"Ying Qingcang?" Xin Qing called out tentatively.
Santa Claus did not react, though it was obvious to Xin Qing that his eyes had become warmer.
"I'm opening it, okay?" Xin Qing thought he must be waiting for her to open her gift.
Carefully, she opened the box. There was a fluroscent object sitting inside, which emitted a faint, greenish glow. Basking the dim yellow lighting of the room, the object glittered and gleamed.
"This is..." Surprised, Xin Qing stared the jade pendant in the box which, upon a closer look, seemed to possess an almost devilish quality. "Emerald jade! You— Where did you even get this?"
"Do you like it?" Finally, the Santa Claus spoke. His voice was low and deep, like an aria of the night. "Happy birthday, babe!"
Xin Qing dove into his arms. "I love it! I love it so much!" She raised her head, wanting to kiss Ying Qingcang, though she did not know how to initiate. Ying Qingcang's shoulder shook in quiet laughter. He reached up and peeled off the beard from his face. Then he lowered his head and sealed his lips over hers.
"I love you!" Xin Qing craned her neck as she looked up at him. The milky, white complexion of her skin resembled white jade. The moment she stepped into his arms, it was like the entire room was suddenly filled with a warm and pleasant fragrance. Ying Qingcang held her tightly against him. If he could, he wanted to merge this woman into his own blood just so they would never have to part with each other.
Ying Qingcang was especially turned on by the fact that Xin Qing had taken the lead. From the carpet to the bed, and finally, to the bathtub, Xin Qing was thoroughly ravished. Even now, they were holding each other tightly as they soaked in the hot tub.
With her skin as the backdrop, the pendant on her neck radiated an emerald glow, transforming her into a woman with transcendent allure.
"It's so beautiful!" Xin Qing commented as she caressed the patterns engraved on the pendant's surface: a tiny calabash that symbolized protection and security; a tiny bat climbing over a pea pod, a symbol of longevity and blessing.
Ying Qingcang planted a series of closely-packed kiss marks all over her shoulder. "You didn't wear the bracelet because you were worried that you might smash it into something. But that's not going to be a problem with this pendant. You can wear it everyday!"
"Mm hm!" Xin Qing narrowed her eyes and touched the pendant again. "Where did you get this? It seemed like an antique."
Ying Qingcang pinched her face, "It is an antique. Found it on the black market. Apparently, it's one of the items belonging to some palace of the Qing Dynasty."
Xin Qing glared at him, "It's one of the looted items from Yuanmingyuan, isn't it?" Why else would it appear on the black market?
Ying Qingcang's response was neither a denial nor affirmation of Xin Qing's pointed question. "So! It'll be considered our contribution to the nation by bringing the item back where it belongs," he said.
"Then it will have to be returned to the palace's treasury at some point," Xin Qing said. Then she glanced at him in annoyance. "I like it a lot. I want to keep it."
Ying Qingcang kissed her forcefully, "Of course you're going to keep it. It's value will only be fully manifested when it's on my woman's body."
"Pfft! What a load of nonsense," Xin Qing said and tried to stand up. "I'm hungry. Let's go eat, okay?"
Ying Qingcang rolled his hips a few times, eliciting a moan from Xin Qing.
"Be a good girl and feed me one more time!"
It would be the Chinese New Year in another month, so they had to return at some point; however, according to Ying Qingcang, there was another place that they had to stop by before leaving. As a final stop, they went to visit Australia's Great Barrier Reef, an archipelago consisting of the world's largest coral reef system. When the pleasure craft arrived at the beautiful Lindeman Island, what surprised Xin Qing was not the endless expanse of green forest and white sand she saw there. Instead, it was Ying Qingcang's words.
"This is the island that had received the most investment from the proprietors of the Great Barrier Reef. Now, you're its new owner!"
That news had thrown Xin Qing into a complete daze, one that she had failed to recover from even as they got to the hotel; she just stood there like an idiot.
"Snap out of it!" Ying Qingcang said, pinching her nose. "There're a lot of fun things to do here. Come on, check out the catalogs and decide where we should go first!"
Xin Qing blinked her tears away forcefully, "This... This place is yours?"
"It used to be mine. But now it's yours!" Ying Qingcang found her reaction highly amusing. "Are you really that surprised?"
"Of course!" Xin Qing was shouting at that point. "I mean, in the past I could only see this place on TV! This is the island with the longest history among all the island in the entire Great Barrier Reef archipelago. And now you're telling me that it's mine! Argh!!!" Xin Qing gripped her hair and spun around on the spot in circles.
Ying Qingcang held her still. "Alright, enough! Even your hair has become a mess." Ying Qingcang tidied her hair and toss a long dress at her. "Get changed. Let's go eat first."
Xin Qing decided to check out the dolphins first; there was a gulf in Lindeman Island where the dolphins usually frequented. Like she said, she knew about this island through a TV drama in the past. Back then, she was still wondering if there would be a day she could finally visit the island. Oh, she visited the island all right. In fact, she now frigging owned the place and everything else in it.
No wonder Young Master Shen had once asked her, "Do you know how much money you make every minute?"
Well, now she knew...
Perhaps Xin Qing felt a sense of belongingness to her new island, since she was unwilling to leave even after a week's stay. Ying Qingcang did not bother reminding her of that, though. He could hug his babe to sleep every night after all, the place did not matter at all.
Half a month later, Zhang Mi called.
"Say... Are you guys not planning to return?"
"We do. We're returning before the Chinese New Year." Xin Qing was sprawled on the white sand, basking in the sun. Ying Qingcang was running his hand all over her body as he rubbed sunscreen on her.
"It will be the Chinese New Year in a week, and you're still not coming back?!" Zhang Mi yelled enviously.
"Huh?" Xin Qing was shocked. "A week?"
"You don't say. How much longer do you think it is? Hurry up and come back already. And remember to bring souvenirs." Zhang Mi nagged on the phone.
When she hung up, Xin Qing asked Ying Qingcang, "We've already been staying on the island for half a month?"
"If you like it, we can come back after Chinese New Year," Ying Qingcang said, pulling her to her feet. "It is indeed time to go back."
They could not afford to use a boat for their return journey; they would not back it back in time if they did. They flew back to S City in a helicopter instead. At the start of the trip, they had both brought three large suitcases along with them. Now, there were as many as ten suitcases for their return journey.
Zhang Mi and Monica dropped by Ying's residence the night of their return. Young Master Shen was held up by something; according to Ying Qingcang, he was still in Malaysia. "He and Boss Wan must be having so much fun killing each other," Xin Qing thought.
"Xin Qing! This is so awesome!" Monica was holding a set of bowls with elephants printed on them, "Are they made from ivory?"
Xin Qing stared at her, "How's that possible? Where did you even get that idea?"
"Hehe!" Monica calmly packed the set bowls and a few giraffe-themed bolsters into a box that she had brought with her, "I was kidding. I think this is a type of imitation. I saw a documentary on it before. Apparently, they use elephant hair."
Zhang Mi, who was rummaging through the box, gave Monica a sidelong glance, "Do you have any idea how gross that sounds? Using a hairy bowl to eat? Come on."
Monica released two humorless chuckles and pointed a finger at the object that Zhang Mi was holding; it was a thong made from lion hair. "Are you seeing a man? Who are you wearing that thing for?" Monica asked.
Before Xin Qing could answer, Ying Qingcang threw out a few cold words from the door, "You have five minutes to pack up the stuff and get lost. Otherwise, don't even think about taking anything."
Monica and Zhang Mi sneered, though they did begin to hasten their movements. After a while, they each left with a box filled with souvenirs.
Ying Qingcang frowned when he saw Xin Qing alone in the room, cleaning up the messes the two women had made as they rummaged through the boxes, "Why didn't you ask them to tidy up before leaving?"
Xin Qing shot him a glare, "Who had the guts to stay with you standing there staring and breathing down their necks!"
Ying Qingcang helped her stow the boxes into the walk-in closet, "They took everything?"
"Nah. How can that be? I've stored our things in another box." Xin Qing emptied the contents of a bag in order to transfer them into a dust proof bag. "Hey. What's this?"
"It's a CD," Ying Qingcang said after giving it a glance.
Xin Qing flipped the object in her palm twice. It was barely palm-sized, and no words were written on it. "Is it some kind of freebie?"
"Probably. Didn't they give us information on wildlife animals after we had made purchases at the Safari?" Ying Qingcang took the CD and tossed it into the sundry box. "Alright. Let's take a bath!"
Xin Qing allowed herself to be dragged into the bathroom, all the while making a show of reluctance. The color of the bathtub changed as it filled up. Ying Qingcang had already picked up the habit of sharing baths with Xin Qing. He threatened to climb into bed without bathing if she did not allow him to enter the bathroom with her.
Ying Qingcang stripped her naked and placed her into the tub. "Wear the new bra tomorrow!" As his hands travelled up and down her body, images of Xin Qing's wearing her new bra flashed through Ying Qingcang's mind.
Xin Qing had long since gotten used to Ying Qingcang's obsession with her body. It was like he was suffering from skin hunger or something; he wanted to touch her all the time.
Xin Qing's face went red at what she was about to say. Still, she blurted out, "Service me! And I'll think about putting it on for you." Damn. It seemed like Ying Qingcang had been rubbing off on her.
Ying Qingcang was extremely pleased with the change in Xin Qing. He quickly repositioned her so that she was now straddling him. A smirk tugged at the corner of his lips, "Yes, my queen!"
Xin Qing was roused from her sleep by Ah Sha the next morning. Ying Qingcang had already left for work; a lot of company affairs still demanded his attention especially during the end of year. As the major shareholder, Xin Qing was expected to attend the company's annual general meeting three days later.
"Mommy!" Ah Sha could already form words to express herself now that she was two and a half years old. "Ah Sha wants to ride boat too!"
Xin Qing carried Ah Sha onto the bed and planted a kiss on her pink cheeks, "Alright! When the weather gets warm, mommy will take you to Disneyland!"
"Is Disneyland a princess' castle?" Through the advertisements she had watched, Ah Sha knew that a lot of people whom she liked very much were in Disneyland.
Xin Qing pinched her petite cheeks. "That's right! How about we turn Ah Sha into a princess, too, when we get there?"
"Oh..." Ah Sha lowered her head suddenly. For a moment, Ah Sha had a pensive look in her face. "Then I want to be the little mermaid!"
Xin Qing laughed and carried Ah Sha off the bed. "Alright! Our Ah Sha is the little mermaid!"
In an underground factory in New York, two men were having a conversation.
"Let's make a trade," said a the man beside the window whose face was indiscernible and completely shrouded in darkness. "Give me this batch of goods, and in return, I'll give you some information." A buff-looking foreigner with a goatee sat opposite from the man. The foreigner held a cigar in his hand.
"What information can you possibly give me?" Said the foreigner flippantly.
"Didn't you guys lose something? I know where that thing is."
The foreigner put out his cigar. A savage look formed on his face, "How did you know that we've lost something?"
"Relax," said the man hidden in the dark, smiling. "I don't know what you've lost. I just happen to know... the person who has it."
The foreigner stood up and strode towards the darkness. "Talk."
"It's in China, S City. In the hands of a woman called Xin Qing."