Chapter 17: She Will Suffer Ten Times As Much As You Have

When Bai Xinyi, Yang Zimo, and Gu Yan got back in the car, the tension in the atmosphere was so thick that they could cut it with a knife. No one seemed to want to speak in those suffocating circumstances.

Bai Xinyi handed a coffee and breakfast over to Zhao Yingyue. Something was wrong with the Young Miss. Her and the Madame of the Zhao family must have talked while they were all gone and it couldn't have gone well. The Young Master would sure be mad about it.

She pulled out her phone and texted Liu Haoyu.

'Something happened with the Young Miss. It seems she talked to Madame Zhao and now, she is out of it. What would you like me to do?'

'Why did you leave her alone with that woman?' -Young Master

'The Young Miss asked me to leave. I was never far from the car though should anything have happened.'

'Don't do it again.' -Young Master

'Yes, sir.'

Bai Xinyi put her phone away and looked over at Zhao Yingyue with concern. She knew that she had been asked to leave, but maybe she shouldn't have. If she hadn't would that have been better for the sake of Zhao Yingyue?

Spotting the look of concern on Bai Xinyi's face, Gu Yanya spoke.

"While you were gone, our Yingyue received a call from someone. He seemed quite upset about something but I think she resolved it quickly. I know you're supposed to be monitoring her and our family so I don't want you to think that anything untoward is going on behind closed doors."

Bai Xinyi slowly nodded, "Right."

She knew that Gu Yanya was trying to use this situation to create doubt on Zhao Yingyue's character. It, of course, wouldn't work. That witch ever wasn't going to bring down her Young Mistress.

Zhao Yingyue pulled out her phone after a notification went off and was met with a text from Liu Haoyu.

'Yingyue, what did that woman say?' -Captain H

Zhao Yingyue looked over at Bai Xinyi. She sure worked fast at making sure Liu Haoyu was informed.

Instead of typing out a reply, she sent the voice recording to him in hopes that it would reassure him in her wellbeing.

She had intended to give it to him as potential ammo later on anyway. She just didn't want to worry about it at the moment. She could still feel every word her mother had said but she could hold in those emotions for just a little longer.

Zhao Yingyue just pulled her headphones out of her bag and listened to music for the rest of the ride.

***

After a few of the usual stops involving photo shoots and gatherings, it was time for lunch.

Just as Zhao Yingyue felt her stomach growl, Yang Zimo pulled up in front of a really nice restaurant. It was one she didn't frequent but would go to if she had some type of business meeting usually.

"Who am I meeting today?"

Gu Yan replied, "Lin Mengyao. It's supposed to be important for more reasons than one but we should get going as the meeting is due to start soon."

Yang Zimo let the group out and the quickly shuffled over to the restaurant. When they came, it was always the same room reserved so they needed no guidance as they quickly entered the room.

When they entered, Lin Mengyao locked eyes with Zhao Yingyue. He had already sat down on one side of the table.

Zhao Yingyue had previously had a blind date with him before but it had never really gone anywhere since she made sure to sabotage every single one that they had. She was sure that he'd never contact her again but this was a surprise.

Zhao Yingyue sat across from him while her mother sat on her right and Bai Xinyi sat on the left.

Zhao Yingyue greeted him.

"It's been a while Mr. Lin."

Lin Mengyao nodded.

"Yes. It must have been a few weeks back when we had that blind date. Sorry that it took so long for me to follow up with you."

Zhao Yingyue was suspicious. This had to have been planned by her mother to garner suspicion that she was unfaithful or something. Why was this woman so cruel?

"If that's what this is about, I'd like you to know that it's pointless. You see, I'm already engaged to be married."

Lin Mengyao seemed surprised before saying, "It hasn't even been that long since we last saw each other. Besides, you were the one who contacted my assistant. I should remind you that it wasn't the other way around. Now you're acting ignorant?"

Zhao Yingyue shook her head.

"You must be mistaken. You see, last night I was at my future in-law's and the day before I was with my fiancé all day. Even the night before that, I was out with him. Please don't say things like that if that's not truly the case. I don't want there to be any misunderstanding for anybody."

Lin Mengyao put on a hurt tone as he asked, "Must you act this way? What happened to how clingy you were before? Now everything seems to have changed so suddenly!"

Clingy? So that was the act that she had put on for him to scare him away? All of her schemes must have blended together in her mind. But she still had to play the situation out with as much tact as she could and save some face. Zhao Yingyue bowed her head.

"Once again, this is all a misunderstanding, Mr. Lin. I don't know what else to tell you about it. I'm engaged to be married already so if there's nothing else, this meeting is already very inappropriate and I will have to take my leave first."

She was firm but not unreasonable. Everyone in that room knew that this was an inappropriate meeting to have when she was engaged to be married. This man was someone who had previously pursued her with marriage in mind and seemed to be getting more and more frustrated.

Gu Yanya spoke up. "Sorry Mr. Lin but my daughter is engaged to another. However, I don't think there's much harm in us all sharing a meal together, right? Especially if she was the one to invite you out—even if she forgot that she had planned this. The food here is really good. Please allow us to cover your meal."

Of course, Gu Yanya had planned this before when she had taken Zhao Yingyue's phone. She had texted Lin Mengyao that night and with Bai Xinyi here, she must have thought that her plan would work even better than she had expected. She couldn't let this opportunity go.

Lin Mengyao huffed but nodded and agreed to dine with them. He was upset that this girl had seemingly embarrassed him by planning this meeting and then claiming she hadn't. He had played hard to get for so long and now that he said yes, this was how she acted?

Who was this fiancé of her's anyway?

There's no way anyone worth anything would want to marry someone like her. When he had first met her, she had been the clingiest person to ever exist which made him want to ghost her. He only came because she had begged him through text.

Maybe since she embarrassed him, he should give her a taste of her own medicine.

He pulled out his phone and placed it on the table, leaving the messages for all to see.

"I wasn't lying. She begged me to come see her today and that's the only reason I'm here. You really are shameless Zhao Yingyue. At least be able to defend yourself if you wish to embarrass me. I wonder how that fiancé of yours would like knowing that you're begging other men for attention."

Zhao Yingyue rolled her eyes.

"I didn't send you these. If you want to show my fiancé, though, be my guest. However, first, you need to be in a position to even meet him."

Gu Yanya hated seeing how confident her daughter was. It didn't matter if this man couldn't reach Liu Haoyu as Bai Xinyi was there to witness it all. That was the true plan. She would relay the message back to the people with the real decision making power.

She covertly smirked and looked over to Bai Xinyi.

Bai Xinyi looked at the messages and asked, "Can you send these to me?"

Lin Mengyao looked at her and snobbishly asked, "Who exactly are you anyway?"

Gu Yanya interjects to answer, "This is Bai Xinyi. She was sent by Yingyue's soon to be in laws to take care of her. I hope you don't mind her presence."

Lin Mengyao perked up at this and immediately started trading contact information with Bai Xinyi so that he could send her screenshots of the messages. This would certainly show that Zhao Yingyue.

Annoyed at this whole act, Zhao Yingyue got up and walked out of the room, only saying that she doesn't feel very well.

As soon as she was a reasonable distance away, she pulled out her phone. She was met with a message from Liu Haoyu.

'She will suffer ten times as much as you have. That's a promise.' -Captain H

Zhao Yingyue softly smiled at his message and decided to send him a voice message.

"Please come pick me up Liu Haoyu. I don't want to be here around these people anymore."

'Where are you?' -Captain H