Li Yu Yan: "You have gotten too out of control. So I"ll have to help my parents to reign you in so you may have a better future. Please don"t resent us for our actions. Sometimes life has to crush people before they change their erroneous ways. Your newfound freedom has clearly distorted your thinking and altered your beliefs. You seem to now believe that you do not have to resign to your place in life." What she didn"t say was "which is beneath me."Li Na watched on silently without speaking.
Li Yu Yan: "Well I won"t keep you any longer. Get home safely, cars are such dangerously things. One little nick to a wire and everything can go awry. I"m sure you"ll be fine, drive carefully. I"ll let my parents know you"re doing well."
Li Yu Yan and Li Na slowly sauntered away.
Li Xiuying: "Miss Li."
Li Yu Yan and Li Na both paused their steps without turning around.
Li Xiuying: "I have done my last favor to you which is allowing you to be admitted to medical school; since you couldn"t achieve this on your own. I hope you remember this every day you are in medical school. Every time you see the Northwest University logo in your mind you will see "courtesy of Dr Li Xiuying". As for me, I"ll just consider it a charitable act since I"m helping someone less able than myself. Also, I hope you appreciate that I have now enabled you to experience freedom. The freedom to pay for your arbitrary things using your well-earned money instead of mine. The freedom to make contacts on your own without using my name. The freedom to work your way up without using my t.i.tle and accolades. You now have a whole new world of freedom opened to you. I hope you enjoy your freedom, the way I have been enjoying mine. Good evening Miss li. Get home safely, there have been many articles in the news about rogue taxi drivers."
Li Yu Yan resumed walking and Li Na followed. Li Na glanced over her shoulder once and saw Li Xiuiyng smirking at her. She quickly turned back around.
Ren Daiyu: "She"s a real piece of work. She was pretending to be looking out for you, yet threatening you at the same time."
Li Xiuying shrugged. It had always been this way.
Ren Daiyu spotted Yao Changying. She said loudly: "Oh look who finally decided to show up."
Lai s.h.i.+-on had deliberately walked very slowly so he could spend a little more time with Yao Changying.
Lai s.h.i.+-on smiled politely: "Sister Xiuying, Sister Daiyu."
Ren Daiyu teased: "It"s too early to be related."
Lai s.h.i.+-on smiled at Ren Daiyu. As he turned to look at Li Xiuying his smile faded away instantly.
Li Xiuying looked at Yao Changying"s weird expression then at Lai s.h.i.+-on"s smiling face.
Li Xiuying handed her keys to Ren Daiyu: "I"ll only be a moment."
She then looked at Lai s.h.i.+-on and walked a few steps away from her car: "May I have a word with you?"
Lai s.h.i.+-on knew although it was phrased as a question it was most definitely not a request. It was a command. He was both intrigued and a little scared to find out what Li Xiuying had to say.
Li Xiuying stopped when she was out of the hearing range of her friends. She coldly said: "Yao Changying is a grown woman and can make her own decisions so I will not interfere in her life."
Lai s.h.i.+-on stood silently and met Li Xiuying"s cold glare.
Li Xiuying: "However, I warn you if this is for your amus.e.m.e.nt and you"re just playing around then I wouldn"t mind playing a game of my own. One which ends with your life in ruins."
Lai s.h.i.+-on could tell that Li Xiuying was being serious. He spoke with a steady voice: "My intentions are honorable. I"ve never been in a relations.h.i.+p before and I would like to only be in one for the rest of my life. I won"t pretend that I"m in love. I will say that I"m drawn to Yao Changying and I want to get to know her. She feels like someone I could love."
Li Xiuying looked straight into Lai s.h.i.+-on eyes: "Remember that the day that you change your mind, no one will be able to save you from me."
Lai s.h.i.+-on: "Sister Xiuying I can only prove myself with my actions and with time. If Yao Changying gives me a chance."
Li Xiuying: "Fair. Goodnight." She strolled away. So far she had a good impression of Lai s.h.i.+-on. She didn"t have a positive view of men in general however, she wouldn"t let this affect her judgment when it came to the lives of others.
Lai s.h.i.+-on exhaled, he felt like Li Xiuying was delving into his mind and batting around his deepest darkest secrets like a cat with a ball of yarn. He fought the impulse to turn and look at Yao Changying and quickly made his way to his brother"s car.
Li Xiuying slid into the driver"s seat. She opened the glove compartment and took out a pair of roll-up pumps and swapped them for her heels. Her feet were killing her.
Ren Daiyu: "Do you think your cousins may have done something to your car?"
Li Xiuying: "No evidence of them kneeling down, their knees and dresses were in order. Too short a time to call someone here. Plus there are surveillance cameras."
Ren Daiyu looked out of the window and spotted 2 surveillance cameras. One was pointed directly at their parking s.p.a.ce. "No wonder Li Xiuying had chosen this s.p.a.ce specifically, earlier I thought she was just being quirky when she avoided so many empty s.p.a.ces in prime locations."
Yao Changying joined the conversation at last: "What"s this about the car? How did the second encounter go?"
Ren Daiyu: "You"re back to normal I see."
Yao Changying rolled her eyes.
Ren Daiyu: "Li Yu Yan hinted that she may have done something to the car when we were talking to her earlier."
Li Xiuiyng started up the car slowly and tested the brakes a little too before smoothing pulling out of the car park: "What did he say?"
Ren Daiyu: "YingYing we spoke about this earlier." She had repeatedly told her not to pressure Yao Changying.
Yao Changying: "He asked me on a lunch date tomorrow at 2:30 pm at the Gilded Lilly."
Ren Daiyu realized her worries were completely unfounded.
Li Xiuying: "Going?"
Yao Changying: "Honestly, I"m not sure."
Li Xiuying: "Pro-Con list."
Yao Changying: "Pro he is pretty hot and has this rugged handsome thing going on. Did you see his forearms? Plus he"s tall and muscly. Is that 3 pro"s or 2?"
Li Xiuying looked into her rearview mirror at Yao Changying who sighed. Li Xiuying: "You like him."
Yao Changying: "Well I"m not sure if ..."
Li Xiuying: "Not a question. You like him."
Ren Daiyu wanted to steer the conversation away from blunt statements: "ChangYing why were you so dazed earlier?"
Yao changying: "He gave me a hand ma.s.sage and a kiss on the cheek."
Li Xiuying said: "Hand ma.s.sage?" At the same time, Ren Daiyu said "A kiss!"
Ren Daiyu: "Why are you more shocked by a hand ma.s.sage?"
Li Xiuying: "A kiss is pretty customary when people are courting." Who goes around giving women hand ma.s.sages? That"s just weird. She had watched enough TV programs now to see that a ma.s.sage was something a woman coerced her partner to do. Generally, a man only volunteered to do a ma.s.sage when he wanted something to happen afterward or when he was making amends for doing something stupid.
Ren Daiyu couldn"t find the energy to argue. She made a mental note to talk to Li Xiuying about the rules of dating at a later date. Ren Daiyu spoke to Yao Changying: "Start from the very beginning young lady."
Yao Changying narrated the conversation between herself and Lai s.h.i.+-on.
Ren Daiyu fanned herself: "d.a.m.n that boy is a smooth talker. It sounds like you had a very steamy encounter. Maybe you should be called salamander."
Yao Changying: "I would still release fewer pheromones than you. Plus the chemicals you release are way more potent. You"re walking around giving people psychiatric conditions."
Ren Daiyu said exasperated: "Changying for the last time, I did not cause Xǔ Junjie to have erotomania!"
Yao Changying: "You said it!"
Li Xiuying laughed lightly: "Quiet down children."
Yao Changying: "She started it."
Li Xiuying: "Back to the list. Cons?" She could tell that something was making Yao Changying apprehensive about someone who she clearly found attractive.