QT: Against My Will

283 5.26 – Shrimp Dumpling – The Sleepless Elite’s Wife

Bing Shi’s poor acting skills might fail before the screens, but her puppy eyes always worked on her husband very well.

“No! These men are from the Mafia! Mum will be in danger! I wanted to have dinner with you as a family, at least once before I leave.” Quickly avoiding her father’s touch, Bing Shi ran to open the door for her mother, attempting to shed a few tears unsuccessfully, she sniffed in her nonexistent snots, “Mom, I’m sor...”

“You! I had to bear you for nine months! And this is how you repay me?” Her mother didn’t buy the act and raised her hand to beat up the ungrateful daughter. She couldn’t leave the front door without her purse and shoes! The neighbors had been looking at her as if she was crazy!

Her father stood before Silika in protection and led her mother to sit behind the table, “Dear, we cooked dinner for you. They are all your favorites. Silka made these dumplings. They are very good...”

Once a woman was unsatisfied with her man, she would find fault in every little thing. Her mother refused to move from her spot, “Humpf! You two ganged up on me! I’m confiscating both of your cards!”

Her father looked at his wife guiltily as he seated his wife behind the table filled with food, “Dear, my restaurants aren’t doing well right now. You’ll have to sell your purses, and help me out in the kitchen. We’re moving into the storage room behind the restaurant. This apartment is going for sale.”

A dragon was summoned. Her mother blew up from the rage, but her father didn’t back down. He couldn’t receive his wife’s love, but at least let his daughter receive some.

“I’m full,” Bing Shi stood up from her seat and wrapped Silika’s favorite dish, the shrimp dumplings. It would be a waste if they got destroyed.

· · — · ???· — · ·

.....

Walking back to her room, Bing Shi watched the man who appeared out of thin air and jumped on his back. Her lips touching his ear, she used her flirtatious voice, like a lover’s whisper, “Well, hello there, my spooky man.”

“Behave,” Lu Kai carried the giggling girl on his back, an electric spark traveled from his ear down his spine. She lived with a man like Xuan Mu, of course, she would pick up a few of his manners. Her words carried a certain amount of power that could influence one’s senses, the impact only intensified after her last three missions. He stared at the posters around Silika’s room with the same man on all of them, “Where are my dumplings?”

“Here,” Bing Shi placed an ugly yet tasty dumpling into his mouth while glancing at Silika’s half-naked idol on the walls, the second male lead of this world, “There’s an audition for his MV next week. I’m going to give it a try.”

“Good luck,” Lu Kai swallowed the shrimp dumpling greedily, asking for a whole plate, he put it inside the space under ‘Bing Shi’s dumplings’ tag. Bing Shi’s food was his favorite collection. It looked hilariously funny; especially her first tries; for four years it never failed to make him laugh; it was too precious to eat. He didn’t like that her father got an opportunity to sample one of the rarest things in the universe (according to Xuan Mu). He became gloomy and sulky the moment he got to know that someone else got to eat her food first, “Could you make me a horse-shaped meat bun next?”

“Horse shaped?” Getting off his shoulder, Bing Shi tried to recollect if she ever made a horse-shaped meat bun. It had to be that one where she didn’t want to spend hours shaping the dough into little balls and instead made only a few huge doughs of various flat shapes, “Alright. I’ll do it this weekend, but don’t blame me if it turns into a bear.”

“I won’t,” Lu Kai kissed both of her cheeks; getting to touch her, his mood improved slowly bit by bit, “Could I have a special bento box for my lunch break also? I ran out.”

“Mm, give me the empty boxes,” Bing Shi sat on her bed and began to look up things about auditions and auditors, dos and don’t, “I’ll stock them up for you tomorrow. How was work?”

“I couldn’t focus. I think about you all day.” Lu Kai laid on her lap. He hooked his arm around her waist. Maybe she wouldn’t get out of her way to cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner for him like a duty-full wife every day, but he could selfishly ask for things, and she would always find time for him, despite her busy schedule. His feelings from hundreds of years ago still stayed fresh, including the worst ones. He was unable to forget. He could love too much but also hate too much. With Bing Shi, he could barely think about anything else.

Bing Shi giggled, “You’re still in a honeymoon phase. Once you get fed up with me, you won’t even remember that you have a wife.”

“I can’t wait for that day to come. Because of you, I’ve been neglecting my baby too much,” he mumbled under his nose, “Ouch!”

Bing Shi squeezed his ear, “You dare to forget me again?”

“So I could end up in a honeymoon phase again?” Lu Kai blinked his eyes at her, “I dare. Ouch, ouch, ouch... It’s your fault, you started it first. You said I would get fed up with you. How dare you...ouch, Bing Shi!”

“Because it’s true.” Bing Shi tried to get out of his clutches. He was squeezing her waist like a wrestler, “After you get enough of me, you’ll be able to focus on other things; things you never knew you could enjoy.”

*knock*

*knock*

*knock*

*knock*

“Open the door!” her mother ordered in a shrill tone.

“That’s because I’m giving you some space. Despite my laughs and crooked smiles during other activities... It’s you I’m always missing.” Lu Kai didn’t loosen his hold. She wasn’t lying. She taught him how love worked, so he wouldn’t make a grave mistake. His sick obsession would scare her away. He would suffocate her if he gave all of it at once. “Don’t go out, please.”

*knock*

*knock*

*knock*

*knock*

“You useless wrench! What did you get yourself into?!?! Get out here! I’m selling all your organs!” A woman shouting could be heard outside, “Everything you do is creating problems all day! I should have never given birth to you! Now you ruined everything!”

Her father slapped his wife for the first time, “She’s your daughter! This would never happen if you acted like a proper mother!”

“Did you just hit me?!” Her mother shrieked out as she ran away in tears, “What did I do to suffer this life?! My husband is a rapist, and my daughter got entangled with the mafia! I should just kill myself and end my life!”

*knock*

*knock*

“I gave away one dumpling... One dumpling, and see how you’re behaving,” Bing Shi sighed helplessly, dragging the big clamp towards the door with her, she spoke through the door, “Dad, I’m tired.”

“I’ll take care of your mum. Don’t worry and take a good rest.” Her father went out to chase after his wife. His wife refused to divorce him and ran away to her friend’s house.

“Only because it’s one dumpling that I’m still holding back,” Lu Kai muttered, marveling at his wife’s strength as she dragged his whole body to the bed.

“Really? Same here.” Bing Shi wasn’t bothered by his childish tantrum. It meant the situation wasn’t as bad and he would calm down relatively quickly, “You’re behaving like a kid who got his food stolen.”

“Mm,” Lu Kai didn’t refute, “If I behaved like an adult man who got his food stolen, I’d be sleeping outside with my ear ripped off.”

“...” Bing Shi held in her laughter, shuffling through his hair, she caressed his head that was on her lap. She forgave his unreasonable behavior immediately. She was a sucker for good boys. He wasn’t forceful, oppressive, or violent. Yes, he was unreasonably jealous and controlling, but his smarty-pants side made her want to squeeze and kiss his cheeks. Many times she would oblige to his whims, just because she found this side of him too cute!

And so, they spent the whole night on her bed; Bing Shi looking up things; Lu Kai enjoying his lap pillow, “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your parents? If I paid off yours and your father’s debts, I’m sure the whole family would make up pretty quickly, especially your mother.”

“I’m not dropping a prince charming bomb on them.”

“Not even your father?” he asked. Her hard-working father stayed on her side the whole time.

Bing Shi looked down, “If you appeared, his standing in the family would drop even lower. Let those two suffer a little bit longer, together... until they pay off my debts. It’s not like the original Silika could pay off the debt either.”

“What a bad girl,” he pursed his lips, asking for a kiss.

She leaned down, kissing him obediently, “I’m trying to stay in the character.”

Turning around, face down on her lap, Lu Kai let Bing Shi focus on her mission. Totally smitten by his wife, he couldn’t get rid of the boyish grin on his face. He thought how their relationship was like a gold mine compared to some couples out there.