Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Jin Qingyan finally stopped and asked austerely, “Have you learned your lesson yet?”
“Yes,” the teary-eyed Jin Yiheng answered with a nod.
Jin Qingyan then took out the medical kit and began applying some ointment for him.
“Ouch, it hurts. Daddy, be gentler.”
“Glad you know it hurts. You deserve a beating for running your mouth without thinking.”
Tears streamed down Jin Yiheng’s face as he answered, “I wouldn’t have told you guys if I’d known earlier that this would happen.”
After applying the ointment, Jin Qingyan chided, “You’ll have been beaten up worse if you’d hidden it from us.”
“Daddy, I’m your biological son. How could you bear to beat my buttocks?”
Jin Qingyan rolled his eyes and said, “I punished you only with a beating precisely because you’re my son. If you weren’t my child, I would’ve fed you to the wolves.”
“Daddy, don’t try to frighten me, I won’t be intimidated.”
“You’re not afraid eh? Should I throw you into a wolves’ den, then?”
Jin Yiheng shivered and scurried out of the door while clutching his buttocks. “I’m going back to my room!”
Jin Qingyan whipped his phone out to call An Xiaoning but could not reach her.
He lay in bed, filled with worry about his sex life. After this incident, she definitely wouldn’t let me get intimate with her again. She probably wouldn’t want to see me anytime soon too. How troubling.
Jin Qingyan had to bear the consequences brought about by his son’s mistake.
——
An Xiaoning stayed home in Sanqiao Estate for the rest of the afternoon.
She initially thought that Tuoba Gucheng would call her at night. However, that was not the case.
She was perturbed and anxious.
After much thought, she decided to take the initiative to call him.
She managed to reach him successfully.
“Are you asleep yet?”
“No,” he answered, sounding extremely disgruntled.
“Have you guys gone home yet?” she asked randomly, in a bid to get the conversation going.
“No, we’re heading home tomorrow morning.” Seemingly having already guessed what was on her mind, he asked, “Do you have something to say to me?”
She denied, “No… I won’t disturb your rest, then. I’ll be hanging up now.”
“Who said I was resting? I was planning to meet you privately and it just so happened that you called. I won’t go over to your place then. Come to mine,” he said, suppressing his anger.
“Where are you now?” she asked, gripping her phone nervously.
“Shishi is staying the night in her parents’ home. I’m staying at a hotel along Mingyuan Road. My room number is 2027.”
“Your Majesty, it’d be a little inappropriate for me to visit you at such a late hour, wouldn’t it? How about tomorrow…”
“It’s either I go over to look for you, or vice versa. You pick,” he insisted vehemently, not allowing her to negotiate with him at all.
“I think… I’d better go over to your place.”
She ended the call forlornly and picked out a black quilted jacket from her closet, which had a hood that would cover her face. Hence, after also putting on a pair of shades that would cover her eyes, she would not have to fear being recognized.
She proceeded to meet Tuoba Gucheng in that outfit.
She had caught a lot of attention as soon as she stepped foot into the hotel. As soon as she exited the elevator on the 20th floor, she was greeted by Tuoba Gucheng’s bodyguard pointing his gun at her.
She frantically put her hands up and said, “I’m An Xiaoning.”
She unzipped her hood to reveal her face, and the bodyguards only granted her entry after verifying her identity.
Tuoba Gucheng was speechless upon seeing her outfit. “Don’t you know that you’re going to attract unwanted attention that way?”
“No one can recognize me anyway. Your Majesty…” An Xiaoning unzipped her hood again and continued, “Do you have something to say to me?”
“Don’t you know why I called you here?”
“No. You can’t be thinking of killing me, can you?” she asked, feigning ignorance.
“Killing you? I really thought of that, actually,” he answered, keeping his eyes fixed on her.
An Xiaoning felt a cold shiver down her spine and chuckled wryly. “I didn’t do anything wrong, don’t frighten me, Your Majesty.”
“You lied to me.”
“About what?”
“You lied about not loving Jin Qingyan anymore.”
“I didn’t lie to you. You’re the president, I’d lie to anyone but you,” she denied.
He grabbed her chin tightly and questioned, “How did you end up sleeping with him together last night, then?”
“Did you witness it with your own eyes, Your Majesty? You can’t malign me without any concrete evidence.”
“Your son said it himself. Are you still trying to argue?”
She kept a straight face and guffawed abruptly. “I’m not trying to argue with you. I really did spend the night with Jin Qingyan yesterday, but that’s because we had a long and proper conversation in Jin Qingyan’s room. His room is secured with a biometric lock that can only be unlocked with his thumbprint. My son saw us entering his room together, so he thought that we had slept together last night. There’s actually nothing to fuss about. It’s normal in the world of children. We had a long chat last night that lasted ’til the wee hours of the morning. Hence, I decided not to go home and slept in the guest room of his house instead.”
“Really?”
“It’s up to you to decide if it’s real. I can’t manipulate you or change the way you think, Your Majesty. However, I’ve borne your warning in mind and I know clearly that it’s a piece of cake for you to kill me. I’m no match for you at all. Your Majesty, you’re about to crush my chin, could you please let go first?” An Xiaoning said nervously.
His heart softened and he let go of her.
“Your Majesty, do you know what you’re behaving like right now? You’re like a man interrogating his wife whom he suspects is having an extramarital affair. We’re not even husband and wife, you’re merely being possessive. I have a question for you, Your Majesty. Could you answer me truthfully?”
“What?”
“Let’s say I’m your wife, but I can’t get along with your mother and I want you to pick only one out of the two of us. Tell me, how would you handle this situation? I’d like to hear your honest opinion.”
“Mother and daughter-in-law issues? If you were my wife and you can’t get along with my mother, we just won’t live together. I’ll get my mother to move out of the Autumn Palace, you don’t have to face each other at all.”
What a useless answer.
“Seems like you didn’t get what I meant. What I meant was, if my relationship with your mother was so strained to the extent that we can’t stand the sight of each other at all and one of us has to die, and if she wanted you to execute me, will you grant her her wish?”
“No. I used to abide by my mother’s instructions because I wasn’t the president yet, but things are different now. I have my own set of principles and values. Why should I listen to her if she’s wrong? Do you think I’d make decisions blindly out of sheer filial piety?” he said firmly.
“You really wouldn’t?”
“I really wouldn’t.”
An Xiaoning nodded and asked, “Can I ask you another question?”
“Speak.”
