Guiying looked at him, then at the five men behind him, each one standing with that particular quality of stillness that was not relaxed and not tense but somewhere precisely between the two, then back at Tao Lingyue.
"Why?" he said.
"Mr. Xue did not share his full reasoning with me," Tao Lingyue said. "Only that he hoped you would come."
"He hoped?" Guiying said. "And if I said no?"
"Then we would relay your answer and leave," Tao Lingyue said. "You are under no obligation, Young Master Xue."
Guiying's fingers stayed closed around his bag strap.
His uncle certainly knew how to make an entrance.
Having six burly men escort him as still say he had the option to decline.
Sensible people did not follow strangers anywhere regardless of how cleanly they presented themselves.
"I don't trust you," Guiying said. "My uncle has never reached out to me directly. I have no reason to follow you anywhere."
