The Devil who devoured Snow White

Shi Enxi and Li Bingbing turned to him, a bit surprised by his words.

"I'm not staying there with her if I'm not going to get paid. My time is valuable." Xia Liqin pouted, crossing his arms. "You will need to buy it if you want me to spend my time guarding her."

Lu Mello couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle. He was already used to the kind of man his cousin was. He was such a greedy man. He suddenly remembered a time when he called him for his help.

(Flashback)

"Hello?" A gentle and yet somewhat lazy voice of a man was heard from the other line.

"Cousin Liqin, are you free?"

"If you're going to ask me to help you with something again, you have to pay your balance first." The man's monotone voice was heard. "You still have a balance of 500k and I will not accept any requests until you pay up."

"..." Didn't he have a balance of 100k? How did it become that much?! Was he trying to trick him?

"Qinqin, we are cousins, how can you treat me that way? I thought that you had given me a discount!"

"What discount? I didn't give you any."

"... Are you broke again?" Lu Mello couldn't help but ask.

"..." Xia Liqin, Lu Mello's cousin, became silent on the other line.

Lu Mello couldn't help but heave out a heavy sigh when he didn't hear anything from him. "Your parents are crazy rich and you're the Chairman of the Xia company, how can you be broke?"

He was not lacking any money, in fact, he was a very rich man who inherited the Xia family business from his father. Xia company was at its highest peak so how can a person like him ask for more money?

"Company money and family money are different matters so this line of work for me is different as well."

"..."

If there was someone who was very tight on using money, Xia Liqin would be that person. He won't even use the money for his own self no matter what. He was living away from his family in a small apartment. He was a very miser man. 

Just like his mother, Xia Liqin was a genius when it came to technology. Every ability he gained was inherited from his mother, Li Bingbing.

"Or is it because your sister got your money again?"

"..."

Xia Liqin may be a miser man but there could only be one reason why his saved money would suddenly fly away from him and that was none other than his older sister, Lu Mengjie. 

"Dad won't still give Jiejie some money, he won't allow her to use her cards, so everything was frozen. I don't have a choice but to help her in feeding her men."

Ah, he was right… there was that case. She has always been sending money for her harem every month and that was not just a small amount of money. 

"Fine, fine, how much?"

(End of flashback)

"You're going to pay him?" His wife, Shi Enxi, was obviously against it.

"5M per day," said his cousin, showing his five fingers, particularly, his whole hand at him.

Shi Enxi's brows ended up furrowing together. "That's too expensive!"

"No, it's not. You are pregnant. I have to follow you around. It's going to be tiring so 5M is a reasonable price," explained her nephew. Xia Liqin was the type of person who liked to stay inside his room for days just to play his favorite games. He would only go out of his cave whenever he had to meet his business partners but aside from that, most of the fieldwork was done by his assistant. Company meetings were usually done by video calls. If things could be settled by having a video call, then why not take advantage of it? For him, it was too tiring to even take a step outside the house. He was a total introvert. Although because of his prowess in technology, he was monitoring his workers' moves from his cave, making sure that they were doing their jobs properly. He was not only a greedy and lazy person but… he was strict when it came to work-related things.

Li Bingbing ended up sighing. Her son may have resembled Xia Sinian physically but his personality was… questionable. From who did he inherit such a mindset?

"Are you going to make your mother pay you too?"

"Yes. It'll be 15M from my mother." Her son replied, brazenly.

"This shameless child!" She ended up glaring at her son. "Are you lacking so much money?!"

"No."

"Then why are you charging me so much- no, why are you even charging me?! I am your mother! Liqin, don't challenge my bottom line!"

Xia Liqin went and sat on the sofa before he calmly replied, "this is a risky trip and I might end up having a heavy injury."

His mother ended up crossing her arms as she looked at him with disbelief. "How the hell are you going to end up having a heavy injury?"

"Mom is surely going to beat up Jiejie and I'm sure that I'll end up getting beaten in the process. Sister Enxi won't be able to stop mom since she's pregnant so I'll be the one doing all the work. It should be 10M for medical expenses, 20M for lost labor cost, 10M mental injury compensation, and so on but since you are my mother, I gave you a huge discount."

Shi Enxi and Lu Mello were looking at the man in front of them, baffled. They have never encountered such a shameless man when it came to money.

Li Bingbing ended up rolling her sleeves up. "How about I beat you up right now?"

Xia Liqin ended up standing again, he went and used Shi Enxi as a human shield. "That will cost 50M!"

Li Bingbing was already angry because of her daughter and now, her son was adding up to the problem.

Lu Mello pulled his wife away from Xia Liqin just so his cousin would have no one to use as a defense. "Sister Bingbing, I really think that you should discipline Qinqin well."

"Yeah, I also think that you should." Shi Enxi chimed in.

Xia Liqin took a step back every time his mother took a step forward towards him.

"O-okay! Okay! I won't let mother pay!" Xia Liqin exclaimed the moment he was cornered by Li Bingbing.

She smiled at him and patted his shoulder. "Good. You can charge anyone except me, understand?"

He nodded vigorously like a little child, obedient only to his parent.s.

Shi Enxi pouted. "What do you mean by that? That's not fair you know."

Her husband nodded at his wife's words. "We're still your family. You shouldn't charge your family."

Xia Liqin turned to them and said in his defense, "I only listen to my mother."

Shi Enxi turned to her sister with a pleading look on her face. "Jiejie."

"You're now rich enough to pay him so it should not matter, right?"

Shi Enxi scowled, she crossed her arms and scoffed. "My husband is the rich one, not me. Damn rich people."

And so, it was decided that Shi Enxi was going to go to Japan with her sister and nephew. 

That night, Lu Mello dropped them at the airport. He was sad that he has to be separated from his wife again for a while but because it was for her safety, he didn't have a choice but to do so.

"I'll call you from time to time," Shi Enxi said, stroking her husband's cheek with his thumb.

He held her hand and kissed her palm. "I'll do my best to solve this problem as soon as possible."

They were currently facing a problem of their own. There were people after his wife and child's life and the only way to protect her was to hide her in another country.

Shi Enxi nodded a bit, smiling in response. She knew that if it was Lu Mello, he would surely do it. It was just... She couldn't help but worry, he was dealing with an expert after all.

"That's enough trifling, it's time to go. Mother already went ahead," Xia Liqin interrupted while looking at them with a tired gaze. Black bags were still seen under his eyes as if he has never slept a wink last night.

Lu Mello turned to him and smiled a bit as he requested, "take care of her."

"Yeah, yeah, just pay on time. It's 5M every day," Xia Liqin replied, reminding him.

Shi Enxi rolled her eyes at him. Her nephew was really something else. Did he only care for money? "It's not like we're going to forget it."

"I know. I'm just making sure."

Well... Love for money was in their blood so she can't really blame him.

"I should go," said Shi Enxi as she turned back to Lu Mello.

He sighed helplessly. He held her by her cheek, staring solemnly at her. He only wanted to have a peaceful life with her, he only wanted to shower her with his love for the rest of his life but why do problems keep on popping out for them? Can't fate just leave them be? His questions would never be answered. He leaned down to her level and kissed her lips lovingly.

She closed her eyes and kissed him back. She was going to miss him despite knowing that they would just be separated for a short while.

Xia Liqin turned away when he saw them kiss, pouting.

"Stupid couples." He muttered under his breath. Of course, it was only normal for a single man like him to feel bitter. He didn't like the dog food that was being fed to him at that moment. 

After a short while, Shi Enxi pulled away from the kiss. If she continued kissing her husband, she might change her mind and stay instead.

"I love you..." She whispered. She didn't want to go without saying those words.

Lu Mello's lips curled up into a gentle smile. She was his dream and his world. He was willing to do anything just for her to be safe.

"I love you too." He kissed her forehead and let her go after. "Take care, Enxi."

With that, he watched her walk away with his nephew and aunt. He stayed there for a while until he watched the plane they were in flew into the sky.