Chapter 71: A Small Fight
Xia Ning looked at Qiao Yu and felt that he was a bit absurd. "I didn't prepare your food." Did she say she would prepare dinner for him?
"…" Qiao Yu looked at her undisturbed face and felt even more upset. He frowned and said, "I didn't have dinner!"
"No worries. You can go home, make something or go out. Enoch is here so no need to worry." Xia Ning nodded.
"…" Was that the point? Qiao Yu somewhat suspected that she did it on purpose and he frowned even more. "If it was not for me the other day, you would be injured by the camera. Don't you need to thank me?"
Xia Ning darted him a look. "I said thank you already."
"Your thank you is worth a lot of money," Qiao Yu said sarcastically.
Why is he not like himself today? Xia Ning frowned. "What do you want then?"
"I want dinner!" Qiao Yu pulled out a chair and sat down very naturally.
"…" Xia Ning glared at him. Was his head hit by a door? Why would she make food for him? She was not his housemaid!
"Mummy, can we eat?"
Enoch somehow walked to Xia Ning. Xia Ning came back to herself and looked to him with her face changed to a smile. "Of course." As she spoke she put him on the chair and grabbed some food for him. "Here, eat."
Enoch used the chopsticks to try a bite before he smiled and looked at Xia Ning. "Mummy's cooking is so good," He said to Qiao Yu across the table. "Daddy, you have some too."
Qiao Yu looked at his son and said with a smile, "Sure, Dad is hungry too." Then he glanced at Xia Ning and said somewhat awkwardly, "But your mum seems to have forgotten to cook for me."
"Mummy, really?" Enoch looked up at Xia Ning and his tiny face immediately darkened.
Xia Ning glanced at Qiao Yu and replied, "Yeah, I did not know your dad is coming back for dinner tonight."
"Then Daddy you can have mine." Enoch pushed his own bowl to Qiao Yu a little.
Seeing his cute son, Qiao Yu said with a smile, "This is yours so you should have it. Your mum will cook for me." As he spoke he turned to Xia Ning with a meaning of 'you can't let me fight for food with my son'.
Xia Ning darted a glance at him and turned around at Enoch and said, "Actually this is for both you and your daddy. Mummy had too many fruits in the afternoon and can't eat anymore. I was just joking with your dad."
Enoch looked at Xia Ning and nodded. "Really? Thanks, Mummy."
Xia Ning's eyes got dimmer. She patted his head and turned to Qiao Yu and said, "You do a better job taking care of him for eating. No need for me to tell you how."
Qiao Yu looked at her and frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Didn't you say you want dinner?" Xia Ning said calmly. "As you wish!"
Qiao Yu's face got sullen. He said in a cold voice, "Are you trying to provoke me?"
Xia Ning wanted to laugh. How shameless would she be to think that she could provoke him? He had a good imagination.
"Daddy, Mummy, are you having a fight?" Enoch's eyes moved between Qiao Yu and Xia Ning. A kid of three or four years old already started to notice these things.
Xia Ning's heart skipped a beat. She said to Qiao Yu, "We should not talk about these in front of the kid. You should eat with him first." As she spoke, she went to the couch to sit down.
Qiao Yu looked at her cold face from the side and could not eat anymore. She was nothing like this before.
***
Chapter 72: When Did He Become So Honest?
After dinner, Qiao Yu took Enoch home and did not talk to Xia Ning anymore.
Xia Ning wanted him to leave. If it were not for Enoch, she would not even have let him in.
After she cleaned up the dishes on the table, Xia Ning went to take a shower and lay on the couch to read. It was too early for her to sleep.
After a while, her phone rang. She picked up and saw that it was Zheng Ziming.
"Hello, what's up?"
"Is Qiao Yu at your place?" Zheng Ziming asked directly.
Xia Ning wanted to laugh. "What were you thinking? Of course he's at his own place."
"That's good. Asteria, are you really not considering moving?" Zheng Ziming mentioned it again. As if he knew what Xia Ning was afraid of, he continued, "I know you don't want to move because of the kid. But Asteria, if the kid wants you to remarry Qiao Yu, what will you do?"
"You are over-thinking," Xia Ning frowned and said.
"I just don't want you to make the wrong decision. How did Qiao Yu treat you back then? I hope you didn't forget."
Xia Ning went silent for a bit and replied, "Ziming, it's actually better to forget. Forget about the hatred, the pain, the memory and you can finally forget about that person. In fact, he was more like a dream in my memory. When I woke up, everything was gone."
On the other side of the phone, Zheng Ziming did not talk for a while before he said, "Asteria, let's go back to England. There's nothing to worry about there."
"Yeah, nothing to worry about. That was what I thought and lived with pride for more than a decade." Xia Ning smiled slightly. "Now that I think about it, I was such a fool."
"Asteria…" Zheng Ziming said in a low voice.
Xia Ning cut him off. "Well, it's getting late. I need to rest." As she spoke, she hung up without hesitation.
She lay on the couch and looked at the ceiling. She did not even realize when the book fell onto the ground. Would this be another sleepless night?
Ding-Dong, Ding-Dong… The doorbell rang.
Xia Ning sat up but did not want to answer the door. The only person who would ring the doorbell this late would be Qiao Yu.
After the doorbell stopped ringing, Xia Ning felt a bit better. But her phone rang again, and there was a number on it. But she realized it was from Qiao Yu the second she saw it.
Qiao Yu looked at the phone and it still did not get through. His eyebrows were twitching. Seeing the shut door, he went silent for a while and decided to leave.
All of a sudden, the door opened.
"What on earth do you want?" Xia Ning held the door handle and looked at him with impatience.
Qiao Yu put his phone back in his pocket and looked at her. He frowned and said, "Didn't you say you want to talk after dinner?"
"What do I have to talk to you about?" Xia Ning was a bit speechless. All the talking was done three years ago. Just now, it was only her excuse. When did he become so honest?
Qiao Yu looked at her and did not speak for a moment, and then he said, "What about Enoch?"
"What do you want to talk about?" Xia Ning asked.
"Enoch is a bit sensitive, so I'm hoping that you can act naturally when he's around," Qiao Yu said calmly.
Xia Ning smiled. "Qiao Yu, I don't understand what you mean by acting naturally. Are you hoping I would play the lovely couple with you? Then I really think you are crazy. We are divorced. I have my own life and you are starting your own family. Do you think hiding things would be helpful to anyone?"
Qiao Yu frowned. "What nonsense are you talking about?"
"Then you should take it as nonsense. Okay, I need to rest now. Goodbye." As she spoke she stepped back and slammed the door.
Qiao Yu got a bunch of dust on his nose. He looked at the closed door with a sulky face. She dared to slam the door at him one after another!
***
Chapter 73: Who Did She Offend?
The doorbell rang for quite a while and Xia Ning refused to open the door. She turned her phone off before going to the bedroom and putting on a headset. She fell asleep quickly.
Somewhere in a suite in a hotel, on the bed, something just happened.
Qi Le squinted her eyes to look at the old man who seemed fatter than a pig. She tried hard to suppress the gross feeling inside her and did not kick him off the bed.
If it were not for the endorsement, she would not have slept with this kind of old man.
A real man should be like President Qiao. If she was the female lead, President Qiao would have looked at her differently.
If it was not for Xia Ning, she would not have been kicked out of the crew!
A newcomer like Xia Ning with so many scandals, how could she have the good resources?
What a stupid TV show. Good thing she was not a part of it anymore. She would not want the supporting role for a b*tch anyway.
Moreover, the endorsement from President Liu would be way better than a supporting role. She would give Xia Ning a lesson sooner or later.
All of a sudden, the phone on the side table rang. Qi Le returned from her thoughts.
The man next to her stopped his movements and pushed himself up to get the phone.
She took him by the arm and stopped him in a coquettish voice. "President Liu, don't take it. You don't even spend time with me."
President Liu held Qi Le and kissed her forcefully. "Good girl, I'm not leaving, just taking a call." As he was saying that, he picked up the phone to answer the call.
Qi Le saw the fat belly and almost wanted to throw up. But for the endorsement, she had to put up with it.
A call this late must be from the wife. It was said that his wife was quite a personality. Humph, why would this loser still want to play around with women if he did not even have the balls?
"Do you know how late it is now? Can't it wait till tomorrow? You better give me a reasonable answer." President Liu's face was full of displeasure. He tried to comfort Qi Le next to him.
Qi Le's one hand was holding his arm, the other lingering on him.
"Ah, what did you say? Say it again." President Liu was not even listening to what was being said on the other side. He begged Qi Le, "Sweetheart, be good. Just a second."
Seeing that the fat man was completely bewitched by her, Qi Le felt disgusted but somewhat satisfied.
She had what it took. There were others in this world who were not Xia Ning but could still attract men. She could do better than her!
It would be great if the man on top of her now were President Qiao. She would do anything for that.
"What did you say!" President Liu suddenly shouted out loud and scared the hell out of Qi Le. She twisted her body to show her discontent.
President Liu's red face turned scary at the moment. He put his phone down, but his eyes were fixed on Qi Le below him.
"President Liu, what's wrong?" Qi Le moved her white arm to his body and asked softly.
Slap! Followed by an angry roar, "B*tch, you almost got me killed!"
Qi Le held her face and looked at the man on her with disbelief. Is he crazy?!
The man got off her and started to dress to leave. Qi Le sensed that something was wrong so she crawled up to hold back his body. "President Liu, did I displease you somehow?"
President Liu turned around and wanted to get rid of Qi Le. But she was holding him so tightly that they were pushing and pulling until Qi Le fell off the bed.
"F*ck off. A nameless, f*ckable actress like you dared to offend someone like that. You must be really tired of your own life." President Liu kicked her away and stormed out.
Qi Le sat on the carpet, naked. She looked at the slammed door unbelievably and still could not come out of the complete shock just now.Who did she offend?
***
Chapter 74: Why Is President Qiao Here?
When Xia Ning woke up, it was very bright outside. It was a rare good sleep. She would start filming again tomorrow so she was leaving for J City in the afternoon.
Just as Xia Ning was taking the food and the milk out from the kitchen, the doorbell rang.
Ding-Dong…
Xia Ning turned to the door and frowned immediately. He must be crazy to bother her so early in the morning.
She would just pretend she did not hear it. As Xia Ning was thinking this way, she sat on a chair next to the dining table and started to have breakfast.
But the doorbell was ringing non-stop, which made Xia Ning even more upset. She slammed the fork onto the table and stood up, bringing down the chair behind her. But she did not pay attention to it.
When the door was opened, Xia Ning started yelling at once. "Are you insane? Can't you just stay at your place…"
"Xia Ning, do you want to die? You didn't answer the door after such a long time, and your phone was not getting through…"
Xia Ning stared at the person in front of her in shock. Uh, it was Lu Qing.
Lu Qing looked back at Xia Ning. And they stared at each other for a while.
Realizing she yelled at the wrong person, Xia Ning coughed a little and asked, "Why are you here? Aren't we leaving in the afternoon?"
"Why are you losing your temper so early in the morning? Did I upset you?" Lu Qing said with displeasure.
Xia Ning did not reply. She turned around and went into the room.
Lu Qing followed in and closed the door. She explained why she was here. "The agency got a call from Director Zeng's assistant in the morning. Director Zeng wants you for a second audition for 'The City of Desperation'. They said they could not reach you through the phone. You are good. To have the nerve to fumble the ball whenever there is something big."
Xia Ning turned to look at Lu Qing and asked, "Today?"
Lu Qing wanted to laugh. "Last time, a certain someone told me there is no need to be early for an audition. So why are you in a rush?"
Xia Ning paid no attention to Lu Qing's teasing and went on. "What exactly did Director Zeng's people say?"
"He will have the second audition in two weeks," Lu Qing frowned and said in a low voice. "This time it will be more than just the newcomers. It will also have a lot of famous actresses. Very likely the newcomers from the last audition had acted so badly that Director Zeng is having second thoughts about using a new actress."
"Who else?" Xia Ning also frowned and drank some milk from the glass on the table.
"Cheng Feixuan from our SE, the Golden Monkey Best Actress Chen Shiyan and Qin Man, the new leading actress in playing ingénues. There will be a few newcomers as well, with good class and acting skills." Lu Qing looked at Xia Ning with seriousness on her face. "Even though you got the invitation this time, all your competitors are not that simple."
Xia Ning was holding the glass, some kind of emotion flowing in her dark eyes. Suddenly she put down the glass and said, "I need to go."
"Why are you going out now? Aren't you heading to J City in the afternoon?" Lu Qing's eyes followed her to the dressing room.
"If I can't make the flight, please reschedule to a later one for me. I will not be late for the shooting tomorrow. Please bring my luggage with you. I will go straight to the airport later."
Lu Qing was speechless. What the heck? Am I your agent or your maid?
After packing up the stuff for J City, Xia Ning changed into a cardigan with a short skirt, with a pure and clean look. Lu Qing opened the door for her to see her off.
The second the door opened, Lu Qing saw a tall figure blocking the way. She was shocked for a second. When she saw clearly who the person was, she had a very complicated feeling. Who can tell her why President Qiao is here?
***
Chapter 75: The Brains Of The Rich Works Differently
Who the heck can tell me why President Qiao is standing in front of Xia Ning's door in loungewear? Lu Qing was completely confused.
Xia Ning saw Lu Qing not moving so she walked around Lu Qing with her body tilted sideways.
Qiao Yu saw Xia Ning's attire. He frowned and asked, "Are you going out?"
"Hm." Xia Ning answered calmly as she was walking towards the elevator.
Qiao Yu frowned even more. "Where to? I know you are leaving for J City in the afternoon."
"Is that your business?" Xia Ning pressed the button and the elevator door opened. She walked in without even looking at Qiao Yu behind her.
Qiao Yu saw Xia Ning leaving with a dark look. She seemed to be ignoring him more and more.
Lu Qing felt that the temperature around her went down a few degrees. Her entire body felt a bit cold so she looked up at the man who was spreading the coldness.
If they were not close, why would President Qiao put his son at Xia Ning's place? She had not finished this with Xia Ning yet. How dare she lie to her!
"What is she going out for?" Qiao Yu suddenly turned around and looked at Lu Qing.
Lu Qing turned to the man who was talking to her all of a sudden and she replied without thinking, "I don't know. She suddenly wanted to go out. But she will be going to J City in the afternoon." She could not help but think, he was indeed a king in the business world with forceful means . Even just standing there doing nothing he gave others invisible pressure.
Qiao Yu nodded and turned around to open the door next to him and was ready to go in.
Seeing Qiao Yu's movement, Lu Qing stopped for a moment. So… He was living in the same building as Xia Ning?! And they were neighbors?! My god, if this was seen as a simple relationship, she would hit the wall with her own head!
"President Qiao, how did you know Xia Ning?" Lu Qing hesitated for a second but decided to ask anyway.
Qiao Yu's hand on the door handle stopped. He turned to Lu Qing with a deep look. "Didn't she tell you?"
Lu Qing shook her head subconsciously. Xia Ning did tell her but she said they did not have any relationship. But that was obviously not true.
"Oh, really?" Qiao Yu said coldly while he pushed the door and walked in. Bam! The door was shut.
This President Qiao seemed even more upset. Lu Qing's body shook a little. As expected, this kind of clever people had ideas she would never be able to see through. Even though he did not answer her question, she did not have the nerve to knock on the boss's door.
But, why would the president of Shengshi with that much money live somewhere like here? The brains of the rich really worked differently.
Seeing Xia Ning's cold attitude to him, she wondered why Xia Ning was willing to take care of his kid.
The only explanation was, both of them were crazy!
But, the recent TV shows and films that Xia Ning wanted were all invested by this President Qiao. Were those all coincidences? Lu Qing felt a bit unsure.
Getting on board a big ship like Qiao Yu's would absolutely be a good thing for Xia Ning's acting career. But this Qiao Yu had a family. She would not want Xia Ning to be a mistress. That would be like contaminating a white paper with ink. The pureness would be gone! No, she needed to talk to Xia Ning seriously about this again!
Xia Ning drove directly to Director Zeng's home. As for why she knew about this place, that was because she had been here many years ago. After she returned to this country, she had been here too.
The car parked at the gate of the house, but the security guard would not let her in.
Xia Ning stood at the gate, feeling a bit helpless. This problem had never occurred to her.
As she was hesitating, a car came out from the inside. The window was rolled down and a female voice sounded. "Xia Ning, why are you here?"
Xia Ning looked at the beautiful face from the car window and was shocked as well. She then said with a smile, "Sister Cheng, what a coincidence."