Chapter 8: Tell Me. Where Are You Incapable?

“What?” Shen Qingci replied, pulling the covers over herself.

“Know your limits!”  Xi Xingye snapped. “I know exactly what you’re trying to do. I’m telling you, drop that idea.”

Seeing no reaction from her, Xi Xingye got even more agitated. “I’ve already compromised time and again, but I’m drawing the line here! This…is out of the question!”

Shen Qingci sat up, her eyes bright and intense in the darkness. She then reached out for him.

“Why exactly is it ‘out of the question’?”

Xi Xingye instantly held his breath.

She had changed into a silk nightdress. Her long hair fell freely over her shoulders. Her skin looked flawless and radiant, it seemed to glow in the dim light.

Xi Xingye suddenly didn’t know what to do. A sudden wave of heat hit him, starting at his waist and rushing up to his head. He stiffened, not daring to move.

“Tell me. Exactly where are you incapable?”

Shen Qingci leaned in further. Her slender leg forced his legs apart as she pinned her down. “Is it you who can’t, or is it me?”

She drew closer and closer.

Her scent invaded his senses. The kind that wounds its way into his every breath. Her fingers brushed against his skin, moving from his jaw to to the back of his neck. He felt trapped.

Xi Xingye felt the blood rushing toward a single part of his body wit intensity. Yet for some reason, he found himself unable to fight back or even move.

For a split second, he even wanted to surrender to just let those red lips press against his…

Beep.

The AC turned on.

Shen Qingci sat back with the remote in her hand. She glanced at his blanket with a playful, teasing look. “Seemed like you’re not so incapable after all.”

“You…you shameless woman!” Xi Xingye exploded.

All that was just to grab the remote?!

Just as he was about to lose his mind, Shen Qingci cut him off. “We can sleep in separate rooms but you go to the guest bedroom.”

Xi Xingye felt like he’d just punched a pile of cotton: completely useless. If he stayed another second, hes chest was going to explode from sheer anger. He got out of bed, grabbed his blanket and pillow, and stormed into the guest bedroom.

But even with the room to himself and everything was quiet around him, he somehow couldn’t fall asleep at all. He lay there, staring at the ceiling, wired and restless.

In the master bedroom, Shen Qingci didn’t sleep well either. In fact, for the past three years, she hadn’t had a single night of good sleep.

Three years ago, she had died in a war during the apocalypse. When she opened her eyes again, she found herself trapped in the body of this weak and fragile Shen Qingci.

Maybe it was because she had held a gun again today, but she dreamed of the last time she led her team into battle. The ruin city. The roars of zombies. And the memory of Song Qi shielding her in his final moment.

When she woke up, it was still middle of the night. Shen Qingci sat in bed for a moment to steady her breathing before heading out for a glass of water.

As she passed the living room on her way to the kitchen, she saw a shadow near the door.

It was Xi Xingye crounching by the entrance, talking to an object on the floor like it was an old friend. It was the old front gate, the one she took down.

The moonlight filtered through the glass windows, casting a glow on him. The whole scene looked incredibly moody, almost…tragic. He looked like a completely different person, making him look unusually lonely. It was nothing like the Xi Xingye she had seen before.

Shen Qingci watched him for moment. She finished her water, set down the glass, and returned to the bedroom.

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At eight the next morning, a lavish breakfast had already been laid out on the table.

Noodles, crystal dumplings, soup dumplings, steak, sandwiches, fruits,…a mix of Chinese and Western dishes. There was even a swan carved out of a radish sitting at the head of the table as a centerpiece.

Shen Qingci looked up.

The maids stood in a straight line, chests out and heads high. They stared dead ahead as if they were undergoing special military training. They didn’t even dare to look at Shen Qingci from the corners of their eyes.

She finished breakfast quickly. Just as she was about to head upstairs, the family butler arrived with a late wedding gift.

She opened the folder and found the dead to a luxury house in the heart of the city.

“This is…” She asked.

“You’ve earned this,”the butler said firmly. “Please accept it.”

The Old Master had practically sprinted to the Entertainment Center last night. Though he’d missed the best part of the show, he listened to the waiter’s vivid retelling of everything that had happened. And that night, he laughed himself awake three times.

If he hadn’t been held back, he would probably have transfered five properties and eight companies into his granddaughter-in-law’s name right then and there!

Shen Qingci accepted the gift. No point in arguing. She’d just had to hand it back when they signed the divorce papers.

As she walked the butler to the door, she noticed a long drag mark on the ground. The maids were busy cleaning and the old gate was gone.

“The Young Master had it moved to the storage,” the butler explained quietly. “You may not know this, but that gate was left behind by the Young Master’s mother. It was his favorite piece. The carvings had been damaged for years, but he stubbornly refused to let anyone replace it.”

Shen Qingci paused. The image of him crouching in front of the old gate suddenly flashed through her mind.

So that was why.

After seeing the butler off, Shen Qingci returned to the study and continued working through the company document until dinner. When she came down, Xi Xingye was surprisingly home. He looked at her then walked straight past without a word.

“Wait.” Shen Qingci said, pulling out a chair. “Give me the storage key.”

Xi Xingye almost refused. The words were already there but he held them back, pulled out the key, and tossed it to her.

Shen Qingci didn’t explain. Just a casual, “Thanks,” and she left.

Xi Xingye stood there, getting more annoyed the more he thought about it. He kicked a pebble aside, then stomped upstairs to the second floor.

He stopped in front of his mother’s memorial tablet, lit incense and bowed three times. In the black-and-white photograph, his mother’s smile remained as gentle and radient as ever.

Xi Xingye reached into his pocket and pulled out a neatly kept marriage certificate.

“Mom, I got married. The old man arranged it for me.”

By the time he finished the sentence, there was a trace of grievance in his tone. But the sadness didn’t last long. It turned into a full-blown rant.

“Seriously, Mom, you have no idea how outrageous this woman is!”

He stood there, venting to memorial tablet as if he was presenting a legal case against Qingci. He complained about how arrogant she was and how she lacked any sense of etiquette. He spoke of how crude and ignorant she behaved, even going as far as to butcher a chicken in front of everyone. Finally, he complained that she had ruined the gate his mother loved most.

“I’m definitely divorcing her!”

At that moment, the incense he had just placed suddenly titled to one side. Seeing this, Xi Xingye quickly reached out to fix it. The burning ash fell onto the back of his hand.

“Ow!”

The sting was sharp. A patch of his skin already turned red. Xi Xingye turned toward his mother’s photo, his voice got a little excited.

“Mom, you agree with the divorce too? Don’t worry, I’ll divorce her sooner or later.” He rushed downstairs happily, grabbed his keys, and was about to had out.

The butler chased after him, calling out, “Young Master, you have to come home early tonight. Young Madam will be angry!”

“Shut up!” Xi Xingye said then sped away in his flashy pink car.

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Meanwhile, at Shenyuan Corporation.

A motorcycle pulled up to the curb. Shen Qingci took off her helmet and looked up at the building. It had barely been six months, but the place looked neglected. The ad posters were peeling off the walls, and even the main entrance was covered in trash.

Shen Qingci walked in. No security at the entrance; no receptionist sat the front desk. She went straight up to the executive floor without being stopped. The entire office was a ghost town. Clearly, someone was deliberately trying to put her in her place.

Her expression remained cold. She pulled out her phone and made a call.

After a long while, her half-sister Shen Shirou’s high-pitched voice finally came from the other end…

“Oh my, I’m sorry Sister. I’m just so forgetful. I completely forgot the fact that you were supposed to take over the company today!”

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Chapter 9