After quite a number of phone calls from the two women, Fang Qingping was persuaded to come to S City. Zhao Jiali had deliberately asked to meet him at her hotel. She had also asked Li Xiaoru to accompany her to the meeting.
"Come, Xiaoru! Let me introduce you." Zhao Jiali grinned as she pointed at Fang Qingping seated across them. "This is Fang Lu"s brother. He just returned from overseas. If you"re free this weekend, why don"t you bring the siblings around town and act as their tour guide?!"
When she heard that the man was Fang Lu"s brother, Li Xiaoru started treating Fang Qingping amiably. Glancing at Zhao Jiali, Fang Qingping smiled.
That night, he smacked Zhao Jiali"s a.s.s once as she was climbing off her body. "What are you and Fang Lu planning?"
Before Zhao Jiali could answer, the doorbell rang. Fang Lu walked in excitedly, not minding at all the fact that Fang Qingping was naked and that Zhao Jiali only had a bra on. Fang Lu plopped herself down on the couch and lit a cigarette. After that, she began talking about her and Fang Lu"s plan.
"Not interested!" Fang Qingping said with a shrug after they had told him everything.
Fang Lu shot him a glance. "Bro, father is in good health right now. You"ll have to wait for another twenty years to inherit everything from him. That old man Li is already past seventy. If you marry Li Xiaoru, who knows you might inherit the entire Li company by next year."
"I"m not desperate for money. What do I want the Li family"s inheritance for?" Fang Qingping smiled and glanced at the two women. "You two sure know how to scheme. However, it"s still hard to tell who"s going to reap the most benefit when the time comes."
Zhao Jiali leaned against him. "Oh, come on. We"re both your women. We"ll help you handle the company when the time comes. You"re free to do whatever you want. You don"t have to give a d.a.m.n about Li Xiaoru at all."
"I only like women. And I like women who will fall into bed with me willingly." Fang Qingping stood up and slowly got dressed. "I"m not interested in whatever you two are planning. And I think it"s best for you to forget the whole thing." He reminded Zhao Jiali. "Your husband is smart enough to build his family business to the point it is today. Do it at your own risk."
The door slammed shut as Fang Qingping left the room. "d.a.m.n it!" Fang Lu punched the table as she stared after Fang Qingping"s departure. "What do we do now?"
A dark, savage scowl formed on Zhao Jiali"s face as she tossed the ashtray onto the floor angrily. "We"ll find another way. I refuse to believe that we can"t find the right man for the job."
Shi Qianqian and Ding Lei returned a week before Xin Qing"s wedding. When she returned, Shi Qianqian called Xin Qing. Xin Qing told Shi Qianqian to meet her at the hotel she was currently staying at.
"Why are you staying in a hotel for no reason at all?" Shi Qianqian asked as she took out the gift she had brought with her.
Beside them, Zhang Mi rolled her eyes. "His man"s got a bad case of prenuptial anxiety. It"s like his mind just won"t stop jumping from one thing to another. Everything was fine and dandy, but all of a sudden, he insisted on having the entire house renovated. Now the entire family is forced to stay at a hotel."
"Oh, that"s normal. My house has been renovated, too," Shi Qianqian said casually.
"What? When? How come we don"t know about it?" Zhang Mi and Xin Qing said at the same time.
Shi Qianqian distributed the gifts and then she looked at the two women who were staring back at her expectantly. "Oh, we bought a new house. We"ll move in tomorrow."
"What? Where?"
"Didn"t your man tell you?" Shi Qianqian asked. "We got it with his help."
Xin Qing gaped in shock. "How dare him?! He never told me!"
"Don"t tell me you guys bought the second phase villa behind their house?" Zhang Mi clapped her hands together. "I heard Ying Enterprises has made investments in it."
Shi Qianqian nodded. "That"s right. Basically, the place is half a hill top away from Xin Qing"s house."
"Seriously?" Xin Qing was overjoyed. "Then from now on, we"ll be neighbors!"
Zhang Mi"s lips twisted in disdain. "Oh yeah, everything"s working out just fine and dandy for you two. What about me?"
"Why do you even need a villa for if you"re living alone? Well, if you want, we could always empty out our storage room for you," Shi Qianqian teased. Zhang Mi raised her fist and uttered an oath, "I swear I"ll find a man for myself who"s also staying in that same area!"
Xin Qing looked at her. "Um, Young Master Shen"s living there too..."
Zhang Mi shot her a dirty look. "That"s an animal"s house. I"m human."
That night, humanity"s imperceptible sins were shrouded by the twinkling city lights and the air of hedonism. Morality was trampled by the vicious beast that was greed.
Li Xiaoru shut her eyes and slumped against the couch. Fang Lu refilled her gla.s.s with more alcohol.
"Come! Come! Xiaoru, have another drink."
Li Xiaoru waved her hands. "Fang Lu, I can"t drink anymore. I feel sick."
Fang Lu pressed down on Li Xiaoru"s hand and then brought the gla.s.s to Li Xiaoru"s mouth. "Come on. Have one more gla.s.s. Last one! It"s rare that we have a chance to come out and have some fun. I"ll send you home if you get drunk!" After that, Fang Lu poured the liquor into Li Xiaoru"s mouth. Li Xiaoru"s chin was raised; she did not have the strength to push away. After finishing the gla.s.s, Li Xiaoru threw up.
"Let me help you to the washroom!" Fang Lu pulled Li Xiaoru to her feet, though the latter pushed her away. "It"s fine. I can go on my own."
Fang Lu watched as Li Xiaoru stumbled out of the booth. She picked up her phone and dialed a number. "Everything"s set. Get ready. We"re about to head out."
In her haze, Li Xiaoru b.u.mped into someone on her way out of the washroom. "Oh, I"m so sorry... I didn"t see you."
Chen Ming reached out and stilled the woman who was about to smack face-first into his chest. A look of disdain and contempt flashed across his eyes. When he saw her face, however, his heart stopped. "It"s her?" he thought.
"Are you okay?" Chen Ming helped the woman to her feet. "You here alone?"
Li Xiaoru raised her head and saw Chen Ming. All of a sudden, joy filled her face. "You, you"re the one who sent me to the hospital that day!" she yelled.
"That"s just a trivial matter, and yet you still remember it." Chen Ming frowned when he noticed that the woman could hardly remain upright at this point. "How did you get so drunk? Let me send you home!"
Li Xiaoru nodded. "Thank you so much. G.o.d, my head is spinning so hard right now."
"You"re welcome."
Fang Lu waited for a long time in the booth, but Li Xiaoru did not show. She received a call instead.
"Miss Fang, I thought you told us that it"s just you two coming out. How come there"s a guy with her?"
"What?" Fang Lu said in shock, "She already went out?"
Evidently, the caller was unaware of Fang Lu"s ignorance of that fact. The caller was silent for a brief moment. "Yeah. There"s a man helping her. They"re already in the car now."
When Fang Lu was silent for a long time, the caller asked, "Do you want me to go after them?"
"Nah," Fang Lu said in annoyance, "Remember the license plate. Call off the operation today."
Zhao Jiali was taken by surprise when she saw Li Xiaoru"s return. Chen Ming noticed something suspicious in Zhao Jiali"s reaction too. After handing Li Xiaoru over to her, he asked, "You seem rather surprised to see your daughter"s return. Err... She"s your daughter, right?"
"Ah!" Zhao Jiali snapped out of it and quickly smiled. "Thank you! Thanks for taking our Xiaoru back home safely."
All of a sudden, Li Xiaoru reached out and tugged Chen Ming"s sleeve. "I still don"t know your name."
"I"m Chen Ming."
"I"m Li Xiaoru. Thank you for helping me once again!" Li Xiaoru said. There was a deep blush on her face, though it was uncertain whether it was due to the alcohol"s effect or her own shyness.
Chen Ming nodded. "You"re welcome. It"s not a big deal." Chen Ming glanced at Zhao Jiali again. Zhao Jiali ordered the servants to start preparing some soup to help Li Xiaoru sober up. After that, she turned to smile at Chen Ming. "Mr. Chen, why don"t you come in and have some coffee!"
"No need. I"ve delivered the girl home safely. It"s time for me to go," Chen Ming said before turning around to take his leave. Zhao Jiali shut the door before Li Xiaoru could call out to him. Zhao Jiali got Li Xiaoru into bed and then returned to her own room to call Fang Lu. Fang Lu was in a foul mood. She told Zhao Jiali that they would talk about it when they met up the next day.
At noon the following day, Xin Qing met up with Xin Yudie, who had come to the hotel to visit her. Xin Yudie had brought her twins along for the visit. Ah Sha was thrilled to see the twins; she ran after the twins, flailing her tiny arms. Xin Qing watched the children with a grin on her face. "Have you noticed the resemblance between Ah Sha, Gungun and Nuannuan? It"s becoming more and more obvious these days."
Gungun was the name of one of the twins, the boy. His official name was Huang Yi. The girl was called Nuannuan with her real name being Huang Li. Apparently, those names were bestowed upon the twins by a Feng Shui master that Huang Jianbin had hired; the names were guaranteed to be auspicious and propitious.
"I know, right!" Xin Yudie said as she scrutinized the children, "If it Ah Sha isn"t younger, people might even believe it if we say that they are triplets."
"That"s probably a good thing. I mean, when they grow up, people could tell from a glance that they really are related to each other!" Xin Qing said contently.
"Stop overthinking." Xin Yudie comforted. "Even if Ah Sha finds out in the future that you aren"t her biological mother, she won"t feel sad. Putting aside the fact that you do share the same blood with Ah Sha, she will see you as her real mother just from the way you love and treat her as if she were your real daughter."
"Ying Qingcang told me the same thing," Xin Qing said with a shrug, "I keep overthinking things."
Xin Yudie stared at her. "You really need to count your blessings. You have no idea how many people in S City are dying to get an invitation to your wedding!"
"Huh?! People would fight over something like that?"
"People are saying that the jewelry you"ll be wearing during your wedding is worth more than ten million. Hey, hey. Come on, tell me. Is it true?"
Xin Qing barked out a laugh. "That"s way over the top. The media is always looking to exaggerate the truth. Can"t believe you bought it."
"So it"s true, then!" Xin Yudie said, "Tsk, tsk. You know I"ll gladly wait until the day itself to look at it. I"ll just feel jealous if I look now."
"Oh, now I see. So, that"s the real reason you"re here today. To make yourself feel jealous?"
All of a sudden, Xin Yudie"s expression turned serious. "Did Ying Qingcang ask someone to keep tabs on Zhao Jiali?"
"I think so. Why? What"s wrong with her?" Xin Qing was rattled by the look on Xin Yudie"s face and was starting to feel anxious too.
"She came looking for Huang Jianbin," Xin Yudie said before letting out a cold sneer. "Do you know what she tried to do?"
Xin Qing shook her head. "To ask Huang Jianbin to persuade you to reconcile with her?"
"Pfft! She tried to seduce Huang Jianbin and get him to sleep with her!" Xin Yudie said contemptuously, "Shameless to this extent. I truly hate the fact that she was the one who had given birth to me."
"You"re kidding me..." Xin Qing stared at Xin Yudie, her mouth agape. "But that"s her son-in-law!"
"There are only two things in her eyes. Men and money. She cares nothing about the origins of those men and money." Xin Yudie"s eyes remained fixed upon Xin Qing. "It"s best if you tell Ying Qingcang to keep an eye on her. Whatever she"s trying to do, I think you"re the target."
"Okay. I"ll tell him," Xin Qing said, patting her chest. "Good thing Huang Jianbin has finally decided to settle down with you. If she really got what she was looking for, I can"t begin to imagine what it"s going to be like for you!"
A sudden coldness formed in Xin Yudie"s eyes as her expression turned vicious. "I"m still pregnant right now so I can"t do anything. After I"ve given birth, I"ll settle the score with her!"
When Ying Qingcang returned that night, Xin Qing told him everything.
"She"s trying to get her hands on the Li family"s inheritance." Ying Qingcang leaned back in the couch, enjoying his first ever ma.s.sage from Xin Qing.
Xin Qing did not it surprising at all that Zhao Jiali"s purpose was to obtain the inheritance. The key was how. How was she planning to accomplish it? Could it be that she was planning to hire someone to murder Li Guihai?
Ying Qingcang knew what Xin Qing was thinking, so he said, "During Ah Sha"s birthday party, the old man who spoke to me was Li Guihai."
"You told him everything about Zhao Jiali?"