Strike Back, Proud Goddess!

Qiao Liang stood in the room that was so dusty that he would sneeze when inhaling, grunted and gave a faint smile. His eyes were sad, however. “I’ve seen everything. I can’t believe that my Xixi is such a Janus-faced girl. You were unwilling to call me, even though you missed me so much.”

When Tang Xi heard Qiao Liang’s voice, her heart felt sour as well and she said softly, “I have my pride, okay?” The girl who had her pride completely forgot that she had been determined to ignore Qiao Liang for a week just now.

Qiao Liang smiled. “Huh?”

Tang Xi knew what Qiao Liang meant. She curled up her lips, turned down the TV and whispered, “Unfortunately, all that damned pride disappeared after I saw you again and heard your story.”

A complicated gleam flickered across Qiao Liang’s eyes. “Thank you for letting all your pride disappear.”

Listening to Qiao Liang’s voice, Tang Xi felt warm in her heart and her ears turned red. “It seems like it’s the first time you’ve said ‘I love you’ to me,” she said in a low voice.

“No.” Qiao Liang smiled. “I’ve said it so many times.”

“No, it’s the first time you’ve said this to me. I confessed my love to you, but you didn’t confess your love to me.” Tang Xi lowered her eyes and her face was all red. “Say it to me again.”

Qiao Liang chuckled. “No, you haven’t said that to me either. Next time we meet, you say it to me and I’ll say to you.”

Tang Xi curled her lips and complained, “No, I’m a girl. I’m too shy to say that!”

“I remember you once said that shyness is bullshit,” Qiao Liang said. He looked up and happened to see a cartoon on the wall that depicted how Tang Xi said ‘I love you’ to him. He laughed, but soon the smile on his face disappeared and he whispered, “Xixi, I love you, so don’t leave me again. Stay by my side for the rest of my life.”

He had been thinking that he had paid more than Xixi for their love, but now he knew that Xixi had paid no less than him, perhaps even more. He didn’t remember the dribs and drabs when they were together, but Xixi remembered every single detail clearly and even depicted this period of time in the form of a cartoon.

In the past, every time Tang Xi asked Qiao Liang to say those three words to her, he always refused. However, when she pouted unhappily, Qiao Liang would give her a marshmallow. Thinking of this, she couldn’t help cracking a smile as she whispered, “I love you too. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you until now.”

She remembered the words she once spoke to Qiao Liang. “Since you like me so much and I happen to find you pleasing to my eyes, why don’t we get together?”

Back then, she had thought Qiao Liang would likely call her a lunatic and throw her out, but Qiao Liang had looked at her seriously for two minutes before giving a nod and saying, “Okay, then let’s get together.”

At that moment, she had felt she was truly lucky to have Qiao Liang and now she knew that becoming Qiao Liang’s girlfriend was the luckiest thing that ever happened in her life.

They immersed themselves in this sweet moment. Suddenly, Tang Xi saw the news broadcast on TV, which was about Qiao’s International Group formally inviting Designer Qin Xinying, one of the most talented designers in China, to join them to design the latest season’s fashion collection. Tang Xi narrowed his eyes and asked Qiao Liang, “Are you still in my room?”

Qiao Liang grunted in response and Tang Xi pursed her lips as she continued speaking. “In the second drawer of my room, there are design drawings I’ve painted in the last two years. There are also two USB flash disks in the top closet of my cloakroom in the upstairs room…” Hearing this, Qiao Liang frowned and asked, “Do you want me to bring them to you?”

“No, go to the nightstand. There is a very small button in the drawer. Press it.” Tang Xi frowned. It was not practical for Qiao Liang to take so many design drawings out of Empire Garden publicly. Grandpa wouldn’t let him take away anything of hers, so it was best to leave these things at Empire Garden.

Qiao Liang walked over, squatted down in front of the nightstand, took a pen from his sleeve and used it to open the drawer of the nightstand. Afterward, he stretched out his hand, found the little button and gently pressed it. The bed suddenly moved and the floor also slowly opened. Qiao Liang looked at the opening floor and smiled while holding the phone. “You’ve got a lot of little secrets here.”

Tang Xi pursed her lips as she replied, “I designed them for fun…” Then she asked, “Have you opened it?”

Qiao Liang grunted and walked over. When he looked at the huge safe inside, the corner of his eyes twitched. This was the first time this expression appeared on his face. He raised his eyebrows, exclaiming, “A safe?”

Tang Xi grunted, “The password is 03191121.”

Qiao Liang frowned. “03191121?”

Tang Xi explained, “Yes. It’s the death days of my father, mother and grandmother. Many people use their own birthdays or the birthdays of their loved ones as a password, but my password is the death days of my parents and my grandmother. I think no one remembers these days except for me and Grandpa.”

In fact, her grandpa had told her about these days. Perhaps because she had never seen her parents since childhood, she remembered them very clearly. Grandpa would take her to visit her parents’ graves on their death anniversary every year. As for Grandma… for some reason, on Grandma’s death anniversary, Grandpa would take her to visit two graves, and he would sit and talk to the two graves. One grave had no photo on it, while the other had a photo of Grandma on it. Grandpa always called Grandma as Suhua, but Grandma’s name was Tan Xing.

Every time Grandpa took her to see Grandma’s grave, he would act strangely. She didn’t want to make him sad, so she never asked him why.

Qiao Liang whispered, “I’ll remember these days from now on.”

Tang Xi smiled. “Okay. By the way, put my design drawings and USB flash disks in that safe. I think it’s safer to put them in it.”

Qiao Liang raised his eyebrows and rubbed his finger gently against the phone. “Why do you think they’ll be unsafe even if you put them at your home? Is there someone who’ll come to take away your design drawings?”

Tang Xi raised her eyebrows. “Don’t be so sensitive. I’m asking you to do this just in case. Go upstairs and take away the design drawings and USB flash disks. I designed them at different times, so I stored them in different USB flash disks. And when you leave, take that red dress with you. There’s an exit in the basement room. You can reach the gate from that exit. There’s a bike in it, and you can ride it.”

As long as Qiao Liang went out through the underpass with that dress, Grandpa wouldn’t know.