“Do you really mean it?” Hope rekindled in Fu Jiaqi’s eyes. She couldn’t believe Lai Jingdong’s words. “Are you not bluffing?”
“You of all people should know that I never lie. I will definitely keep to my promise!” Lai Jingdong’s eyes were fixated on Fu Jiaqi. “You cannot change the situation you were born into, but you sure can alter the path of your destiny. I stopped loving you not because you no longer belong to the Fu family. I stopped loving you because you did too many things that I find unacceptable. Jiaqi, if you are willing to better yourself, I will learn to have you back in my life. I promise I will not bring up divorce ever again!”
“Are you for real?” Fu Jiaqi still couldn’t quite believe her ears until she saw Lai Jingdong nodding. She felt herself loosening up, but in the next instant, she seemed to remember something and wrapped her arms around her belly. “But…”
“But what?” Lai Jingdong cast a questioning gaze at Fu Jiaqi. He was confused as to what concerns Fu Jiaqi still had at this point in time, especially since she was in a dead-end now. “Do you still not trust me?”
“No! I trust you!” Fu Jiaqi shook her head violently. “I believe in everything you said. O-okay, I’ll tell you about what happened three years ago. To be honest, until today, I am still not sure what happened to Pei Huan. I remember someone calling me on the phone…” Fu Jiaqi gave Lai Jingdong the entire account of what she knew about the incident that happened three years ago.
In another room, Li Heng and Su Shaoqing were monitoring the two of them via the security camera. They were able to eavesdrop on the information Fu Jiaqi was sharing.
Su Shaoqing scoffed and patted Li Heng on his shoulder. “I didn’t think that a guy like Lai Jingdong would be willing to sacrifice his happiness for Pei Huan.”
Suddenly, before Su Shaoqing could finish his sentence, he felt a pressing killer intent directed at him. The next instant, Su Shaoqing ducked down as a fist came flying at his face. He took a step back and avoided Li Heng’s punch. “What the hell are you doing, Li Heng!” Su Shaoqing was confounded by Li Heng’s sudden outburst at him. What’s wrong with me suggesting that Lai Jingdong fancies Pei Huan a lot?
Li Heng narrowed his eyes and continued to throw a few more punches at Su Shaoqing. Each of his attacks seemed to carry his entire body weight. For the next few minutes, Su Shaoqing was busy dodging the incoming blows from Li Heng. Finally, Su Shaoqing tired himself out and raised both of his hands in defeat. “Alright, alright! I won’t say anything about Lai Jingdong and Pei Huan again! Pei Huan belongs to you and no one else!”
Only then Li Heng came to a rest. His fiery eyes met Su Shaoqing’s, and he said, “You are weaker now.”
“Of course! My hands are built to hold scalpels, not to fight you!” Su Shaoqing was never really interested in martial arts or anything that involved physical violence. I am a literal gentleman, okay?
Li Heng’s lips curled up into a crescent. He took the jacket hanging on the chair. “Since you’re the one who brought him here, you take care of him later when he’s done.”
“Hey, don’t go yet! You want me to settle the rest alone?” Su Shaoqing bawled but Li Heng was already gone.
“That rascal! He just likes to make my life difficult!” Yet, as much as Su Shaoqing didn’t want to confront the couple, he still went down to the darkroom a few moments later.
At this point, Lai Jingdong had already calmed Fu Jiaqi down. When he saw Su Shaoqing walking into the room, he asked, “Where’s Li Heng?”
“He left. If there’s anything important, just let me know.” Su Shaoqing simpered as his eyes fell onto Fu Jiaqi.
That stare instantly made Fu Jiaqi’s hair stand on end. She tugged at Lai Jingdong’s shirt restlessly. “Jingdong!”
Lai Jingdong faltered as he tried to endure the discomfort, and gently patted her on the back. “It’s okay! He won’t do anything to you.”
Even though Lai Jingdong had reassured her, Fu Jiaqi still stared at Su Shaoqing watchfully.
Su Shaoqing snickered, “You don’t have to be so afraid of me, Mrs. Lai! After all, we were once on pretty good terms! Rest assured, you can always tell me if anyone does anything to you.”
Fu Jiaqi shrank her body and stepped backward just as Lai Jingdong wrinkled his brows. “Mr. Su, if there isn’t anything else, I’ll bring her away with me.”
“Oh. That’s fine with me. However…” As Su Shaoqing spoke, his gaze returned to Fu Jiaqi. Immediately, every inch of Fu Jiaqi’s body tensed up. Su Shaoqing looked at her with a vague smile, his eyes moving down to her belly before shifting back to her face again. “Mrs. Lai, you don’t seem well. Before you leave, why not come to my hospital for a visit? It’ll make it complimentary for you.”
“No need!” Fu Jiaqi declined in a hurry.
Fu Jiaqi’s abrupt refusal made her smell fishy. Lai Jingdong also felt that Fu Jiaqi was acting weird. Nevertheless, he glanced at the wounds all over her body, then at Su Shaoqing’s strange expression, and figured that she must be afraid of him. “It’s okay, Mr. Su. I will tend to her injuries myself.”
“That’s fine with me. Bye then. See you again!”
Su Shaoqing writhed his lips. His eyes stayed glued on Fu Jiaqi as the couple took their leave.
Fu Jiaqi could also feel that someone was throwing daggers at her back. To her, this was as terrorizing as the treatment she had received in the past few days. Fu Jiaqi clutched Lai Jingdong’s hand tightly. “Jingdong, let’s go!”
Su Shaoqing’s smile vanished. But when he turned around and saw Jiang Hu, he was again grinning. “Have you been staring at me this whole time?”
“Master Shaoqing, won’t it be better if we keep her locked up here? What if she stirs up trouble again?” Jiang Hu recalled that the woman seemed to also have visited this place four years ago, but that was apparently not enough for her to learn her lesson.
“Nah, you have overestimated her. She won’t be much of a threat to us. For the time being, I reckon she will stay low. However, speaking about that woman, I think we have something interesting to expect from her belly.” Even though Lai Jingdong promised Fu Jiaqi not to divorce her, Su Shaoqing had a feeling that someday in the near future, he would have to help Lai Jingdong take care of his deranged wife.
Now that Li Heng had what he wanted from Fu Jiaqi, he got in touch with Fu Chengyan at once. “She’s in C Country.”
“Alright, I will handle this. Wait for my good news.”
Fu Chengyan hung up the call and tilted his head to look at Shi Nuan, whose body was coiled up on the couch like a lazy snake. She had been watching TV earlier but fell asleep midway through a show. Fu Chengyan shook her head with a sigh. He patted Shi Nuan on her cheek. “May?”
“Hmm?”
Shi Nuan looked at Fu Chengyan with her sleepy eyes. “What is it?”
“If you’re sleepy, just sleep in the bedroom upstairs!” Fu Chengyan chuckled heartily. “Why are you so drowsy as of late?”
“I don’t know. Perhaps I have too much work recently!” Shi Nuan stretched her back before she continued, “I wanted to go out since it’s a holiday.” Shi Nuan sighed. “But I have so much work to do!” As she lamented, her eyes went to the stack of documents on the table. Suddenly, she was startled. “Huh? Since when have I finished all this work?”
She raised her head to give Fu Chengyan a questioning stare. “Did you finish it for me?”
Fu Chengyan pursed his lips. “You already did the earlier part; I only helped you to wrap things up. I think your idea is pretty good.”
“Oh, is it?” Shi Nuan was overjoyed to receive Fu Chengyan’s compliment. “You really think it is not bad?”
“Yeah!” Fu Chengyan nodded and patted Shi Nuan on her shoulders. “Are you still sleepy?”
“Not anymore!” She didn’t want to sleep anymore now that she’s awake. Besides, it was already noon. If she slept any longer, she wouldn’t be able to fall asleep at night. She rose from the couch and started to tidy up her documents. “Mr. George will be visiting us soon!”
“Yep! I think his flight was supposed to be a few days ago but I think there were some problems on his side. He only managed to straighten everything out yesterday. By the way, are you going to fetch him from the airport tomorrow?” Fu Chengyan kneeled down next to Shi Nuan to help her with the documents.
Shi Nuan paused for a while before replying. “Yeah, I think I will. I have already asked someone to clean up Mr. George’s residence here some time ago, but since he’s coming back tomorrow, I’ll ask them to clean it again.”
“Yea, good idea.” Fu Chengyan nodded. “But don’t worry about it. I already have you covered.”
“Yan!” Shi Nuan sighed and gave Fu Chengyan a firm pat on his shoulder. “Tell me. What can I do now that you have already done everything?”
“Stop it, silly!” Fu Chengyan saw Shi Nuan acting like a proud mother and pinched her nose. “You little monkey!”
“Ouch! Stop pinching my nose! You will ruin its shape!” Then, she continued, “Thank goodness my nose is original. If it’s plastic, you might have ruined it. Anyway, don’t pinch my nose again!”
“Hehe!” Fu Chengyan broke into laughter. “Let’s go out to eat tonight?”
“Alright!” It had been a long time since the two of them last went out for dinner. “Oh right, how’s Aunt Ning?” Shi Nuan remembered that a few days ago when she visited Ning Xin, the latter looked troubled, though she didn’t say anything. “When is Pei Huan coming back?”
“Soon, I think.” Fu Chengyan’s expression darkened at the mention of Pei Huan. “I don’t think Aunt Ning has much time left. I hope Pei Huan can still save Aunt Ning again when she returns this time. She’s hurt herself pretty badly in the incident three years ago.”
“Don’t worry, everything will get better.” Shi Nuan heard Fu Chengyan’s stricken voice and figured that he was feeling down. After all, Ning Xin had a special place in Fu Chengyan’s heart.
Fu Chengyan was brought up by Ning Xin; she was like a mother figure to him.
In addition, Ning Xin was a kind soul. Shi Nuan also experienced her kindness herself many times before. “Let’s go visit Aunt Ning!”
“Uncle Heng is with her now. Let’s visit her the day after tomorrow.” By now, Fu Chengyan was done organizing the documents and he pulled Shi Nuan to get up from the floor. “Go get changed. We are going out!”
“But it’s not even time for dinner yet. Where are we going? It’s so early,” Shi Nuan queried as she headed upstairs.
Fu Chengyan’s eyes lingered at Shi Nuan’s back as she disappeared up the stairs. Half a beat later, he gave his men in C Country a call. “Pick up your speed. You have only three days more.”
Shi Nuan walked down the stairs after she had changed. She saw that Fu Chengyan was already done tidying and smiled. “I bought you something when I was out shopping with Yian. Do you want to try it out?”
“Come over!” Fu Chengyan beckoned Shi Nuan to him with a wave of his hand. She walked over to him and passed him a jacket. “Yian said you are born to model clothes. She even said you will look good even in a burlap sack.”
“Hmm?” Fu Chengyan arched a brow as he put the jacket on. “Are you complimenting me?”
“Haha!”
Shi Nuan edged in closer to have a better look at Fu Chengyan with his new jacket on. She nodded gleefully. “Not bad at all!”
Fu Chengyan knocked Shi Nuan on the nook of her head. “You sure have good taste in clothing.” And in men too!
