It was already past eight o’clock in the evening when Xie Ling returned home. According to her original plan, she was supposed to return to the Xie residence for dinner over these two days. Now that her face was bruised, she certainly could not go back, but if she did not show up, Madam He would undoubtedly start asking questions.
It was truly frustrating.
She pressed her finger to the lock, entered the house, tossed the Audi keys aside, and collapsed onto the sofa in her slippers.
The housekeeper had long since prepared dinner. She had wanted to call and ask about Xie Ling earlier, but remembering the young boss’s warning, she had not dared to, waiting anxiously for over an hour. Seeing that Xie Ling had finally returned, she rushed to the kitchen to reheat the dishes.
Xie Ling listened to the faint sounds coming from the kitchen. She closed her eyes and tapped her fingers. After a while, she got up from the sofa, took off her dirty clothes, carefully washed her sore hands, and sat at the dining table to wait.
“Thank you for your hard work,” Xie Ling said in a low voice as the housekeeper placed the steaming food on the table.
The housekeeper was pleasantly surprised and hurriedly replied, “It is no trouble; this is my job.”
Xie Ling did not say anything else. She lowered her head, took a sip of soup, and then stopped.
The smile on the housekeeper’s face had not fully bloomed before it froze. She looked nervously at Xie Ling’s face and asked, “Is it too bland?”
Xie Ling shook her head without speaking. After a three-second pause, she slowly said, “I do not have much of an appetite. Housekeeper, you go ahead and eat. I am a bit tired, so I am going to rest.”
The housekeeper watched Xie Ling’s slumped shoulders as she walked away. She frowned slightly. This was the first time since she started working here that the young mistress, who usually had a healthy appetite, had shown no interest in food. She took a tentative sip of the soup, but there was nothing wrong with the taste, so her frown deepened.
Xie Ling sat before the vanity mirror with a gloomy face. The light from the smart mirror made her appearance look even more striking.
She felt an indescribable sense of disappointment in her heart.
The face in the mirror had a visible bruise at the corner of the mouth, and the swollen skin served as a reminder to Xie Ling: everything that happened today was not a dream.
“Damn it.” It was so uncomfortable!
As an author, she had actually been beaten up by a character she had written herself.
That feeling was really… Xie Ling reached out to touch the injured area, her heart filled with endless desolation. Ah! I was actually hit by the daughter I raised myself! Damn it!
Her sorrow was hard to contain, and even simple tasks like washing up became difficult. After getting two sets of pajamas wet, Xie Ling finally lay back down in her soft, secure bed.
In her sorrow, sleepiness crept in. She fell asleep unusually early, sinking into a dreamland shortly after eight. However, to her surprise, she woke up even earlier.
Three hours later, Xie Ling was jolted awake by the constant vibration of incoming calls.
Before going to sleep, she had left her phone on the edge of the pillow. Although the ringtone had been silenced, the buzzing vibration was still on. Dazed, Xie Ling struggled to open her eyes, still exhausted. She blindly fumbled around and grabbed the phone, which was flashing rhythmically.
With half-closed eyes, she dimly made out the caller’s name and the notification of missed calls at the top of the screen. Xie Ling huddled under the covers, rubbed her eyes, and answered the call. The voice of Qian Lu, anxious and irritable, immediately came through the receiver.
“Hello? Where are you? I just saw the video. What on earth is going on? Huh?”
“I am at home. What video? What is going on? What are you talking about?” Xie Ling looked at her phone strangely, yawning under the covers, tears of sleepiness welling up in the corners of her eyes.
Qian Lu, however, did not play by the rules; she gave an “oh” and hung up.
Immediately after the call ended, Madam He’s call came in. Xie Ling blinked hard. Too sleepy to wonder why, she subconsciously pressed answer, and a voice that did not match He Rong’s usual image exploded in her ear.
“Ling? That little beast from the Lin family did not do anything to you, did she? Did you win the fight? Did you suffer any losses?” Madam He’s tone was somewhat similar to Qian Lu’s, but along with the anxiety, there seemed to be a hint of expectation.
It seemed the news of her fight with Lin Man had already spread. Xie Ling understood how the video had been made and spread without needing to think too hard. She gave a clumsy, embarrassed laugh. “It is fine, Mom. Do not worry. I won, and I did not suffer any losses. She was injured worse than I was.”
“Is that so? Good, that is good. Sleep early. I will help you ask for leave tomorrow morning; do not go to work. I will come to see you.” Madam He squeezed the eye mask in her hand; the veins on her fair hands stood out more prominently than usual.
Xie Ling could not detect the displeasure in Madam He’s seemingly relaxed tone and simply agreed foolishly.
After the call ended, she was still drowsy, her eyelids heavy. She felt as though she would sink back into sleep, but the moment she closed her eyes, they snapped open again.
Xie Ling recalled the video Qian Lu mentioned and the little beast in Madam He’s words, realizing the severity of the situation. Her fight with Lin Man had gone viral.
When Qian Lu and the others arrived, Xie Ling was sitting at the dining table in her pajamas, eating a midnight snack.
“Why are you only eating now? Why did you not call us when Lin Man came looking for you? Oh my, is this bruise from her? She hit you pretty hard. And you, did you not do two years of sparring for me? How did you end up in such a sorry state?”
Tang Wenwen stood by the dining table, asking a series of questions. Seeing the bruise on Xie Ling’s face, she was so angry she almost flipped the table.
Xie Ling rested her elbows on the edge of the table. Watching Tang Wenwen’s movements, she said blankly, “It is marble.”
Upon hearing this, Qian Lu hurriedly stepped forward to pull Tang Wenwen back, advising, “Calm down, calm down. It is Ling sitting opposite you, not Lin Man.”
Ren Xuan agreed, “Qian Lu is right. If possible, I support you in flipping Lin Man’s table, or poking holes in her pots.”
Tang Wenwen rolled her eyes. “You guys misunderstood. I just wanted to pull the chair, but I reached for the wrong spot.”
The remaining three exhaled in relief.
Xie Ling set down her spoon and leaned against the back of the chair, watching the three of them pull out their chairs simultaneously. She pouted, implying they should sit and ask what they wanted to ask slowly.
Qian Lu and Tang Wenwen took the hint and quieted down, looking at Ren Xuan, who sat at the very end.
Xie Ling smiled to herself; she did not need to guess that they must have discussed this on the way. Ren Xuan was clearly the representative for this conversation.
Sure enough, a second later, Ren Xuan, entrusted with the heavy responsibility, spoke with a serious expression and a sincere tone. “Xie Ling, did Lin Man actively come to cause you trouble tonight?”
Xie Ling listened to Ren Xuan’s question and looked at the phone Qian Lu pushed toward her. The screen showed a ten-second video filmed from the perspective of a bystander. In the video, she and Lin Man were tangled together, rolling on the ground.
Xie Ling exhaled deeply and nodded, then hesitated and shook her head. Finally, she slowly looked up at Ren Xuan, then shifted her gaze to Tang Wenwen and then to Qian Lu.
“She actively came to find me, saying I cut off all cooperation with their Lin family.”
Xie Ling paused and added, “Actually, I also wanted to ask you: what exactly did you do to the Lin family?”
Ren Xuan seemed to have guessed she would ask this, her manner and tone just as relaxed as before. “What did we do? What could we do? Nothing more than registered sales; we just stopped selling to people from the Lin Corporation.”
Xie Ling could not miss the subtext in Ren Xuan’s words. These were the exact lines she had used to mock them not long ago; she did not expect to be mocked back so soon. She leaned against the back of the chair, looking at the bowls and chopsticks in front of her, and whispered, “You know that my intention was only to keep you out of this mess.”
“You also know that the three of us value loyalty above all else,” Ren Xuan said, shrugging with utter sincerity.
Xie Ling nodded hard and gave a firm “Mhm.” “Fine. I am fine, and I did not suffer any losses. You do not need to be so tense in the future. Now… it is getting late, everyone should go back and rest.”
“Text us if anything happens.”
Xie Ling shifted to the side, stood up, gave a slight nod, and said in a deep voice, “Thank you for everything you have done for me. I am very grateful, but… I hope similar things will not happen again.”
Qian Lu clearly did not expect this reaction. She got up and pursued, “What do you mean? She treated you like this, and you are still speaking up for her? What do you mean you did not want us involved? What do you mean ‘no more similar things in the future’?”
“Qian Lu!” Tang Wenwen reached out to grab Qian Lu’s arm, shaking her head slightly.
Ren Xuan pursed her lips and said nothing, only silently watching Xie Ling.
“This is a personal grievance between her and me. You really do not need to do this.” Xie Ling lowered her eyes, realizing she had spoken too harshly, and explained, “I am always causing you trouble, and I feel very bad about it.”
Qian Lu looked at Xie Ling’s bowed head, huffed, grabbed Tang Wenwen’s hand, and left. Ren Xuan was the last to leave. As she stood by the head of the table, looking at the three empty chairs, Xie Ling felt a heavy tightness in her chest. She admitted she was moved; the effort and thought required to target Lin Man across industries was significant, but the more they did for her, the more uneasy she became.
Her Frustration Index depended on Lin Man, and if such events only added one or two points… she really did not hope for Lin Man to face any major trouble. At least, not right now.
But “Little Anti,” which had been speaking less and less lately, spoke up at this moment. “That is not necessarily true. What if you bankrupt her? The index might just skyrocket directly.”
“Huh?” Xie Ling tilted her head. She thought, so that possibility existed? Then why did you not say so earlier?”
“Little Anti”: “Heh, you are the slow one; are you blaming me?”
Xie Ling took a deep breath, hurried to the entrance, put on the cotton jacket hanging on the rack, opened the door, and chased after them.