Granting You A Second Life

Li Xiuying: "Shower, change, disinfect, open some windows. We"ll wait in the living room."

Li Xiuying and Yao Changying headed out followed by Ren Longwei and Ren Guiton.

Yao Changying slapped the air in front of her a few times: "Hey YingYing when will you teach me how to slap someone and make them apologize? Is it the angle you used that jolted her brain into submission? Did you slap on an acupuncture point or something?"

.....

45 minutes later a clean Ren Daiyu walked into the room and sat next to Li Xiuying who was sipping on some jasmine tea.

Li Xiuying spoke coldly: "I believe that the person behind this Chong Honghui."

She turned to Ren Daiyu and looked at her with a sad expression; it was her fault that Ren Daiyu was in her current state. She had antagonized Chong Honghui and indirectly instigated Jia Kuai Hua into action. Ren Daiyu grabbed Li Xiuying"s gloved hand and subtly shook her head; she didn"t need an apology. She knew that even if Li Xiuying hadn"t done anything Jia Kuai Hua and Chong Honghui would still try to ruin her life in some way. She also knew that Dai Sying and Jin Ah Lam would want to rub their happiness in her face no matter how hard she tried to avoid them.

Li Xiuying spoke coldly: "I"ll have to change the original plan. Jia Kuai Hua, Dai Sying and Jin Ah Lam will need to be taken care of. "

Ren Longwei felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand. He brushed his hand on the back of his neck as he spoke: "Taken care of?"

Li Xiuying: "I won"t be taking their lives. Death is to easy a escape for some."

Ren Longwei thought to himself "What will Li Xiuying do that will make them wish for death? Why doesn"t anyone else seem disturbed by her words?" He scanned the faces of those in the room.

Yao Changying: "What about Daiyu"s work? She worked hard to get where she is today."

Li Xiuying: "Daiyu shouldn"t work there anymore."

Ren Longwei: "I want to know who in the company is actually behind this."

Yao Changying nodded: "Me too, just who is Chong Honghui"s contact? Wasn"t he in America all this time? Maybe its his fathers colleague?"

Ren Guotin: "I agree with Xiuying; Daiyu shouldn"t go back. Her peers would treat her badly; once broken nothing will return to the way it was. She would continue to be treated as an outsider and will feel uncomfortable at every turn. They would probably give her cases which no one would want and that she would lose and that may even cause her to make dangerous enemies."

Ren Longwei: "Then what can she do?"

Li Xiuying: "How about a masters?"

Ren Daiyu: "A Masters in what?"

Li Xiuying: "Health care law?"

Yao Changying: "That"s perfect! Li Xiuying always attracts trouble she"ll definitely need legal representation in the future. Her nickname should be trouble magnet."

Li Xiuying gave Yao Changying a pointed look "It"s not my fault; trouble just follows me wherever I go."

Ren Daiyu: "I"m not sure; I"ll have to look into it. " Although the prospect did sound appealing she wanted to make sure that she chose something that made her happy and that she enjoyed. Criminal law had always appealed to her and she didn"t want to give that up just yet. .

Li Xiuying nodded, this was a life changing decision that couldn"t be rushed.

Ren Daiyu looked slightly defeated: "I"ll probably have to give in my resignation regardless of what I decide to do in the future."

Li Xiuying: "Why?"

Ren Daiyu: "What do you mean why? What"s the point of me staying there?"

Li Xiuying: "Paid leave, Paid to do nothing at work. The best time to look for a job is when you have one."

Ren Guotin look thoughtful as he rubbed his chin: "They will phase you out slowly so as to not make it obvious; so they won"t resort to drastic tactics for a while. So taking advantage of their generosity isn"t a bad idea. Besides, there are many areas of law that you can explore during this time."

Ren Daiyu felt more optimistic when she realized that the situation in"t as dire as it once seemed. She had many options open to her including working with her dad. Perhaps they could even open a small law firm together.

Yao Changying looked at her imaginary watch on her wrist: "Oh would you look at that; its time for girl talk."

Ren Longwei and Ren Guiton took that as their obvious cue to leave.

When the living room door was closed Ying squared turned their sights on Ren Daiyu.

Yao Changying: "Spill the beans"

Ren Daiyu fidgeted uncomfortably: "Its not even anything big."

Yao Changying: "Yep it was so small it forced you to look like a homeless person and turn your room into a pig pen?"

Ren Daiyu took a deep breathe and steadied herself: "Fine, I can see I"m not getting out of this.It happened a few days. I was out getting lunch at the place I usually go to. I was looking around when I was in the queue and spotted Dai Sying and Jin Ah Lam at one of the tables. They looked so happy together; she was giggling and playing with his fingers and he was lovingly smiling at her. I tried to turn and exit but she managed to spot me before I could reach the door. She shouted my name and then actually got up and grabbed my arm to drag me to their table. I should ave just struggled free and ran out. But I felt like a lifeless doll when she was clutching my arm, I was moving but I felt completely numb inside. The situation felt so surreal I haven"t crossed paths with them for so long and now they were sitting in front of me chirping away about dates ad venues etc. I think my brain just shut off. All I remember is them showing off about their engagement; they even had the nerve to invite me to the engagement and the wedding. The wedding is on my birthday, November 26th . I know I shouldn"t care but I just can"t help it. I couldn"t help comparing myself to her, he never treated me so lovingly. He never looked at me the way he looked at her. It"s been so long and I thought I was stronger and I had moved past these emotions and thoughts. I just feel so stupid and ashamed all over again."

Yao Changying hugged Ren Daiyu to her side: "You"re allowed to feel hurt. I don"t know the full story of what happened however I can surmise that he betrayed you. It"s not easy to come to terms with losing someone and accepting that a large chunk of your time was all smoke and mirrors. The fact he couldn"t see how amazing you are is his loss. I think being with Jin Ah Lam is punishment enough for him though, she sounds nauseating. Plus if he can do this to you, then he can and will certainty do the same thing to her in the future. However, I know that right now it"s hard to see the bigger picture an my words may not make it better. In time your wounds will heal and everything will be right in the world once again."

Li Xiuying was in her own little world. She had a look of concentration on her face as she was in deep thought "Was it really a coincidence that they turned up in a restaurant near Daiyu"s work place? And they just happened to have invitations with them? Well looks like Chong Honghui tried to make two moves because he thought she wasn"t look at the chess board. They thought that they could mess with Daiyu"s love and work life and get away unscathed? Hehehe."

Yao Changying cleared her throat to get Li Xiuying"s attention.

Li Xiuying: "Hmm?"

Yao Changying: "I was just saying that in time everything will become better. I wish we could do something more for Daiyu though."

Li Xiuying: "We can remove parts of his body when he"s unconscious?"

Ren Daiyu: "Please tell me you"re not serious."

Li Xiuying: "I know some urology."

Yao Changying: "I can probably get my hands on some anesthetic from the black market. Probably Ketamine."

Ren Daiyu: "Why urology?"

Li Xiuying: "Orchidectomy/ies single or plural you decide."

Ren Daiyu: "What?"

Yao Changying: "Removing his b.a.l.l.s, Dear."

Ren Daiyu chocked on her saliva and then burst out laughing. "How could they speak so seriously about castrating someone?!"

The other two Laughed along with Daiyu.

They continued chatting away for about an hour before Li Xiuying checked her watch: "It"s getting late we should probably get going."