Destined to be his Wife

Chapter 13 - Normal Life Begins

It was a ridiculous story, one thought up by suited PR experts in YuZhi's business. It abhorred TangShi that they had to go to this extent just to protect their precious family name and their stocks.

"Thank you. Painting fish are my favorite thing. I find it therapeutic and somehow helps me relax and ease away all my stress."

"Mr Lei is the one who bought all the Koi for the large pond over there by the waterfall. He seems to like them too and often buys special fabric prints of Koi for his aunt when he goes on long trips. Maybe you two have that in common?" Xiaosu was never ending in her eagerness to warm TangShi to YuZhi. Having spent years as this family's house maid she saw a side to him that TangShi didn't and hoped in time they would at least find a common ground and be less harsh to one another.

"What are our plans today?" TangShi ignored any kind of compliments towards YuZhi, disinterested in talking about him. The clinic situation was making her even more resistant to trying to get along with him and the undertones of constant sarcasm between them was tiring.

"The house is empty. Grandfather Leng has taken Auntie, Uncle and his brother to watch an opera. Rhea called to say she couldn't come today as she has a full schedule in prepping for a runway show for Aunt's magazine. So, it's us, a quiet night and there's a new drama starting that I want to watch after we catch up with our ongoing one."

"Let me guess? Another romance featuring Zhang Mingen." TangShi grinned at Xiaosu as her face turned a darker shade and her cheeks flushed pink. The girl had the worst kind of crush on the Chinese actor. She had made TangShi sit through a dozen episodes already of a show called 'Nice to meet you' and didn't seem to be willing to let her pass up the rest of it.

"He's simply the cutest man alive." Xiaosu flushed even darker, clasped her hands by her chest and fluttered dreamy eyes as she was lost in her own head. "You know.... ZhengLi Kim is a dead ringer for him and just about the only man alive I would seriously switch out my crush for." She beamed gleefully.

"Who?" TangShi stopped arranging her brushes and glanced at Xiaosu, wondering if this was another famous Chinese man she had proclaimed her undying love to. Xiaosu had a list of handsome celebrities.

"Young master Leng's best friend, his whole life.... And his assistant at work. Here, I'll show you. I thought you would have met him by now." Xiaosu quickly pulled her phone from inside the apron she was wearing and scrolled it. Pulling up a Weibo account, she turned it to TangShi to show her a handsome man posing for some event. It was enlarged on the screen and gave her a very good view of his face and shoulders.

She stared at it for a long moment, not denying he was very good looking and did look strikingly like the actor Xiaosu was crazy for. Yet there was something else in his face that was familiar about him, and it made her take the mobile in her hand and look at him closely. Scrolling through a few of his more natural images that were selfies to compare and one of him surfing with YuZhi before it struck her like a lightning bolt. It was seeing them together like that which did it.

"Oh my god. He was..." she trailed off, realizing what she was about to say out loud and quickly slid the phone back into Xiaosu hand. She recognized him, the only person at the ball that night who didn't seem to care about wearing a mask. The 'friend' that YuZhi said bet him he couldn't dance with her. This solidified everything. YuZhi really was Yoonie and ZhengLi was there that night too. It sent a strange sensation through the put of her stomach and her blood turned cold.

"I know, right? They could be sexy brothers. He's even better in the flesh too. So handsome, and so charming. Very tall and he has a nice physique." Xiaosu was off on a dreamy tangent and oblivious to TangShi's sober expression.