"Is this stinky tofu?" Shen I pinched a block of the tofu with his fingers and gave it a sniff. He nearly vomited. He rushed to the door, about to open it.
"Don't open the door." Shen II stopped him while he opened the windows. "The smell will get out."
Shen I was dumbstruck as he imagined the entire office floor being filled with the smell of stinky tofu. He could not help but wanting to retch.
"Boss, why don't you take a shower and change your clothes?" Shen II did not dare to look directly at Shen Xinglan.
Shen Xinglan, who had not spoken all this while, slowly raised his head. The first thing he did was loosening his necktie. Then he took off his suit and shirt and walked into the bathroom. While walking in, he began to slowly turn around.
"Hehehehehe..."
Shen I swallowed uneasily. "Boss..."
"Oh no. Did he get so mad that he lost his mind?"
"Go."
He spat out the words through clenched teeth. "Bring that dumb woman here!"
What A Miao sent them was stinky tofu in its most authentic form. To give them a scare, she deliberately placed a small alarm clock inside the parcel. She thought people as cautious as Shen Xinglan would definitely open it carefully and then realize that he had been duped...
Just imagining Shen Xinglan's face when he saw the stinky tofu was enough to put her in a good mood for several days.
"Boss, the Xia family is currently grounding her." Shen I's face was dark. He kept feeling as if the stink of the tofu was still lingering on his body.
Shen Xinglan looked at him darkly. "Then enter her room at midnight, kidnap her, and throw her in the red-light district."
"Uh..." The corners of Shen I's mouth twitched. It looked like this time his boss had truly gone mad.
The office that they previously occupied was completely ruined after the rain of stinky tofu. Shen Xinglan looked around at his brand-new furniture and a seductive smile appeared on his face. "Never mind. Send her the bill. I'll slowly make her pay for it."
Thus, on one evening when A Miao was still in high spirits, she found a new email in her inbox. When she opened it, the screen of her computer blacked out. She stared at the screen, dumbfounded. Just as she was about to restart the computer, she saw that the screen was filled with images of stinky tofu.
"Shen Xinglan!" A Miao immediately knew what was going on.
Then, her computer returned to normal. Trembling in fear, A Miao clicked on the email and saw a detailed itemized bill. The more she read it, the paler her face turned. Finally, she turned off the computer and threw herself onto the bed.
"The boundless horizon is my love..." Her phone began to ring. A Miao took a glimpse of the number displayed on the screen of the phone and swallowed before answering it.
"You've received the email, haven't you?" The sinister voice drifted into her ears.
A Miao's heart jumped in fright. "What... What do you want to do...?"
"You now owe me fifty million yuan. When do you plan on returning me the money?" Shen Xinglan sneered from over the phone. Beside him, Shen II trembled.
"You can't put the blame on me!" When it came to matters like this, A Miao would immediately calm down. "I did nothing more than sending you one of my favorite snacks. Who knew you guys would smash it?"
Shen Xinglan scoffed. "Oh, really? Then I must thank you."
"No... No need. We're friends, aren't we? Hahaha!" A Miao tried to change the topic. "Don't worry, I'll steal the bronze mirror as soon as possible. I assure you I'd complete my mission! Hello? Hello? Why isn't there any signal...?"
Duu, duu, duu... Shen Xinglan's voice was replaced by a busy signal over the phone.
"Boss?" Shen II asked, trying to sound out his boss after seeing that he did not speak for a long time.
Shen Xinglan glared at him and he was so frightened that he nearly jumped.
"Go and buy 100 boxes of stinky tofu and send them to the Xia family."
"Just what did that girl say...?"
Shen II dared not to ask. Shen I knocked on the door and came in. "Boss, Xia Yongqiang's two grandsons have returned to the country."
Shen Xinglan turned to look at Shen II.
"Xia Mingde and Xia Fan," Shen II immediately explained. "Xia Mingde is Xia Haixin's son and Xia Wan's younger brother. Xia Fan is Xia Hailin's eldest son and Xia Mei's older brother."
Recalling the information he read about these two people, Shen Xinglan smirked. "Very well. This time, I don't have to make a move myself..."
In the Xia family.
When dinnertime arrived, Auntie Li called A Miao downstairs. The latter noticed that there were two strangers sitting at the table.
"Hurry over!" Xia Wan waved at her. "This is our cousin."
One of the men appeared dissatisfied after giving A Miao an once-over. "Why doesn't she look like our aunt at all? Did you guys get the wrong person?"
"Elder Brother, you also think that she's an illegitimate..." Under A Miao's fixed gaze, Xia Mei did not finish her sentence. Instead, she glared hatefully at A Miao.
Xia Wan pulled A Miao toward the sofa. "I'll introduce them to you. This is my younger brother, Xia Mingde, and this is Xia Mei's older brother, Xia Fan. They're both older than you, so they're your older male cousins!"
A Miao nodded at them. She never thought of addressing them as older male cousins.
Evidently, the other two were also uninterested in her. The one with a frivolous gaze, Xia Mingde, stood up. "That's enough. I've agreed to meet a friend for dinner."
"Never mind. He's always like this." Once Xia Mingde made his exit, the other cousin surprisingly smiled at A Miao. "I didn't prepare any gift because I didn't know you've returned. What do you want? I'll make it up to you tomorrow."
Xia Mei was dissatisfied to hear this. "Older Brother, why are you buying things for her? I don't allow you to!"
"Come upstairs with me. I have something to talk to you about." Xia Fan nodded at A Miao before taking his sister away.
Seeing as the show was over, A Miao stood up and was about to go into the kitchen to look for something to eat. She turned around and saw that Xia Wan had followed after her.
"A Miao, if Xia Fan brings you out to play, you must never go."
Xia Wan looked rather concerned about her. "I'm worried that Xia Mei will tell him something. You know how it is. They're siblings, after all."
"Did you forget that I'm grounded?" A Miao shrugged. "I can't even go out if I want to."
"It's always best to be careful." Xia Wan smiled. "Tell me if you need anything. I'll buy it for you."
A Miao chuckled. She then returned to her room while gnawing on a piece of bread.
Ji Conglomerate.
"Boss, Xia Fan has made his move as expected."
Shen Xinglan smirked. "Keep an eye on him."
One day, A Miao received Zhou Xiao's call after she finished her dinner.
"A Miao, my mom fell!" Over the phone, Zhou Xiao sounded as if she was about to cry. "She's completely unconscious. What should I do…"
A Miao's heart sank but after a moment of panic, she became calm. "Call the ambulance. I'm coming now. I'll see you at the hospital."
After she ended the call, she grabbed her money and ran downstairs. Xia Mei was the only one inside the living room, fiddling with her phone. When she saw how strange A Miao was acting, she said, "If you leave, I'll tell Grandfather."
"My friend's mother got into an accident. I need to go to the hospital now." A Miao headed straight for the door. "I'm in a very bad mood now. If you stop me, don't blame me for turning against you."
Xia Mei stood up and stopped her. "You dare to threaten me?"
"Let go of me!" A Miao shoved her aside and took the opportunity to run out.
Under the faint light of the moon, Xia Mei who followed suit in running out of the door began to wear a strange smile on her face…
By the time A Miao finally arrived at the hospital, Song Baohua was already conscious.
"Auntie Song!" She got a terrible fright after seeing the bandages wrapped around Song Baohua's head. "How are you? How did you get injured?"
Zhou Xiao walked over with the medicine and explained the circumstances while sobbing.
It turned out that there were several hooligans causing trouble for them when they were closing down their stall. Zhou Xiao got into an argument with them after they deliberately kicked the container with buns in them. While protecting her, Song Baohua was pushed into a wall.
"A Miao, Mom bled so much. I was so frightened."
"I'm fine. Don't cry, Xiaoxiao." Song Baohua heaved a sigh. "But I'm really sorry for making you come over this late at night."
A Miao's eyes reddened as well. "Auntie Song, what are you saying? How can I not come when you're injured?"
"Oh dear! Why are you crying as well? I won't say any more, okay?" Song Baohua stood up. "Let's go. Let's go home."
"Are we allowed to leave? What did the doctor say?" A Miao asked Zhou Xiao. "Doesn't she have to stay here for the doctors to monitor her condition?"
Zhou Xiao shook the pack of medicine in her hand. "The doctor said she didn't hurt her brain and that she can just change her bandages on her own later. It's just that she'll experience dizziness in these couple of days."
"Then we should keep her here for a few more days!" A Miao was still worried.
In the end, Song Baohua insisted on leaving. A Miao handed them 300 yuan that she had left before leaving. It was only when she made it to the bus stop that she realized she did not even have money to pay for a bus or a cab.
"Oh no…" She looked up at the sky. "I'm done for. I would've to walk home."
By the time the sky completely darkened, she was only halfway through her journey home. A Miao was a little worried. She was not afraid of the distance but she feared for her safety. When she heard the sound of a car coming behind her, she dashed to the side of the road and hid. To her surprise, the car abruptly stopped in front of her.
"What do you want to do?" A Miao's expression abruptly shifted.
The two people who got out of the car began to pull her arms without speaking a word. A Miao had no way of getting out of their clutches. When she screamed, there was no one on the road to hear her. After being forced into the car, a pungent smell pierced her nostrils. Then, she lost all awareness.
"Have you brought her here?"
"Here she is. She's still unconscious."
"Well, put her on the bed."
A Miao was still in a daze after waking up but soon realized that she was lying on a hotel bed. The voice of the person who spoke earlier seemed vaguely familiar, as if she had heard it somewhere before. When she tried to move her limbs, she found that she was not tied up. Thus, she immediately jumped down from the bed and ran for the door.
Just as she was about to open the door, the door opened from the outside. A man rushed into the room while stumbling.
"Come here!" The man reached out to grab her.
A Miao retreated to the edge of the wall and picked up a table lamp while she was at it. "Don't come close to me or I'll hit you to death!"
"F*ck, which club did you come from? Come and help me up. Otherwise, see how I'll torture you later." The man appeared so drunk that he could not even stand still.
"I'm not the one you're looking for. I entered the wrong room." Taking advantage of the moment when the man had fallen down, she ran to the door but found that it had been locked from the outside.
Trembling all over, she watched as the man climbed up from the ground. She gripped the table lamp tightly, preparing to hit the man with it.
"Damn it!" The man began to undress. "It's so hot!"
A Miao finally got a clear look at the man's face. It was not a stranger. It was Xia Wan's younger brother, Xia Mingde!
The only thing that Xia Mingde could feel was the fiery sensation in his loins. He desperately needed a woman to exercise his sexual tension.
"Please wake up and see who I am!" A Miao saw that he was once again reaching out for her. She continued yelling at him to sober up while avoiding his clutches.
"You bitch! I'll show you pleasure right now!" Xia Minge could not hear her at all. Soon, he had removed his trousers as well.
A Miao panicked when she saw the man's disgusting body and ran toward the door, frantically hitting it. She had never felt such despair in her life. Tears clouded her eyes. Then, she felt a force coming behind her and dragged her to the ground.