26 Chapter 26 : Reel or Real?

"Dear, get out of the room. Let's have dinner." Hongqi knocked on Xiulan's adjacent door.

Xiulan's ears perks up when she heard that 'dear' word again. "So it's not wife and wifey anymore?" Xiulan mocks the endearments that Hongqi has given to her. The man is not even sure what to call her anymore.

"Okay!" Xiulan exclaimed and quickly went out of her room. She's also hungry from all the stress and thinking she has done for today. She might pop a vein in her brain sooner or later with all the current problems.

Hongqi was already outside the master's bedroom waiting for Xiulan.

"Let's go." Xiulan said as she closes the door. They were walking side by side when Xiulan said something. "I just wanna say it but you look really different with house clothes. You look younger." Xiulan innocently commented.

This is the first time Xiulan saw Hongqi in khaki shorts and white t-shirt. She saw him in gym clothes before but this time his whole image looked like an innocent college kid. It was so weird for her that clothes does really change a person's image.

Hongqi darkly looked at Xiulan and accused "So you're saying I look like an old man most of the time?"

"Hahahaha!" Xiulan giggled and retorted "No! Of course not. You're taking the context blow out of proportion. Pft--" But a snort escapes from her.

"You are making fun of me, dear?" Hongqi had that dark loom on his face but of course he's just teasing.

"No! But for your age, which is 32 years old. You look young like a fresh college boy when you wear house clothes." Xiulan tried to explain.

"You're really here with a long explanation, huh?" He accused.

"Why? What's wrong? It's a compliment!" Xiulan said, trying to save her ass.

Hongqi didn't say anything but stared down at his wife. Xiulan raised an eyebrow at him and mouthed a 'what'. Hongqi suddenly sneered and acted like he was gonna pounce at her.

Xiulan was alarmed but Hongqi's sudden playfulness and she quickly ran down the short stairs of the penthouse while sweetly giggling to avoid Hongqi. She really found it funny that she accidentally accuse him as an old fart. It's supposed to be an innocent remark, how did it became like that.

She was happily running towards the dining area when she saw Bai Rong came in from the front door.

"Miss Bai, good evening." Xiulan happily greeted. It's been such a long time that she had this playful mood.

Bai Rong only responded with a smile and nod. She was about to go to the kitchen but she suddenly halted when she saw Hongqi.

"If you say I'm old again, I'm going to really --- Miss Bai." Hongqi quickly held Xiulan's waist when he caught up to her but didn't continue what he was saying when he saw Bai Rong.

"Good evening, Young Master Xing." Bai Rong greeted and sweetly smiled at Hongqi.

Xiulan slightly raised her eyebrows. Seeing that sweet expression on Miss Bai's face already gave the answer that she's fond of the Mr. Xing not Mrs. Xing.

"Yikes!" Xiulan awkwardly muttered to herself. "Another woman to look out. She might poison me anytime if I get on her nerves." Xiulan muttered to herself more.

Hongqi only nodded to Bai Rong. Then he put his attention to Xiulan and pulled her closer to him and dragged her inside the dining area. When they entered, there was a man wearing a chef hat waiting for them. He was standing near the dining table.

"Good evening, Young Master Hongqi. Pleased to be your chef tonight." The man greeted.

"Thank you as well, Chef Gong. This is my wife, Xing Xiulan. Unfortunately, she might not be able to eat the food you will cook tonight due to her strict diet." Hongqi said and gave a teasing look at Xiulan.

Xiulan rolled her eyes at Hongqi's incredulous comments.

The couple sat on their respective seats and waited for their meals to be served. The same time Bai Rong also came in with Xiulan's bland meal.

Bai Rong served Xiulan's food while the chef also serves Hongqi's meal. Xiulan tried to compare each of their meal and all she could see is the unhappiness emitting in her meal. It was so sad to look at. While Hongqi has that steak and asparagus drenched in whatever yummy sauce.

Xiulan painfully look away from Hongqi's meal. "That was so painful to look at." she silently muttered.

Hongqi heard his little wife's side comments and he can't help but smile handsomely.

After finishing their meal, Hongqi and the chef started conversing and Bai Rong also time to time would voice out her opinion even though it was not asked. Xiulan would just listen to them and smile when Hongqi tries to tease her and let her join the conversation.

Suddenly Xiulan's phone was ringing and the number was from her S University's Dean. Xiulan's was so surprised that the dean is calling her.

"I'm just going to get this." Xiulan panicky said and quickly excused herself. She swiftly ran towards the penthouse's small veranda and answered the phone there.

Hongqi was staring at Xiulan's every move and expression. He saw the caller's name and he's curious why S university's dean would call her. He's now really curious what kind of skills Xiulan has in the business world. His aloof wife has an amazing line of connections.

"You are smitten, Young Master Xing." Chef Gong commented and happily smiled at Hongqi.

Hongqi gave a thin smile and caught this opportunity to act as the loving husband. "Is it obvious? I need to work on hiding it." Hongqi wreathed in smile.

"Very much, Young Master. There's no need to hide it." Chef Gong genuinely pointed out. The old chef was happy that this playboy young master is now in the right path when it comes to romance. He's excited to see the future children of this beautiful couple.

Hongqi didn't said anything but the fake loving smile on his face remains until Xiulan shortly came back to her seat. Hongqi endearingly looks at his wife and even put the extra strand of hair away from her face.

Xiulan was slightly taken aback by Hongqi's sweet movements and for a second stared at his face trying to read the atmosphere and the situation she's currently in. When she realizes that this damn man was just acting for their two spectators, she went with the flow of Hongqi's acting.

Chef Gong was satisfied with what he was seeing. But Bai Rong was not happy with her current view. Her sharp eyes were all over Hongqi's hands on Xiulan's small waist.

"He can't seem to let go of that damn waist." Bai Rong hatefully commented in her heart. She was so jealous of Xiulan. But of course this is only at this moment. The hate must not seep into her heart or else she'll lose this job that Hongqi personally called her for.

Bai Rong can't find anything special about Xiulan. She's been serving her for almost a week and she's really curious how this woman managed to marry a man like Xing Hongqi. She was so curious and wanted to unravel this couple's secrets.

Xiulan felt that there's a displeasing aura penetrating at her and her eyes automatically went to Bai Rong. She saw the hateful gleam in Bai Rong's eyes. Xiulan wanted to cry that Bai Rong will be in the top of her list of 'List of women to be hostile'.

"I have my own problems. Why do I have to solve Hongqi's women problems too, ah?" Xiulan dreadfully muttered to her heart.

~o~

In the next few days and weeks, Hongqi would always sleep and stay in the same penthouse. Xiulan thought Hongqi was really serious in this PR work for being the best husband that he would even stay in the penthouse for so many days now.

Since Bai Rong was now dismissed to serve Xiulan during the night, Xiulan would also eat the same meal that was served to Hongqi by Chef Gong. Because the carbs in Hongqi's meal were too much for the female intake, Xiulan must extend her gym session with Li Rong.

Though Xiulan and Hongqi have been living together, there were no awkward situations and they lived together like a real married couple, minus the romantic part. Their married lifestyle happened oh so naturally.

They would talk about work and their issues in their respective companies. Xiulan would do the house wife duties while Hongqi would help sometimes but most of the time he would lock himself inside his personal office and exhaust himself from work.

Xiulan would naturally serve him food or beverages when he's hungry even though he didn't ask. Xiulan would take care of him and even massage him when he asks or also when he's not asking.

They would sometimes have movie nights together and watch Netflix series during the weekends. They don't cuddle when they watch but they have heartily conversations of what they are watching. Hongqi sometimes would send Xiulan to work and fetch her when they would eat dinner outside.

For some reason and unknowingly, they became close friends or more like best friends. They treated each other like family or a very close friend.

Hongqi still has that clingy husband image when they are in public. But for Xiulan, she can't seem to differentiate the reel and real acting anymore. He's the same clingy man when they are all alone.

Xiulan is actually confused that the current Hongqi she both knew in public and private are the same. The only thing different was that she had seen his bad sides which he don't publicly show of course. But the rest is just the same . It just confuses her a little bit if they are still in acting mode or not.

But when it comes to Hongqi's teasing, Xiulan has now mastered tolerating it and she's not easily flustered unless it's really cheesy and too romantic. For Xiulan, everything Hongqi does were all friendly and brotherly and she shouldn't put any malice on it. As long as Hongqi is nice to her and her family and he's doing his part in the Song company, she would tolerate whatever show he would put out there.

When it comes to Hongqi's women problems, Xiulan also mastered ignoring them. They haven't attacked her yet or physically hurt her but time to time she would secretly get nasty remarks from them. She wasn't suppose to care over their evil comments but she's still human, their words are still somewhat hurtful.

It's been five months and Xiulan was still busy with the terrorist issue. She has been spending so much of her time for the past months in the dark web and the national security forums. The bad guys seem to be in hiding but they are still somewhere in China. She's also busy in creating a new software that hacks privateCCTVs using a mobile phone. It's far-fetched but Xiulan believes she can create it.

While Hongqi has been using the Song name too much for creating political connections. Lately, he's been mingling with Song Yingpei and his politician friends. It seems that Hongqi's not eyeing the mayor position anymore but more on getting and building good connections with politicians. He really wanted to build his own legal security and weaponry company so he must get these important people's good side. His entertainment business has been flourishing and it's helping with his plans.

They were both busy with their own businesses but at the same time are still connected due to the mutual people surrounding them.

Xiulan is currently in her office for thirteen hours today. She doesn't have any plans in going home yet. She must find a good information about those pesky terrorists tonight. She won't go home until she gets one. Hongqi's not in the country this week so it's fine that she stays in the company later than usual.

She was so immersed in her laptop that nothing could take her attention away from it until when her attention was caught by her mobile phone's screen.

"You received one message from Mo Dejiang." the phone screen displayed.

Xiulan's heart suddenly palpitated from the surprise of seeing that name in her phone. Out of all the days, this was the perfect time this man contacted her. She immediately check and read the message.

"I have some information about the terrorists. Meet me at Blends Cafe this eleven in the evening."Mo Dejiang's text message said. Mo Dejiang was Xiulan's former university classmate who was really smart. For some reason, he ascended to a handsome playboy casino heir and would hide the fact that he was a computer genius like Xiulan.

Xiulan has a huge respect over Mo Dejiang's computer skills and abilities. Especially in his snooping around skills. He was born to be an investigator or a hacker.

"Ahm... meeting him... It won't turn out as a scandal, right?" Xiulan is worried that her meeting with Mo Dejiang might be taken out of context by some people. She's also glad that Mo Dejiang was the one who contacted her. She's been itching to contact this man for his unique source of information. She has a lot of questions for him.

Though the only bad thing about this man was his playboy image. All the women he came in contact with are now labeled as his fling or lover. He's pretty much like a worst version of Hongqi.

Xiulan's now in a dilemma on how to meet this infamous former classmate.