When she did not hear a response for a long while, Xin Qing turned her head towards the driver's seat, which was already empty.
At quite some distance away, she saw a shadow sprinting away quickly. "What the hell is going on..." she thought.
Xin Qing stayed in the car for a while. Eventually, she realized that she really had been abandoned here. She was left with no choice but to pluck up her courage and stepped out of the car. Ever since her abduction, she had developed an irrational fear of darkness. Even when she was sleeping at night, she needed to keep a small lamp on.
"Hey! It's soft?" she thought. She had been worrying about having her high heels stuck between the rocks scattered all over the beach. But when she stepped down, the ground was surprisingly soft. Using the moonlight, Xin Qing glanced down to try to make out what she was standing on. She realized that she was standing on a red carpet. She took two tentative steps forward. The area in front of her suddenly lit up. The two sides of the red carpet were lined with advertisement signs, all of which were displaying photos of her. She now had a clear view of the strip of red carpet which extended all the way down to the beach. The beach itself seemed to be packed with some kind dark-colored object. She could not make out what the object was.
"Ying Qingcang!" Xin Qing shouted. The only answer to her call was the howling of the wind.
"Whatever. I'll just head over there first," she thought. He already had signboards set up to point the way, what had she to fear? She followed the red carpet and headed down to the beach. Her eyes widened in disbelief when she saw the dark-colored object she had seen from afar.
It was a giant heart-shaped sand sculpture with both their names written on it. The only reason she was able to see the sculpture clearly was that a searchlight somewhere above had suddenly come to life. Their names were arranged with sparkling diamond shards. Under the lights, the entire set up seemed extremely stellar, as if she were in some kind of dreamland surrounded with stars.
Ying Qingcang stood beneath the sculpture, staring straight at her. Roses were scattered all around his feet, but there was a huge bouquet which he carried in his hand. The reflex image of the man's handsome face took shape in Xin Qing's pupils, growing clearer and clearer as Ying Qingcang slowly approached her. When he was finally in front of her, Ying Qingcang went down on one knee.
"Don't know if you like all this. Well, if you don't, then I'll toss Young Master Shen into the ocean, because these are all his work."
Xin Qing released a laugh and looked at Ying Qingcang. She would be an idiot if she still had no idea what it was that still he was trying to do. But who on earth would begin a marriage proposal in such a way? At that moment, Xin Qing noticed Le Le sauntering out of nowhere while carrying something in its mouth. Its gay buddy, the chihuahua, trailed after it.
Ying Qingcang retrieved the object from Le Le's mouth, ruffling Le Le's fur in the process. Then, he brought the object to Xin Qing and opened it. "Qingqing, marry me!"
"Yes."
Ying Qingcang was stunned. "Yes? Just like that?" he thought, glancing towards Young Master Shen's direction. "But what about the tricks that come after? Looks there's no need for them after all..."
Xin Qing held out her hand, but she noticed that Ying Qingcang had not reacted for a long time. She could not help but ask, "Having regrets already?"
"No!" Ying Qingcang snapped out of it. He took out the ring hastily and carefully slid it onto Xin Qing's ring finger. Xin Qing examined the blinding diamond on her ring, her lips curving into a smile. At the sight of her blatant display of happiness, Ying Qingcang smiled and stood up. He took her hand. "My name is engraved on the back of that diamond. It means that from today onwards, you're mine."
He paused for a moment, but he did not wait for Xin Qing to pick up his words as he went on. "Oh, don't forget to give me a ring in the future."
"I will!" Xin Qing smacked him lightly, not knowing whether to cry or to laugh. Ying Qingcang pulled her into his arms in one swift movement. Then he lifted her off the ground and spun her around in the air a few times.
Young Master Shen and Ah Che, who both had been hiding behind the sand sculpture all this time, ran out. The moment he came out, Young Master Shen began fishing for compliments, bragging to Xin Qing that he was the one responsible for setting up this romantic setting for their proposal.
Xin Qing sneezed, which had surprised Ying Qingcang so much that he jumped. Suddenly remembering the doctors' orders asking Xin Qing to get plenty of rest, Ying Qingcang carried her and ran to the car. As he ran, he sent a glare at Young Master Shen, silently blaming the other man for picking the beach of all places to organize the proposal. What if Xin Qing ended up catching a cold or something?
Young Master Shen stared after the couple indignantly. Le Le and the chihuahua were chewing on the leg of his pants. Those two ingrates had ditched him at the beach in the middle of the night with two dogs.
When Xin Qing stepped out of the bathroom, she saw Ying Qingcang sitting on the bed, looking at the medical reports issued by the hospital before.
"We'll have a baby in the future!" Ying Qingcang said all of a sudden. "Be brave. Let's go to the hospital tomorrow, okay?"
Xin Qing knew the reason behind Ying Qingcang sudden marriage proposal. He was trying to give her assurance. He feared that she would start overthinking after she went through the abortion. In truth, she had already discussed things with Zhang Mi and Qianqian before this. Xin Qing had made up her mind. After she had been discharged, she had secretly gone back to the hospital for an examination. The doctor had confirmed that the baby was showing signs of shriveling. In other words, it was pretty much impossible for the baby to undergo a healthy prenatal development. Since then, she knew she could no longer put this off.
"Okay." Xin Qing nodded and folded herself into his arms. Her eyes were red-rimmed. Ying Qingcang kissed her for quite some time. They both fell asleep in each other's arms.
The next morning, Xin Qing returned to the hospital and was surprised to find that the hospital room was exactly as it was when they left. The doctor in charge of examining her told her that Ying Qingcang had never done the discharge procedures at all. Minor surgeries like did not take long, so after an hour, Xin Qing was pushed out of the operating theatre on a wheelchair. Ying Qingcang had a sour expression when he chided the doctor. "Why isn't she lying down? Is this how you're supposed to treat your patients?"
The doctor felt indignant. Normally, patients would have to walk out on their own after this kind of procedure. Ying Qingcang insisted on having Xin Qing stay at the hospital for at least a day. It was only after Xin Qing told him that sleeping in the hospital would give her nightmares that he finally relented and signed the discharge papers. Afterwards, Xin Qing was confined to the house for one whole month. During that one month, her daily activities consisted only of two things. Eating and sleeping. Apparently, Ying Qingcang had heard from somewhere that going through abortion was like giving birth. One had to rest for at least a month after the process. Over that month, Xin Qing had not only regained her weight she had lost during the abduction, but she had also gained a few pounds. Her face had also regained its former luster and fullness.
Ying Enterprises had been encountering endless problems recently. It began with a breach of contract by an overseas supplier. After that, several of Ying Enterprises' real estate investments within the country had experienced a consistent decline in value. Apparently, the properties' value were affected by changes in government policies and the sudden construction of chemical plants in the area.
Xin Qing noticed how busy Ying Qingcang had been lately and was starting to grow a little worried. On the other hand, Ying Qingcang seemed fine with everything. Ever since Xin Qing's abduction, he knew that someone was targeting him. The way he saw it, the endless problems he had been encountering were good signs. He would be more worried if the enemy made no moves at all. If the enemy made no moves at all, he would not have the chance to expose the enemy.
But before he could solve the problems that his company was facing, Ying Qingcang himself had an accident.
"How could this happen? Where is he?" Xin Qing rushed into the ER. Young Master Shen quickly held her back. "Don't panic. It's just a flesh wound. The doctors are handling it!"
"Why would he get his head smashed all of a sudden?"
Young Master Shen was a little fearful too. "That neon sign is quite old. There were also heavy rains for the past few days. I guess the metal supports failed."
Today at noon, as Ying Qingcang was leaving the company, a neon sign fell off the top of Ying Enterprises' main building. Luckily, Ah Che had been quick to react and had shoved Ying Qingcang away just in time. The signage had smashed a hole through the roof of the car. In his fall, Ying Qingcang had smashed his head into a metal railing, though the injury was minor. It was just a gash.
Ying Qingcang walked out of the ER holding his head. Xin Qing closed the distance between them. "Does it hurt? Are you okay?" she asked anxiously.
"I'm fine. Didn't even need stitches. They just disinfected the wound and put some ointment on it." Ying Qingcang was just about to remove the gauze to show her his wound just in case she did not believe him. Xin Qing stopped him immediately. "Don't. Later it'll get infected again."
Ah Nan came over, carrying Ying Qingcang's medication with him. "Should I leave this at the company or would you like to bring it back home?" Ah Nan asked Xin Qing.
"I'll take it home. I know first-aid," Xin Qing said without hesitation.
Ah Nan passed her the medication while relaying the doctor's precautionary advice. Beside them, Young Master Shen joked. "Tsk, tsk. I think this is the second time in your life that you got hurt after that outdoor survival camp that year."
Ying Qingcang ignored him and pulled Xin Qing to leave. At night, Xin Qing took care of Ying Qingcang's wound. After that, she stepped into the shower alone. When she came out, she saw Ying Qingcang on the bed.
"It's been a month, and tonight's the night of the full moon!"
Xin Qing blushed. She really had forgotten that tonight was the night of the full moon. Hurriedly, she grabbed the blanket and threw it over Ying Qingcang's body. She turned around, switched off the lights and crawled into bed. Ying Qingcang pulled her into his arms the moment she got onto the bed.
"Be careful of your head wound," Xin Qing said when she noticed the consistent bobbing of his head.
Ying Qingcang bit down on her lip. "I need to put in more effort. You said you like kids, right? If I don't step up my game, how would we ever get a baby?" Xin Qing's eyes softened at his words. All this while, she had thought that Ying Qingcang did not care about the child at all. But the truth was that he just did not want her to suffer emotionally.
Xin Qing returned to school. She had caught up just fine in all her courses except for one. She had fallen too far behind in her French course. In the end, she had to spend her self-study time in order to sneak into the public lectures held in the French department. Even though Ying Qingcang had been busy recently, he would still come to pick Xin Qing up after she finished her classes. It took Xin Qing considerable effort to get him to agree to let her go shopping and have her meal with her best friends.
"I need to tell Ying Qingcang that he would be suffocating you if he keeps this up. Women will feel stressed if their man controls them like this." Zhang Mi felt that if Xin Qing was already being controlled even before she was married, then Xin Qing would lose all her freedom after the marriage.
Xin Qing smiled like she did not care at all. "He was still a bit tense after the abduction. But I think this is fine." Probably because she had very little familial care in the past. Xin Qing found it quite nice to be worried and fussed over by her partner.
Shi Qianqian sat opposite the other two, sipping her coffee. Her mind seemed to be miles away. Xin Qing and Zhang Mi looked at each other. "So. What's up with that house guest of yours?"
"What else? She wouldn't leave, of course. I can't chase her out either. By the way, do you know who she's become friends with?"
At those words, Xin Qing's curiosity was piqued. "Are we acquainted with that person?"
"Oh please. You're more than just acquainted. In fact, you know her very well!"
Xin Qing's eyes went wide. She did not know a lot of people at all. From Shi Qianqian's face, it was clear that this was not a person Xin Qing liked. That woman immediately sprang to mind. "Xin Yudie?"
Shi Qianqian raised her thumb at Xin Qing. "Clever!"
"How'd those two end up being friends?" Zhang Mi said. "Well, I guess thrash would prefer to be associated with each other."
"How should I know?" Shi Qianqian's face bore a look of disdain. "I saw them one day when they were having a meal together. They seemed to be in good terms with each other."
Xin Qing suddenly went still. She stared blankly out the coffee shop's window. "Speak of the devil," she muttered.
The other two women followed Xin Qing's gaze. Xin Yudie and the woman she had been chatting happily with walked into the coffee shop...