When Hui Yin reaches upstairs, to Caiwei's room, she sees the door is opened wide and there is no sound from inside.
She walks inside the room calling out her name, "Weiwei?" she didn't respond. She is lying on her bed with her face on the pillow.
"Weiwei, what happened? Why aren't you coming for dinner?" her mother asked with concern. Hui Yin sits at the edge of the bed and gives a slight nudge to see if she is sleeping or not.
"I…don't want to!" she barks, her voice kind of heavy as her face is pushed in the pillow.
"Did Shi Lian told you anything?"
"No! I am not scared of her!" she jumps from her sleeping position when she hears Shi Lian's name.
"I did not say that Weiwei…calm down" she tries to calm her angry daughter.
"Tell me what that bitch told you?" Hui Yin says through her gritted teeth, scooting closer to where her daughter is sitting.
Hui Yin despises Shi Lian to her core. From the starting she never liked her; she is like an eyesore to her. She used to humiliate her, bully her and she also taught her Zimen and Caiwei to do too. she said all sorts of rubbish about Shi Lian to her children, which makes them hate Shi Lian.
"Mom! How come that bitch got such a sharp- tongue?" Caiwei asks in rage.
"Who knows. She must be putting on some act to pretend to be powerful. Let her do whatever she can but you need to keep your composure together, alright?" her mother tells her, wiping away her tears.
"You are right…! I can't let her win!" she chants, biting her manicured nails.
"Now stop with this and come down for dinner. Your father called you" Caiwei nods, jumping out of her big bed and travel to the washroom to remove the black lines made by the mascara on her cheeks.
She splashes clean water on her face and wipes it with the towel placed beside the faucet.
Looking at herself she feels she is more beautiful than Shi Lian as she felt envious of her when she saw her first.
Pasting makeup on her face, she gets out from the washroom and wears her green stilettos that were lying in the corner of the room. "You look so beautiful, my daughter!" Hui Yin compliments as a means to cheer her up and it works, Caiwei smiles widely at her. Just like her mother, she loves hearing compliments about her, no matter how many you say it.
"Let's get going"
It took almost 15 minutes for them to come down. Reaching the dining hall, Caiwei takes a seat beside Shi Lian and Hui Yin sits in her respective seat.
"What took you so long, Caiwei?" Sha Sha asks as her concerned aunt.
"I got something in my eyes, Mom was just helping me with it" she replies with a sweet smile. Shi Lian eats her dinner without any interest to look at her. Caiwei's blood boils seeing Shi Lian acting haughty and almighty but as her mother advised, she needs to keep her cool.
The dinner goes tranquility without any unnecessary hitch made.
After the dinner, Mo Zheng Yi asks her brother that he needs to talk to him about something and so, they went to his private office.
Shi Lian notices them but resists herself from going. It will be a bad idea to go with them since it's the talk between them.
While all her attention is on her father and her uncle, Zimen is continuously staring since the moment she entered. Shi Lian is unaware of this fact; she is a bit clueless when it comes to this.
"Shi…mind talking for a while?" he asks sheepishly. Turning her attention from them to her cousin, she says yes without even thinking as her mind is already occupied with what her father and uncle are discussing.
Zimen suggests that it would be refreshing to talk outside, on the balcony, and to get alone time with her too. they travel to the balcony on the first floor when Zimen says, "You look gorgeous today."
It is surprising to get a compliment from her cousin because he never complimented her before. Whenever they used to play, Zimen had his poker face and would hardly talk to her.
"Err…thank you" she thanks him awkwardly.
'What's wrong with him? Is this some kind of trap? I better be cautious' she contemplates.
The weather is chilly during night time but at the same time refreshing. Shi Lian takes a deep breath, enjoying the view. It was suffocating inside, she feels much better now.
"It's better here, right?" he asks.
"Yeah…" her voice comes as a gentle coo as she dives into the surrounding, forgetting all about the meeting inside.
Looking at Shi Lian, he realizes just how beautiful Shi Lian is; her long brown hair, brown eyes, cute nose, heart-shaped lips, a body of goddess that any man can die for, and her cold yet serene persona. He blushes contemplating it.
"Uhm…Shi Lian, so how was life back there in America?" he asks, trying to get to know her.
Shi Lian rolls her eyes hearing the same question again, "It was fine. "
Conversation end, awkward silence takes place.
"I am trying to develop a game of my own," he tells her.
Shi Lian did not know what to say nor is she interested in him. She gives him a forced smile and congratulates him. She cannot comprehend the fact that his cousin is interested in her.
"I always felt guilty the way Caiwei and I treated you in the past.." he confesses out of nowhere. It took a while for Shi Lian to realize what he just said.
"Why are you saying this now?" she demands.
"I tried to apologize in the past but I just couldn't….and I am always guilty for it" his eyes are all sad and there's a genuine in his words.
'Is this part of his plan? No..! I cannot fall for this!'
"Oh, you think I will trust you and forgive you?" she scoffs without any hint of affection, "I don't forgive nor do I forget."
"I….am really sorry Shi Lian. Just give your cousin a chance to make this up for you" he pleads, reaching for his hands but Shi Lian shakes it off and turns to leave.
"I should go now," she says and walks fastly in those high heels which makes a loud noise, making her more annoyed.
"Shi! Wait!" he tries to stop her but she is already gone.
"Where's father? He isn't back yet?" Shi Lian asks her mother who is sitting in the living room with Hui Yin and Caiwei.
"No, he is with your uncle" she answers gently. She had waited for enough, now she needs to go and see what is going on there.
"I'll be going to the washroom, excuse me" she excuses herself by telling a lie and go to her uncle's office.
"But brother…..I am also the shareholder of the company!" Zheng Yi protests. Shi Lian hears Zheng Yi yelling when she reaches outside his office.
She quietly opens the door trying not to make any kind of noise, and peeks at what is going on.
"I hold the most shares among all the shareholders! Our decision will also be taken into action! You can't make decisions like this on your brother" Zheng Yi tries to manipulate Zheng Yuan but he did not know that all these years Mo Zheng Yuan was aware of it. Shi Lian curses as she cannot see or hear clearly. She tries to open the door a little more but restrain herself from opening too much so as not to let them know about her presence.
"You don't need to tell me that. I will conduct the meeting soon." Her father says coldly.
"Brother, half of the shareholders are our blood relatives, and...most of them won't agree with your decision" Zheng Yi sneers keeping a hand on Zheng Yuan's right shoulder as he sneers wickedly. "I am the best choice for this brother…..give thinking to it. I have already shown you the documents so you should think this through….or else…" he whispers in his ears while snickering.
'What documents? Looks like he already talked with the other shareholders. Sly fox' she mutters, watching them from afar.
Suddenly she hears some footsteps coming in this direction so she got up hastily and run to the other side before that person comes.
'Damnit!' she curses under her breath. She hides running left in the corner of the big hall. She turns back to see who it is and finds that it is merely a housekeeper from the cleaning stumb.
'I don't think I can go back there, better go back downstairs before anyone darts their suspicions on me' she decides and walks back straight without looking back or what the servant thinks. She just keeps walking.