Chapter 279: A Tool to Punish Her

"You did? Why didn't you give it to me last night?"

"Mm. Wait here," he said promptly, not responding.

Qian Meng unwound her arms from his neck and watched him disappear into his closet. Curious, she followed him and found him opening a drawer.

"Let me guess, you got me a boyfriend t-shirt that you wore during these days? For me to wear and remember you by?" she teased. "Are you going to give me a love token?"

"Sorry to disappoint you, Mrs. Mo. You don't get my t-shirts. Now, close your eyes."

Qian Meng laughed and closed her eyes, leaning against the door frame as she waited. "Alright, they are closed."

She heard his footsteps as he approached and she could tell he was standing in front of her.

"Open," he ordered. 

Her eyes flitted open to find him standing there with a smile on his face, holding a jewelry box. The carving on the box was exquisite, put together neatly, every inch of it was perfection. She wondered how much money something like that must have cost. 

It made her mouth dry.

"Is it… real?"

"Of course, it's real," he responded, sounding insulted. "Carved biscuit porcelain box. You're making the rings, so you need something to keep it in, right?"

Qian Meng blinked. "Sorry… I have never seen anything like it before. Where did you buy it from?" she asked, awed. 

"Do you like it?"

"Are you kidding? It's exquisite," she breathed harshly. "Where did you buy it?"

"An upscale antique store. It's on the way back home, so I thought I would buy you something. You loved the antique chess set Uncle Bai gave you, so."

Qian Meng gathered her hair and took the box to her side of the closet. She placed it in the most conspicuous location and watched it carefully.

She could see Mo Qingchen standing behind her and smiling. He was looking at her reflection in the mirror. Their eyes clashed and she looked down immediately. Feeling something strange in her stomach. 

'Stop trying so hard to act like you belong.' The intrusive thought passed. 

"You're frowning," Mo Qingchen commented from beside her. "You don't like it?"

Qian Meng shook her head, trying to smile.

'Why would you try so hard? You won't make anyone proud. And no one loves you. Aren't you wasting your life?' This time, the voice in her head was obscure… not her own. It was someone else and she felt a pang of fear at it. 

"It's not that," Qian Meng responded quickly, trying to shove the thought to the back of her head. "But… you really didn't have to do this, Qingchen."

"I know." He stepped closer to her and leaned back against the counter. "But I wanted to. I felt that you deserved a treat after what happened."

Qian Meng squinted. "You bought a gift to erase your sins even before you committed it," she accused. "You…"

"Yes. I did. I thought about it closely and I knew you could react this way. So, I prepared." 

Qian Meng sniffed. "You used sex as a tool to punish me," she said. 

"I wasn't punishing you. I don't have anything to be angry with you for. I just wanted to teach you a valuable life lesson."

Qian Meng nodded. "And you used sex as a tool," she said again. 

Mo Qingchen sighed. "Anything to get the point across."

'See? He doesn't like you enough.'

Qian Meng shook her head. 

"What is it?" Mo Qingchen asked. 

"Nothing. I want to grab breakfast near the office."

The silence was awkward as she continued to stare out of the car window. That day, she had insisted on taking her car, but he had insisted on driving. They were seated at the restaurant and he kept looking intensely at her. Eventually, her eyes shifted over to him. 

She wanted to ask about it all. Why had she really asked to marry her? Why was he going so far to appease her? Why did he use that one thing they connected on as a weapon against her?

Just as she was about to open her mouth to do so, their morning took a turn for the crazy.

Despite being far away from the front of the restaurant, they could both hear the distinct sound of tires screeching loudly outside in front of the restaurant. 

"What the hell was that?" she found herself saying. 

"Must be someone taking out their anger on the world," Mo Qingchen commented with the shake of his head.

In the background, they heard a commotion and someone commented on an expensive car being harmed. Mo Qingchen stood up immediately and briskly walked past Qian Meng to investigate. 

Qian Meng followed behind him as he walked back out into the street. As soon as he caught a glimpse outside, his whole demeanor changed. 

"What the hell!" he yelled before taking off in a full out run. 

Qian Meng was still inside the restaurant and didn't know what he was so mad about. She wanted to see what had been freaked out like that. 

Her eyes widened at what she did see. Her car was trashed.

"Holy shit…" she swore as she slowly padded towards the direction Mo Qingchen had gone to. 

Mo Qingchen was circling around her car, surveying the damage. She stopped in her tracks and just stood there staring, trying to process what she was saying. It was horrible. All of the windows and the windshields were knocked out, tiny pieces of glass strewn about everywhere. The headlights were smashed as well and all four tires were slashed. But there was something else that she noticed before any of that. 

Music. 

Music blared from inside the car, a snippet of a song about a raging bitch.

Someone had edited the song to the exact part about the woman and somehow put it in a CD to play over and over again.

The scene before her made bile rise in her throat.