Chapter 8: Someone's Getting Anxious
1039 Words
In the past, whenever Qiu Xuehuo called, Sophie would barely speak a few words before hastily hanging up. This made Qiu Xuehuo deeply unhappy, but there was no one else in the world as talented on the violin as Sophie.
She had thought she still had time to negotiate with Sophie, but it was clear now that she had no choice but to humble herself again and spend a fortune to have Sophie quickly record a violin piece for her.
At the Century Manor, Qiu Xueyi hummed a tuneless melody as she washed dishes in the kitchen.
Tonight's dinner had been prepared by her son, Qiu Yiyang, and it tasted even better than her own cooking. As a mother, Qiu Xueyi felt a bit ashamed of herself.
After finishing her chores, it was time for some bonding with her son.
She quietly opened Qiu Yiyang's bedroom door and saw his small hands tapping away at the computer keyboard.
Her son sat with a serious expression, skillfully operating the computer.
"That woman again!" he muttered to himself.
Qiu Yiyang had lost count of how many emails this woman had sent to his mom, demanding she record a song for her, always with an unfriendly tone.
His mom was already so busy with work; how could she find time to play the violin?
Qiu Yiyang, always protective of his mother, selected the offending emails and decisively hit 'delete.' Trying to exploit his mom? Dream on.
“What are you doing?” Qiu Xueyi asked, standing in the doorway with a glass of orange juice, curious as to why her son was using the computer.
"Nothing," Qiu Yiyang jumped, quickly closing the laptop and tucking it under his blanket.
He had deleted his mother's emails before, and it hadn’t ended well for him.
"Really?" Qiu Xueyi narrowed her eyes at the small figure in front of her.
She knew her son well. One look at Qiu Yiyang’s shifty eyes told her he was lying.
Walking over to the bed, she stared down at him, and the two locked eyes in a silent standoff.
Of course, being the mother, she moved first. Reaching into the blankets, she grabbed the cold laptop.
"You do know I changed the password, right? How did you get in?" she asked, smiling despite herself.
"Your passwords mean nothing to me," Qiu Yiyang replied, a bit smugly.
Seeing his mom’s stern expression, he quickly dropped his head and apologized, “Sorry, Mom. I was just sending an email to Ling’er... ...I mean, Auntie.”
“Qiu Yiyang, you just video-called Auntie Ling’er yesterday,” Qiu Xueyi replied with a serious tone. “Now, tell me—what emails did you delete this time?”
She leaned against the bed, casually watching her son—the same son with a notorious history of deleting her emails.
There was no escaping it this time. Resigned, Qiu Yiyang repeated the email’s content: “It was that weird lady again. She's offering six times the price for you to compose a piece for her.”
Six times? It seemed Qiu Xuehuo was getting desperate.
The Gu family really treated her well, to the point where she could casually throw around so much money for one song.
Qiu Xueyi smiled and patted her son's head. “Alright, I understand. Go play on your own now, and if you need anything, just call me.”
“You promised you’d help me build my Lego set,” Qiu Yiyang said, his large, dark eyes—so much like Gu Feibai’s—staring up at her expectantly.
“Oh!"Qiu Xueyi almost forgot. Not wanting to upset him, she quickly recovered, “Alright, get the Lego set. Let me reply to an email, and I’ll come help you.”
“Okay!" Qiu Yiyang’s usual serious face brightened with a rare, innocent smile.
Sitting at her computer, Qiu Xueyi began typing her reply: **“Even if you offered ten times the price, I still wouldn’t do it. I’m currently uninspired and don’t feel like composing anything.”**
She pressed 'send' with a satisfied smirk.
There was no way she was going to let Qiu Xuehuo off that easily. At the very least, she wanted to force that woman to beg her once.
With the email sent, Qiu Xueyi went to play with her son.
Meanwhile, Qiu Xuehuo was still hovering by her inbox, anxiously awaiting Sophie’s reply.
When she finally saw the email, her rage boiled over. She threw her phone across the room. No one had spoken to her in such an arrogant tone in a long time!
If this were any other matter, she would have cursed out the sender and cut ties immediately. But Sophie was different—she was her only lifeline now.
Thinking about her future as the Gu family’s matriarch, Qiu Xuehuo swallowed her pride and chose to endure. She would humble herself just this once.
“Miss Sophie, would it be possible for us to have a phone call? We can discuss any concerns you may have,” she typed, trying to remain polite despite her frustration.
Back at the Century Manor, Qiu Xueyi was too focused on helping her son build his Lego masterpiece to notice the incoming messages right away. It wasn’t until Qiu Yiyang went to the bathroom after drinking too much juice that she finally glanced at the computer.
A phone call? Her voice might just scare Qiu Xuehuo to death.
Qiu Xueyi calmly typed her reply: “That won’t be necessary. For safety reasons, I don’t share my personal contact details. I hope you understand.”
She hit 'send,' knowing the reply was just frustrating enough, without giving Qiu Xuehuo any room to argue.
When Qiu Xuehuo read the message, she nearly had a heart attack from anger.
Taking a deep breath, she composed herself before typing again: “Miss Sophie, do you have something against me? Why are you targeting me like this?”
The response came quickly this time, and it was cold and cutting: “Why would I? We’ve never even met. Why would I target you?”
Qiu Xuehuo, gritting her teeth, could do nothing but hold her fury in silence.
- Writer
