After Ouyang Qi entered the villa, Ning Ran didn’t follow him immediately.
However, he stayed inside for a long time without any signs of coming out.
After some time, Ning Ran began to worry because the villa belonged to Nan Chen. He spent a lot of time in the study, which doubled up as his office. Hence, there would be a lot of sensitive commercial documents inside, and strangers shouldn’t be allowed near them.
With that in mind, Ning Ran rushed back into the house anxiously and shouted, “Ouyang Qi, what are you doing?”
“I’m in the toilet. What else could I be doing?” Ouyang Qi retorted.
“Why are you taking so long?”
“My stomach hurts, so don’t rush me.”
Once she was sure the voice came from the toilet, and Ouyang Qi wasn’t snooping around in the study, Ning Ran heaved a sigh of relief and sat on the sofa to wait.
After a while, Ouyang Qi came out.
His normally pale face was even lacking color now, while his forehead was sweating profusely. The pain seemed to be written all over his face.
“It looks serious. Do you want to go to the hospital?”
“There’s no need for that. Perhaps I had too much to drink last night, and it may have upset my stomach. Do you have any medication?” Ouyang Qi asked.
“Yes. However, they’re just ordinary painkillers. Do you still want them?”
“Fine. They will do for the moment. Please give me a tab. Can I sit and rest for a while?” Ouyang Qi asked.
“Alright, have a seat while I get you the pills.”
In a short period of time, Ning Ran found the medication and handed them to Ouyang Qi.
After that, she poured him a glass of water.
After taking the painkillers, Ouyang Qi thanked her and lay down on the sofa to rest.
As he did look like he wasn’t feeling well, Ning Ran didn’t chase him out. Instead, she left the door open and waited by the side.
After twenty minutes, Ouyang Qi no longer felt any pain and got up. “I’ll be leaving now. Thanks for everything.”
“Weren’t you supposed to give me my script? Where is it?” Ning Ran asked.
“That’s right, I almost forgot about it. This is the USB drive, and it is password protected. The password is six consecutive fives, got it?”
“Okay, I got it. Thanks.”
“Do you want me to go through the script with you?”
“Nah, thanks for sending it here.” Ning Ran insisted on him leaving.
“Haha, I was just kidding. I knew you wouldn’t agree to let me stay behind. In that case, off I go.”
“Alright. Thanks and bye.”
Standing at the balcony, she watched as Ouyang Qi left.
Then, she went back to the study and plugged the USB drive into the computer.
It asked for a password as expected, and she entered six consecutive fives to open the document.
However, it was a blank drive with nothing inside.
Feeling that everything was suspicious, Ning Ran then called Ouyang Qi and asked him about it.
However, Ouyang Qi told her that he didn’t know anything. All he knew was that Ouyang Qing’s assistant had passed him the USB drive. As to why it was empty, he had no idea.
After that, Ning Ran gave Ouyang Qing a call, but she didn’t pick up.
Feeling that something was amiss, Ning Ran began to worry.
She did a quick search online and read that the document may be hidden due to its secrecy.
Hence, she followed the on-screen instructions to retrieve it but to no avail.
After struggling for a while, Ning Ran decided to give up. She kept the USB drive and recollected what had just happened.
At that moment, Ning Ran heard the door open. When she came out to look, she saw Nan Chen entering.
After last night’s embarrassing incident, Ning Ran was still feeling guilty about it. Hence, when she saw Nan Chen, her expression became awkward. “Why are you home?”
“Why can’t I be home?” Nan Chen threw the question back at her.
Ning Ran could sense the anger within him and knew it would be a bad idea to agitate him. Hence, she held her tongue.
The next moment, Nan Chen began to walk through all the rooms as if he were looking for something.
Combing the house from upstairs to downstairs, he ransacked all the rooms.
“Did you lose something? What are you looking for? Do you need my help?” Ning Ran asked.
“Where’s is he?” Nan Chen asked.
“Who?”
“What are you pretending for? Who gave you the right to let the lover boy into my house?” Nan Chen complained angrily.
In truth, he was bursting with rage before this, and he was holding himself back all this while.
At the same time, the word “lover boy” struck a nerve with Ning Ran.
“What are you talking about? What lover boy? How can you say something like that?”
The moment Nan Chen spat out the word, he regretted it immediately.
Impulse brought out the worst in him. Under the influence of his anger, he spoke without thinking.
“Where is he? Where is Ouyang Qi?” Nan Chen roared.
“Did you come back just to yell at me over this?”
“Yes, what right do you have to let him into my house?” Nan Chen continued yelling.
Ning Ran maintained her composure. “How did you know he was here? Did you send someone to watch me?”
“Are you hoping that I don’t find out? You’re really smart. The moment I leave, you let another man come in. You feel nauseous when you see me, so you must’ve been delighted to see another man, right?”
Just then, the image of Ning Ran retching at the toilet bowl flashed across his mind, intensifying his anger.
You actually wanted to puke the moment I touched you.
And the next day, you let another man into my house. This is extremely humiliating!
“No, I don’t. I have no explanation for last night, but I can explain what happened today. Ouyang Qi was here to deliver a script.”
“Which script?”
“Isn’t the new movie about to start filming? It’s the script for that movie. Ouyang Qing had him sent it here,” Ning Ran explained.
“Why him?”
“Ouyang Qing said something came up, so she couldn’t do it herself. Since she was worried about the script’s security, she said she would send someone she could trust, and that person was Ouyang Qi.”
“Why wasn’t I informed that the script was out?”
“Perhaps no one reported it to you. That was why you weren’t aware. However, what I’m saying is the truth,” Ning Ran continued.
“He should have left after dropping off the script, so why did he come in? Can’t he just hand it to you outside?” Nan Chen’s expression was filled with doubt.
“He had a stomach ache, so I let him use the toilet. After that, I gave him a painkiller for it, and he left after resting a while.”
“So, how long did he stayed for?” Nan Chen’s expression darkened the more he asked.
“Not that long – just about half an hour.”
“Damn it! How could you let a man stay in my house for half an hour? Even the servants can’t come and go as they please, and yet you let him in? Furthermore, there’s no one else at home. How could you be alone with him in the house?” Nan Chen reprimanded her angrily.
At that moment, Ning Ran realized that she didn’t have any good excuse, and she said what she had to say.
The only thing she could do was to repeat herself, which was pointless.
“It’s not what you think. He had an upset stomach, but after taking a short rest here, he left.”
“I forbid that too! Ouyang Qi is scum. There’s no way he can stay inside here for half an hour without causing any trouble. What did the both of you do?”
Ning Ran was outraged.
“By accusing Ouyang Qi of being scum, you’re also accusing me of the same! It’s obvious to me now that you suspect there’s something going on between us. So you thought that I invited him into your house, don’t you?”
“Yes!” Nan Cheng confronted her directly.
“I get it now, so let me just pack my stuff and leave because I’m scum and don’t deserve to be here!”
Ning Ran turned and started packing to leave.
