Chapter 43

“Su Qing!”

Turning her head, Su Qing said with recognition, “Oh, it’s the great Mr. Xu.”

Yes, the same Mr. Xu who had suffered an unforgivable wrong.

Noting that he was furious and possibly dangerous, Jiang Jiusheng stepped out of his way and stood against the wall, not wanting to get involved.

Xu Qingjiu charged forward like an injured beast, his eyes hard as nails, glaring at Su Qing. “Don’t you think it’s time you returned my pants to me?”

Thunderstruck, Su Qing stood frozen.

What a twist of fate for these arch-rivals to get caught up in such a dramatic manner. Of course, Su Qing had always relied on maneuvering her way around reality—not on her acting skills. She asked in a high-pitched voice, “So that pervert in the men’s bathroom was you?”

“Me, a pervert?” Xu Qingjiu laughed angrily. Throwing caution to the wind, he lost it and yelled, “Who the hell snatched someone else’s pants in the men’s bathroom?”

Defiantly, Su Qing retorted, “It was nothing compared to you playing with yourself.”

Xu Qingjiu was speechless.

“What? Nothing to say?” Su Qing stuck her chin out in defiance. “Pervert!”

Xu Qingjiu was livid, his eyes flaming with rage. He would have loved to be able to consume this person with that fire. Speaking slowly, enunciating each word clearly, he said, “That… was… milk!”

The pants had, indeed, been soiled with a sticky white substance, which, truth be told, did look like milk. Su Qing replied in an understanding tone. “Just another term for it… I get it.”

Xu Qingjiu was angry that, instead of admitting fault and asking for forgiveness, this guy had turned the tables on him. Huffing and puffing in his rage, he finally lost it, shouting, “I’ll kill you!”

Sensing danger, Su Qing started to run.

Xu Qingjiu stretched out his long arm and, grabbing her by her neck, dragged her without a word toward the stairs. He was so strong that she almost choked to death. After a few futile attempts, she stopped struggling and was dragged away like a dead fish. A true warrior would rather die than be humiliated!

Su Qing turned her head and glared at him fiercely. “Darn it, let go of me!”

Xu Qingjiu looked at her with malice in his cold eyes. “Take off the pants.”

Take them off, my foot!

“Are you a homo?” she shouted.

Then she started bashing his muscular arms, which were so hard that her dainty fists hurt.

Unfazed, he caught both her arms with one hand and whispered, “Even if I was, you’d be the last person I would touch.”

Grinding her teeth, Su Qing uttered, “Go to hell!”

“I want my pants back.”

“Despicable!”

Not wasting any more time with the rascal, Xu Qingjiu hoisted her over his shoulder.

Su Qing screamed frantically, hoping to arouse the curiosity of the media, who, unfortunately for her, had already left the event hall and were gathered outside the venue. There was no one, not even the paparazzi, available to show the true face of this unruly idol singer.

She had run out of ideas. Kicking him with her legs, Su Qing shouted at the top of her voice, “Sheng, help me! Sheng!”

Xu Qingjiu laughed coldly and clamped her legs in place. “You can shout and scream all you like,” he said, sounding like a mobster. “I am still going to strip those pants off you.”

Suddenly, Jiang Jiusheng felt that it would not be appropriate for her to interfere.

“Sheng!”

“Sheng!”

“Sheng…!”

Su Qing’s voice slowly faded as they moved further toward the exit stairs.

In less than one hour after the awards ceremony had ended, topics titled “Xu Qingjiu the Arrogant,””Best Female Singer Jiang Jiusheng,””Wen Shihao,””Jiang Jiusheng Injured,” etc., became the most searched on Weibo.

Jiang Jiusheng’s Weibo was bursting with activity because she had uploaded a picture of her award trophy.

ShengYe’s_SecretLover006: Hubby, does the arm still hurt? I am so worried that I’ve been missing my meals. @JiangJiusheng V

ItheBest: Sheng Ye, tell me, where did you hurt your arm? I want to go and level that place!

CarryingShengBaby: Who is this Wen Shihao? Just one song and she got the award? Has our Sheng Ye been set up? Where’s my axe? I wanna go chop up those judges!

ShengYe’s_GuardDog: Wen Shihao—daughter of the Wen banking family. She joined the industry a year ago. Coached by the best songwriter in the country, Liu Pingzhi, her first composition, “July,” was sung beautifully by pop queen Lu Li. An exclusive on Wen, thank you!

OD_On_You: So contrived. I don’t believe that there was no conspiracy!

IHeartTianTian: Boss Yuwen, time to flex your muscles. Your precious girl has been set up!

HairyFairy: Dears. Sheng Ye has gotten that award many times over. So let’s be generous and let the newbie enjoy a thrill.

Red_Green_Carp&Donkey: I’m only concerned about my hubby’s arm. Sista Mo Bing, are you looking for an assistant that can comfort, feed, and clothe your artiste? Like me; like me! I’m free and good! @MoBing V

CrazyCute: I want to be the cast on Sheng Ye’s arm, so I can always stay close to her.

******

Not long afterward, the number of chats came close to breaking the 100,000-mark and threatened to bring down the Weibo server.

Mo Bing sent Jiang Jiusheng back to Silver Royal Manor, not mentioning a single word about Lin Anzhi during the journey. Matters of the heart were best left to the people directly involved for resolution; any interference from a third party would not be welcome or appropriate. In any case, there could only be one of two possibilities—either Jiang Jiusheng had gotten the wrong end of the stick, or Mo Bing had chosen the wrong partner. Being in a relationship was similar to having a drink of water because only the drinker would know its temperature. Likewise, only the people directly involved would know how to handle any kinks in their relationship.

The car stopped outside the gated community.

Opening the door to let Jiang Jiusheng out, Mo Bing said, “I’ll walk you to the door.”

Jiang Jiusheng shook her head and declined. “It’s very late. Go on home and rest up.”

“Call me if you need anything.”

“Okay.”

Having watched Jiang Jiusheng enter safely into the estate, Mo Bing and Xiao Qiao drove away.

At this time of night, the security guard was still awake, watching a program from a small portable with its volume turned very high. As Jiang Jiusheng walked past the security cubby hole, security guard Li stuck his head out of the small window and smiled in greeting.

“Miss Jiang, you’re back.”

Jiang Jiusheng nodded.

Cheerfully, Xiao Li laughed in a booming voice. “I watched the live telecast,” he said. “Congratulations, Miss Jiang.”

“Thank you.”

“Shall I walk you upstairs?”

Smiling, Jiang Jiusheng shook her head and replied, “No need.”

Xiao Li did, however, step out of the security cubby hole and watched as Jiang Jiusheng walked away.

Silver Royal Manor was a secluded estate located away from the bustling city center with very little traffic on the surrounding streets. At night, traffic was even more sparse, most of which was headed in the direction of Silver Royal Manor and the wealthy neighborhood nearby.

As the car traveled at a steady and slow pace, Mo Bing relaxed in the front passenger seat and shut her eyes.

Suddenly, Xiao Qiao remarked, “That car…”

Mo Bing opened her eyes, rubbing the spot between her brows on her forehead.

Slowing down, Xiao Qiao looked in the rear-view mirror. “That is the same car I saw on the grounds of the awards venue,” he said.

Mo Bing turned around and saw a silver Volvo, a car known for its safety features but aesthetically unremarkable.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“Very sure. I remember taking a second look at the car because the registration number is Miss Sheng’s birthdate.”

Hearing this, Mo Bing turned around quickly and looked at the license plate, squinting to decipher the numbers.

Silver Royal Manor.

Beep—beep—beep.

Hearing the honk, Xiao Li looked out of the window of the security room and released the gantry bar to let the vehicle enter. It was Doctor Shi’s car.

Xiao Li knew that Doctor Shi had two cars—a silver Volvo and a white BMW—but he had rarely seen the doctor driving the silver car.

“Doctor Shi, you’re back.”

Winding down the window, Shi Jin nodded and said, “Yes.”

“Shall I park the car for you?” Xiao Li offered as he walked over.

“Yes, thank you.”

Shi Jin alighted from the vehicle, passed the car key to Xiao Li, and thanked him again before walking toward Block Seven.

Jiang Jiusheng had just reached the elevators when Mo Bing called.

“Are you in your apartment?” Mo Bing asked. She sounded panicky.

“I’m waiting for the elevator.” Jiang Jiusheng pressed the Up button. “What’s up?”

“We have been stalked by someone driving a car with registration number 0902,” Mo Bing explained, speaking quickly. “I suspect that he’s a secret fan. He’s even using your real birthdate for his registration number. A fanatic for sure.”

It would have taken a lot of effort for this person to trawl and unearth data that has been kept away from the public eye.

Mo Bing shuddered at the thought of such a man’s state of mind and tenacity.

“Don’t go back to your apartment. Wait for me at the entrance to your estate. I’m coming over now.”

Jiang Jiusheng was a picture of serenity. “Don’t worry. Don’t come over. Even with one arm, I am still able to defend myself.”

Mo Bing remained doubtful.

Giving a short laugh, Jiang Jiusheng said, “I promise not to hurt him too much.”

“Be careful,” Mo Bing advised, amused but still worried. “Call me if anything weird happens.”

“If anything weird happens, I’ll call security first,” Jiang Jiusheng reasoned, looking at the flickering elevator lights.

“Anyway, just be careful.”

Mo Bing had barely completed her sentence when the elevator lights blacked out.

“Mo Bing.”

Mo Bing’s heart dropped. “Yes, what is it?” She had a bad feeling about this.

Jiang Jiusheng announced calmly, “The power’s been cut.”