S City. Ying Qingcang had not expected Randa to be able to recognize him.
They were at a dinner party event held by Ying Enterprises. At the beginning of this year, Ying Enterprises had managed to secure a permit from the government, which would grant Ying Enterprises the right to use and develop an old city region in the northern part of S City. To Ying Enterprises, this was a big deal, as it would mean a substantial influx of profits within the next five years. Real estate firms, big and small, had sent representatives to attend the party. By making an appearance before Ying Qingcang, they were hoping to increase their likelihood of reaping additional benefits from the event.
Monica stood there, feeling slightly agitated. When she arrived at the party with her guests, she was immediately stopped by Ah Nan. Too bad her quality friend had already rushed inside. Ah Nan had then given Monica the rundown of the situation with Randa. That was when Monica knew that she had caused trouble for Ying Qingcang.
"President Ying, I really didn"t expect to run into you here," Randa had suited up for the event today and was looking like a legitimate foreigner.
Deep down, Randa was very surprised, too. He had caught a glimpse of Ying Qingcang from afar during the auction of the diamond. Who knew the day would come for him to meet the man face to face.
"I"m sorry, you are?" Ying Qingcang said with a straight face, pretending not to know Randa.
A pet.i.te Chinese woman had been standing beside Randa throughout the interaction. She gave Ying Qingcang a sweet smile. "President Ying, it"s a pleasure to meet you. I"m Monica"s cla.s.smate, Fang Lu. This is my boyfriend, Randa!"
Monica and Ah Nan were speaking to each other in muted tones. Ah Nan seemed to have said something that had brought an immediate change onto Monica"s face. Fang Lu pretended not to notice. She grinned and called after Monica, "Monica! Come on. Introduce us!"
Monica walked over with slow, hesitant steps. She stopped beside Ying Qingcang, not daring to look at him. "This is my cla.s.smate. And this is my cousin," Monica said, pointing her finger half-heartedly.
"I didn"t know you have such a capable cousin. We"ve all heard of his name when we were studying abroad. But why didn"t you tell us back then!" Deep down, Fang Lu was cursing Monica in all possible ways. If Monica had introduced her to Ying Qingcang earlier, she would have become the madam president of Ying Enterprises by now.
Of course, n.o.body other than herself would agree to such an absurd and r.e.t.a.r.ded notion.
All of a sudden, Randa remembered something. "How come I don"t see Xin Qing here? Is she still in France?" He asked.
Monica"s face turned paler than it already was. She shot Ah Nan a pleading look. Ah Nan could barely open his mouth when a few reporters decided to interrupt the exchange.
"Mr. Ying, can we take a photo of you and Monica?" The reporter held up a camera. Someone else asked, "Excuse me, Mr. Ying. When will you and Miss Monica be officially wed?"
Fang Lu stared at Monica in surprise. Monica kept her eyes on the floor the whole time. Ying Qingcang"s eyes swept over the crowd casually. "I"ll let you know when we"re about to get married," he said before he turned around and left. Randa stared after his back for a very long time. n.o.body knew what was going through Randa"s mind right then. Fang Lu pulled Monica to one side.
Fang Lu released two mocking laughs. "I got to say, you sure have some b.a.l.l.s, Monica. You"re playing the sugar mom of a gigolo right under the man"s nose?" Fang Lu had presumptuously placed Ah Nan into the "gigolo" category.
Monica glanced at Fang Lu. Her eyes twitched slightly, but she said nothing. Fang Lu asked again, "Who"s that Xin Qing Randa mentioned just now?"
"That"s my cousin"s business. It has nothing to do with you. Hurry up and go get Randa. We"re getting out of here." Monica had no intention of being entangled with Fang Lu ever again. Monica would chase Fang Lu out quickly. After that, she could do whatever she wanted.
Fang Lu stared at Monica with a calculating look in her eyes. "Monica, Randa would return to the country the day after tomorrow. I"m planning to stay. Why don"t you introduce me to your cousin?"
"He"s my fiance." Monica looked at Fang Lu in disdain. She knew what Fang Lu was planning.
Fang Lu"s eyes darted towards Ying Qingcang. She saw that Randa was speaking to him about something. Fang Lu compared the two men for a brief moment and then came to a resolve. "You"re already seeing a gigolo behind his back. Why do you even care if he has me as one of his women?"
Monica frowned. "You really are such a s.l.u.t."
Fang Lu snorted. "Monica, seeing as we were once cla.s.smates, I won"t try to steal your position as Mrs. President of Ying Enterprises. But you better not be trying to stop me from interacting with Ying Qingcang. Otherwise, I"ll tell him that you"re cheating on him."
Monica stared at Fang Lu for a long time. Fang Lu responded with a complacent smile. "So, how about it?"
"Okay!" Monica had suddenly begun smiling too. In fact, her smile was outright creepy. Monica nodded and said, "Let"s set a date for a meal."
Satisfied, Fang Lu stepped forward and gave her a hug. "Now that"s my cla.s.smate! It"s all set, then." She turned around went to look for Randa. Monica stared after Fang Lu, who was swaying her hips as she walked away. Monica sneered inwardly. "You"re the one who just sought your own death. So don"t blame me," she thought.
"As if Ying Qingcang would see anything in the likes of you," Monica thought. "I"ll just wait around and see what you end up becoming." A dejected look formed on Monica. Rather than that, perhaps she should start thinking of ways to get out of her own predicament! Now that Randa was aware of Ying Qingcang"s ident.i.ty, she wondered if that would ruin Ying Qingcang"s plans...
Randa was very glad that he had run into Ying Qingcang today. He was even gladder of the thing he had learnt today. So Ying Qingcang already had a fiance, which meant that Xin Qing no longer had someone backing her. At the thought of that Chinese woman, Randa began to feel a painful tightness in his groin. He wanted to press her down on his bed and then bang her in the most savage of ways.
The following day, Monica stood before Ying Qingcang in his office with an ashen face. Beside her was Ah Nan, who had been dragged into this mess by none other than Monica herself. In his hand, Ying Qingcang held today"s newspaper, which contained an article featuring yesterday"s party. Ying Qingcang looked as handsome as a G.o.d in the photo, whereas Monica was standing by his side with her head lowered. To outside eyes who knew nothing about the truth, she looked like a coy woman acting shy and bashful in the presence of a handsome man.
"It"s a good thing that nothing major happened. If something happens because of Randa, you know what I"d do, don"t you?" Ying Qingcang glanced at the two people standing before him.
Monica nodded vigorously. "I was wrong. I won"t cause you trouble again," she said. Then, she gave Ah Nan a kick.
Ah Nan felt like the unluckiest person in the universe. He never had anything to do with the whole thing from the start. He glared at Monica and then handed a stack of doc.u.ments to Ying Qingcang. "Young Master, this is what we have on Fang Lu."
Ying Qingcang flipped through a few pages. His brows shot up briefly. "Oh! How interesting."
Fang Lu was the daughter of a Malaysian billionaire; however, that was only due to her mother"s remarriage. In other words, Fang Lu was not related to the billionaire by blood. The doc.u.ments also contained an in depth introduction to Fang Lu"s love life. It turned out that her first man was, surprisingly, that billionaire"s son.
"Seems like she had promised Randa that she"ll set up a design studio for him in Hong Kong," Ah Nan added.
Monica threw out a remark, "No wonder she was so keen on kicking Randa to the curb the moment she saw you."
Even the blind could tell how much more powerful Ying Qingcang was compared to Randa. They were practically in different echelons!
"She wants to obtain status through a man so that her stepfather will acknowledge her," Ah Nan said, shaking his head. "She"s truly sick in the head. The likes of her are no different from those prost.i.tutes on the streets. And yet she had the audacity to a.s.sociate herself with our young master."
Ying Qingcang dumped the doc.u.ments into the trash can. He stared at Monica and asked, "You made some kind of deal with her, didn"t you?" Monica shook her head forcefully.
"From now on, do your job obediently. If you cause trouble again, then get your a** back to England." Turning to Ah Nan, Ying Qingcang said, "Don"t bother with this kind of woman. Find someone to keep an eye on Randa. I"m worried that he might step out of bounds once he goes back."
Monica was trembling in fear when left Ying Qingcang"s office. Just then, her phone rang. When she noticed that it was Fang Lu, she declined the call in annoyance. On the other hand, Fang Lu had patiently called a few more times before she resorted to sending Monica a text.
Monica did not dare scheme against Fang Lu now. Not because she was afraid of Fang Lu, but because she was afraid that Ying Qingcang might find out that she had deliberately arranged for Fang Lu to approach him. If she did that, then she really might end up being kicked all the way back to England. After going through her options, Monica replied Fang Lu"s text. She had to do some placation first.
Xin Qing was not worried about Meyer"s confession at all. She saw Meyer as a gentleman, not someone who would resort to doing horrible things just because he was rejected. Of course, that was also partly because she felt that Meyer"s feelings for her did not run deep at all. She felt that Meyer merely admired and liked her, and that was it. Otherwise, he would not have confessed to her in such a calm and composed manner. He would not have been able to let go of his feelings right after being rejected. In fact, Xin Qing could see that Meyer had not minded her rejection at all.
That was why she did not turn down Meyer"s offer to treat her to a meal a few days after the confession. She even thought there was no need for Ah Che to tag along with her and had asked Ah Che to stay at home to accompany Ah Sha. She told him that she would be riding in Meyer"s car. Ah Che disagreed, so Xin Qing told him the place they would be having the meal. They made a deal that if Xin Qing failed to return within two hours, Ah Che would call her phone.
Meyer had wanted to treat Xin Qing to a meal because he was about to leave again. This time, he was leaving for the United States, where the academy had sent him for his one-year internship.
"I heard the studio you"ll be interning with is quite famous." Xin Qing had done some research on the Internet before she came here.
Meyer nodded gleefully. "It should be said to be the top!" He was obviously in a very good mood; he even ordered champagne!
"Congratulations!" Xin Qing said, raising her gla.s.s. "Who knows you might become a world famous designer in a year!"
Meyer laughed. "I"d still pale in comparison to you though. I heard that your current design was a special request made by a celebrity?"
"Yeah. From Hollywood." Xin Qing had seen that actress" movies before. She had made quite an impression on Xin Qing.
"So! You"re already a world famous designer now! It"s impossible for me to catch up to you!" Meyer said. But all of a sudden, he tensed up. "Ailey?" He shouted.
Xin Qing turned around and saw Ailey standing behind her, grinning.
"You two are such terrible friends. You"re out on a secret date and you didn"t even invite me!"
"This isn"t a date. Just a meal." Xin Qing was not too happy with the label that Ailey had used.
Meyer frowned. "What are you doing here?"
"Can"t I just be pa.s.sing by and just so happen to see you guys?" Ailey sat down without waiting for an invitation. She poured herself some champagne.
Xin Qing was feeling drowsy by the end of the meal. "I didn"t drink that much, did I?" She thought. "Plus, n.o.body would get drunk from champagne." Like her, Meyer was also feeling unwell. Ailey, on the other hand, was looking at them mockingly. "You guys suck. You"d get drunk just from champagne. Good think I"m here then!"
Ailey took out the keys of Meyer"s car from his pockets. "Come! I"ll send you guys home!"
Ah Che had called Xin Qing precisely two hours after she had left. The call went unanswered. When he tried again, he found that her phone had been turned off. Ah Che hopped into the car and hurtled towards the restaurant. When he arrived, the restaurant"s waiting staff told him that a woman had brought the two away from the restaurant.
Feeling that something had gone horribly wrong, Ah Che called Ying Qingcang immediately. After that, he called the police.