27 New Trouble (2/2)
Who is going to buy the cow after you give away all the milk, right?
After Qing Qing parted from Xu Jing's embrace and stood a respectable distance away, the man was still in a daze. The young woman smiled to herself before saying, ”Brother Xu Jing, thank you for driving me home.
”You better depart for your own home soon, Sister Joann will be worried sick if you stay out any longer. Good night, Brother Xu Jing.” In a smaller voice, she added with a pout, ”I would have loved for you to stay but you know how it is.”
He was pulled out of his reverie by her words. Xu Jing nodded dumbly as Qing Qing smiled sadly at him before she wandered back to her house. She waved at him before entering the door. After some hesitation, Xu Jing decided to wave back. Her face blossomed into a bright smile. Xu Jing was reminded of a fresh spring flower, one that needed to be taken care of and cherished inside the green house and too fragile to be exposed to the ravages of nature.
After the lights in Qing Qing's house went off, Xu Jing crawled back into the driver's seat and drove off. Xu Jing did not know there was a young woman standing behind the curtained window watching him leave with a calculative smile on her face.
Back at the steering wheel, there was a small voice at the back of Xu Jing's head that said, 'Was she worried about me earlier? Worried that I will be exposed? Does this mean that she is worried the affair will be forced to stop after it is exposed? So in a way, she value this relationship?'
…
After the baby naming ceremony was concluded, Elder Lin left the country once more on official business with his son, Lin Kang in tow. This meant that the seat of power at Lin family had temporarily fallen unto Mrs. Lin. She rocked the household like a typhoon as if she was venting the humiliation she had received during the ceremony.
The maids avoided her like she was the plague and most of the time, if their mistakes were not obvious enough, they could avoid her wrath. This was because Mrs. Lin's pointed anger had two focused targets, one was Xiu Ling, the other Mrs. Xiu. The others could have relative peace provided they watch themselves around Mrs. Lin.
Mrs. Lin negated Lin Kang's suggestion of hiring a nanny for Lin Xi with the reason that she was fearful of having an outsider look after the baby boy. However, to her, Xiu Ling was no different from an outsider so the real reason was she wanted the woman to be as overworked as she possibly could, Mrs. Lin was not going to allow Xiu Ling to have a day's break as long as she was still around.
In any case, her plan backfired because both Xiu Ling and Mrs. Xiu appreciated this arrangement. They could not have been gladder to be allowed to spend more time with Lin Xi.
As mentioned above, Xiu Ling was one of the targets in Mrs. Lin's crossfire but she was spared from the majority of Mrs. Lin's wrath because she had the most powerful protective seal at her disposal.