Granting You A Second Life

Chen Wei gritted his teeth: "Its Dr Chen Wei."

Qin Song dismissed Chen Wei and turned to his friends: "Minzhe, is your business finished?"

He Minzhe: "I was just waiting for you to finish with Dr Cheng Lai. Meiying let"s go."

He Meiying looked at her table: "Bye, I have to go." She was still upset with them about not being warned.

Shen Mo Chou quietly watched the retreating back of Shen Qiu. Her eyes had fire in them.

Qin Song could now focus his gaze on Li Xiuying. He had noticed her from the moment he had set foot in the dining area. He was trying to engrave the way she looked into his memories.

Qin Song: "I need to talk to Dr Li about an issue concerning Unity hospital."

He Minzhe: "I didn"t even notice her when we walked in."

Shen Qiu glanced at Qin Song and smiled. He thought to himself " Qin Song probably doesn"t even realize that he seems to have developed a radar for Li Xiuying." He then followed He Minzhe.

Everyone at Li Xiuying"s table politely greeted the prominent trio and didn"t say more than necessary. All the men knew of each other, after all, they were in similar social circles, they were prominent businessmen and liked to keep their subordinates busy by gathering intel on people. Everyone knew that infomration is power.

Qin Song said: "Dr Li, I will see you tomorrow at 2:00."

Li Xiuying: "Yes. Thank you." She had rescheduled their meeting to discuss the widening access program from today to tomorrow. Qin Song had been surprisingly accommodating

Qin Song:"Let"s go." He led his group away. He Meiying took one last look at Li Xiuying as she left. She had found another reason to get rid of Li Xiuying.

Li Xiuying watched Qin Song disappear from her table. She found that he seemed so much more tolerable lately. She had also noticed that he only spoke with her regarding work and he only spoke when necessary. He hadn"t insulted here; directly or indirectly.

Yao Changying: "What meeting? Why were you thanking him?"

Li Xiuiyng: "Tell you later."

Lai Yongliang and Qilin had returned to their original positions at the table.

Yao Changying changed the subject: "That little skirmish was a little anticlimactic. I expected them to make a much larger scene. I thought that there would at least be a drink thrown."

Ren Daiyu: "They aren"t as stupid as I expected. The little mistress likely realized that her teary eyes weren"t gaining her any sympathy. She"s adaptable."

Li Xiuying: "She"s evolving."

Yao Changying: "She"s MRSA."

Lai s.h.i.+-on: "Huh?"

Yao Changying: "Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Like a superbug. Ever evolving, resistant, resilient and can destroy you if you show weakness or an open wound."

Li Xiuying smiled.

Lai Yongliang interjected: "It seems that the men with them are slightly more intelligent. They decided to avoid accompanying their women."

Ren Daiyu: "Those "men" and I use the term loosely, probably warned Li Yu Yan and the rest. Maybe that warning was the reason Li Yu Yan took note of where she was and didn"t escalate the situation further. I heard that there are consequences for causing a disturbance here."

Yao Changying: "Ooo like what? Putting people"s feet in blocks of cement and throwing them off a pier? Putting horse heads in people"s beds? Smas.h.i.+ng knee caps and removing fingernails? Electrocuting them by connecting them to the restaurant power grid?"

Ren Daiyu looked incredulous: "What have you been watching?"

Yao Changying quickly replied: "Nothing suspicious."

Ren Daiyu: "Now the stories don"t sound as severe thanks to my s.a.d.i.s.tic friend here. No, not things like breaking knees and horse heads, more like banning people from industries, destroying their businesses, destroying reputations etc."

Yao Changying: "That doesn"t seem as bad in comparison. Pretty gentle means."

Qilin coughed a little at having his actions described as gentle for the very first time.

Li Xiuying smiled.

...

At Chen Wei"s table

The maître d accompanied by two waitresses carried the main dishes: "Ladies and gentleman we have your main dishes."

Li Yu Yan placed a hand gently at the crook of Chen Wei"s arm: "Come and sit down. Don"t pay any intention to him."

Chen Wei looked over at Li Yu Yan and then silently sat in his chair.

Ling Qiang: "That Qin Song is just as arrogant as all the rumors say."

Chen Wei didn"t respond. "That Qin whatever, won"t be as smug when I destroy Unity hospital. So what if he"s taken in Emerald hospitals rejects."

Tseng Fei Hong and Shen Mo Chou were chatting quietly at the side.

Tseng Fei Hong: "Are you okay?"

Shen Mo Chou: "I thought things would change by now."

Tseng Fei Hong: "You can"t have your cake and eat it."

Shen Mo Chou: "Whose side are you on?"

Tseng Fei Hong quickly backpedaled: "I just meant that it"s going to be an uphill battle. You"re going to have to work harder to win the Shen family over."

Shen Mo Chou: "I don"t know what more I can do. They didn"t like the way I dressed so I changed, they didn"t like the job I had so I changed it, they even commented on the way I laughed and I changed that. What more can I do?"

Tseng Fei Hong: "Look forget all of that, for now, and just try to enjoy the meal. We can strategize later on how you can win over Shen Qiu."

Shen Mo Chou: "The meal is a mess. I shouldn"t have come tonight. The family is going to hear all about what happened and it will be yet another black mark against my name." She regretted being persuaded by Li Yu Yan to be here. No amount of favors were worth the aggravation and by the looks of it, she wouldn"t be getting one of her favors anyway considering Li Yu Yan couldn"t force Li Xiuying to submit.

Li Yu Yan noticed that Shen Mo Chou looked at her with unhappiness in her eyes that she quickly tried to conceal. Li Yu Yan at last perceived that her tactic of being gentle and teary did not work at all times. She glanced around the table and could feel the atmosphere changing. Although she didn"t care much about Chen Wei right now, he still had some uses for the time being. She was planning to ditch him at a later stage when she found an adequate replacement.

Li Yu Yan decided that she would have to change her strategy. She had been blinded by her rage and jealousy. She would now channel her emotions in more strategic ways. Li Yu Yan would need to talk to her father about her next steps.

She concluded she could only use the gentle, kind and weak facade at certain times. It was a perfect act to put on in front of men to ignite their protective instincts and older women because it invoked their motherly instincts.

With all these thoughts whirling in her mind Li Yu Yan tried appeased Chen Wei"s rage: "Ge that Qin Long is incredibly arrogant for someone who is managing a sinking s.h.i.+p with the sc.r.a.ps of Emerald hospital as his staff."

Chen Wei looked slightly pacified after hearing Li Yu Yan"s words that mimicked his own thought and also mocked Qin Song"s name.

Ling Qiang: "Sister-in-law is right. Emerald hospital has solid foundations. It has built up its reputation based on its long history of success."

Chen Wei and Ling Qiang began discussing some changes to the hospital and also the research Ling Qiang was currently working on.

Li Yu Yan angled herself towards Shen Mo Chou who sat to her right. She whispered: "Mo Chou it"s so unfair the way Shen Qiu is still treating you after all effort you"ve put in. Why don"t we put our heads together this weekend and brainstorm some ideas in order to win the Shen family over? You"ve been working so hard and need to let off some steam. I"m sure I can get some of my contacts to investigate a little."

Shen Mo Chou was shocked: "That would be great." She had asked this favor of Li Yu Yan months ago and she had always been met with conditions and hoops to jump through.

Shen Mo Chou had wanted Li Yu Yan to get her network to investigate the Shen family. Li Yu Yan"s father had a maid working within the He, Shen and Qin family. Shen Mo Chou had money and could easily buy information, but she couldn"t by the loyalty of her workers. So if they turned on her and reported it to the Shen family the consequences for her were unimaginable.

Li Yu Yan squeezed Shen Mo Chou"s hand: "Everything will work out." There were other ways to win people over and have them owe her.