Chapter 3 (1/2)

Chapter Three

Qin Song kept his promise. The following Monday ‘little country bun’ started her first day at her new workplace. The preschool was located in the same district as where Qin Song and Han Ting Ting lived together. Han Ting Ting could walk there within twenty minutes. She was responsible for teaching the eight oldest pre-schoolers how to sing and dance. Her new pay rate was three times that of her old preschool.

The truth was Qin Song was the investor of the district they lived in and getting her employed in the preschool was a cinch. But he never told Han Ting Ting how he got her the job that way she’d be grateful enough to be willing to sacrifice her life for him.

Han Ting Ting was an honest person. After Qin Song found her a job she was eternally grateful to Qin Song. From that day onward Qin Song was treated like the king of the castle in their home. She looked after his every need and revered him with all her heart.

There were many everyday events that happened that attracted them together and brought them closer.

On the first weekend of each month was a reunion weekend for all of Qin Song’s relatives on his mother’s side to meet up. Before they got married, Han Ting Ting met up with the Zhang household members twice. The first weekend they visited the Zhang household as a married couple was the third time.

The private road leading up to the Zhang mansion didn’t allow cars to pa.s.s through. Only Qin Song who relied on his status as Commander Zhang’s youngest and most doted on grandchild dared to drive his car all the way to the Zhang mansion.

The guards at the gate from the distance recognised the youngest master’s car and only raised their hands for the car to stop as pretence.

‘Qin Song!’ Han Ting Ting said. Even though she sc.r.a.ped through her driving theory test on her eighth attempt, she was a law abiding citizen. ‘You need to stop the car over there!’

Qin Song dismissed ‘little country bun’ and drove straight through the gate.

‘On both sides of the road are trees and lots of small animals. Last time I saw a rabbit crossing the road. What benefit do you get from driving through the road and scaring the small animals?’ Han Ting Ting asked. ‘Take a look, everyone else parked over there then walking to the mansion.’

‘You’re annoying!’ he grumbled, turned the steering wheel around and grudgingly parked the car in the designated parking.

‘Oh, Sang Sang! Have a look, is that really our young Qin master?’ Li Wei Ran asked.

‘Nonsense!’ Qin Sang teased.

‘That’s right. The young Qin master that we know usually park his car in front of the living room before he’s willing to get out of his car,’ Li Wei Ran quipped.

Li Wei Ran and Qin Sang approached them. Qin Song creased his forehead and was about to retaliate but Han Ting Ting beside him greeted them before he opened his mouth.

‘Fifth brother, Sang Sang!’ Han Ting Ting said.

Han Ting Ting’s gracious reaction stopped Li Wei Ran and Qin Sang’s sarcastic remarks in their tracks. Qin Song stood on the sidelines and watched them in a bind, they had no choice but be polite with his ‘little country bun’ around. Inside his heart he laughed with glee. His Ting Ting was thick skinned but had sharp claws, Li Wei Ran and Qin Sang wouldn’t dare bully him whilst he was under Ting Ting’s protection.

Zhang Yu was Commander Zhang’s youngest daughter. Zhang Yu had an older sister, Zhang Pu. Zhang Pu was beautiful and smart. Zhang Pu was both more gentle and understood social decorum better than Zhang Yu. Like Zhang Yu, Zhang Pu only gave birth to one son who was Li Wei Ran. The two first cousins Li Wei Ran and Qin Song grew up together, but their bond surpa.s.sed that of blood brothers.

Li Wei Ran married a cla.s.sic willowy beauty, Qin Sang. Qin Sang and Zhang Pu were cast from the same ladylike mold and for that reason Zhang Yu was not fond of either of them.

Han Ting Ting’s social background was different to Qin Song. When Ting Ting’s grandpa was still Commander Zhang’s guard, her grandpa’s relations.h.i.+p with everyone in the Zhang household was good. Both Zhang Pu and Zhang Yu called her grandpa, ‘uncle Han’ endearingly. After she married Qin Song, her bond with the Zhang household grew closer and everyone doted on her. Commander Zhang advised her many times. ‘Ting Ting, if Song Song dares to bully you don’t go soft on him. Come to me straight away and I’ll take out my horse whip to give him a treat.’

‘Ha!’ Qin Song grunted.

Han Ting Ting’s back shot up and she spoke up for him. ‘Qin Song treats me well. He won’t bully me!’

Zhang Yu heard Ting Ting’s backing Song Song and smiled cheekily. ‘Why am I always hearing Qin Song this and Qin Song that? Do the two of you still call each other formally at home?’

Han Ting Ting blushed red. Qin Song saw her blus.h.i.+ng and wrapped an arm around Ting Ting’s shoulder. Qin Song pulled her closer to his chest, intimately leaned his forehead onto her forehead. ‘No one’s a stranger here, you don’t need to be embarra.s.sed.’

Most likely because it was a cold day and that was why Qin Song’s embrace gave Ting Ting a warm feeling. Qin Song’s boyish charm made her more fl.u.s.tered and her tongue kept knotting.

‘Song Song!’ Ting Ting said after several attempts.

The newlyweds’ sweet shyness made everyone around them smile happily. The elders grinned from ear to ear and encouraged Ting Ting to act casual around them. Ting Ting mumbled a casual greeting to each person in the room.

Zhang Yu glared at Zhang Pu in contempt. ‘Zhang Pu has a daughter-in-law too. Why is everyone bullying my daughter-in-law? When Qin Sang married into our family, no one forced Qin Sang to greet each person in such a manner. Stop picking on my honest Ting Ting.’

Zhang Pu had no intention of stopping the teasing and pretended Zhang Yu was invisible.

Qin Sang noticed the tension between the Zhang sisters and averted everyone’s attention. ‘Ting Ting, how’s your dad’s health? Is he stable now?’

‘Ha!’ Zhang Yu grumbled. ‘Ting Ting’s dad recovered long ago. He’s back at work already.’

‘Ting Ting, ask your mum to come over often whenever she’s free. Now that you’re married, your mum would be bored by herself at home,’ Zhang Yu said. ‘Song Song, make sure you take Ting Ting to visit her parents often. They gave away their only daughter to you. You need to look out for them more.’

Qin Song was busy playing with ‘little country bun’s’ arm and hand that he inadvertently blurted out their secret. ‘We go over there for dinner every day.’

‘Both of you eat dinner there every day?’ Zhang Yu asked out of shock.

Qin Song realised his tongue slipped and immediately smiled sweetly. ‘Mum… Ting Ting’s working now so we don’t frequently travel about anymore and we’ll be staying home to eat.’

‘You two go there every day…’ Zhang Yu said. Zhang Yu’s disappointed look was evident. ‘Why didn’t you take me too? I like eating spicy dishes Ting Ting’s mum makes lots!’

Qin Yun was used to Zhang Yu’s backward outbursts and awkwardly coughed twice. Zhang Yu’s relatives were too embarra.s.sed and faced away.

Commander Zhang was used to sleeping early. After dinner everyone left. Qin Song was the last to leave. When Qin Song and Han Ting Ting walked out the door the sky was pitch black, the atmosphere was good and the moonlight shone on the private road Qin Song and Han Ting Ting strolled along. Qin Song stayed silent. He was particularly quiet the whole day unlike his usual lively self. Han Ting Ting noticed he wanted to maintain the tranquilness, she too silently walked side by side with him. The moonlight s.h.i.+mmered on the long road and tree branches swayed in the wind.

‘Be careful!’ Qin Song shouted suddenly.

Han Ting Ting was scared out of her wits. Her arms automatically braced Qin Song and hid behind his back with a pale complexion.

Qin Song saw his mission accomplished, he let out a bout of laughter.

‘Hey!’ the ‘little country bun’ who was usually easy going, lost her temper. ‘Why did you scare me?’

Qin Song laughed even more boisterous.

Han Ting Ting looked at him condescendingly. ‘You’re such a kid!’

Qin Song scrunched his eyebrows. ‘Is your skin itchy? You dare to boldly talk back?’

Han Ting Ting didn’t say anything. She opened her eyes wide and stared at him. Qin Song didn’t mind having a staring contest with anyone before and stared straight back at her.

Perhaps it was the beautiful moonlight or from staring at each other for a long time or some other reason made Qin Song felt the usual young doll face in front of him was transformed into… an unfamiliar beautiful face.

‘Ahem,’ Qin Song coughed and broke eye contact. ‘Let’s go home!’

Han Ting Ting was like a well behaved kid, she saw that Qin Song admitted defeat and didn’t boast about it. She forgave Qin Song and obediently ‘ran little steps’ behind him.

The reason behind why she ‘ran little steps’ was because Qin Song’s legs were too long and he still held her hand as he took strides.

Playing newlyweds the whole day, the two people had fully immersed themselves into their roles.

The following day was a Sunday and both Qin Song and Han Ting Ting didn’t need to go to work.

Han Ting Ting made breakfast and went upstairs to wake Qin Song for breakfast. Inside Qin Song’s room was quiet, she surveyed his room a while and didn’t see anyone and thought he was out jogging. She went into the bathroom to collect his dirty laundry for was.h.i.+ng. To her surprise she opened the door and saw someone stripped down to their white underwear flexing their chest muscles in front of the mirror.

‘You…’ Qin Song said frozenly.

‘I…’ Han Ting Ting was also paralysed.

A long time later the two people involved regained control of their muscles. One person stayed hidden in the bathroom and the other person ran outside the bathroom. In their recent state of embarra.s.sment… the person outside had slammed into the bedroom door that was half opened and the person hiding in the bathroom jumped into a tub without water. Following the harmonised loud banging sounds the two embarra.s.sed people were groaning in pain.

Qin Song stiffly walked downstairs, Han Ting Ting was sitting in a daze at the dining table eating with her head buried into the bowl of porridge.

Ting Ting’s face was flushed pink and the sunlight shone behind her back and s.h.i.+mmered pink silhouettes on the dining table, it gave the illusion that Ting Ting was a serene beauty. It was like her brightness struck straight through Qin Song’s eyes. He stood stunned for a while before sitting down and lowering his head to eat silently.

Qin Song thought that Ting Ting was an innocent maiden and the morning incident was unintentional and decided not to make a fuss about it with her. But in the afternoon, he went into her room and ‘accidently’ discovered Ting Ting had recounted the morning incident to Tu Tu.

‘How’s the size of his package?’ Tu Tu had texted to Ting Ting’s phone.

What a pervert! Qin Song lost his temper and his shaky hands opened Han Ting Ting’s outbox to see what she replied.

‘One… big package!’ Ting Ting texted to Tu Tu’s phone.

Lightning struck Qin Song’s hand, he was paralysed on the spot.

Ok, at least ‘little country bun’ was honest.

When Qin Song was about to close out of the outbox, the phone beeped and a text from Tu Tu appeared on the screen.

‘No picture, no evidence,’ Tu Tu texted.

‘Evidence your head!’ Qin Song within a blink texted a reply.

The moment Qin Song pressed sent, he got a bad feeling and before he deleted the text the phone rang, it was Tu Tu.

Suddenly the bathroom door opened. Qin Song chucked the ringing phone outside the window.

‘Ah…’ Han Ting Ting was startled at the sight of Qin Song. ‘What are you doing in my room?’

‘I… I,’ Qin Song choked. ‘Why didn’t you collect my dirty laundry to wash?’

Han Ting Ting’s face flushed red. Since practically seeing Qin Song naked in the morning and then running downstairs, she didn’t dare go back upstairs.

‘I think I heard my phone rang,’ she said and fumbled around looking for her phone to hide her embarra.s.sment.

‘What ring tone?’ he said. ‘You heard wrong.’

She stood straight and looked up to stare at him.

He couldn’t bear her intense stare and was about to open his mouth to confess but her nodding stopped him.

‘That’s possible… I do mishear things,’ she said.

His heart let out a sigh of relief.

‘But where’s my phone?’ she asked and looked for her phone. ‘Qin Song, can you call my phone… oh, where are you running to?’

Han Ting Ting’s phone had disappeared.

‘Hey! This is for you!’ Qin Song said.

Qin Song came back from ‘jogging’ and gave Ting Ting a new phone with a pink cover.

‘No need. This morning I was texting Tu Tu. It must be somewhere in my room. I’ll take another look,’ Ting Ting said and waved her hands to decline the new phone.

‘Ha!’ he grunted.

He kept his arm stretched out in front of ‘little country bun’ and grimaced.

Ting Ting saw that Qin Song’s complexion wasn’t good, hesitated for a while and accepted the new phone. The truth was she adored the pink shade of the phone cover to bits! She held the phone in her hand and looked at all its features. It was too adorable to let go.

‘But my contact list is on my old phone,’ she said. ‘Now I can’t contact Tu Tu.’

Someone’s heart silently felt… it was better you couldn’t contact Tu Tu.

‘What was Tu Tu’s number? 139… 611… 54… 540…’ Han Ting Ting mumbled but couldn’t remember.