The Vicious Wife

Broken Leaf Black Tea

FG Tower

"Lia, give her some coffee," Roseanne said without moving her eyes away from Tang Ling.

"I prefer tea, Gorreana-Broken Leaf Black Tea please," Tang Ling said, her tone as gentle as her smiling face. When she noticed that Lia did not move an inch, she immediately continued. "I can understand if you don't have this kind of tea. It is a little bit expensive and rare, after all. I will take black coffee with two cubes of sugar, please."

However, Roseanne just continued to stare at Tang Ling as her right hand tapped the tabletop.

"I..." Tang Ling awkwardly said, "I didn't mean to offend you. I am just used to the Gorreana-Broken Leaf Black Tea that your father brought me from Europe. I... apologize." In response, Roseanne scoffed before she turned her head to Lia.

"Get her the Gorreana-Broken Leaf Black Tea. Bring the tea set as well; my stepmother will steep the tea herself. And don't forget my coffee. No sugar or milk," she said in one go, a smile visible on her face as she looked at Lia. She turned her gaze back to the woman in front of her. "Why do you look shocked? Most of my employees are Europeans, so they prefer to drink the same tea as you. So I tend to stock a lot. If you want, I could give you a dozen or two."

"I... no... I was just surprised. That's all." Tang Ling immediately hid the shock on her face. In fact, she had never tasted this kind of tea. She just thought of the idea to embarrass Roseanne by demanding the expensive tea. According to her information, a pound of this tea would cost almost a thousand US dollars.

What kind of person would provide her employees with tea that was worth that much? However, when she thought about Roseanne's explanation, Tang Ling calmed down. Roseanne and her employees were indeed from Europe, and this type of tea was made in Europe, it was only right that they were familiar with it.

"Hmmm..." Roseanne nodded, still staring at Tang Ling intently.

"It is very difficult to get an appointment with you. I never knew that..."

"It's just the two of us, Tang Ling. We can stop pretending," Roseanne interrupted her. "Why are you here?" she asked before she rose from her seat and turned her back against Tang Ling.

"I want the properties you inherited in Gangnam," Tang Ling blurted meekly. "But I have convinced your father to compensate you. With the current status that you have, I'm sure they mean nothing to you."

"And what are you planning to compensate me with?" she asked without facing Tang Ling.

"Money! We are going to buy those properties back. All of them are rightfully your fathers, so it is only just that he gets them back."

Roseanne's scoff after Tang Ling's words made the latter irritated. "Please stop disrespecting me. I am still your step-mother."

"Ex step-mother," Roseanne corrected as she turned around to watch Lia bring in the tea set with various kinds of teas placed in small square plates for Tang Ling. "Go ahead Ex Step-mother, indulge yourself." She gestured at Tang Ling to start.

In response, Tang Ling just stared at the tea set for a while before gently brewing her tea. "So? Are you going to agree to my simple request?" She asked while pouring the hot water into her cup of tea.

"No," Roseanne replied before sipping her coffee. This made Tang Ling stop and lift her head to look at Roseanne.

"Why?"

"No particular reason." Roseanne shrugged.

"These properties are extremely important to your father. How could you decline my offer?"

"How could I not?" she countered before taking another sip of the coffee. "Can you even afford it?"

"You- The Li Family might not be as rich as you, but we are not poor either! I know that you heard about the company's struggle in the past few years, but that has already been solved, and the company is doing fine now. You should stop underestimating us!" Tang Ling blurted, anger seemingly clouding her vision. This was the thing she hated the most, being underestimated by someone whom she used to underestimate before.

"Oh?" Roseanne raised an eyebrow. "So... how much are we talking about?"

"Is everything about money to you Rosella? How about..." Tang Ling's words were interrupted when Roseanne suddenly held her hand up in front of Tang Ling's face.

"You came here and talked about buying my properties then you tell me that all I think about is money. Tang Ling... are you perhaps, delusional?" Roseanne asked, mockery apparent in her eyes.

"You-"

"What? Are you going to use your famous family speech again?" Roseanne let out a sarcastic laugh. "You wanted to buy something and refused to talk about money. What kind of logic is this?"

Tang Ling stared at Roseanne in disbelief. The veins in her temples were bulging, threatening to burst at any time from trying to control the amount of rage she felt towards the other woman. She clenched her fist before forcing down the blood in her throat. Then she hastily drank the tea that had been steeping for more than two minutes.

"How was the tea?" Roseanne asked. "Is it comparable to what my father brought from Europe?"

"Y-Yes... Of course," Tang Ling forced herself to answer. How could she let Roseanne know that she was about to lose control at any moment? Wouldn't that only give Roseanne, the satisfaction she was looking for? Tang Ling would never allow that to happen. Never!

"Hmmm..." Roseanne nodded before she looked at Lia, who was standing next to Tang Ling. "Why don't you give Tang Ling the right Broken Leaf Black Tea? Since she's old, her eyes may not be that good, so she ended up picking the wrong tea to steep."

Roseanne's statement instantly made Tang Ling's face lose all color. No amount of makeup could hide the fact that she had become as pale as a paper. It was as if a bucket of cold water had been poured on her. Then a scarlet blush started to spread down her neck. With anger and embarrassment consuming her, Tang Ling rose from her seat. How could she not know that Roseanne purposely made her choose the wrong tea?

"You bitch!" she glared at Roseanne. The gentleness in her eyes was gone and it was replaced with pure hatred. Roseanne had purposely given her choices to get her confused. She wanted her to pick up the wrong tea to make it seem obvious that she had never tasted the Broken Leaf Black Tea, which she had asked for! How could Roseanne play her like that? "How dare you embarrass me like that? You are so disrespectful and scheming!"

"Hm? Embarrass? What do you mean? Broken Leaf Black Tea is always served with Peppermint, Lucia Lima and other teas to make it taste better. Did you perhaps forget about it? Or..." Roseanne raised an eyebrow at Tang Ling. "Are you totally clueless as you have never tasted that tea before?" Roseanne's lips then lifted into a gentle smile, innocence can be seen plastered on her face. It was as if, Roseanne was really clueless of what she had done.