Chapter 88: Beaten Again  

Jing Yiran laughed loudly, imagining Jing Yichen’s fury.

Anything that made Jing Yichen unhappy, gave Jing Yiran immense happiness.

Shangguan Ning knew that this man was psychotic. She tried to keep away from him but when he tried to run his fingers through her hair, she hit him with the only weapon she had, at her disposal – the bunch of flowers.

Jing Yiran felt the thorns grazing against his skin and saw blood oozing out. His eyes were full of anger and hatred. He held Shangguan Ning’s wrists tightly and said, “Don’t think that I can’t touch you. Jing Yichen can’t protect you all the time. You’re not that important to him. Besides, his old love is back in the city and he is busy busy flirting with her. Spend the night with me, otherwise Liyu Science & Technology will be bankrupt by tomorrow!”

He had just finished his sentence when a fist hit him on his face. The violent blow made blood gush out of the corner of his mouth. He staggered and fell to the ground.

Jing Yichen, when messed around with, was danger personified. He snatched the roses from Shangguan Ning’s hands and threw them at Jing Yiran. “It seems like I didn’t punch you hard enough, the other day. Looks like you still have the gall to mess with my wife.”

Jing Yiran was lying on the floor, looking like a mess. He was in so much pain that he dare not get up to face Jing Yichen. He continued to provoke him though. “Of course, it wasn’t enough. What can you do? Punch me to death? Stop interfering. This woman and I are in the midst of an important discussion. What are you doing here anyway ?Weren’t you busy dining with your lover? Such a two timer. Do you intend to have more than one wife?”

Jing Yichen knew that he was trying to cause a rift between him and Shangguan Ning. So he didn’t waste any more time. He just held Shangguan Ning’s hand and led her to the car. They both drove away soon after.

After Jing Yichen left, some men , who were supposedly Jing Yiran’s bodyguards, came running towards him. They tried to help him up.

“Get away from me!” Jing Yiran shouted as he wiped off traces of blood from his mouth. “Where were you when I was getting beaten? What is the point of coming here now?”

The head of the guards replied –”Master,you ordered us not to help when you were in a fight with the Elder Master, otherwise you would fire us all.”

...

Shangguan Ning, who was sitting in the passenger’s seat of Jing Yichen’s car, continued to hold hands with him. He was driving the car with his other hand. Jing Yichen was always worked up, when he saw Jing Yiran. After a while, anger gave way to concern and he asked Ning, if she was hurt.

“No, you came just in time. If you had spent any more time wooing your fiancee, who knows what may have happened? I might have even chosen to spend the night with that handsome hunk. Such wasted opportunity.”

Jing Yichen parked the car to the roadside and looked at his wife. She was still fuming. He held her face in his hands and showered it with kisses.

He then said, softly, “Don’t joke like this please. You can’t be with anyone else. You can’t accept any flowers from another guy, let alone spend the night with him. Tang Yun had a misunderstanding. I met her today because I wanted to clarify it. She may have said some things without knowing that I am now married.”

Shangguan Ning hadn’t known the woman’s name until now.

She said bitterly, “Ha, Tang Yun. Such a nice name! You are addressing her so intimately. I remember, someone called me Ms. Shangguan!”

Jing Yichen felt a bit helpless. He was addressing Tang Yun just like he would address anyone else. Family name followed by the first name. How was this, in any way, intimate?

When he had addressed her as ‘Ms. Shangguan’, it was because they had just met and he did not know her at all. After he married her, of course he addressed her as Ning.

Why did she keep picking on Tang Yun? She didn’t react this way when he spoke to any other woman.

He knew he really couldn’t get angry with Shangguan Ning, especially after putting her through so much.

“Then, I will obey my wife. I will address her in whichever way you want me to.” He then took her into his arms and just hugged her.

Shangguan Ning was about to say something as she leaned into his arms, when her cell-phone rang.

She was too lazy to move, so she requested Jing Yichen. “Please pass me my phone.”

Jing Yichen smiled and said, “Of course, my love!”

Shangguan Ning took the phone and sat up when she saw whom the call was from.

The serious voice of a middle aged man on the other end of the phone said. “Ning, where are you? Come straight home, right way.”

Shangguan Ning asked indifferently – “What is it?”

It was Shangguan Zheng – her father, who had called her.

“Did you have lunch with the man your Uncle asked you to? Why did he have to say? He has warned us repeatedly that he was going to ensure that we go bankrupt. What have you done to him to have caused this? Go and apologize to him immediately and ensure that every demand that he has, is met.”

Although Shangguan Ning did not expect her father to love her, she was still hurt to hear her father say all this to her. It hurt so much that she was finding it difficult to breathe.

Jing Yichen heard everything her father said. His heart went out to Shangguan Ning. He could feel her pain.

He held Shangguan Ning in his arms,and said to the person on the phone, “If the people of A City would come to know that their Deputy Mayor is a man who sells his own daughter in order to sustain his business, then they would never pick you as their representative. You should actually be disqualified from holding any post in the government.”

Shangguan Zheng was startled at being spoken to, in this way. “Who are you and why are you eavesdropping on our conversation? This is between me and my daughter.”

Jing Yichen sneered coldly. He continued speaking, “Shangguan Ning will not have lunch with anybody. Your company will not go bankrupt tomorrow; I’ll see to it that it goes bankrupt tonight. For now, I’m letting you go with a warning. From this day on, you must not bother her. She doesn’t owe you anything.”

Having said this, he hung up. He then took her into his arms and said lovingly, “It is ok, Ning. You need not worry as long as I am here.”

Shangguan Ning had never cried, even though her father had let her down repeatedly, in the past. But today her father had hit a new low. Her tears rolled down after seeing Jing Yichen’s concern, she could not hold back any longer.

She buried her face in his broad chest and sobbed like a child.

After she was done, she wiped her face and cleared her throat. She realized what Jing Yichen had just said to her father. She turned to Jing Yichen and said, “You can’t harm Liyu Science and Technology. It doesn’t belong to my father. It is my mother’s company.”

Jing Yichen wiped her tears gently and said, softly, “I know. I intend to take over it and let you run it.”