Chapter 166: Re-employment

Ji Xingjian was a businessman and did not have the habit of doing good deeds anonymously.

Not mentioning it previously was because they had been through those events, and he figured they needed some time to settle their emotions.

Now that they had calmed down, it was time for him to lay his cards on the table.

Mo Fei glanced at his mobile phone balance.

The payment for the movie Xiao Qian—the one Ji Xingjian had recommended him for—was still resting securely in his account.

That seven-figure balance was nothing short of delightful.

"Shouldn't things between us be cleared and settled by this point?" His expression was quite gentle as he looked at the digits.

Lü Chunqiu thought to herself that he had probably never looked at a single beauty with such gentleness.

"A favor debt is a favor debt; once you pay off the debt, the favor still lingers," Lü Chunqiu said, though she didn't quite believe it herself. "Actually, I feel like he already paid off that favor beforehand."

Back then, they had been desperately short of money and resources. The moment Ji Xingjian made a recommendation, both funds and resources arrived in abundance. What more could they possibly ask for?

"Then let's just consider it a favor to little Ji," Mo Fei said, frowning in thought.

If that was the case, they certainly owed the other party a heavy debt.

Although he didn't know the market rate for mercenaries, he could easily guess that it wouldn't come cheap—probably costing at least hundreds of thousands, if not millions.

Mo Fei suggested, "Should we bring some gifts to visit him during the New Year?"

"I don't think he needs them," Lü Chunqiu said with a subtle smile.

It was the kind of smile one makes when knowing one isn't particularly welcome, yet feeling helpless, indifferent, and slightly amused all at once.

"Perhaps he'd even prefer us to stay as far away from him as possible. I'll just send him a text message to say thank you, and you shouldn't get involved."

If Ji Xingjian had heard Lü Chunqiu's words, he undoubtedly would have agreed that this young woman was quite smart.

A man who made or lost millions in a split second hated being disturbed the most.

Mo Fei deferred to her judgment and obediently nodded.

The exterior scenes they had shot primarily involved Ah Shui undercover under the command of Ten-Faced Buddha, as well as gang warfare and negotiation sequences.

Upon returning to the film studio, the production center shifted its focus mainly to Ah Shui's storyline.

Most of these involved Ah Shui's daily routine, along with events following the arrest and interrogation of Ten-Faced Buddha.

When the handcuffs were snapped onto his wrists, Mo Fei wore a complicated expression.

When he had first drawn those cards, he had been scammed so badly that his face was metaphorically covered in blood, and he had lived in constant dread of being locked up and thrown into a police station.

Now, look at him: outside of filming, he cooperated with law enforcement to earn bonuses; inside of filming, he broke the law and discipline to sit in a heavy prison cell.

Very well, very reasonable.

Director Wang tested the camera angle and asked Mo Fei if he knew how to smoke.

It seemed that prisoners, handcuffs, and cigars were the standard accessories for big bosses.

Mo Fei didn't smoke, but he was willing to try.

Having never experienced what smoking felt like before, he lit one up and took a drag. Before the smoke even reached his lungs, it felt as though his entire mouth had been pasted over with some sticky substance.

He spat repeatedly in disgust.

In previous scenes, the cigars had been mere props; all he had to do was hold a mouthful of smoke, puff twice, and exhale a thin wisp.

As for cigarette props, the crew hadn't prepared any for this immediate scene.

Wu Miao handed him a bottle of water with a sympathetic look. "Uncomfortable, right? I felt terrible the first time I tried this too."

At the time, he had wondered who on earth could possibly enjoy smoking so much.

The handcuffs still hung from Mo Fei's wrists, clinking rhythmically as he moved.

He took a large gulp of water, finally washing away a bit of that bizarre taste.

"I feel like this stuff is just like cilantro; the people who like it adore it to pieces, and if you can't take it, you simply can't." Mo Fei breathed a sigh of relief. "Let me give it one more try."

He took another drag, attempting to expel the smoke through his nose, but ended up choking himself half to death and coughing violently, his eyes turning red.

Director Wang observed this state, slapped his thigh, and declared, "Stop trying, let's go with this!"

Ten-Faced Buddha, accustomed to fine cigars, wouldn't be used to cheap cigarettes. Being choked into coughing by inferior tobacco actually suited his current status as a prisoner awaiting trial even better.

Once Mo Fei finished coughing, he raised a hand and made an OK sign.

Whoever is the director gets the final say.

Once today's filming wrapped up, according to the schedule, the upcoming scenes would mostly feature Wu Miao, leaving Mo Fei with a stretch of free time.

However, despite being free, he couldn't wander off recklessly.

It would be troublesome if Director Wang decided to add a sudden scene and couldn't find him.

His thoughts drifted to Officer Xiao Xu, who had been carried off the ship alongside him back then.

Both of them had been extremely busy lately, and he hadn't found the time to ask how the other man was recovering.

Now that things had eased up a bit, he sent a greeting message.

Unless something urgent came up, Officer Xiao Xu generally replied quite quickly.

True to form, barely ten minutes later, a reply came through.

More than five months had passed since the medical ship docked, and the necessary business on their end was practically concluded.

All personnel had evacuated from Northern Myanmar, leaving that region entirely to its internal civil wars—something the domestic side would only monitor without intervening.

As for Bai Yingxiong, he had been captured as well, but the judicial trial process was lengthy and would likely drag on for a few years.

The border lines had been thoroughly reinforced and reorganized.

Da Fei's lounge had been shut down directly, and he hadn't managed to escape either; his sentencing would surely proceed much faster than Bai Yingxiong's.

The two chatted for a while, both lamenting how precious and rare domestic peace truly was.

Strictly speaking, though, that peace hadn't been around for all that long—less than a century had passed since the final war ended.

Figuring that they were now companions who had shared life-and-death trials, Mo Fei simply sent a message inviting Officer Xiao Xu out for a late-night snack.

The moment the message was sent, however, a wave of regret washed over him.

People always had those occasional moments when a rush of blood to the head led to an impulsive invitation, only to regret it the very next second.

He quickly added a follow-up line: If it's inconvenient, never mind, we can meet up another time instead.

Officer Xiao Xu's end showed the "typing..." indicator flickering for a moment before a message was finally sent: That's fine too. I still have some matters to attend to recently, so let's plan for another time.

Mo Fei let out a breath. Close call, close call.

Next time, he really needed to use his brain before acting instead of running his mouth just because the other person was a good guy.

Mo Fei switched off his phone and buried his face in the pillow.

Looking back now, the events in Yuncheng still felt like a surreal dream.

Having lived in an era of peace for too long, it always felt like those storms of blood and steel only existed in movie plots. Had he not witnessed that chaos with his own eyes, even if he managed to portray Ten-Faced Buddha, he probably wouldn't have been able to project that genuine aura.

It was a very subtle sensation.

In Old Deng's words, it was the feeling of treating human lives as worthless and holding everything in absolute contempt.

If one purposely tried to act it out, it was easy to overdo it. But after completing that journey on the medical ship, Mo Fei discovered that he had gradually developed a tolerance for bloody and cruel imagery.

Where he might once have felt fear or pity, he now watched such things with complete emotional indifference.

He felt as though he was on the verge of turning into a psychopath, and once he had some free time, he really needed to have a good chat with Officer Xiao Xu to straighten out this fine sapling of a citizen.

Otherwise, what would he do if he met Old Tang in the future and couldn't even stand up straight with pride?

Elsewhere, Officer Xiao Xu stood in front of a barbecue stall, holding his phone with a somewhat complicated expression as he watched the woman busy at work by the grill.

Five months had already passed; he never expected that his next encounter with her would take place in such a setting.

"What would you like to order, Boss?" Lin Li asked, glancing up as she greeted him, before freezing the moment she recognized him.