"Good morning, Auntie, Yue'er." He slightly bowed to them. When his eyes shifted to Jiang Yue, there was a sense of relief.
"Why haven't you been coming here lately? We had missed your company a lot." Madam Jiang complained.
The Jiangs and the Wangs had been close friends these past few years. They had collaborated with each other a lot of times, plus Jiang Yue and Tian Cheng were childhood friends. Tian Cheng had visited the Jiang estate often. His presence was already similar to a son in the Jiang family.
"Sorry, Auntie. I didn't have the time due to handling some matters. As a sign of apology, I brought you the perfumes that you wanted before." Tian Cheng said. He knew what would happen since that happened every time and thought fortunately of an idea to coax her before coming.
The time Madam Jiang heard that, her eyes were glittering and said, "REALLY? WHERE IS IT NOW??"
"En, they're in my car. I can ask my driver to bring it down." Tian Cheng replied.
"No, no, no need to bother your driver. I'll personally get it." Madam Jiang excitedly said and ran out the room.
There was only Jiang Yue and Tian Cheng in the room at the moment. He saw Jiang Yue shaking her head lightly and chuckled. 'It seems like she's gone back to normal now.'
He was in a business trip in London. It was a very important project that was planned months ago. When he heard the news saying that she got into an accident from his assistant, he rushed back home.
"Sorry, my mother was just too excited before." Jiang Yue started a conversation.
"It's fine. She's like my mother now too. She treated me well." He said with a slightly sad tone.
When Jiang Yue heard that, she felt heartbroken. She knew that although he came from a wealthy family, he didn't get a familial love since he was an illegitimate child taken in by the Wangs.
She patted his back a bit and said, "What are you saying? Not just my mother, my whole family is your family including me."
Tian Cheng had the urge to hug her at that moment but kept it in. He thought that it wasn't appropriate as they both had grown up. He said with a smile, "En. Thank you."
"Come on now. Don't be so formal. It's my job as your best friend and sister as well." Jiang Yue said proudly.
Then, they talked about other things and laughed about things for hours. When Madam Jiang had just came back after hunting the perfumes, she saw that lovely scene. 'I wish that they will be a couple.' She hoped and decided to leave them by themselves.
Inside the room.
The atmosphere suddenly turned tense.
"Brother Tian Cheng, I want to have power and make my own empire." Jiang Yue declared with determination visible in her eyes.
Tian Cheng was shocked to see the sudden change in her aura. He returned to normal in a second though.
He asked, "Why the sudden ambition?"
Jiang Yue replied back, "I want to be independent and I don't want to rely on my parents. I want to carry some of their burdens. I realized that I am so useless now. I desire to protect the people I love as well."
Tian Cheng said, "That's all?"
Jiang Yue smiled bitterly inside. 'He really can see through me..'
After a moment of silence, she hesitated a bit and told him everything. She told him the matter about Jiang Mei and Shi Rou, the love affair Jiang Mei had with Jian Ming and the truth about the accident as well.
When Tian Cheng heard all of them, he was fuming in anger but also felt guilty. He felt guilty because he slightly felt happy thinking that he might have a chance with her that time.
"Let me know if you need help. I'll try to help you in any way possible." He supported.
"I haven't broke up with him though since we didn't have the chance to meet. I guess I'll tell him later." She said.
"I'll accompany you when that time happens." He stated.
"Uh..fine." She thought for a bit and didn't find a reason not to.
"Brother Tian Cheng, I..knew your identity and in need of weapons soon..can you help me?" She asked sarefully.
"Y-you, how did you know?" He asked back.
"I heard about a small organization who's good at making weapons in the underworld. He was famous for his skills so I searched information about him and accidentally found out about your hidden identity." Jiang Yue honestly said.
"No one knew about my identity before and now. How did you find the information?" He asked confused.
"I took advantage of my hacking skills, hehe." She replied with an awkward laugh at the end.
"I see. Wait, what? You can hack? I haven't heard of it and no hacker can find my identity too before. How good are your skills? You're 16 years old now.." He bombarded her with questions.
"Well, I've been studying it for a while now and it's my hobby at the moment. I can say that I'm not too shabby. I want to take advantage of it and not put it to waste. " She said with a smile.
"Fine, it's a bit hard for me to accept all this information at once. So what's your first step now?" He asked with a genuine interest.
"I want to gather potentials and make an organization and then expand my territory. I also want to get involved in the underworld." She said with resolution.
"Do you know the consequences if you mess in the underworld, Yue? Also, have you asked your parent's consent?" He asked.
"I know my path will be dangerous but I want to grow strong so please help me. I didn't tell my parents because I don't want them to worry. If I tell them about the matter, they will probably lock me up too." She replied again.
"I am concerned with you too, Yue. But since it's your decision, I won't stop you. I ask you again to reconsider it carefully though." He said while sighing.
"THANK YOU, BROTHER TIAN CHENG!" She pounced and hugged him.
"No biggies." He replied. His ears reddened and his heart skipped a beat thinking about their physical contact.
'I'll protect you, Yue.' He vowed inside.