Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Jiang Jiusheng made the 30-minute trip in 20, arriving at a high-end club secluded in a seedy area. She had just parked the car when Xie Dang’s assistant ran up to her, showing immense relief at seeing her
“Miss Sheng, thank God you’re finally here.”
Assistant to Xie Dang, Xiao Jin was young, indecisive, and, being susceptible to intimidation, clearly in a panic. Following him to the VIP section, Jiang Jiusheng asked, “Where are they?”
“In a private room,” Xiao Jin replied, walking quickly. Looking piteously at Jiang Jiusheng, he continued in a panic-stricken voice, “Mr. Dang insisted on writing the letters S.O.B. on Zhang Nai’s face, and some artists from Qin Entertainment have called for help. Mr. Dang will be at a disadvantage if help arrives for them.”
S..O.B.? Pursing her lips, Jiang Jiusheng marveled at Xie Dang’s hotheaded and devil-may-care attitude. What a spoiled brat!
Under the sporadic lighting in the Tianyu VIP room, the curly-haired Xie Dang looked daintier than a woman—a vision distorted by his boorish act of holding Zhang Nai down on the sofa with one knee, his left hand securing his captive’s wrists in a lock, and a fluorescent marker in his right hand hovering at Zhang Nai’s neck.
Shouting fiercely, he commanded, “You son of a b*tch! Speak up now! Confess now, or I’ll destroy you!”
Zhang Nai, immobilized and with the letters S.O.B. written on his face, gasped, “Confess to what?”
“Stop pretending!” Xie Dang shouted. He kicked him in the stomach, then whacked him on the head. “Confess that you plagiarized Jiang Jiusheng’s song.”
Knowing that the cell phone at the side was in recording mode, Zhang Nai refused to confess. “No, I did not!” said Zhang Nai, enduring the pain.
That aggravated Xie Dang further, and he simply erupted.
“I’m gonna kill you!” he shouted and prepared to smash a wine bottle over Zhang Nai’s head.
“Xie Dang.”
That calm voice…
Freezing in mid-action, Xie Dang swung around and looked straight into Jiang Jiusheng’s cool eyes. Although he had stopped in the act of cracking Zhang Nia in the head with the bottle, his rage did not subside. He took it out on Song Jing, screaming, “Song, why did you have to bring her here?!”
Song Jing ignored him. She had given up on trying to reason with this spoiled lunatic.
Pushing the door to the VIP room shut behind her, Jiang Jiusheng ordered, “Put that bottle down.”
It was so typical her; that calm and soothing manner irritated him—and also scared him a little.
Stubbornly, he replied, “No. I’ve not had enough yet.”
Jiang Jiusheng tried to snatch the bottle from him, saying coldly, “You won’t be able to continue to play the cello if you hurt your hand with broken glass.”
She was always nagging at him, never once trying to coax or persuade him with words of encouragement.
Xie Dang refused to let go. He tossed his head in a huff. “Mind your own business!”
Jiang Jiusheng relaxed her hold on the bottle, looked at him with her beautiful and expressive eyes, and said, “Then you should also stay out of my business.”
Forget about sweet-talking him. She was now threatening him!
With a fierce glare at Jiang Jiusheng, Xie Dang retorted, “Who cares about your business? This guy is the scum of the earth, and I’m doing everyone a favor.”
“Xie Dang.”
Suddenly, Jiang Jiusheng changed tactics. She looked directly at him and said his name in a firm tone.
Darn it. He was a sucker who always obeyed when this woman took a serious stance; not even his old man’s golf club had that effect on him. Such was his fate.
Their first encounter had been at the teacher-student ceremony held at his old man’s house. While fooling around, he had smashed his father’s ink-pot. The old man had been so incensed that, instead of drinking the tea that Jiang Jiusheng had presented to him as part of the ceremony, he had picked up a golf club to thrash Xie Dang, who, of course, managed to outrun him. While the other students hadn’t dared to interfere, Jiang Jiusheng had given Xie Dang a back-kick which had sent him crashing onto the coffee table. Holding him down, she had asked her teacher, “Sir, do you still want to thrash him?”
His old man had been caught between a rock and a hard place. Of course, he hadn’t really intended to thrash his son, knowing very well that he wouldn’t have caught up with him. However, to save face in that situation, he’d had to thrash him after all.
While writhing in pain, Xie Dang had screamed at Jiang Jiusheng, “Who do you think you are?”
At that time, Jiang Jiusheng had looked at him coolly and announced in her calm voice, “I am your thirteenth elder.”
Elder, my foot!
On that day, for Xie Dang had experienced two firsts: for the first time in his life, he had been beaten by a woman, and it was also the first time that his father had thrashed him.
Ever since that incident, he had made it his mission to stir things up for Jiang Jiusheng just for fun. However, his antics always backfired. And, unlike the other elders training with his father, she had never pandered to his whims and fancies. It was as if Jiang Jiusheng had done it to make him pay for all the mollycoddling he’d enjoyed in his 20-something years of existence.
Yes, he had to admit it. He was terrified of Jiang Jiusheng and for no rhyme or reason.
“Heck!”
Throwing the bottle to one side, he turned away from Jiang Jiusheng, upset that she hadn’t even attempted to pacify him.
Now that he had been freed, Zhang Nai looked toward Jiang Jiusheng for help. “Sheng—”
Instantly, Xie Dang kicked him viciously. “How dare you call her name?”
Zhang Nai doubled over in pain.
“Mr. Dang. Miss Sheng.” Assistant Xiao Jin suddenly shouted from the door. “The Qin cavalry’s here!”
“How many are there?” Song Jing immediately asked.
“About eight or nine of them.” All were budding male artists, most of them bruised from an earlier altercation with Xie Dang. Xiao Jin watched as the men approached purposefully with only one goal in mind. He sweated profusely. “What should we do now?”
Xie Dang stepped protectively in front of Jiang Jiusheng. “Stay here. You’re still recovering from your arm injury,” he instructed before turning to Song Jing. “Song, you stay here with her.”
Instructions given, he picked up the bottle, grabbed Zhang Nai, and began to walk outside.
Jiang Jiusheng stopped him. Xie Dang asked why she had stopped him.
Speaking in an unusually stern voice, she advised, “Don’t use the bottle. You might hurt your hands.”
Xie Dang watched in silence as Jiang Jiusheng picked up a chair and threw it forcefully against the floor, breaking it into four or five pieces. Picking up a couple of the chair legs, she passed one to Xie Dang.
“Use this,” she said.
Song Jing was speechless. Mo Bing had been right. Sending Jiang Jiusheng into a fight spelled trouble.
Xie Dang accepted the wooden stick and simultaneously snatched the other one out of Jiang Jiusheng’s hand. He nudged her back onto the sofa, saying, “This is not the place or time for a woman to get involved. Wait here.”
Ignoring him, Jiang Jiusheng used her leg to pick up an even sturdier wooden stick from the floor.
“Avoid the head,” she told Xie Dang as she rose from the sofa. “We don’t want any fatalities.”
Instruction issued, she opened the door and walked out.
Quickly pushing Zhang Nai to one side, Xie Dang rushed after her. “Jiang Jiusheng! Stay behind me!”