Chapter 31

Open it, then tie it again.

Tang Mingxi: ...

You came over to help me yourself (.)

The dog of a man barely came back to life in his heart for one second :)

Seeing someone else do the work, Tang Mingxi simply gave up struggling.

He placed his other foot in front of Ye Heng too and waited for him to tie that shoelace as well.

During the pause, he happened to look up at the men standing not far away, each wearing a different expression.

That young boy was among them, and his expression could no longer be described as merely awkward.

After tying his shoelaces, Ye Heng stood up and said indifferently to Azure Luo Bay's person in charge, "I have something to do today, so I won't be able to stay and enjoy myself with everyone."

Seeing his attitude, how could the crowd still fail to realize who that young man sitting on the changing room sofa was?

In all of Ningcheng, the only person who could make Ye Heng kneel down to tie his shoelaces was Tang Mingxi!

The Tang Family's second young master?

Everyone stared in utter shock.

Why was he here?

Hadn't the rumors always said that Tang Mingxi and Ye Heng were at odds? It did not seem that way today.

Before they could finish looking him over, Tang Mingxi lazily said, "I'm tired. I want to go home and sleep."

From beginning to end, he did not spare so much as a glance for the boy who had been keeping Ye Heng company earlier.

The boy had thought that Tang Mingxi would at least question him or make trouble for him.

Even that would have been better than the humiliation of being ignored outright.

Tang Mingxi simply did not consider him worth noticing.

The enormous gap in their status made the boy clench his fists tightly.

If Tang Mingxi had known what was going through his mind, he definitely would have cried injustice!

Although he did feel that the male lead cuckolding him outside was rather humiliating, that was the male lead.

What right did he have to control the male lead? :)

In this hellish marriage, Tang Mingxi already had enough trouble just trying to stay alive, okay? TvT.

This little incident left a small knot in Tang Mingxi's heart.

But it also reminded him of one thing: in the future, Ye Heng would care about far too many of these female confidantes.

Not to mention those far away—Tang Nuo was right nearby.

Once Ye Heng returned to the Ye Family a year later, Tang Mingxi's little life would be over.

Oh dear, his relationship with the male lead had eased up a little lately, and he had started getting carried away. TvT.

On careful thought, there were only a little over five months left until Ye Heng returned to the Ye Family. Adding the time it would take him to seize power after returning, Ye Heng would be back in Ningcheng in at most a year.

Tang Mingxi gloomily counted the days on his fingers, remembering his half-baked swimming skills. He had not even tried platform diving yet.

The gloomy second young master lay completely sleepless in his big bed.

The next day, the alarm rang right on time, announcing that his birthday had finally arrived.

After a sleepless night, Tang Mingxi looked a little worn out. As the stylist worked on him before the mirror, she carefully flattered him.

"The second young master's skin is so nice. I've done makeup for so many celebrities, but none of them are as good-looking as you!"

"Your nose is so high, second young master—higher than one made with tens of millions. And your eyelashes are so long. You're simply the cosmetic surgery template everyone dreams of," and so on.

The rainbow farts failed to stir even the slightest ripple in Tang Mingxi's heart.

Tang Mingxi's birthday banquet was held at the mouth of Shallow Water Bay.

The Black Swan Yacht, worth four hundred million US dollars, had received approval a month earlier and entered Shallow Water Bay, waiting for this extravagant banquet of high society.

An invitation to the second young master's birthday banquet was something the upper class of Ningcheng found exceedingly hard to obtain.

Money alone was not enough to get in; one also needed a certain degree of social standing and prestige.

Tang Mingxi had once been kidnapped as a child. Ever since then, Tang Yun had paid exceptional attention to his attendance at large banquets like this.

For the selection of banquet guests, hundreds of security personnel had vetted them layer upon layer. They had practically investigated the backgrounds of their ancestors for eighteen generations.

Only after confirming that a person was clean would they be allowed into the banquet.

On the day of the birthday banquet, Tang Mingxi did not need to do anything at all.

At eight in the morning, a styling team entered the house and began grooming him from head to toe. He was not even fully awake at first; half asleep, he was pushed and carried into the dressing room,

where he changed into no fewer than a dozen suits.

It was not until noon that they finalized which suits he would wear for which occasions.

To maintain his figure and ensure the clothes fit properly, Tang Mingxi was only allowed one small piece of cantaloupe at noon. Before evening even arrived, he was starving to the point of dizziness.

By the time the evening banquet finally began, Tang Mingxi felt as though he was floating when he walked.

As an accessory to an expensive vase, Ye Heng naturally did not have to be put through the same all-day ordeal as Tang Mingxi.

He held a meeting in the morning, cleared his entire afternoon schedule, and sat at home waiting for Tang Mingxi to finish getting ready.

It had to be said that waiting really was torturous.

Even someone as patient as Ye Heng became inexplicably irritated after several hours.

He picked up the financial newspaper that had been ironed that morning and lowered his lashes, skimming through it at a rapid pace.

At first, with his gaze resting on the paper, he could still read it.

Later, for some reason, the English words in the newspaper began to twist into a landscape painting.

The image of Tang Mingxi in riding clothes that day had inexplicably left a deep impression on Ye Heng.

Though he did not like Tang Mingxi, he had to admit that Tang Mingxi was a qualified expensive vase.

The riding clothes fit him closely, cinching his waist so slender that one hand could wrap around it.

The sunlight at Rose Manor had been lovely that day, deeply engraving that scene in the young man's mind.

It had lingered these past few days, impossible to shake off, making him somewhat impatient.

Was he not done yet?

Ye Heng glanced coldly at his watch.

By the time Tang Mingxi came out, Ye Heng's impatience had reached its peak, and his expression had darkened.

Then he looked up. His breathing caught slightly for a moment before he quickly looked away again.

Tang Mingxi had changed into a light-colored custom-made suit, every inch tailored to his figure, its lines smooth and its fit impeccable.

His skin was naturally pale, and today the stylist had applied a thin layer of foundation to cover the dark circles from his sleepless night. The corners of his eyes also seemed to have been traced with a very light brown eyeliner.

Tang Mingxi's eyes usually drooped slightly, but now they tilted subtly upward, raising the lethal impact of his beauty by several degrees.

Just one glance at him was enough to make the charm flowing through his brows and eyes breathtaking.

Tang Mingxi was clearly satisfied with his look today as well. After getting into the car, he checked his reflection in the window several times.

Ye Heng noticed that Tang Mingxi secretly looked at him twice too. It left him with an indescribable restlessness, and his body felt a little hot.

What was he looking at?

What did it mean for him to look at me like that?

Completely unaware of Ye Heng's inner thoughts, Tang Mingxi lowered his head and rapidly typed on WeChat: [Is he dead? This is ridiculous. I spent all day getting dressed up, and when I came out, he didn't even compliment me??]

Wang Min replied immediately: [Exactly! He has no idea what's good for him. How dare he ignore our princess's earth-shattering, ghost-weeping beauty? Unless he goes to the hospital and gets a certificate proving his physiological functions are normal, I reasonably suspect he's frigid!!]

Wang Min: [Baby, send me a picture so this mortal can pay homage to a fairy's beauty (throws flowers)]

Tang Mingxi: [Image jpg]

Wang Min: [!!!]

Wang Min: [TvT!!]

Wang Min: [I imagined you'd be gorgeous, but I never thought you'd be this gorgeous!]

Wang Min: [Do you fairies have a KPI for descending to earth and stunning mortals to death? I declare that your performance this month is already miles ahead of everyone else's!!]

Wang Min: [I'm still a living person, you know. What good does it do you to stun me to death? Baby, just go out wearing that face of yours