Chapter 48 Hot Spring (1/2)
Ying Qingcang and Xin Qing settled themselves into a stand-alone wooden villa, which was surrounded by various lush vegetation and greeneries. This time, both Ah Nan and Ah Che had tagged along, though as soon as they had got their luggage settled, they hurried to leave.
”Where are you guys going?” Xin Qing asked. Being alone with Ying Qingcang was the last thing on her mind. ”There are enough rooms, so why don't you guys just stay here.”
”Yeah, but the thing is, we still value our lives...” Ah Che thought.
Ah Che pulled open the door hurriedly, the edge of his lips tugged into a humorless smile. ”Our rooms are at a further place,” he said, already stepping outside. ”So let us be out of your hair now, Young Master, Young Lady,” Ah Che said, shutting the door behind him.
A wave of nerves hit Xin Qing. At the same time, Ying Qingcang was slowly walking towards her. For a moment, Xin Qing panicked. Her eyes darted everywhere as she did not know where to look. When Ying Qingcang was about an arm's length away, she jumped. ”What are you doing?” she asked.
Ying Qingcang glanced at her with nothing but nonchalance in his eyes. Then he walked past her and heaved her luggage from the floor, ”Don't tell me you're planning to carry this all by yourself?”
...Xin Qing hid her face behind her hands.
Ying Qingcang watched as Xin Qing hurried away into her room with her luggage. He felt the corner of his mouth lift into a smile. ”Seems like Young Master Shen's methods are pretty useful,” he thought.
Ying Qingcang remembered Young Master Shen's exact words to him. ”Your top priority right now is to get Xiao Qingqing to trust you. And don't start losing your cool when you're around her. You gotta approach this thing with the same mindset and the same expertise that you employ during your business dealings. In business, you're always trying to outwit and destroy your opponents. So do the same here. I don't think Xiao Qingqing feels absolutely nothing for you. But you gotta slowly let her get used to your presence in her life. You gotta make her fall for you without her even knowing it's happening!”
Recalling those words, Ying Qingcang began summing up the gist of Young Master Shen's views. He then added his own understanding into the mix, which brought him to a realization. He realized that he had been treating Xin Qing wrongly all this while. Before, he was either extremely nice to her, or he was extremely mean to her. Their relationship was like a roller coaster ride, full of extreme ups and downs. No human being would be able to cope with that. Well, since he had already chosen her, Xin Qing belonged to him for the rest of their lives. And now, Ying Qingcang had decided to take things slow. The net had already been cast, which means that the prey would have no chance at all to escape.
Meanwhile, the unknowing prey hid out in her bedroom, staring at the calendar on her phone. She had already found out the reason Ying Qingcang brought her here. It was because tomorrow night was the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival.
A sense of powerlessness swarmed her. Even now, she still felt the same loathing she had felt for Ying Qingcang in the past. And yet, they had been intimate with each other. On the way to the villa, his treatment of her had been mild. Well, it was not something she would deem as mean or spiteful, but it was not overly nice either. Xin Qing actually preferred things to stay this way. At least it was better than before, when he would be extremely nice but then turn into a douchebag afterwards. It was like giving her a sweet date, but then slapping her right after she had eaten it.
Dinner was laid out in a small garden behind the villa and it was attended by all four people. The hot spring lay beside the dining table where steam could be seen rising off the milky white spring water. Because of the steam, the surrounding ambience had turned misty. Throughout dinner, Ah Nan and Ah Che stared at the tabletop. Then, before the full course was served, they stood up and told the other attendants that they had had enough.
”Have some more. If not you'll get hungry in the middle of the night,” Xin Qing said. She knew that she would feel all kinds of wrong if she and Ying Qingcang were to be alone together now. So she did not want Ah Che and Ah Nan to leave just yet.
Ah Nan was just about to insist that both of them were not hungry when Ying Qingcang pushed against an egg on the table. ”If you're done, then take these eggs and boil them,” Ying Qingcang said.
The hot spring had high enough water temperature to simmer an egg until it was cooked through. In fact, it was one of the hot spring's special features. Ah Nan and Ah Che took the eggs and placed them in a special funnel. And then they crouched down beside the water to boil the eggs.
Xin Qing kept her head low as she ate. Constantly, she would feel Ying Qingcang's eyes on her body. But when she lifted her head, he quickly looked away. At some point, Xin Qing even thought she had been paranoid to the point of being neurotic.
The same thing happened a few times over, and all of a sudden she felt as if her appetite had fled her. She set down her chopsticks and stared at Ying Qingcang, asking, ”Why do you keep looking at me?”
”Wasn't looking at you,” Ying Qingcang took a sip of fish soup and pointed to something behind her. Hesitantly, Xin Qing turned her head around. That was when she saw that the space around a thicket nearby was filled with fireflies. The fireflies swarmed the air in a cloud, igniting the night sky.
”That's so beautiful!” Xin Qing exlaimed in barely-contained awe. The sight before her right now was one that she would never be able to see in the city. Xin Qing stood up, and took off running towards the thicket. But as she neared the thicket, she slowed her steps. She did not want to scare the fireflies away.
”Young Master, the eggs are ready,” Ah Nan said, setting the cooked eggs on the table. Seeing that Xin Qing was preoccupied with something else and had not noticed them, Ah Nan and Ah Che hurried off.
After the fireflies and the eggs, Xin Qing's mood was greatly lifted. In fact, she was now in the mood for a quick dip in the hot spring. But it was also at that moment that she realized a problem.
”Why aren't you leaving?”
Ying Qingcang sat himself on the living room couch. The living room, which was directly facing the hot spring.
”Why should I leave?” Ying Qingcang answered with another question.
Xin Qing pointed at the hot spring and said, ”Because I'm about to take a dip in the spring.”
”Oh. Then go ahead. Don't mind me.”
Xin Qing frowned. ”How am I supposed to do that when you're right here?”
”Ah!” Ying Qingcang exclaimed, as if he had had an epiphany of some kind. ”But I've already seen your body without a stitch from top to bottom. What's there to be shy about?”
Xin Qing took a huge step onto the stairs. She was going upstairs. ”I'm going to bed. See you tomorrow.”
A tiny smile formed on Ying Qingcang's lips as he watched her leave in huffs of anger. ”The water temperature is high in this hot spring,” he thought, ”if you were to take a dip today, how are you supposed to join me for a dip tomorrow...”
Xin Qing knew absolutely nothing about that plan though. In fact, she went fishing at the lakeside the following morning. And then in the afternoon, she descended the mountain to check out dragon trees. She had heard a couple of things about the dragon trees. First was that the dragon trees could only be found here. And the second was that the dragon trees had another name called ”red-blood tree”. The reason it had been given that name was because blood-like red sap would be released the moment its barks were slit.
Handicrafts made from dragon trees were sold at the mountain foot. So Xin Qing bought a few as a souvenir. She was planning to give them to Zhang Mi and Shi Qianqian upon her return to the city.
Both Ah Nan and Ah Che missed dinner. After dinner, even Ying Qingcang himself went missing too. Xin Qing could be careless about him though. She saw his absence as the perfect opportunity to finally enjoy that soak in the hot spring.