Chapter Twelve

Qin Sang had her first real fight with Li Wei Ran. She laid on her sofa and the fight with him kept replaying in her head. She was too frustrated and needed her drinking buddy. She called An Xiao Li’s phone.

‘Come home now,’ Qin Sang ordered.

‘What is it?’ An Xiao Li asked.

‘Within thirty minutes, come home with a beer pack. If you’re late one minute, I’ll strangle you to death,’ Qin Sang said in a serious tone.

‘Do you not have hands or legs?’ Chen Yu Bai asked coldly.

Qin Sang laughed coldly and was about to battle with Chen Yu Bai when An Xiao Li grabbed the phone back from him. ‘I’ll be home soon, wait for me.’

‘Um,’ Qin Sang said, hung up and flung her phone on the floor.

At the hospital, An Xiao Li obediently packed her belongings to go check on her best friend. Chen Yu Bai watched unhappily as she packed and when she wasn’t looking he hid her phone and keys under the bedspread. She patiently searched for her phone and keys whilst pacifying little Bai who was a little taller than one point eight metres, but there was little difference between little Bai and a little kid. By the time she packed and ready to go, half an hour pa.s.sed.

An Xiao Li stroked Chen Yu Bai’s forehead to soothe his anger. ‘Be good, don’t be angry anymore. Tomorrow I’ll bring delicious dishes for you, ok?’

Chen Yu Bai’s lips almost twitched into a smile but he snorted to avoid smiling.

An Xiao Li felt no matter what angle she looked at Chen Yu Bai, he looked loveable. Her fingers lingered on his chin before she was about to leave. Suddenly her phone rang and her stomach knotted because she didn’t want to be punished by him that night and be strangled by Qin Sang in the morning.

The caller was Chu Hao Ran. An Xiao Li’s limited IQ asked for her permission – ‘do you want to take the call?’

An Xiao Li didn’t hesitate to answer her limited IQ – ‘of course not!’ She pressed the reject call b.u.t.ton. Then she secretly glanced at her wicked ice glacier and her stomach unknotted. It was lucky he was looking over his work papers and didn’t see who called her phone.

An Xiao Li looked at her watch and quickly picked up her bag and phone – she was over the time limit the wicked witch gave her to get home. She rushed to the door.

‘An-Xiao-Li!’ Chen Yu Bai called An Xiao Li back.

An Xiao Li turned around. Chen Yu Bai was still on the bed holding his work papers in his hands. ‘Huh? What’s wrong?’

Chen Yu Bai lifted his head from his work papers and gave Xiao Li a gentle smile. ‘It’s nothing. I just want to let you know, if you’re hiding anything from me, it’s best if you hide it properly. Even till death don’t let me find out. Otherwise… you know about the serious consequences that awaits you, right?’

On the way back home, An Xiao Li was traumatised by the wicked witch’s death call and Chen Yu Bai’s scary gentle smile.

The following morning…

An Xiao Li was able to soothe the wicked witch to sleep after a night of drinking and persuading the wicked witch to reconcile with the nine tailed fox prince. An Xiao Li borrowed the wicked witch’s modern broom and drove it to the hospital.

An Xiao Li arrived at the hospital car park and her infamous driving skills nearly caused an accident – she almost ran over a pedestrian.

An Xiao Li in a frightened state parked the wicked witch’s modern broom. She got out of the modern broom and she was happy she almost ran over the right kind of pedestrian – a stale frog. ‘Chu Hao Ran, do you want to test my reflexes?’

Chu Hao Ran still wore an arm cast. He gave An Xiao Li his usual appealing smile and spoke to her tenderly. ‘The last few days I’ve waited for you here and I’m glad my wait wasn’t in vain.’

An Xiao Li’s priority was not letting the soy milk get cold and she didn’t have the patience to be polite with the stale frog. ‘What is it?’

Chu Hao Ran rubbed An Xiao Li’s head without her permission. ‘Xiao Li, can we chat over lunch? It’s been a long time since we’ve spoken to each other properly. I have a lot of things I want to say to you.’

An Xiao Li didn’t have time to deal with the stale frog, she nodded her head and rushed to little Bai’s hospital room before the soy milk was cold.

Inside Chen Yu Bai’s hospital room were two visitors. Liang Fei Feng stood beside Chen Yu Bai’s bed and Gu Yan sat on the sofa flicking through a magazine.

Gu Yan smiled happily when she saw An Xiao Li arrived. She stood and walked toward An Xiao Li because she was curious what was inside the Dewar bottle (vacuum flask / thermos bottle) An Xiao Li was holding. ‘Xiao Li, what did you bring that smells delicious?’

The ice glacier on the bed gestured his hand for An Xiao Li to come to the bed. She walked over to the bed and put the soy milk on the table in front of the bed. She poured a gla.s.s of soy milk. Then she thought she should be polite toward Gu Yan. ‘Big sister Gu Yan, do you want to drink a gla.s.s?’

‘You’re so kind!’ Gu Yan complimented.

Gu Yan was really curious about the black drink An Xiao Li poured into the gla.s.s. She accepted the gla.s.s from An Xiao Li and took a sip from the gla.s.s. It was fragrant, refreshing and delicious!

Chen Yu Bai wasn’t happy to see Gu Yan happily drinking a gla.s.s of something that Xiao Li brought for him. He pushed his gla.s.ses up and spoke calmly to Xiao Li. ‘In the morning did you eat youtiao (fried breadstick, it looks like two chopsticks stuck together) and buns?’

An Xiao Li nodded her head. ‘How did you know?’

Chen Yu Bai drank his gla.s.s of black soy milk and smiled warmly. ‘I can taste it.’

An Xiao Li laughed awkwardly. ‘Hehe… about that… I still had half a cup left and couldn’t drink it all. I didn’t want to waste it so I poured it into the bottle and brought it here…’

Chen Yu Bai happily gulped down more black soy milk and didn’t say anything.

Gu Yan didn’t say anything either, but she didn’t touch her gla.s.s of black soy milk again. She sat on the sofa for a little while and nagged Liang Fei Fang to take her home. Liang Fei Fang still had a lot of business matters to discuss with Chen Yu Bai, but Liang Fei Fang listened to Gu Yan’s request. They said goodbye to Chen Yu Bai and An Xiao Li and hurriedly left the hospital room.

Chen Yu Bai smirked, tidied his work papers and put them on a table. He beckoned Xiao Li to feed him more black soy milk.

An Xiao Li poured the rest of the black soy milk into a bowl and fed the black soy milk to Chen Yu Bai spoon by spoon. She saw that he was in a good mood and she felt it was a good time to tell him. ‘Later I’ll go and buy a few things and I’ll come back after lunch. Be good and eat lunch on your own, ok?’

‘Um,’ Chen Yu Bai said. His good mood was swallowed along with the last spoon of black soy milk. He didn’t protest about Xiao Li not having lunch with him but wasn’t happy either.

Inside a cafe, next to a window the former Prince Chu was smiling to himself whilst waiting for An Xiao Li.

An Xiao Li ran all the way from little Bai’s hospital room and was exhausted by the time she sat in front of the stale frog. ‘I’m sorry, I’m late.’

Chu Hao Ran misunderstood the reason why An Xiao Li rushed to get to the cafe. He thought she couldn’t wait to see him and he smiled brightly. ‘It’s ok. I’m willing to wait for you however long it takes.’

An Xiao Li looked at the menu to pick a drink whilst carelessly teasing the stale frog. ‘Chu Hao Ran, you’re flirting skills are even better than it was in the past.’

Chu Hao Ran looked out the window and appeared to be reflective. ‘Right now I wish all my flirting skills were lost-’

‘One iced macchiato,’ An Xiao Li said to the waitress.

‘She’s not having the iced macchiato. Give her a hot vanilla latte,’ Chu Hao Ran said to the waitress. Then he turned to An Xiao Li. ‘It’s not good for a girl to drink a cold drink especially when autumn is drawing near.’

The waitress was a young girl who was holding back a smile and secretly glanced at An Xiao Li with admiration in the young girl’s eyes.

An Xiao Li understood the waitress’ secret glance of admiration. Chu Hao Ran’s whole body could be in a cast and he’d still be handsome. Also, he was always a man who was gentle and considerate. He wasn’t like little Bai. Little Bai never gave her a chance to choose what she wanted to eat or drink. Little Bai always chose the food and drinks he liked, forced her to eat and drink like him and didn’t care whether she liked eating or drinking what he chose.

Whilst waiting for the waitress to make the drinks, Chu Hao Ran comfortably chatted with An Xiao Li.

The waitress arrived quickly with two hot coffees. Chu Hao Ran stirred his coffee and took a sip. ‘These past few years I’ve thought about you. Once I was pa.s.sing by your school and I went inside to find you.’

‘Oh?’ An Xiao Li asked.

An Xiao Li never knew Chu Hao Ran made an effort to meet her again.

‘You changed your phone number and I couldn’t find you. Later I called Qin Sang. At that time I… really wanted to see you. Qin Sang refused to tell me anything about how you were doing. She just asked me one question – if An Xiao Li died, are you willing to die to follow her?’

An Xiao Li stayed silent. She realised the wicked witch was too non-human.

‘I said to Qin Sang that I can’t and she said – then you can’t see An Xiao Li because An Xiao Li doesn’t need you anymore,’ Chu Hao Ran said softly as the soft background music in the cafe. It would have made the waitress swooned if she overhead the tenderness in his voice. ‘Xiao Li, I was wrong. Can we start again?’

An Xiao Li returned to Chen Yu Bai’s hospital room and there were new visitors.

The beer belly old man brought a group of employees to visit Chen Yu Bai and w.a.n.g Qi was one of the employees who came. The moment An Xiao Li’s co-workers saw her stepped into the room, they gave her sly smiles.

‘Pour tea and bring it here,’ Chen Yu Bai said to An Xiao Li. Then he turned to his employees. ‘Take a seat.’

An Xiao Li poured tea into tea cups and put them on a tray. She carried the tray of tea cups to her co-workers. w.a.n.g Qi was sitting the furthest away from the bed and he saw how she was carrying the tray carefully and rushed to help her carry the tray. She smiled sweetly at w.a.n.g Qi for being considerate and w.a.n.g Qi smiled helplessly and nodded his head.

The beer belly old man’s group of visitors stayed for a little while and said their farewells before leaving. Chen Yu Bai didn’t step down from his bed so An Xiao Li escorted the visitors outside. When she returned the atmosphere in the room became icy like his face.

An Xiao Li followed the ice glacier for a long period and she was able to read some of his different icy expressions. Usually his cold aura formed a circle around him that didn’t let outsiders into the circle.

When the ice glacier was angry, his icy aura was spread out in all directions and his whole body gave out sharp icy dagger vibes. If anyone dared to poke the ice glacier when he was angry then their whole body would be the receiver of his iciness.

The ice glacier was also capable of shooting sharp icy daggers that gave the receiver a sense of a cold burn. The cold burn consisted of his gentleness and warmth. He reserved the cold burn for An Xiao Li.

‘Come here,’ Chen Yu Bai said calmly.

An Xiao Li in a daze stepped toward the bed. The moment she was within Chen Yu Bai’s reach, he abruptly sat up and gripped her waist to pull her onto the bed. Then he rolled over and his body was pressed on top of her body.

‘An Xiao Li, didn’t I say that you need to hide it properly?’ Chen Yu Bai asked.

Chen Yu Bai’s hair was a little long and it fell onto An Xiao Li’s forehead. It made her forehead itchy and she turned her head to the side. He gripped her chin and their four eyes a.s.sessed each other. In his eyes there was a burning anger. Her heart pounded wildly – she was ruined, how did he find out about Chu Hao Ran?

‘I…’ An Xiao Li said softly. Her body tensed. ‘It’s nothing… he was the one who sought me out!’

‘Is that so?’ Chen Yu Bai asked coldly.

Chen Yu Bai’s cold fingers slowly slid down to Xiao Li’s neck.

In that moment it was an afternoon and outside Chen Yu Bai’s hospital room there were a flood of people pa.s.sing by. An Xiao Li felt that his breath on her was hot and heavy and the desire in his eyes gradually burned more intense. It made her remember her suffering from his recent performance – after that day, the bedspread was wrinkled and was drenched from their combined bodies’ sweat and climax. She had to be thick-skinned and got rid of the wet bedspread herself. He on the other hand had the look of satisfaction and sat up leaning against the bedhead. He enjoyed watching her embarra.s.sed state and wearing wrinkled clothes to tidy the room and get rid of the evidence of their public display of affections.

‘You’re truly… really not obedient,’ Chen Yu Bai whispered.

Chen Yu Bai’s burning lips kissed Xiao Li.

An Xiao Li’s phone rang in the midst of the burning hot atmosphere. She was woken from the haze Chen Yu Bai weaved and struggled against him to answer her phone. But he didn’t let her and he continued to light her body on fire. His erection rubbed against her pants pocket and pressed the call b.u.t.ton of her phone that was inside her pants pocket.

Chu Hao Ran’s warm voice was heard from An Xiao Li’s phone. ‘Xiao Li?’

An Xiao Li quickly reacted. She pushed little Bai off her, jumped off the bed and took a few steps from the bed to answer the phone. In front of her, little Bai’s half smile was truly scary and she quickly said a few inaudible sounds to Chu Hao Ran and hung up her phone.

‘Mmm… don’t be angry, listen to me,’ An Xiao Li said. ‘I… truly it was just a coincidental meeting…’

Chen Yu Bai smiled coldly and stared at An Xiao Li for ten seconds. One second before she was about to kneel on her jelly legs to admit her fault for hiding her meeting with Chu Hao Ran, Chen Yu Bai took out a thin paper from his stack of work papers on the table near the bed. He put the thin paper in front of her face. ‘Do you know how many business contracts ‘Tian Ruan’ receives from Liang’s company annually? I just need to lift a finger and within a month Tian Ruan will be bankrupt. Even if you hide from me you’re looking for work at another company, you should ask yourself – in this district, the woman I don’t want to let go, will another company dare to accept?’

Chen Yu Bai’s iciness caused the burning hot atmosphere in the room to cool down.

An Xiao Li breathed out a sigh of relief – she was lucky that little Bai didn’t find out about Chu Hao Ran yet.

‘I was wrong,’ An Xiao Li quickly admitted her fault. ‘In the future I won’t dare anymore. Till death, I’ll be loyal to CEO Chen.’

An Xiao Li was quietly happy. It was the same kind of happiness she felt when she was a kid after one of her exams. She thought she failed one of her exams and unexpectedly after the exams were marked she received an eighty score for the exam she thought she failed.

Chen Yu Bai felt his teeth were itchy so he clenched his teeth. He looked at Xiao Li and wanted to grill her meat. But the way she was sucking up to him sweetly with her smiles and pleading eyes made him sigh helplessly. He couldn’t bear to hit her bottom or give her a harsh scolding. He felt like a tamed pet and didn’t have the ability to be angry anymore.

‘Next time there won’t be an exception,’ Chen Yu Bai warned. He pulled An Xiao Li back onto the bed. He hugged her waist and she laid her head on his shoulder. ‘An Xiao Li, remember clearly, I’m not a lenient man.’

End of Chapter Twelve