Hearing this, Shen Yi patted her partner's head, the corners of her mouth curling into a faint, barely noticeable smirk of schadenfreude:
"You said it."
"Yeah," Iris pinched her face, puzzled. "What are you laughing at?"
This banquet was a social arena for adults, where every clinking glass and exchanged pleasantry had its price and purpose.
But for those outside the vanity fair, there was only one mission here: to eat and drink.
As the banquet entered its final stages, Shen Yi slipped away early.
Holding Iris by the hand, she navigated through the side hall corridors to the dressing room, intending to change out of their cumbersome clothes first.
She pushed open the door to the walk-in closet.
Unlike Sophia's ocean of pink, Shen Yi's closet was a domain of elegant aesthetics.
From light apricot to deep burgundy, from satin to velvet, dresses were neatly arranged by color gradient and material, packing the entire room to the brim.
Iris raised an eyebrow slightly, her fingers brushing against a dusty blue evening gown. "You really betrayed our peasant class quite thoroughly."
In all fairness.
The dresses here were all exquisite and elegant, whether they were evening gowns or other styles.
But in the end, the two pragmatic assassins chose to change back into normal earthly clothes.
Simple T-shirts and trousers, leaving the puffy skirts and little tiaras behind in the closet.
The comfortable clothing made both of them relax in unison. They sat down on the chairs, successfully avoiding the social aftershocks of the dispersing crowd outside.
The farewell pleasantries at a banquet were often longer than the opening ones, and Shen Yi had no desire to go back and endure a second round of baptism.
She looked down at her phone, timing the progress of the crowd's departure.
...
After Old Mr. Shen and his entourage went to the negotiation room chatting and laughing, many perceptive guests tactfully found excuses to leave one after another.
This time, the two timed their return perfectly.
The guests had just dispersed, leaving only the waiters shuttling back and forth to clean up the hall. The lingering scent of wine and flowers mingled in the air, refusing to fade.
Shen Yi led Iris in through the side door.
Her gaze landed on Shen Sigui, who had just hurried back from outside, looking travel-worn.
She paused her steps and shot him a quick glance.
Recalling her previous heroic feat of pulling his hair, Shen Yi pretended nothing happened, and the young girl greeted him cheerfully, "Good evening, Uncle."
Iris peeked out from behind her friend, finally laying eyes on the uncle Shen Yi had mentioned.
But after a careful look, apart from being quite handsome, she didn't see anything special about him.
Her perception of people was simple and direct.
Only those who made her feel threatened were worth noting.
And this guy in front of her...
She felt like if this man met a random dog on the street, it would be a life-or-death struggle for him.
So weak.
"Good evening, Xiaoyi," Shen Sigui's brows relaxed, his voice peaceful, carrying the good temper of an elder who hadn't shown up in a while.
After responding to Shen Yi's greeting, he casually glanced at Iris. His previously gentle gaze switched to the pure scrutiny of a boss examining a subordinate.
Shen Sigui had a rather deep impression of this assassin.
As for why it was deep.
Naturally, it couldn't be a good impression.
Shen Yi, Wisteria, and Iris—when these three got together, they produced a bizarre chemical reaction.
Or rather, a bizarre nuclear reaction.
These three masterminds had even made it onto the trending searches last year.
The title was: The Three Idiots Wreak Havoc at an Engagement Banquet.
Initially, when someone sent him the trending video, Shen Sigui wondered why they were showing him this.
Upon clicking it, he saw his niece, sporting her little curly hair, walking with a swagger as she led the group at the very front.
Bodyguards, security personnel—not a single one could withstand her second move.
The root cause was that Wisteria had dated a rich second-generation heir and gotten cheated on.
The three straightforward little assassins, who together couldn't scrape up a single complete brain, hit it off instantly and teamed up to crash the engagement banquet and beat up the groom.
They had their moment of glory, leaving him alone to have people suppress the trending searches and remove the hashtags.
Ever since Shen Yi joined his organization, Shen Sigui had been living an increasingly "invigorating" life.
Seeing Shen Yi and Iris together again out of the blue made Shen Sigui's temples throb slightly.
He somewhat regretted assigning them a mission together.
"Iris, Wisteria, and you—" The man smiled politely, looking at Shen Yi. He paused for a moment, weighing his words, and chose a somewhat harsh term: "You little brat."
"The three of you, try not to hang out together when you have nothing to do."
The man bent down and, with an unusually cordial and kind tone, laid out a future career plan for his two young subordinates:
"Promise me, in the future, you'll spend more time killing people and less time being yourselves, okay? Hmm?"
"..." Shen Yi, who had been called a little brat, replied obediently: "Oh."
Setting aside his identity as her uncle, she respected her profession very much.
When Shen Sigui used his authority as her boss to pressure her, Shen Yi would obediently lie down like a fluffy animal and offer no resistance.
After all, arguing with the boss was an easy way to lose one's perfect attendance bonus.
But Iris was at an age of fearlessness. The young girl raised her chin, confused, and spoke aggressively: "Who are you and how do you know our codenames? Why should we promise you anything? You're an old brat yourself."
Shen Yi's downcast eyes shot up at this moment, widening in silent astonishment.
Was her good partner actually this brave?
Shen Sigui gave Iris a peculiar look.
Fortunately, he was a very tolerant boss and had no intention of firing anyone, especially an underage little girl.
So—
"Assassin 103 of the Ninth Group, codename, Iris."
He slowly called out her codename, group, and serial number, his tone cold:
"Your year-end bonus is gone."
Iris: "."
"What?"
She was a bit dazed by this unconventional rhetorical strike.
"What do you mean?"
Shen Sigui clearly had no intention of explaining. He walked past the two of them without breaking his stride.
His social quota for the day had already been severely exceeded.
Merely showing up at this banquet was the greatest sincerity he could offer his family.
Shen Yi watched her uncle's back as he walked away, then turned to look at her dumbstruck partner, hurriedly poking her frozen friend:
"Idiot, do you really not know him?"
Iris slowly turned her head to look at her. Her intuition finally caught up with her at this moment. She licked her lips lightly, her voice two pitches lower than usual:
"Should... should I know him?"
She spoke these words so cautiously that she seemed like a completely different person from just a moment ago.
Shen Yi placed her hands on Iris's shoulders, frustrated by her failure to meet expectations, and began to shake her, matching each shake with an emphasis:
"He is your boss!"
A shake.
"The one who gave you a bite to eat when you were at your hungriest—"
Another shake.
"—boss."
As that word fell,
The blank look on Iris's face persisted for another half a second.
"Are you really not lying to me?" Iris still clung to a faint glimmer of hope, pointing back and forth. "You two—are uncle and niece?"
"He's my boss?"
Shen Yi, with her hands still on her shoulders, told her with absolute certainty:
"Yes."
Just one word.
It thoroughly pronounced her death sentence.
