Strike Back, Proud Goddess!

Tang Xi went to wash up after finishing the designs for the invitation card. When she came out of the bathroom, Qiao Liang was reading some messages on his laptop screen. Seeing her come over, he turned off the laptop, and gestured for her to lie down beside him. “Have you designed the invitation card?”

Tang Xi leaned against Qiao Liang’s chest, nodded and yawned. “Sorry to make you wait for a long time. Let’s sleep. What time will you leave tomorrow?”

“Six o’clock.” Qiao Liang said and turned off the light. “Go to sleep. You may be busy during the next two days.”

Tang Xi didn’t respond. Qiao Liang looked at her only to find she had already fallen asleep. Qiao Liang kissed her on the forehead. She didn’t sleep during the flight, and had been designing the invitation card since she arrived at the hotel. She must be exhausted.

It was ten o’clock when Tang Xi woke up the next morning, and Qiao Liang was not by her side. She got up and called him. Qiao Liang answered the call very quickly. “I’ve arrived at Marseilles. Why don’t you sleep a little longer?”

Tang Xi walked to the window, took a look at the foggy sky and frowned. “I don’t want to sleep anymore. Tell me when you finish your work.”

Tang Xi didn’t hang up the call until Qiao Liang promised her that he would take care of himself repeatedly. She was still worried about him after washing up, so she went to ask Little Six about Qiao Liang’s schedule today. Little Six’s answer was exactly the same with what Qiao Liang told her. She frowned but didn’t want to disturb Qiao Liang again, so she had to give up.

After breakfast, Tang Xi worked out for an hour and called Chu Ling. The latter was in the factory, and Tang Xi asked him to send her his location, so that Little Six could send her over. After she reached the factory, Chu Ling asked her, “Why didn’t you sleep for a bit longer? There aren’t many jobs for us to do today. You can take a rest today. We’ll go to see the show field tomorrow.”

Tang Xi stood to watch those craftsman sewing clothes. Then she frowned and asked Chu Ling, “Are we running out of cloth? Why don’t we let our designers make the clothes they designed and have the workers here as back-up. Is there enough time?”

“No.” Chu Ling looked at Tang Xi and said seriously, “That’s why you can’t make the clothes yourselves. There is too little time for you designers to make clothes. The craftsmen in the factory are very experienced and they can handle it. You can rest assured.”

Tang Xi nodded. She suddenly thought that one of the men’s clothes she designed had an embroidered design on it, so she asked, “How are they going to make that embroidery?”

“I’ll make it if it’s okay.” Tang Xi said, “Westerners don’t know much about the traditional oriental embroidery. I think I know more about it than they do. Let me do it.”

Seeing Tang Xi insist on the matter, Chu Ling nodded in agreement. Then he asked someone to bring the embroidery tools over. Tang Xi sat aside and began to make the embroidery. However, after she made merely a few stitches, the needle pierced her finger and left a spot of blood on the white cloth. She frowned,put the finger into her mouth and gently sucked it. Chu Ling looked at Tang Xi with a frown, asking, “Are you alright?”

Tang Xi shook her head, saying, “I don’t feel right today. Maybe that’s because Qiao Liang who seldom leaves me is not around. Now I feel even more agitated seeing my finger pierced.”

Chu Ling frowned. “Qiao Liang went to Provence? Marseilles?”

Tang Xi asked with a frown, “Why do you know this?”

“Don’t you know that there’s been a lot of fighting going on over there lately among the local gangsters?” Chu Ling pursed his lips, took out his cell phone and threw it to Tang Xi, “I think you should know the other identity of Qiao Liang. Since he has come here, he would surely go there to have a look. You and Qiao Liang just came to know each other a few months ago and you two have already experienced telepathy? You can sense that he will be in danger?”

Tang Xi looked down at the news, frowned and returned the phone to Chu Ling, saying anxiously, “Do the local gangsters have anything to do with Qiao Liang? Why did they go there?”

“Don’t you know?” Chu Ling took a look around and lowered his voice. “Qiao Liang had signed an agreement with the governor of Provence. As a condition of Long Xiao’s entrance to Provence, they will suppress the local gangs, protect the citizens from being harassed by those gangs and suppress the riots caused by the gangs.

Tang Xi frowned in worry. Chu Ling smiled and said, “But they get a good reward for doing this. Now all the diamond trade in Provence is under their control, and Long Xiao has obtained some diamond mines there. These are invaluable once the diamonds are mined. They won’t lose anything to suppress the local gangs. Besides, it’s as easy as pie for Long Xiao to deal with the local gangs.”

Tang Xi took a look at Chu Ling. “You really know Qiao Liang well, even better than me.”

Chu Ling raised his eyebrows. “Know the enemy and know yourself, and you’ll never lose a battle. But currently he is not my enemy. He is a nice guy, although sometimes he can be really annoying. Besides, I won’t kill your boyfriend, because you saved my life.”

Tang Xi’s face darkened and she looked at Chu Ling with a straight face. “I don’t think it’s because of me. You just don’t dare to kill him.” With that, she threw the stuff in her hand onto the table, saying, “I’ll leave this to you. I remember many of your previous works have beautiful embroidery on them. I believe you won’t let me down. I have to go now.”

“Hey, where are you going?” Chu Ling looked at Tang Xi’s back and asked with a faint smile, “Are you going to Provence? Marseilles is so big. What can you do even if you reach there? There is a riot going on right now. It won’t help even if you go there.

Tang Xi turned around and glared at Chu Ling, saying frowning, “If it’s okay, let’s go to see the show field this afternoon.” She paused and then said, “After all, you have nothing to do now.”

Chu Ling looked casually at Tang Xi and smiled. “Alright.”

Tang Xi turned to walk out, and took out her cell phone to call Qiao Liang as she walked. Chu Ling looked at her receding figure and shook his head with a smile. “Everyone can tell you are worried about him. Why did you still pretend not to care about him? What a cute girl.”

Qiao Liang didn’t answer the call. Tang Xi’s heart was beating even faster. She hung up the call and called again, but Qiao Liang still didn’t answer the call. Tang Xi grew agitated. Did something bad happen to him? Was he in trouble? Or did he run into outlaws?