Page 55 of He Is My Bride

Tang Xiuxiu’s gloved hands pulled out of her bag and came into view: she was taking the lid off a small bucket. Something red, lumpy, and wet inside.

Before Li Ying’s brain could carry the order to his body to run and dodge, Xiuxiu had splashed the clumpy crimson mass his way. People around them were screaming and scattering… except for one, who ran straight into Li Ying and pushed him:

Lin Yong tackled Li Ying out of the way just in time.

As Li Ying fell to the floor, he saw Lin Yong get splashed with blood and small pieces of viscera, filling the air with the smell of copper.

Most of it had gotten on Lin Yong’s suit, with only a few small drops splashed at the side of his face, but seeing all the red on himself and the smell filling his nostrils made the man freeze in place.

People around them were gasping and exclaiming in shock, calling for security.

A few ladies were turning away, retching.

Xiuxiu stood there for a second, equally shocked that her attack had landed on Lin Yong instead of her intended target.

Xiuxiu threw aside the bloody bucket, causing more screaming and rushing as people dodged out of its way and ran.

No one stopped her; everyone stepped out of her way and let her flee towards the exit .

However Li Ying had already gotten up from the floor, and with an adrenaline-fueled surge of speed, he caught up with her.

“How many of your toes do I have to break, bitch!” Li Ying screamed with all the fury he could muster without losing his voice, and reached and got hold of Xiuxiu’s hair.

She screamed as she got caught and stopped in her tracks. Li Ying grabbed her arm, twisted it behind her back, and forced her around. She was powerless against Li Ying’s greater strength.

“Let go of me!” Xiuxiu screamed and tried to struggle free, but Li Ying fought to drag her back to the site of her offense.

There Lin Yong had finally found his faculties to strip the bloodied jacket off himself, and discarded it on the floor in disgust. Xiuxiu screamed louder, struggling in vain as she and Li Ying approached an errant puddle of blood and guts that had splashed on the floor.

“Li Ying!” Hanjun had found them and called to him while forcing his way through the crowd.

“Miss Li, please get out of there!” Hanrong came in his cousin’s tow, having joined him on the way when he had seen him running towards the source of the commotion.

“Ha!” Li Ying didn’t need to kick the back of Xiuxiu’s knees very hard to trip her to the floor. “I’m a doctor, you don’t think I haven’t seen blood before?!”

From there it was a short way to force Xiuxiu’s head down into the crimson puddle and whatever little bits lay in it. Nearby there was an entire bloodied head of a chicken, the single most intact piece of the animal that had been in that bucket.

The people around were more shocked by the moment as the events unfolded, but those among them with cooler heads had long since taken out their phones and begun filming.

“You think you could scare me?!” Li Ying hissed. “You think you could scare me with this?! ” He rubbed Xiuxiu’s face in the blood, and now she was quiet, keeping her mouth well shut while it was being dragged along the bloody carpet.

“Li Ying, enough!” Hanjun commanded and grabbed him from under his arms, and Li Ying came off nicely when Hanjun pulled him away from Xiuxiu.

Li Ying was so angry he was barely keeping his feminine voice. “How tastes your own medicine, Xiuxiu?”

“Li Ying!” Hanjun’s voice was stern. He held Li Ying stronger against himself as he dragged him away from the people, away from the cameras.

Meanwhile, Hanrong had gone first to Lin Yong’s side, offering him his handkerchief to wipe his face with, asking if he was okay, disregarding any blood he may have gotten on himself.

Security started arriving at the scene, dispersing the crowd and going to pick Xiuxiu up from the floor, where she was crawling away from all the blood, a red stain across her horrified face. The sight was truly sensational.

Hanjun made to the exit with Li Ying.

“Hurry, please, our ride is waiting!” Huang Xiang called to them from the door, beckoning with his hand. He didn’t need to ask to know it was time to get out of there, having heard the screaming and seen the security rushing in.

The models were still with him, looking alarmed. They asked Li Ying if he was alright, for sure enough, he was still wild-eyed as Hanjun led him out of the restaurant.

“I’m fine, you should see the other bitch.” Li Ying assured. “Sorry girls, I couldn’t get us the shots, haha…”

“There’s plenty of booze for you on the yacht, now move, please!” Huang Xiang held the elevator door for them and saw everyone in.

Once inside, Hanjun eyed Li Ying over. “Are you okay?”

“Of course I am, you silly melon! It was just some blood!”

“Blood?! Just what happened there?!” Huang Xiang asked, shocked, but then the elevator arrived at the lobby .

“I’ll tell you on the way,” Li Ying said as they hastened out of the main entrance, and there Huang Xiang pointed them to a minivan with the hotel logo that was standing by.

Once they were all inside the van, Huang Xiang asked again while buckling up:

“You are not injured, are you, Miss Li?”

“No. That crazy bitch Xiuxiu came at me with a bucket of blood and chicken guts!”

The men stared in quiet astonishment while the models gasped in shock and hurried to sympathize with Li Ying:

“That’s so terrible! What a crazy woman this person is?!”

“You must be so shaken!”

“Right? Like, how mad do you have to be to do something like that?”

Li Ying was fine, actually, just surprised, and his mind was still rushing with adrenaline, but he happily received their sympathies and livened up the drama in his buzz.

“But guess who she hit instead?” Li Ying suddenly realized—“Lin Yong!”—the peacock had actually saved him! “He pushed me aside and got hit.” What did you do that for, you damn fool?!

Still, Li Ying felt grateful towards Lin Yong, even if he was sure such a defacing attack had hurt the fancy-pants more than it would have hurt him.

Then again, even if Li Ying didn’t fear some gore, Huang Xiang’s and Anne’s precious dress was almost ruined.

That angered Li Ying more than the intended harm to his person, that his friends’ efforts were almost laid to waste, and for what?

Li Ying now wished he had at least broken Xiuxiu’s nose against the floor, but he had held back, so she was probably fine—physically, at least.

“What? Lin Yong?” Huang Xiang’s eyes kept getting wider with every new twist to the story. “Did you see it happen, Sir Hanjun?” Huang Xiang asked, but the man shook his head.

“I came when Li Ying was already… dealing with the situation. ”

Huang Xiang and the girls looked curiously at Li Ying, who grinned wickedly.

“I made Xiuxiu take a very close look at the mess she had made on the floor.”

Huang Xiang hid his mouth behind his hand, and his eyes couldn’t have gotten any bigger.

“What?” What did you do?” asked the other one of the models, and Li Ying gave them all a quick recap over their short drive to the port.

The two girls didn’t seem to know what to think of it while the men stayed quiet.

“I mean, she really tried something like that? I would have knocked her out!” said the other girl, still sympathetic towards Li Ying, while the other seemed rather terrified, looking warily at Li Ying like he was unhinged.

But Li Ying grinned, tossing his hair as he said: “That’s what you get for starting shit with me.”

“Duly noted,” Huang Xiang said. He looked at Hanjun, finding the man rather unfazed by the news of his fiancée having gone feral, only looking over at him with concern.

They arrived at the port where a large luxury yacht was moored, waiting for them. Sitting on the waves, the lights from its many floor-to-ceiling windows reflected on the black water, the whole thing looked like a floating modern mansion of white-painted steel.

They exited the car and were ushered aboard along a red-carpeted gangplank.

“Welcome aboard!” said a member of the crew. “Please gather in the main deck sitting room for a security briefing.” The man saw them up to the aft deck and pointed them across the pool area, lined with sunbeds and ottomans, with colorful floating lights in the pool creating atmosphere.

They entered a lounge open to the pool deck, and from there up a flight of grand spiraling stairs to enter the main deck.

There was a sitting room and a sizable balcony at the aft, overlooking the pool below.

Here the secret ‘party within a party’ was almost in full swing though they were still docked, with music playing and drinks going around.

They joined the crowd, and soon the music was toned down while the captain gave the guests a security briefing and the crew worked to undock the ship.

Li Ying took this moment to make doubly sure he didn’t have drops of blood on him somewhere. He hadn’t thought of preserving his dress when he had dived down with Xiuxiu, but it seemed he had remained pristine, all the way through his white fur shawl.

Good, or otherwise Hanjun would have had to pay for the fur and Anne would have done me in for real.

“Hanjun, check my back?” Li Ying whispered and turned around, and Hanjun made sure all was fine at the back.

“All good.”

“Phew.” Li Ying had begun coming down from his high. He hadn’t had enough booze yet, despite his best efforts, and so his thoughts caught up with him as well: Xiuxiu had indeed suffered humiliation in Li Ying’s hands before, but had it truly warranted this kind of an attack?

Tang Xiuxiu’s reputation might have taken a blow before, but now she had made sure it lay in shambles.

She might even face some charges. Li Ying wondered whether Tang Xiuxiu was truly so much more vindictive than she was smart as to take such a risk.

What had given her the incentive to act this stupid?