Chapter 8.3 (1/2)

Chapter Eight (Part 3 of 3)

Han Ting Ting felt light headed. She heard each word Song Song whispered into her ear. The sweetness flew around her heart.

Han Ting Ting asked her heart if that feeling of being loved could make her fly on top of clouds.

‘Say something,’ Qin Song said. Her silence made him scared she didn’t want to accept his feelings. ‘Are you secretly laughing at me?’

‘I’m not laughing at you,’ Han Ting Ting said then ended up laughing.

If Song Song didn’t say anything whilst Han Ting Ting was secretly overjoyed then she wouldn’t have let out her joyful laugh she held in.

‘You are laughing!’ Qin Song said and playfully chased Ting Ting around the living room.

Qin Song and Ting Ting ran around the living room until they were both breathless. Then they sat on the sofa. He pulled her body to lean on his chest and his head gently rested on her head.

‘Why didn’t you tell me ‘that person’ was Chen Yi Feng?’ Qin Song asked.

‘I didn’t know you knew him,’ Han Ting Ting said. She felt the world was too small. ‘Do you have business connections with him?’

‘His company is influential in the southern districts. In the past I cooperated with him for two separate business transactions. Ji Nan said that my traitorous uncles invited him to join hands with them against me,’ Qin Song said. ‘Chen Yi Feng is complicating things for me. I can’t underestimate him. Big boss even has to ask Chen Yu Bai to keep an eye on who Chen Yi Feng has business deals with. But I’m not scared of Chen Yi Feng!’

Qin Song was upset Ting Ting kept quiet. ‘You don’t believe me?’

‘I believe you. It’s just that the Chen Yi Feng you described and the Chen Yi Feng I knew in the past sound like two different people. I think it’s because he rarely talked about his work with me in the past,’ Han Ting Ting said. ‘I think I was sheltered back then and I didn’t objectively see all sides of him.’

‘What’s so good about him?’ Qin Song said. ‘Your eyesight back then was poor. If you were going to secretly love someone, you should have chosen to love someone of my calibre! He’s an ordinary man and old too!’

‘You…’ Han Ting Ting said and sighed at Song Song’s childish insults.

Qin Song pulled Ting Ting back so he could see her expression. ‘Your dad has good eyesight! Your dad could see straight away that Chen Yi Feng was nothing but a nuisance for you.’

‘He didn’t toy with me… it was me who was the nuisance,’ Han Ting Ting said.

Qin Song laughed. ‘You didn’t even confess to him. How could your feelings back then burden him?’

‘I didn’t dare confess to him,’ Han Ting Ting said. ‘Then Tu Tu persuaded me to write a confession letter to him. My dad found it before I could give it to him. Dad was furious and asked me what did Chen Yi Feng do to me to make me have feelings for him. Dad wanted to confront Chen Yi Feng if he was leading me on or did anything despicable to me. I cried and begged dad to not go see him, mum helped to persuade dad not to go too. At that time dad received an opportunity for a work transfer. Dad didn’t hesitate to accept and we all moved here.’

Han Ting Ting thought that was the most rebellious period of her life. She was always obedient and was scared to do anything to defy her parents. Because of her foolish one sided love, she uprooted her parents’ stable life. She felt lighter after confessing her deepest regret to Song Song. She had bottled that up for so long. She leaned into Song Song’s warm chest that gave her more courage to let it all out.

‘It made me depressed that I caused my parents who are older now to move away from all their familiar surroundings and lifetime friends. Then after we moved here, dad’s work was more dangerous and he broke a leg. I felt I let my parents down and caused them to suffer because of me,’ Han Ting Ting said softly.

Qin Song hugged Ting Ting tight. ‘You regret coming here? There’s nothing here that makes you happy?’

‘It’s not all bad… coming here… I got to meet you,’ Han Ting Ting said.

Qin Song felt good hearing his ‘little country bun’ stating the obvious, of course meeting him was the best blessing in her life! He buried his face on the curve of Ting Ting’s neck and rubbed his chin along her shoulder.

Qin Song could only show his true childish nature and vulnerabilities in front of his ‘little country bun.’ Whilst at Qin’s company, it was exhausting to put up a cold front to deal with his greedy flesh eating uncles.

Qin’s company was a family owned business. Qin Song’s dad was the major stakeholder and Qin Song was the legitimate successor of Qin’s company. It was a lot of pressure for him to make profitable business decisions otherwise it would give his uncles ammunition to openly oppose him being the head of Qin’s company.

What was scary was that Qin Song knew that Chen Yi Feng was a different breed from his transparent uncles. Chen Yi Feng, that wolf in sheep clothing! Chen Yi Feng knew all the right things to say to his uncles to befriend them and at the same time not to fully commit to his uncles’ side. Chen Yi Feng was too cunning! Chen Yi Feng kept his options opened and would wait until the dust settled and swoop in without offending anyone!

‘Song Song!’ Qin Song’s third uncle called and knocked on the meeting table. ‘We’re in the middle of a meeting and you’re in a daze. How can I feel a.s.sured to leave Qin’s company in your hands?’

Qin Song gave his third uncle a dirty look. ‘I heard you. You should have presented the business proposal to me first before you approached Chen Yi Feng. I need to know if the terms and conditions will be beneficial for our end.’ He swept a cold look over his other uncles. ‘Who’s next?’

Qin Song’s indifference demeanour made it hard for his uncles to know how Qin Song’s brain worked. They wanted to find out what his weaknesses were and use it to stab him in the back. Whilst his uncles mull over how to take Qin Song down from his pedestal, Qin Song was busy planning his attack to deal with that eye sore Chen Yi Feng.

The information gathered by Ji Nan regarding Chen Yi Feng arriving to their district and his involvement with Qin Song’s uncles disturbed Chen Yu Bai.

Qin Song recalled what Chen Yu Bai said to the Liang’s sworn brothers. ‘Based on our business relations.h.i.+p with Chen Yi Feng over the years, it’s not ethical of him to help Qin Song’s uncles to attack Qin Song. Yet Chen Yi Feng didn’t turn Qin Song’s uncles’ invitation down and didn’t let us know his intentions before arriving to our district. What is Chen Yi Feng’s real agenda?’

Qin Song felt the same way Chen Yu Bai felt. But Chen Yi Feng wasn’t a fool. Chen Yi Feng wouldn’t risk breaking relations with Liang’s company that had contributed substantial profits to Chen Yi Feng’s company in order to attack Qin Song.

Unfortunately for Qin Song, no matter what speculations he came up with it never occurred to him that Chen Yi Feng was scheming to turn Qin Song’s ‘little country bun’ into Dong Dong’s step-mum.

Qin Song stepped out of the meeting room and bypa.s.sed Chen Yi Feng who huddled with his uncles conspiring against him. Qin Song acted like he wasn’t affected but inside he was worried he couldn’t outwit them.

Qin Song was frustrated he had to deal on a business and a personal level with that hateful Chen Yi Feng.

Qin Song arrived home, took off his shoes and entered a freezing house. ‘Where’s my wife? Honey!’

Han Ting Ting poked her head out from the kitchen. ‘What?’

‘Why didn’t you turn on the heater?’ Qin Song asked.

Qin Song had a long work day. He didn’t expect to come home to be chilled and it made his mood cold too.