Chapter 18 Arriving at the Funeral Parlor

“Young Master Ye…” When Xu Yi opened her mouth, Ye Shaotang said in a lowly, “Did you forget how you should address me in public?” “Shaotang.” Xu Yi felt slightly helpless, but she still felt that it would sound better if she were to call him by his full name. “I know you have some beef with An Xin before, but she has passed away. Can you be more tolerant? You might not only have to be my backdrop for today, but I might also need your help." Ye Shaotang was silent for a moment. “What do you want me to do for you? Or rather, what do you want me to do for An Xin?” Xu Yi took in a deep breath and said after a while in a deep voice, “Actually I…I don’t know yet. I just hope that you’ll give me a hand when I need it.” Ye Shaotang nodded without hesitation. “Okay.” Xu Yi was feeling horrible. She did not have the energy to wonder why Ye Shaotang answered so quickly. When the car stopped in front of the funeral parlor, Xu Yi’s heart felt extremely heavy, Her feelings were even more indescribable especially when she saw the wreaths displayed outside. Everyone knew that An Xin was an unfriendly, ill-tempered, and petty person. She did not have a lot of close friends. It was only Xu Yi who was close to her. This was a clear example of the phrase, ‘people only love you when you are dead.’ Looking at the inscriptions, they were all from companies that were in relations with the An Group. Xu Yi’s feelings were awfully complicated. Outside the funeral parlor, one of the walls was covered with wreaths, and the other was packed with cameras. In the middle of the walkway, there were a lot of people crowding and walking around. There were men and women of all ages. It was just that…there were not a lot of them who were bare-faced just like Xu Yi. Most of them were dressed formally, and those women’s faces were heavily made up. Some of them were even posing in front of the cameras. If the words ‘funeral parlor’ was not present, Xu Yi would have thought she came to the wrong place. Ye Shaotang’s expression turned dark. He felt disgusted watching those people posing in front of the cameras. He put his hand on Xu Yi’s waist and wanted to guide her inside. A hint of panic appeared on Xu Yi’s face. She was not used to being so intimate with Ye Shaotang in front of so many people. It was as if Ye Shaotang knew what was on Xu Yi’s mind. He pulled her over to him and said profoundly, “An Xin’s biggest wish was for you to have a perfect marriage.” Xu Yi glared at Ye Shaotang. “I admit that it was indeed An Xin’s biggest wish to see me having a happy marriage. But, Ye Shaotang, do you really want to show off your fake happiness? I don’t think so. I feel that one should be honest being a human being. Just show what is actually going on to the world, so there is no need to lie, then use another to cover up the original lie. Don’t you think it’s difficult living like this?” “This is An Xin’s last wish. As her best friend, do you not want to see her rest in peace? Also, there are so many media here, if they were to spot your mistake and made a huge deal about it, how do you think it will help you with what you are going to do?” Ye Shaotang gripped Xu Yi’s waist tightly and inhaled her body fragrance lightly. He realized suddenly that she did not smell like jasmine flowers anymore. He had never liked the smell of it. The scent that replaced it was the scent that Ye Shaotang could never, ever forget. Initially, Xu Yi did not want to listen to Ye Shaotang but thinking about what she was about to do next, she tried her best to put up a good front after observing that everybody was very careful with their prestige. Xu Yi also agreed that what he said was reasonable. Hence, she leaned against Ye Shaotang obediently like a well-behaved little woman. Before this, Ye Shaotang had always felt repulsive getting close to Xu Yi to put on a show with her. He had wanted so bad to push her away but he could not for the sake of his prestige and their image as the perfect couple. However, it was unexpected that when Xu Yi leaned herself against him tenderly, he subconsciously gripped her waist tighter. Facing the cameras, he had an urge to hide her from them and not let anybody photographed her. Xu Yi could feel Ye Shaotang’s obvious dominance over her. She frowned and asked in a low voice, “What’s going on? Did I do something to provoke you? Or did I do something unsatisfactory? Why are you trying to break my waist?” There was a hint of embarrassment in Ye Shaotang’s face. He said in a quiet voice, “All of these men and women attending are all dressed like they’re on the red carpet. You’re so outstanding…” “You mean I’m the most out of fashion among all of them?” Xu Yi scoffed. She wanted to drop the act and fight with Ye Shaotang. Ye Shaotang was surprisingly patient with her. He explained slowly, “What are you talking about? Is that what I meant? I’m just telling you that you’re different from them due to your outfit and the media would pay more attention to it. Do you want to appear in the headlines like this?” Even though Xu Yi did not care, but she did not think that she was so ugly that she could not go out in public. However, to be criticized while she was bare-faced and dressed in black, she would definitely feel a bit unhappy. She needed respect as well. This was especially when normally domineering and ill-tempered Ye Shaotang was displaying his rare gentlemanly demeanor. Plus, Xu Yi lacked the experience in handling this kind of situation, so she asked Ye Shaotang in a quiet voice without any hesitation, “So what now?” Xu Yi depended on Ye Shaotang for a lot of things, but he would always ignore her like she was a stranger. Sometimes he would even feel hatred for her. It was as if he felt this woman was too stupid and could not even handle this kind of simple public relations issue. But now, it could be Xu Yi was genuinely expressing her dependency on him that Ye Shaotang felt comforted; it was as if Xu Yi’s dependency on him was a great encouragement to him. However, Xu Yi regretted almost immediately after she said what she said. She clearly remembered how Ye Shaotang had treated the previous Xu Yi when she asked him for help. Without waiting for Ye Shaotang to feel bloated with joy, Xu Yi said slowly, “Never mind. It’s useless asking you anyway. You don’t look like you want to help me anyway.”