Strike Back, Proud Goddess!

Listening to Qin Xinying’s words, Tang Xi was surprised to find that she didn’t feel anything. She had thought she would be sad when she heard Qin Xinying tried to set her up, but to her surprise, she wasn’t sad at all. She put the phone to her ear and took a deep breath, saying, “Miss Qin, aren’t you afraid of me, too? That’s why you hide behind Xiao Jinning and don’t dare to show up, right?”

When Tang Xi said this, the other side of the line fell silent. No one spoke for a long time. Tang Xi pursed her lips and then said, “What? Miss Qin, are you so afraid of me? You became too scared to say anything just hearing my voice?”

Sitting in her office, Qin Xinying brought her phone close to her eyes to look carefully at the screen and confirmed it was Xiao Jinning’s phone number, following which she took a deep breath, put the phone back to her ear and asked, “How come it’s you?”

“Because I’m answering the phone. Surprised, Miss Qin?” Tang Xi looked at Qiao Liang while holding the phone in her left hand and firmly grasping Qiao Liang’s hand in her right. “Miss Qin, I’m the one you tried to frame, so why can’t I answer the phone? Besides, although Xiao Jinning and I are enemies, she’s not a fool who would be easily manipulated by you.”

There was a long silence on the other side of the line again. After quite a while, Qin Xinying softened her tone and said, “Miss Xiao Rou, I think there must be some misunderstanding between us. I never meant to target you…”

Hearing this, Tang Xi raised her eyebrows and was about to speak, when Qiao Liang, sitting beside her, took the phone from her and pressed the hands-free button. Tang Xi raised her eyebrows, to which Qiao Liang responded by nodding and handing the phone back to her. She smiled at him as she took over the phone and continued to speak. “Misunderstanding? Miss Qin, would you say that the words I just heard were only my imagination?”

“No, of course I didn’t mean that.” Qin Xinying replied, then she kept silent for a while before continuing, “I am a good friend of Xixi. I came to work in City A because Xixi asked me to keep an eye on Qiao Liang for her. Now that you and Qiao Liang are together, I’ll surely tell her about this. I’ve told you how powerful she is. Average people like you and me simply can’t compete with her. Now she wants me to deal with you, and I can’t say no to her…”

As Qin Xinying’s voice rang from the phone, Qiao Liang’s face turned darker and darker with every word she spoke, while Tang Xi looked angrier and angrier too. After Qin Xinying finished, Tang Xi snorted coldly and said, “That Tang Xi is really unlucky to have a good friend like you who can’t help her guard her boyfriend, who screwed up the task she assigned and now even betrayed her!”

Tang Xi paused and then continued, “I wonder how much Qiao Liang will hate you and Tang Xi after I tell him what you told me…”

“Xixi loves Qiao Liang too!” Qin Xinying retorted. “If you want to tell this to Qiao Liang, please don’t mention Tang Xi. You can just tell him it was all my idea and has nothing to do with Tang Xi! Please!”

“Okay. I’m so moved by your loyalty to your good friend that I will tell Qiao Liang that you like him, which is why you want to get rid of me. I won’t mention Tang Xi, don’t worry,” Tang Xi replied casually.

On her side, Qin Xinying, who was sitting in a office chair, jumped to her feet angrily when she heard Tang Xi’s words. It took a long time for her to calm down and, gnashing her teeth, she said, “Thank you, Miss Xiao. But I’d like to remind you that Tang Xi is the little princess of Empire Group which even Qiao’s International Group can’t rival, so please give it a second thought whether you really want to be with Qiao Liang. Otherwise, Tang Xi may do something horrible to you, something you won’t want to hear.”

As Tang Xi listened to Qin Xinying slander her, an icy gleam flickered across her eyes and she replied softly, “Thank you for your reminder, Miss Qin. I’ll consider your advice!”

On her side, Qin Xinying hung up the phone and swept all the things on the table to the ground. After quite a while, she put both hands on the table to prop up her body, took a deep breath, stared at the floor in front of her and said viciously, “Xiao Rou, we’ll see. I’ll make you pay for what you said to me today!”

Tang Xi hung up the phone and looked at Qiao Liang, who looked very angry, even angrier than her. Tang Xi suddenly felt better. She raised an eyebrow and looked at Qiao Liang with a naughty smile over her lips, asking, “Why do you look even angrier than me? She was slandering me, not you. Why is your face as black as bamboo charcoal?”

Qiao Liang looked deeply at Tang Xi and frowned. “Can’t you leave that woman to me?” he asked.

Tang Xi paused. Leave her to him? Then would she see on the news tomorrow morning that a famous designer was killed and her body was dumped in the wilderness? Thinking of this possibility, Tang Xi hurriedly shook her head and answered, “No. Although Qin Xinying knows me very well, she doesn’t know Xiao Rou, while I, now as Xiao Rou, know her very well. I know many of her secrets which others don’t know. If she dares to mess with me, I’ll make her regret it for the rest of her life.”

Qiao Liang frowned and was about to speak, when Tang Xi took his hand and continued speaking. “I know Qin Xinying is a threat to us. I may be killed by her if I’m not careful enough, but I can’t touch her right now. I can’t kill her just because she’s a potential romantic rival of mine, can I?”

“It’s up to you,” Qiao Liang replied, looking affectionately at Tang Xi.

Knowing that he was convinced, Tang Xi smiled at Qiao Liang and winked. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I’ve already made up my mind that I won’t relent anymore, because that might hurt me, and Grandpa.”

Over at Qiao’s International Group’s design department, Qin Xinying came out of her special designer’s office while holding a cellphone and told her assistant to clean out the office before walking up to the rooftop. On the rooftop, she dialed a phone number and the other side answered the phone after quite a while. As soon as the call connected, she couldn’t wait to ask, “Have you found Tang Xi or not?! Why haven’t you been answering my phone lately!”

The man on the other side of the line only managed to say, “I…” before the phone was hung up.

Hearing the busy tone coming from the phone, Qin Xinying frowned and called again, but the other side had turned off the phone.

Xiao Jinning kicked at the ground beneath her feet grumpily. Damn it! What was f*cking wrong with these people?