Strike Back, Proud Goddess!

“Ah Liang, don’t speak to me like this.” Tang Xi said, tears running out of her eyes. Qiao Liang’s cold heart suddenly jolted because of her tears. He grabbed Tang Xi’s shoulder and asked angrily, “Who the hell are you? How do you know Xixi’s email address and password?! Why did you pretend to be her and send emails in her name?”

Tang Xi smiled bitterly. “I thought you would always recognize me no matter what I become,” she whispered, looking at Qiao Liang who suddenly froze. “Ah Liang, I am Xixi.”

As if struck by a bolt out of the blue, Qiao Liang looked deeply at Tang Xi and said coldly, “Don’t make me ask you for the third time!”

“I don’t know why!” Tang Xi cried out, biting her lips as she looked at the man who disbelieved her. She continued, “The plane suddenly jolted so violently that I fell into the sea before I had any time to react. I saw myself blown to pieces and when I woke up, I had become Xiao Rou.”

“Are you really Xixi?” It appeared like Qiao Liang believed her.

Tang Xi paused. She had thought it would be difficult to convince Qiao Liang.

Tang Xi jumped forward to embrace Qiao Liang and her tears wet his clothes. She nodded hard, saying, “Yes, yes, yes, I’m Xixi. After I woke up, it didn’t take me long to accept the fact that I had become Xiao Rou because I’m still alive. At least I could try to go back to Grandpa. At least the people who wanted to murder me failed.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me about this when I met you in the sanatorium?” Qiao Liang’s voice was low and hoarse. He remembered her looking strange when she had seen him in the sanatorium the other day, but he hadn’t paid attention; he had merely gone to the side to make a phone call and then saw her talking with his mom before coming over.

Then he had heard her saying, ‘Aunt Qiao, your son is really handsome.’

“Of course it’s because I was still mad at you back then.” Tang Xi released Qiao Liang’s hand and smiled sadly. “You didn’t come to me after so many years. Of course I was angry. Besides, I had suddenly become Rourou at that time. If I rushed up to your face and told you that I am Tang Xi, you’d probably have had me locked up in a mental hospital.”

Qiao Liang looked at the girl who was telling her story in a light tone and a twinge of pain flickered across his eyes. Tang Xi sat on the ground and looked up at Qiao Liang, saying, “It’s only when Jing told me what happened to you in those years past that I found out how much you suffered, how you tried to contact me.”

“No one told you I wanted to see you?” Qiao Liang asked with a frown. “Qin Xinying didn’t tell you about me going to your home to see you and sending many emails to you?”

Tang Xi’s heart sank. Suddenly, countless images flashed through her mind. She shook her head and smiled before replying, “Xinying loves you, but we didn’t notice it. How could she have possibly told me about those things?”

Qiao Liang narrowed his eyes. It was as he had expected—that woman had played tricks between the two of them!

Tang Xi reached out her hands to Qiao Liang, who came over to her, took her by the hand and pulled her into his arms. He then said in a low voice, “So you called me when you knew what I did for you, but you didn’t dare to speak, so you sent me an email?”

Tang Xi nodded. “I was afraid you couldn’t accept this unimaginable story. When you asked me just now, I was still afraid that you wouldn’t believe me, that you might even push me down from this place.”

“If you didn’t tell me that you’re Xixi, I may really have pushed you down from here.” Qiao Liang hugged Tang Xi so tightly as if she would vanish if he were to let go of her. “Whomever you are now, it’s enough that you’re still alive.”

“You already knew that I’m Tang Xi before I told you, didn’t you?” Tang Xi looked at Qiao Liang, who wasn’t someone that would believe in others easily, especially when it came to matters concerning her.

Qiao Liang nodded and replied, “I only suspected it, but since Little Six tracked down your IP address, I began to realize something. The way you spoke to me in the school, and the email…” At this point, Qiao Liang’s eyes became blurred as he continued, “and I felt like I saw the current you when I was in Long Beach…”

While Tang Xi was stunned, Qiao Liang added, “I checked Xiao Rou’s past, including when she was at the Hengshan Middle School. Her academic performance wasn’t very good, and she was very unconfident. However, the Xiao Rou attending the First High School of City A is just like a different person. Her academic performance is good and she is confident and bold.”

He didn’t know the old Xiao Rou, but he was very familiar with the new one.

Tang Xi hugged Qiao Liang tightly. “Thank you, thank you for loving me so much.”

…

At this point in time, the seven people in the private room had become impatient. It had been nearly an hour since the two of them left! Xiao Yao stood up and made to open the door to go out, when Little Five immediately came up to stop him. He said with a laugh, “Mr. Xiao, could you please wait for a while? Our young master will return your sister to you soon. Please do me a favor and don’t disturb them, okay?”

Xiao Yao cast a cold glance at Little Five and said in a cold voice, “Get out of the way.”

Instead of backing up, Little Five looked at Xiao Jing imploringly. “Mr. Xiao Jing, please talk to Young Master Yao. You know our young master’s temper. He’ll be angry if he doesn’t achieve his purpose. We’ll be the ones to suffer then!”

He Wanzhou walked over and said angrily to Little Five, “We know your young master is odd—we’ve become almost accustomed to his odd temper after all these years—but Rourou is just a little girl. Your young master never had a tender heart for the fair sex. What if he hurt Rourou?”

Little Five smiled and said, “Mr. He, you’ve got the wrong idea about our young master. He knows how to treat a lady.”

Ning Yan raised his eyebrows as he asked, “Didn’t your young master go to build a factory in the Pacific Ocean? Why did he suddenly hurry back? Is it because he heard the daughter of the Xiao Family was very beautiful, so he came back to chase her?”

His words immediately exasperated the Xiao brothers. Seeing that he had succeeded in sowing discord among them, Ning Yan smiled triumphantly and no longer spoke.

He Wanyi also frowned. She didn’t think Rourou could withstand Qiao Liang’s ‘torture’, although he hadn’t looked very angry when he was going out.

But as a capricious person, he might be rude to Rourou…

The crowd was being worried, when Tang Xi and Qiao Liang came along side by side. Though they didn’t speak, the others could see the smile on Qiao Liang’s face, while Tang Xi looked delighted too.

Seeing the crowd look at him, Qiao Liang came over and gestured for Little Five to leave. After Little Five left, he said, “Just now, I had something to ask Xiao Rou. Sorry that I was a bit rude. I’ll pay the bill tonight.”

“What was so important to make our Mr. Qiao come in person?” Ning Yan asked with a grin. “And in such a hurry at that.”

Qiao Liang turned to look at Tang Xi and said with a smile, “I just asked Xiao Rou whether she’d like to be my girlfriend.” He spoke in such a calm tone of voice that it was as if he were saying the weather was good today.