Alix would not stop laughing, the light happy feeling in her heart was something she had not experienced in so many years. Why, she wondered, had she taken so long to revolt against her father and stepmother?
She snorted accidentally, and covered her mouth.
Her eyes moved to Caishen, filled with shame and nervous embarrassment.
What the hell? Now he will think that I am a pig, she thought to herself.
Unexpectedly, she heard her system say, "It could have been worse, you could have passed gas from your.."
"Don't even finish that statement." she cut it off immediately.
She bowed slightly cleared her throat, ignoring the amusement in Caishen's eyes.
"Pardon me." she mumbled.
Her words came out muffled as her hand blocked her mouth.
Caishen chuckled abruptly, and he covered his face with a magazine.
"Haaaa-ha-ha-ha," he laughed deeply.
He was not faking the laugh because his body was shaking and she saw him dab the corners of his eyes with a white silk handkerchief that had square gold patterns around the edges.
"It's not that funny." Alix blurted out.
Caishen lowered the magazine and he looked at her with a broad smile on his face. The amusement on his face was so obvious, he did not even attempt to disguise or hide it.
"Oh, but it is." he replied.
Alix folded her arms across her chest and looked away from him.
"Hmph." she responded.
"Why are you throwing a tantrum, It's not my fault that you snort when you laugh." he said.
She turned her whole body to face him and stared boldly at him.
"Whatever, I am still cute even if I snot."
Alix was unsure if she was lying to herself or to him but she had to say something. It sort of felt like this was a battle and if she said nothing, he would win.
To her surprise, Caishen replied in the most unexpected way which took her by surprise.
"You are right, it's cute." he said.
Once again, Alix covered her mouth and this time, she added a gasp.
Caishen smirked, and chuckled slightly once more.
"Tell me though, are you happy? With everything that happened back there, that is." he asked and specified his question.
Alix lit up like a bulb and clapped her hands happily. "Did you see the look on Jing Hee's face when I threw that old cup? She looked like she wanted to leap across from the table and throttle me.
Given the number of times she threw tea on my face or clothes, she should count herself lucky that that the cup was empty.
But honestly Caishen, I did it for you, in part. How could they bring out such old porcelain for you to use?
I know for a fact that there are better quality cups, new ones too and yet they gave us chipped ones. How dare they!!!"
She huffed her cheeks and pursed her lips like a child with a grudge that she was holding and not ready to let go of.
She grabbed Caishen's hand and said in a sorry voice, "I am really sorry Caishen, this is why I was adamant in not going there. I knew that they would do something to undermine you.
I might be used to such treatment but I will never let anyone treat you that way."
Alix was determined, and her mind had been made up ages ago. Never again would she be anyone's stepping rug in addition to getting revenge and making Billi regret giving up on Caishen.
This was her man, there was nothing wrong with defending her man.
Step one to acquiring Caishen's heart was to reassure him constantly that she was all for him.
Caishen looked at the warm hand which was grabbing his and the fierceness with which she was vowing to defend him. It was cute that she thought he needed protection.
"You, do you like me that much?" he asked her softly.
Alix nodded like a chicken pecking rice on the ground. "So much." she told him.
She further went ahead to caress his hand with a sly smile on her face. This was complete give someone a step and they will take a mile behavior.
The moment Caishen willingly touched her hand, he opened the door to physical touches like this.
He shook his head and scoffed.
"Alright, since you like me so much and defended me that much, I should reward you."
Alix sat upright as if she had been jolted by electricity. Rewards from the game and rewards from her husband, hooray, she would be a rich woman soon.
Not just rich, but richy rich rich, she thought.
"The system has magical rewards, don't compare it to the humanly items." The small elf on her virtual screen said.
Even though she was excited, Alix thought about something and it caused her to frown unhappily.
"What is it? Don't you want the reward?" he asked her.
She shook her head, no way, of course she wanted the reward. "I just feel so bad about the gifts which we left behind. We should have carried them out when were leaving. It makes me feel as if Jing Hee has won this round suddenly."
Those gifts were from the Zhang's, they had to be authentic and expensive.
In her mind, Alix pictured jewels, expensive tea sets, a painting and other things families like the Zhang's gave their in-laws.
"Is it too late to turn around and pick them up?" she asked.
Caishen smiled and chuckled, out of nowhere. He really didn't expect that she would be this amusing. When was the last time that he had laughed this much?
Living with her was really going to be fun.
"Don't worry about the gifts, I picked them myself and I picked only the best and most authentic items. I am sure that they are screaming right about now." He assured her of this with a cunning smile on his face.
Alix did not read the cunningness and her heart continued to bleed for the money which had been spent purchasing those expensive gifts.
If she had known the truth, she would not be feeling that way and she would be applauding him. Around the time after Lin Qianfan left the house, Jing Hee and Billi went downstairs with expectant greed and they ripped the gifts open.
Jing Hee and Billi planned to keep any expensive gold or jewelry for themselves. The cheap things would go to her grandmother and anything like ginseng, wine, or a painting would be Lin Qianfan's.
Caishen was right about the screams because the first two gift boxes to be opened contained live cockroaches and another fat dead rats.
More gift boxes were lined up, waiting to be opened and one could only imagine what they contained. But if the first two had this, then the rest were probably no different.
Jing Hee and Billi run out of the house, screaming their heads off and absolutely terrified.