Lu Xinyi sighed as she looked outside the window of the dining area of the local inn they were in. It turned out that the inn was owned by Kang Wei’s family so everything needed—like clothes, toiletries, and food—had been taken care of even before they arrived.
‘Stupid brother ruining my day. How dare he…’
The inn’s keeper, who was Kang Wei’s mother, had asked her to change her clothes into a cleaner one. Since she was abducted while going back at Lunar residence, she was still wearing her greasy and dirty chef’s uniform when they arrived.
Looking outside, she wasn’t surprised that the moon was hiding behind a thick, gray cloud. The cold breeze of the night came inside the room. Her attention was disrupted when she heard footsteps coming her way. It was her stupid brother and his friend. They sat across her and poured a cup of tea for themselves.
“I really, really hate you right now, Yu Gege,” Lu Xinyi hissed.
“I know, Xinxin. You don’t have to remind me.”
“Kidnapping me? Really?” She glared at her brother and then turned to Huang Shenghao. “You even brought an accomplice with you?”
“Wha—” Huang Shenghao lifted both his hands. “He only told me he was meeting you, not taking you away from Silver Leaf, Junior Sister Lu.”
“Mister, you shouldn’t have a.s.sociated yourself to my brother? Who knows when he could drag you in jail with him?” Lu Xinyi told Huang Shenghao, which made him stared back at her in shock.
“Don’t you know him?” Tian Lingyu asked and sipped his warm tea.
His sister shook her head. “Should I?”
Huang Shenghao turned to Tian Lingyu pitifully. He tugged his sleeve as if Lu Xinyi had bullied him.
“Why’s your little sister meaner than you, Lingyu? She doesn’t even know who I am.”
Lu Xinyi frowned then gave her brother and his friend a good look.
“Are you gay? Are you in a relations.h.i.+p with my brother?” She couldn’t stop her mouth to ask what she’d thought. Once she realized what she had said, her face turned red.
“Oh my G.o.d! I’m so sorry! What have I done?!”
“What the h.e.l.l, Lu Xinyi?!” Tian Lingyu raised his voice to his sister. “This is ridiculous!”
“I already said I’m sorry. I just don’t know who he is. I didn’t mean to offend you.”
“How come you don’t know the current rank number 1 of Silver Leaf?” Tian Lingyu snapped at her. “You were even brave enough to declare that you’ll take his seat during the ceremony.”
“Eh? He is that Huang Shenghao?” Lu Xinyi’s eyes widened. A moment later, the shock on her face was replaced with a grin.
“Right, Junior Sister Lu. The one and only.” Huang Shenghao pointed a finger to himself.
“Senior Brother Huang, please take care of my seat. One of these days, I’ll take it from you.”
The mood in the air lightened between the three. The smile on Huang Shenghao’s face was truly genuine.
“Then Junior Sister Lu, I couldn’t wait for you to try.”
—-
The three were busy talking to each other when the Shen brothers and Kang Wei joined them.
“Wei Gege, thank you for accommodating us this late. I hope we didn’t bring inconvenience to your family.” Lu Xinyi slightly bowed her head in thanks to Kang Wei.
“Oh, no! Don’t worry about it. I’m glad we just made it in time. Your husband here was very frustrated when he didn’t find you where you are supposed to be.”
That earned him a kick on his s.h.i.+n from the demon king.
“Oww! Shen Yi, that hurts!” Kang Wei cried as he held his painful s.h.i.+n on one arm.
Shen Yi ignored his wail and moved to sit beside his wife.
“Are you unharmed?” he asked Lu Xinyi.
“Hey! Hey! Hey!” Tian Lingyu was about to complain that he would never hurt his little sister.
“I’m okay.” Lu Xinyi sighed and leaned her head on Shen Yi’s arm. She then glared ferociously at her brother. “But I’m really annoyed by someone right now.”
“It’s understandable that you think that way. It was difficult not to take violent action after what they have done.” Shen Yi said as he placed a chaste kiss on her crown.
Kang Wei and Shen Xue s.h.i.+vered on their seat and sent pitiful glances at Tian Lingyu and Huang Shenghao’s way. They just added their name on the demon’s kill list, with Shen Xue being on top of it.
Lu Xinyi wasn’t sure if she should laugh or worry about her brother.
‘Oh, dear.’
She then decided to laugh when she thought hard about it. She could truly understand why her husband would be upset with her brother’s actions. She wanted to tell Shen Yi about her suspicion that her brother didn’t believe he was serious about their relations.h.i.+p.
“It was really disappointing to meet you like this, Tian Lingyu.” Shen Yi regarded her brother. “I’ve always known that this would eventually come but not like this. I a.s.sume you are skeptical to believe that I’m truly serious about your sister. Rather than confronting me, you took matters on your hands and took her from me by force. Any sane husband wouldn’t be happy if this happened to their wife.”
Kang Wei was surprised with Shen Yi’s words. It was rare for his friend to talk that much as well as confront the person with careful words.
If it was a different person who abducted his wife, Kang Wei wouldn’t be surprised if Shen Yi said ‘Ready to go to h.e.l.l? I’m giving you an express ticket’ but no… tonight, Kang Wei could see that his friend was trying to contain his anger for Lu Xinyi’s sake.
“I can’t say I’m happy with what you have just done to my wife.” Shen Yi added.
“I’m responsible for Xinxin’s welfare since our dad died.” Tian Lingyu’s words were also cold as if taunting the demon king further.
“Yu Gege…”
It was obvious to all of them that Tian Lingyu had a major sister complex with Lu Xinyi, but the way he looked at her, Huang Shenghao knew that as much as Tian Lingyu hated the idea of his little sister taken away by Shen Yi, he would rather not to make her cry or hate him for it.
“I’m not questioning that,” Shen Yi replied, “but next time you try to take my wife away from me. I wouldn’t be so forgiving,” he said in a threatening tone.
“Dear, I told you can just beat him up to teach him a lesson if you want. I wouldn’t mind,” Lu Xinyi teased, hoping that the suffocating atmosphere around her would dissipate.
“I was originally planning to punch their faces just so you know. I was hoping you won’t try to stop me.” He gently ran his fingers on her loose hair.
Huang Shenghao gaped at the couple in front of them. How could they talk about such violence while they were around? This couple… was made in h.e.l.l.
“Joking aside, can’t you two be civil with each other? I don’t want to get headaches. Actually, if you can’t help it, try to think of something else where both parties would come in a truce. It’s rare for me to get a hot spring vacation so don’t you dare ruin it for me!”
“Sounds reasonable,” Shen Yi nodded.
“Fine,” Tian Lingyu said in a much colder tone.
“Great!” Lu Xinyi clapped her hand and stood up. She took her husband’s hand for them to retire for the night.
“Hey, Xinxin! Where do you think you are going?” Tian Lingyu abruptly stood and tried to follow the couple, but Shen Xue stopped him.
“Where else but to sleep! It’s already past midnight—we should be sleeping at this unG.o.dly hour.”
“You are going to share a room with him?” he pointed at Shen Yi.
“Why, of course, he’s my husband after all. There wasn’t anything wrong with that.”
“Why you—” Tian Lingyu couldn’t believe what he was hearing from his sister. Annoyed that he couldn’t counter her explanation, he snapped back his attention to Shen Yi.
“No need to be wary of me, President Shen. I know I couldn’t pull the same trick twice on you.”
He gave one final glare to his sister’s husband and walked past behind them.
“This isn’t over…” he muttered, enough for Shen Yi to hear.
Shen Yi nodded. Of course, this was far from over, but that didn’t mean someone already took out his wish to punch Tian Lingyu’s face off his list.