Chapter 221 - Two-Hundred and Twenty-One: False Alarm
Xiang Yang’s grievance, fear, and regret all turned into tears that flowed out, wetting the front of Shi Ke’s clothes. Remembering that this was his military uniform, she quickly lifted her head from his chest. Then, she felt extremely aggrieved and reached out to hit Shi Ke’s shoulder twice, bawling as she did so.
Shi Ke pressed her head back against his chest so she could cry into it. He’d never seen her so hurt before, and his heart ached. He bent down, pulled her into his embrace, and pressed his face against her forehead. “There, there, don’t cry. Let’s go home. My comrades are outside, waiting to meet you. It would be a little embarrassing for them to see you crying.”
Xiang Yang hastily stopped crying and sniffled softly. She tried to struggle out of his arms, but Shi Ke refused to let her go and simply carried her out. Xiang Yang was already exhausted from everything she’d been through that day, so she just buried her face in his chest and let him carry her away. She wouldn’t return to this place again, so it didn’t matter if she embarrassed herself or not.
Shi Gao’s heart shattered when she stepped out and saw this scene. “Shi Ke! Stop right there!” Her lawyer tried to obstruct her, but she ignored him and quickly walked up to Shi Ke, stopping him in his tracks.
“Do you know what this woman did in the past? Do you know what a horrible person she is? Why are you still treating her like a treasure?” Shi Gao seethed.
Xiang Yang wanted to get down, but Shi Ke held her head to his chest with one hand to prevent her from turning around, while his other arm held her firmly to prevent her from struggling.
He stated, “I don’t need to know Xiang Yang’s past. If her past is good, I would feel bad about not meeting her and being by her side earlier to witness her brilliance. If her past is bad, I’ll blame myself for not being by her side earlier to protect her! It doesn’t matter how horrible she is because whatever state she’s in, I will fix her bit by bit. Xiang Yang is, and forever will be my—Shi Ke’s—treasure.”
“Shi Gao, I did know you earlier than Xiang Yang, but we’ve never been in a relationship. Please stop vaguely implying that we were a couple and misleading Xiang Yang. I love no one else but Xiang Yang and I won’t let you wreck our marriage. Cease and desist, Shi Gao.” And so saying, Shi Ke strode past Shi Gao with Xiang Yang in his arms.
Xiang Yang wrapped her arms around Shi Ke’s waist, and Shi Gao screamed wildly behind them. No one paid her any attention.
Shi Nian heaved a long sigh of relief after getting into the car. “Thank goodness, it wasn’t Shi Ke’s enemy. It was just a false alarm.”
Yun Nan didn’t expect Shi Nian to be so worried about Shi Kel s identity. Chang Yuan called, and Shi Nian immediately put him on speaker. “1 got the surveillance footage from the bar. Ms. Shi Gao was the one who instructed her cousin to mess with Xiang Yang. He said something to Xiang Yang that made her attack him. Ms. Shi Gao’s cousin just returned from overseas and is a dim-witted fool. I’ve already spoken to Chairman Shin, he’ll make sure his old man won’t hear of this. If he does find out about this and put up a fuss, we’ll just stick it to them. At worst, we’ll let Grandpa scold us in public!” Chang Yuan said viciously.
Yun Nan was rather shocked. This was the first time she’d heard Chang Yuan grumble, and so ruthlessly at that. Shi Nian gave Chang Yuan another task, “Shi Ke is back and personally went to pick Xiang Yang up. I noticed he didn’t even change out of his uniform, so he probably happened to be on a mission nearby and rushed over. I didn’t have time to ask him for details, so have someone look into it.”
“Ah? Oh, alright,” Chang Yuan replied, and the two ended their call. Shi Nian leaned back in his seat, rubbed his forehead, and sighed.
Shi Nian recovered, turned his head to look at Yun Nan, and patted her shoulder. “Thank you, Yun Nan! It was all thanks to you just now.”
Her performance back there was simply stunning. He would probably have had difficulty arguing with Shi Gao if he hadn’t brought Yun Nan along. After all, Shi Gao was a woman; she could act shamelessly, but he couldn’t. Otherwise, he would be seen as bullying a woman.
During this period of time together, Yun Nan had gradually gotten used to Shi Nian’s occasional body contact, such as touching her head, patting and hugging her shoulders, and putting his arm around her waist. ‘He must see me as his buddy, just like I do him!’ Yun Nan thought.
Yun Nan smiled. “Are you talking about me quarreling with Shi Gao? Shi Gao’s not that difficult an opponent. If Fang Xi was here today, she would definitely be able to scold Shi Gao until she cried.”
Shi Nian found that funny. “Oh, you two… That really doesn’t seem like something you girls would do.”
Yun Nan chuckled, “Everyone in this world values their reputations, but sometimes, you can abandon some of those reputations. You’ll be invincible once you abandon those restraints. Didn’t Shi Gao think she could get away with her actions because she knew the Shi family and Shi Ke couldn’t afford to lose face? She never considered that she also couldn’t afford to lose face, let alone the Shin family. Only an idiot like her would think of a plan that would result in such a pyrrhic victory..”