Granting You A Second Life

Ren Daiyu: "Do you want to watch a movie?"

Li Xiuying: "Okay."

Ren Daiyu started flicking through channels; she couldn"t find anything worth watching.

Ren Daiyu: "There"s nothing on, we"ll probably have to buy one from a movie channel." Ren Daiyu started looking through the list of romantic comedies.

Li Xiuying: "Ice cream?"

Ren Daiyu didn"t take her eyes of the television as she spoke: "Two scoops of strawberry, one vanilla please."

Li Xiuying went to the kitchen to get ice-cream.

A few minutes later she returned carrying two bowls of ice cream, strawberry & vanilla for Ren Daiyu and chocolate & pistachio for herself.

She put Ren Daiyu"s bowl on the coffee table and sat back in her seat and started eating.

15 minutes later; Ren Daiyu was re-looking at movie options. She had said that she narrowed the options down but wanted to be sure she didn"t miss any.

Li Xiuying: "Do you have work tomorrow?"

Ren Daiyu: "Nope, I"m on annual leave for the next two weeks."

Li Xiuying: "Guest room is free."

Ren Daiyu finally looked away from the TV, she looked like a kid on Christmas day: "I can stay over?!"

Li Xiuying nodded.

Ren Daiyu jumped up from the sofa: "I"ll have to get some things from my car." She rushed to the foyer to put on her shoes.

Li Xiuying loudly said: "Key card on foyer table."

Ren Daiyu managed to stop the front door closing behind her; she re-entered and grabbed the key card before das.h.i.+ng off to her car again.

Ren Daiyu often had late nights at the office and she would stay at a hotel nearby because she would be too tired to drive home. Ren Daiyu also had to travel depending on the cases she would have to work. So she always ensured she had an overnight bag in her car.

The elevator doors open revealing a man leaning on the wall.

Ren Daiyu shouted: "Hold the lift!" She started rus.h.i.+ng towards the lift.

The man looked at her, smirked and pressed the b.u.t.ton which closed the elevator doors.

Ren Daiyu was met by a closed set of doors: "Argh, what an A**hole."

She pressed the b.u.t.ton and waited for the elevator.

...

Ren Daiyu returned to Li Xiuying"s apartment building 20 minutes later.

As she entered through the main doors of the building she was approached by the receptionist.

w.a.n.g Juan: "Miss Ren, there is a parking s.p.a.ce available within the garage for guests. I can have someone pick up and park your car for you in our facility."

Ren Daiyu: "That would be great! I didn"t know there was guest parking here. My car is parked on South Chang"an Street, it"s a white Audi Spyder licence plate is Daiyu." She handed her keys to w.a.n.g Juan and set off for the elevator.

w.a.n.g Juan took the keys from Ren Daiyu. What w.a.n.g Juan didn"t tell Ren Daiyu was that only Dr. Li Xiuying had a parking s.p.a.ce specifically designated to her for her guests as requested by Madame Qin.

Ren Daiyu went up in the elevator to apartment 5. She opened the door and left the key card and her overnight bag in the foyer. She changed back into her slippers.

When she entered the living room, she found Li Xiuying eating a slice of strawberry gateaux. On the coffee table she saw that her ice cream bowl had been refilled with fresh scoops of ice cream and there was a piece of gateaux next to it.

The TV had a paused movie displayed on its screen.

Ren Daiyu quickly took her place next to Li Xiuying, covered herself with her blanket and took the bowl of ice cream in her hands.

Li Xiuying started the movie.

....

Down town in the Bar - Face

Xǔ Junjie was with a group of his friends in a private room.

He reclined back on the plush couch. In one hand Xǔ Junjie swirled his drink in a gla.s.s, the ice cubes making clinking sounds as they hit the sides of the gla.s.s.

The boisterous banter of his friends filled the room, with the accompanying feminine laughter of women who somehow managed to get invited to what was meant to be a men"s only gathering.

Xǔ Junjie had two women on either side of him vying for his attention. Both women displayed seductive looks on their faces and hunger burned in their eyes as they looked at Xǔ Junjie.

The woman on his right wore a little black dress with a long pearl necklace; she had 6 inch black stilettos. She was whispering sweet nothing"s into Xǔ Junjie"s ear whilst twirling his hair around her slender fingers.

The woman on Xǔ Junjie"s left wore a mink halter neck dress that came down to mid-thigh paired with 6 inch peach colored heels. She was using the index finger of her left hand to lightly trace along Xǔ Junjie"s collar bone.

Xǔ Junjie just sat leisurely, looking every bit the GQ model and let the women continue with their ministrations. The sling and splint he was sporting didn"t detract from his look whatsoever.

Wu Cheng: "Hey Junjie, what"s up with you tonight? You"ve barely said a word since you"ve arrived, all you"ve done is swirl that drink for the past hour."

Xǔ Junjie looked at Wu Cheng: "I"m just thinking about the company. I"ve had to restructure it from the bottom to the top. Staff changes, policy changes, implementation of extra security for customers etc. It"s been endless."

Wu Cheng: "Why would you need to restructure? Clearly what you"ve been doing until now is yielding results. Orchid is one of the biggest credit agencies in the country. You could just sleep and you"d make money."

Xǔ Junjie just smiled and didn"t answer.

Wu Cheng called over to one of group, who was currently leaning over a giggling woman off to one side: "Huojin, get your tongue out of her ear and help me cheer up our brother Xǔ. He"s got two beauties on his lap, a drink in his hand and his best friends around him and all he can think about is work."

Wan Houjin whispered something in the giggling girls ear before strolling over and sitting down next to Wu Cheng.

Wan Houjin said with confidence: "Junjie my brother, you just need to get laid."

That was Wan Houjin"s solutions to everything. Stressful day at work; get laid. Good day at work; get laid. It"s raining and you forget your umbrella; get laid.

Xǔ Junjie"s phone started vibrating in his pocket, he pulled it out and looked at the caller. It was Xǔ Enlai, just when he was about to answer his phone it stopped vibrating.

He was about to call Xǔ Enlai back when he saw that he had received a message from a number he didn"t recognise.

He opened the message and read: "h.e.l.lo Xǔ Junjie, its Ren Daiyu. Dr Li Xiuying asked if you could help find these men for her." He froze in shock and stared at the screen. The words "Dr. Li Xiuying needs help" circled around his mind. He broke from his daze. His mind shouting in celebration; She needs my help! My help! Finally, he had found a way to befriend Death"s Escape. She was a valuable a.s.set for anyone to have.

He abruptly stood up almost causing the two women to topple on to the floor. Wu Cheng and Wan Houjin looked up at him with confused expressions.

Wu Cheng: "Where are you going so suddenly?"

Xǔ Junjie looked down at him and said with a smile on his face: "To make a valuable ally. She needs MY help." He put extra emphasis on the word my.

With that said Xǔ Junjie quickly hurried to leave the room.

Wu Cheng shouted after him: "She who? What ally? Who needs your help?"

Wu Cheng looked over to Houjin, his facial expression saying do you know what"s going on?

Wan Houjin shrugged: "Probably gone to get laid."

Wu Cheng face palmed.