Mr. Tycoon's Daring Wife

Zhao Lifei turned to face her grandfather who was sipping on his tea without a care in the world. He looked like he was in his zen garden, where the glorious flowers were in full bloom and the birds were chirping in the background. He was too calm for a man that easily dropped four hundred and fifty million dollars on a single instrument.

Seeing her antsy and eager to speak, Zhao Moyao slowly laid down his cup. Now, that was a well-brewed cup of tea. In an unsuspecting voice, he asked her, "What is it?"

"The piano...I can’t possibly accept it." She whispered, feeling guilt settle into her. She did not like to rely on his money or enjoy the idea of having anyone splurge on her like this. She made sure to keep her voice low so that the people around them could not overhear her.

"Alright then, I’ll have it trashed."

"What?! No, you can’t do that!" She kept her voice low like a quiet hush, but it raised an octave out of panic. How could he simply throw away four hundred and fifty million dollars?! She knew they were filthy rich and could use the money as tissues, but that didn’t mean it was good to toss money like that.

"Take it or trash it. Your pick." Zhao Moyao purposely cornered her. He could see the trouble brewing in her indecisive brain. He sighed to himself. Did he not pamper her enough? Why was she afraid of accepting a small gift? He pitied Yang Heng. Giving her gifts must be quite the chore. Well, whatever the circumstance, that prick better shower his granddaughter with gifts for days to come!

"See it as an early birthday gift."

Zhao Lifei’s head snapped up. ’My birthday?’

"It’s your birthday in three days. Don’t tell me you forgot."

"I-it never crossed my mind." She quietly said, turning her face away from him.

Zhao Moyao was saddened at her pitiful response, but he kept his thoughts to himself. He could only blame himself. In the past, he was too busy with work to even throw her a proper birthday party.

She was one of the wealthiest heiresses of this country, yet no one serenaded the day she was born. He felt a sudden rush of guilt and remorse that he was never there for her at such an important moment.

If he had told her "Happy Birthday," even once in her lifetime, would she have valued herself a lot more? Sitting in the plush chair he realized his wrongdoings, however, it was too late to change the past now. The only thing he could do was to look towards the future and make plans to save her before she could truly drown in her dark thoughts.

"You didn’t have to give me such a pricey gift." She leaned back in her seat, her eyes turning to the stage where a painting was being auctioned off.

"Nonsense, you deserve everything given to you." He snapped, nearly slamming his hand on the table in anger. Why did she hate herself more than her haters do?!

"And if that stupid Yang Heng has not drilled such a thought into you, he is failing as your lover." He added on.

"One shouldn’t rely on their lover to learn how to love themselves." Zhao Lifei replied. She swiveled the glass, watching it catch the light. She wished she could have some wine right now.

"And one shouldn’t fall in love until they have learned to love themselves, but we have long skipped that part. Have we not?" He scoffed.

"Sure." She replied to him, raising her head to give him a small smile. She did not want to get into an argument with him, thus she chose the easiest response to appease him.

Zhao Moyao studied his stupidly-humble and modest granddaughter. He also heard of the way she kindly treats all of her workers, even the janitors.

Villain turned hero was an underestimation for her. He never raised her to be like this, so how did she turn out like this? Was all of his teaching going down the drain? No, it was not. She was still succeeding, far more than he ever anticipated. For the first time in a very long time, a swarm of fear and anxiety attacked him. He just could not point out why.

A chill raised the hairs on his arms. Without warning, his head snapped to the back. He could’ve sworn—

"Grandfather, Mr. Ning is trying to get your attention." Zhao Lifei piped up when Ning Yijun discreetly waved at him.

Zhao Moyao sighed. "What does that geezer want?"

"I don’t know. Why don’t you go and ask him?" She dryly said, pointing out the obvious.

She picked up the proper spoon for the french onion soup and dug in. After having a couple of bites, she set the utensil back down. It wasn’t as good as the one Yang Feng made her a few days ago... Speaking of him, it was quite hard to get him off of her trail. He kept on questioning where she was going and she was pretty sure his men had already reported the location to him by now. She insisted she wanted to go alone, but did not let him know it was going to be an auction. It took a lot of convincing on her end that she could get home perfectly safe and sound without needing him to pick her up. That damn brute. He was always terrified someone would kidnap her or something.

"You’re getting sassier with each passing day." Zhao Moyao scowled, standing up to make his way to Ning Yijun. "You’re lucky I trained you to be like that." He grumpily told her.

"I was born like this." She revealed her cheeky grin, earning a rough pinch on her nose. "Grandfather, is it alright if I head home now?" She asked him, bored with the food and the items being sold. The four hundred and fifty million should be enough for the night.

"Inform the lovesick puppy his master will be heading home now." He instructed her before staggering off to the other patriarch.

Zhao Lifei laughed to herself at the fearless way her grandfather always referred to Yang Feng. If the man himself was present, it would be disastrous. She was about to stand up and leave when she suddenly realized she forgot to get Fan Jielan a birthday gift. Nothing here was to her interest, so she decided to leave and perhaps find something else another time.

She checked the time and saw it was already half-past nine. It was too late to disturb Yang Feng and she was too prideful to face his smug expression when he rolled up in a car.

She arrived at this place with her grandfather and his private chauffeur, which meant she had no way of getting home except for public transportation like taxis or buses. Both options were immediately crossed off from her list.

Zhao Lifei wondered how far this place was from Feili. She parked a spare car in the underground private parking space she owned.

Since she was horrible at directions, she had to pull out her phone and check one of the map apps she had. To her luck, Feili was only a short ten-minute walk. Smiling to herself, she left the dining room and walked down the hallway leading to the front entrance.

She turned a corner and overheard a conversation.

"I can’t believe she would do that to me! Just because I bidded on something, she just had to top it. Why can’t she be satisfied with her current position? Why is she petty enough to go after my piano?!" Zhao Linhua ranted to a sympathetic Xia Mengxi.

"Just because mommy and daddy love me more than her, she has to steal my things. You know, when we were younger, she tried to steal my parent’s attention. When that didn’t work, she retaliated against me, claiming that I had the audacity to steal their adoration!"

Zhao Linhua scoffed. "It’s not my fault mommy and daddy don’t love her. What is there to love in the first place?" She continued rambling, her fingers twirling the charms on the silver bracelet. Xia Mengxi had given it to her and on many occasions, the two would get each other various new Pandora charms.

"A-and..." She sniffed, her broken heart crumbling into bits. "She had to steal him from me. I was so in love with him, and my damn sister knew it too! I always talked about him to my parents, you know, and she was always present whenever I babbled about him."

Xia Mengxi was shocked by the turn of events. Him? Was she talking about Yang Feng? Oho, this was quite an interesting scoop.