Chapter 40 - I know what is going through you and your mother’s mind
Even though Li ShiZe has been in distress for a while when he was low on capital at the beginning, his stress had been lightened significantly after the injection of capital from the Deng’s, especially when his relationship with his father had recently warmed up again. Even though his dad didn’t help him with capital, he was able to network and helped him get some orders.
Just when things were about to get on track, all of a sudden, a few companies that were going to work with him had changed their stance.
After receiving a few phone calls like that back to back over the course of a few days, Li ShiZe felt like a bucket of cold water had been poured down over him. He felt both angry and at loss. What had gone wrong?
Li ShiZe had a few friends as well, so he reached out to them directly.
Once he found out what had happened, he almost smashed his cellphone. He never would have thought that what happened between Jiang YaGe and himself would be made so public and that the words were spread from Sun Mei no less.
If his mother hadn’t told, how else would Sun Mei have found out?
At that very moment, he felt hatred toward Fang JunRong. Must she go that far? She just couldn’t have left him alone?
After his anger subsided and he had calmed down, he realized that had his mother wanted to spread the words, she would have done it a long time ago. He knew his own mother pretty well. Something must have happened recently that had prompted it.
He asked around again and finally found out that it all started with Deng Lan’s mother. She started telling her friends over mahjong how cold his mother was and how she had played favoritism with her children, which prompted Sun Mei to defend his mother.
Li ShiZe ran his fingers through his hair. The veins on his hands throbbed.
He suddenly realized what it was like to be hit by friendly fire. He hadn’t expected the Deng’s to offer him too much help; he only hoped that they wouldn’t make matters worse. And they couldn’t even do that. The thought of matters between himself and YaGe becoming topics of gossip for others was unsettling to him.
He did not believe that he and YaGe had done anything wrong. If he must say anything, it was that his attitude was too strong against his mother and that he should never have let Wang SiXian move into his house.
He felt very irritated and was in no mood to pour over the documents on his desk that needed his attention. He just plopped down into his office chair.
“ShiZe, I am here,” came Deng Lan’s cheerful voice along with the sound made by her heels. Li ShiZe looked up and saw the thermos in her hands and that bright smile on her face. “I’ve made you some chicken broth today. Would you like to try some?”
Li ShiZe looked up at her and said coldly, “Your mother had been yakking out there. Was that your idea?”
He looked so angry that Deng Lan was frantic all of a sudden. She bit her lip and said, feeling unjust, “She just felt bad for you! She couldn’t believe how much your mother leans toward Li XinYun and didn’t care about you at all. She was only speaking up for you.”
Deng Lan only knew that her mother had been badmouthing Fang JunRong over her mahjong games, but she didn’t know that the rumors had already been replaced with a set of new ones. Truth was, Deng Lan didn’t feel that her mother had done anything wrong. Fang JunRong was being very unreasonable. She had never paid her son any attention ever since the divorce but doted on that useless daughter of hers.
Li ShiZe snickered. “Do I look like I need you to speak up for me? Now everyone knows that my own mother hates me. Do you think that’s a good idea? I know what is going through you and your mother’s mind.”
Deng Lan and her mother just wanted to advocate the relationships between them. That was the reason that he never liked wealthy girls like Deng Lan who had been in this circle for a long time. They were always scheming and thinking about how to maximize the benefits for themselves.
All that could be said was that his double-standard nature was exactly the same as Li WangJin’s. When Jiang YaGe stood up for him, he was touched and very appreciative of it. When it was Deng Lan who did it, she was being manipulative and scheming.
When one was not liked by someone else, even an action as simple as taking a sip of water was wrong. And that’s the position that Deng Lan was in right now.
Being yelled at by Li ShiZe to her face made her feel like her heart was being soaked in acid. She felt very wronged. Li ShiZe had been sweet and nice to her this entire time. What had changed all of a sudden?
Her eyes had already turned red, but she still gave him an understanding smile. “I’m sorry. I won’t do that again.”
She put the thermos down in such a way that he could see her fingers. She wanted him to see the blister on her hand. She waited for a while, but the caring words from Li ShiZe never came. Deng Lan didn’t want to annoy him again. Her mother had told her that men didn’t like women who didn’t know when to stop. They much preferred understanding women.
So she left, knowing what was best for her.
She wasn’t just going to be treated that way by Li ShiZe and do nothing. She needed to find out what had caused his change of attitude toward her. She didn’t believe that her mother was the reason behind it. Li ShiZe had lost his patience with her since the week prior.
Her means of breaking through would be Jiang YaGe, the sister that Li ShiZe had doted on. Deng Lan was very glad that she had a good relationship with Jiang YaGe. She even gritted her teeth and bought her a few designer’s purses. Now, it’s time to use that relationship that she had built.
Deng Lan had the chauffeur take her straight to Jiang YaGe’s school to look for her. Jiang YaGe was a sophomore in college and has quite a few classes. She wouldn’t be getting off until 5 PM. Deng Lan’s timing wasn’t great, and she had to wait around for over an hour for Jiang YaGe to get out of class.
Jiang YaGe found Deng Lan’s car quickly after she walked out of the campus. The car door opened up, and she got inside of it like she had done so many times before.
“LanLan,” she said.
Her feelings toward Deng Lan were very complicated. On one hand, Deng Lan had been helping out ShiZe a lot as of late, but it was also obvious that she has other feelings toward ShiZe. Every chance that she got, she would subtly allude to their relationship in their friend’s circle and that made Jiang YaGe feel jealousy and aching of her heart. Yet, she had no grounds to be jealous. She had already broken up with Li ShiZe. Plus, Deng Lan had bought her many gifts. That way, she could maintain her front in front of the others and not be made a laughing stock.
Luckily, Li ShiZe’s business had made a lot of progress and he had received a few contracts. He wouldn’t need to be restrained by others anymore.
Deng Lan looked at Jiang YaGe, whose head was lowered, and said to her affectionately, “I found a fairly good restaurant. Let’s go try it out.”
“Okay.”
Deng Lan chitchatted with Jiang YaGe on and off on their way and finally the subject got to Li ShiZe. “ShiZe has been somewhat cold to me lately. Do you know why?”
Under her look, Jiang YaGe felt a bit of a guilty conscience. She looked away and avoided Deng Lan’s gaze. She tried her best to keep her tone calm when she said to her, “Maybe it’s because of his work. He had been very busy lately and been working overtime every day. There aren’t a lot who can help him out around him.”
She had been ShiZe’s assistant, but as Deng Lan would frequent the office, she worried that she couldn’t be able to refrain her emotions and exposed her feelings for Li ShiZe in front of Deng Lan. She had no choice but to reduce the number of times she went into the office and attend more extracurricular activities at school in order to distract herself.
Deng Lan felt better after learning that she wasn’t the reason for Li ShiZe’s bad mood. She must have just gotten there at the wrong time when ShiZe happened to be in a bad mood, which was why he had snapped at her. Besides, people always let their guards down around those that they were closed to. Did that mean that ShiZe was treating her more and more like someone that he was close to?
Deng Lan’s mood improved greatly from her own speculation. As though coated by honey, she felt a sense of sweetness.
She gave Jiang YaGe a look. It was a good idea to have Jiang YaGe on her side. She decided to give Jiang YaGe a bit of a reward. Jiang YaGe, who wasn’t as experienced as Li XinYun, was much easier to please.
She took Jiang YaGe shopping after dinner and bought her a set of clothes.
Every time Jiang YaGe accepted her gifts and thanked her, Deng Lan would feel a sense of accomplishment.
“Weather is starting to get cold. Why don’t you pick a scarf also?” said Deng Lan.
When Jiang YaGe wore the clothes that she bought her in front of Li ShiZe, that’d earn her extra brownie points anyway. It’s a win-win.
Jiang YaGe, following behind Deng Lin, looked to be docile and harmless.
“Deng Lan.”Halfway through their shopping trip, Deng Lan heard someone calling out to her. She turned around and it was her friend, Zhan Yun. They weren’t close friends. Plastic sisters at best.
“Zhan Yun.” Deng Lan nodded at Zhan Yun. Then, turning back at Jiang YaGe, she said, “Try this hat on as well. If it works well, I will buy it for you too. Eh? This top will look good with your skin tone. Why don’t you try it on too?”
Zhan Yun was a little bit surprised. Since when did Deng Lan become so generous? Her pocket money was only 10,000 yuan a month in the past. Now she would buy things for others?
“Is this a relative of yours?” asked Zhan Yun.
Watching Jiang YaGe walk into the changing room, Deng Lan put on a nonchalant look and said, “No, she’s ShiZi’s sister.”
“That’s not what Li XinYun looks like. Li XinYun is prettier than her,” said Zhan Yun. She recalled some of the rumors that she had heard from her mother recently and couldn’t help but enjoy Deng Lan’s downfall. She heard that Deng Lan had been seen with Li ShiZe a lot as of late as though they were a couple. But did Deng Li know that Li ShiZe also has a white moonlight girlfriend that he even offended his own mother over?
“She’s YaGe. Uncle Li’s adopted daughter. She’s very cute and I’ve always treated her like my own sister,” said Deng Lan.
YaGe?
Zhan Yun’s mouth dropped open. Did she hear it right? “Jiang YaGe?”
Deng Lan nodded. “Do you know her?” That made sense. Jiang YaGe has some fame online a while back, albeit not in a positive way. She felt that YaGe was a victim of Uncle Li in that incident. And, perhaps that was the reason that ShiZe had always tried to make up to her.
“Who told you that Jiang YaGe is Li ShiZe’s sister? They are boyfriend and girlfriend! Why did you think that Li ShiZe’s mother said she doesn’t have a son? It was because of Jiang YaGe. Everybody said that Jiang YaGe has her ways and was able to charm Li ShiZe so much. Why would you want to meddle in this?”
Waving her hands excitedly, Zhan Yun filled Deng Lan in on both Jiang YaGe and her aunt, not forgetting to embellish the stories with a lot of details while she was at it. Deng Lan went pale from her words and was barely able to remain standing on her feet.
Zhan Yun looked at the green hat that Deng Li had on with a look of pity. The green hat certainly went very well with Deng Lan right now.*
This was the very first time Zhan Yun saw a fool who’d take her love rival clothes shopping.
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Saying someone is “wearing a green hat” meant they were being cheated on.