“Cheng Xiangyun, you traitor!” Ning Ran bellowed.
“Whom have I betrayed?” Cheng Xiangyun asked, feigning innocence.
“Of course it’s me! Who else can you betray?”
“What have I done? Isn’t this house good? Have you paid a single cent for rental? Aren’t you and the kids staying here more comfortably than when you had to squeeze in my house? I’m making your life better! In what way have I betrayed you?”
Ning Ran was dumbfounded for a moment before she struggled to reply, “But you lied to me! This is a fact!”
“What have I done? Have I swindled you out of your money or love? You have not paid a single cent and still got to stay in such a nice house. What are you complaining about? It’s a gift from heaven! Do you think a mere three thousand is enough to rent this villa? Are you dreaming?”
A sudden recollection struck Ning Ran.
“Cheng Xiangyun, I remember that, on the second day after moving in, you asked me for five thousand, claiming that three thousand was to pay for the house rent and the other two thousand was to pay for the property management fees. How dare you claim that I did not pay a single cent for the house? Since you did not use it for the house, it means that you must have cheated me of that five thousand! Return the money to me!”
Cheng Xiangyun smacked her own head, “Did I?”
“Of course you did! I transferred the money to you back then! I still have the receipt of that transfer transaction! You swindler!”
Cheng Xiangyun pondered for a second. Seems like it’s true.
“It is all for your own good, to convince you about the house. Anyway, you have gotten yourself a rich man. Will you still mind a mere few thousand?”
“I mind!”
“Stop your nonsense. You still have to film tomorrow. Quickly go to bed,” reminded Cheng Xiangyun, preparing to retreat.
Most importantly, she has to sleep now. I really can’t discuss with her in details over monetary matters.
“Oh yes, will you still be staying here in the future?”
Pulling a long face, Cheng Xiangyun replied, “Aren’t you humiliating me? The real owner is here already. I will move my things out of this place tomorrow morning.”
“I don’t mean that. Didn’t you rent out your house? Where will you be moving to?”
“Anywhere other than this place, is fine.”
“I don’t think you need to move. Nan Chen is not staying here permanently. He is staying here temporarily to spend more time with the children. Furthermore, you know his house is not even in this city, so you need not move out for his sake.”
“Of course, I don’t wish to move out and to spend money to rent another place. But Sir Chen is here. I can’t insist to stay here while he is around.”
“Of course you can. He has a lot of property and can stay in somewhere else. Also, my relationship with him has not progressed to the stage where we can cohabit yet.”
“Okay then let’s agree on this arrangement. If he stays here, I will move out. But if not, I will stay here for a while more. After all, I have rented out my house and can’t jolly well chase the tenant out before the contract period is up. I will have to wait till the rental period’s up before I ask the tenant to move out.”
“You really need not move out. Don’t worry about it.”
…
The next afternoon.
Nan Chen just finished lunch with his business partners and was prepared to rest for twenty minutes in his office.
Jiang Zhe stood guard outside his office personally, to ensure that his boss would have a peaceful rest.
At this moment, Qiao Zhan came over to look for Nan Chen and was thrilled to see Jiang Zhe standing outside the office.
“Has Assistant Jiang changed jobs to become a security guard instead? Welcome to my security team. Oh, on second thought, forget it. Given your small build, I’m afraid that you can’t even protect yourself, much fewer others.”
Jiang Zhe scoffed at Qiao Zhan’s jeers.
Qiao Zhan refused to back down and joked in return, “Even your scoff is so feminine. It suits your demeanor though.”
“Qian Zhan, I don’t want to engage in useless banter with you. Sir Chen is resting, don’t disturb him.”
“Are you using Sir Chen to scare me again? I’m not falling for your trick. I have urgent matters to report to Master Chen.”
“No matter what the urgent matter is, you have to wait until Sir Chen wakes up. You can’t disturb him now.”
“It is really very urgent and needs Sir Chen to decide. Otherwise, I can’t make the call. Stop blocking my path. Otherwise, you won’t be able to bear the responsibility if any problem occurs.”
“What is the matter? You can tell me.”
“I can’t tell you as you won’t be able to help. Assistant Jiang, stop thinking that you are so important. You may be able to decide some business matters for Sir Chen, but stop prying into the Nan family’s personal matters.”
“Fine, fine. I’m just asking. But Sir Chen is very tired now. You really can’t go in and disturb him.”
“Fine, I won’t go in then. If any problem comes up, you shall answer for it.”
“No problem. I will bear the responsibility.”
“What are you quarrelling about?” Nan Chen knitted his brows as he opened the door.
“Captain Qiao wants to barge in. I have stopped him so that he will not disturb your rest.”
“Nonsense. I have said that I have something to report, not to barge in,” Qiao Zhan clarified quickly.
“Obviously, you intended to barge in!”
“I did not!”
Nan Chen stopped them, “Enough, stop squabbling. Captain Qiao, come in.”
The two men fell silent at Nan Chen’s orders.
Nan Chen looked at Jiang Zhe, signaling him to go out first.
Qiao Zhan smirked at Jiang Zhe. See, what I have told you! The Nan family’s personal matters are not meant for you to know!
“The diagnosis is out. It is the same as the previous diagnosis, which recommends long-term conservative treatment. The specialists have issued a prescription, and I have made arrangements to get the best medicine following the prescription.”
“Okay.”
“I have also sent specialists to the airport. She only needs to take medicine daily according to the prescription now.”
“Did they say how long she must take the medicine before it takes effect?”
“No, they did not. What they said was quite vague. I guess no doctor will dare promise when the patient will recover. Furthermore, traditional Chinese medicine will take a longer time to be effective.”
Nan Chen nodded his head. What Qiao Zhan just said does make sense.
“I understand. Let her take the medicine on time. Don’t let her wander around.”
“That’s the matter I want to report on. Madam…”
Nan Chen knitted his brows, “What happened? Did she go out?”
“Yes, she went out and did not allow us to follow her…”
Furious, Nan Chen stood up, “What did I tell you? You did not follow her just because she did not allow it?”
“Madam was rather agitated. She said she was not a criminal, so we had no rights to lock her up.”
“You should not have let her roam around freely even if she was agitated. What if someone discovers her? How am I going to explain it to Grandpa?” This time, Nan Chen was really panicking.
“But we really could not stop her. She was holding a pill in her hand and threatened to swallow it to commit suicide. We did not dare to stop her. What if something really happened? We would not be able to bear the responsibility!”
Nan Chen sighed heavily. My mother always makes me worry. She has not changed after so many years.
