coconut juice.
"Young Madam, would you like some popcorn?"
She chuckled but shook her head. "Thank you, everyone. No need to mind me. Please continue with your training. Your Boss Hao will punish you if he sees you slacking off."
There was no need for her to say anything more. Everyone scuttled back to their own training.
Even the original members of Dragon Palace Home #10's security team followed suit despite the fact that Lu Zihao wasn't their official employer. Ever since they began following Shadow Winds' training regimen personally devised by Lu Zihao, all of them had noticed a significant improvement in their physiques, mental states, and most importantly, their skills.
Iris opened the can of coconut water and began sipping it while watching the spar between her husband and big brother. It wasn't really a complete spar but more about Lu Zihao giving Jin Liwei practical training.
Jin Liwei was trained in orthodox karate. He was quite skilled in it and even had a third-degree black belt. He would have advanced even more if he hadn't been so busy running Jin Corporation.
Despite this, his orthodox training proved to have limited his battle instincts during real combat. There were no rules when fighting during a life and death situation.
Would ethics and sportsmanship save a person's life from a murderer?
Of course not.
Now that there were so many dangers crouching in the dark around his family, Jin Liwei couldn't sit still. He wanted to become stronger. No, he "needed" to be stronger in order to protect his family.
The best person that he could think of to ask for effective pointers was his brother-in-law. Lu Zihao—Nikolai Vetrov in his past life—was a grandmaster in the combat arts.
Unlike his sister Evelina Vetrova who specialized in defensive Systema, Nikolai was trained to kill using many different methods including in close combat.
Jin Liwei wouldn't go as far as asking his brother-in-law to teach him how to kill someone but it would be good for him to learn additional techniques outside of orthodox karate to defeat opponents, and most importantly, to survive the fight with his whole body intact.
The spar went on for another half an hour. By the end of it, Jin Liwei was a rather pitiful sight. He had been choked, forced into submission, and thrown on the ground more times than he could count.
Although he knew that Lu Zihao had been holding his strength back, his brother-in-law's strikes on his body still hurt like a motherfucker. In spite of it all, Jin Liwei didn't complain even once. He was the one who asked for it after all.
Lu Zihao helped him up from the ground. "Your training in karate gave you a solid foundation which is good. Your body is also in great condition. What you need to focus more on is honing your battle reflexes."
"Got…it," Jin Liwei replied while struggling to catch his breath.
"I'll be staying here most of the time until Jinjing gives birth so I can personally supervise your progress. When I'm not here, my subordinates will help guide you."
Jin Liwei nodded and wiped the sweat off his brow.
Lu Zihao grunted.
The brothers-in-law turned and saw Iris. Actually, they already noticed her as soon as she arrived earlier. Jin Liwei wanted to pause the spar and greet his wife but Lu Zihao directly threw him on the ground and grabbed him in a chokehold.
Iris handed each of the two men a bottle of water. Then she handed her brother a towel before proceeding to wipe Jin Liwei's sweaty body with another towel.
Jin Liwei leaned down and gave her a quick, hard kiss on the mouth. Lu Zihao scowled at the sight but didn't say anything. He just avoided looking at their PDA and chugged his water.
Iris touched the red spots on her husband's body. They would surely turn into ugly bruises tomorrow. Her heart ached for him.
"Do you really need to do this?"
"En."
She pursed her lips before sighing in resignation. Since her husband was determined to train this hard, then she could only support him.
"Just make sure not to hurt yourself too badly," she told him. "You're a father now. I need you to raise our children together."
His gaze on her softened. "En. I know, love."
Lu Zihao clicked his tongue before leaving them to head to the shower room.
"Big Brother," Iris called after him. "Meet us after you shower. I have something important to tell you."
He raised an eyebrow but still grunted an assent.
"You shower too, darling," she told her husband next.
"En. Wait for me."
Later, the three of them assembled in the home office.
Iris showed Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao the latest results of her investigation on Tian Kong.
Lu Zihao's expression turned ugly. A malevolent aura emanated from him.
Jin Liwei glanced at him before asking his wife, "What's this Alcatraz Organización? It sounds familiar but I'm not sure where I've heard it before."
Lu Zihao answered him before Iris could. "They're the biggest crime syndicate in Latin America, second only to the Vetrovs in the international underworld."
"Yes, I remember now," Jin Liwei murmured. "I've watched some documentaries about them when I was still studying in Boston. I think that there was a popular crime TV show back then based on them. Some of my friends were huge fans of the show."
Lu Zihao snorted.
"Were they and the Vetrovs enemies?" Jin Liwei asked next.
"What do you think?" Lu Zihao shot back.
