"Young Master, CK has made their move," Ah Nan said, standing before Ying Qingcang. "They want the diamond."
Ying Qingcang's eyes were fixed on the screen of his computer, which showed a footage of Xin Qing being framed at the diamond mine's decrepit gates.
"What are the findings from the investigation? Who did it?"
"Not the two women from Cardi," Ah Nan said, shaking his head. "However... we've got no leads on the real culprit."
Ying Qingcang's eyes grew dark. "Looks like the opponent is much more resourceful than we thought."
"Should we make an appearance? Regarding the diamond, the young miss had managed to dragged things out and buy us some time." Ah Nan could not help but praise Xin Qing. "The young miss had certainly grown a lot since she left. She had handled this situation beautifully!"
Ying Qingcang's face was filled with pride, as if he had been the one at the receiving end of the praise. However, the words that left his mouth were of the opposite sentiment. "In the end, she still couldn't handle it. Now CK is breathing down her neck. Let's see how she handles that!"
"Young Master, you're suggesting that we don't make a move? Just keep waiting?" Ah Nan said. "You're just using this as an opportunity to get the young miss to come to you..." Ah Nan thought in contempt.
This time, Xin Qing was really at her wits' end. CK had been calling her every day to ask about the diamond, and yet she was still as clueless as ever. She ended up telling them that a few other shareholders had gone on vacation, so the discussion would have to be tabled until school reopened. The diamond was set to be auctioned at the end of September. CK believed her and had sent someone over to get her to sign a bunch of papers. According to those papers, Xin Qing would be a full-time employee at CK after her graduation next year. Clueless as Xin Qing was, even she knew that she should not be signing any contracts during a time like this.
Other than that, there was one other thing that saddened her. The fact that she had told Young Master Shen about the whole incident meant that Ying Qingcang would have found out about it by now. He knew very well that she would not be able to handle this on her own, but yet she never once received a call from him. It seemed like he really did not care about her at all. Recently, Xin Qing had been poring over Chinese news channels to see if there was any word on Ying Qingcang's engagement. One second her heart was soaring, then the next it was plummeting to the bottom of her stomach. She still had no idea what to do. When school was about to start, she received a surprising phone call.
"Miss Xin! I'm William. Do you remember me?"
"Ah," Xin Qing said before she quickly added, "Hi, Mr. William! How, how did you know my number?"
William's chuckle could be heard over the phone. "That's really easy." Xin Qing could even imagine the way he was laughing at her right now. "How can I help you?" she asked.
"I heard that CK's been trying to buy your diamond?"
Xin Qing was not surprised at all that he knew about it. She released a bitter laugh. "Yeah. I'm so stressed out right now that I could die."
"What's there to stress about?" William said in a slightly disapproving tone. "What they are doing is completely against the rules."
Xin Qing thought for a moment, and then asked, "Mr. William, so you're after the diamond too?"
"Of course I am," William said. It sounded like he was laughing at her again. "But don't worry, I'm not calling to pressure you. I'm just letting you know that if you really have no plans of selling it to CK, then I can help you."
Xin Qing remained composed. "What's in it for you?" she asked calmly.
William chuckled. "Can't I just be doing you a favor?"
"I'm not very smart, but I'm no fool either," Xin Qing said in a serious tone. "The business world is a complicated place with thousands of twists and intricacies. For such a big company like CK? Who knows what kind of secrets they are hiding or what kind of tricks they have up their sleeves. I don't think you'd risk butting heads with CK because of me." Xin Qing paused. "I think... your only purpose is to convince me to go through with the auction. After that, you'll buy the diamond!"
"Miss Xin, I really have underestimated you. Chinese people are very clever indeed." A round of soft laughter came through from the phone's speaker. Still laughing, William went on, "But... you've forgotten one thing. Even though I'm not buying from you directly, it doesn't change the fact that I'm already neck-deep in all this. In fact, I'm involved just by speaking up, which means that I'm already on CK's bad side. So like it or not, you still owe me this favor!"
Xin Qing was interrupted just as she was about to speak.
"Calm down. I'll get CK to play by the rules and obtain the diamond through the auction. I'll do it in a way that will not put you on their bad side. The only price you have to pay is that when the time comes, you must design a ring for me."
"Just like that?" Xin Qing was skeptical.
Once again, William laughed. "If not?" William asked. "What kind of hidden agenda do you imagine I have?"
"Please let me think about it," Xin Qing said, her lips downturned. "I'll give you an answer tomorrow."
"Sure. You can reach me on this number. This is my private number, by the way!" William said before hanging up. Xin Qing threw herself onto the couch. She stewed over everything for half a day. At times, she would pick up her phone, dial several digits, and then hang up. After several repeats of that, she threw out her phone.
"Argh! Forget it if you don't care. I'm sure others will!" Xin Qing grumbled angrily at the air.
One day before school started, CK came to her. This time, they did not mention anything about the diamond. Instead, they told that it would be best if the diamond was sold through the auction after all. They told her to focus on her studies and that she would be CK's designer regardless of what happened. Xin Qing knew that William must have done something to instigate CK's abrupt change of stance. The people from CK were no fools either. Now that they knew about her ownership of the diamond mine, they thought that as long as they could keep her on their side, they would have access to the diamond mine in the future. The mine could be useful to them for all they knew.
Xin Qing barely had time to feel any sort of relief though, since she had already anticipated what awaited her back at school. Like now, for instance.
"Xin Qing! I can't believe you own a frigging diamond mine!" Kass yelled and ran over to her. Kass tugged her all the way into the classroom. "I mean, I've always known that you're rich, but I didn't expect it to be this kind of wealth!" Other students around them were now staring at her. They were all basically giving her polite smiles.
"Hey, keep it down. Everyone would end up hating me," Xin Qing said helplessly.
Kass stared at her. "Why the heck would people hate you? They barely have time to suck up to you!" She approached Xin Qing secretively. "Hey, I heard that CK has already reserved a place for you. You'll be employed right after graduation next year."
"You sure know your way around the grapevines!" Xin Qing stared at Kass in disbelief.
Kass raised her chin complacently. "Of course! Oh yeah, by the way, the teacher told us you've been unwell last time. You are okay now?"
"Yeah, I'm fine!" Xin Qing raised her eyes and saw the teacher entering the classroom in a pair of slippers. She wanted to thank him, but the cold look that the teacher was giving her stopped her in her tracks. After a moment, she regained her bearings and sat back down with a smile.
After that, Xin Qing could no longer walk anywhere in the academy without hearing whispers behind her back and seeing people pointing fingers at her. All of a sudden, she began receiving a lot of flowers from male students. Dianne had even joked that if anyone were lucky enough to be wed to a wealthy lady like Xin Qing, they could save themselves twenty years of labor. "Besides, you're such a beauty," Dianne had said. "Any man would want to try their luck."
"Why didn't they try their luck with you, then?" Xin Qing looked at Dianne, who sat facing her. "You looked so much more like an elite princess!"
Dianne laughed at her. "Then I guess you probably don't know much about the British nobility. They're not as glorious as they were made out to be."
"I'm pretty sure you're not one of them!" Xin Qing looked at Dianne's refined countenance. "At least you don't seem too bad."
"For a lot of members of the nobility, their title is what they have left. Their assets have long since depreciated." When Dianne uttered those words, her comportment and posture had remained as graceful as ever. In fact, she even gave a slight impression of haughtiness from the way she had touched her temple. "Those aristocrats hold on to the house they had inherited from their ancestors. Then they'll brag to the outside world that even the bathroom was filled with antiques. But the truth is that everything in the house is gone."
"Gone?"
Dianne glanced at Xin Qing. "They were all sold!"
"People from the nobility engage in costly social activities. They would never miss a single ball or auction. But all that would cost them money. So they sold off their ancestors' belongings to cover the costs."
At Dianne's words, Xin Qing suddenly remembered a news report she had seen before. In recent years, a lot of the treasures that were seized from Yuanmingyuan by the Eight-Nation Alliance when they entered Beijing had been reclaimed overseas. A lot of them had been put up for auction.
"What are you thinking about?" Dianne asked, noticing that Xin Qing's mind had wandered off.
Xin Qing shook her head. "Nothing. No wonder a lot of our national treasures are up for auction overseas."
"That's right. That's also one of the signs of aristocratic decline. Which noble house would even have any treasure left?! The quicker these items are put up for sale, the more valuable they are." Dianne looked at Xin Qing. "The guys at the academy know this, which is why they aren't crazy about me. Who's there to guarantee that I'm not part of a declining noble family?"
Xin Qing laughed. "Then they're blind."
Dianne chuckled. "How do you know?" Dianne winked, revealing a playful side of her that was rare.
Dianne had always given Xin Qing the impression of a woman with secrets. Xin Qing did not wish to form a deep bond with a woman like that. At the same time, she wanted nothing to do with any of this woman's secrets. It would be too scary indeed if she were to have such a beautiful and clever woman as an enemy.
With the way things were at the academy, Xin Qing could not even have her lunch at the academy in peace. Every day, she would hurry home after class. In a blink of an eye, it was the Mid-Autumn festival. Xin Qing's mood was turning sourer and sourer too. She remembered that it would soon be Ah Sha's birthday. Ah Sha would be turning one, but yet Xin Qing was not by her side. Xin Qing had already sent back the birthday present she got for Ah Sha. She kept wondering if that little baby had already begun to walk. She wondered if she would be hearing the word "mama" from the baby's mouth if she were there now...
It was evening, and Xin Qing was pushing a trolley out of the supermarket. On the way home, she was completely distracted by thoughts of Ah Sha's soft and tender face. "You're daydreaming on the streets again!" Xin Qing heard the voice beside her ear and jumped. She raised her head and saw William standing before her. He was grinning at her.
"Mr. William?" Xin Qing said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
William glanced at a car that was parked on the roadside. "I was just passing by and saw that you were about to walk into a tree!"
"Oh, gosh! I'm so sorry," Xin Qing said, scratching her head. "I'm always allowing you to see my embarrassing side. But I'm fine. I'll walk carefully from here. Please, go on ahead!"
William looked at her. "Why don't I give you a ride? You seem to have a lot on your mind. It'll be bad if you end up falling down or something."
"Nah. It's okay. It's not far anyway. Plus, it's not like I can stuff this massive trolley in your car!" Xin Qing hurriedly declined. She did not think they were well acquainted enough to be sharing rides.
William glanced at the trolley. "It's okay. I'll ask someone to bring the trolley back to the supermarket. Come on, hop in!" As if on cue, two men got out of his car and were prepared to move Xin Qing's groceries into the car. Xin Qing was about to stop them when she heard another voice.
"Where do you think you're taking her?"