Sleepless Spring Tide - 2
Freud
Yi Siling was completely baffled. She watched the man's retreating back disappear through the restaurant doors, and only after he was gone did the delayed sting of irritation finally hit her.
Never in her entire life had anyone treated her with such cold indifference.
She shoved the lipstick into her handbag with more force than necessary.
Yi Leling happened to return just then and caught the tail end of it. She had no idea what had happened, only that some man had picked up Yi Siling's lipstick for her.
She said, “That handsome guy just now had quite a presence. He's exactly your type.”
Yi Siling deliberately played dumb. “Handsome guy? Who?”
“The one who picked up your lipstick.”
“Oh…” Yi Siling drew the word out lazily, then pronounced judgment. “Pretty ordinary.”
Yi Leling deliberately teased her. “Don't tell me he wasn't dazzled by your beauty, so now you're putting him down out of spite?”
Yi Siling's face went scarlet. “Second Sister, you're being awful today. How dare you took an outsider's side against me!"
Yi Leling clasped her hands above her head in surrender, begging for mercy. It took ten full minutes of coaxing, plus a promise to help Yi Siling get the ruby she had lost out on at the auction, before Yi Siling grudgingly let it go.
After lunch, the sisters parted ways. One headed to the group's headquarters for work, while the other went downstairs to put in an appearance at the hotel.
The Yi family had interests across countless industries, with real estate, shipping, gold and jewelry, and hotels forming its four major pillars. Of the family's ten hotels, Star Summit was the very first one Yi Kunshan had founded, and therefore the most sentimental to him. That was why he'd given it to his eldest daughter for her eighteenth birthday.
Most wealthy fathers gave their daughters jewelry, designer clothes, luxury cars, or watches. Yi Kunshan handed over his daughter a five-star luxury hotel. The gift made Yi Siling the talk of their social circle overnight, and countless young heiresses envied her, though not merely because of the hotel itself.
Yi Kunshan was something of an oddity among the wealthy. He had no son, no tangled web of mistresses or illegitimate children, only four daughters, each one cherished like the apple of his eye. Yi Siling was the eldest, and the sheer amount of indulgence she received was beyond the imagination of girls who had to share their fathers' affection with a whole battalion of legitimate and illegitimate brothers.
The hotel had employed a professional management team for its day-to-day operations, Yi Siling didn't come often. She had plenty of her own affairs to attend to.
Every year, she received hundreds of invitations from major brands, magazines, clubs, social organizations, and private individuals. Galas, parties, fashion shows, the whole carousel of high society, was her routine.
Her popularity in those circles had helped Star Summit's business climb steadily over the past four years. The hotel had even secured a partnership with the century-old jewelry house Bariya, whose chief designer personally designed the hotel's Christmas decorations for four consecutive years.
The partnership sent Star Summit's reputation soaring, putting it in a league of its own among Hong Kong's ultra-luxury hotels.
Yi Siling's philosophy was simple: have fun, make money while she was at it.
As for going to headquarters every day and earning her money the proper way? She would rather die.
She made her customary rounds at the hotel, signed a few documents, and by the time she got back to Yi Mansion, it was nearly dinner.
“You're home?” Auntie Li stepped out of the kitchen and happened to see her. She looked surprised. The eldest miss didn't often eat dinner at home.
“Have you eaten? There's soup simmering in the kitchen. Would you like some?”
Auntie Li's full name was Hu Lili. She was more than ten years older than Yi Siling and had been looking after her since Yi Siling was in middle school.
Yi Siling said she wasn't eating dinner, that she'd have a glass of unsweetened yogurt instead.
She had come home specifically to ambush Yi Kunshan and Liang Yongwen. There was no way they could keep this from her forever.
“Neither boss is home yet?” As she spoke, Huahua came bounding happily toward her, rubbing against her legs. Yi Siling bent down and scooped her up.
Huahua was a tabby-and-white female cat with a glittering sapphire necklace around her neck.
Five years ago, she had been a stray who had somehow wandered into the back garden of Yi Mansion. Yi Siling had found her, and just like that, Huahua had ascended to the summit of feline existence, going from never knowing where her next meal would come from to wearing jewelry.
As for the name, Yi Siling had racked her brains for three whole days and finally settling on Huahua.
Because when you pet her, her little paws bloom like flowers.
Auntie Li poured the yogurt and said, “Sir and Madam flew to Beijing in the middle of last night. You didn't know?”
Yi Siling really hadn't. Last night past midnight she'd still been dancing at a friend's birthday party.
Besides, the two bosses never reported their schedules to anyone. They were notoriously difficult to track down.
Aunt Li sprinkled a handful of washed blueberries into the yogurt, served it with a pale gold and spring-green lily-of-the-valley porcelain cup, and brought it over. “I heard it was something very important, so they took a commercial flight overnight.”
“Something important…” Yi Siling stroked Huahua's fur, ran through every possibility, couldn't figure out what would take the two of them to Beijing together.
Business? Unlikely. Husband and wife moving in tandem for a business deal was too grand. For marriage negotiations, that made more sense.
Her instincts told her something was off.
After finishing her yogurt, Yi Siling went upstairs to rest. A while later, her youngest sister, Yi Qiongling, came looking for her, and somehow the conversation circled right back to her marriage.
"I hid by the study door two days ago and heard them discussing your dowry! They were even talking about the brand of alcohol for the wedding banquet! What's going on?”
Yi Siling went blank for a moment. Bad news really did come in waves.
She fell backward onto the bed and sprawled out like a starfish. The ostrich-feather slipper had slipped from her left foot onto the carpet, while the other dangled precariously from her toes.
Huahua, being mischievous, insisted on playing with the slipper still on Yi Siling's foot, tugged several tufts of soft pink feather loose, sent them drifting slow and lazy through the air.
“…Della, I'm so tired of this. Stop talking.”
“I feel sorry for you, Mia. You're only twenty-four and already being marched into the grave. I'm never getting married.”
Yi Siling rolled over and looked at her. “You're fifteen…”
Aren't you a little young to sound so world-weary?
Yi Qiongling said, "Fifteen isn't young."
Yi Siling had no energy left for this. “Then don't get married. Date someone instead. I'll tell Dad you're dating too young.”
"You always threaten me with that. Like I'm scared." Yi Qiongling giggled. Fifteen was hardly early to her. She'd already had a boyfriend in elementary school. Back then, she had even been seeing two boys at once, taking Number One to the botanical gardens on Saturday and Number Two horseback riding on Sunday. Eventually, the two boys discovered the truth and agreed never to speak to her again.
She lay beside Yi Siling, propping her chin in her hands, her imagination already racing happily into the future. “Who says dating means you have to get married? I can date my whole life! Men are men. If I don't like one, I'll swap him out. I'm rich anyway. How great is that?”
Yi Siling laughed despite herself. "...Little Piglet, where do you learn this stuff?”
“Don't call me Little Piglet!”
Yi Qiongling kicked her, her young voice taking on a solemn, almost grandmotherly tone. “Anyway, marriage is serious business. Princess, don't let Dad lead you around by the nose. You don't even love the man. Why should you marry him?”
All three sisters loved to call Yi Siling Princess.
Yi Siling said nothing.
This little piglet didn't understand.
"You hear me?"
“I know…”
Yi Siling covered her face with one hand, peering through her fingers at the French crystal chandelier overhead. Her voice sounded distant, stripped of all its usual sparkle, carrying the deep exhaustion that comes after all the glitter has burned away.
These past few days had drained her.
The kitten shamelessly gnawed at her toes. She did not move.
Of course she knew marriage was something to be taken seriously.
And love alone was not enough. A little love was nowhere near enough. It took an abundance of it, an almost reckless abundance, to have the courage to walk willingly into marriage's grave.
But in families like theirs, love was the least important thing of all.
As the eldest daughter, the possibility of having complete freedom over whom she married was practically zero. She had already fought for and won as much freedom as she could. She couldn't enjoy mountains of gold and silver from her family, then turn around and accuse those same mountains of being chains and a cage.
They were four sisters. If she refused an arranged marriage, one of the others would have to take her place.
She couldn't dump that mess on them.
Yi Leling had planned to start a business overseas after graduation, but she had returned to Hong Kong and joined the family group because of her.
Yi Siling rolled over and buried her face in the pillow. The bedding had just been changed. It smelled faintly of sunlight and lilies.
Fine. If she had to marry Zheng Qijun, then she would.
She had once truly liked him. It was only that, by the end, the whole thing had become so ridiculous that she had begun to hate him for it.
Outside, the night had thickened. If she listened closely, she could hear the sea striking the shore with a low, furious roar.
Yi Qiongling found the silence too empty to bear. She switched on the Bluetooth speaker and connected it to a song, music begin to flow through the quiet room.
A Cantonese song.
“But once love turns to thorns,
like filth and rot,
say nothing of the silent smiling rose,
a barbed gift returned, trusting only in defense…”
.
The next day, Yi Siling recovered her spirits and, as usual, slept until eleven-thirty.
She wasn't one to torment herself with worry.
Besides, no matter how enormous her troubles were, the moment she stepped into her dressing room, they would all disappear. No woman could stand before mountains of beautiful clothes, shoes, handbags, and jewelry and still remember what she had been upset about.
Yi Siling stretched lazily, the sleeve of her silk pajamas slid down her shoulder, revealing an arm as smooth and pale as a tender lotus root.
Her fingerprint unlocked the door, and the sliding doors of the dressing room opened automatically. A wave of fragrance rushed out and brushed her face.
Auntie Li had replaced the flowers in the vases first thing that morning. The scent of Floyd roses had spread through the entire room.
Floyd roses were Yi Siling's absolute favorite. Everyone who knew her knew it. Whatever she loved, she loved with a fierce, exclusive devotion. Nothing else measured up.
So her bedroom, her closet, her study, only ever held this one flower.
The dressing room occupied two floors connected by an open void, eight hundred square meters of immaculate space arranged with almost obsessive precision. It held an astonishing collection of things, while Huahua frequently treated the whole place as her personal racetrack, usually with destructive consequences.
The clothes were divided into everyday wear, sportswear, evening wear, and after-party looks, then sorted again by season and fabric. Three entire walls were devoted to bags and shoes, with separate sections for hats, scarves, socks, sunglasses, accessories, and perfume. There were even hard-to-find collectible figures and all manner of strange little treasures.
Under the dazzling lights, the room offered every first-time visitor the most immediate and unmistakable lesson in what money could buy.
Deeper in, the lights were brightest.
A Persian rug covered the black-walnut parquet floor. On a long table made of rare cloisonné luxury stone imported from Brazil, velvet-and-leather jewelry stands displayed more than two hundred glittering pieces of jewelry and watches. The effect was more staggering than a jewelry museum.
And yet this was only a fraction of Yi Siling's collection.
Her rarest and most valuable pieces went into the safe, such as the Russian imperial emerald-and-diamond tiara her mother had given her when she turned nineteen.
As for the more than three hundred haute couture gowns the Hong Kong media loved to talk about, those were all packed upstairs. Or there simply would not have been enough room.
What Yi Siling treasured most was her dressing room.
It was her carefully tended secret garden.
Everything in it, from the smallest scented candle to the largest sofa and table, had been chosen by her personally and sourced from somewhere around the world. To maintain it, she'd hired five dedicated staff, all of whom had signed confidentiality and security agreements.
The thought of having to move the whole dressing room after marriage was enough to drive her mad.
So there was at least one advantage to marrying that shameless scumbag Zheng Qijun. He lived right next door. She wouldn't have to move the dressing room.
An hour later, Yi Siling was dressed and ready.
Breakfast had gone cold, so Auntie Li reheated it for her. She ate a few hurried bites, grabbed her car keys, and headed down to the garage.
Her driver was off that day, and she rarely drove herself.
The gates of Yi Mansion opened slowly.
A white Bentley glided out onto the hillside road.
The morning mist had burned away from Repulse Bay. Waves crashed against the rocks, lush greenery crowded the slopes, and the golf course in the distance stretched out in an endless sweep of green.
Almost at the same moment, the gates of Zheng Mansion next door opened. A blue supercar slipped onto the road, its engine growling like thunderclouds rolling in.
Zheng Qijun had not expected to run into Yi Siling. He pressed the gas, trying to pull alongside. The Bentley ahead suddenly accelerated and opened a considerable gap.
“Beep!”
“Beep, beep!”
Zheng Qijun floored the accelerator and leaned on the horn.
The supercar was built for speed. It closed the distance quickly.
Yi Siling saw the car pursuing her in the rearview mirror. The empty hillside road flashed with scattered sunlight, palm fronds thrashing in the wind as they tore past at speed.
Then, without warning, she jerked the wheel to the right and slammed on the brakes. The Bentley swung hard toward the roadside.
Zheng Qijun's temple throbbed.
That little mad woman, He cursed under his breath, half furious, half terrified, and immediately hit the brakes.
Once the car stopped, he threw open the door and strode toward her. “Mia, you're going to get yourself killed driving like that!”
Yi Siling lowered the window, keeping her gaze fixed straight ahead. “There was a stray dog that insisted on following me.”
Zheng Qijun's face darkened. He was utterly helpless with her, his voice softened anyway. “Mia. If you want to vent, vent at me. Don't joke with your safety.” Then his tone gentled further. “…I know I was wrong. That woman and I are long over. I came to apologize. Is that okay?”
Yi Siling laughed in disbelief. What game was he playing now?
Putting on a good face before the wedding, for both families? Or had he finally seen the light and decided to reform?
“It's simple. From now on, we each live our own lives.”
She wouldn't even say after marriage. Bad luck.
He didn't interfere with her, she didn't interfere with him. A husband and wife who look harmonious in public while living completely separate lives, each free to do as they pleased. That was how most arranged marriages in this circle worked.
Zheng Qijun completely missed what she was really saying.
He thought she meant they were truly finished, that they would go their separate ways and never look back. He had heard all the rumors, that Yi Siling was getting married, then last night he heard she had a new boyfriend. He hadn't slept a wink.
He'd confirmed with his father several times. The Yi family had originally intended a match with the Zhengs, but for some reason, lately, there had been no further movement.
He had always had feelings for her. When he pursued her, it had been sincere. And once they were together, he had spoiled her without reservation.
That fight had happened because a bunch of useless friends had egged him on until he lost his head and stubbornly refused to back down. Otherwise, things would never have ended like this.
Those friends had said:
“Young Master Zheng, you're a big shot in Hong Kong. A little girl, spoil her if you must, but you can't let her ride over your head!”
“So what if she's Eldest Miss Yi? In front of Young Master Zheng, she still needs to know her place.”
“A man can't spoil a woman rotten.”
Zheng Qijun got irritated just thinking about it. What an idiot he'd been.
So what if Yi Siling had a temper, was spoiled, demanding, and difficult to please? He liked her.
When she lost her temper, she could argue anyone into the ground. But when she became sweet, she was adorable. When she wanted attention, she'd look at you with those seductive eyes, all wounded and aggrieved, until you gave in.
No other woman had her strange, irresistible charm. And none could possibly be more beautiful.
She was fucking beautiful. Zheng Qijun found himself willing to forgive anything.
“Don't go our separate ways…” His voice dropped. “You break up with that bastard, and we'll get back together. From now on, I'll bow first on everything, I won't find other women to make you jealous.”
When had Young Master Zheng ever been this humble?
“…Babe, I don't even like her. I only got involved with her to make you jealous. She was just decoration. Don't take it seriously. Don't be angry with me anymore…”
For fuck's sake. And he was still calling her babe!
Yi Siling glared at him, cheeks puffed with anger. “I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm absolutely crazy about my boyfriend now. He's taller than you, better-looking than you, and richer than you. I'm going to tell Dad I won't marry anyone else for the rest of my life.”
“He's the love of my life!”
She finished speaking, started the engine, shifted gears, and hit the accelerator. The Bentley roared forward and shot down the road like an arrow.
.
[You know what he said to me? He said he got involved with that woman just to make me jealous! I could eat wagyu, Basque cheesecake, French food, Michelin-starred food, and still not have room for jealousy! Why the hell would I want that?]
[I actually feel sorry for that little model now!]
[To think I misjudged him. There's water in his brain!]
Yi Leling was in the middle of battling a roomful of old fossils at the office when Yi Siling's messages came through.
She couldn't help laughing.
“Let's stop here.” Yi Leling raised a hand toward the people in the conference room. “We'll pick it up next time."
Once everyone had filed out, she called Yi Siling and had her secretary bring her an Americano to clear her head.
“He knows you have a boyfriend?”
“Whatever. I've put it out there. Whether he wants to go through with this marriage, he can decide. If he doesn't want to be the laughingstock of all Hong Kong, he'd better call it off fast."
“Going at him from this angle, I'd say the wedding is probably going to fall through.” Yi Leling took a sip of coffee.
Yi Siling thought so too. She scooped up a spoonful of Basque cheesecake and slipped it into her mouth.
Taro Basque cheesecake was her favorite. Whenever she was in a bad mood, she rewarded herself with half a slice.
A whole cake was too much. Eating all of it felt sinful. So she only ate half. The other half usually went to waste.
“When this gets settled, I'm taking you to Monaco.”
“Perfect. I don't have much going on next month. I'll see if I can free up a few days.”
After hanging up, Yi Siling rose and walked out of the café. Her purple satin heels stepped into the sunlight. The dessert shop was tucked into a little alley in Central, her Bentley was parked across the street.
Just before getting into the car, Yi Siling glanced back without thinking.
Behind the bright glass windows, the remaining half of her Basque cheesecake was being cleared away by a server.
Soon it would end up in the trash.
A strange thought crossed her mind.
If she really did have a man in her life, perhaps he could eat the half of the cake she always left behind.
Two days later, Yi Siling finally caught Yi Kunshan and Liang Yongwen at Yi Mansion, those two elusive figures who seemed to appear and disappear at will.
It was midnight. Cinderella's clock had just struck, and the Bentley carriage had brought the princess home from the glittering world of parties and power.
Yi Siling had just returned from an evening banquet.
She was still wearing an extravagant haute couture gown, a halo of ostrich feathers circling the hem. Jade cabochons at her wrists and throat drank in the moonlight, their green deepening into something almost dreamlike, almost liquid.
Her parents were sitting in the living room waiting for her.
She jumped. “Why are you still awake at this hour?” She pressed a hand to her chest and glared at them. “You two really do appear out of nowhere.”
Liang Yongwen smiled brightly and beckoned.“We got back this afternoon. Come here, baby. Your father and I have something to discuss with you.”
Yi Siling had a pretty good idea what it was. Nine times out of ten. But she pretended not to know, and went over obediently. “What is it? Has to be this late?"
She sat on the sofa, the gown pooling in layers at her feet, and hugged a cushion to her arms. She was getting sleepy.
Liang Yongwen nudged Yi Kunshan. He rubbed his hands together. Travel fatigue could not dim the glow on his face. “Baby... it's like this, your mother and I have already settled your marriage. We've decided on the month after next. The twenty-eighth is an auspicious day.”
Liang Yongwen nodded eagerly. “Well? Aren't you happy, baby?”
Yi Siling stared blankly for a second, then horror dawned. “The month after next?!”
This blew far beyond anything what she could psychologically bear. Her sleepiness vanished instantly.
“I am not marrying anyone named Zheng. Absolutely not. Dream on!”
Yi Kunshan and Liang Yongwen exchanged a look. “Who said anything about Zheng?”
“Zheng… What? Not Zheng Qijun?” Yi Siling suddenly felt as if the floor had dropped away beneath her.
She blinked, bewildered.
Liang Yongwen finally caught on and laughed. “What does A-Jun have to do with this? Your father respects your wishes. We ruled him out ages ago. Your father and I have found the best husband in the entire world for you this time, you can put your mind completely at ease.”
The best husband in the entire world? Even a three-year-old wouldn't believe that.
“…Who?”
Yi Siling pressed her damp palm against her other hand and stared nervously at Liang Yongwen. Her heart hammered inside her chest, as though she were waiting for the verdict that would sentence her to death.
It couldn't be the youngest son of the Zhuang family…
Or Chen Weiqi's eldest brother? The Lus? The Lis? The Yus? Every remotely plausible candidate flashed through her mind.
Yi Kunshan smiled, entirely at ease. “Xie Xunzhi.”
“The eldest son of the Xie family in Beijing. Lanyao Group belongs to his family.”
Beijing.
The Xie family.
Lanyao Group.
Those three qualifiers alone explained why her parents looked so pleased with themselves.
The Yi family was already at the top. If even they wanted to reach higher, then naturally it was not going to be some ordinary alliance with the Zhengs, Lus, Zhuangs, or Chens.
"The young heir of Lanyao! Surprised, baby?"
“…”
Yi Siling felt as though something had exploded inside her head.
She opened her mouth, completely at a loss.
She had the vague feeling that she had heard the surname Xie somewhere recently. A fleeting impression crossed her mind, but she could not catch it.
All her attention was on Beijing.
Beijing, a hundred thousand miles from Hong Kong.
Not the distance between No. 25 and No. 29 Repulse Bay.
Not even close.
This was the distance between Hong Kong and Beijing.
Yi Siling shot to her feet, furious and terrified. "No way! You want me to marry a mainlander?”
---
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