"See you tomorrow!" Zhang Mi waved at Anthony. Anthony noticed Zhang Mi's lack of reaction at the sight of Young Master Shen. She seemed to have no plans on making the introductions either. He smiled at her before turning around to walk away. Zhang Mi sauntered past Young Master Shen. Then, seeing that the scowl had still not left his face, she asked, "Are you constipated?"
"Haha!" Xin Qing pressed a hand to her lips and then shook her head as if to say that she had not heard a single thing.
Young Master Shen glared daggers at Zhang Mi. "Just look at yourself. Your grandfather will kill you if he ever finds out what you're doing."
"And he'll kill you first if he finds out that you're the man who took my virginity," Zhang Mi fired back. Then, she pouted. "Besides, I don't think the old man will try to stop me from having a normal relationship!"
Young Master Shen was so furious that his eyes nearly shot off his head. "I'm going. You take care of yourself!" he yelled at Xin Qing fiercely. Xin Qing waved at him. He stopped at the doorway and turned around to face Zhang Mi. "You should watch out too. Don't want you to end up contracting aids," he said in a strange tone.
"Motherfucker! You fucking crow mouth!" Zhang Mi roared at Young Master Shen's back. "You should worry about yourself! You're the biggest carrier of HIV!"
Xin Qing was laughing so hard that she could barely stand up straight. Zhang Mi kicked her in annoyance. "Are you done laughing?"
"Hahaha... I'm done! I'm done! Hahaha!"
That was how a euphoric experience turned into tragedy. Xin Qing had gone overboard. In between her laughter, she felt a sudden pain in her chest, which threw her into a state of emotional distress. As a result, the head started to hurt again; she had a relapse. Startled, Zhang Mi quickly brought out Xin Qing's medication. It merely took a split second for Xin Qing's body to be covered in sweat. She was so drenched that she might as well have been pulled straight out from a body of water. Her entire face was pale and completely bloodless. Zhang Mi held Xin Qing in her arms as she cried. After that, she secretly snapped a photo of Xin Qing on her phone and sent it to Ying Qingcang.
Ying Qingcang and Tang Shuang were standing on a red carpet, enduring the barrage of flashes from the reporters' cameras. When he felt the vibration in his pocket, he pulled out his phone to check it.
Tang Shuang brought her lips closer to his ear. "What's wrong?" she asked.
With a straight face, Ying Qingcang placed his phone back into his pocket and shook his head. "It's nothing." If anyone were paying attention to him, they would have noticed the tautness of his body and that the hands in his pockets were clenched into tight fists.
The movie premiere was over by midnight and the theatre emptied out. The two of them sat across from each other in the car. Neither spoke a word. Tang Shuang felt that Ying Qingcang had been acting strangely ever since he checked his phone just now.
"Are you okay?"
Ying Qingcang looked at her briefly before glancing out the window again. "I'm fine."
Tang Shuang lowered her head sadly. Her mind kept thinking back to Ying Qingcang's strange treatment of her; sometimes, he would be so nice to her, and other times, he might as well be a block of ice with the way he was treating her. "Looks like he hasn't fully fallen for me," she thought to herself. Then she suddenly remembered the question that a reporter had asked them tonight: when were they planning to have kids. If there was a child between them, would Ying Qingcang be loyal to her? When she was taking a bath that night, Tang Shuang thought she should examine her body's condition; she had to make preparations if they were planning to have kids. In fact, she figured she would take Ying Qingcang's pulse later as well!
She placed her finger on her wrist. Slowly, the expression on her face changed. She stood up from the bathtub in a fit of extreme panic.
"Why is there poison inside my body?" Tang Shuang thought, taking a deep breath. "Don't panic. Don't panic. Check it one more time," she told herself.
Meanwhile, Ying Qingcang was sitting in the living room. His phone was lying on top of his chest. When he first laid eyes on the photo, he felt a violent wrench right in his heart. Hell, he even felt an instant impulse to fly to France straight away. In the photo, Xin Qing's hair was a complete mess with strands of it stuck to her face. Ying Qingcang could even imagine the way she looked with her body drenched in sweat. Her small, bloodless face was slumped against the backrest of the couch as if she could no longer breathe.
"Ying - Qing - Cang!" Tang Shuang's voice sounded from behind him. Before Ying Qingcang even had time to turn around, a hand reached out from behind and swept across his chest. Tang Shuang glanced at the photo on his phone before she threw the phone onto the ground.
"You drugged me with a hallucinogen. All this while, you never even touched me!" She glared at Ying Qingcang with a face full of hatred. "Which part of me isn't as good as her? You don't even want to touch me even if we were sleeping on the same bed?"
Ying Qingcang closed his eyes. "Since you already know everything, it would save me the trouble from having to serve you any more milk from now on," he stated coldly and then stood up. "I've already told you from the start that Xin Qing is the only woman I love. You're the one who had overestimated yourself and jumped into something that is completely out of your depth. What, you actually think I'd fall for you?" Ying Qingcang snorted. "Let me tell you something. I feel disgusted just by looking at you. I have to wash myself with antiseptic every time you touched me."
Tang Shuang's face looked utterly ashen. "Why? I love you so much. How could you not love me back?" she asked, shaking her head as her tears flowed.
"How pathetic," Ying Qingcang said, slipping his arms into the sleeves of his jacket. "Who do you think you are? What right do you have to demand another person to love you back just because you love that person?" He turned around and headed towards the exit. As he was opening the door, he threw out another remark. "Zhang Mi had said it perfectly. You're just a frog under the well with a narrow and parochial perspective. You'll never be able to understand the outside world."
Other than the luxurious furnishings, the only thing left in the empty house was the chilly air. Tang Shuang crouched on the floor, weeping loudly. Gradually, her sobs grew softer until they diminished entirely. In the end, she stood up and dried her tears.
"Ying Qingcang, you can only be mine regardless of what you say. Humph... hehe. Don't you care about Xin Qing? She had obviously suffered from a relapse just now. Let's just see how long you all can last without my medicine!"
"Are you out of your goddamn mind?" Young Master Shen slapped the surface of the desk. "What are you going to do about Xiao Qingqing's medication next month? How could you act so impulsively?"
Ying Qingcang frowned. "She already found out everything. Nothing I say can change that."
"So what do we do now?" Young Master Shen said. His next words were uttered in a tone of annoyance. "I knew it! I knew Zhang Mi could do nothing right other than fucking things up and causing more trouble. What the hell was she thinking of sending you that photo?" Ying Qingcang eyes darted to Young Master Shen. "You saw her yesterday?" Ying Qingcang asked.
Young Master Shen snorted. "You want to talk about her now? Really? I suggest you figure out a way to deal with Tang Shuang first!"
"I don't have to figure out anything. She'll come to me eventually." Ying Qingcang leaned against the backrest of his office chair with a faraway look in his eyes.
Young Master Shen frowned. "You're that confident?"
"Women like her won't stop unless they suffer a complete and devastating defeat. The more I provoke her, the more unlikely for her to give up. Besides, she thinks she has the leverage to get us to do her bidding. So, I'm guessing her next stipulation will be none other than to sleep with me."
"Haha!" Young Master Shen shot two glances at Ying Qingcang. "Trading your body for Xiao Qingqing's medication. Pretty good deal, I suppose!"
Ying Qingcang picked up the ashtray and tossed it straight at Young Master Shen. "You think I'd go through with something that disgusting?"
Things turned out to be exactly as Ying Qingcang had predicted; not two days later, Tang Shuang showed up at the company.
"Ah Cang!" Not a single hint of sadness or awkwardness could be detected on her face. She sat herself down across from Ying Qingcang with her usual sweet smile.
Ying Qingcang raised his head. "What do you want again?"
"Geez, don't be so fierce!" Tang Shuang smiled. "I'm just here to remind you that the expiry date of Xin Qing's medication is approaching! Oh, and I haven't prepared the new medication yet."
Closing the folder in his hand, Ying Qingcang smirked. "Talk. What's your condition?"
"You already know what I want," Tang Shuang said with a pout. "If anyone found out that I'm still a virgin despite us being married for so long. Something like that will harm everyone, don't you think?"
Ying Qingcang's eyes held a profound look; the dense blackness of his pupils suddenly took a brighter shade. In the end, he nodded. "Fine. I'll fulfill my responsibility as your husband. I hope you can fulfill your promise to me."
Tang Shuang left Ying Enterprises' HQ feeling smug. If Ying Qingcang slept with her, she could try to get her body to conceive as quickly as possible. When that happened, Xin Qing would never return to his side even if Ying Qingcang was still hung up on her. When she finally gave birth to the child, Ying Qingcang would surely feel compelled to look after his own flesh and blood. The corners of Tang Shuang's lips tugged into a smile at the thought. Suddenly, she heard a familiar voice.
"Shuang Shuang!"
Turning around, Tang Shuang saw a young man standing on the opposite side of the street. She ran towards the man happily. "Ah Hai! Ah Hai! Is it really you? What are you doing here?"
"I didn't hear from you a long time after you left. I got worried." The man called Ah Hai held Tang Shuang in his arms as he stared at her tenderly.
Tang Shuang's eyes glinted brightly. Then, she pointed at the tall building behind her. "See, this place is owned by my husband. I'm married!"
"What?" Shocked, Ah Hai stared at Tang Shuang in disbelief. "What did you just say?"
"I said, I'm married! And my husband is a brilliant person." Tang Shuang did not notice the sadness and resentment in Ah Hai's eyes. As if she was in a world of her own, she dragged Ah Hai and began to walk. "Come. I'll take you to stay at the best hotel and then I'll bring you to try out all the good food in town!"
"Young Master, Tang Shuang left with an unknown man," Ah Nan reported the situation to Ying Qingcang.
Ying Qingcang was in the middle of a phone conversation with Boss Wan. "This is an emergency," he spoke into the phone. "You have to send someone over ASAP." When he heard Ah Nan, he set down the phone. "A man you've never seen before?" he asked.
"Yes. From the looks of it, he's someone from her village."
"Look into the man's identity." Ying Qingcang said, and then he paused in thought. "Nah. Scratch that. I'll ask Young Master Shen about it first."
That night, Ying Qingcang told Young Master Shen everything over dinner. After listening to everything Ying Qingcang had told him, Young Master Shen thought for a moment. "If I'm not mistaken, that guy's called Ah Hai. He and Tang Shuang seem to be childhood friends. I saw the way he was looking at Tang Shuang a few times, though. Well, let's just say that it's definitely not an innocent and platonic look."
"If he has feelings for Tang Shuang, then we could use it to our advantage."
Young Master Shen had not caught on. "What do you mean?"
"Right now I need a catalyst to prove to everyone that 'Ying Qingcang got into a fight with his wife's friend out of jealousy, causing his wife's friend to be hospitalized.'" Ying Qingcang raised his brows. "What do you think of this headline?"
Young Master Shen gave him a thumbs up.
Tang Shuang treated Ah Hai to a meal in the best hotel of the city. As they ate, she spoke tirelessly about Ying Qingcang, completely ignoring Ah Hai's increasingly depressed mood. All of a sudden, she raised her head and saw Ying Qingcang walking towards her.
"Ah Hai! Look, my husband's here!" Tang Shuang stood up excitedly, though Ying Qingcang was already in front of Ah Hai, staring down at the man haughtily.
"Who are you?"
Tang Shuang quickly made the introductions. "This is my best friend ever since I'm a kid. He came here especially to see me today!"
"Shut up!" Ying Qingcang glared at her. "How dare you go on a date with another man behind my back."