The Villain's Wife

"I miss you more," Zhuo Jingren said hugging her. How could she still have the heart to carry out her initial plan of ignoring him when he's so sweet like that? In a way, he had given her his answer in that response. Lily then burrowed her head into his chest, inhaling his scent.

"You're home," Lily uttered before her face bloomed into a beautiful smile. Though, she was a little surprised, she also could not deny the fact that she was indeed happy to see him. She realized that she was becoming weaker in front of her own husband, succumbing to his wooing.

"I can smell dinner," Lily said after a few seconds. "Stop hugging me already. It hasn't even been three days." She rolled her eyes. Only after the latter had kissed her on the forehead did he let her go.

"Come, we need to put something on that wound," Lily said as she held Zhuo Jingren's hand and led him to their room on the second floor. After dressing his wound, the couple enjoyed a sumptuous dinner of 'Thai Red Curry Shrimp' that Zhuo Jingren made himself.

After dinner, the couple decided to watch a movie instead of working. Or rather, Zhuo Jingren forced Lily, almost dragging her, to watch a movie with him.

"Nope. I am not watching that," Lily shook her head. Zhuo Jingren had a home theater which was not surprising. But what was surprising was how the design of the room was inspired by Batman's bat cave. The were artificial bats hanging all over the wall and there was even a custom made bat suit and a badass batmobile figurine sitting inside a glass display case. Lily was sure that Zhuo Jingren must have spent a lot to get this room done. She didn't know that her husband was a diehard fan of Batman. 'So cute,' she thought.

"Who wouldn't like 'Titanic'?" Zhuo Jingren asked. "How about 'The Notebook'?"

"Nope!" Lily shook her head once again as she crossed her arms around her chest.

"I always thought women love watching those kinds of movies," Zhuo Jingren noted as he scanned the wide array of titles on his TV screen.

"Don't put me in the same basket as all the other women. Why would I watch something sad that could possibly affect my mood all day?" she retorted while eyeing the design of the home theater. "I didn't know that you are a Batman fan."

"Hmmm… I love batman." He nodded. "He is just like me."

"Are you saying that you are a hero too?" She laughed.

"No… An orphan," he answered, still scanning the titles on the TV. When he noticed that Lily was silent, he turned his head towards her and assured her, "Don't feel sorry for me. I think I am an extremely lucky person because now I have you...."

"Then let's watch Batman," Lily answered, understanding apparent in her eyes. Judging by Zhuo Jingren's words and facial expression, Lily deduced that the latter must have known something about his parentage. However, she decided not to probe further. She knew that he would tell her all about it when he is ready.

"No romance? Love story?" he asked, earning an eye roll from Lily.

"I am not fond of that genre," she answered. "Let's watch Batman instead."

In response, Zhuo Jingren grinned and nodded at her.

…

While the weekend was a carefree one for Lily and Zhuo Jingren, the Tang family was facing their biggest storm.

Monday.

Another news rocked the entire Hong Kong.

International women protection groups filed multiple rape cases against Tang Wei Dong and surprisingly, Tang Jian too. This move surprised everyone.

According to some sources, Tang Wei Dong had raped a woman last weekend and the woman went to the police to file a suit. The woman had already undergone some tests in the hospital which proved that she was indeed raped. Moreover, a motion to test Tang Wei Dong's DNA was also requested so they could match it to the semen inside the woman.

Tang Wei Dong had already been in custody for three nights and with this latest development, it seemed like his release would not be happening anytime soon. When Tang Wei Dong requested to speak to his grandfather, the warden denied his request. The warden also informed him that his grandfather was currently busy handling his father's case instead.

This made Tang Wei Dong anxious. Was the Tang family intending to abandon him? Couldn't they find some way to get him out of here? Was he not as important in the family? Of course, he was not aware that there was solid evidence stacked against his father on the counts of violence against women. This was why his grandfather chose to focus his attention on Tang Jian's case instead.

With everyone's attention on the Tang family, how could the law enforcement or government officials accept bribes to help them this time?

Then, photos which captured Tang Jian in a murder scene, looking as if he was the murderer started circulating online. On top of that, other evidence of his crimes began to surface online and netizens had free access to the evidence. Public opinion instantly turned on them. Everyone sympathized with the victims and hated the Tang family. So when netizens came across old images of the Tang family members flaunting their luxurious lifestyle, it only made them angrier.

The Tang family was one of the influential families in the city and they were proud owners of a casino. Before long, claims that the Tang family was involved in illegal gambling and illegal money-lending began to surface. Of course, there was no solid evidence on this as the Tang family made sure not to leave any paper trail for their illegal activities.

A few days later, the Inland Revenue Ordinance also got involved as they discovered that the Tang family was not declaring the right income for their casino business and had been evading tax payments for years now.

In less than a week, the Tang family was brought down from the top of the food chain. They were constantly being monitored. The police kept a close watch on them and a government assigned audit team was scrutinizing their accounting records.

…

Thursday.

"Father is so stressed Mo… I …. And I can't do anything about it." Tang Lingyun paced about inside Qin Mo's home office. News about the Tang family seemed to be worsening by the day.

"Well… All you can do now is to just sit tight and avoid going out for a while. Don't worry too much about Father. I'm sure he can find a way to get out of this," Qin Mo said as he furrowed his brows.

As much as he wanted to help the Tang family, he realized that he really couldn't do much. Though Qin Mo had some friends in the government, those people wouldn't dare to bend over backwards to do him this favour. Not when international eyes were on the Tang family.

"Father can only focus on finding the culprit behind all these plots against us now because there isn't much he could do to help Tang Jian and Tang Wei Dong too. The evidence against them are too solid." Tang Lingyun stopped pacing and approached Qin Mo.

"Mo… I am afraid… What if the police start to audit my assets as I am from the Tang family too? What if they find evidence that will incriminate Father? If Father is arrested, then the Tang family…"

Tang Lingyun did not dare to continue as her lips trembled from fear.

…

Panda Novel