"What are you waiting for? Pick up my phone off the floor idiot!" Zhou Yu barked out as she lounged back against her pillows, a hand stretched out imperiously, an implicit reminder for Qiu Ju to hurry. Qiu Ju hastily picked up her phone and deposited it into her outstretched hands shakily.
Zhou Yu answered the call. "Hello Investigator, I trust that you have some good news for me?" Her voice was sickly sweet, a far cry from the fierce bratty behaviour displayed just seconds before. If Qiu Ju didn't fear for her life and livelihood, she would have called her a two-faced bitch.
"I have some news, although whether it's good news or not… that's up to you," the man on the other end of the call said.
"Tell me," Zhou Yu demanded.
The man did, and Qiu Ju was half-horrified at the way her mistress threw her head back and cackled, as though this was the best news she had heard all year. She even wiped a tear from her eyes!
"Thank you Investigator," she said lovingly. "You have given me the best present. Expect a bonus to your commission."
Zhou Yu hung up the call, and leaned further back on her pillows, the dark clouds that surrounded her similarly dissipating immediately, as though they never existed. Qiu Ju eyed her warily.
Zhou Yu smirked at her. "Ask me why I'm happy. Aren't you curious?"
"Why are you happy, Young Miss?" Qiu Ju asked obediently.
"How can one not be happy, when they've discovered a secret that can destroy the bane of their existence?" Zhou Yu replied, suddenly cheerful. "Ah, my mood is so good now, excellent. I'll make some calls first. Prepare my outfits, I'll be leaving the mansion when I'm done."
"Where are you going, Young Miss?" Qiu Ju asked curiously, hoping that she would be gone the whole day.
"To pay a precious someone an important visit."
=====
Oblivious to the incoming storm, Xue Ning and Jingwei were enjoying a peaceful enough car ride home. It was uncomfortably cramped at the back, but they were already arriving at their destination. Xue Ning was looking forward to stretching out her limbs.
Unfortunately, there seemed to be a long line of cars waiting for their turn to enter the gate, and the air was rife with car honks from disgruntled drivers. Several passengers have already exited their car and walked to the front to observe the source of trouble.
"What's happening?" Xue Ning asked warily. The scene of all these waiting cars gave her a sense of deja vu. "Is there another crowd of paparazzi coming back for a second round after the press conference?"
Oh god. Was it them? Did they hear about Sun Haowei's heart attack and decided they needed a soundbite from his son? She wouldn't put it past them.
"I'll go and check," Xue Ning said, but Jingwei pulled her back.
"No Miss Li!" Wei Yan protested. "I'll go and check instead. You should stay here in the car, where it is safe."
Xue Ning stared at him blankly, not computing his words. "That's nonsense, I'll go with you. How could I get into any trouble?"
Jingwei protested. "Xue Ning! It's not safe!"
"It's not safe for you," Xue Ning corrected gently, patting his hand as she prepared to leave the vehicle. "Now this is a public location and Lao Wen knows me. If anything happens, I'll also have Wei Yan for protection. I'll just be going to check things out, so you stay in the car!"
"I can go alone though, Miss Li," Wei Yan said, sweating at the thought of Sun Jingwei stewing restlessly in his car as his wife went out to check. He might just run out of the car to chase after her!
"No you're not," Xue Ning retorted firmly, as though Wei Yan was the client and she was the bodyguard. She gave Jingwei a quick peck on the cheek and took advantage of his stunned silence to slip out of the car, Wei Yan immediately in pursuit.
She waved at Jingwei as she left, while he stared at her nonplussed.
"She really left," Jingwei blinked in surprise. He quickly moved to open the door, but because Ming Guang wasn't born yesterday, he already locked all the car doors the moment Miss Li left the car.
His charge wasn't going anywhere outside if he had his way!
"Ming Guang!" Jingwei protested as he tried to tug the door open. It stayed firmly shut. "Let me go!"
"No Young Master, this is for your own good." MIng Guang replied evenly, watching the backs of Li Xue Ning and Wei Yan as they walked past the row of cars to the start of the queue, right at the entrance of the gate.
Thankfully, it didn't seem like anyone noticed them, for they blended right with the crowd.
Xue Ning and Wei Yan quickly found out the reason for the long queue - there was a bright pink car parked obstinately right in front of the closed gate, blocking everyone from entering.
Xue Ning frowned. What kind of driver was so inconsiderate?! She chanced a look at the car tires, they were in great working condition, no hints of a flat tire anywhere, so there was no reason for the car to remain where it was.
Did the driver not pass their driving course? A glance at the driver's seat showed that it was empty. Well that explained it. No one could be deaf to the cacophony of honking noises from all the angry drivers trying to get in.
Just as she was going to ask Lao Wen what was going on, Xue Ning saw the back of a woman with beautiful blonde hair, curled delicately into ringlets pointing a threatening finger at Lao Wen, who was sweating buckets in nervousness as he remained in his little booth.
There was a small crowd of people watching her, and they were tutting judgmentally at her actions. However, strangely enough, no one bothered to tell her off. Instead, they watched her warily, as though she was a tigress liable to lunge at the next moving target.
Xue Ning narrowed her eyes. The hair looked familiar - but when had she seen it before?
"I know they are here! Get Sun Jingwei and his shameless hussy to come down now!" The blonde woman barked out as she knocked aggressively on the glass panel of Lao Wen's booth. Lao Wen shook his head frantically, but it was useless.
This woman didn't believe him when he claimed that Mr Sun and his wife weren't back home; she demanded him to let her through so she could see him in person.
Of course Lao Wen wasn't going to do that! Judging by how she was already kicking up a fuss, letting her through would be nothing short of a disaster. But the crowd of upset residents grew increasingly larger, and he began to frantically look for a saviour, even as he dialled Mr Sun's home number, hoping that he would pick up.
"Let me through, or my father will have your job!" She yelled shrilly.
During times like this, he really wished he could retire in the mountains. Lao Wen prayed for a miracle, and lo and behold, one arrived!
It was Miss Li, Sun Jingwei's fiancee, who was walking towards him. There was another young man with her that he did not recognize, but that wasn't important. Finally, one half of the couple arrived!
"What's the matter here?" Xue Ning asked evenly, prepared to have a nice, chill talk with the woman to hopefully convince her to move her car and stop creating trouble for everyone. As long as the woman in question was reasonable, surely they could come to a happy conclusion.
That plan immediately went out the window the moment the woman whipped her head around at the sound of her voice.
It was the one and only picky asshole, the woman that she saw at Lady Su Yan's boutique: Zhou Yu!
"YOU!" Zhou Yu declared loudly, pointing a finger at her as she glared at her with vindictive hatred in her eyes. "FINALLY YOU DECIDE TO SHOW UP, YOU SHAMELESS BITCH!"
Xue Ning rolled her eyes. Great. That's what she wanted, a troublemaker pointing her out in front of a crowd. Was this high school again?
"What do you mean by 'finally I decide to show up'?" Xue Ning retorted blankly. "Did I make an appointment with you beforehand? Is where I go any of your business?"
"You have some nerve arguing with me, with your piss-poor background." Zhou Yu smirked. "But then I suppose it can't be helped. My first impressions of you were accurate - you are just a country bumpkin after all!"
"Okay…" Xue Ning said with a heavy sigh, laying out the sequence of events. It felt like she was talking to a toddler. "So you came all the way here from your fancy mansion, blocking the gates and making a nuisance out of yourself because you wanted to see me?"
"Yes." Zhou Yu said smugly, with no self-awareness whatsoever, but her smirk fell off at Xue Ning's casual reply.
"Sorry, I don't swing that way!"
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