"Why didn't you call me Mrs. Ying?" Tang Shuang's voice sounded from the doorway. Her tone contained a hint of irritation.
"Until the head of the house's recognition, we cannot simply address someone as our Young Madam. It's been a long-standing rule of the Ying family."
"That's easy. Just watch!" Tang Shuang pushed the door open at the same time as Ying Qingcang was hanging up the phone. With a straight face, he put the photo away and then flipped open a document on his desk.
Tang Shuang sauntered towards Ying Qingcang, her smiling face bore the likeness of a pretty flower. She stopped beside Ying Qingcang. "Ah Cang, when are we going to England to meet your father?"
"Next month," Ying Qingcang said, closing the document. Then, he leaned backwards to put some distance between them. "We'll be celebrating the old man's sixtieth birthday next month. Help me think of something to get him."
"Is it really okay for me to pick the gift?" Tang Shuang asked in pleasant surprise.
"Of course it is. Right now you're Mrs. Ying." Smirking, Ying Qingcang stood up and began walking outside. "Come on. Join me for lunch."
As they walked past Ah Nan, Tang Shuang smiled at Ah Nan smugly. "Humph, did you see that? Even Ah Cang recognizes me. An assistant like you is nothing..." she thought.
Keeping his head low, Ah Nan pretended not to notice Tang Shuang's gaze. After that, he heard an ear-piercing shriek from the elevator. His face fell. "Oh shit. Why did this madame decide to return ahead of schedule?" he thought.
"Who are you?" Monica blocked Tang Shuang's path, preventing the latter from entering the elevator.
Tang Shuang clutched Ying Qingcang's arm. "And who are you?" she asked in return.
Monica shoved Tang Shuang away from Ying Qingcang. "Get away from him! Who gave you permission to touch him?" After that, Monica shot Ying Qingcang a look of disbelief. "What the hell? You're letting other women touch you? Where's Xin Qing? Does she know about this?"
Ying Qingcang frowned and deliberately prolonged his response. Tang Shuang beat him to it. "Don't you know that he and Xin Qing are divorced? I'm his wife now!"
"Hahaha!" Monica held her stomach as she laughed. "This joke isn't the slightest bit funny." Just then, she saw Ah Nan standing behind them with his head lowered. In a few strides, Monica went over to Ah Nan and dragged him over. "Ah Nan, what's the deal with this shameless woman. Tell me!"
Ah Nan swallowed and braced himself. "The young master has indeed remarried," Ah Nan said
"What did you just say?" A crack formed in Monica's smile. She stared at Ah Nan like a mad woman. In the next split second, Ah Nan placed a hand over her mouth to stifle her shout. Then he dragged her inside. "Calm down first. I'll slowly explain everything. I promise! I'll tell you everything!"
Ying Qingcang had picked a random place for lunch. Throughout lunch, Tang Shuang was distracted and ate only a few mouthfuls. "Who's that woman?" she asked.
"You mean Monica?" Ying Qingcang said, wiping his hands.
"Oh, so her name is Monica!" Tang Shuang paused in thought. "She's British?"
Ying Qingcang nodded. "Yes. And she's my cousin."
"Ah. No wonder you were so tolerant of her. You even allowed her to yell at us," Tang Shuang said gloomily. Monica had outright chewed her head off just now.
The waiting staff served up a plate of shrimps. When Ying Qingcang saw the red, plump shrimps, he once again thought of Xin Qing, who enjoyed eating shrimps. Then again, she would not eat them if he was not there to peel them for her. Now that she was alone in France, she would most probably stay away from shrimps. Ying Qingcang felt a sting in a heart all of a sudden.
Tang Shuang noticed Ying Qingcang's continuous stare at the plate of shrimps. "Is there something wrong with the shrimp?" she asked curiously.
Reaching out with his chopsticks, Ying Qingcang picked up a shrimp and placed it on her plate. "It looks good. Try it."
"Thank you!" Tang Shuang flashed a sweet smile at him. She finished the shrimp and then took a sip of water. "Is Monica friendly? I want to befriend her."
The corner of Ying Qingcang's twitched as if trying to hold back a smile. "Well, that might be difficult. She likes Xin Qing a lot..."
"Oh," Tang Shuang said, pouting.
"You don't have to feel bad about it. Her opinion changes nothing. You don't have to pay her any mind." By now, Ying Qingcang had known a bit about Tang Shuang's personality; this woman was abnormally possessive, and that applied to both human relationships as well as material possessions. The more unattainable something was, the more she craved it.
The words he had used just now would no doubt bring Tang Shuang great dissatisfaction. She would definitely try to befriend Monica after hearing that comment. She would end up constantly butting heads with Monica. He figured it would not be a bad idea to let Monica teach her a lesson, since he was not able to do it himself.
Meanwhile, Monica was giving Ah Nan a piece of her mind as she held the poor man by his ear. "Say that again. Believe it or not, I'll pull your ear off your head!"
"Nothing will change even if I repeat it ten times," said Ah Nan. "Or, you could just give young miss a call. You can hear it from her instead," Ah Nan suggested helplessly.
Monica kicked him aside. "Bullshit. If I really do that, won't I just be stabbing a knife straight through Xin Qing's heart?" Monica spun herself around in circles. "No. This won't do. I must go to France!"
That was how Xin Qing ended up being tackled by a human-shaped figure the moment she answered the door that night.
"Xin Qing! Are you okay? Oh, Xin Qing! I'm so sorry I couldn't come here earlier. Wuwuwu..."
Xin Qing jumped in surprise. "Mo... Monica?" Xin Qing said when she finally recognized the person hugging her. She quickly pulled Monica indoors. "You've returned from East Europe?"
Monica plopped herself down on the couch. "I know everything," she said furiously. "Don't worry. I won't let those adulterers have a single day of peace!"
"Well said!" Zhang Mi came downstairs, clapping her hands.
Monica did a double take. "What are you doing here?"
"Why, you jealous?" Zhang Mi took an apple and munched on it. "I'm here to accompany Xin Qing."
This time around, Monica chose not to bicker with Zhang Mi. Instead, Monica nodded and said, "That's right. You should stay and keep Xin Qing company. I'll join you once I murder those adulterers."
"Um, not that I'm being a killjoy or anything, but your abilities are shit in comparison to Ying Qingcang's." Zhang Mi sat down across from Monica and gave her a friendly warning.
That comment caused Monica to pause in her rant. After a while, she slapped her thigh. "Then I'll deal with that slut first. I've already met her, and I know for sure that she's no match for me!"
"Well, that works for me. But don't overdo it. Xin Qing still needs the pills that she produces every month!"
Holding her forehead, Xin Qing stared speechlessly at the two yakking women.
"Hey, are you guys hungry? Why don't we go out for some supper?"
Monica came in a hurry and left in an equal hurry the following day. When Ah Sha got up that morning, she even asked about the absence of that aunty who "sings whenever she gets drunk". The first thing Monica did when she got back was to move herself into Ying's residence. Without even asking Ying Qingcang for permission, she had Ah Nan move her luggage straight into the house.
Shockingly, Ying Qingcang did not chase her out after finding out what she had done. This had steeled Monica's resolve to engage in a long-standing war with Tang Shuang. Also, Monica had a comrade: Le Le!
Le Le was very unaccustomed to the sudden presence of a female stranger at the house; it usually just ignored Tang Shuang. When Monica noticed Tang Shuang's dislike of dogs, she happily brought Le Le to these "blind dates" and then brought back a female dog in record time. The two dogs ran around the house all day; it was practically raining dog fur in the house.
"Ah Cang, do you like dogs?" Tang Shuang felt a strong urge to poison the two dogs. Still, she felt the need to ask Ying Qingcang's opinion first before she did that.
Ying Qingcang thought for a moment. Then he said, "If you don't like dogs, I'll tell Monica tomorrow."
Tang Shuang's heart was sweetened by joy. But after a moment, she said sulkily, "Doesn't Monica have her own place? Why does she have to stay with us?"
"She's been staying here all this while," Ying Qingcang said with a frown. "I owed her father my life. So... You have to endure!"
There was nothing Tang Shuang could say to that, though she was still planning to get Monica onto her side. She refused to believe that she would lose to Xin Qing!
On the way to the company the following day, Ying Qingcang stared at Monica and said, "You need to show some moderation. Don't bring Le Le to the house tomorrow."
"Why? Xin Qing used to do it all the time!" Monica said in a challenging tone. "You cheating bastard..."
Ying Qingcang pinched the bridge of his nose. "It's nearly the end of the month," he said patiently. "Tang Shuang still has to prepare Xin Qing's pill. If you keep it up, she won't be able to rest well. How is she going to make the pill if she isn't in top form?"
"Pills?" Monica thought for a moment. Then she nodded. "Fine. I'll stop torturing her."
Ying Qingcang was puzzled. "What? She's convinced just like that?" he thought. Just then, Monica added, "I'll resume torturing her after she made the pill!"
When she returned to work, the first thing Monica did was stationing a lot of young and beautiful women at Ying Qingcang's office building. When Ying Qingcang returned to his office after a meeting and saw the parade of women, he scowled at Ah Nan. Ah Nan looked back at him helplessly.
"Monica's behind it..." Ah Nan said.
Ying Qingcang leaned back in his chair. After a long silence, he waved Ah Nan out.
"Whatever. Just let Monica do her thing. It won't matter as long as it doesn't interfere with my plans!" he thought.
Not a few days later, Tang Shuang found out about what Monica had done. She came all the way to the company just to see for herself. After that, she went to Ying Qingcang, crying and begging him to give her a position as his secretary. Ying Qingcang agreed and ordered an extra desk to be set up across from Ah Nan.
The next day, Elder Li arrived for a meeting and was surprised when he saw Tang Shuang there. "Sister-in-law has a job at the company?"
"She thinks she can keep an eye on me by being near me," Ying Qingcang said with a cryptic smile. Tang Shuang blushed. "I... Can't I just miss you?"
Elder Li had also heard about all the stunts that Monica had pulled, so he instantly understood what was going on. He patted Ying Qingcang's shoulder. "If you can treat the old man with half the sincerity I've seen in the way you're treating sister-in-law, he'll probably die of joy."
"I've already selected a gift for father. He'll definitely like it!" Tang Shuang said hurriedly. Elder Li glanced at Ying Qingcang, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Then I eagerly await!"
Ever since Monica found out about Tang Shuang's job as Ying Qingcang's secretary, she had been dumping random stacks of documents at Tang Shuang.
"President Ying will look through these, so you have to sort out every single page."
Tang Shuang smiled. "Nah. He won't allow me to go through all that trouble. I'll just give them to him as they are." After that, Tang Shuang stood up, fully prepared to bring the stack of documents into Ying Qingcang's office. Monica held her back. "These plans are from our department. If you bring them in as they are, he'll question the competence of our department."
"Then why didn't you sort out everything before bringing them here," Tang Shuang retorted. Tang Shuang finally understood the impossibility of befriending Monica. "She's just using her status as Ying Qingcang's cousin to bully me," Tang Shuang thought. "In her dreams! I must find a way to get rid of her."
Monica sneered coldly. "What's the point of having you here, then? So you can take off your skirt, lie down, and spread your legs for a bunch of men?"