Silence pervaded the room after Ying Qingcang"s words had dissipated. It was as if all the air had been sucked out of the room, like a state of vacuum. Ah Sha had accidentally got the bath towel on her own head. Now that she could no longer see Xin Qing"s face due to the towel, Ah Sha began mumbling, which snapped Xin Qing back into reality.
"Fine. You sleep here. I"ll take the guestroom," Xin Qing growled and turned away, deliberately refusing to look at Ying Qingcang"s naked torso.
Ying Qingcang ignored her and went to work on his pants. Xin Qing rushed out of the bathroom with Ah Sha in her arms. She ran to the guestroom and sat there motionlessly. After that, she realized that all of Ah Sha"s clothes were still in the master bedroom, so she crept back, wanting to grab them. At the door, she saw no signs of Ying Qingcang in the room. There were sounds of running water from the bathroom. Panicking, Xin Qing hurried inside and quickly grabbed Ah Sha"s clothes. She dumped the clothes into the cot, which she pushed all the way to the guestroom. She went into the guestroom, not forgetting to lock the door behind her. After placing a milk bottle in Ah Sha"s mouth, Xin Qing settled the baby in the cot. After that, she went to take her bath in peace.
Xin Qing had a towel wrapped around her body and was humming a song when she opened the bathroom door. She stepped out and saw Ying Qingcang on the bed. The blanket was covered up to his lower abs, leaving his taut muscles completely bare. Under the light, it was as if his muscles had some kind of fluorescent effect, sparking one"s desire to reach out and touch them. At that thought, Xin Qing nearly jumped out of her own skin.
"How did you get in?"
Ying Qingcang"s eyes swept towards the door. Xin Qing followed his gaze and saw a bunch of keys dangling from the doork.n.o.b.
"Where did you get those keys?" Xin Qing was at the verge of going insane at this point. She did not even know where the keys were kept in this house.
"Downstairs, in the storage room. Why? Didn"t you know?" Ying Qingcang"s face had a look of surprise. Too bad his eyes had given it all away by having "I knew you wouldn"t have known" written all over them.
She would most definitely strangle Young Master Shen to death the next time she saw him. Xin Qing glared at Ying Qingcang. "Fine. You sleep here. I"ll sleep in the next room," Xin Qing said, fuming.
"Oh. Go on, then!" Ying Qingcang said, already lifting the covers off of him. Xin Qing rushed forward in a few steps and pressed down on the side of the blanket. "Don"t you dare move!" she yelled.
He was most certainly naked from the waist down. She could not allow him to come out from under the covers.
"Fine! I won"t move." Ying Qingcang"s eyes darkened all of a sudden. Right now, his intense stare was aimed straight at Xin Qing.
Xin Qing soon realized that it was not her face that he was staring at. Hopelessly, she glanced down, and then she released a shriek. She did not even bother picking up her bath towel, which had fallen off her and was then lying in a heap near the bathroom door. Instead, she leaped onto the bed and slipped under the blanket to cover herself.
"Hehehe..." A deep and low chuckle could be heard beside her ear. Ying Qingcang"s voice was like a devil"s curse. "So. Seems like you can"t wait to sleep with me!"
Xin Qing did not think she would be able to shed a single tear even if she wanted to. She crawled to the edge of the bed, distancing herself from him. Only her head was visible while the rest of her was hidden under the blanket. "Can we not do this?"
"Do what?" Ying Qingcang asked, though he knew d*mn well what she had been referring to.
Xin Qing gritted her teeth. "We"ve already broken up. Please respect me, and please respect yourself also."
"If I have no respect for you, do you think you"ll still be under the covers right now?" Ying Qingcang said coldly. "Have you forgotten what I"d done to you at the beginning when I held no respect for you?"
Xin Qing shuddered at the memory of the seven nights they had shared when they had first got together. She looked at him warily. "You can"t do that. You"ve given me your word. It hasn"t been two years yet."
"You"re thinking too much." Ying Qingcang rolled off the bed. Xin Qing flinched and was just about to close her eyes when she saw the pajama bottoms covering the lower half of his body. "Ying Qingcang gave her a sidelong glance. "I was just here to check on Ah Sha to see if she has fallen asleep. There"s nothing for you to worry about. I"m no longer interested in you." After throwing out those words, Ying Qingcang left, shutting the door behind him.
Xin Qing heaved a sigh of relief. The tautness of her body slowly eased. After that, she tasted saltiness at the side of her lips. When she reached up to touch, she realized that the taste was a result of her own tears. She sniffed, picked up Ah Sha from the cot, and carefully hugged the baby to her chest. Ah Sha had fallen asleep during sometime between all this.
"Ah Sha..." Xin Qing said, poking the baby"s plump face. "If I could erase those memories, would I feel better? He has a fiancé now. He doesn"t need me anymore!" Xin Qing hid herself under the covers. Amidst her m.u.f.fled sobs, she mumbled, "It"s alright this way. It"s alright..."
Outside the door, Ying Qingcang"s hand were clenched into tight fists. His eyes, deep and pained, stared intently at the floor. After a while, he raised his head, taking a deep breath. Slowly, he headed back to the next room.
At first, Xin Qing thought that being in a new environment would affect Ah Sha"s sleep. But the little girl had only woken up once during the night, and even then, it was already dawn. Xin Qing had got up and fed Ah Sha more milk. After that, the baby fell back to sleep with the milk bottle still in her mouth. Xin Qing woke up in the morning with puffy and swollen eyes. She watched the sleeping form of the little person, whose mouth was covered with foamy drool. "How nice to be a child again," she thought. "Innocence is indeed bliss!"
She washed her face to clear the sleep from her head. When she was done, she caught a glimpse of her own reflection in the mirror and noticed how puffy her eyes were. She could not help but scorn herself. "So what? Why do I even bother?" she thought. She smacked her face a few times and headed downstairs. She walked into the living room at the same time the front door opened. Ying Qingcang walked in carrying a few plastic bags in his hands. He still looked as handsome as ever, a fact that had once again stirred Xin Qing"s emotions into instability. "What right does he have to look all fine and dandy whereas I could barely sleep a wink for the whole night?" she thought. As her mind drifted along those thoughts, her mood and att.i.tude grew sullen.
"Come eat breakfast!" From the bag, Ying Qingcang took out the soup buns, Chinese crullers and chicken porridge that he had bought. Xin Qing recognized the food that had been served on the table. It was from a Chinese restaurant at least five blocks away.
"Not hungry," Xin Qing said, pressing a hand to her stomach.
Ying Qingcang looked at her, his eyes darkening. Then, he turned around and headed upstairs. Xin Qing stared anxiously at his leaving form, thinking that perhaps her tone had sounded a tad too b.i.t.c.hy just now. After a while, she smacked her own skull.
"What am I thinking? I"m not at fault!" she thought. Turning around, she stole another glance at the food that had been arranged on the table. Steam rose from the food, which meant that they were still warm. She glanced at the stairs again. Then, she quickly picked a soup bun and shoved it into her mouth.
"Argh!" She jumped in place, covering her mouth with a hand as she sucked in quick breaths. "Hot! Hot!"
"It"s called soup buns for a reason, you idiot. It"s filled with soup." Xin Qing"s eyes were red and she was still covering her mouth when she raised her head. She saw Ying Qingcang standing at the bottom of the staircase with Ah Sha in his arms. Ah Sha was even laughing at her present state.
Ying Qingcang deposited Ah Sha on the high chair. Then he walked to the fridge and took out an ice cube from the freezer. He approached Xin Qing and stood before her. "Open your mouth," he said grumpily. "Let"s me see if you"ve scalded yourself."
"Mm..." Xin Qing hummed, opening her mouth. A crease formed on Ying Qingcang"s brows. "There"s a blister. How are you going to eat now?" he said, gently sliding the ice cube into Xin Qing"s mouth. He glared at her. "Keep it there and don"t move."
Xin Qing fought through the pain and sat down. Ah Sha had noticed Xin Qing"s puffed cheeks and thought that Xin Qing"s mouth contained something tasty. Ah Sha reached out her tiny hands and began smacking Xin Qing"s face.
"Don"t touch her. She has dog c.r.a.p in her mouth," Ying Qingcang said, stroking Ah Sha"s head while pushing a bowl of porridge towards Xin Qing.
Xin Qing rolled her eyes. "As if the baby could understand whatever you say," she thought. Then, she glanced at the porridge. "I"ll pa.s.s. My mouth hurts," she said, her lips deflating as if she had lost a couple of teeth.
"Who says this is for you?" Ying Qingcang said, putting the bib on Ah Sha. "I"m asking you to feed her."
Xin Qing glared daggers at him. She picked up the porridge and began feeding it to Ah Sha. It was as if her IQ points would drop to some negative value whenever Ying Qingcang was around. It had to be that they were not on the same frequency... Otherwise, she would not end up embarra.s.sing herself in front of him every time.
It was as if Ying Qingcang could read her mind. "You usually just hang around people with an intelligence level similar to yours. That"s why you"ll feel pretty smart," he said, sipping lazily at a bottle of soy milk.
The obvious implication behind his words was that if she hung around a bunch of stupid people, she would seem less stupid.
"You..." Xin Qing"s reb.u.t.tal was cut off by Ying Qingcang.
"It"s best if you talk less and close your mouth. Tomorrow"s Ah Sha"s birthday, and I"ve already made reservations at a Michelin restaurant. Don"t tell me you"re not planning to eat anything tomorrow!"
With those words, Ying Qingcang had successfully shut Xin Qing up. After she had finish feeding Ah Sha, Xin Qing went online to look for ways to speed up the healing of her wound. She found a couple of drugs that might help, just that she did not have them at the house. She decided to take Ah Sha out to the pharmacy to buy the drugs. She could go on a stroll on the way, too. Just then, Ying Qingcang, who had left the house for no reason just now, returned. In his hand, he carried two boxes of medicine.
"Take these meds," he said, pa.s.sing her the boxes. He went into the kitchen to pour some water for her.
Xin Qing opened the box containing the meds and took the offered gla.s.s. "Will the meds you bought even work? I"d hate to take them only to see that they have no effect at all."
Seeing that she was being so talkative, Ying Qingcang narrowed his eyes and asked, "So you"re not in pain anymore, huh?"
Xin Qing quickly shook her head and took the meds. She was forced to stay indoors for the entire day. According to Ying Qingcang, the air outdoors was polluted and might cause her wound to get infected. "You think this is our home country? The air here is fresh, mind you," Xin Qing grumbled inwardly. She did not dare say those words aloud though. She stayed at home obediently and kept Ah Sha company.
She did not know if it was the effects of the drug, but the following night when they were about to head out for dinner, Xin Qing found that the blister on her mouth had recovered a great deal. Although the blister was still there, but she would no longer feel pain as long as she did not touch it. Formal wear was a requirement for any customer of the Michelin restaurant. Men had to wear a suit and a tie whereas women had to put on evening dresses. Tonight, Xin Qing had dolled herself up. She wore a modified version of a cheongsam. She also had her hair up with a ma.s.sive peony secured at the back of her head. With the pale green color of her cheongsam, she looked like a blossoming peony. She was absolutely gorgeous!
Ying Qingcang had been giving her strange looks the moment she came downstairs. He kept staring at her with a dark look on his face. Xin Qing had no idea what came over him, so she pretended not to notice. When the three of them appeared at the restaurant, they had stirred up quick a ruckus. Needless to say, Ying Qingcang looked totally eye-catching in his black tuxedo. With features rivalling that of a Greek G.o.d, he stood there like a shining beacon. Western men had always found Chinese women fascinating. In that moment, when such a beautiful and delicate-looking Chinese doll walked into the room, all males" eyes were drawn to her instantly. It went without saying that the little baby that formed a white bundle in Ying Qingcang"s arms had commanded just as much attention.
The three of them followed the waiting staff to their table. Ying Qingcang had pre-ordered their food, and the waiting staff had already opened a bottle of red wine beforehand. Warm fruit punch was even prepared for Ah Sha. Seeing that Ying Qingcang still had a sullen look on his face, she tried to find a topic in order to ease him into a conversation.
"What did you order for us?"
Ying Qingcang looked at her. The words formed on his lips slowly. "You"ve scalded your mouth. You can"t eat anything regardless of what I"ve ordered."
Xin Qing was entertaining thoughts of reaching for her clutch so she could throw it at him when she saw Meyer sitting at another table not far away. He was looking at her in shock. Two other women sat beside Meyer. One of them was Ailey.