"Let's talk about that later. Right now, answer me this! When are we going to become a real married couple?" Matthew was not satisfied with the girl's nonsense. If she continued to act like this, he would really just sleep with her right then and there!
"I heard from someone that you are a scheming Scorpio." That someone was Matthew's own sister, Terilynn.
As far as Erica knew, Scorpio men were usually cold and powerful, arrogant and indifferent; the description was exactly in line with Matthew's personality. He was a typical Scorpio!
"I don't know much about what these signs mean, but my birthday is on November 20th. So, I guess that makes me a Scorpio."
He also knew that Erica's birthday was on August 10th. She was a Leo, and was indeed an outgoing and energetic Leo girl.
Erica calculated with her fingers. His birthday was only a few days away, about half a month or so. She blinked and finally answered his most concerned question. "How about we wait until your birthday?"
Matthew was very satisfied with that date. With a deep smile in his eyes, he said, "Alright then. Stay out of trouble till that day comes!"
"I know!" Half a month should be enough for her to make some mental preparation. If she was still afraid of having sex with him, she could sneak back to A Country.
"I have no choice but to believe you for the time being," Matthew said with a smirk.
"Hey! You know what… I read a book about the 12 zodiac signs. It said that a Scorpio man and a Leo woman don't match well. What do we do?" Erica tilted her head and frowned.
The man's eyes darkened slightly and his tone became domineering. "What is that? I don't believe crap written in a book by some lunatic! I'm the master of my own fate. It's not up to a book of zodiac signs to decide whether we make a good match or not. I will decide that! If I say we make a good match, then we do."
Erica laughed. "Don't you believe in the theories of the 12 zodiac signs?"
"I don't."
If the zodiac book had said that they would make a good pair, he would have believed it.
But since it said the opposite, he had no reason to believe a word of it!
Erica chuckled and kissed him on the cheek gently. "So, you think we match?"
"I'm a hundred percent sure that we are a perfect match. I'm very lucky to have found you!" Matthew smiled.
'Wait a second. Why do I feel like I've heard that somewhere?' Erica tried to recollect.
Then, she remembered. "Did Mr. Chai tell you that?" she asked, raising her brow in question. At that time, in Champion Group, she had told Neville that Matthew had said that they were lucky to have found each other. It was a lie; Matthew had never said something like that.
Matthew said, "No. I just said what was on my mind."
Erica rolled her eyes. 'Does he take me for an idiot?'
Matthew kissed her lips again and put her down. "Now, tell me what they did to you yesterday." Only after fully knowing what they had done to Erica could he plan on how to deal with them.
The people who had hurt Erica were in for some pain, and they were about to go through hell, suffering ten times more than what Erica had to endure.
It was upsetting for her to think that she had been slapped in her face. She felt embarrassed to speak about it. Finally, after some hesitation, she whispered, "I was slapped in the face by that girl…"
As Matthew ran his fingers across her smooth face, his eyes flashed with malice.
He was going to punish each one of them. Julianna, Tessie and the woman who had slapped Erica!
They were going to pay for messing with his wife. After this, no one would dare touch her or even think of hurting her ever again.
Erica didn't know about this, but Matthew had silently handled many of the WeChat and Weibo accounts that had spread the news. He always warned them first before wiping them out.
And if he could solve a problem using money, he wouldn't hesitate to do that either.
If money couldn't solve it, he had other ways to handle them. When the account holders thought that their lives were in danger, they spilled the truth about the source of the video.
rAnd just like that, the rumor about Erica's campus violence was quickly solved. Not only did Matthew take down all the edited videos and fake news on the Internet, he also posted the full original video of what had happened that day on ZL Group's official Weibo account. More than fifty million fans of the account instantly forwarded it in a crazy frenzy.
ZL Group also ended up on the top search list.
The original video showed Erica being besieged by twelve people in the beginning. Two girls dragged Erica to the sink and tried to drown her in the cold water. She struggled and broke free. To defend herself, Erica drenched the other girl under the faucet instead. The truth was out for everyone to see now.
The video continued to show some of the girl's companions trying to undress her, while the others took pictures of her. Obviously, it was all an act. Later, the girl in lead slapped Erica. That was when Erica fought back and slapped the other girl five times!
After the whole video was unleashed, the netizens changed their attitude towards Erica. They were now proud of her and were glad that she had fought back against those bullies. They thought of Erica as a badass character now.
Most of the people who had earlier lashed at her in the comment zone of her Weibo account apologized for their incorrect judgment.
At the entrance of Y City University
"Tessie!" After waiting for a long time, Erica finally saw Tessie walk into the campus.
Tessie tried to dodge Erica, but the latter followed her in.
The students near the entrance saw Erica and whispered among themselves. "Isn't that Erica Li? She's the violent girl who bullied and slapped someone in the campus, right?"
"Violent girl? Haven't you read the latest news on the Internet yet? The official account of ZL Group posted the full video. Erica was forced to do that. It was the other party who had started the violence!"
"Really? Show me the video!"
"Here, look. See how she was bullied by those girls. Erica fought back by slapping that girl five times! She's so cool. I'm her fan now!"
Erica heard their discussion, but didn't pay much attention to them.
At that moment, the only person she was interested in was Tessie.
And Tessie knew that she couldn't escape from Erica anymore; she had to face her.
They got into Matthew's car. He was waiting for Erica in the driver's seat.
The two girls sat in the back seat. Tessie saw Matthew in the front seat and she was frightened by his cold aura. Her hands trembled involuntarily.
She took a deep breath and apologized, "I'm sorry, Erica. I know you are mad at me, but I had no choice…"
She was still trying to take advantage of Erica's tender heart and her kindness. She pretended to be apologetic so that Erica would forgive her.
"Don't tell me you had no choice! Tessie, is our friendship so cheap to you?" Erica looked at the woman, her eyes filled with loss.
Tessie started to cry and explained to her, "No, it's not like that, Erica. I didn't want to use you, but nobody would have believed me if I had put the blame on someone else!" Erica was known as Miss Troublemaker. She was so arrogant and lawless, and anyone would believe that it was normal for her to do something violent in campus.
It turned out that Tessie's lie did work at the beginning. Everyone in the Su family, and even Julianna believed her version of the story.
Erica sneered, "Wow. I didn't know that my reputation was so bad. Tessie, I took the blame for you. My reputation is ruined because of you. I lied to my parents; I told them that I gave birth to Ethan, so that they would treat your son as their own grandson. My mother slapped me when I told them this…" Erica choked. Her eyes brimmed with tears.
She had thought about telling the truth to her family because Wesley had always been a man of integrity. She was afraid that her father would be completely disappointed in her. But she also knew that he would never let her name be dragged through the dirt. But either way, she had imagined that her mother would be supportive. To her surprise, Blair had been the first one to slap her in the face.
It was because of that slap that she had stubbornly refused to explain the situation to her parents at that time. She had been misunderstood until this day.
The girls cried in the back seat. Erica didn't know if Tessie really regretted her actions. But whatever her case, her crying didn't arouse any sympathy from Erica.
"I had to go through so much trouble because of you. My father made me marry a man I didn't love. I am not even 22 yet!" She was still like a minor, living under the protection of her parents. But she had to get married so early because of the baby.
Fortunately, she got married to Matthew. He had always been nice to her and she felt very lucky.
She didn't regret it now. Her father had chosen the best man for her.
'A man I didn't love…' Matthew's grip tightened on the phone as he repeated her words in his mind. He had to adjust his mood to continue with his work.
