Destined to be his Wife

Chapter 24 - Starting School

"Are you sure this is everything? We could check out the new store over there." Linlin offered but TangShi shook her head without looking to see what the store was and finished putting the shopping bags into the boot of Linlin's orange car. Glad to have finally finished ticking off her list.

"I already have so many supplies and don't need much. It's an art school, not a college for scholars, and I'm sure I can pick up anything later I may have forgotten." TangShi was excited about her starting date in only a few days and was eagerly counting them down. It seemed like it was coming so fast, and she was more than ready to start. To have something to fill her days with.

"Clothes?" Linlin offered with a small smile. "I'm sure you need some fashionable and arty overalls or something!"

"You mean, TangShi do you want to go shopping so I can spend money on things I don't need in the name of passing time?" TangShi cocked a brow at her friend and smiled as she closed the car boot.

"I always need clothes; besides I have a hot date with that jackass playboy ZhengLi, and I need to out sexy him. He thinks too highly of himself, and I should put him back in his place and remind him how lucky he is that I am giving him the time of day."

It had been almost a week since the nightclub incident where Rhea had slapped TangShi, and Linlin had seen ZhengLi three times already. Both adamant that it was a friend with benefits relationship and no serious ties, but TangShi could tell Linlin liked him enough to break her own rule of seeing the same guy only once in a week.

It had been quiet since YuZhi had smoothed things over with Rhea and set the record straight, but she still hadn't shown up or called TangShi to apologize about hitting her. TangShi still felt uptight and antsy about it and would check her phone every so often in case she missed a call. YuZhi had left that night in the past and told her not to worry about it, but TangShi couldn't shake the nerves she felt over it. If Rhea really was fine then why hadn't she reached out, and why had she stopped coming to the house to see TangShi since? She was too reluctant to reach out to her first in case it made things worse and was scared Rhea really did hate her now and suspected her of trying to seduce YuZhi.

Cheng thankfully had very particular standards of clientele for his club, ones who valued their privacy when being there. This meant event though the whole scene had been witnessed by many, not a single report, video, or picture had shown up and TangShi could stop worrying it would. Cheng's club was a private place with a keypad entry for members. Only those who were accepted could get in and those inside all had reason to stay out of the public eye.

"I don't have other plans, so lead the way." TangShi relented, knowing she would rather get sore feet from following her shopaholic friend around for the afternoon than sit at home alone and stress over her current predicament and overthink. Although things were better between YuZhi and her and they had started to find a balanced way of co-existing, it was the only relationship in that house that was easy, excluding XiaoSu. It wasn't a home for her and when she was there, she tiptoed around, either staying in their room or sitting in the sunroom to paint. She tried to keep out of everyone's way and always felt uptight.

Grandfather ignored her or avoided her and seemed like he didn't want to make any lasting bond to a girl who would leave one day. Aunt still treated her like a leper and Rhea's inferior, and the other uncles and occasional family gave her the cold treatment or bored expressions. They didn't want pulled into Aunt's drama and knew she would flip out if they were kind to TangShi, although some felt a modicum of pity for her.

YuZhi's sister had gone abroad for a few months and never got around to hanging out which had disappointed TangShi, hoping she would have had a friend and ally in her. She figured it was Auntie's doing that she was suddenly whisked off to a six-month educational trip of importance the minute she showed interest in being friends with TangShi. That meant the house was big and lonely , with only Xiaosu in the day to talk to and YuZhi when he came home at night, sometimes late.