On their way back, A Miao was silent inside the car. Shen Xinglan sat opposite her with a stern expression.
"That..." The fearless Shen I opened his mouth. "Boss came to help you solve your problem. Who knew you'd..." He clenched his teeth.
A Miao's gaze shifted as she looked up to glance at Shen Xinglan. Seeing the stern expression on his face, she curled her lips and lowered her head again.
Shen II and Shen I exchanged looks and then pretended to be dead.
When they finally reached home, A Miao got down from the car and casually said, "Thank you for coming to help me."
Shen Xinglan followed her into the house. "Don't you look people in the eyes when you say thanks?"
"Thank..." A Miao suddenly turned around, not expecting that Shen Xinglan would follow so closely behind. Both of them ended up knocking into each other.
A gentle sensation came from the corner of their lips. Shen Xinglan's entire body stiffened.
A Miao fiercely pushed him away. "What are you doing?"
"If I remember correctly, you're the one who knocked into me." Shen Xinglan's tone was incredibly uncourteous. The beautiful taste ended before he could savor it.
A Miao's face reddened as she recalled the kiss they shared in the bathtub. None of them brought it up after the incident as if they had forgotten about it.
However, some things could never be forgotten after they had happened. Even if some of them had temporarily forgotten about it...
"Are you close to that man?"
The change in topic was so swift that it took A Miao a moment to recover her senses.
"Huh?"
Shen Xinglan's heart relaxed after seeing the bewildered look on her face. It seemed that the man wasn't anyone that important after all. However, once A Miao recovered, she happily answered his question.
"You mean Jiang Hua? He's a visiting professor at my university." A Miao's eyes brightened as soon as she spoke about Jiang Hua. "You wouldn't know this but he's especially brilliant. There's nothing that he doesn't know."
Naturally, A Miao was referring to Jiang Hua's brilliance in archaeology-related matters. However, her words left a bitter taste in Shen Xinglan's mouth.
"Did you forget your identity?" The man's expression was dark. "If reporters photographed my fiancee dating another man, what do you think they will write?"
A Miao looked at him in puzzlement. "He's my professor."
"So what if he's your professor?" Shen Xinglan jeered. "It's a problem as long as he's a man."
"Hehe!" A Miao thought he was making a joke. "Doesn't that mean you can't have other women around you too?"
If someone had dared to question him like this in the past, Shen Xinglan would certainly retaliate in anger. However, he wasn't at all angry right now. "Since when do I have other women?"
"Your forgetfulness is severe, indeed." A Miao looked at him with a rare mocking look. "Was it a ghost standing next to you at the charity gala?"
When she saw Shen Xinglan about to open his mouth, she added, "I don't know how the press would write about my relationship with other men, but I know how all those women mocked me to my face how my fiance is in front of me, yet is with another woman!"
The atmosphere suddenly turned awkward. A Miao clutched her face, ran upstairs, and rushed into her bathroom in a single breath.
"I must've gone mad! Why did I say something like that?!"
She gave herself a hard slap. "Did you lose your brain somewhere?! What kind of provocation did you suffer today..." She shook her head. "The lunatic must've affected me! I must stay away from him in the future!"
She was too embarrassed to see Shen Xinglan so she took her sweet time to come downstairs for dinner.
"Miss!" Shen I ran over and looked at her.
A Miao said a little guiltily, "What... What are you doing?"
"Boss left you a message." Shen I cleared his throat. "He said he met the woman at the charity gala at the door. It was that woman who shamelessly followed him around."
"The woman afterward was a staff at the Ji Conglomerate. She went there to make a last-minute work report."
A Miao: "..."
"Miss, you're not angry anymore, are you?"
"I... I'm not angry." A Miao adjusted her expression. "Well... It's your boss's freedom to be with whoever he likes. I was speaking nonsense earlier. Please tell him not to take it to heart."
Shen I immediately panicked. "Miss, don't say that. It's great that you're angry like you were earlier!"
"No, no, no!" A Miao was also panicking. Her first thought was that Shen Xinglan was certainly angry and was thinking of ways to straighten her out.
"I was speaking nonsense then. Our relationship has always been a business transaction. Of course, I'll pay attention to my actions in the future. Please reassure him that I won't talk to guys in the public."
Inside the CCTV room, Shen II carefully took a step backward. In front of him, Shen Xinglan was emitting an aura that didn't permit any stranger to come close.
"Boss..." Shen I pushed the door open and entered the room. "You... You heard everything, haven't you?"
Shen Xinglan fiercely turned around, gave them both a cold glance, and swiftly walked out of the room.
"Thump!" The loud sound of the door slamming caused them to tremble.
"Sigh... If this continues, when will he be able to win over Miss A Miao?!" Shen I looked sullen. "More importantly, this will affect us all!"
Shen II glanced at him. "You wouldn't die as long as you stay out of it."
A Miao thought that this matter was done and over with. Who knew that Shen Xinglan's prediction would come true? The next day, a photo of her and Jiang Hua was splashed across the news. It was obvious the reporters had purposefully found a particular angle to capture the photo.
In the photo, her head was lowered with a smile. Opposite him, the man was reaching out his hand as if he was about to caress her face.
"Did you see the news, Professor Jiang?" The first thing A Miao did was to give Jiang Hua a call.
"I was about to call you. Are you okay?" Jiang Hua asked. "No one can tell who I am but your face is obvious."
A Miao sighed in relief. "I'm glad that you're fine. You were there to help me, after all. If I caused harm to your reputation, I don't know how I'll apologize to you."
"Hehe. Don't be so polite." Jiang Hua paused. "On your end..."
"I'm fine."
Jiang Hua didn't question her after detecting her unwillingness. "Alright then. That's all I have to say. If you need help, remember to come to me."
After ending the call, A Miao walked downstairs to see if Shen Xinglan was preparing to throttle her. If she was going to die anyway, then she must as well meet a swift death. To her surprise, Shen I told her that Shen Xinglan had left for the company a long time ago.
"Didn't he see the news?" A Miao wondered if she misheard him.
Shen I nodded. "He did."
"Then... he didn't say anything?"
"He... did."
A Miao took in a deep breath. "Tell me what did he say."
"Boss said there will be guests today. He wants you to put on a good show."
A Miao: "..."
It was as if this had been arranged. Sure enough, the guests came to the house after lunch.
"What are you doing there, standing there foolishly?" Ji Xue looked at her arrogantly. "Don't you know how to serve tea to your guests?"
A Miao couldn't help the space between her eyebrows. "Please take a seat. I'll go and get Auntie to prepare some tea."
"Mom, look at her. You're an elder but she's not even personally steeping tea for you." Ji Xue uncourteously sat on the sofa in the center of the living room. She glanced at A Miao. "Well, that's to be expected. You can't hope for politeness from a person who can do something like that!"
The housekeeper, who happened to enter the living room with tea, glanced at A Miao. The latter shook her head at her.
"Sit down, A Miao." Bai Yongwei, who had been silent all this while, finally opened her mouth.
When A Miao sat down, she saw Shen I giving her a look from inside the kitchen and rolled her eyes at him. She then turned her gaze on Bai Yongwei.
"Please be direct, Mrs. Ji."
Bai Yongwei smiled. "You should be calling me Auntie Bai, be it because of affection or custom."
"Oh!" A Miao nodded, pointing at Ji Xue. "So, be it because of affection or custom, she should be calling me Sister-in-law as well."
Ji Xue widened her eyes. "What did you say?"
"What she said was what I said." A Miao shrugged.
Bai Yongwei was still looking at her with a smile. "Is Shen Xinglan aware of your attitude?"
"Is Mr. Ji aware of what you did to me?" A Miao retorted.
She had decided to declare war against this woman today. She wasn't about to give Bai Yongwei any face after the latter framed her for something as serious as murder. Since everyone knew neither liked each other, there was no need to be a hypocrite.
Moreover, it was useless for her to be respectful of Bai Yongwei. Bai Yongwei wouldn't let her go just because of her relationship with Shen Xinglan alone.
"A Miao, how dare you speak to my mom like that!" Ji Xue was infuriated. "What do you think you are?"
Bai Yongwei's expression finally changed. She sneered. "Do you think he'll be able to protect you?"
"He won't harm me, at least." A Miao chuckled. "Never mind those trivial matters. I'm sure you two didn't come here for tea. Just say what you have to say."
Ji Xue chuckled. "To think you have the face to make us talk after doing something so shameless."
"What have I done? I'd like to hear you say it." A Miao picked up a cup of tea. "Have some tea, Mrs. Ji."
Bai Yongwei finally saw this girl's true nature today. She had thought the girl to be someone of predictable nature but it turned out that she was this shameless and fearless.
"A Miao, it's your Uncle Ji who told us to come." Bai Yongwei traced her finger with a red-painted nail across the cup. "He was very angry after seeing the news. Do you have any message you'd like me to pass on to him?"
"You mean that photo in the news?" A Miao replied innocently. "I'm just having dinner with a friend, but who knew the reporters would be so idle to report even something like that?"
Bai Yongwei put down her cup of tea and stood up. "Looks like you're not planning to speak nicely. Since that's the case, I'll use my way to help explain this to your Uncle Ji."
"Hehe. You make it sound like you won't embellish my explanation if I give you one."
A Miao stood up, looking like she didn't care. "Do as you wish."
"I hope you can be this energetic when I see you next time." Bai Yongwei turned around and left.
"Oh, let me see you off!" A Miao leisurely followed after Bai Yongwei out of the house. Ji Xue stood next to the swimming pool, glaring at her. Seeing as she was nearing, Ji Xue grabbed onto her arm.
Frowning, A Miao was about to push Ji Xue away when Bai Yongwei suddenly knocked her from the other side.
"I hope you know how to swim! Otherwise, enjoy the water when you go down!" Ji Xue glared viciously at A Miao as she pushed the latter with all the force she could muster.
To their surprise, A Miao suddenly hugged Bai Yongwei and raised her foot to land a powerful kick on Ji Xue. Ji Xue was thrown backward with a yelp. Bai Yongwei hastily let go of A Miao to catch her daughter.
"I'll return to the same words to you both!" A Miao gave them both a gentle push.
With a plop, both mother and daughter fell into the swimming pool.
"Ah!" Ji Xue's head popped out from under the water. "I'm going to kill you, you illegitimate child!"