Fated Marriage Chapter 8.3

Chapter Eight (Part 3 of 3)

Han Ting Ting felt light headed. She heard each word Song Song whispered into her ear. The sweetness flew around her heart.

Han Ting Ting asked her heart if that feeling of being loved could make her fly on top of clouds.

‘Say something,’ Qin Song said. Her silence made him scared she didn’t want to accept his feelings. ‘Are you secretly laughing at me?’

‘I’m not laughing at you,’ Han Ting Ting said then ended up laughing.

If Song Song didn’t say anything whilst Han Ting Ting was secretly overjoyed then she wouldn’t have let out her joyful laugh she held in.

‘You are laughing!’ Qin Song said and playfully chased Ting Ting around the living room.

Qin Song and Ting Ting ran around the living room until they were both breathless. Then they sat on the sofa. He pulled her body to lean on his chest and his head gently rested on her head.

‘Why didn’t you tell me ‘that person’ was Chen Yi Feng?’ Qin Song asked.

‘I didn’t know you knew him,’ Han Ting Ting said. She felt the world was too small. ‘Do you have business connections with him?’

‘His company is influential in the southern districts. In the past I cooperated with him for two separate business transactions. Ji Nan said that my traitorous uncles invited him to join hands with them against me,’ Qin Song said. ‘Chen Yi Feng is complicating things for me. I can’t underestimate him. Big boss even has to ask Chen Yu Bai to keep an eye on who Chen Yi Feng has business deals with. But I’m not scared of Chen Yi Feng!’

Qin Song was upset Ting Ting kept quiet. ‘You don’t believe me?’

‘I believe you. It’s just that the Chen Yi Feng you described and the Chen Yi Feng I knew in the past sound like two different people. I think it’s because he rarely talked about his work with me in the past,’ Han Ting Ting said. ‘I think I was sheltered back then and I didn’t objectively see all sides of him.’

‘What’s so good about him?’ Qin Song said. ‘Your eyesight back then was poor. If you were going to secretly love someone, you should have chosen to love someone of my calibre! He’s an ordinary man and old too!’

‘You…’ Han Ting Ting said and sighed at Song Song’s childish insults.

Qin Song pulled Ting Ting back so he could see her expression. ‘Your dad has good eyesight! Your dad could see straight away that Chen Yi Feng was nothing but a nuisance for you.’

‘He didn’t toy with me… it was me who was the nuisance,’ Han Ting Ting said.

Qin Song laughed. ‘You didn’t even confess to him. How could your feelings back then burden him?’

‘I didn’t dare confess to him,’ Han Ting Ting said. ‘Then Tu Tu persuaded me to write a confession letter to him. My dad found it before I could give it to him. Dad was furious and asked me what did Chen Yi Feng do to me to make me have feelings for him. Dad wanted to confront Chen Yi Feng if he was leading me on or did anything despicable to me. I cried and begged dad to not go see him, mum helped to persuade dad not to go too. At that time dad received an opportunity for a work transfer. Dad didn’t hesitate to accept and we all moved here.’

Han Ting Ting thought that was the most rebellious period of her life. She was always obedient and was scared to do anything to defy her parents. Because of her foolish one sided love, she uprooted her parents’ stable life. She felt lighter after confessing her deepest regret to Song Song. She had bottled that up for so long. She leaned into Song Song’s warm chest that gave her more courage to let it all out.

‘It made me depressed that I caused my parents who are older now to move away from all their familiar surroundings and lifetime friends. Then after we moved here, dad’s work was more dangerous and he broke a leg. I felt I let my parents down and caused them to suffer because of me,’ Han Ting Ting said softly.

Qin Song hugged Ting Ting tight. ‘You regret coming here? There’s nothing here that makes you happy?’

‘It’s not all bad… coming here… I got to meet you,’ Han Ting Ting said.

Qin Song felt good hearing his ‘little country bun’ stating the obvious, of course meeting him was the best blessing in her life! He buried his face on the curve of Ting Ting’s neck and rubbed his chin along her shoulder.

Qin Song could only show his true childish nature and vulnerabilities in front of his ‘little country bun.’ Whilst at Qin’s company, it was exhausting to put up a cold front to deal with his greedy flesh eating uncles.

Qin’s company was a family owned business. Qin Song’s dad was the major stakeholder and Qin Song was the legitimate successor of Qin’s company. It was a lot of pressure for him to make profitable business decisions otherwise it would give his uncles ammunition to openly oppose him being the head of Qin’s company.

What was scary was that Qin Song knew that Chen Yi Feng was a different breed from his transparent uncles. Chen Yi Feng, that wolf in sheep clothing! Chen Yi Feng knew all the right things to say to his uncles to befriend them and at the same time not to fully commit to his uncles’ side. Chen Yi Feng was too cunning! Chen Yi Feng kept his options opened and would wait until the dust settled and swoop in without offending anyone!

‘Song Song!’ Qin Song’s third uncle called and knocked on the meeting table. ‘We’re in the middle of a meeting and you’re in a daze. How can I feel a.s.sured to leave Qin’s company in your hands?’

Qin Song gave his third uncle a dirty look. ‘I heard you. You should have presented the business proposal to me first before you approached Chen Yi Feng. I need to know if the terms and conditions will be beneficial for our end.’ He swept a cold look over his other uncles. ‘Who’s next?’

Qin Song’s indifference demeanour made it hard for his uncles to know how Qin Song’s brain worked. They wanted to find out what his weaknesses were and use it to stab him in the back. Whilst his uncles mull over how to take Qin Song down from his pedestal, Qin Song was busy planning his attack to deal with that eye sore Chen Yi Feng.

The information gathered by Ji Nan regarding Chen Yi Feng arriving to their district and his involvement with Qin Song’s uncles disturbed Chen Yu Bai.

Qin Song recalled what Chen Yu Bai said to the Liang’s sworn brothers. ‘Based on our business relationship with Chen Yi Feng over the years, it’s not ethical of him to help Qin Song’s uncles to attack Qin Song. Yet Chen Yi Feng didn’t turn Qin Song’s uncles’ invitation down and didn’t let us know his intentions before arriving to our district. What is Chen Yi Feng’s real agenda?’

Qin Song felt the same way Chen Yu Bai felt. But Chen Yi Feng wasn’t a fool. Chen Yi Feng wouldn’t risk breaking relations with Liang’s company that had contributed substantial profits to Chen Yi Feng’s company in order to attack Qin Song.

Unfortunately for Qin Song, no matter what speculations he came up with it never occurred to him that Chen Yi Feng was scheming to turn Qin Song’s ‘little country bun’ into Dong Dong’s step-mum.

Qin Song stepped out of the meeting room and bypa.s.sed Chen Yi Feng who huddled with his uncles conspiring against him. Qin Song acted like he wasn’t affected but inside he was worried he couldn’t outwit them.

Qin Song was frustrated he had to deal on a business and a personal level with that hateful Chen Yi Feng.

Qin Song arrived home, took off his shoes and entered a freezing house. ‘Where’s my wife? Honey!’

Han Ting Ting poked her head out from the kitchen. ‘What?’

‘Why didn’t you turn on the heater?’ Qin Song asked.

Qin Song had a long work day. He didn’t expect to come home to be chilled and it made his mood cold too.

‘It’s not the coldest part of the day. Our house is too big. Putting on the heater all day is wasteful,’ Han Ting Ting said.

‘Are you planning to freeze your husband to death?’ Qin Song asked.

Han Ting Ting sighed. Song Song wasn’t in a good mood. She turned on the heater and put his shoes he tossed on the ground on the shoe rack. ‘Do you really think I want you to freeze to death?’

Song Song walked away. Han Ting Ting pulled him back. ‘Why aren’t you saying anything? You were mean to me before.’

‘You provoked me first. Who do you know that doesn’t turn on the heater in winter? I’ve asked you many times to turn the heater on at home. But each time I get home it’s freezing inside,’ Qin Song explained gently.

‘Ok. I promise before you get home I’ll toast the house for you,’ Han Ting Ting said. ‘Back in my parents’ old home, winter was colder than the winter here. But we never once had the need to use a heater. There’s four seasons in a year. But you always keep the house the same temperature all year round. And you wear thin clothing all year round too. Don’t you think you’re the strange one?’

‘Can you not reason with me the way you would with those little kids in your cla.s.s?’ Qin Song mumbled.

Han Ting Ting couldn’t hold back her urge and pinched Song Song’s cheek. ‘Will you ever grow up? You’re such a kid.’

Qin Song thought Ting Ting’s palm was warm. All the tension in his body melted away. He held her hand tight and wanted to turn her into his personal heater.

‘Stop fooling around,’ Han Ting Ting said. ‘I need to cook dinner. Tonight I’ll make chicken soup for you. Go upstairs and change. I bought you a thick jacket and hung it in your closet.’

‘You bought me a jacket?’ Qin Song asked.

The temperamental Qin Song who was angry a moment ago was turned to marshmallow after finding out his wife didn’t want to freeze him to death.

Han Ting Ting shyly nodded. ‘When I was organising your closet I saw you didn’t have any thick jackets. So I bought you one to keep you warm. Go upstairs and see if it fits. If you don’t like it then I’ll give it to my dad to wear.’

‘I’ll love it!’ Qin Song said and flew up the stairs.

The following day at Liang’s company…

Big boss pulled the collar of his jacket together and called his secretary. ‘Is the heater broken?’

‘The heater… Mr Qin junior requested for the heater to be turned off,’ the secretary said.

‘Why?’ Big boss asked.

Big boss sighed. He suspected who the culprit was and his suspicion was verified. That little Qin Song… after getting married he was more childish by the day!

‘Everyone else asked Mr Qin junior the same question. He said that he wanted to conserve energy for the good of the company and the environment,’ the secretary said.

‘Um, I understand,’ Big boss said and turned off the intercom.

At the Liang’s company meeting room five of the six handsome Liang’s sworn brothers’ noses turned pink from the cold, their faces were stiff and their teeth chattered.

Li Wei Ran turned his wooden head toward Rong Yan. ‘Rong Yan. Take a pick from my car collection. You can have any car you want as long as you promise not to teach another trick to our love struck little Qin Song.’

The former player Rong Yan could barely lift his eyelashes. ‘Don’t blame me. I wasn’t involved on this occasion.’

Big boss’ shaky index finger gently tapped dance on the meeting table. ‘Third brother, what’s your take on the situation?’

Chen Yu Bai was quietly looking over doc.u.ments whilst his other sworn brothers discussed the strange behaviour of their childish sixth brother Qin Song.

Ji Nan sneezed. ‘Third brother, why are you in such a rush to finish work?’

‘I’m looking over the business proposal for Qin Song,’ Chen Yu Bai said and pushed the bridge of his gla.s.ses up his red nose. ‘I want to get it done to kick little Qin Song back to Qin’s company before the winter’s peak cold is here!’

The remaining four sworn brothers clapped their stiff hands together to applaud their third sworn brother’s quick thinking.

Qin Song the heater killer entered happily into the meeting room. He wore his new thick black down jacket his wife bought him over a black woollen vest and a coral pink collar shirt.

The swish-swoosh sounds from Qin Song’s unzipped down jacket as he strode to his chair gave his sworn brothers goose b.u.mps.

‘What’s the brand of your new down jacket?’ Rong Yan asked and rubbed his stiff chin.

Qin Song ignored Rong Yan’s curiosity and sat down in a dignified manner. No matter how Qin Song sat, Ji Nan thought that his down jacket looked like a spread parachute. It pained her eyes. She closed her eyes and asked herself if the Qin Song in front of her was the Qin Song who competed with her over who was the most handsome sworn brother back when she was disguised as a man.

Fortunately that winter employees at Liang’s company was able to withstand a cold winter with the heater on after Qin Sang called Han Ting Ting and ‘in pa.s.sing’ discussed how Li Wei Ran caught a cold. Then Li Wei Ran spread his cold to the other Liang’s sworn brothers who didn’t own a down jacket. Afterward the conversation flowed smoothly over the topic of the heating situation at Liang’s company.

After a light bulb moment Han Ting Ting understood Qin Sang’s implied meaning over the b.u.t.terfly effect of one person’s action. That one person happened to be the wife of the childish Qin Song, Han Ting Ting. Han Ting Ting thought if she didn’t buy Qin Song the black down jacket then Qin Sang’s husband wouldn’t have caught a cold and pa.s.sed it on to the others who didn’t own a down jacket.

That night when Qin Song got home the house was toasty warm like it never was before.

The cursed black down jacket was secretly given to Ting’s dad.

End of Chapter Eight (Part 3 of 3)