Chapter 24: Chapter 24

TangShi put down her brushes and arched her back to work out the kinks from scooping over for too long. Leaning back to admire her handywork on the canvas in front of her and smiled at the results. Watercolors were her favorite medium, and she loved the way the colors subtly blended into soft hues in the pond scene she had created like a beautiful harmony. Gentle white and orange Koi meandering under a rippling blue surface and bringing peace to her as she worked.

It had been a quiet few days of getting used to the workings of this family and settling into a life she didn’t want. And things didn’t seem as terrible as the first couple of days here if today was anything to go by. Now that a lot of her appearance demands had been met, her wardrobe changed and her body primped and preened to Hollywood standards, Aunty was leaving her to find her own busy.

She had been to the clinic twice now this week, both times as soul destroying and shameful to her, making her glad the next trip was a month away as long as her periods showed. Even though she knew the point of this was to fall pregnant, a part of her was reluctant to have it happen and she hoped her body would give her a little time, even if she did have to endure those procedures.

YuZhi had gone out of the city for a couple of days on business and left her alone to her own devices too. Although he hadn’t changed any and was still finding every possible way to get to her and spark reactions. It seemed like he was even beginning to enjoy making her angry or upset. She was still torn about her feelings towards him despite how much of a jerk he was being.

The media was milking the public announcement of the breakup for all it was worth and hashing up articles from the past three years to paw over what could have gone wrong between them. The golden couple claimed to have stopped being in love, while still loving one another as best friends and the public weren’t buying it yet. There were speculations, gossip, and way too much interest in something TangShi found ridiculous. She had never really followed social media, the news or anything of the entertainment rags and yet now she had been flooded with snippets thanks to Xiaosu. Netziens seemed obsessed, angry, and even broken hearted over the news.

“So pretty, Miss Lei.” On cue the young girl wandered behind her with a cup of saffron tea and laid it beside her as carefully as she could so as not to disturb the painting supplies. Admiring the finished piece. “You are very talented; I can see why you have so many online sales of your prints.”

TangShi smiled at her, pride swelling at her words and laid down her brush with a swell of warmth in her heart. Nothing made her feel better than someone appreciating her hard work. This piece would be sent off to the company who dealt with scanning her art, producing prints to order and shipping them off while she was paid her commission in profits every month. It was a good system that had paid her well all these years and she had a growing fanbase under the artists name Alice Lin. Koi art was her best seller so she was sure this one would be popular too.

She found this room the best place to be to pass the day and focus on getting back to her art and revitalizing her mojo. It helped her accept things as they were now and not pine for the school she left in California quite so much. She missed the students and the teachers, but she knew she had no chance of going back there. This was her life for now.

The sunroom annex off the back off the mansion was never used much, where the view was over the gardens and ponds were gorgeous and she could watch the day slowly go by. In a peaceful quiet glass room, where Xiaosu brought tea and food on demand. The Leng family probably used to fill every room in this house, but now they were sparse, and the members left behind spent their working hours elsewhere. Even grandfather.

Rhea was the only constant daily visitor who stopped by for an hour a day to drink tea and chat with TangShi the last few days. To solidify the bond they would be showing publicly soon enough and convince the world their friendship was to come before the matchmaking. The ruse that TangShi and Rhea met through the Lei, Leng collaboration of the announced shopping mall build that hit the news this morning, and would be the driving force to setting up her ex-boyfriend with her new best friend. Rhea would be the one to take credit for their falling in love, so as to appease the public that she was supportive of YuZhi moving on.

It was a ridiculous story, one thought up by suited PR experts in YuZhi’s business. It abhorred TangShi that they had to go to this extent just to protect their precious family name and their stocks.

“Thank you. Painting fish are my favorite thing. I find it therapeutic and somehow helps me relax and ease away all my stress.”

“Mr Lei is the one who bought all the Koi for the large pond over there by the waterfall. He seems to like them too and often buys special fabric prints of Koi for his aunt when he goes on long trips. Maybe you two have that in common?” Xiaosu was never ending in her eagerness to warm TangShi to YuZhi. Having spent years as this family’s house maid she saw a side to him that TangShi didn’t and hoped in time they would at least find a common ground and be less harsh to one another.

“What are our plans today?” TangShi ignored any kind of compliments towards YuZhi, disinterested in talking about him. The clinic situation was making her even more resistant to trying to get along with him and the undertones of constant sarcasm between them was tiring.

“The house is empty. Grandfather Leng has taken Auntie, Uncle and his brother to watch an opera. Rhea called to say she couldn’t come today as she has a full schedule in prepping for a runway show for Aunt’s magazine. So, it’s us, a quiet night and there’s a new drama starting that I want to watch after we catch up with our ongoing one.”

“Let me guess? Another romance featuring Zhang Mingen.“ TangShi grinned at Xiaosu as her face turned a darker shade and her cheeks flushed pink. The girl had the worst kind of crush on the Chinese actor. She had made TangShi sit through a dozen episodes already of a show called ‘Nice to meet you’ and didn’t seem to be willing to let her pass up the rest of it.

“He’s simply the cutest man alive.” Xiaosu flushed even darker, clasped her hands by her chest and fluttered dreamy eyes as she was lost in her own head. “You know…. ZhengLi Kim is a dead ringer for him and just about the only man alive I would seriously switch out my crush for.” She beamed gleefully.

“Who?” TangShi stopped arranging her brushes and glanced at Xiaosu, wondering if this was another famous Chinese man she had proclaimed her undying love to. Xiaosu had a list of handsome celebrities.

“Young master Leng’s best friend, his whole life…. And his assistant at work. Here, I’ll show you. I thought you would have met him by now.” Xiaosu quickly pulled her phone from inside the apron she was wearing and scrolled it. Pulling up a Weibo account, she turned it to TangShi to show her a handsome man posing for some event. It was enlarged on the screen and gave her a very good view of his face and shoulders.