I See Roses

I See Roses – Chapter 49

This situation ultimately ended with Ming Si begging for mercy.

“Stop… stop… My stomach hurts so much…” She clutched her abdomen with both hands, curling up and nearly sliding off the bed.

Liang Xian’s reaction was quick. He swiftly lifted her up and sat her on the edge of the bed, “What’s wrong?”

“My stomach hurts,” the sharp pain in her belly suddenly intensified. Ming Si frowned, her voice trembling with pain. After a moment, she said, “I think… it’s that time of the month.”

Liang Xian’s gaze fell to her lower abdomen. He placed his hand over it and asked softly, “Is it this painful every time?”

Ming Si shook her head, “It’s probably because I caught a cold in Venice.”

The weather had been consistently damp and cold during those days. And she had even bought an ice cream while shopping.

“I’ll go… take a look,” she stood up from the bed, her gaze quickly scanning the bedsheets. After confirming that they were clean and unstained, she let out a sigh of relief.

Actually, considering the timing, she wasn’t too surprised to discover it was her menstrual cycle.

She returned with a sanitary pad, tiptoed in her slippers, and slowly climbed back onto the bed. She nestled weakly in Liang Xian’s arms.

Liang Xian had one arm around her and kissed the tip of her nose, “Still hurting?”

“En, yes,” Ming Si tilted her head back and said, “Rub my stomach.”

Liang Xian placed his left hand over her lower abdomen and applied a gentle pressure, “Like this?”

Through the fabric, she could feel the warmth of his touch. Ming Si leaned against his shoulder and closed her eyes like a cat.

After a day of running around, she was already physically drained. Plus, she was feeling too lazy to move, and within a few minutes, she had fallen asleep.

Liang Xian continued to gently rub her stomach until he felt her breathing become even and steady. Only then did he stop.

He took a pillow and placed it behind her, then leaned over and carried her to lie down.

As soon as Ming Si touched the bed, she naturally shifted closer to him, wrapping her arms around him.

“Ming Si?” Liang Xian called softly.

She didn’t answer but continued to hold onto him in a somewhat coquettish manner.

A slight smile tugged at the corners of Liang Xian’s lips, his gaze softening imperceptibly.

He lay down beside her and reached around from behind to wrap his arm around her waist. He adjusted their positions slightly, enveloping her in his embrace. One hand rested on her lower abdomen, transmitting the warmth of his palm.

The discomfort and tension in her stomach were quickly soothed by the gentle warmth. Ming Si’s furrowed brows gradually relaxed.

In her semi-conscious state, she knew it was because Liang Xian was holding her. So, fighting against her drowsiness, she turned over and pressed her lips to his chin.

And then she drifted into a deep sleep.

Just like a docile cat extending its tail to show affection.

Ming Si had initially thought that since the night was long and full of dreams, even if her stomach hurt, she would go and sign the contract if the store was suitable.

But Liang Xian didn’t agree.

“You don’t love me anymore, you’re restricting my personal freedom,” Ming Si followed Liang Xian out of the private elevator, piling one accusation upon another as she berated him, “Liang Xian, you’ve changed!”

However, these verbal attacks had no effect on Liang Xian. He continued walking ahead with long strides, acting as if there was no room for negotiation.

“I’ve misjudged you; it turns out you have male chauvinism!”

“I’m going to sign a contract, not run an 800-meter race!”

“Stubborn Liang Xian!”

Ming Si’s stomach was still hurting a lot when she woke up in the morning. She had been moaning and groaning while lying in bed, rolling around. At this moment, she seemed to be so invested in scolding him that her tone was growing louder with every word.

Liang Xian found a strange sense of comfort in listening to her accusations. So, he allowed her to continue all the way to the entrance.

“I’ve been talking to you for so long without a response. You really don’t love me anymore!” Before the words even finished, Liang Xian suddenly stopped in his tracks. Thankfully, Ming Si reacted quickly and didn’t crash into him.

Liang Xian placed a hand on her shoulder and leaned down slightly, pressing a kiss to the corner of her lips.

Just when Ming Si’s heart softened and she thought he had compromised, she heard him slowly speak, “Go back to bed; I’ll have Shi Tai stay home and take care of you.”

Ming Si: “…”

Shi Tai?

Take care of her?

The implications of his words were all too clear.

Shi Tai’s thought process was like a piece of wood. The scenes from TV shows where bodyguards tirelessly followed behind a high-maintenance woman to stop her from going out were completely unrealistic.

She guessed that if she acted unreasonably and threw a tantrum about going out, Shi Tai would probably go to great lengths to complete his mission of preventing her from leaving, even if it meant breaking her legs.

Were bodyguards only meant to restrict their wives’ freedom?

Why didn’t she hire one or two people to restrict Liang Xian’s freedom?

Because Liang Xian’s actions were too extreme, and his intimidation was too overwhelming, Ming Si reluctantly gave up on the idea of going out.

She walked back unwillingly, her gaze catching the sight of Shi Tai standing nearby. She considered saying something but ultimately went upstairs without a word.

As for the unsuspecting Shi Tai, who was left behind, he was shaken by the glare she shot his way. He silently grouped himself with He Sui in the corner.

At this moment, both he and He Sui probably had the same question—

Why are you glaring at me for something Liang Xian did?

Being a bodyguard or being a bird, both were equally challenging.

Ke Lijie sent a message to Ming Si:「What did Brother Xian do to upset you again?」

At this moment, Ming Si was nestled under her covers, a warm water bag placed on her stomach. She was idly scrolling through her Weibo feed. When she saw Ke Lijie’s message appear on her screen, she found it quite strange and asked:「How do you know?」

Ke Lijie:「Brother Xian confessed it himself.」

Ke Lijie:「He asked me to tell your best friend, Lin Xijia, to check on you. I asked him what happened, and he said he made you angry, but he didn’t specify how.」

He immediately sent a screenshot of his conversation with Liang Xian.

It was consistent with what he had told her.

Ke Lijie:「Isn’t it strange? You two are like enemies, yet you’re really taking it to the next level, huh? If you’re living together, you should be peaceful roommates, not fighting every day.」

The last time they were at the snooker club, Ming Si and Liang Xian had casually mentioned that they were living together. Ke Lijie had teased them, asking if they were planning to start over and get to know each other again.

Now it seemed that starting over and getting to know each other again was out of the question. Perhaps they were just going through the motions to appease their elders while maintaining their separate lives privately.

Ming Si didn’t know or care about Ke Lijie’s imaginative scenarios. She clicked on the screenshot and reviewed the conversation.

She thought: Is Liang Xian trying to make up for his actions by offering a consolation prize?

But Lin Xijia couldn’t help her finalize the store’s contract!

However, it turned out that while Lin Xijia couldn’t help with the contract, she could provide an abundance of gossip, including, but not limited to, affairs between a certain director and an actress, an incident involving a wife catching her husband cheating in a hotel, and various twists and turns.

With Lin Xijia’s polished writing skills, her storytelling was vivid, and the gossip was delivered with flair and excitement. Listening to her for half an hour managed to shift Ming Si’s attention away from both Liang Xian is a dog man and stomach hurting badly.

“Take a break; I’ll think of more stories to tell you,” Lin Xijia tapped her head.

She was on a mission this time – to cheer up Ming Si.

Lin Xijia had added Ke Lijie on WeChat during their engagement ceremony since there was a bit of history between them – they had been desk mates in elementary school. Although they weren’t close over the years, they exchanged a few polite messages, keeping their interactions quite formal.

Unexpectedly, Ke Lijie had handed her a significant task out of the blue —— to keep Ming Si company and chat with her because she was upset with Liang Xian.

Since Lin Xijia was off work today, she readily agreed.

“Oh, by the way, is your relationship with Liang Xian improved? Is there something going on?” Lin Xijia couldn’t come up with any gossip and decided to dig it out from Ming Si. She leaned towards her bed, “Or has he always been this good at coaxing people?”

Ming Si was sipping on the red date tea prepared by the housekeeper. Hearing Lin Xijia’s question, she let go of the straw, “Coaxing my foot.”

Though her tone was tinged with disdain, it wasn’t entirely heartfelt. It sounded more like a form of defiance.

From the time they had known each other in middle school, Lin Xijia was all too familiar with Ming Si’s responses.

This expression and tone surely indicated something was amiss.

“? Do you have a little secret from me? We once promised to share all our gossip with each other!” Lin Xijia pressed on, not letting up.

Though Ming Si cared about her image in front of Cheng Yu and the others, her situation was different with Lin Xijia.

She briefly recounted recent events and summed up her relationship with Liang Xian as: “Anyway, we’re together, but now he’s made me very angry! Extremely angry!”

Affected by her emotions, Ming Si spoke the first half of her sentence very quickly. The emphasis on being angry in the latter half was unmistakable.

Lin Xijia took a few steps back, her focus solely on the former, “You’re married now, so you shouldn’t call it being together, and you also can’t call it just a fight—”

Ming Si glanced at her, “Then what is it?”

Lin Xijia quickly finished her sentence, despite feeling cornered, “It’s a show of affection between a married couple!”

“…”

“And, listen to what you’re saying. I think Liang Xian is pretty good. He’s good-looking, makes money, and I won’t roll out the clichéd praises. But the key point is, he asked me to come and keep you company. Which guy would think of calling his wife’s friend over to keep her company because he’s worried she’s bored? And also…”

“Wait, hold on. Enough with the also,” Ming Si raised her hand to interrupt, pausing for a couple of seconds, “How much did Liang Xian pay you?”

Liang Xian certainly didn’t give any money to Lin Xijia. He just arranged for a car to pick her up after confirming that she could come.

This made Lin Xijia view him in a new light—she didn’t expect this young master to be so considerate.

Later, while sitting in the car, she couldn’t resist chatting with Ke Lijie. Ke Lijie, being the kind of sarcastic friend who was always willing to speculate on his friends from the most sarcastic angle, immediately replied:「He’s definitely afraid you might change your mind halfway or run away. If he can’t appease Ming Si, he’ll just continue to get scolded at home. Brother Xian is a man after all; he can’t really fight with her. In ancient times, you’d be like an imperial envoy!」

Lin Xijia couldn’t resist asking:「And what about you?」

Ke Lijie sighed:「I should be the chief eunuch specialized in delivering messages.」

Lin Xijia:「……」

But according to her woman’s intuition, the words of a dedicated eunuch might not be trustworthy.

In fact, at the engagement banquet that day, Lin Xijia had felt that something was off. Although Ming Si had indeed cried, it wasn’t the kind of crying that resulted from a fight. Moreover, it didn’t match Ming Si’s personality.

So, now that she had heard Ming Si explain it all in detail, Lin Xijia quickly accepted the sudden change in their relationship. She even took pride in it, saying, “I really am Sherlock Lin Xijia!”

Ming Si let out a soft hum, but she didn’t bother to argue.

The two of them scrolled through Weibo for a while. Suddenly, Lin Xijia handed her phone over, “Look at the trending topics! ‘Pingcheng PARROT Club’? Isn’t that Liang Xian… your husband’s club?”

Ming Si had just accepted being called madam yesterday, and now she was faced with a new title, your husband. Whatever feelings she had about this, she responded haughtily, “What husband? He’s just a dog!”

“Oh,” Lin Xijia responded quickly, catching on to her tone, “PARROT—Isn’t that your dog of a husband’s club?”

Ming Si: “…”

That didn’t seem right either.

Then what was she?