After Ye Xi had left, Mu Shengchen sat motionlessly. He looked out the window, seeing the increasing number of people crowding over the street. The hustle and bustle of the cityscape had finally returned.
"Shengchen." Ning Qianyu's voice echoed from behind him. "What are you looking at?"
He looked back to see her leaning against the door. There were dark circles under her eyes, but she looked calmer than she was yesterday. Her eyebrows were furrowed as she tilted her head at him.
Shrugging, he straightened his back. "Nothing. Did you just wake up?"
"Hm..." Her voice was still a little hoarse from last night.
"Do you want to eat breakfast?" He slowly smiled.
"Yes! I haven't eaten anything since last night." She suddenly remembered the food she had painstakingly cooked last night. She didn't even have the time to taste it when she rushed here. A pity.
"What?" Mu Shengchen frowned, and his eyes darkened. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Well..." Ning Qianyu rubbed the back of her neck. Last night was a mess. She had initially wanted to surprise him, but after all the events that had transpired, she already lost her appetite.
Knowing that this was partly his fault, he simply dismissed the question and brought her to eat in one of the restaurants in the hotel. His smile became fawning as he held her hand.
There were a lot of people in the restaurant. It was crowded, and it was very noisy.
Even she couldn't help but raise her eyebrows in curiosity. Although they had already found themselves a seat, she couldn't help but glance at the crowd around them. "There are so many people."
"Well, the breakfast's free," he teased.
She chuckled. "That's probably not the reason."
"But what if it is?" He grinned playfully.
Rolling her eyes, she switched her attention back to the menu. "What do you want to eat?" she asked lowly as she flipped through the pages. "I'll go ahead and order."
He winked. "I'll eat whatever you want to eat."
A blush graced her features, but she didn't respond. Instead, she got up and headed to the front desk to order breakfast.
Mu Shengchen gazed at her retreating figure. There really was something entrancing about her figure that he couldn't find in himself to look away. His eyes glistened as if he were looking at a treasure chest.
Taking a deep breath, she greeted the first waiter she could see, "Good morning, do you mind if I ask for some steamed dumplings and two bowls of clear soup?"
"Right away, Miss." The waiter quickly placed the things she had ordered onto the plate and passed them to her.
"Thank you." Taking the tray, she turned around to see Mu Shengchen sitting on the wine-red sofa by the windowsill. The sun glowered over his features, emphasizing his attractive jawline and narrowed eyes.
He was quite muscular, she noticed. The tailor-made suit highlighted his rippling muscles. Although his back was slightly curved–relaxing in his seat, he was handsome enough to attract the attention of everyone in the restaurant.
The sight had distracted Ning Qianyu so much that she didn't even notice someone barreling directly towards her. One hit was all it took for her tray to topple forward, spilling its contents all over their shoes. "Crap!" she breathed out.
"What the hell? Do you know these are Prada's latest model?" The young and beautiful woman stomped her foot in annoyance as she shrieked in dissatisfaction. Her dress was quite stylish. It would've suited her if not the ugly expression that had marred her face.
"Baby!" A man ran over to them. "What's wrong?"
"I'm sorry," Ning Qianyu apologized repeatedly as she bowed her head. "I didn't do it on purpose. I'm really sorry."
When the man turned his head, his eyebrows rose in surprise at the gorgeous woman in front of him. His lips curved into a small smile as he took another step, obviously entranced by her beauty.
When the woman saw what was happening, her face grew even redder by the second.
She glanced back at Ning Qianyu. The woman was wearing a pair of shabby jeans, and they weren't even branded! Plus, the woman's shirt probably came from the nearest dollar store.
"Can't you see properly?" She sneered. "If you can't, how about just go to the nearest eye doctor? Don't bother showing yourself in these streets!"
Staring at her now dirtied shoes, she couldn't help but curse under her breath, "Shit! How the hell am I going to see your friends now?"
Min Yuan immediately did his best to comfort his wife, "It's fine. How about we go back and change into newer shoes, okay?"
His wife wasn't the type to back down easily. And after seeing how entranced he was after meeting Ning Qianyu for just one day, she certainly wasn't going to let this woman go. "You think I'm going to let this go?" she snarled. "She's the one who spilled the soup, so she has to take responsibility, doesn't she?"
Her screams were so loud that they had attracted everyone's attention. Not knowing what else to say, Ning Qianyu could only bow her head even lower. "This is all my fault," she slowly said. "I'll take responsibility."
"How will you if you can't even afford these shoes?" A mocking smile slipped into her lips. "How about this? If you kneel on the ground and wipe my shoes clean, I'll forget all about this."
Hearing the woman's words, the crowd couldn't help but shook their head in disgust. This was just an insult! How could they degrade such a woman in public?
However, upon seeing the woman's branded clothes and Ning Qianyu's ragged ones, they could only sigh and look the other way. They didn't want to mess with the rich today. The best they could do was pretend that it didn't happen.
Ning Qianyu's face turned pale, and her hands trembled.
At that time, Mu Shengchen controlled his wheelchair. He didn't even hesitate as he pushed the woman onto the ground.
"AH!"
Even then, he didn't look like he cared as he stared them all down. She had the nerve to call his wife poor? To ask her to kneel on the ground? Mu Shengchen glowered.
If she had scolded him instead, he would've let her go unscathed. But now that she had scolded his woman, that was game over for her.
"You crazy–" He slapped her.
The clapping sound echoed across the room, and even the bystanders couldn't help but flinch. Despite this, Mu Shengchen still remained unmoved as he took out a handkerchief from his pocket. "Sorry," he said off-handedly. "I don't have eyes."
It didn't even sound like an apology.
Even the waiters started to gather around, but they were too late to stop them.
"You–You..." the woman stuttered out before screeching in disgust. "How dare you? I want to call the police!"
"Call the police?" Mu Shengchen snorted. "Do that and your boyfriend wouldn't have a job. Is that how you treat your elders? Should I reintroduce myself as Young Master Mu to get your respect?"
The crowd immediately quieted down as they all stared in surprise. Even Min Yuan was starting to sweat from the nervousness. He had initially wanted to call her over to show her off to his friends, but he didn't expect that she'd offend the Young Master before he could even meet up with them.
Young Master Mu was the General Manager of the Mu's, while he was just another lowly supervisor. How the hell was he going to appease him?
Even the woman was startled by his proclamation. She could only hold her face in silence.
"First Young Master, Young Mistress," Min Yuan started, bowing his head respectfully. "We deeply apologize. We weren't aware it was you–our mistakes, obviously–"
"I'm more interested in what you've said earlier. What did you say? Asking my wife to kneel on the ground and wipe your shoes clean?" He cocked up an eyebrow, sneering at them.
The woman had insulted his wife. He certainly wasn't going to let her go that easily.
Ning Qianyu pulled at his sleeve as if trying to hold him back, but he simply patted her hand in response. His cold eyes continued to glare at the couple, waiting for a response.
Fuck! Min Yuan's hands trembled. "First Young Master," he stuttered. "You must've heard wrong. She said nothing of the sort."
"Did I?" He feigned surprise as he glanced at Ning Qianyu's shoes. "Qianyu, why are your shoes dirty?"