The Royal Marriage

Apartment

(LAO)

Chong took me to the heart of the busy industrial district of Beijing where factories are abundant, the market is close by and the sound of the train trudging along the railway can be heard every fifteen minutes.

The bike, Angel, stopped in front of an old brick building. It's four storey high with metal and steel walls surrounding the whole first floor and the gate opening by a click of a little remote on Chong's possession.

"What is this place?" I asked Chong as he manuevered the bike to enter the quite dark premise.

"My place." Chong replied easily. He secured the bike on the gravel ground before helping me to get down.

The door of the building is metal that slides easily when Chong entered a passcode on the security panel.

When we got inside, I was suprised to find a huge empty lot.

"What?" I turned to Chong. "It's empty. Why is it empty?"

"Oh...this. We sometimes use this place as a warehouse." Chong replied while we stand together by the door.

"Warehouse...of smuggled goods?" I frowned at the empty, literally just floor and four walls, place.

"Uhm...some..." Chong's tone held hesitation. I stared at him. He met my gaze with uneasy ones, "Do you really want to know...everything?"

I sighed, "Will it make me an accomplice to a crime if I know?"

Chong nodded. "Several crimes." He clarified.

"Then I don't want to know," what he said made the decision easy for me.

"Good!" Chong gave me a big relieved smile as he clapped his hands. "Then this way please, kind Sir." He gestured to our left and I followed him.

I saw an elevator with a crisscrossed chuck of metal as it's primary door. Once that chuck of metal was pushed aside by Chong, another metal door was revealed. This one also has a security passcode to open.

"There is no stairs in this place." I said as an observation.

"I made it that way," Chong said as he gently urged me to go inside the elevator. Together we rode it to the top floor.

"What's on the second and third floor?" I asked Chong. Then I winced, "Or should I know?"

"Just rooms." Chong replied evenly. "This place serves as a warehouse, safehouse, impromptu hospital...etc. Anything we might need in the organization. I rent this to my brother. Extra income. But the fourth floor is all mine."

As Chong said that last sentence the elevator stopped to our destination and when the doors opened, I was greeted by the most amazing place I have ever seen.

"Wow!" I entered what seems to me is an industrial looking apartment. It's all red bricks and wood.

"Welcome to my apartment," Chong took my hand to pull me deeper into his place.

"This place is amazing," I told Chong as I look up at the hanging bulb lights on the ceiling. The apartment is spacious, open and very masculine.

The ceiling is easily 20 feet high, with overhanging lights, wooden braces and pipes all exposed. Against the red brick backdrops, it's impressive.

The windows are steel framed and wide. The glass on the windows are not the usual clear fiber glass though.

"What are the glasses on the windows made of?" I asked Chong as I went into his, what I assume, living room.