Chapter Ninety-Three: In a State of Panic and Disarray

Because Bai Bing had interrupted him, Wang Zheng never managed a proper second sleep. Half dreaming and half awake, he heard the door open. Glancing at the clock on the wall, he saw that it was already half past seven. It looked as though Bai Bing had returned.

More than an hour had passed, and no one knew which country she had gone to in order to buy groceries.

Since he could not sleep anyway, Wang Zheng got dressed and left the room.

Bai Bing had already gone into the kitchen. Her pretty face was flushed, her whole expression bright with excitement. She hummed an unfamiliar little tune while moving the ingredients with practiced ease.

Leaning against the kitchen doorway, Wang Zheng looked at her glowing, sunlit face and asked, "Where did you buy the groceries? South Africa?"

Bai Bing was startled by his sudden appearance. Yet her mood was unusually good today, and she did not take offense at him or care about his teasing. Instead, she said with a smile, "I bought plenty. Just wait and see!"

"I hope you keep up this excellent tradition for a long time, instead of cooking on a whim for just one day," Wang Zheng said. Then he asked, "By the way, how was the car? Not bad, right?"

"Not bad at all. A good car really is different. The junk vehicles in the organization can’t even compare!" Bai Bing said excitedly.

"Nonsense. Do you think those stingy old tightwads would ever be willing to buy a car like this?" Wang Zheng said with a contemptuous snort. "I remember eight years ago I was driving a military-green jeep. Wherever it went, smoke came pouring out. It rattled like it was about to fall apart, and air leaked in from every side. On rainy days, it was even worse. The person sitting by the window had to hold up an umbrella, or else the rain would splash all over them. You’ve come at a good time!"

He spoke with an air of worldly superiority, as though he were far older than Bai Bing.

"Was it really that exaggerated?" Bai Bing asked in disbelief.

"Of course it was!" Wang Zheng said. He was about to go on when he noticed the happy expression on Bai Bing’s face, and suddenly something occurred to him.

Without making a sound, Wang Zheng walked behind Bai Bing. Pressing his body close to hers from behind, he suddenly leaned down and brought his mouth near her ear, asking in a low but deeply suggestive voice, "Do you still want to go back?"

Bai Bing’s body stiffened at once. She stood there motionless, as if struck by an acupoint. The cheerful expression on her face froze instantly, and the muscles in her features grew rigid.

Feeling the man’s body pressed tightly against her back, feeling his breath turn into waves of warm air against her, Bai Bing was thrown completely off balance. Even her ear itched unbearably. But more important than that was the question he had just asked her: Do you still want to go back?

If not for that one sentence, Bai Bing would already have forgotten why she had come here.

Why had she come? She had come to persuade Wang Zheng to return with her. What was her plan? To slowly draw close to him, become part of his life, and then, once she understood him well enough, use his weaknesses to make him go back to the organization. That had indeed been Bai Bing’s plan. Of course, that was assuming she still remembered it.

Become part of his life? Bai Bing had accomplished that. But she had become so deeply immersed that she had even forgotten her own purpose. Wang Zheng’s sudden question, though simple, was like a bomb exploding in Bai Bing’s heart, jolting her instantly awake.

Wang Zheng remained close behind her. He could clearly feel the perfect curve of her back, and from Bai Bing’s reaction he could naturally guess a few things. Seeing her body go rigid, he gave a soft laugh and, with his lips still near her reddening ear, said again in a low voice, "So? Compared with that dull, tedious life you used to have, doesn’t life now feel much more interesting, much better? Haven’t you already forgotten the life you had before?"

Bai Bing was stunned. Every word Wang Zheng had said seemed to strike directly at her heart. She did not want to admit it, but the truth was exactly as he had said. To have forgotten her duty filled her with a shame so deep she felt she had nowhere to hide.

"Don’t deny it in front of me. Your expression has already answered for you," Wang Zheng said with a smile. Yet in Bai Bing’s ears, that smile sounded almost unbearably sharp.

While Bai Bing was still dazed, one large hand suddenly came down hard on her round, lifted rear. Bai Bing jumped in shock and tried to struggle, but another hand had already pinned her down firmly, leaving her unable to move.

"Since you can’t change it, why not settle down and enjoy it?" Wang Zheng murmured beside her ear. His voice seemed to carry a faint, enchanting power, plucking at Bai Bing’s heartstrings. "Don’t try to use your brain to command your heart. Try using your heart to control your brain instead. Only then will you know what it is you truly want. Also, your bottom is very springy."

With that, Wang Zheng removed his hand from her, and his body, which had been pressed close to hers, gradually withdrew. Then he strolled out of the kitchen as leisurely as ever.

Only when Bai Bing came back to herself did she realize the man behind her was gone. Her whole body gave a sudden shudder, and she broke out in a cold sweat, as though she had just awakened from a nightmare. Even after waking, the lingering fear remained.

Even the greatest expert can fall into demon possession.

As she had promised, Bai Bing made several new dishes for breakfast. They tasted good, but she herself no longer seemed to have any spirit. The joy and excitement she had felt that morning had vanished without a trace, replaced by an expression of deep distraction, as though an army were closing in at the gates.

When it was time to go to work, Su Xue and Chu Jun naturally climbed into Wang Zheng’s car, fulfilling the words Su Xue had said the night before: if someone ever drove this car to pick me up and drop me off from work, I’d be very happy. It seemed Su Xue had already made up her mind the night before. Since there was a luxury car available, why not enjoy it? She certainly would not stand on ceremony with Wang Zheng.

Since it was along the way, Wang Zheng did not refuse. With plenty of noise and chatter along the road, he finally dropped the two girls off at the broadcast center.

"Don’t forget to come pick us up after work," Su Xue said, a remark that nearly drove Wang Zheng mad. Today she and Chu Jun would not finish their broadcast until eight in the evening. How was he supposed to come pick them up? But that was not the sort of thing Wang Zheng would say to Su Xue’s face, or else he could forget about driving the car away. As for the evening... he would deal with that later.

Watching Su Xue and Chu Jun enter the broadcast center, Wang Zheng withdrew his gaze and looked at Bai Bing beside him. "You going to drive?"

Bai Bing was stunned for a moment when she heard him, then shook her head and turned her eyes to the window.

Ever since hearing Wang Zheng’s words that morning, Bai Bing had become far more obedient. The whole person seemed off balance, and she no longer even wanted to drive.

That was rather beyond Wang Zheng’s expectations. In his mind, after hearing those words, Bai Bing should have reacted by furiously cursing him for his shamelessness and then continuing her efforts to persuade him. Yet now Bai Bing was unnervingly quiet, so quiet that one might even wonder whether it really was her.

The car accelerated and was quickly swallowed by the stream of traffic.

No one knew what kind of day it was, but all the interesting things seemed to have gathered together. The moment Wang Zheng parked and stepped out of the car, he ran straight into Lin Xiaolei. Bai Bing, who had just gotten out as well, only then came back to herself and remembered what had happened the previous night concerning Lin Xiaolei.

The situation was truly awkward. There was no conversation, or perhaps they simply did not know what they should say. Wang Zheng had no idea whether Lin Xiaolei still remembered what had happened last night, so he could not bring it up. But that did not stump him. He simply gave her a gentlemanly smile, then turned and walked into Yongan Building.

As Bai Bing passed Lin Xiaolei, she slowed her steps and studied her carefully, hoping to read the answer from her expression. But Lin Xiaolei only wore a puzzled look under Bai Bing’s scrutiny, so Bai Bing came away empty-handed in the end and hurried after Wang Zheng, who had already entered the elevator.

"What are you thinking about?" Wang Zheng asked as they entered the company, greeting members of the women’s team as he walked.

"I’m not sure. I think she should have some impression of what happened last night," Bai Bing said quietly.

"I’m asking what you’re thinking about right now," Wang Zheng said as he opened the office door and motioned for Bai Bing to go in first.

"Me?" Bai Bing said. She paused, then walked into the office. Just as Wang Zheng was closing the door, Bai Bing suddenly turned around, looked at him, and said loudly, "Wang Zheng, don’t get too smug. Someday I’ll make you come back with me obediently!"

"Ha, ha, ha..." Wang Zheng laughed when he heard that, laughing openly and heartily. Bai Bing’s words were fierce enough, but they had no conviction at all, let alone any force behind them.

Wang Zheng walked up behind Bai Bing, and Bai Bing suddenly thought of what had happened that morning. So when he approached, she kept retreating until with a smack the desk blocked her path.

Wang Zheng stepped in front of her. The two of them were so close they were almost touching. Bai Bing’s face had already turned red, and she was just about to reach out to push him away when he suddenly stopped.

Smiling at her, he asked, "Were those words just now meant to give yourself courage?"

"You...!" Seeing the man so close before her, Bai Bing grew flustered. The more she looked at the smile on his face, the more hateful it seemed. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she calmed the panic in her heart. After a brief adjustment, she raised both hands and shoved Wang Zheng aside hard, then said, "Don’t bother me. You should be thinking about Lin Xiaolei instead! Hmph!"

With that, Bai Bing sat down on a chair nearby, picked up a magazine, and held it in front of her face as if she were reading it with great seriousness.