Chapitre 44: The Lion's Herd
Back at Hotel W, after a few minutes at the counter with the night receptionist, Kavi, Han Ye finally got the procedure done.
"If there's anything else you need, please let me know, Mr. Han. Have a good night!" the North Indian immigrant said with a smile on her face as she bowed respectfully at him.
"Thanks, Kavi. Good job as always," Han Ye said with a wink as he took out three crisp $100 bills and handed it to her. "Your youngest son just turned 5, didn't he? Why don't you get something nice for him? And take your boys out for a good night out as well."
The woman's eyes had tears in them as she smiled brightly and bowed at him again. "Thank you, Mr. Han. I really appreciate this."
Even though compared to his boss, Han Ye was much friendlier in appearance, but he still maintained a professional attitude and kept a distance away from his colleagues as well as the people he met professionally.
However, Kavi had been working here for almost as long as he had been working for DX, and over the last few years, because of Kai Xin's frequent visit to Hotel W, Han Ye and Kavi had more of a friend-friend relationship rather than a pure receptionist-client relationship.
He knew that she was having a hard time, given that her husband passed away recently, leaving only her and their two sons. Other than her husband's family, Kavi did not have any other families here and the last time he talked to her, she had been saving up her money to bring her sons back to her hometown for a visit.
"That's a lot of money…" Xiao Lei murmured when they were in the lift.
Han Ye chuckled. "Ms. Xiao Lei, she…"
"Just Xiao Lei!"
"Alright then. Ms… I mean, Xiao Lei, Kavi is a long-time employee at Hotel W, and she deserves that tip…"
A lightbulb went off in Xiao Lei's head and she asked sheepishly. "If I can't get pregnant, can I get a job here?"
Han Ye chuckled but he did not say anything else. Once they got to the family suite, Han Ye carried Xiao Lei's bags into one of the rooms. When he placed the bag down on the couch in the room, he then asked, "Are you sure you still want whatever food you kept in this bag?"
Xiao Lei looked at her food-filled bag and sighed. "I'll deal with it…"
"There's some food in the kitchen. Don't worry. From now on, you won't have to worry about food."
Xiao Lei nodded as she murmured, "Alright…"
Telling someone, who had gone without food for days on end before, that she did not need to worry about food would not make her stop worrying about not having anything to eat.
Xiao Lei could still remember those days when she would look at the food in the stray dogs' mouth. At that time, the economy was suffering from a downturn, and most people were so busy trying to save their business and provide for their family that they barely had money left to help a little starving kid like her.
At most, they would give her scraps.
At first, before she started stealing, Xiao Lei still had her little princess behavior, and she would refuse to eat leftover. However, as time passed by, and as she got hungrier, she would just eat everything.
Back then, she got so hungry after several days of going without food that she even considered eating a rat. Of course, she never did, but that memory was forever etched in her mind. That day was the day she dropped all her ego and dignity and started stealing for her survival.
Looking at Xiao Lei's complicated expression, Han Ye asked softly, "Are you hurt anywhere? From earlier, I mean."
"Erm… Yeah, actually now that you mention it…" Xiao Lei raised her shirt slightly and bent over to check on her wounds. She had been so worried about everything earlier that she forgot to check herself.
The place where she received a kick from the man earlier was now covered by a big, ugly bruise.
When she lifted her shirt, Han Ye immediately closed his eyes and turned away.
"W-What are you doing?" he stammered.
Xiao Lei was confused by his behavior. Even though she was born rich, she was so used to living among guys that she did not hesitate to lift her shirt. Furthermore, since she spent most of her teenage years with a lot of prostitutes and escorts, her ideas of what was right to wear and do might have been slightly warped.
Besides, to her, it was not as if she was showing him her boobs. It was only her stomach.
"You asked if I'm hurt. I'm showing it to you…" she said with a frown.
Han Ye took a deep breath to calm himself down before turning around to face her again. When he saw the huge dark purple bruise on her stomach, he winced involuntarily. As a gentleman and as someone who had been through his experience, he did not like to see any kind of injury on a woman.
He then knelt on one knee in front of her as he checked on her bruise. He wanted to make sure that those were just bruises and nothing more serious.
After he was confident that she did not suffer from any serious injury, he stood up and pulled her shirt down to cover her stomach before he asked, "You said that there were two men who came after you?"
"Yeah. Two of the ugliest men I know," Xiao Lei said with a pout as if she were expecting someone better looking to come looking for her. Now that she was safe, she found that the fact that Murong Yu would send two ugly men over annoyed her more than the fact that he found her.
"How did you escape?" Han Ye asked as he signaled for her to sit down on the bed.
"I got lucky and ran out when they didn't notice me."
"With your bags?" He could tell that she was lying right away and did not bother to pretend otherwise.
When Xiao Lei bit down on her lower lip and stopped speaking, Han Ye sighed and said in a serious tone, "Xiao Lei, we can't protect you if you keep hiding things from us…"
Xiao Lei knew his reasoning, and she lowered her head in shame. With an embarrassed expression, she said meekly, "I used to be in gangs… I can fight… pretty well."
"Which gang?"
"A few…"
"And the men who came after you were from?"
"City of Xibei. The Lion's Herd."
Upon hearing the name, Han Ye frowned. "The Lion's Herd… That's a pretty big group. You said the person who chased you is named Murong Yu. Isn't that the main head's name?"
Xiao Lei looked up at Han Ye with her eyes wide open. "He's the head now? He was just one of the leaders the last time I saw him…"
"According to rumors, he killed the last head and took over the leadership of the group."
Xiao Lei hissed when she heard that. She knew that Murong Yu was ambitious, but for him to kill off the man who raised him, she wondered if it was because of what she did to him.
L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS 
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LuoYeYouLing *author looks out the window*
"Ah, is that a new patron today?" thought Luo Ye with hope.
...
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Luo Ye
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