Chapter 22_

As they got into Raine's room, the first thing Xu Ying did was to hijack the bottle of water in Raine's hand and to settle down on Raine's bed. Raine watched as she battled with the bottle cap and then pouted at her as she asked her to help her with it.

Raine raised one of her eyebrows at her and gingerly supported her waist on her desk to give her a more comfortable stand. "Open it yourself!"

"But it's yours" Xu Ying replied righteously.

"Exactly! Why should I open something you stole from me? Since you had the ability to steal from me then you should also have the ability to unseal it."

Xu Ying opened her mouth slightly, a bit shocked to have received such words from Raine. She shrugged and used a bit of her strength to unseal it; then she slowly took an appreciating sip of the water. "Anything stolen from you is destined to be of a great quality. I am going to raid your wardrobe one of these days."

"You'll be too busy in Country W to come back to raid my clothes so don't even bother to dream about it."

"I can always get Lina to do it for me. She travels a lot. That reminds me, she mentioned coming over a few days ago; where is she?" Xu Ying asked.

Rosalina had been the only person who had shown care to her side of the family when they had been banished. At the age of ten when she couldn't travel around herself, she had made it her duty to call secretly at least once per month and when she had become a model, she would visit every time she was in the country. 

Xu Ying did not hold an offense to the others but her experience had thought her to hold on to the more important people who actually care about her. 

"Raine?" Xu Ying said as she sat up straight and became serious. She had caught the brief sharpness in Raine's eyes.

"I knew I wouldn't be able to hide it from you. After all, you were my best comrade in arms and personally drilled me so that I could catch up with the others." Raine laughed it off but Xu Ying wasn't tricked.

"Your laughter is as always beautiful but that's not what I asked. I've been curious as to why Zhi had to sneak into your home and now, there seems to be something wrong with Lina?"

"Ying Jie, Can you repeat how we were all named?"

"Who do you mean by we? Because if you are talking about the whole grandchildren then that's beyond me. I do not bother myself to learn anything of insignificance."

"The children of Xu Wen, only daughter of the Xu family; are those in your memory?"

"Of course! Everything about Gu Gu is very important in our family. Starting from how she was born to how her children were born and named, everything was recorded and Nai Nai personally gave all three of you your name… no, sorry, Zu Fu gave Raymond his name." Xu Ying mentioned with a smile.

"I was still young so I don't really remember what happened when she named you but I heard she called you Juan because she had dreams for you to become a beautiful and graceful lady just like your mother is. Ye Ye named Raymond, Zhi because he wanted the first born son to grow up into a wise leader and Nai Nai named Lina, Huan because she came as a bringer of joy to the family."

"When Nai Nai named Lina, she was with all smiles and was incredibly happy that day. She said that the family was now complete because her dead son had been replaced with a beautiful granddaughter so she now had reason to rejoice." Xu Ying happily completed her tale and was shocked by the chuckle of Raine

"That's such a beautiful story and a good lesson to learn from. The new source of joy Wai Po received was set up and made to bear a charge that might cost her life."

Xu Ying stood up immediately. "What do you mean? What's wrong with Lina?"

"She's being investigated on violating a purple code."

"That's impossible! Lina would never do that! Who is in charge of the case? What is Gu Gu and Gu Zhang's stand in this matter?"

"Mother and Father have washed their hands off of her until she is proven innocent and I have been delegated the judge of her conduct."

Xu Ying became quiet all of a sudden but Raine didn't fault her because deep down she understood what she was thinking about. The case was not simple at all and Raine would never be partial in making decisions so unless all evidence points out Rosalina's innocence then Raine would not declare her innocent.

"Tangmei…"

"Ying Jie, I respect you a lot not because you are my biaojie but because you've proven yourself worthy to be respected and honored by me by living and passing unto me the principle of integrity. Don't betray my trust in choosing the right model by saying what you shouldn't."

Raine stared straight into Xu Ying's eyes as she said that and saw the desperation in her eyes. "I understand your pain but also remember Lina is from the lineage of the mighty Xu's she is not beatable."

The waver in Xu Ying's eyes disappeared and was filled with determination. "What can I do to help? You must have a plan right?"

Raine smirked. "Of course I do but it might take some time because it seems I'm battling against some strong hidden foes and I'm not ready to showcase all my cards. You don't have to bother about anything; face your wedding and your re-acceptance into the family but be careful. If Wai Po could cause all this to prevent me from coming back then how would she welcome you with happiness?"

"Raine, I don't think it is Nai Nai that is behind this…she wouldn't go that far…"

"Ying Jie!!! I don't want to hear another word about it! Do you think anything can happen without her approval? Don't blind yourself out of filial piety! Even if she wasn't actively involved, she knows who was and the fact that she hasn't taken a step shows her stand on the matter."

Xu Ying sighed and looked up at Raine with resignation. "Please tred carefully. Don't go all out in your battle with Nai Nai and consider everything before falling out completely."

Raine looked outside her window and stared into the night view. Although she didn't reply, her silence was a tacit response to Xu Ying's warning. "It's quite late why don't you sleep over tonight and travel tomorrow?"

"Is that a question? I was planning on sleeping with you tonight! I haven't done that in eight years and I don't know when next the opportunity will present itself again."

Raine shook her head. "Your appearance is so different from your present attitude, be careful that others aren't shocked by it."

"Which others? There is no such others here, moreover even if they were here, they wouldn't be of concern to me as I'm pretty much hungry to care about anything."

Raine smiled and looked towards the home line on her desk that had rang twice. "Don't worry, Food is ready. Let's go down."