The Vampire Marquis

Chapter 6

She gazed at his extraordinarily handsome foreign face. Dressed in a white silk shirt with a slightly open collar revealing a few strands of chest hair, the elegant gold belt around his waist was undoubtedly expensive. As for the black suit trousers that wrapped around his sturdy buttocks and long legs, it was easy to tell they were of a good brand and quality. As she took him in, Jedscar had already made his way to her.

Chen Shanyi looked down at herself. She was wearing a T-shirt from the night market that cost 150 yuan, pants for 99 yuan, and a pair of non-breathable sneakers for 100 yuan.

Since this handsome gentleman wanted to play the role of a spender, why should she refuse?

His comment "you're not smart enough" was referring to her turning down the money. After all, working so hard as a pole dancer was for money.

She smirked, raising her head to look at him directly, "You have too much money and no place to spend it, so you threw ten million at me?"

He chuckled, "Indeed, I do have a gold mine."

She nodded, hopped off the high chair, walked to the check lying on the floor, bent down and picked it up. Waving the check around, she asked, "This is for me, with no strings attached?"

His deep, pool-like eyes lit up with amusement, "No, there's a catch."

Her face changed instantly, dropping the check back to the floor in annoyance, "Hm, I should have guessed!"

He shook his head, picked up the check, and handed it to her, "I haven't finished speaking."

"No need, are you going to ask me to sleep with you, to be your plaything?" Her words exploded from between her gritted teeth, "Dream on!"

"You're indeed just an eighteen-year-old girl, too rash, won't even let me finish what I have to say." Jedscar teased her with mixed feelings.

"Because what you're going to say won't be anything good." She seemed to understand.

"Oh? But what if I were to tell you, my condition is that you're not allowed to set foot in a PUB and dance on poles again?"

Her eyebrows shot up at his unexpected demand. However, it still infringed on her personal freedom, and she didn't want that.

She shook her head, "No need, I'm returning the check. You can go back to France."

He froze, then frowned, "No, you should keep it."

"I won't take it. Also, I should tell you, I've found a job again, and it turns out to be a pole dancer."

Chen Shanyi didn't understand why she was saying these things to provoke him. In theory, after she threw the check back at him, she could leave, and they would never have to cross paths again. But she...

Upon hearing her words, Jedscar's face suddenly turned pale. He glared at her defiantly beautiful face, "Do you have to earn money in such an indecent way all your life?"

At his words, her face hardened, "What do you mean by 'indecent'?!"

"Dancing in front of a bunch of drooling men, dressed in a bikini and moving your hips!"

"Well, so what? It's not like I'm hiding in a small room and 'doing things' to earn money."

"The meaning is almost the same!"

"You!" She was so angry that she could not find the words. What nonsense, there's a world of difference! Gritting her teeth, she started heading for the door.

"Where are you going?" He stepped forward, catching up to her and grabbing her hand.

"You should know that I only came here to return the check."

He stalled for a moment, then let go of her hand.

"Fine, have a safe journey!" After saying this icily, she left without a backward glance.

Jedscar's phone suddenly rang.

Annoyed, he pulled out the thin, card-like device from his shirt pocket. "Hello? Xia'er!"

"I'm at Chen Shanyi's place."

His eyebrows furrowed. "What are you doing at her house?"

"Just chatting. Oh, her grandparents have made a table full of dishes for you and Kong De to come for dinner. Chen Shanyi told you, right?"

"No!"

There was silence on the other end of the phone for three seconds before Xia'er finally said. "Did you guys have a fight?"

He didn't want to talk about it more, "You better come back soon."

"But her grandparents are really nice!"

Jedscar's eyebrows tightened further. Xia'er was always miserly with her praise, and she sounded too happy. Could there be something wrong?

"I'm not going back. I want to stay at her house for a few days. If you want to go back to France, you can go ahead, just leave my luggage at the hotel, I’ll go get it. Goodbye."

She's not coming back? Jedscar ended the call, and strangely, his heart felt unusually heavy.

*As soon as Chen Shanyi stepped out of the elevator, she was pulled back in by Kong De. "What do you want?"

"Nothing much, just a call from my master, requesting you to go back up once." Kong De answered with a smile.

"What on earth are you people? After disrupting my life for no apparent reason, aren't you planning to leave?" She glared at him infuriatingly.

Seems like there's a change in the plan, he gave a toothy smile, "If you have any issues, please talk to the marquis directly!"

The elevator reached the twelfth floor. As soon as the doors opened, he made a gentlemanly gesture, "Please."

Huffing, Chen Shanyi exited the elevator. The moment she stepped out, she saw Jedscar standing in the corridor. She walked up to him, irritation clear on her face. "What on earth do you want?"

"Nothing really, just thought of dropping by your house."

She gasped, her expression alarmed, "What are you planning to do?"

"Nothing really. My niece, Xia'er, is at your house. She said your grandparents have prepared a feast and are waiting for us."

"What...how did she end up at my house?"

"That's not the point. The point is I should pay a visit to your house, only then can I board the plane with peace of mind."

"You're really getting on my nerves." She felt he was treating her like a seven or eight-year-old child.

"Perhaps, but I need to discuss your work with your grandparents..."

Chen Shanyi cut him off, raising her voice, "You must not!"

Jedscar, hands crossed over his chest, watched her pink face aflame with anger, "Alright, as long as you swear to me you will not dance the pole dance."

"Hmph, so after all, you're just threatening me."

"In any case, I will not leave Taiwan until I get your promise!" He had had to change his plans. She said she found a job as a pole dancer again. At the same time, Xia'er strangely wanted to live with her grandparents for a few days. There might be something more to this.

On hearing this, she glared at him, "Don't you think you're too self-righteous? And unnecessarily meddling?"

"I have my reasons. It's just..." a touch of sadness flashed in his black eyes, "It's hard to explain."

"There's no need," she refused to hear it, "I don't know what you intend, but my grandparents will surely not believe your one-sided claims."

He calmly observed her pretentious confidence, "So, you're saying they wouldn't believe that you dropped out of school and danced at bars to earn money?"

"Exactly."

He let out a mocking laugh, a chilling fierceness suddenly appearing on his handsome face, "Well, we can certainly try."

She furrowed her brows, noting the swiftness of his mood change. It seemed he really wanted to stir things up.

His icy gaze passed over her to land on Kong De, "Prepare the car, we're going to dine at the Chen's tonight."

"Yes, sir!" Kong De chuckled and turned to leave. This was a scenario he enjoyed most.

Chen Shanyi stared infuriatingly at Jedscar, "I didn't invite you to my house."

Jedscar sneered, "But your grandparents did. To them, I'm the good friend of their son."

"Bullcrap, it's all a scam," she retorted dismissively.

"No, I really do know your parents."

She gasped, "You're lying."

"If you want to meet them, I can take you. Your father is in Belgium, your mother in Germany. I've met them a few times. I was surprised to find out your connection with them, as they don't really act like parents..."

"They're living a good life, aren't they?" Her voice was hoarse as she interrupted him.

He merely nodded.

Chen Shanyi felt a deep pain in her heart. They must have forgotten her in the decade that passed. But, did they never think of her in the quiet of the night?

An unexpected wave of melancholy washed over her. She swallowed the lump in her throat and asked, "If I want to meet them, would you really take me?"

"I don't think you truly want to meet them," Jedscar could feel her pain of abandonment. And thinking of her money-minded parents, he felt even more sympathy for her.

Her eyes reddened, sparkling with tears, "You're wrong. They gave me life but left me for over a decade. I want to ask them, when they eat or sleep, do they ever think whether I have anything to eat, or a warm blanket to sleep with..." Realising that she was sharing her deepest thoughts with a man who had just barged into her life, she abruptly silenced herself.

He frowned, saying, "What's wrong?"