Chapter 14
No, I Do Mind!
Gina put on her sunglasses, concealing the rage in her eyes.
To think that the crown prince was still so infatuated with Li Shengxia! Was she in a nightmare? He was such a good man and he fell for her, of all people?! All things considered, Gina had a past history with the crown prince too! Li Shengxia was a nobody! She was not officially with the crown prince, yet she kept hogging him!
Gina cast a ferocious look at the cleaning lady.
The cleaning lady immediately hugged the blouse tighter. “This blouse was given to me by that beautiful lady just now. I won’t sell it!”
Gina gritted her teeth in fury and threw the doors open angrily. As she walked out, one of her high heels broke! Never mind that she was snubbed, she even sprained her waist, and in the end, she did not even manage to buy that blouse! She was seething with rage.
Shop Clerk One’s expression was ashen! She just learned of the kind of big shot she had offended! However, no matter how she cried to the heavens, it was too late—
*
Li Shengxia walked out of the mall, conscious of Mo Nianchen’s solid arm still around her waist. Only then did she remember something and involuntarily pushed him away, keeping him at a short distance.
Whenever she thought about him being together with Gina, she felt uncomfortable. She even started to wonder wildly about how far they had gotten. She must be insane.
Li Shengxia got into the backseat of the car, seating behind the driver’s seat.
Mo Nianchen got in the driver’s seat and closed the door with a loud bang.
She noticed herself in the rearview mirror — she had changed back to her aqua blue dress. There was no denying how unkempt she looked. She came to her senses and said, “Sorry, I was too impetuous just now.” In the heat of the moment, she had forgotten that he was the one who paid for that blouse. She should not have given it away so heedlessly.
“It’s alright. Your impetuousness is pretty cute.” He slightly raised his eyebrows and observed her expression in the rearview mirror. She had deliberately distanced herself from him just now — why? Was it because of Gina?
Cute? Was this the calm before the storm? Her face was inexplicably gloomy. Her intuition told her that he might be unhappy, but surprisingly—
He said, “As for that blouse just now…”
“Crown Prince, surely you don’t mind, right?” Her heart was pounding when she said this and she forced a smile.
He did not turn around and only said four words slowly, “No, I do mind.”
“…” She subconsciously bunched up her dress in her fists.
In a composed manner, he listed out her crimes.
“First, you hurt my pride.”
“When?” She stared at him in surprise but could only see the back of his head.
“Second, you insulted my taste!” he quickly added.
He was the one who gave her the blouse. Clearly, it suited her well, but she said that she did not like it.
“That’s because…”
In fact, it was not that Li Shengxia disliked the blouse. She just hated the attitudes of those store clerks. Furthermore, although they were on the same team for now, she wanted to spend as little as his money as possible so as not to be tormented by him. However, the blouse was so expensive…
Li Shengxia gave it some thought, then offered a far-fetched reason. “That’s because, when we were young, you burned the blouse that I wanted to buy!”
When they were kids, Mo Nianchen had lived alone next to her house. At that time, both families were rather close and were equally well-off. The Mo family was not as eminent and unapproachable as they were now, and the Li family was not crushed by heavy debts.
During that time, her family was considered wealthy, but her parents did not allow her to spend lavishly. As a result, she had always been restrained in spending money.
When she was thirteen, she fell in love with a lovely blouse. She liked it so much that she felt that it was made just for her. She would calculate and save up her money almost every day so that she could buy it.
He still sneered at her and said, “Is the blouse really that important? To the point where you think about it every passing second?”
She replied, “Exactly, it’s certainly more important than you!”
His face instantly fell, and he tossed her aside before stalking away. She paid him no mind, still trying to figure out when she would have enough money.
At long last, she had saved up enough, but unexpectedly, he used up all the money in her piggy bank! Her dream that was nearly attained was destroyed just like that.
She cried with anger. He was nice enough to actually buy the blouse for her, but before she could smile through her tears, he did something she would never forget her entire life. He flicked the lighter and burned the blouse she had been dreaming of buying!
She hated him so much that she ignored him for three weeks. She did not know why this devil kept on popping up in front of her!
Later on, she became interested in fashion design, and once she started, there was no stopping her. Only the clothes which she designed herself, which existed in her head, would never be taken away by him. That was her thought process at that time.
Mo Nianchen did not expect her to still hold on to this grudge.
Back then, she kept staring at that blouse for days and days, not sparing him a glance even when he walked beside her! He intentionally asked, “Is that blouse really that important?” He had wanted to buy it for her, but she actually said that it was more important than him!
Hah, to her, a piece of clothing was more important than him? He was only sixteen then and was very rebellious. In a fit of bitterness, he bought the blouse and burned it before her very eyes!
He wanted to let her know that the person right in front of her, him, was more important than anything else.
However, he had to pay the price — she ignored him for three weeks,
The atmosphere in the car seemed to go cold…
Mo Nianchen wore a despondent expression and only spoke after a long while. “Didn’t I buy you a whole bunch of clothes in the end!?”
“But those clothes weren’t the ones I wanted!” The one she wanted had been destroyed by him. Even a whole heap of other clothes would not fill the hole in her heart.
He kept quiet and did not answer. He simply did not like that there was something more important than him in her heart. What was wrong with that?
“Who was the one who said it’s all in the past? Yet you’re still holding on to this grudge.”
“It’s not like that…” She sensed that he was displeased and suddenly fell silent.
She had not meant to bring up ancient history. It just accidentally came out of her for some reason…
“Since that’s all in the past, let’s just talk about what happened today!” His face was icy. “Have you realized your mistake?”
“I…”
“Anything I give you — even if you don’t like it, or you’re unsatisfied with it, you have to keep it! In the future, you’re not to throw anything away, even if you dislike it! Otherwise, I’ll end the contract anytime I like.”
“This won’t happen again,” she replied. He wanted to destroy everything she liked, yet she must accept without question everything he gave her — he truly had not changed one bit!
“Next time is next time. How are you going to compensate for this time?”
“I still have ten thousand yuan in my bag. I know it’s not enough…”
That was the so-called “first night’s fee” he had given her. She suddenly thought of something and her face froze…
What did it matter what sort of relationship they shared in the past? In any case, he must have had similar relations with many others… She was nothing special at all, merely a toy he wanted to play with on a whim.
When he saw the money, he was reminded of something, and his chilly demeanor thawed somewhat. He said, “Give me a kiss and it’ll be the end of this matter.”