Shi Ning observed Shen Xizhou, still kneeling on the ground, and deliberately left him there. There was no rush to let him rise. She tilted her chin, her gaze condescending. “Are you truly willing to live and die for me?” she probed.
Shen Xizhou looked up, his peach blossom eyes soft and seemingly sincere. “Yes,” he affirmed.
“Do you see that tree?” Shi Ning pointed to a prominent landscape tree beside the swimming pool, adorned with pretty pink and purple flowers.
Shen Xizhou followed her gaze. “Do you want the flowers on it? I’ll climb up and pick them for you right away.”
Shi Ning shook her head. “They say a man’s word can be trusted if a pig can climb a tree. So, if you want me to believe you, you should learn to cry like a pig and then climb that tree.”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Shen Xizhou’s face darkened, and he flatly refused. “No!”
It was hardly a surprising answer.
“You promised me, didn’t you?” Shi Ning countered, her voice laced with mock disappointment. “You said if you were wrong, you’d be a dog . So, learn to bark like a dog and climb that tree.”
From a pig to a dog? Shen Xizhou’s face grew even darker. “No!” he repeated emphatically.
Shi Ning’s expression instantly soured, replaced by an open look of disgust. “You can’t be a pig, you can’t be a dog, you can’t even be a man! You’re useless!” she scoffed. “You’re worse than pigs and dogs! There’s nothing more to say here.”
To be labeled worse than common animals, to be told he wasn’t “man enough”—Shen Xizhou’s face turned livid with anger. But he saw Shi Ning about to turn away, and he moved instinctively, leaping to his feet. He stretched out a hand to stop her. “Give me another chance, I can definitely do as you ask, but please, don’t make me bark like a pig or a dog. Climbing trees and picking flowers is fine!”
He couldn’t bear Shi Ning’s sudden coldness after she had so relentlessly pursued him. It was he who had intended to discard her, not the other way around! And besides, the western city land deal still hung in the balance; he had to win Shi Ning over, so she would, in turn, sway Qin Heye.
Shi Ning’s expression softened slightly. “Alright,” she conceded, “I’ll give you one last chance, and I’ll even spare you the pig and dog noises. After all, you’re beneath even them, so you probably couldn’t learn anyway.”
Ignoring the biting verbal assault, Shen Xizhou’s face brightened with relief. “This time, I promise, I’ll do anything,” he vowed, his relief palpable.
Shi Ning pointed at the tree again. “Climb it. To the very top.”
Shen Xizhou was about to nod eagerly, but then Shi Ning pointed at the swimming pool. “And then jump in.”
Shen Xizhou looked from the three or four-meter-high tree to the pool below, which was a considerable distance away. He was no professional diver. Such a high dive could easily lead to a broken neck, leaving him dead or half-paralyzed! He quickly refused again. “No!”
Shi Ning, her patience wearing thin, nearly kicked Shen Xizhou into the pool then and there. Not yet, she thought. I’ll make it count later.
“Shen Xizhou!” Shi Ning’s voice was frigid. “Are you sincere? You truly can’t do anything. What was it about you that I ever liked?” She shook her head in disdain. “Honestly, liking someone as worthless as you feels like a stain on my past, destined to be forever nailed to the pillar of shame!”
The barrage roared:
[Shen Xizhou is too bad! That mouth is a liar, he only knows how to draw big cakes, and when he makes a request, it’s not okay!]
[Is it okay to be a vicious female supporting role? I really want to go through the book, help the female supporting role for two episodes, and directly kill the male lead with one knife! Let him be choked to death!]
[No, then learn from me, how to be a green tea, first with tears in your eyes…]
Shi Ning’s eyes glinted as she read the suggestions. Good idea! She decided to follow the advice. Unable to genuinely cry, she subtly pinched her thigh, forcing tears to well in her eyes. She looked at Shen Xizhou, her gaze heartbroken.
Shen Xizhou’s heart lurched. “Ningning, I sincerely apologize, I…”
Shi Ning cut him off, her voice choked with feigned tears. “I had already coaxed Qin Heye to suspend the construction of the west city plot, and I was just waiting to make him even happier, so I could give the land to you. Now I ask you to humor me, but you’re unwilling to do anything, completely useless. You only know how to make empty promises and offer worthless things!”
“Then I won’t coax Qin Heye anymore. I want to live a good life with him and let him resume the work immediately.”
The mention of her not “coaxing” Qin Heye anymore, and the threat of the land deal moving forward, instantly spurred Shen Xizhou into a panic. “Ningning, truly, give me one more chance!” he pleaded. He raised his hand, swearing. “This time, I am willing to do anything you ask me to do! I can even learn to bark like a pig or a dog!” But the thought of jumping from the tree into the pool, a dive that could genuinely kill or cripple him, remained out of bounds.
Shi Ning ignored him, turning to leave.
Shen Xizhou frantically cut in front of her. Then, for the sake of the land, he swallowed his pride and began to grunt like a pig. “Hunchi, hunchi!”
Shi Ning remained impassive, her gaze indifferent.
Desperate, Shen Xizhou barked like a dog. “Woof woof! Woof woof!”
Shi Ning’s expression softened slightly, and she paused, no longer intending to leave. She subtly glanced at the hidden spot in the bushes behind Shen Xizhou, then turned her full attention back to him, her face gentler. “This is truly the last chance! I’m going to ask you a question, and if you dare to lie, there will be no more chances.” If he dared to refuse again, she would kick him into the pool. Shi Ning thought.
This request was no longer a humiliating demand, and Shen Xizhou breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay, ask away. I’ll answer everything I know.”
Shi Ning went straight to the heart of the matter. “What were you doing the day I was drugged? Why didn’t you save me? I’m telling you clearly, I was drugged! Why did you call Qin Heye and ask him to pick me up?” The earlier humiliating and rude demands had all been a smokescreen, paving the way for these crucial questions. If she had asked them initially, Shen Xizhou would never have answered.
Hearing Shi Ning bring up that day, Shen Xizhou’s eyes darted away guiltily. He tried to prevaricate. “Ningning…”
Shi Ning cut him off coldly. “Shen Xizhou, this is your last chance! Shi Qingyin has already told me that day, when you two were together, you weren’t just busy being intimate. You even arranged for someone to drug me and conspired against Qin Heye and me…”
Shen Xizhou interrupted anxiously. “You said Yinyin told you?”
Shi Ning lied with an unblinking gaze, no trace of a blush on her face. “Otherwise, how would I know about things only the two of you knew, if Shi Qingyin hadn’t told me?”
“It wasn’t me!” Shen Xizhou exploded, his anger shifting. “I didn’t know you would be drugged. It was Yinyin who pestered me for a kiss that day and hung up your phone.” He pointed a finger of blame. “She gave me the idea! She called Qin Heye and asked him to pick you up, so that you would have to sleep with him, so you’d feel sorry for me, and be even more devoted to me, paving the way for me!” Shen Xizhou was furious. He couldn’t believe Shi Qingyin would betray him, especially after they had hatched the plan together. In this case, he would pin everything on her.
Shi Ning observed his outburst, then subtly guided him further. “So you deliberately abandoned me to my fate? You wanted me to believe Qin Heye drugged me, to think it was marital rape? You wanted me to hate him, to make my dad hate him too, and seek revenge, so my dad would get sick?”
Shen Xizhou, lacking such intricate foresight, simply continued to deflect blame. “Everything was Shi Qingyin’s idea. It was also her who called Qin Heye that day. She hugged me and wouldn’t let me go save you.” This, at least, wasn’t a complete lie. He had wanted to save Shi Ning, but Shi Qingyin had embraced him, kissed him, touched him… he’d been tempted, and so, he hadn’t saved Shi Ning.