The two of them sat in a coffee shop. "I was busy recently, so I didn"t call you," William said, a slow smile forming on his face. "But I haven"t forgotten what I said. Xin Qing! Have you come to a decision?"
Xin Qing stared at the man in front of her. He was, from all perspectives, the ideal marriage partner. He had money as well as status. He was gentle and polite too. No woman on earth would say no to a man like that! If she had not met Ying Qingcang first, she might have fallen for him. At the thought of Ying Qingcang, Xin Qing"s heart stung a little. But she quickly told herself not to dwell on him anymore. Something like yearning and longing would turn into a disaster if it got out of hand...
"Actually, nothing happened between us that night, right?" Xin Qing said slowly. Clarity shone through her eyes when she stared at William.
William"s smile widened. "Indeed, it"s like I said. You"re a clever girl," William said a bit helplessly. After a brief pause, he went on, "Although I have no idea what happened between you and Mr. Ying, but I can see that you don"t want to be with him. If that"s the case, don"t you think I"m your best choice?"
Xin Qing nodded in agreement. "It"s not that I don"t want to be with him. It"s just that we can"t be together," she thought.
"Marry me. I am confident that I can win your love someday in the future," William said, placing a red, velour-coated ring box on the table. "I"ll give you more time to think about it and give yourself a chance to start over!"
Xin Qing stared at the ring in her palm, her mind muddled and confused. The diamond, which was about as large as a soybean, shone brightly at her. Xin Qing showed the ring to Shi Qianqian on the screen. "Do you think I should say yes?"
"Of course not. You don"t love him." Shi Qianqian glared. "Good thing Zhang Mi was out of the country for her vacation. Otherwise she"ll rush over to you when she finds out."
"Where did she go this time?" Xin Qing placed the ring back in the box. "The diamond is too big. It doesn"t look good."
Shi Qianqian laughed surrept.i.tiously before schooling her features into a serious expression. "She went to Egypt."
"Wow. She sure knows how to travel," Xin Qing said and then paused in thought. "Alright then. I guess that"s all for now. Let"s hang up!"
Neither of them knew that Zhang Mi"s trip to Egypt would result in a major turnaround.
Young Master Shen stared at Zhang Mi, who was stealing his red wine. "Aren"t you supposed to be on your vacation?" Young Master Shen asked with a frown. "How come you"re back so soon?"
"Soon? Please. It"s already been ten days." Zhang Mi planted herself beside him and then produced a couple of photos from her handbag as if she was handling some kind of treasure. "Come, come! Indulge yourself in the photos of me in another country." Young Master Shen took the photos with a look of disinterest. He flipped through a few of them half-heartedly before throwing them back at Zhang Mi.
"Your nude photos do not interest me in the slightest," said Young Master Shen.
Zhang Mi smacked the photos against Young Master Shen"s head. "Are you looking for a fight? Are you going to give face or not?"
Young Master Shen was just about to throw out a snarky reb.u.t.tal when he suddenly went still as if he was possessed.
"Hey! What"s the matter with you?" Zhang Mi nudged him. "I haven"t even hit you yet. Why are you looking so stunned?"
Young Master Shen leaped to his feet and grabbed the photos. Then he ran, dragging Zhang Mi with him. He drove all the way to Ying Enterprises" main building. Excited, the two of them burst into Ying Qingcang"s office.
"Ying Qingcang, how are you going to thank me!" Zhang Mi exclaimed dramatically. Ying Qingcang raised his head from the paper he was reading and glanced at her. Then he ignored her.
Young Master Shen shoved the photo at Ying Qingcang"s face. "This time you really do need to thank this girl!"
"What the heck are you even—" Ying Qingcang and sprang to his feet. "Where is this?"
Zhang Mi said smugly, "Haven"t you noticed the huge pyramid? It"s such a rare thing after all."
"Ah Cang, you"ve found him without even trying. The Uncle Ying at the hospital is a fake!"
There on the table was a photo of Zhang Mi posing in an Egyptian costume. Standing beside her in the photo was none other than Ying Hao who was supposed to be lying in a hospital. There was someone else standing beside him, though the photo did not contain a full view of that person.
"I"ve already sent over some guys to Egypt," Young Master Shen said, sitting down on the couch. "Who do you think is with Uncle Ying?"
Ying Qingcang gave a cold sneer. "Humph. I didn"t see this coming at all. Looks like he really is the one pulling the strings after all. Now I have to ask him the reason he"s scheming against me and Xin Qing."
"Hey, hey, hey!" Zhang Mi said in dissatisfaction. "You guys better have some kind of explanation for what"s going on here." On the way here, Young Master Shen had told her that the man in the photo was Ying Hao. Then he told her that Ying Hao was faking his presence at some hospital. Despite having been told all that, she was still clueless about what was really going on!
Young Master Shen chuckled in delight. He tugged her towards the couch and got her to sit down. After that he began giving her the rundown of the situation. After digesting everything, Zhang Mi finally understood.
"So it means your father had forced Xin Qing to leave you?" Zhang Mi stared at Ying Qingcang. "Hah! I bet your dad wants you to marry the daughter of some wealthy family! I guess it totally slipped his mind that you"re a psychopath whom no woman would ever consider marrying."
Ying Qingcang was in a good mood, so he let Zhang Mi"s snide remark slide. "Xin Qing will marry me!" He said.
"Tsk, tsk. When I got back, Qianqian told me that William had already proposed to Xin Qing. It"s all over for you!" Zhang Mi gloated.
Young Master Shen quickly covered her mouth. "Do you want to die! You could"ve said anything but you just had to open that can of worms, didn"t you?"
"Proposed?" Ying Qingcang let out a cold sneer. "I"ll just have to see if she had the guts to say yes!"
In the dark and gloomy hut, creaks could be heard from the old ceiling fan that hung over their heads. Something in the corner of the hut moved. Someone peered in through the small window beside the door.
"Young Master, Young Master Ying. The woman is up."
Molly shook her head. "Where am I?" She thought. She could have sworn that she was in the middle of her hydrotherapy back at the hotel. "And why does my head hurt so much..."
"Awake?" A voice sounded. Molly"s head snapped up, her eyes filled with fear.
Ying Qingcang walked over slowly. "It"s been a while. You"ve covered your tracks... rather well."
"You... How did you find me?" Molly tried to stand up, but there was not a single ounce of strength left in her body. She stared at Ying Qingcang who was taking step after step towards her. Then she started to scream, "You can"t kill me! Uncle Ying will never allow it!"
From behind Ying Qingcang, Young Master Shen stepped out mirthfully. In his hand, there was a leash whose end was attached to the neck of a hunting dog about half as tall as a human. The dog looked highly aggressive as it kept trying to stand up in order to pounce on Molly. Molly stared at the dog with wide eyes. That was when she noticed the huge gonads on the dog"s lower body.
"What are you trying to do? Don"t come closer!" Startled, Molly began weeping. She kept backing and shrinking away as if her life depended on it.
"I"m not interested in you. It"s the dog who"s trying to get to you, not me!" Young Master Shen said before he released his hold on the leash. The dog burst forth, rushing towards Molly and began sniffing at a spot between her legs. Growling, the dog placed its forefeet on her shoulders, an act which nearly scared Molly to death. She could smell blood as the dog"s breath tickled her face. Molly tried to push it away with her hands, but the dog eventually lost its patience and bit down on her outstretched hand.
"Argh!" A blood-curdling scream sounded, and Young Master Shen yanked the leash backwards. "The next time I let go of the leash, I don"t think I"ll have the chance to save you."
Molly glanced at the clump of b.l.o.o.d.y flesh that was her palm. Shuddering, she stared at Ying Qingcang. "I... I"ll talk..."
"Old master, the young master isn"t picking up." Ying Hao waved his hand. "Understood. You"re dismissed!"
Ying Hao released the breath that he had been holding. How was he even found out? Now, he deeply regretted his decision to listen to Molly and allow her to roam freely. She was supposed to stay at the hotel obediently. But how did Ah Cang manage to track her down? Ying Hao knew that even if he tried to get to her now, it would have been too late. Molly must have spilled everything at this point.
In the meantime, Xin Qing was returning the ring to William.
"I"m sorry. I can"t marry you."
"You still love him?" William looked at her in mild surprise. "Look, why don"t you give me a chance? How do you know you won"t be able to love me if you don"t even try?"
Xin Qing shook her head. "This has nothing to do with him. Ah Sha is still too young. I do not wish to hurt her."
"How would this be hurting her? I"ll treat her like my own daughter," William promised.
Just then, his phone rang.
"Sorry. I have to take this," William said. He stood up and stepped aside.
"h.e.l.lo!"
"What? He found her?" William"s face darkened. If Xin Qing saw his face right then, she would no doubt jump in fright. This was nothing like the warm and gentle prince whose disposition resembled a piece of jade.
"What a load of trash. We should"ve handled it ourselves."
"Just ignore that. Looks like we need to act ahead of schedule," William said before hanging up. When he turned around and walked back towards Xin Qing, the smile was back on his face again. "You really can"t give me a chance? Or, should I say, give yourself a chance."
Xin Qing shook her head. "Sorry. I can"t do it."
"Alright, then!" William laughed. "So are we still friends?"
"Haha!" Xin Qing nodded. "Of course. I value a friend like you very much!"
William looked at her. "Then it is truly my honor!"
Xin Qing parted with William light-heartedly and in good spirits. Before she reached home, she got a call from Dianne. Dianne told her that it had been a while since they saw each other, and that she would like to treat Xin Qing to a meal. Dianne wanted take to opportunity to bid farewell to Xin Qing, since she would be working in Rome for a while. Xin Qing agreed and called Ah Che to have him deliver one of the scarfs that she had made to the restaurant where she was to meet with Dianne.
Dianne had picked a restaurant that was very well-known in the hectic parts of the city. When Xin Qing arrived, Dianne was already sitting there.
"Hi! I hope I haven"t disturbed you by calling you out all of a sudden," Dianne said sheepishly.
Xin Qing sat down and smiled at her. "I don"t have plans anyway. But your departure is rather sudden indeed. You didn"t mention this when we met at CK last time."
"Yeah. I only decided yesterday. You know as well that I don"t have many friends. I just want to see you before I leave." Dianne smiled beautifully. "Who knows we"ll be rivals when I come back!"
Xin Qing raised her gla.s.s. "I"m looking forward to it!"
When he saw Ying Qingcang slowly walking in, Ying Hao glanced at the clock on the wall. He laughed bitterly. "How fast. Must have hopped onto a plane on the same night!"
"I"m still waiting for a reasonable explanation from you. Otherwise... You know what I"ll do, don"t you?" Ying Qingcang stared at Ying Hao coldly. Although this was a man who was related to him by blood, right now, Ying Qingcang felt a strong urge to pounce on him and then strangle him. Ying Qingcang wanted to know the reasons behind his father"s actions.
Ying Hao stood up. "Follow me."
The light came to life in the consecrated chamber which held the ancestral behest. Ying Qingcang watched as Ying Hao retrieved the golden scroll containing the Ancestral Behest with great care. Slowly, Ying Hao unrolled the scroll and showed it to Ying Qingcang.
"I knew it! I just knew that this has to do with that G.o.dd.a.m.n Ancestral Behest," Ying Qingcang said, stretching out his hand. Ying Hao stepped forward and stood in Ying Qingcang"s way. "If you destroy the Ancestral Behest, I"ll die in front of you!"