Union Of Enemies Chapter 2

At the heart of a CBD was a fancy photo studio, which catered exclusively for female clients. Although many people pa.s.s by the studio but it wasn’t bustling in the studio, because majority of the studio’s clients were booked in by appointments. The renowned eccentric photographer was fussy about which clients to accept and often delay developing photos for half a year after a client’s photos were taken.

On another quiet day at the studio, a lazy tomboy reclined on a chair. One hand propped her chin and the other hand tapped on a gla.s.s table. Her elongated legs were propped on the adjacent chair, and her short soft hair bounced in sync with the tapping of her hand.

The lazy tomboy wore a silk white s.h.i.+rt with the two top b.u.t.tons opened and revealed a beautiful collarbone. She wore tight black trousers on her long legs. At a glimpse she looked like a French aristocrat from the eighteenth century but if a sword was attached to her waist, she’d look like a young handsome knight.

‘Who’s there?’ the tomboy asked hoa.r.s.ely.

The tomboy sighed. She squinted her eyes, gritted her teeth, she glared at a young lady who disturbed her rest. The young lady was her friend and also the owner of the fancy studio’s fittings and photography equipment.

The young lady strutted toward her tomboy friend and she looked suspiciously at the box of cough drops on the gla.s.s table. ‘What’s wrong? Your throat hurts? You didn’t have a good rest last night, right?’

The tomboy popped a cough drop into her mouth, cleared her throat but her voice was still hoa.r.s.e.

‘Yesterday my mum called and she said she wants to travel a thousand miles away from home to visit me,’ the tomboy said hoa.r.s.ely through gritted teeth. ‘She emphasised it’ll be more convenient for her to check my living situation.’

‘So you were too anxious to sleep? Then you were hot and bothered enough to burn your throat?’ Peng Cheng Gui asked. The studio lighting reflected off her pearly fingernails whilst she laughed loudly. ‘Did just the thought of living in the same place with that person wilt you? And that’s why you’re here early in the morning to mope?’

‘Who said I’m wilted?’ the tomboy protested. She shot up from the chair like a chicken’s head avoiding a chopping board. ‘I’m preoccupied about thinking how to knockout that weakling in one blow and send him flying straight to the hospital.’

Peng Cheng Gui smiled deviously and she gazed outside the window. ‘Isn’t he in the hospital across from us? If you actually wanted to hit him, you don’t need more than two minutes to do so. Or is it you don’t have the heart to knock him out?’

The tomboy waved a fisted hand in front of Peng Cheng Gui. ‘Peng-Cheng-Gui! Don’t provoke me!’

Peng Cheng Gui ignored her friend’s idle threat and she pushed her friend’s fisted hand aside. She shook her head helplessly. ‘I don’t understand you. If you’ve been enemies with him for eighteen generations then why do both of you feel the need to deceive both your parents about it? Both of you shouldn’t pretend there’s deep affections between each other. Isn’t it simpler if both of you avoid each other until death?’

The tomboy wrinkled her forehead. ‘That year his mum cried a river of tears and asked me to take good care of him. If we want to turn our backs on each other, he has to be the one to initiate it, not me.’

‘You actually count that as a legitimate reason?’ Peng Cheng Gui asked skeptically.

‘Doesn’t it count as a reason?’ the tomboy protested.

‘Count?’ Peng Cheng Gui asked.

‘Doesn’t it count?’ the tomboy asked.

The two friends partic.i.p.ated in a staring showdown to defend their own opinion.

Peng Cheng Gui surrendered because she didn’t want to continue a pointless quarrel and there was business to attend to. ‘Today don’t you have at least three appointments? Why are you still wasting energy in vain with me? Quickly prepare for the shoots.’

‘Peng Cheng Gui, explain it to me clearly, what’s wrong with my reason?’ the tomboy said.

Peng Cheng Gui looked up at the ceiling and she sighed. ‘Can you just pretend we never had this conversation?’

‘I can’t,’ the tomboy said.

Peng Cheng Gui knew, just by mentioning about that person, her friend would be excessively unreasonable and her friend would pointlessly crawl into a dead end. She looked at her friend’s beautiful eyes that were like two active volcanoes ready to erupt, she could only hope that in the next few days no one would dare to tease her friend who was in a volatile state. Otherwise she was scared for her life if she was within a five metre radius when her friend exploded.

But the heavens didn’t hear her silent plea.

The front gla.s.s door of the studio was pushed opened. Gu Jing and Peng Cheng Gui turned around and they saw an unexpected guest. The guest was an unfriendly beefy chested men and he strode into the studio.

‘Who’s the boss here?’ the man asked. ‘I heard there’s a famous handsome photographer here. Where is he? I want to meet him.’

Peng Cheng Gui glanced at Gu Jing and she swallowed her saliva. ‘Gentleman, this is a studio for females only so please leave. If you want your photos taken, take a left turn outside and within twenty steps there’s a studio that caters for wedding and male photos.’

The man glared at Gu Jing. ‘If male guests aren’t allowed here then what’s he doing here?’

‘Um, about… let’s go outside and talk. Otherwise when the female clients arrive to change their clothes they’ll be given a fright,’ Peng Cheng Gui said.

The man noticed a camera hung around Gu Jing’s neck and he pointed it a finger at Gu Jing. ‘So you’re the famous photographer.’

Peng Cheng Gui didn’t get to reply, because the man fisted their hands and he stood in front of Gu Jing. ‘Good, you’re here. I’ve been looking for.’ The man aimed a fist at Gu Jing.‘ You’ve spellbound my girlfriend and made her dazed all day. You even got her to undress and took photos of her. Today I’m going to beat you to death!’

‘Bam! Pow…’

The sounds of punches and kicks echoed in the recently renovated studio. After the fight the studio became a rubbish dump, gla.s.s fittings were smashed, lighting equipment were knocked over and the man realised Peng Cheng Gui’s warning wasn’t a joke.

Peng Cheng Gui slowly uncovered her face and her face paled at the unrecognisable state of the studio. ‘Ah! I told you not to! My studio! My portraits! My new round gla.s.s table!’

Gu Jing wiped the sweat off her forehead with her long snow white fingers. ‘I’ll go prepare for work.’

Peng Cheng Gui wanted to cry and grieve for her studio. She wanted to demand compensation from Gu Jing. ‘The renovations for the studio was just finished last week. The money you owe me from last time, you still haven’t paid me back!’

Gu Jing ignored Peng Cheng Gui’s idle threat and Gu Jing walked toward the darkroom. Peng Cheng Gui turned her attentions to the man who didn’t listen to good advice and he was still groaning flat on the floor. ‘I warned you not to fight. Do you have any idea who your opponent was? Your opponent was shortlisted to be on the national Taekwondo Olympics team!’

The man struggled to lift his head off the floor, his face was bruised black and blue, he had a hand pressed on his stomach and struggled to open his mouth too. ‘Can you help call an ambulance for me?’

The beautiful Peng Cheng Gui instantly regained her spirits and she smiled in a cooperative manner. ‘I can.’

The man laid his head back down on the floor and he groaned. ‘Thank you.’

‘But you need to give me an answer before I call an ambulance. This gla.s.s table is two thousand Yuan, service fee is one hundred Yuan, cleaning fee is two hundred Yuan and a local phone call is four Yuan,’ Peng Cheng Gui said whilst she added the total bill on a calculator. ‘All together it’s two thousand, three hundred and four Yuan. Rounding it off makes it two thousand, three hundred and ten Yuan.’

‘Why do I have to pay? It was clearly your employee who hit me, he was the one who destroyed the gla.s.s table,’ the man said.

‘You’re not going to pay? It’s ok if you don’t pay. I’ll just spread the truth about a first year college man was beaten badly by a girl on a one on one fight to the point he couldn’t call an ambulance himself. Mmm… but you look like someone who’s a boss of an underground brotherhood-’

‘You… what did you say?’ the man asked.

‘Oh, you haven’t heard of Gu Jing’s name? No wonder you dared to come here and caused trouble,’ Peng Cheng Gui said. She poked the man’s bruised forehead and she sighed. ‘Compared to our step-aunt, a fight taking place here every two months doesn’t come as fast. You’re an unlucky man, you came at the wrong time when she was in an emotional state and you provoked her too! You deserved the beating.’

‘She’s a girl? How can a girl hit and kick as hard as she can wasn’t chose for the national Taekwondo Olympic team? I should have brought at least two of my men here with me,’ the man said.

Peng Cheng Gui checked her surroundings to make sure Gu Jing wasn’t within hearing distance. ‘Because when she was about to go to her trial for a spot on the Taekwondo Olympic team, a young man schemed against her and she didn’t make it to her trial.’

‘That young man, is he still alive?’ the man asked.

Peng Cheng Gui nodded her head. ‘Alive, he’s living a very good life.’

The paramedics arrived and they carefully lifted the man onto the stretcher, but the man grabbed Peng Cheng Gui’s arm. ‘Tell who that young man is, I want to hire him as my master.’

Peng Cheng Gui retrieved her hand and she waved farewell to the man on the stretcher. ‘Don’t worry, you’ll get to meet him. Remember his name is Zhen Lang.’

End of Chapter Two