The Substitute Bride and the Cripple

Chapter 80: Sleeping In His Bed

Ning Mufan frowned. When he went downstairs, the servant told him fearfully, “Two people broke in, Young Master. I’ve already called the police.”

Ning Mufan looked at the two people downstairs and saw a man wearing a mask and a cleanly-pressed suit. Behind him was He Lei, one of Jiang Shaocheng’s lapdogs. “Don’t you know you’re trespassing on private property? This isn’t the Jiang household. How dare you barge into my house in your master’s absence? Do the Jiangs have no regard for the law?”

“Bold of you to say that when you kidnapped our young mistress,” He Lei shot back.

The masked man lost his patience and strode upstairs. Ning Mufan blocked him, and received a punch to his face. His hand flew to his mouth and came away bloody. His eyes turned cold. “Who are you?” he demanded. “If Jiang Shaocheng wants his wife, let him come get her himself!”

The masked man sneered and fixed Ning Mufan with an icy, dark stare. He went straight to the guest room to find his wife. When he saw her sleeping on the bed, Jiang Shaocheng felt as if his heart had been stabbed. She had come here–heedless of the consequences–to see Ning Mufan and sleep in his bed? He clenched his fists and lifted the blanket, intending to carry her off.

“Put her down. You can’t take her away without her consent!” Ning Mufan rushed into the room and grabbed his arm to stop him from picking up Tang Qiu.

Jiang Shaocheng’s visage contorted in anger behind his mask. He set Tang Qiu down and seized Ning Mufan by the throat, intending to choke him to death. Tang Qiu was his– and Ning Mufan was less than nothing.

“Let… go…” Ning Mufan wheezed out, face turning red. He hadn’t expected that this man would be out for his death.

The commotion finally woke Tang Qiu up. She opened her eyes and saw a masked man trying to strangle Ning Mufan. Instantly alert, she screamed hoarsely, “Who are you? Let go of him!”

Instead of letting go, the masked man tightened his grip. Ning Mufan’s face had gone purple. In a moment of desperation, she picked up the bedside lamp and hurled it at the masked man.

The lamp shattered and crashed to the ground.

The man whirled around. Tang Qiu flinched back at his murderous, dark gaze. “Let him go! Murder is a crime. Why can’t you talk things over calmly?”

The man stared at her, his eyes hurt and angry. He released Ning Mufan and closed in on her.

Tang Qiu retreated in fear. “W-what are you doing? Who are you?” Her heels hit the bed, and she fell back. The masked man loomed above her like a predator, his cold eyes boring into her. “Go away!” she cried out.

“Why?” the man asked darkly. “So you can keep other men close?”

Ning Mufan had finally recovered enough to stand. He staggered towards Jiang Shaocheng. “Leave her alone. If you have a problem, take it out with me. She’s just a woman!”

Jiang Shaocheng raised his arm. Ning Mufan managed to dodge his first punch, but not his second. He crumpled to the ground, blood flowing from the corner of his mouth.

Tang Qiu lunged forward, but her injured arm slowed her, and the masked man seized her wrist before she could attack him. She panicked and bit down hard on his arm, but the man didn’t even frown–he just stared at her coldly.

“Let go, Young Mistress!” He Lei ran into the room. “That’s the young master’s… bodyguard!”

Tang Qiu relaxed when she heard that the masked assailant worked for her husband. She looked at the blood staining his shirt and licked her lips awkwardly. “I didn’t know you were here on my husband’s behalf. Why didn’t you say something earlier? I’m sorry…”

“And I didn’t know you still remembered that you have a husband,” the man sneered.

His sarcasm made her unhappy. “Of course I remember that I have a husband. But how can you hurt innocent people, even as his bodyguard?” Tang Qiu shook him off and wanted to help Ning Mufan up, but couldn’t escape the man’s vice grip. “Let me go!” she cried.

“You’re coming with me!” Let go? He had left her alone for a day, and she took that as an invitation to elope with another man. Jiang Shaocheng wasn’t letting her out of his sight.

“Just because you’re my husband’s bodyguard doesn’t mean you can be so unreasonable,” Tang Qiu retorted angrily. “Why did you beat up Ning Mufan? And why aren’t you letting me go?”

Jiang Shaocheng couldn’t bear to let her gaze linger on another man anymore. He pulled her to leave, but Tang Qiu stayed bolted to the floor, looking at the injured Ning Mufan. “I’m not going anywhere. If you want to leave, you can do so alone!”

Jiang Shaocheng barked out a furious laugh. “So you want to stay with him?”