Chapter Seven

At a j.a.panese restaurant the guests that haven’t arrived were Liang Fei Fang and Rong Yan. The other guests entered a reserved private function room and took their seats. It was fresh lobster season and Chen Yu Bai ordered a lobster banquet on behalf of the guests.

By the time all the guests arrived, the lobster dishes were brought to the table. In front of each person was a small hot pot and the steam from the hot pot was fragrant. In the middle of the table was a platter of fresh small lobsters that were cut in half. Chen Yu Bai picked lobster pieces and dunked it in An Xiao Li’s hot pot and the lobster fragrant made her drooled. When the lobster was half-cooked she used tongs to take the lobster out from the hot pot and dunked it in a bowl of ice water. After it cooled down she peeled off the sh.e.l.l and wrapped the lobster meat with vegetable leaves. In the past she hated eating j.a.panese cuisine that weren’t fully cooked, but the half-cooked lobster meat was extremely juicy in her mouth and tasted delicious.

Chen Yu Bai enjoyed watching An Xiao Li empty her mountain plate of lobster rolls into her mouth.

A waiter came and collected the plates of empty lobster sh.e.l.ls in front of Chen Yu Bai and An Xiao Li. An Xiao Li was overwhelmed by the delicious lobster meat that she didn’t realised how much she ate until the waiter took away her plates of empty lobster sh.e.l.ls. She looked around that table and noticed the other guests only ate one or two pieces of the small lobsters.

Chen Yu Bai draped an arm around An Xiao Li’s chair and his hand stroked her hair. When she finally lifted her head and a.s.sessed her surroundings that weren’t related to her lobsters, he tucked her hair behind her ear and whispered in her ear. ‘Delicious?’

An Xiao Li beamed and nodded her head. She thought the ice glacier was alright, he was attentive to her. During dinner he dunked the small lobster pieces into her hot pot but he didn’t eat the lobsters.

Chen Yu Bai rubbed An Xiao Li’s head and let go. He gestured for the waiters to bring the main course.

Seven waiters brought thirty large cooked lobsters to the table of Chen Yu Bai’s group. An Xiao Li stared at the sixty large lobster eyes that mocked her for not saving her appet.i.te for them – they were the main course. Apart from An Xiao Li everyone else applauded the main course, wore disposable gloves provided and dug into the thirty large cooked lobsters.

After Chen Yu Bai wore his disposable gloves, he glanced at An Xiao Li and smiled. ‘Why aren’t you eating?’

An Xiao Li burped and felt embarra.s.sed. She leaned back on her chair. ‘I’m… full.’

‘You were full quick. These large lobsters were caught this afternoon and delivered straight here, very fresh. If they go to waste, it’d be a shame. So I’ll eat your share too,’ Chen Yu Bai reasoned.

Chen Yu Bai moved An Xiao Li’s new plate of large lobster pieces closer to him. Both on his left and right were a main course plate of large lobster pieces and he quickly ate from both plates.

‘Chen Yu Bai, you trickster!’ An Xiao Li accused.

An Xiao Li didn’t know whether to cry or sob, Chen Yu Bai wasn’t alright, he was a trickster! He was extra attentive to her to make her belly full on the entree course.

Chen Yu Bai didn’t deny or admit to An Xiao Li’s accusation, he simply shrugged his shoulders and received a you’re-a-rotten-egg look from her.

An Xiao Li was both full and angry. She sat straight on her chair. She saw Ji Nan on her left held a peeled large lobster claw in each hand, Ji Nan chewed the lobster meat and cried out it was delicious at the same time. Rong Yan who sat next to Ji Nan, peeled lobster sh.e.l.ls and put the lobster meat onto Ji Nan’s plate. Liang Fei Feng sat opposite her summoned a waiter to bring a bowl of warm water. Then Liang Fei Fang dipped a white towel into the bowl of warm water, wrung the towel and gently wiped Gu Yan’s face with the towel.

An Xiao Li turned her head to face the ice glacier and glared at him.

Chen Yu Bai understood what An Xiao Li was thinking. He rubbed her head and asked a waiter to bring a clean white towel for her.

An Xiao Li thought there was something on her face and accepted the white towel. ‘Where?’

Chen Yu Bai pointed to An Xiao Li’s head. ‘I forgot to take off my gloves.’

An Xiao Li took a deep breath, the ice glacier rubbed her head with gloves stained with lobster p.o.o.p.

An Xiao Li ran off to the bathroom with the white towel. In the bathroom under bright lights, she looked at her angry face and dirty hair in the mirror.

An Xiao Li understood what the mirror on the wall said to her – ‘Chen Yu Bai isn’t prince charming. He’s a tyrannosaurus rex that is cold blooded, self-centred, wicked and thick skinned.’

An Xiao Li felt regret. She shouldn’t have laid on the tyrannosaurus rex’s bed impulsively. If her snow white innocence was still intact then the tyrannosaurus rex wouldn’t dare to treat her in a despicable manner.

An Xiao Li chided herself, Chen Yu Bai didn’t treat her well before she slept with him either.

An Xiao Li gripped the white towel, turned on the tap, wet the towel and turned off the tap. She wrung the wet towel and carefully wiped off the lobster p.o.o.p on her head.

A knock on the bathroom door interrupted An Xiao Li’s cleaning mission. A beautiful young girl in a cleaning uniform walked into the bathroom and her smile showed her dimpled cheek. ‘I’m sorry Miss, I need to clean this bathroom. Can you please use a bathroom from a different level?’

An Xiao Li looked back at the mirror and saw her hair was still damp. She turned back to the young girl and spoke in a serious tone. ‘Can I decline?’

The young girl’s sweet smile became forced. ‘Excuse me Miss, I’m begging you to cooperate with my work duty.’

An Xiao Li was fed up with her bad night. ‘Please don’t call me Miss. I don’t think it suits me. You can call me Miss Universe if you insist on calling me Miss.’

The young girl was speechless for a while. ‘Miss…’

An Xiao Li threw the towel into the sink and swept her damp hair behind her shoulders. Was she that transparent? Did the young girl know she was eaten and no longer as fresh as the young girl? In her whole twenty years of living she’d never scammed anyone… her life path was meant to be wide. She bypa.s.sed the young girl and left the bathroom.

The moment An Xiao Li left the bathroom she b.u.mped into Ji Nan. She smiled at Ji Nan and didn’t notice anything unusual. She walked a few steps, suddenly her curiosity was stirred. She turned around and saw Ji Nan… walked into the female bathroom.

An Xiao Li had a revelation, the female bathroom didn’t need to be cleaned. The female bathroom was cleared for Ji Nan’s exclusive use to satisfy Ji Nan’s fetish. She laughed quietly… Ji Nan was corrupt as Mr Wild. She thought that Ji Nan owned good vision, the young girl in the bathroom was suited to be a Miss Universe candidate.

The dinner ended just after nine.

Chen Yu Bai drove An Xiao Li home. At about two or three roads from her home, he asked a question out of the blue. ‘What’s your take on my fourth brother?’

An Xiao Li put aside the thoughts about her pitiful hair, because she was interested in learning more about the ice glacier’s sworn brothers. ‘Is Mr Ji your fourth brother?’ She met all his sworn brothers but didn’t know their rankings. ‘Mr Ji doesn’t look that much older than Qin Song. You and your sworn brothers… did the six of you rank yourselves by age?’

Chen Yu Bai kept his eyes on the road. ‘It was supposed to be by age but it turned out differently.’

‘Then how were you ranked?’ An Xiao Li asked.

‘Fist fight,’ Chen Yu Bai said.

An Xiao Li experienced first-hand the ice glacier’s physical strength last night… but in the morning at the airport she saw Li Wei Ran and Qin Song fought with their fists and their skilful strikes were as powerful and accurate as professional fighters. ‘You defeated three of your sworn brothers?’

‘Ji Nan is ranked fifth in the world as a martial arts athlete. Do you think I can beat Ji Nan?’ Chen Yu Bai asked.

An Xiao Li was in awe. The handsome Ji Nan was not only handsome as Mr Wild but was also a world cla.s.s martial arts champion. Wow! She shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. ‘Did you and Ji Nan have a fist fight? Did you beat Ji Nan?’

Chen Yu Bai pushed up his gla.s.ses. ‘I didn’t propose to solve the problem by force.’

Chen Yu Bai left out the part that it was him that initially suggested to his sworn brothers to rank them by force, but changed his mind later after encountering an unexpected problem.

An Xiao Li pouted. She didn’t need to think deeply to know that the ice glacier beat Ji Nan using shady trickery – after he fought Li Wei Ran and Qin Song, he would have been tired to death.

‘Then why didn’t you give yourself the ranking of first brother?’ An Xiao Li asked sarcastically.

‘I can’t win a fight against first brother. Rong Yan… I think the t.i.tle of ‘second old man of a thousand years’ isn’t flattering to hear,’ Chen Yu Bai explained. He reversed expertly into a carpark. ‘We’re here.’

An Xiao Li was distracted by her curiosity that by the time Chen Yu Bai parked the car, she realised he parked the car outside his house. He got out of the car but she stayed in her seat. ‘I want to go home.’

Chen Yu Bai didn’t say anything. He strode to An Xiao Li’s pa.s.senger door and opened the door. He bent down, took off her seatbelt and conveniently pressed the b.u.t.ton to lower the pa.s.senger seat. He pushed her back on the seat and kissed her lips with a force of a waterfall.

An Xiao Li was dizzy from Chen Yu Bai’s kiss and her tongue cooperated with his tongue, once again she was seduced by his handsome looks.

Monday morning was a morning of a thousand kinds of wickedness.

When An Xiao Li brushed her teeth she realised her arm strength was feeble, but it fared better than her the extreme ache in her waist and the other kinds of aches around her body. She wanted to cover her eyes so she couldn’t see the dark circles under her eyes in the mirror. She silently cursed the ice glacier when she saw his refreshed face and his relaxed mood.

An Xiao Li’s morning start was full of suffering. But before lunch time she received a text from Qin Sang. Qin Sang invited her out to lunch and to go window shopping. She tidied up her work desk and was prepared to leave five minutes early to meet up with Qin Sang.

Suddenly An Xiao Li felt a familiar cold aura behind her back.

‘Are you going to buy lunch?’ Chen Yu Bai asked.

‘Hehe… I have lunch plans with a friend,’ An Xiao Li said.

‘Oh? Is that why you’re leaving me to starve by myself?’ Chen Yu Bai asked.

Usually at work An Xiao Li ordered two lunch dishes to be delivered to Chen Yu Bai’s office. He hated to waste time eating outside so they sat opposite each other in his office and silently ate the delivered lunch dishes. ‘I called for a bowl of noodles to be delivered to you already.’

‘Who wants to eat noodles?’ Chen Yu Bai asked coldly.

An Xiao felt regret. She regretted she didn’t leave ten minutes earlier.

‘Wait for me a bit, we’ll go together,’ Chen Yu Bai said and he strode to his office.

An Xiao Li slumped over her tidy work desk helplessly. Her relaxing afternoon plans with her best friend turned into a party of three that included the wicked ice glacier.

End of Chapter Seven