Chapter 4 The First Step Prt 2

TangShi meandered behind, sighing heavily at Juefeng 's obvious shamelessness, never able to behave in the presence of handsome men. Her sister disgusted her with her brazenness sometimes, but she would never verbalize it. Juefeng was a spoiled and narcissistic brat.

TangShi's eyes were trained on the floor as she was accustomed to doing when home and walked into the back of a suddenly halted dark figure by accident. Distracted with her own thoughts and foolishly clumsy to do such a silly thing. Banging her forehead against a solid mass that startled a reaction out of her.

"Ouch!" she muttered under her breath and stepped back in alarm, bowing slightly towards the person she collided with. An apology on her lips as heat overtook her face and sheer shame washed over her. Her cheeks flushing at her own clumsiness and knowing her father would go crazy at her for it.

"Stupid girl, go sit down" her father cursed her before she had a chance to speak at all, and upon lifting her chin was met with the icy cold snarl of her victim. He was turned her way in annoyance and frowning at her with piercing green eyes under furrowed brows.

It was YuZhi Leng, and this close, basking in the pale beauty of his eyes, a scowl formed on his chiseled lips which somehow enhanced his masculinity, she stopped breathing. It felt like the world stopped turning completely. Rabbit in the headlights or a defenseless small prey caught in the talons of a precise and experienced hunter.

His nearness, his familiar scent borne from old memories, and the way he towered over her in his strong form, scratching at forgotten interludes. Something about him pulled back the night of the dancefloor and cemented a visual of him eight years ago right there in her head. It had to be him.

This was more than just a similarity, or a thinking he shared small resemblances. His entire presence, the lording aura of a rich master of a powerful family she had sensed that night, though never asked him about. His eyes eating through to her soul, under straight dark brows, that had once captured her across a dancefloor in the same way. That jawline that weakened her knees and made her almost sway in reaction back then, and again now, when faced in the flesh this way. She would never forget how she trembled in his presence when he approached her and stole the very breath from her lungs. Much like he was doing now.

"Can you go sit? I don't like you being too close to me." His frosty tone and unexpected harsh words made her blink back in shock. The unfriendly command piercing her heart, bumping her back to earth and reality, and she stammered for a second, as though she hadn't heard him properly.

"Par... Pardon?" She acted like a clueless fool who had forgotten how to listen, and it only seemed to pull an angrier expression from him. Turning her blood cold and leaving her stricken with so many mixed emotions.

"Sit down, TangShi. Stop being foolish" her stepmother snapped, and TangShi was quick to remove herself and hurry to a nearby seat. Unable to continue to look him in the face as her embarrassment tinted her temples. Dazed at his words and complete rudeness.

The room became instantly quiet and tense as the butler began to dish out coffee to all those finding a comfy place to sit, and the older man of the three, leaned in with a smile. Looking like a king among mortal men and it was obvious he was used to having great power and command of all those around him.

The family Leng was known to be the number one wealthy family in China, with their fingers in so many enterprises, that they had built a formidable empire. Lei family was honored to become a connection in this way, so it was no surprise her father jumped at the chance to strike this bargain with them. Compared to them TangShi's family were small fish with hardly any notable wealth.

"We shouldn't beat around the bush. We all know why we are here, and this is just the final formality to finally meet the young Miss to proceed. My grandson and your daughter are to be wed, provide an heir to our two families, and bring Leng and Lei under one roof. It is good that we were swift to agree and come to this outcome." The older man, with his greying hair and long distinguished beard, eyes twinkling under thick brows, was just as intimidating as his grandson, and the family resemblance was strong. TangShi glanced at him quickly. Unable to stop herself looking to YuZhi and meeting an angry frown which made her crumble.

He seemed to sense her wandering gaze his way and had counteracted with a haughty response of 'leave me alone'. She looked back down into her lap, blushing fiercely and unable to ignore YuZhi's dislike of her. He wasn't happy about this arrangement at all, and he seemingly had already decided he didn't like her. She was a burden to him and probably the source of many family disagreements behind closed doors before this meeting.

Disappointment flooded her heart that he didn't even seem to recognize her in the way she had him, or maybe he did. Maybe he had just toyed with her that night, and he didn't want to be bothered by her in this way. TangShi wondered if he too remembered anything that night, but his cold mood and piercing glare didn't tell her either way.

"Two years, right? A child to be conceived quickly and born before they can separate?" TangShi's father sounded overly excited as he tossed away his daughter's freedom, careless with her feelings. As though talking about the weather. This was the first she was hearing the details of what was expected of her, as he refused to discuss anything when she returned yesterday. It seemed she was not important enough even in the planning of her own life. She inwardly smirked and sneered at just how miserable her family made her.

She was sent to her room alone when she arrived, not even allowed to attend dinner at the family table last night. Such was her lowly position in this place. Only the servants had ever shown her any kind of compassion in the past and even now, most of them had been replaced over the years and she was mostly ignored by new ones. It seemed that any who had shown warmth to TangShi was chased out by Ava or Juefeng. The lived to make life as difficult as possible for her.

"Two years unless no child is born, in which case she will have to try harder. After two years, proving she has given YuZhi an heir, she shall be compensated and set free, and the child will be raised in the family of Leng. I expect quick results given her age and your reports showing her good health. I want a child as soon as possible. My grandson is twenty-six, he is not going to be young forever." The old man threw a disinterested look over Juefeng, then TangShi, sitting quietly off to one side, appraising her and nodded with satisfaction. He seemed to like the overall presentation of herself enough to not refuse or mention her simple attire. Although he did gaze back at Juefeng for a long second and TangShi wondered if maybe she had an opportunity to be let go if they chose her sister instead. She hadn't allowed herself to really feel much of anything about this whole thing until now and was holding her breath in hopes she could get through this by some miracle and find a way out the other side.

As much as she longed for that outcome, a small ache in her heart flashed through, surprising her and she felt herself sliding her eyes back to YuZhi with a sad glimmer of hope. Glad that he was at least gorgeous, if not warm.

Stupid girl! She chastised her foolish heart. What really was her heart and head thinking of?

"So, we should set an announcement of engagement soon, and a wedding quickly after?" Ava gracefully smiled, fluttering her lashes and TangShi tried not to make it obvious she was falling into a glum depression as she listened without having any control over her own life. She stayed still, held herself upright and in good posture and concealed the sadness breaking her heart. She felt her sisters cold gaze eating her up and her smug smile aimed ruthlessly, and ignored her.

"I want them married immediately, privately. So they can begin consummating and creating a child. We can announce an engagement formally, keep it a secret and then later a wedding will appease the netziens who follow my grandson's fame. I don't want to delay." The grandfather had made his mind up and it seemed the only goal in his calculating mind, was that TangShi produce a child. Family was everything here, and future heirs were how a corporation survived.

There was rumor that the Leng family was short on living relatives after a disastrous plane crash killed several a few years ago and the remaining grandchildren were mostly female and had failed to produce any children recently. Old man was getting on in years and wanted the joy of great grandchildren before he passed. YuZhi was the known heir to take over as CEO, that meant his children would bear more importance than anyone else in his family.

YuZhi was the future of their company, the one set to inherit the majority shares when his grandfather stepped down in the next two years, hence their strict timeline. It seemed Grandfather Leng had found that Miss Cheng was not worthy of a union with his grandson for his first-born child, who would be set to inherit the future company after his father. Cheng was a name in fashion and design but was even lower than that of Lei Enterprise in terms of worth.

TangShi shyly looked up at the second man, assuming it was YuZhi's father and was met with a blank stare of a quiet and bored person. The other gentleman was more on the age line of grandfather which confused her, and she wondered if his father had been late in life when he had a son. She didn't know the relation of these two other quiet men to YuZhi or his grandfather for certain, other than they looked alike.