The beeping sound of the machine that was connected to Zhang Lifei’s body continued as the door closed behind Lily. Then Lily’s laughter echoed in her mind. Was she hearing things? She tried to shake her head and empty her mind but it was useless. She couldn’t forget Lily’s smile or her laughter before she walked away.
It was neither a happy laughter nor a victorious laughter. Lily’s laughter was different, it was sinister, as if telling her that whatever she had gone through was not enough and there was more coming for her.
And for the first time, Zhang Yifei felt scared. For the first time… she felt scared of being alive. She was scared to live.
Zhang Yifei felt her eyes watering while she tried to swallow her saliva with much difficulty. Then Qin Chuan’s words echoed in her mind: I will take care of her… Zhang Yifei knew better than to take his words at face value. She knew that this ‘taking care’ could only mean one thing and that was to make her suffer even more.
Both Qin Chuan and Lily must have colluded to ‘save’ her; make her live in pain as a bald, ugly and dirty woman. Then she thought about Lily’s revelation of how she was used by Qin Wuyang. Was it really true?
Of course, she also knew that Lily would not give her the satisfaction of knowing this. Lily would rather leave her mulling over this question her whole life. And maybe she deserved it… she deserved everything that was coming her way. Then she remembered the way Qin Hao looked at her, his gaze full of hatred and disgust. She remembered his cruel laughter as he did all those things to her. It was cruel and ruthless.
‘You created him,’ a voice echoed in her mind. It was because of her. She manipulated a stupid man like him and she miscalculated his stupidity. She miscalculated his pride and the bruise that she had caused to the man’s ego.
Zhang Yifei felt a sudden burst of laughter building inside her. Lily was actually right, she was a clown who was used and manipulated to hurt the innocent. Just how stupid was she? Zhang Yifei had always prided herself for her brains. Her ability to scheme was top notch, and yet… she became a clown in someone else’s game. The stupid pawn that was used to attack a queen.
But did she regret it? Zhang Yifei did not know. She could not honestly answer that question right now. Not when all she felt was anger… extreme anger.
…..
“Satisfied?” Zhuo Jingren asked the moment he opened the car door for Lily. However, instead of getting an answer, Lily only gave him a small and delicate smile. It wasn’t a smile of victory or happiness. It was something else… something that he did not recognize.
“What’s wrong?” he asked after he got inside the car. He eyed Bei Tian on the mirror, urging him to ask the driver to start the car.
“I realized that revenge did not improve my emotional and mental health or gave me any bit of satisfaction at all,” Lily blurted. Sure, seeing Zhang Yifei wrapped in bandages gave her some sort of satisfaction, but still, Lily felt that it wasn’t enough. Something was missing… something was not making her happy at all.
Her words earned a sigh from Zhuo Jingren. “You are only feeling a little down because you did not get everything you wanted. Go ahead and take over the Qin Group,” he said. He understood that revenge would not satisfy his wife because she was here for the money in the first place. Lily came back to Hong Kong because she wanted to grow her company, not for these long and winding schemes…
“Huh?” Lily shifted her eyes towards him, her gaze full of confusion. What does he mean? She stared at his features intently. Could it be that she was not satisfied because she was not able to obtain the Qin Group? Lily fell into silence as she thought deeper into it. Wait…
Could it be that this man understood her more than she understood herself?
Lily watched as Zhuo Jingren’s lips curled into a smile. “I won’t hold you back. Go ahead and ask your father if you could have the company. Then he could manage it under the Facci Group. Besides, since you are planning to have Qin Yuanfeng take over, you will only be managing the company for a few more years and then you can retire.”
Lily instantly narrowed her eyes at Zhuo Jingren, the strange emotion that she felt earlier was now gone. She wanted to ask him how he could think about retirement so early? She was young – too young to retire. However, the look on his face was enough to stop her from protesting. Alright… retirement. Maybe it isn’t as bad as it sounds?
“You seemed to have been planning this all along President Zhuo,” Lily noted. When Zhuo Jingren told her that obtaining more companies would only mean more work for her, she actually considered taking a step back and slowing down. Lily agreed that she had been rushing. She wanted to grow as fast as possible and all of her decisions until now was fueled by that desire to grow and grow.
“Well… I can lay down my plans for our whole life but that will only bore you…”
“Can you two please… Please consider the fact that you two are not the only ones in the car?” Bei Tian suddenly interrupted them and turned his head towards the couple who was smiling back at him. “What are you two smiling for? We still have a lot of things to uncover and mysteries to solve. We need to deal with a whole lot of evil people out there and yet you two are shamelessly flirting – which by the way is just gross coming from both of you!” Bei Tian said in one breath before he took a deep breath. Being with these two people was such a torture. He felt that he would not survive if he has to accompany them every day!
Ugh! Can he unfriend these two people and move on with his life on the other side of the world?
