Due to her foot injury, An Ziqi was not permitted, under strict orders from Xiao Moli, to move about.
She called the trainer for a leave of absence to postpone her training sessions and any other events and rest at home.
The next morning…
An Ziqi got up from bed and limped on one foot into the kitchen, planning to make breakfast.
Hearing the noise in the kitchen, Xiao Moli emerged from his room and frowned.
“Your injury has not healed. What are you doing, moving about? You sure know how to stir up trouble for me.”
As he spoke, he picked her up in his arms and deposited her on the sofa in the living room.
Irked, An Ziqi wondered how she could be making trouble for him. She was just worried about him and Ningning starving.
Yawning cutely, Xiao Yining emerged from his room and, after calling Mummy, sat next to her on the sofa.
Since it was the weekend, he did not have to go to school.
Ruffling his head, An Ziqi asked, “Sweetheart, are you hungry?”
As though in answer to her question, Xiao Yining’s tummy began to rumble.
Subconsciously, An Ziqi rose to her feet to make him breakfast. However, after a shooting glare from Xiao Moli, she sat back down and, together with Xiao Yining, looked at Xiao Moli, eyes blinking occasionally.
Noting the cuteness displayed by the pair, Xiao Moli pursed his lips, picked up his car keys, and went out to buy breakfast.
After breakfast, An Ziqi sat slouching on the sofa to aid digestion.
Xiao Yining sat by her side, watching TV.
An Ziqi watched Xiao Moli going into his room briefly before emerging to sit on the sofa. Curious, An Ziqi asked, “Don’t you have to go to the office?”
Xiao Moli glanced at her and said mildly, “Even CEOs need to rest.”
An Ziqi blinked. Surely he had rested enough?
Ignoring her, Xiao Moli pulled her injured foot onto his lap and began to unwrap the gauze around it.
It was only then that An Ziqi noticed the bottle of gel in his hand. He had gone into his room for the gel.
Recalling the excruciating pain from the previous day, An Ziqi could not help uttering, “You…please be gentle.”
Sneeringly, Xiao Moli looked at her and said, “Fancy a grown-up so afraid of pain.”
An Ziqi murmured under her breath, “Yeah, because you are not the one suffering pain.”
As she spoke, Xiao Moli’s hands had already pressed on her ankle. An Ziqi shut her eyes, preparing to scream in pain. However, all she felt was a cooling sensation.
Oh? Why did that not hurt?
She blinked as she noted that her ankle did not look as swollen as it did yesterday. Xiao Moli gently massaged the swelling with his slender fingers.
Not only did it no longer hurt, but it also felt cool, a very comfortable and soothing sensation.
An Ziqi sat back on the sofa and pulled Xiao Yining into her arms. She kissed him on his cheek and watched TV with him.
Hmm… Life was truly great!
Despite their daily bickering, Xiao Moli never forgot to massage and apply gel on her injured ankle. Within a few days, An Ziqi’s ankle was completely healed.
An Ziqi was so happy that she hugged Xiao Moli.
Uncharacteristically, Xiao Moli made no sarcastic remarks about her scheming to seduce him.
Xia Tianxing had spoken with her on the phone a few times. The training for the contest was coming to an end, and, recently, they had had to cope with an increasing number of promotional drives and related events.
By the time An Ziqi made it to the training center, they were just about to be driven to a dinner event.
In a daze, she was herded into the car along with the others.
Xia Tianxing sat by her side and took her hand happily, asking with concern, “How is your foot? Why did you come in so soon?”
“Don’t worry. It’s completely healed now,” An Ziqi reassured her with a smile. Deep down, she silently bemoaned that if her injury had not been fully healed, a certain someone would not have let her out of the apartment.
She had been really bored over the few days when she had not been allowed to stand on her feet or move about.
To further reassure her, An Ziqi lifted her foot and shook it about.
It was then that Xia Tianxing felt truly assured.
A thought came into her mind, and she looked around at the other people in the car.
Then, she pulled An Ziqi close to her and asked in a low voice, “Are you acquainted with Huanyu’s CEO Mr. Xiao?”
“Nope. We are not acquainted at all,” practically choking on her own saliva, An Ziqi immediately denied any connection with Xiao Moli, her voice sounding a few notes more high-pitched than usual.
Her curiosity piqued by An Ziqi’s over-reaction, Xia Tianxing looked at her. “Why are you so jumpy?”
Heck, heck. An Ziqi coughed a couple of times. “I…I’m just shocked that the thought even occurred to you. How could I possibly be acquainted with someone as important as Mr. Xiao?”
Xia Tianxing processed the thought and said, “You’re right. If you knew Mr. Xiao, you could have signed directly with Huanyu without having to take part in a beauty contest like this one.”
An Ziqi laughed and agreed with her.
Leaving that thought aside, Xia Tianxing teased, “Yesterday, I heard that all those designers who had hurled abuse at you backstage on that day have been fired. Judging by the way that he had protected you that day, I thought that Mr. Xiao had lashed out on behalf of his lady friend.”
“What…what is that? He had sent me to the hospital because I was injured on his site. As for the designers being fired, it was probably…because of their poor performance at work.”
An Ziqi touched her nose, speaking a tad incoherently.
Xiao Moli had lashed out on her behalf, his lady friend?
What kind of a joke was this? That guy had a toxic tongue and took great pleasure in irritating her every day. So how could he have done something like that for her sake?
Shaking her head, she looked around at all those who were frantically touching up their makeup.
Turning to Xia Tianxing, she asked, “Where are we going, by the way?”
“The S City government has organized a charity event scheduled to be held in a few days. In order to garner more funding, the government has organized a pre-event dinner for wealthy businessmen who have signed up to attend. As the contestants vying to be crowned S City’s Miss Image, we are obliged to make meaningful contributions to S City’s charity programs. What we need to do now is to attend the pre-event dinner with these wealthy folks and urge them to donate generously. The total amount of donations that each contestant is able to garner will be used as a criterion in our final assessment in the final round,” Massaging her tired cheeks, Xia Tianxing explained with sarcasm in her voice.
Beauty contests were never as simple or straightforward as what they were made out to be.
What civil obligations? It was all a cover for some people’s dirty underground dealings.