Xin Qing turned her head around and stared at Ying Qingcang in utter disbelief. It was like she barely knew the man at all.
"How can you be so shameless?" Xin Qing could not believe what she was seeing. Was this still the same man she loved?
Gentle moonlight shone down upon their bodies. As Ying Qingcang slowly bent his body at his waist, Xin Qing was forced to take consecutive steps backwards. When she felt her back hit the wall, she held her hand out in front of her chest to prevent Ying Qingcang from coming any closer. Ying Qingcang lowered his head towards her and she noticed the way his eyes were sparkling as if they held bits and pieces of starlight in them.
"If this isn't what you wanted, would you be sneaking glances at me during dinner? If you don't want this, then why is your face so red?"
Xin Qing could practically hear her own heartbeat at this point. She highly suspected that her eyes had been playing tricks on her; it was just not possible for Ying Qingcang to look at her with that kind of eyes...
"Go away, I'm not interested in your investment." Xin Qing centered her emotions and leaned back against the wall as if it were her only lifeline. Ying Qingcang would be breathing right into her ear if she lowered her head, which meant she had no choice but to raise her head high and stare up at him.
Once again, Ying Qingcang's expression revealed the kind of smile that was filled with mockery and ridicule. "Haha. Are you trying to get me to kiss you?"
"In your dreams. You..." Xin Qing's words were cut off by the press of his lips on her own.
In an instant, her entire oral cavity was suffused with Ying Qingcang's taste. It was like he had assaulted her mouth with a force capable of conquering an entire city. Xin Qing's eyes widened and, slowly, she realized that Ying Qingcang's kisses were becoming gentler. Her eyes gradually turned hazy with lust, and soon, she found herself matching his rhythm. Unbeknownst to her, her arms had looped around the man's neck some time amidst all the action.
"Ah Qing!" There was a loud yell. Jiang Qianren rushed over and shoved Ying Qingcang aside.
Xin Qing jumped in fright, pressing her palm to her lips as she allowed Jiang Qianren to pull her into his arms.
"I've really overestimated your character, President Ying. It turns out that you're just another shameless lowlife who bullies women."
Ying Qingcang looked steadily at Xin Qing, his eyes darkening slightly. Then, a playful smirk formed on his lips. "Bully? When did you see me bullying her?" Ying Qingcang's intense gazed remained fixed upon Xin Qing. "Weren't you into it just now? You even hugged me back."
"President Ying, I think it's best if we have a civilized discussion," Xin Qing said, pushing herself away from Jiang Qianren. After tidying up her clothes, she met Ying Qingcang's gaze with a serious expression. She did not want to lose her self-control every time she saw him. Every time something humiliating like this happened, she would feel an urge to slap herself afterwards.
However, Ying Qingcang was unwilling to play ball. Instead of staying to talk, he slowly made his way back to his room. Jiang Qianren stepped in and blocked his path. "No matter what your intentions are, Xin Qing is now the woman I'm interested in. Come at me if you dare. Let's see which one between us will perish first."
"You're interested in her?" Ying Qingcang halted his steps, angling his head to look at Jiang Qianren. "Well, then I look forward to see how she can marry into your family. Haha!"
Xin Qing watched as Ying Qingcang shut the door of his room. Everything she had wanted to say was now swallowed back down her throat. She glared at Jiang Qianren. "Can you not add to my troubles?"
"I was being serious. I'm head over heels for you. But you've known that a long time ago, haven't you?" Jiang Qianren yawned. "Well, time to sleep!"
Xin Qing did not sleep well at all for the remainder of the night; her mind was filled with thoughts of Ying Qingcang. After a while, she thought she suddenly saw him walking towards her, completely naked. The next thing she knew, he was pulling her into his arms while she reciprocated his advances by wrapping her naked legs around his equally naked waist. Xin Qing released a loud scream. Her eyes snapped open.
Phew... She sighed in relief. It was just a dream.
"Mommy!" A knocking sound came from her door. "Are you awake? It's time for breakfast!"
Xin Qing quickly washed up and got dressed before she headed downstairs. Breakfast was already served courtesy of Ah Che. Then again, most of them were ready-made foods. All he had to do was heat them up. There was plenty of milk, though; Jiang Qianren brought along an entire crate, and Ying Qingcang added another afterwards.
"Didn't you want to talk? I have time after breakfast." Ying Qingcang said, looking at Xin Qing as though last night's incident never happened.
"Well, I no longer feel like discussing anything with you right now," Xin Qing answered as she sipped her milk.
"If you're that worried, you can always ask him to be in the same room while we talk," Ying Qingcang said, pointing at Jiang Qianren. The latter's gaze settled on Xin Qing's face. Xin Qing set down her glass of milk and stood up. "No need. Let's go!" She said. Jiang Qianren frowned at her reaction. He had planned to go after her at first. But afterwards, he decided to stay put.
They went into a small guest bedroom which was equipped with all kinds of acoustic facilities. It was probably used as some kind of game room in the past. Xin Qing stood in front of the window. "Talk," she said.
"No need to be so nervous. In broad daylight like this? I wouldn't be interested even if you want to try something." Ying Qingcang sat down on the couch and crossed his leg, staring back at her.
Xin Qing bit her lip. "Just get out if you keep talking rubbish like that."
"Fine. It's about this piece of land. Within this forest, in an area near the mountain, there's an underground cave. There are a lot of natural geysers and springs inside that cave. The spring water has a temperature of 40 degrees, which is lower than the temperature of most hot springs. But it's still natural spring water."
When Ying Qingcang did not speak after a while, Xin Qing frowned. "So you bought this land because you saw value in the geysers inside the cave? Okay. But why tell me now?" She asked.
"Because I lack the funds to make a full investment," Ying Qingcang said with a shrug. "I've always disliked working with banks, so I chose you instead."
Xin Qing released a caustic laugh. "Have you forgotten about our current positions? Right now you're trying to reclaim Ying Enterprises and I'm the one standing in your way. Under those circumstances, you're telling me that you want to collaborate with Xin Enterprises? Do you actually think that's possible?"
"Don't be so quick to reject the idea," Ying Qingcang said, rising to his feet. "There are no permanent enemies in the business world, only permanent benefits. You can go back and think about it. Maybe try discussing it with the others before you give me an answer."
Xin Qing was about to tell him that no discussions were necessary, but then she realized that Ying Qingcang was already walking away in quick strides. She glanced out the window again and saw the blizzard that was still raging outside. A moment later, she stomped her foot in frustration. The next day, other than coming out for meals, Ying Qingcang had shut himself inside his room. Xin Qing, Jiang Qianren, and Ah Che were having a conversation in the living room while the children were all upstairs playing. That night when Xin Qing was about to turn in, Xiao Rui snuck into her room.
"Mom, there's something inside his body."
Xin Qing did not need to be told to know whom Xiao Rui was referring to. "What is it? What did you sense?" She asked in shock.
"I already felt something wrong during Caesar Academy's dance party, though I couldn't be sure at that time. But after being around him for the past two days, I'm now certain that there's some kind of object inside his body." Xiao Rui paused and looked at Xin Qing with an expression that was far too mature for his age. Then, he picked up where he left off. "I can feel that the object is metallic. But I don't know what it is."
Xin Qing forced herself to calm down and to think over what she had just been told. After a moment, she asked, "Are you positive?"
"I'm absolutely positive," Xiao Rui said with a nod. "We can go to Boss Wan after we get off the mountain. He's got this huge collection of weird stuff and gadgets, right? Let me go there and have a look. If there's anything Boss Wan has that matches the magnetic field of the object inside his body, I'll be able to sense it."
"My God, Xiao Rui, you're so brilliant!" Xin Qing cupped the little guy's cheeks and kissed him. Xiao Rui blushed. "Mom, I'm already 10 years old."
Xin Qing pinched his cheeks once more. "You'll still be my son even when you're 20!"
Xiao Rui lowered his head and mumbled a soft "good night". When he reached the door, Xiao Rui suddenly stopped short. "By the way, are you planning to give Mr. Jiang a chance?" He asked.
"Oh shush! What are you talking about!" Xin Qing glared.
"Then you shouldn't interact with Mr. Jiang too much," Xiao Rui said with a straight face. "At least not in front of him."
Xin Qing failed to understand what Xiao Rui meant. "Why?"
"Because every time you spoke to Mr. Jiang, his emotions were in turmoil," Xiao Rui said, curling his lips. "I'm guessing he was jealous."
After Xiao Rui left her room, Xin Qing covered her face and crawled back under the blanket. She tossed and turned around twice. Then, she hugged a pillow and kissed it twice.
"Hmph! Bully me again, and I'll turn you into a green-eyed monster..."
The blizzard subsided the next morning. When Xin Qing was tidying up the kitchen after lunch, she saw Ah Che rushing into the kitchen.
"Young Miss! Ah Nan and Monica are here."
When Xin Qing walked out, she saw Ah Nan staring at Ying Qingcang with a look of excitement on his face. Beside Ah Nan, Monica rolled her eyes forcefully. Monica ran up to her happily the moment she saw Xin Qing. "Are you alright? Are you alright? We're here to pick you up."
"I'm fine. Thank God Jiang Qianren came to us. Otherwise we would've frozen to death, and not to mention died of hunger!" Xin Qing said, beaming at Jiang Qianren. There was a fierce glint in Jiang Qianren's eyes as he feigned a threatening look. "You dare pull that formal act with me?" He growled.
Monica rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Now come on, guys, chop-chop! Start packing so that we can leave this place. It'll be a tough journey once it gets dark."
Xin Qing had originally planned to invite Jiang Qianren to have dinner with them back at the house. But he had actually snuck out from his unit a few days ago to get to them. Plus, the entire southern region of the country was plagued with winter storms right now, which was why he had to report back to duty immediately. Judging from his behavior when it was time for him to leave, Jiang Qianren was clearly reluctant to part with Xin Qing. Before he left, he even gave Xin Qing a promise.
"Feel free to do whatever you please, okay? You still have me if Ying Qingcang tries to do something to Xin Enterprises! If push comes to shove, I'll lead a squad straight to him and then blow up his ass!"
Resigned, Xin Qing saw the man off. After that, she gave Shi Qianqian and Xin Yudie a call each. After a night's rest, she brought Wangwang and the other three kids to see Boss Wan the next day.
All this while, she had thought that Boss Wan's home was in Genting where the casino was. But a chopper came to pick them up when they landed in Malaysia. They got on the chopper and flew above the sea for a long time until they finally arrived at an island. As the chopper slowly made its descent, they saw Chen Huan waving at them eagerly. Boss Wan, the cool badass that he was, stood behind her with Liuliu in his arms.
"Welcome! My poor friends who had been stranded in the mountains during Chinese New Year." Chen Huan laughed and patted Xunxun's shoulder in jest. "You brought it upon yourself by refusing to come back with me!"
Xunxun pulled Ah Sha's hand and brushed past Chen Huan. Chen Huan turned her head to look at Xin Qing. "Hey, you sure you don't want to reconsider? You really want to marry your daughter off to such an uncute brat?"
Xin Qing chuckled. "You know what? A marriage between those two never even crossed my mind. You guys were the ones who were overly enthusiastic," Xin Qing thought.
"Let's eat first. After that I'll bring you down to the base," Boss Wan said, giving Xin Qing a nod. Boss Wan had bought the entire island, which had a mountain on it. Half of the mountain's body had been hollowed out and the base was established tens of meters underground. In fact, the base was so deep underground that it could avoid the detection of any satellite.
Xin Qing stared at the array of strange equipment displayed all over the place. The equipment came in various sizes, and other than guns and fighter jets, Xin Qing could not recognized anything else.
"Let's go sit over there while we wait!" Chen Huan grabbed Xin Qing's arm to stop her from walking any further. Xin Qing saw the three kids following Boss Wan as they poked around at a bunch of equipment. She nodded and followed Chen Huan to the surveillance room.
Looking down from above, Xin Qing realized that there were armed men dressed in black everywhere on the base. Those men would seem to pop out of nowhere and then disappear again after taking two steps.
Wangwang was asleep by the time they finished their coffee. That was also when Xin Qing saw Xiao Rui running into the room.
"Mom! I felt something. This place really has that thing!" Having heard Xiao Rui's announcement, Xin Qing stood up and glanced at Boss Wan anxiously. The latter placed a metallic chip the size of a fingernail down on the desk.
"Hey," Chen Huan said, picking up the chip. "Hah! They sure don't hold anything back when it comes to splurging! This little thing could be traded for a jet."
"What... What's that thing?" Xin Qing dared not move an inch.
Boss Wan rapped the table with his knuckles twice. "That, my friend, is currently the smallest and most technologically advanced listening and tracking device ever made. Usually, they'll be planted inside the bodies of spies and POWs."
"Okay. So what does that mean?" Xin Qing stared at the chip which was currently sitting on Chen Huan's palm. "Ying Qingcang is being wiretapped?"
Chen Huan glanced at Xin Qing. "Oh, no. This isn't just a simple wiretapping device!"