142 Encounter with Ye Lan

January 29, 20XX (Tuesday)

Various Places

Inside the bulletproof Roll-Royce that was cruising on the highways of Beijing, Mei Li started reading the files that were saved in Yang's laptop so she could know the overview of the meeting. Feeling the thickness of the files, she cursed herself for agreeing with being Yang's proxy. Mei Li adjusted the earpiece dangling in her left ear; she glanced at her phone to monitor the muted device, so Yang could not hear anything from it, yet.

Suddenly, Mei Li felt something wet in her nether regions. She gritted her teeth in annoyance. Of all the time it would come, it would choose to be a nervous day like today.

Mei Li asked immediately, "Secretary Bai, would it be possible to stop in a drugstore?"

Bai Yu Shen sensed the urgency in her voice. He replied, "...We can if it's a brief stop."

"I need to buy one important thing," Mei Li said without emotions in her face. She desperately hid her embarrassment from them. It was useless though because when Mei Li got off the car, so did her guards riding on other cars before and behind theirs, even Secretary Bai came.

Every guard's face turned red when Mei Li walked towards the woman's area and saw what their CEO's girlfriend was going to purchase. The guards had shifted their gazes on the people around them and tried to ignore where they were. Secretary Bai's face was just as red as any guards. Mei Li snickered at their embarrassed faces disregarding her own. Grown men and still shy around feminine products.

Her day was a roller coaster ride of emotions, and fate added an encounter with a woman by the name of Ye Lan who appeared strutting like a diva. Mei Li groaned when she saw her. The heavens have sent someone to sharpen the edges of her poisonous tongue. Mei Li turned on the device that connects her to Yang so he can hear everything.

Ye Lan approached her and asked innocently, "Oh, aren't you Zhao Yue's best friend?"

"I am," Mei Li confirmed, almost sighing heavily in frustration. She added a fact that seemed petty to others but glorious to her, "I am also Zhao Yang's girlfriend."

On her left ear, Yang's soft chuckles were audible. Mei Li refrain herself from rolling her eyes. At least her situation amused the bored patient who can't walk for a while.

"Does Yang know you are with his friend?" Ye Lan sneered and eyed Mei Li and Secretary Bai. She was implying something that was not true by her tone.

The secretary visibly snorted and loudly uttered so everyone close could hear, "Idiots; they're breeding too rapidly."

Mei Li allowed herself to chuckle and then chastised Ye Lan from her casual use of Yang's name, "It's CEO Zhao to you. I did not permit you to call his first name yet."

"It's not your name." Ye Lan scowled with her reply.

Mei Li fakely giggle, "Let this be a lesson to you; everything Yang own is mine too."

"You're not married yet! He can still be stolen!" Ye Lan retorted causing the guards to tense as her body language showed her want to inflict harm on Mei Li.

"If he let himself be stolen, good riddance to useless men. If not, he'll stay shackled to me." Mei Li grinned from ear to ear. She took the cheapest sanitary pad she could find and bolted to the cashier as fast as possible. One more minute with Ye Lan and she'd start a catfight.

Without Mei Li and her entourage's notice, Ye Lan took her phone and snapped a photo of Mei Li with Secretary Bai. She made sure that the guards surrounding Mei Li would not be seen and that the angle looked intimate. She hurriedly sent the image to the Zhaos, who she knew the contact details- Yang and Yue. Ye Lan knew she was doing something that damages a person's reputation but hearing the mockery in Mei Li's voice, Ye Lan's pride took a massive hit.

In Japan, Yue took a look at the new message on her phone while being surrounded by a make-up artist and a hair stylist. She rolled her eyes and ignored the text before blocking the number. The Bai family were the most loyal of their servants, so she trusted them more than an angled photo that is easily spotted by her trained eye. Aside from that fact, Mei Li was holding a pack of sanitary pads on her hand. It must have been an urgent need.

Meanwhile, in a hospital in Beijing, Yang zoomed the picture into Mei Li's hand and saw the thing she bought. The CEO nodded in approval; at least she did not buy those tampon contraptions. Her menstruation explains her moodiness for the last couple of days.

Yang looked at his feet; he can't buy her favorite strawberry cheesecake. He was in the middle of glaring at his useless feet and cursing his stupidity when suddenly an idea popped into his head. Yang quickly texted someone who could, Xue Chang Min, 「Mei Li needs comfort food for her menstrual pain. Later, can you buy her some? She'll love you, especially if there are strawberries.」

An immediate response came not a minute later, 「Okay.」

Satisfied with securing Mei Li's snacks, Yang teased the woman, who was wearing the earphone set to hear the sound from the small mic on his other hand. He growled out the words, "Master-Wife, your bullied husband will choose to stay shackled to you."

On the middle of the car ride to Y Building, Secretary Bai saw a tomato head in the backseat of his car through his rearview mirror. He concentrated on the road; he doesn't want to know what the CEO was saying to make Mei Li blush that red. His stomach was already bloated from overeating dog food.