Said a lot of things

Fei Huangjin sat down beside her with a smirk, his lips drifting closer to her face. "What are you thinking about?"

The tips of her ears were now tinged with red even as she tried giving him a stubborn look. She couldn't tell him she was actually thinking of marriage. "I'm thinking about your mother."

He glanced to the direction of Lin Wenshun, who was being led away by Fei Haocheng. "Did she say something?"

"Oh, she said a lot of things."

He eyed her curiously. "Did you say something?"

Ying Yue stood up and smoothed her skirt down, jutting her chin up in an act of defiance. "I said a lot of things, too."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm hungry."

"Of course, you are." He shook his head in exasperation, taking her cue to drop the topic. He'll know about it sooner or later, anyway.

Fei Huangjin stood up and took her hand. He couldn't let his little piglet get hungry now, could he?

Their hands together sent tingles up her arm, and she bit her lip to calm the accelerating pitter-patter of her beating heart. If love was easy, and life didn't need to get in the way, perhaps marrying this man would be the best thing that could happen to her.

She looked away.

***

When dinner came to an end, Ying Yue could feel her skirt tightening around the waist. According to Fei Huangjin, the Fei family had their own private chef to indulge them with good food. The table had a variety of food spread out, but she was immediately drawn to the various dimsum specialties that seemed almost too good to eat. Moreover, he kept on adding har gow [1] to her plate, earning him odd looks from his grandfather. She mentally shook her head in shame. Come to think of it, she probably ate seven out of the 10 pieces of har gow served tonight.

"Master Fei, madame Fei, thank you for having me tonight." Ying Yue lowered her head with respect. The madame had been kind to her. The old master, on the other hand, although he was distant and didn't speak a word to her at all, she appreciated the fact that he acknowledged her with his gestures and didn't try to make her life difficult.

Unlike some people…

Her eyes turned to Lin Wenshun, who was staring at her indifferently, waiting for her to say something.

Ying Yue pursed her lips, but after two seconds, she smiled charmingly at her. "Mrs. Fei, I hope to see you again."

Lin Wenshun's face contorted to displeasure and she turned her head away.

This made Ying Yue smile even brighter. Sometimes, the perfect way to anger someone was to simply show them you were unaffected. And she liked angering Lin Wenshun.

"Come again soon, child." Grandma Fei took her hands and patted them, completely surprising her. She glanced at Fei Huangjin, but he only had a blank look on his face, just like the old master across him.

"Of course."

Unknowingly, a ghost of a smile crept on Huangjin's lips.

"Sister-in-law! I mean, future sister-in-law! See you at work!" Fei Haocheng waved at her crazily and whispered to her conspiratorially, "Have brother grant me some leave, okay? Thanks!"

Fei Huangjin shook his head with a sigh and half-dragged her away from him.

He gently prodded her on to the passenger seat, and he followed behind her inside the car. "Back to Sea View Horizons, Mr. Yang."

"Yes, sir."

"You're a bit too rough on your brother at home, Huangjin." She scolded him.

This made Fei Huangjin raise his eyebrows. "Since when did you pick Haocheng's side over mine?"

Ying Yue rolled her eyes. "I'm not picking anyone's side. I'm saying that you should give him the occasional leeway. He's your brother, after all. Not everyone can be as focused and stuck-up on their job as you…" One of her hands came up to clamp her mouth. She realized what she had said too late, and when she glanced over at the man beside her, he already had a grim look on his face. "Uh… not that being focused and uh, stuck up, is a bad thing. It's a very good thing."

He turned to her with his frosty pitch-black eyes. "That's what you really think of me? Is that why you won't marry me?"