Chapter 32

"Hello, Auntie? What's the matter?"

On the other side of the line, Mi-kyung seemed to have difficulty trying to speak her mind, she hesitated for a moment before saying, "Young Master, I accidentally slipped and fell, spraining my ankle in the process and now I can't drive."

Mi-kyung may not be 50 years old yet, but the passing of time spares nobody. Lisa anxiously asked, "Is it serious? How about I go home now to drive you to the hospital?"

"Don't, going to the hospital isn't needed for a small matter like this, I just need to rest for a day or two. However, I was just about to send Miss some things, and have no way of sending it now, so..."

Lisa relaxed, she was afraid that something bad had happened, "I'm going home now, a small matter like this should be done by me in the first place."

Mi-kyung happily replied, "Actually something like this shouldn't be sent by you, Young Master. But Miss has few friends, and most of them don't have spare time to do something like this. I'm also too embarrassed to trouble Miss Jennie and Secretary Inna again, they're extremely busy with work, which is why I have no choice but to trouble you to do this, Young Master."

"It's alright, I'll come back now."

Lisa hung up the phone, and saw Rose deeply staring at her, while also looking a little resentful.

"Erm...... I got to go." Lisa rubbed her chin and said while averting her gaze.

"As expected, the mistress isn't as important as the wife." Rose sighed with an aggrieved tone and said, "Go on, I won't be angry."

"You are truly obedient." Lisa laughed, and moved up to kiss that white and tender face, "Do you want me to come over later tonight?"

Rose shook her head, "You don't need to, I will be very busy for the next few days, after all I'm not familiar enough with the situation regarding Dongxing, and have to make a lot of preparations."

Lisa understandingly nodded, and was about to open the door, when she heard Rose behind her abruptly utter one line-- "Is that CEO of yours really prettier than me?"

Lisa's knees turned weak, she nearly stumbled head-first into the door, she turned back with a forced smile, "So you know everything now......"

-------

With a bitter smile, Lisa left ROSE bar. She worried over whether an internal battle among her harem would occur in the future, like those shown on TV, the ladies stab at each other, and after that gone insane.

She shook her head to get rid of all those irrelevant notions in her mind, it was just a joke that could never happen. With Jieun's cold countenance, she probably didn't even care whether she had a relationship with other women.

She speedily drove back to the villa at Dragon Garden, and Auntie Mi-kyung was already waiting at the door carrying a large Estee Lauder paper bag in her hands. The opening of the paper bag was tightly sealed, in order to conceal the things inside.

Lisa didn't mind that, and after she received the paper bag, she looked at Auntie Mi-kyung's leg with concern, "Are you able to walk? Why were you so careless?"

Auntie Mi-kyung was very gratified as she shook her head, "Thank you for your care Young Master, I just fell due to carelessness, it's not the first time. It's better that you quickly send this to Miss, I'm afraid Miss will feel unwell if you're late."

"Unwell?" Although Lisa was curious as to why she would feel unwell if she received something late, she didn't ask, and turned to leave the villa.

20 minutes later, Lisa was right outside Jieun's room. After she confirmed that there was no one else inside, she entered.

Jieun leaned against her bed, and her hair was casually draped over her shoulders. The lights illuminated her rosy cheeks, and she appeared attractive and lovely.

At that moment, she held a book and was absorbed in reading. When she noticed Lisa enter, she unexpectedly gave a slight nod.

Is this considered a greeting?

Lisa felt a little weird, because Jieun always treated her coldly and indifferently in the past, this was the first time she greeted her while they were alone.

"I'm here to send you something, Auntie sprained her ankle, so it isn't convenient for her to come." Lisa placed the paper bag onto the cabinet, and sat on a stool at the side and asked, "How is your recovery going? Recuperating via Chinese medicine should be effective, right?"

Jieun put down her book, and took out her hand from under the blanket to rub her eyes, "It's alright, it actually doesn't need to be so long, so much work is being held up."

"Working all year round, signing documents and reading finance books even when in the hospital, aren't you tired? You shouldn't treat yourself so badly." Lisa felt that she should give this female workaholic a lesson, "You're still young, don't always lock yourself up in the office. When you have time you should go have a massage, spa, soak in a hot spring, or have a milk bath. Find a sunny day to chat with your friends, and drink black tea in the afternoon. When the weather is hot go to the ice cream shop to have a chocolate shortcake ice cream, and when the weather is cold go to a tropical area to bask in the sun and have a holiday. When there's nothing better to do after work you can go to the shopping street to have a stroll, walking by without buying a thing, and only trying out items; isn't that what a normal women love to do the most? Also, the cars in your garage are enough to open a car show, you should race with them too, and if nobody accompanies you in racing, I will! But you'd have to reimburse the fuel expenses."

Jieun remained indifferent, after hearing these words, she instead pointed at the bag to ask, "What did you bring?"

"Can you not be like this, I provided you with so many great suggestions, did you hear a thing?!" Lisa felt that Jieun had a very bad attitude.

Jieun slowly sighed, and asked with a clear voice, "If I don't work hard, what would happen to the thousands of workers in the company? What would happen to the employees' innumerable family members? What would happen to the Lee family's properties left behind by my grandma and mother? What would I do? Will you support me?"

"Erm......"

The sudden chain of problematic issues made Lisa feel a little numb in the head, the words "will you support me," were those words that Jieun knew how to say?

"Is this an 'interrogative sentence' or a 'declarative sentence'?" With an embarrassed smile, Lisa returned to her senses, and carefully asked with much consideration.

Jieun looked at Lisa who had a 'timid expression' with some disappointment, she felt that the words she said was quite funny, how could Lisa support her? How could she let a person who used to sell mutton skewers, who plays games all day in the office, without any goals in life to share her responsibility? Jieun began to think that she was having a fever.

Could it be because of that box of glutinous rice balls Lisa sent me, which made me become hopeful for her?

Jieun didn't plan on lingering on this subject, and didn't reply Lisa. She moved her hand to lift the paper bag on top the cabinet, but because the bag was pretty big, it was strenuous for Jieun to pick it up from the bed, and so she thought she might as well flip it over, and pour whatever that was inside onto the bed.

A bunch of things rolled out from the inside, without even mentioning the colors of it, if these things appeared in any room, the temperature of said room would raise by a few degrees in a flash.

So that's why Auntie Mi-kyung kept hesitating over whether to let Lisa bring these over or not, inside the paper bag was actually all kinds of undergarments. There were panties, bras, and stockings. There weren't only various colors of lace designs, there were even brazen open-hole designs, and thong designs.

If it was said that these sexy underwear made Lisa's nose turn hot, then Jieun's other undergarments which had a totally different style seemed extremely 'frightening' to her.

The hello Kitty, Snoopy, Winnie the Pooh, and various other cartoon-printed white and pink panties were enough to make Lisa's eyes fall to the ground!

What was worse was, within these undergarments, there were even 4 boxes of well-packaged imported tampons. It seemed like they were all top grade feminine hygiene products that Jieun was accustomed to, which was why it had to be specially brought from home.

Lisa finally understood what Auntie Mi-kuung meant by 'unwell', as it turns out, her lord wife's "few days out of every month" had come.

In her mind their encounter on that night at the nightclub surfaced, along with the series of twists and turns after that. Once she thought about Jieun's seductive figure with these garments on, Lisa found it difficult to suppress her evil thoughts, she looked at Jieun who lost her head out of fear with a heated gaze.

"You're not allowed to look!" Jieun finally lost her calm, and forcefully flipped her blanket to cover her personal belongings under it. That soft pretty face turned from one belonging to an ice-cold Goddess to a bright red apple in a split second.

I was careless! Once she thought about how Lisa had seen her hoard of sexy underwear that she had secretly bought, along with the underwear with cartoon character prints she liked, Jieun felt like dying!

Auntie Mi-kyung is too much, she didn't even inform me before having these things sent. Furthermore, why didn't she just bring some ordinary undergarments, if she did that I wouldn't be so humiliated!

If Auntie Mi-kyung knew about the thoughts in Jieun's heart at this moment, she definitely wouldn't know whether to laugh or to cry. It wasn't that she didn't want to bring ordinary ones, the problem was that she truly couldn't find a pair of ordinary ones in Jieun's room!

[Cough] Lisa feigned an indifferent face, "Erm, the stuff has been delivered, I think I should go now, rest early."

"Y-Yep." Jieun replied with a thin mosquito-like voice, she wished that she could just throw Lisa out of the window.

Lisa moved to the door with great difficulty, and couldn't resist turning back to say, "That pink pair of Mickey Mouse panties is pretty good, I like it."

"......"

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Out of the hospital and in the car, Lisa still found it difficult to forget Jieun's expression at the end, that fuming, moist and wide open eyes, and that 'I want to kill you' look, were so much prettier than her default cold appearance.

After knowing her for some time, she felt that this woman was truly cute sometimes. She was previously cold and noble like an empress, yet Lisa gradually realized some things. She liked to watch those romantic tear-jerking Japanese and Korean dramas, liked to eat glutinous rice balls which is usually well-liked by children, and even eats it by holding it with two hands and slowly nibbling at it. Today, she realized that she didn't just wear erotic undergarments, which was contrary to her usual conservative style, she also wore cartoon-styled undergarments for little girls.

Unknowingly, Lisa recalled the little details of their days together. The car had already moved quite a long distance, and when she returned to her senses, Lisa was astonished when she realized that she had subconsciously driven the car to a place worth reminiscing-- The small bar where she had first met Jieun.

Since it is a work day, Lisa directly drove to Lee International after leaving the house. As an outstanding employee who loved her job, Lisa felt that she still had to persist in playing computer games till it was time to get off work.

The moment she entered the Public Relations office, countless grudgeful and discontented eyes shot over, giving Lisa goosebumps, this is because she failed to buy breakfast for everyone.

“Good morning beauties.” Lisa stiffly smiled and greeted. She stood by the door like a machine lacking lubricant.

Lisa smiled while shaking her head, then turned on her computer to begin her gaming life.

-------

As usual, lunch was held at Lee International’s staff canteen, and it was as usual with the three women.

After giving some of their food to Lisa, they basically watched her wolf it down, and didn’t eat much themselves. Most of the time they chatted over cosmetics and fashion problems, they always have things things they could chat about to no end, especially women who worked in the fashion industry.

At this time, Lia suddenly threw a question, “Geez, the Autumn Fashion Show is coming soon, do you guys think our CEO will be discharged and host it when it comes?”

“It should be fine.” Yuna pondered, “It’s nearly half a month away, isn’t the CEO going through recuperation? It should be ending soon.”

“If the CEO isn’t here when the time comes, this year’s fashion show would definitely lack many heavyweights.” Yeji said with concern, she then turned to look at Lisa who was still engrossed in devouring the food, “Lis, whether it’s good or bad, you’re still an employee of the company, can’t you care a little about what’s going on in the company?”

What would my concern even do? Lisa secretly thought, and licked away the grains of rice at the corner of her mouth. With a smile she said, “It’s not like I’m a doctor, even if I care about Boss Lord I can’t help her discharge early.”

“Heartless.” Lia cutely stuck out her tongue, “Your wife is really pitiful to have a someone like you.”

Lisa indifferently smiled, she knew that they were joking, otherwise they wouldn’t be eating with her. But she thought in her heart that next week was indeed time for Jieun to be discharged, and there were many matters she should discuss with her.

I’m too lazy to think about these things.

Lisa shook her head and planned to continue eating, but from the corner of her eyes she noticed Jennie, who she hadn’t seen for days enter the canteen. By her side is secretary Inna. Following behind the two ladies were a bunch of men and women who looked like elites just from a glance.

Jennie wore a fashionable slightly translucent shirt, a black vest, a coffee-colored flared trousers that was a throwback, and a pair of cowboy-style boots. Her graceful figure received an unruly sense of beauty from the clothes, yet didn’t lack any charm. The moment she entered the canteen, quite a number of male employees were secretly staring at her.

However, there was exhaustion on Jennie's bright and beautiful face. Her brows seemed stiff as she chatted with Inna, as if she had problems she couldn’t solve.

“Ms. Jennie has been really pitiful recently, she’s busy with the PR department’s matters yet she still needs to take responsibility for the CEO’s work.” Lia softly said, “Having meetings every day, and coming down for lunch only when we’re just about done.”

“What other way is there? Ms. Jieun trusts Ms. Jennie the most. Moreover, more work is always given to those capable, and Ms. Jennie in the past few years increased the profits in the PR Department by multifold. I reckon that when Boss returns, Ms. Jennie would definitely receive a promotion, the bunch at the board of directors are already convinced by her ability.” Yuna said with admiration.

When the two married women said these, they abruptly turned to look at Yeji who remained silent with a tranquil smile.

Yeji looked at the two oddly, “What are you guys staring at me like that for?”

Lia chuckled, “Yeji, once Ms. Jennie receives a promotion and becomes the vice-chairman, CEO’s assistant or whatever position, the prime candidate for our next PR Department Head would be you, right?”

“What are you drivelling on for!” Yeji stretched her arm to pinch Lia's soft cheek, and said with a smile, “Such a thing cannot be randomly said.”

“But it’s true.” Yuna approved of Lia's opinion, “Your performance has been number one in our department for the last few years, they can’t possibly let an outsider be the Department Head, can they? We all support you, Yeji!”

Seeing Yeji's happy and bashful look, Lisa couldn’t help but say, “You guys make it sound like you’re members of the board of directors, as if it’d be whoever just because you say it.”

“Shut up! Eat!” The three women spoke in unison.

“How can I eat with my mouth shut……” Mumbled Lisa, and she no longer bothered to say anymore.

Right at this time, Jennie who just walked past the four suddenly had her phone vibrate. After she picked up the phone, her expression slightly changed, she simply made some “mm” agreeing sounds then ended the call, left some words for Inna and the others, then prepared to leave.

When she turned, she just happened to notice Lisa who was in the middle of raking in food. Jennie hesitated for a moment, then walked to Lisa's side and said, “Lisa, come with me somewhere to settle a small matter.”

“Ah? But I’m in the middle of my meal.”

“It doesn’t matter as long as you don’t starve to death, this is an order!” Jennie glared at her, this fella still had such an indolent appearance, she felt angry just by looking at her.

Lisa felt helpless, if Jennie was just her superior she wouldn’t really care, but they were friends in private after all, so it wasn’t good if she rejected her. She stood up very slowly, “Alright then, but if I’m hungry later you’d have to treat me to a meal.”

Everytime she goes out with Jennie, it would be to some weird place.

The first time was to a hoodlum company, the second was a roadside stall with spicy food. This time was the third, and Lisa was mentally prepared, but when they arrived at their destination, she was still stunned.

“Zhong Nan Engineering Construction Corporation” It was a company, but the place that they were at wasn’t where the company itself was located, it was instead a construction site handled by that company.

The brown steel beams, ash gray cement, and various types of rock fragments were at the side. The air was dusty, causing the area to look hazy under the sunlight.

The surroundings were filled with construction workers wearing yellow helmets; many of them were working topless, exposing their bronze muscles. Their thick sweat also made their trousers wet, and their faces were all muddy and dusty. You would think that they were crying when they smiled at you.

People often say that the city is built on the peasants’ sweat, but why don’t they say that the skyscrapers are built on the construction workers’ sweat?

“Erm, Miss Jennie, are you sure we’re at the right place?” Lisa looked at Jennie who was in a beautiful attire carefully walking on the bumpy road, and doubted her heels would last much longer.

Jennie rubbed away the sweat on her forehead, and unhappily said, “I asked you to follow me, stop talking.”

Lisa leisurely smiled, she didn’t take those words to heart.

Jennie ignored her, and continued to walk forward. She approached a middle-aged foreman wearing a blue Zhong Nan Corporation uniform who was directing the workers to transport the cement.

“Hello sir, may I ask where the office for this construction site is?” Jennie politely asked.

The foreman looked at her astonished, he was puzzled as to why such a pretty girl would come to this filthy construction site, and even look for their office. He guessed that she was an employee of one of the government’s departments, so he welcomed her with a smile and straightforwardly told Jennie where their office was located.

The so called ‘office’ was a temporary shelter, but a large construction company like this naturally had decent facilities. Other than it being a little empty inside, it wasn’t much different from a real office, there was air conditioning and a TV.

There was only a single large wooden table in the office, a fat middle-aged man who wore the gray suit of an inferior brand was currently in the middle of an argument on the phone in a different dialect. When he noticed Jennie and Lisa enter, he was first startled by Jennie's good figure, then looked at the two like he just thought of something.

He quickly put down the phone. Afterwards, the fat man revealed what seemed to be a candid smile, went up to Jennie and stretched out his hand, “May I know, how can I help you, Miss?”

Jennie ignored the man’s hand in a natural manner, and indifferently said, “Where’s Mr. Kim? I’m here to pick him up.”

The fatty didn’t get a handshake, but didn’t feel awkward by it, when he heard the name he squinted his eyes, to the point it was almost invisible, “You are his daughter?”

Jennie creased her eyebrows, but still nodded, “Yes.”

Lisa who stood behind looked at this scene with curiosity, she never thought that Jennie's father would be here, and it seemed as if something bad had happened. She remembered that a while ago, Jennie said that her father was dead, which meant that this Mr. Kim was likely her stepfather.

Lisa didn’t breathe a word, and quietly watched. She leisurely lit up her cigarette and smoked in silence.

“Did you bring the money?” It was as if the fatty changed faces, as he now looked at Jennie haughtily, as if he became superior to her in an instant.

Jennie taciturnly reached into her small handbag and took out a bunch of red notes, it was obviously no small amount with a glance, and she said, “This is five thousand Huaxia dollars, release him.”

“Five thousand?” The fatty laughed out loud, “Five thousand was the amount earlier, from the time your gambling addict of a father called you till now, quite some time has passed, and it’s now more than five thousand!”

“What!?” Jennie's expression turned ugly. She forcibly resisted her anger and asked, “He lost again!?”

The fatty snorted several times, held a long cigarette in his mouth, and pointed at the room next door, “You should go in to take a look yourself, and see how much he lost.”

Jennie turned and left the office like the wind, walked to the neighboring room, and fiercely opened the door.

A pungent scent of smoke and alcohol came out from the room, Jennie immediately choked and coughed twice from this disgusting smell. She now was able to see the state of the room.

There was only several tables and benches in this room. On the table were messy poker cards, pai gow, and mahjong tiles. The cement floor was covered with cigarette butts and empty beer bottles. Two swaying incandescent light bulbs illuminated the room with a faint light.

At this moment, there were eight men in leisure clothing surrounding the largest table in the room, and there were two men, one at each end of the table.

A long faced man wore an unbuttoned white shirt, with combed up hair and a cigarette in his mouth and rested one leg on the bench, looking very relaxed.

On his opposite side, the other figure was trembling, he wore a yellow short-sleeved shirt, with a dejected expression. The corners of his eyes and his forehead had many wrinkles, while his face was so skinny that his cheeks looked as if they were protruding.

The people in the room noticed the door was being opened and turned to look over. When they realized the one opening the door was a lovely lady, their eyes were all shining.

Only the scrawny middle-aged man with dispirited eyes revealed incredible happiness when he saw Jennie, as if he was being pulled out of the mud and into the clouds.

He immediately rushed towards her, and grabbed her shoulders with force, “Jennie! Quickly give me money! Quickly give me money! I want to play again!! Quickly give it to me!!!”

Jennie felt pain from having her shoulders grabbed, but didn’t struggle free of it. With red eyes, she said with a grieved smile, “How much money do you want?”

“Give me everything you have! I want to win back my lost!!” The man yelled, as if he had injected stimulants into him.

At this moment the other men all understood what was going on, the man with combed up hair maliciously smiled and said, “Little girl, you should be Mr. Kim's so-called daughter. Your father still owes me, a twenty thousand gambling debt, you should pay up for him before letting him gamble with me again.”

Mr. Kim's face flushed in anger, he turned back and shouted, “Don’t be complacent! I will gamble with you again after I take the money! When the time comes you’ll owe me twenty thousand!”

“Twenty thousand……” Jennie's face turned pale, she looked at the deranged Mr. Kim from the back and said, “In a mere half an hour, your losses turned from five thousand to twenty thousand? Do you know what you’re doing!?”

“I……” Mr. Kim turned back, and saw that Jennie was already misty-eyed. He finally realized that something was off, so he clenched his teeth to muster up his courage and said, “I slipped up for a moment earlier, don’t worry about this, I will swiftly win it all back!”

“Slipped up for a moment? Has the time you spent slipping up been short? How many years has it been? How much money have I given to you?! Do you know that all that money would be enough to buy a flat in Zhong Hai!?” Jennie finally couldn’t resist lashing out at him.

Mr. Kim wanted to get angry, but thinking about how he had no money, and still needed to rely on his nominal daughter, he could appear meek and subservient with a smile, “Jennie, you can’t say such a thing, people always have their unlucky times. You shouldn’t cry, it’s useless even if you cried! If the money is gone, then we just need to win it back!”

“You told me that you came to Zhong Hai to work! You told me you came to the construction site to be a cement maker! But not a single day has passed and you’ve already started gambling!!”

Mr. Kim was reprimanded without any words to refute, and had no choice but to raise his voice, “Shut up! Quickly take out the money!!”

“I’m not giving it! Even if I gave it to you, you would use it to gamble, you can take care of this yourself!”

Jennie was raging, she shook Mr. Kim off, and turned around to leave.

Mr. Kim panicked, he violently pulled on Jennie's hand, then began to snath her handbag, and frantically shouted, “Quickly give it to me!”

“You! Let go of me!!” Jennie was after all a woman, how could she possibly compete with a man in terms of physical strength? The handbag in her hands slowly inched away from her, and she was nearly unable to hold on to it.

The men in the room watched this scene, and all laughed out loud, rejoicing in watching others’ misfortune.

“Mr. Kim you’re truly incapable, even your daughter won’t listen to you!”

“Even your daughter refuses to save you, you deserved it you old gambling addict! Haha…….”

Mr. Kim's fury went up a level, he lost money and lost face, he immediately became hot-headed, he raised his hand and was about to give Jennie a slap!

Jennie also realized that Mr. Kim wanted to slap her, but she refused to let go of the bag, so she could only lean her head to a side in an attempt to dodge this slap. Terrified, she closed her eyes, with a face of pain and grievance.

Right at this moment, Mr. Kim's arm couldn’t swing, as it was caught in mid-air, and he found it difficult to move an inch forward.

“Hey, it’s not like your daughter took your money, what are you beating your daughter for?” Lisa stood by Jennie's side, it was unknown when she moved to stop Mr. Kim's action.

Mr. Kim was stunned, he panted heavily and asked, “Who are you?”

“None of your business, what’s important is that you can’t hit her, and you can’t snatch away her money.” Said Lisa.

“This is a family matter, I want to take money from my daughter, what does it have to do with you!? On what basis can’t I hit her when she’s my daughter!?” Mr. Kim arrogantly yelled.

“You’re so powerful, why don’t you fight with that bunch? Furthermore, according to what I know Jennie isn’t actually your daughter, you’re merely her father in name, don’t be so arrogant.” Lisa coldly spoke, and exerted some strength into the hand she used to grab Mr. Kim with, and with a push she caused him to retreat several steps.

Jennie who was prepared to receive a hit earlier now raised her head, what she saw was Lisa standing in front of her. This figure whose back wasn’t considered broad allowed her make a sigh of relief, she felt warmth in her heart.

However, when she thought about this stepfather of hers who gambled like it was his second nature, had been so boorish to her and even wanted to beat her, Jennie felt grief. She felt as if her heart was bitten by countless ants, and the accumulated ill treatment from the past overflowed, she couldn’t restrain herself from sobbing.

Lisa looked at this woman who was sobbing without a word, and could only wipe her tears. She finally understood why Jennie dragged her here with her; this was a battle that no woman would dare fight alone!

*******