Chapter 5: One Hit to the Artery!

Three minutes ago, at the Entertainment Center.

Someone in the group teased, “Isn’t it Brother Xi’s wedding night? How’d you find the time to hang out with us? Don’t tell me your wife kicked you out?”

“Get lost!”

Xi Xingye sank into the sofa, cigarette smoke drifting around him. He tilted his head back and said, “Kicked out? Please. She’s so clingy it’s exhausting. I just came out to get some air.”

“Oho! Brother Xi really is irresistible!”

“When are you going to teach us how to handle our wives, Brother Xi? Mine gives me a curfew every day, I’m going crazy!”

“Pathetic.” Xi Xingye put out his cigarette. “If she dares set a curfew for you, you show her who’s boss.”

His phone rang. Aunt Wang.

He put it on speaker. “Aunt Wang, I’m out with Xu Zijie and the guys. Don’t worry.”

“Xi Xingye.”

The cold female voice on the other end came through the speaker. “It’s past twelve. This counts as staying out all night. I’m giving you thirty minutes. Get.Your.Ass.Home.”

Thud!

Xu Zijie dropped the fruit from his mouth.

The entire room fell silent. Everyone froze, staring at each other in shock.

Well…damn.

“Wait, is that the new sister-in-law? That’s wild!”

Realizing he was being humiliated in front of the whole squad, Xi Xingye’s face literally overheated. He snapped, “Who the hell do you think you are? You tell me to come back and I just come back?!”

He hung up and tossed the phone.

The boys around him immediately gave him a thumbs-up. “Brother Xi, impressive! You really know how to keep your wife in check!”

“Hmph, whatever.” Xi Xingye still looked grumpy and sat back down. “Watch and learn.”

He then turned to Xu Zijie. “Why’d you turn off the music? Crank it up!”

Xu Zijie got caught in the crossfire and quickly did as he was told. Then he grabbed his glass and slid over beside Xi Xingye. “Brother Xi, what did I say? It’s only been a minute and she’s already calling you. Women always say one thing and mean another. They say ‘no’ but really it’s ‘yes’! They say ‘get back here,’ but what they really mean is ‘I miss you’!”

Xi Xingye squinted.

An image instantly popped into his mind: Shen Qingci, in that cold voice, saying, “I miss you.”

But the very next second, the image changed: Shen Qingci dressed in black, form-fitting outfit, holding a leather whip in her hand.

He immediately kicked Xi Zijie.

“That’s not missing me, that’s coming for my life!”

Meanwhile, after the call ended, Aunt Want quietly laughed to herself.

“See? She thought she could control the Young Master? No chance!”

Aunt Wang didn’t head back to her room. She decided to teach Shen Qingci a lesson instead. She rounded up the maids in the backyard and spent the next ten minutes distorting the truth, painting Shen Qingci as a vengeful monster.

“Look at my ears!” She pointed dramatically. “We all made things difficult for her today. Even Chef Liu even gave her spoiled food. She must be holding a grudge now! From now on, we’ll probably have to keep our heads down and tread carefully around her.”

“What kind of Young Madam is that?!”

Chef Liu was the first to stand up. “She really thinks she’s someone important? I was serving the Old Madam back when she was still in diapers. You might be afraid of her, but I’m not. I’ll go deal with her myself.”

After finishing his words, Chef Liu turned and walked straight out, heading directly for Shen Qingci in the courtyard. A group of maids followed behind him.

Shen Qingci sat in a pearwood armchair. She merely glanced sideway at the noise before continuing to adjust the countdown timer in her hand. Once it was set, she casually placed it beside her. The number began to tick, half an hour.

“Ms. Shen,” Chef Liu said, deciding to take the lead, “I’m Chef Liu, in charge of the kitchen. Back when Old Madam Xi personally took me in…

“Oh, the kitchen?” Shen Qingci cut him off and looked up. “Good. I’ve been looking for you.”

“Looking for me?” Chef Liu paused. “For what?”

“You’re fired.”

Chef Liu choked back his words, then instantly flew into a rage. “Why should I be fired?”

“Your cooking is terrible.”

“That’s it?”

“Isn’t that enough?” Shen Qingci looked at him coldly.

Chef Liu had already lost his cool. Forcing himself to stay calm, he stubbornly said, “I don’t accept that as a reason! Just because you say it tastes bad, it’s bad? Don’t go ruining my reputation! I’m calling the Old Master now.”

He had already thrown out the leftovers anyway. Without evidence, when the time came, he could just play the victim in front of the Old Master and say this woman had the audacity to fire an old staff of the Xi family the second she moved in.

Chef Liu was about to leave, only to run into Sister Zhang carrying a tray of food.

“Young Madam, I brought what you asked for,” Sister Zhang said.

Chef Liu took a closer look. The dish in Sister Zhang’s hands was exactly the one he had just made for Shen Qingci!

He gritted his teeth and turned back. “What are you trying to do? Want to prove it’s bad? You haven’t even tasted it. Unless you’re willing to eat it right here in front of everyone.”

He was grasping at straws. The food was intentionally rotten. The sour stench was enough to turn anyone’s stomach.

“You have a point,” Shen Qingci said. “Someone should definitely try it.”

Without a warning, she jammed a spoonful of the sour rice into Chef Liu’s mouth. The disgusting taste shot straight to his head, and he nearly vomited on the spot.

“Want to throw up?” Shen Qingci asked. “Wasn’t it supposed to be good?”

Chef Liu stiffened, then forced it down. “Of course it’s good. Smells amazing.”

“Oh?” Shen Qingci raised a brow.

A second spoonful of the spoiled rice was forced into his mouth. Then a third, a fourth…By the ninth spoonful, Chef Liu finally couldn’t take it anymore.

“Blargh…!”

He vomited everything out right there on the spot. The courtyard fell into deathly silent.

“Doesn’t it smell great?” She asked. “Why did you throw up?”

Chef Liu struggled, still trying to argue. “I was just…”

Before he could finish, a video was suddenly shoved in front of his face.

The phone showed a loop of his most pathetic moment. It was already edited and ready to be sent to a viral social media platform.

“Pack your things and leave.” Shen Qingci said. “Or should I post? I’m sure people would love to know the secret ingredients in a five-star chef’s kitchen.”

“You!” Chef Liu’s face turned pale.

If that video went viral, his career would be over.

He bolted, yelling, “You’ll pay for this! I’m calling Young Master now!”

He refused to believe that a massive household like this could be controlled by a girl who just moved in. As soon as he left, the maids looked at one another, unsure what to do.

Shen Qingci looked at the crowd. “Who’s next?”

They stood as straight as poles, terrified to even breathe.

“Young Madam, I’ll go and re-arrange your room right away!”

“Young Madam, let me prepare a fresh meal for you immediately.

They scrambled in every direction, desperate to salvage the disastrous mistakes they’d made earlier that day.

Beep. Beep.

The timer went off. The clock struck exactly midnight. The half hour shen Qingci had given Xi Xingye was up. Shen Qingci walked into the greenhouse.

The gardener, who was busy tending the plants, nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw her.

Knowing how fast the Young Madam had just fired someone, the gardener asked cautiously, “Young Madam, what are you looking for?”

Shen Qingci didn’t answer right away. She began to play with the tools hanging on the wall.

She lifted a heavy hoe, tested its weight, and hung it back up. Then she grabbed a pruning shears, snip snip, testing the blades.

The gardener felt his scalp go numb. “…Young Madam?”

“Mm.” She gave a faint hum, her eyes locking onto what he was holding. A bright, polished machete, nearly a meter long.

The gardener intstinctively took two steps back, his grip tightening on the handle.

Shen Qingci held out her hand. “Give that to me.”

Accompanied by the rumble of a motorcycle engine, Sister Zhang managed to get through the Old Master from the courtyard.

“Old Master, this is bad! Young Madam went out with a machete! A huge one! One swing and it could hit the Young Master’s artery!”

“What?!” Old Master Xi was so startled he sat straight up in bed.

“Please hurry and go check. I’m afraid something’s really going to happen tonight.”

Before Sister Zhang could finish, the Old Master’s excited voice came from the other end of the phone. “Where? Where is that brat? I can’t miss a scene this good. Quick, get my discharge papers ready!”

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The music pounded in his ears as Xu Zijie belted out a song, cracking on nearly every high note.

Xi Xingye looked at the time again and it was past midnight. He smirked.

Heh. That woman is really just a paper tiger, all bark, no bite. He’s still here and what could she possibly do to him?

He casually lit another cigarette.

A waiter suddenly knocked on the door and bowed respectfully. “Young Master Xi, there’s a woman outside asking for you.”

Cough. “Who?”