Tang Yazhu did not sleep well throughout the night and woke up the next morning with dark circles under her eyes. Even though she wanted to appear in front of Long Ning in her best appearance, she was too busy thinking about an excuse or reason that she could tell him if he found out anything about her secret identity.
The time was already ten in the morning yet Tang Yazhu was still in bed contemplating about what might happen later: perhaps Long Ning would scold her or torture her to gather some information about her.
She was literally about to go crazy from thinking about this the entire time and was in a complete daze as she continuously stared at the white ceiling. On the other hand, Xia Jiaying had already finished eating breakfast and was now waiting in the living room for Tang Yazhu.
Xia Jiaying was extremely worried about Tang Yazhu as she had yet to leave her room despite the time being past breakfast. She knew that the young master that the butler mentioned was not just any normal person as that person managed to get her savior agitated and ruin the calmness that was always there. Just when she wanted to visit her room, she saw a bunch of servants rush outside of the mansion.
Although Xia Jiaying was curious about who the young master was, she still stayed sitting on the sofa; at least until she saw a man wearing a gray suit with a blank expression on his handsome face. The very moment that she saw this man, she felt that she was familiar with him. Then, it struck her.
This man was Mr. Long!
If Xia Jiaying had not seen his picture, she would not believe her very own eyes that she just met Mr. Long even before the appointed business meeting.
However, this caused Xia Jiaying to question, 'Why is Mr. Long here?'
"Welcome back, Young Master," all of the servants greeted Long Ning and the question of Xia Jiaying was finally answered.
Only, this caused her to ask another question in her mind, 'What is his relationship with Sister Bao?'
When Fu Chao felt the gaze of someone looking at him and Long Ning, he traced back to find someone sitting on the living room sofa. Then, his entire body jolted as he stared back at Xia Jiaying who was looking at them with a confused expression.
'What the hell! Why the heck is the princess here?' Fu Chao internally screamed aloud.
Long Ning noticed the weird actions coming from Fu Chao, so he also looked to where the attention of his assistant was placed. When he saw that there was an extra person in the living room and that this was the very same princess that was responsible for dragging his wife into her mess, he immediately frowned.
"Where is Bao'er?" Long Ning asked while still wearing his blank expression and removed his gaze from Xia Jiaying.
"Young Lady is still in her room, Young Master," Butler Xue answered, and almost immediately, Long Ning made his way to her room.
Before Long Ning left the country, he had made sure to register their marriage. Since the day that he left for his business trip, she was already his official wife. She was Mrs. Long, his only wife - the first and the last - that he would have, and he would not let anything bad happen to her, or else those people who dared to touch her would pay a heavy price.
No matter what reports Long Ning received from his elite teams, he would not feel good until he affirmed with his own eyes that Tang Yazhu was in good condition. When he opened the door, he saw that she was lying on the bed and quietly staring at the ceiling.
"Bao'er," Long Ning called out.
However, Tang Yazhu seemed to not have heard his call as she did not respond to him. Worried about her, he walked closer to her and noticed that there were dark circles around her eyes. This instantly made him frown.
Tang Yazhu, who was lying on the bed, felt that someone was nearby so she turned her head to look and see who the person was.
"Hubby!" Tang Yazhu happily called out as she pulled him into her embrace and her tears fell down like a waterfall.
Long Ning could feel her embrace getting tighter and his neck getting wetter - seems like she was crying.
"What's wrong?" Long Ning gently asked her with a soft voice.
Although Long Ning had many questions regarding what happened in the past three days, he immediately chose not to ask them. Seeing Tang Yazhu act like this, all of his doubts were erased and washed away by a large wave.
The very moment that he asked her that question though, Tang Yazhu began to cry louder and started to tremble. Her trembling was so strong that Long Ning became even more worried.
"Why are you crying? Tell me, what happened?" Long Ning asked again while trying to face her, only to be hugged tighter by her.
"I-I'm a b-bad person," Tang Yazhu stammered with a voice that was very hoarse due to her heavy crying.
Feeling the release in tightness, Long Ning took the chance to pull Tang Yazhu back and look at her. As soon as he saw her tears falling like a waterfall, his heart instantly broke - the pain equal to a heavy mountain pressing down on his body.
"You're not a bad person," Long Ning told her in a warm gentle tone as he held her two slender hands and tried to coax her to stop crying.
However, his coaxing only caused her to cry even harder.
"No! I'm a bad person! A very bad person! I-I killed someone! Not just one, but six! My hands are tainted with blood!" Tang Yazhu shouted and continued to heavily cry again.
Long Ning felt that if he allowed this to go on, Tang Yazhu would go crazy. He could not help but curse those bastards to death, daring to leave his wife with deep trauma.
"Honey, look at me, okay? Remember, you're not a bad person. You did that to save yourself, so it's not your fault, okay?" Long Ning said again as he tried to assure her that it was not her fault and that she only killed someone for self-defense.
"B-but… I really k-killed them…" Tang Yazhu cried out while looking very depressing and made the hands of Long Ning itch as he really wanted to find those bastards that caused his wife to become like this.
"You didn't kill them. You were only doing self-defense. Forget about what happened back then and just think of it as if it was just a dream, alright?" Long Ning spoke as he tried his best to make her calm down.
"W-will you blame my f-friend for d-dragging me down? I-I only wanted to help her… I d-didn't know that this would happen to us!" Tang Yazhu cried once again while trying to explain through her sobs.
"Don't worry. I'm not going to blame her. She's also a victim in this," Long Ning assured her while also feeling that she finally calmed down a bit now.
Only, as soon as he finished talking to her in his assuring voice, she immediately let go of his hand and hid her hands behind her back.
"What are you doing?" Long Ning asked and frown when he saw her weird act.
"Y-you shouldn't touch my hands! T-they're dirty!" Tang Yazhu exclaimed whilst trying to hide her hands away from him.
"No matter what you've done, you're not to blame. No matter how dirty or clean your hands are, I'll always accept you as who you are. Bao'er, you're my wife. Don't think of such nonsense again, okay?" Long Ning told her and took the hands she was hiding away to place multiple kisses on them.
"You get some rest first. It looks like you haven't eaten yet. I'll send some food here, and don't worry about your friend. Since she's a guest here, I'll definitely treat her well," Long Ning said as he laid her in bed and kissed her forehead.
Long Ning saw how reluctant she was to him leaving her room, so he made sure to emphasize that he would be back as soon as possible.
However, the very instant that Long Ning left the room, Tang Yazhu wiped out the fake tears on her face. This was the only solution that she could think of and she felt bad lying to him like this. Although she was really speaking the truth when she stated that she was bad and that her hands were tainted with blood, she did not speak the entire truth.
Tang Yazhu did not think that Long Ning would see her actions as self-defense if he knew her secret identity.
Though, Tang Yazhu did not plan to keep this a secret forever. When the time was right, she would give him the entire truth without concealing a single matter from him.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Xia Jiaying was still sitting in the living room. Opposite to her was Fu Chao who was staring at her intently with an obvious emotion of anger that could be detected.
Fu Chao was currently silently praying in his heart that Tang Yazhu would be fine or else the world would not only end for the enemies but also for them too. In fact, he really wanted to blame Xia Jiaying for dragging his Young Lady into her own mess!
"Fu Chao," he suddenly heard Long Ning call his name, causing him to immediately stand up.
"What are your orders, Boss? Is Miss Ren alright?" Fu Chao asked.
Long Ning was just about to answer his questions when Xia Jiaying stood up and walked to interrupt the two in the midst of their short conversation.
"Mr. Long, please don't blame Sister Bao. Every that's happened is my fault for bringing her into my own problems. If you must, please punish me and not her. I'll take responsibility for everything that has happened," Xia Jiaying bowed to him.
She has never done this for anyone. However, just for Tang Yazhu who has saved and helped her out multiple times, she was willing to lower her pride in front of someone.
"It's not your fault and I don't blame you. You were also a victim," Long Ning said, still maintaining his blank expression.
Hearing what he said though, she felt a little relieved. At the same time, she still felt a bit guilty for not getting punished.
"Um… Can I ask what your relationship with her is?" Xia Jiaying asked.
"She's my wife," Long Ning answered before signaling Fu Chao to follow him, leaving behind a dumbstruck Xia Jiaying in the living room.
Xia Jiaying felt like her world was once again turned upside down. This time, she was truly scared!
She did not know that her idol was not only a famous cook, a great killer but also the wife of the powerful King of the Business Empire!
If something really bad had happened to her idol, god knows how they would hunt her down and even cause the downfall of the palace!
She was truly relieved, knowing that both of them were still alive. Otherwise, she did not even want to imagine what the scenario would be if Tang Yazhu was killed…