Chapter 172 Wesve Had so Much Fun! (1/2)
To celebrate Xin Qing's birthday, Zhang Mi and Aunt Tian baked a cake. When it was done, Ah Sha waddled out of the kitchen with the cake to present it before Xin Qing.
”Happy birthday, mommy!”
”Thank you, Ah Sha!” Xin Qing took the cake from Ah Sha and then kissed her cheek. Everyone sat around the Christmas tree to enjoy the cake. Somehow, Xin Qing ended up having butter stains all over her body. That night, after a shower, Xin Qing lay on her bed with her phone in hand, staring relentlessly at the clock on the screen. At one minute before midnight, her phone suddenly rang. Xin Qing tapped the call accept icon almost instantly.
”Babe?” A deep voice sounded from the speaker. ”Damn, that was fast!”
Tears slid down her cheeks. ”I... I knew you would call. So I was holding my phone all this time.”
”Hahaha!” Amidst the hush of the night, Ying Qingcang's laughter was like the melody of a cello, mesmerizing and enchanting. She could really lose herself in the sound of his laughter. There was a sigh, which was soft, as if the source of the sound was far away from the phone. ”Happy birthday. I miss you so much!” Ying Qingcang said. Right now, he was sitting inside his car, which was parked at the roadside. Around him, there were couples everywhere.
Xin Qing sniffed. ”I miss you too. Especially today.”
”I know. I promise to spend your birthday with you next year. Not only next year, but every year in the future!” Ying Qingcang had conveyed his feelings earnestly. Deep down, he feared that his woman would be sad. What he feared even more was that she would be disheartened by the long wait.
Xin Qing let out a teasing chuckle. ”Oh, you owe me so, so... much. You can slowly make it up to me in the future!”
”Mm! I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to you,” Ying Qingcang said softly. ”Young Master Shen will be there tomorrow. He has your birthday gift.”
”What did you get me?” Xin Qing asked curiously.
”Just a little something!” In his mind, Ying Qingcang conjured the image of a cringing Boss Wan. ”You'll know tomorrow,” he said in a slightly gleeful tone.
To quote an unknown source: ”The greater the physical distance separating two lovers, the closer their hearts are to one another.” During nights like this, when there was literally an entire ocean separating the two of them, all they could do was seek comfort in each others' voices. The experience was both poignant and heart-warming at the same time. Xin Qing ended up hugging her phone as she lay in bed. Neither of them wanted to hang up, so they kept talking and talking until Ying Qingcang could no longer hear anything from Xin Qing's end other than her steady and regular breathing. That was when he pressed his lips to the phone's speaker, kissing it gently.
”Goodnight, babe!”
He hung up and then picked up another phone which had been blinking non-stop.
”Hello.”
”Ah Cang! What have you been up to? Why didn't you pick up your phone? I've been calling you for nearly two hours.” Tang Shuang's angry voice sounded from the speaker. Ying Qingcang answered with a bland voice. ”I'm having drinks with Young Master Shen. The music is too loud. I didn't hear my phone.”
Tang Shuang went silent for a while. ”Where are you guys having fun at? I'm coming too. How could you leave me alone on Christmas day?!”
”I'll ask Ah Che to fetch you. Wait at home,” Ying Qingcang said and then hung up. After that, he walked into the KTV behind him. Inside the booth, Young Master Shen was sipping alcohol while having an arm wrapped around the waist of a beautiful woman. When he saw Ying Qingcang, Young Master Shen smacked the beautiful woman on the butt. The woman made eyes at him before she left. Young Master Shen reached out his hand. ”Where's my phone?”
Ying Qingcang tossed the phone back to him. Young Master Shen touched the phone. ”Tsk, tsk. Damn thing is so warm that it might just blow up.”
”Tang Shuang wants to come here,” Ying Qingcang said, opening all the bottles there. He even poured a bit onto his hand.
Young Master Shen frowned. ”And you're letting her come?”
”She kept calling and calling. She'll get suspicious if I don't let her come.”
”Perfect!” Young Master Shen said, handing an invitation card to Ying Qingcang. ”It's Ling Lang's movie premiere tomorrow. You should attend with Tang Shuang. And technically, Christmas is tomorrow. If you take her, she'll never doubt you again for sure.”
Ying Qingcang took the proffered card and flipped it back forth. ”You like this actress a lot, huh?”
Young Master Shen lips twisted downwards. ”Uhuh, how do you figure?”
”It's been two years, and you're still in touch with her.”
”That's because she's obedient!” Young Master Shen poured himself a drink with a satisfied look on his face. ”She's not greedy, she's not noisy, and she doesn't throw tantrums. She obediently plays the role of my arm candy to perfection. Plus, she's not too shabby in bed. It's rare to find someone who plays along with me so well. I see no harm in pampering her a bit more!”
Ying Qingcang had kept quiet throughout Young Master Shen's explanation. What he did not tell Young Master Shen was that Shen Batian had already given Zhang Mi the Dragon King's Token when she visited New York during the Chinese New Year; the object was an emblem of the mistress of a mafia family. In other words, even if Young Master Shen were to marry another woman in the future, that woman would not have earned the reverence of all brothers in the mafia family. Every member of the mafia would only show their allegiance to the woman who carried the Dragon King's Token; only Zhang Mi alone would be acknowledged as their ”big sister”...
Ying Qingcang had come upon that knowledge by chance; he once saw Zhang Mi showing the Dragon King's Token to Xin Qing. Shen Batian had obviously not told Zhang Mi the true meaning behind the object, probably to avoid scaring her. All Shen Batian told Zhang Mi was to never ever lose it. Zhang Mi, on the other hand, assumed that it was just some random toy given to her by an old man; she casually tossed the object into her handbag and kept it there.
Tang Shuang had spent the entire Christmas season so far in a foul mood. Last night, she went to look for Ying Qingcang at the KTV. In the end, she had only stayed for a few minutes before Ying Qingcang announced that he wished to go home. When they got home, he never even tried to touch her. His excuse was that he had had too much to drink. He went straight to bed. When she woke up the next morning, she wanted to ask him about their plans for tonight. But he was long gone by the time she opened her eyes. Then, she called Ying Qingcang's phone, which was picked up by Ah Nan, who told her that Ying Qingcang was in a meeting and that he was not free at the moment.
At dinner time, Ying Qingcang still had not returned. Tang Shuang was just about to call him when she received his call.
”Get changed after dinner and wait for me. I'm coming back to pick you up.”
Just like that, all the negative emotions she had been feeling vanished right that instant. ”Where are we going?” she asked, practically hopping around in joy.