Fu had been sure that Jia Li would end up spending her life as a single woman once the news of Tang"s wedding reached them. Post that, he was more than happy to play the understanding ex-husband c.u.m friend but she had kept him at a polite distance. Then there was Xue Ann. She was one out of the many women who had fallen in love with him. But she was the only one who had complied with every demand that he had made out of her, whether it was to dress like Jia Li, walk like her, speak like her. As his relation with Jia Li had headed towards the breakpoint, he had consoled himself that he would be able to live his life vicariously through Xue Ann. And things had been nearly perfect for some time.
But in the last few months, Xue Ann had started to act up. Suddenly, she wanted him to acknowledge her ident.i.ty as who she was. As if she had any ident.i.ty apart from being a weak shadow of his first love. He thought she would outgrow this unrealistic wish but much to his disappointment, she was h.e.l.l bent on being Xue Ann and not Jia Li.
When he finally told her that he didn"t give a f*** about who Xue Ann was, she packed her bags and moved out. Of course, he was upset about her leaving because it meant having to search again for a subst.i.tute and bring her up the curve. But there was no choice.
In fact, he had also entertained the thought that post his break-up with Xue Ann, he would go back to Jia Li and lure her to come back in his life, at least as a sympathetic friend. But now everything had changed. He was alright with the fact that Jia Li wasn"t with him, but he WILL NOT tolerate that she gets back together with her ex-boyfriend. No, not acceptable at all.
"You look shocked. I thought you said you were recovering from a broken relations.h.i.+p and your relation with Jia Li is that of friends now, right? Then why does your expression suggest otherwise?" Mei Zhen said with barely suppressed glee.
Fu tried to control his anger but it spilled out of him in form of a hard bang on the table, bringing the cutlery cras.h.i.+ng down. There wasn"t much crowd at that time of the night but the staff came running there at the sound. Mei Zhen got up and rea.s.sured them that it was an accident.
"I suggest you drop the pretence in front of me. It"s a waste of time as far as I am concerned. You and I are on the same side of the fence. Unless you still wish to insist that you have no idea what I am talking about," she challenged him.
The rage was slowly building in him, the insecurities which he had buried deep inside. All the slights he had suffered because of Jia Li"s indifferent heart which had no place for him ever, came to the surface.
"So you are trying to suggest that your husband and my ex-wife are having an illicit affair?" he asked her in an absolute cold voice.
Gone was the pleasant faced man. In a blink, his whole demeanour underwent a complete transformation. Keeping his hands loosely clasped in front of him, he looked at her intently.
She was slightly taken aback at his chameleon like attribute.
"I, uh…that is, yes, they are together in Moganshan as we speak," she stumbled over her words.
"And none of your family elders have objected to this?" he enquired with a raised eyebrow.
"In the past few years, the relation between Tang and his father has deteriorated considerably. Also, with Tang handling most of the business, no one really has any hold on him and his actions anymore," she fibbed on the spot.
She didn"t mind portraying her husband in a bad light, as long as she could convince this man of his ex-wife"s illicit affair.
Next morning, w.a.n.g House, Shanghai
"What?? Mr. Xie is aware of this?" Mrs. w.a.n.g nearly shouted in surprise.
Wei had returned from Moganshan the evening before in really low spirits. Mrs. w.a.n.g asked her detectives to get her an extensive report on the latest happenings in that small town asap. The call had just come now, informing her about everything including Wei"s yesterday"s visit there.
She sat fuming, waiting for Wei to join her at the breakfast table.
"Don"t tell me that you have that long face on because of that b****," she addressed him as soon as he drew his chair to sit down opposite her at the table.
Giving his mother a guarded look, he said, "before I respond, it would be better if you clarify whom are you referring to here, because I know quite a few of them."