Clause 35

"Sure," said Keira and they proceeded to talk about other stuff regarding the modeling world.

The call lasted for a good one hour. Feng Xinying smiled and went inside the bedroom. She was beginning to like her new room. It had such lush and soft mattresses that she could sink in them anytime of the day.

She started looking at other emails on her phone before again looking at the text message from Xie Yuansheng. What did he mean by clause 68? How many clauses were there? When she really looked at the message, her mind reeled. She exclaimed, "Oh my God! How many clauses are there? I just signed the contract like a fool without reading it!"

Thinking that she should at least read the contract, she texted him back,

[Please bring a copy of the marriage contract for me. And ask your lawyer to incorporate my points in the contract.]

The reply came promptly.

[Okay.]

She was surprised at his alertness. Her phone started ringing again. She picked it annoyedly. "What do you want?" she asked him.

"I will get free soon in the evening. There is a dinner that I have to attend, and you have to come with me," he said as curt as ever.

"I will not go to any dinner with you," she said annoyedly.

He disconnected the call. She also tossed her phone far on the bed.

She heard another ping in it. There was a message again.

[Clause 35: The promisor will have to accompany the promisee to every event, function, party, dinner, lunch and even trips (whether local or overseas).]

Feng Xinying grunted at the text and threw the phone on the bed once again. She smacked herself for signing the contract without reading it even once. She remembered how Xie Yuansheng was feeding the contract to the shredder, taking away her only chance to get back her position. She acted under pressure.

It was 7pm, and she went downstairs to inform the butler that they would be having dinner outside. She started going up when her curiosity peaked. She went towards Xie Weihui's room. She wondered how come that lady was so quiet. The house looked vacant even though there were two of them over here. Was Xie Weihui always like this? When she neared her room, she heard soft, stifled sniffles. Feng Xinying stopped in her tracks. Xie Weihui was crying alone.

While Feng Xinying was thinking of how to go against the two of them, Xie Weihui was mourning. She was actually mourning her father's death. Feng Xinying was moved, and she quietly tiptoed away from there with a heavy heart.

As soon as she reached her room she received another message from him.

[I will be there in fifteen minutes. Be ready, and be at the front door, as I won't come in. We have to be at the venue by 8pm.]

"What? But he just called me ten minutes back!" she said aloud exasperatedly. "What does he think I am?"

Being a model, Feng Xinying really took a lot of time in getting ready. Fifteen minutes was too little. However, she did know the tips and tricks to quickly applying makeup, and that helped her today. She got ready in exactly fifteen minutes and ran downstairs to wait for the car. The car came five minutes later, making her wait and fume in the process.

As the driver opened the door of the car, she stepped in to see that Xie Yuansheng was sitting there already with his head resting on the back. He looked tired and was sleeping. Very quietly, she sat in the car, and the driver began to drive away.

All through the journey time, Feng Xinying didn't make any noise. She was happy that he was sleeping, and there was nothing to talk about. She didn't want to talk to him unnecessarily.

Xie Yuansheng woke up after about half an hour. He turned to look at her. He stared at her for some time and said, "Have you applied makeup?"

Feng Xinying was startled. No one had pointed out this kind of stuff to her. Plus, it wasn't his prerogative whether she applied makeup or not. "Yes…" she replied, amused.

"Take the car to the nearest pharmacy," he said to the driver.

The driver nodded and took a small detour.

Feng Xinying wondered about this sudden change of topic, but she stayed quiet. When they reached the pharmacy, Xie Yuansheng jumped out of the car and hurriedly bought something from there. He opened the door of the car and asked the driver to pass him mineral water.

After peeling open a packet of cotton, he took out a cotton swab, wet it with mineral water and brought it near Feng Xinying's face.

Feng Xinying leaned back in fear. "What are you doing?" she asked.

Xie Yuansheng shifted towards her, held her long slender neck from behind to still her, and started wiping all the makeup from her face.

Feng Xinying tried to dodge him, but she couldn't. He was too strong for her, and eventually, all her makeup except for her lipstick was removed.

"I don't like you wearing makeup," said Xie Yuansheng.