After breakfast, ChunHua stood at the main door to send her family off to work.

"Precious, it says that it's going to rain today. Are you both still going to Spring Garden?" Her mother asked with great concern.

"I'm sure BaiQiao has a plan. Don't worry!" ChunHua reassured her family with an incredibly stiff smile.

Her mother continued to study her.

Just as ChunHua wondered if her mother could see through her act, her mother said, "Well... If you say so, my baby girl."

Then, her mother kissed her on the cheek. "Have fun."

"Have fun." Her father echoed, while waving goodbye.

"Anytime you need big brother, just give me a call. Understand?" WeiSheng said with all seriousness.

ChunHua laughed. "I will, I will." She then nudged him along. "Have a good day at work!"

ChunHua continued waving as she watched two cars drive off.

"Little Miss is skipping work to go on a date?" There was slight hint of mockery in her tone.

ChunHua subtly gritted her teeth before breaking into a foolish smile. "Of course! Anything to meet BaiQiao!"

'As. If.'

"Mr Qi is really all that you think about, huh? Without my assistance, you'd really be a wreck, won't you?"

ChunHua scratched her head in a silly way and laughed it off.

'Not yet. Not yet. Let them think they win. In two years, I'll have my sweetest revenge. When they think they have everything, I'll tear them down and rip them into shreds.'

While ChunHua absentmindedly played with Xiao Tang, she made sure to keep her back towards Ah Mei. She could no longer keep her feelings off her face.

Xiao Tang cocked its head curiously then snuggled up closer to her. Having drawn ChunHua's attention, it licked her face and wagged its tail.

Watching Xiao Tang's little antics slowly pulled her out from her dark thoughts and her ice cold expression finally softened.

"Xiao Tang ah, Xiao Tang~ What a good girl you are~" She praised while ruffling its fur.

A while later, the doorbell rang.

ChunHua glanced at the clock. The time of his arrival was the same.

Ah Mei got to the door faster than ChunHua did. The door swung open and revealed a tall man with a smile that was so charming and friendly that no one would think he was capable of any evil.

"Mr Qi, welcome." Ah Mei greeted with a lilt in her voice.

ChunHua swallowed her pride and acted as she did before she travelled back in time. "BaiQiao! You're here, you're here!"

"Hello, girls, it's a good day today, isn't it?" He asked with his pearly white teeth shining in the sun.

"Would you like to come in for tea before heading out?" Ah Mei asked.

"It's okay. I'll come over for tea another day. For now I'd like to make it to the Spring garden while the weather's still good." He turned his gaze to ChunHua. "Are you ready?"

"Mm!" ChunHua grabbed the crook of his arm and headed out together.

Knowing how BaiQiao never paid her close attention, she let her mask slip. She glared at the yellow BMW before them with downturned lips. 'What a waste of my money.'

An oblivious BaiQiao headed for the driver's seat while she got into the front passenger seat by herself.

It was a silent drive. ChunHua was usually the one who started conversations and kept them going. This time, she was supposed to be sick and weak. She should have no energy to be her usual chatty and fawning self. As expected, it did not raise BaiQiao's concern or suspicion at all.

When they finally reached the Spring Garden, the sun still shone brightly. However, dark clouds loomed close by.

"Everything's so pretty..." ChunHua smiled with dead eyes.

"Come, I know a spot you'd surely love." He held her hand and led her through a maze made of tall green shrubs. The shrubs were dotted with little white flowers and lined with tiny fairy lights. ChunHua briefly thought how it would look even more breathtaking at night, then shifted her attention back to keeping up with BaiQiao's long strides.

'How considerate of him.' She glared at his back.

At least, the view in the middle of the maze was worth it. Or rather, that was what she remembered feeling last time.

A majestic cream-coloured water fountain stood proudly in the middle of the maze. Brambles with large red roses in full bloom surrounded it. ChunHua genuinely thought it was a very romantic setting, if only her escort was not so rotten.

BaiQiao turned and gauged her reaction. So, ChunHua put on a show of speechlessness and swooning for him. "BaiQiao~ You really know me the best~"

"Of course, why wouldn't I?" BaiQiao said with a perfect mask of indulgence. "I love you the most."

"Come, sit." BaiQiao patted the cream-coloured bench that faced the fountain.

When the contents of the picnic basket was revealed, ChunHua gushed, "Oh...! Dumplings, chicken cutlet, potato salad... You prepared all these by yourself?" Her eyes were almost sparkling.

He nodded with a proud smile.

'Hah, riiiight.'

"So sweet of you! They look so delicious!" She squealed.

"Anything for my ChunHua." He said while he fed her the first piece of dumpling.

Knowing from experience that the trap did not lie in the food, ChunHua played along with a huge smile plastered to her face.

Their meal had barely started when a loud thunder crashed overhead.

BaiQiao looked up in shock. "Oh man, I had hoped the weather would hold out a little longer. I guess we should go?"

"Okay!" ChunHua scrambled to help with the packing.

However, rain poured down within minutes and they were still finding their way out of the maze.

"Are we lost?" ChunHua sounded soft and winded. However, her gaze was sharp and cold.

"Shit!" BaiQiao cursed under his breath. He took one wrong turn after another. It was only because ChunHua had a clear mind now that she noticed how fake his mistakes were, at least for a man of his intelligence.

They finally made their way out after they were thoroughly drenched. ChunHua's fancy lolita dress began to weigh her down. She glanced at the small nook created by an uneven step on the ground.

'It was now...'

Her gaze returned to BaiQiao's back.

'I won't fall alone this time.'

The tip of her shoe got caught in the gap and her body lunged forward. BaiQiao's grip on her hand loosened, but she stubbornly held on tight and dragged him down with her.

The couple laid on the grass, frozen in shock.

BaiQiao recovered first and looked down at his clothes. His white cotton shirt and beige pants were completely ruined.

"CHUNHUA!" He shouted angrily.

ChunHua shoulders jumped. She did not remember him losing his cool in front of her before.

She weakly pushed herself up off the grass and looked at him with a sorry expression. The sight of her being covered in mud more than he was seemed to cool his head a little, and a hint of his gentle facade returned.

"Are you okay?" His tone and expression were a lot stiffer.

'So the events do change when I do things differently.'

ChunHua nodded but struggled to get up.

As if out of spite, BaiQiao turned a blind eye to her struggle and looked around like he was still finding his way out of the garden. It was unnecessarily. His eyesore of a car stood out even in the heavy rain.

Without warning, he grabbed her hand and pulled her forward roughly. "Come on, let's get out the rain."

ChunHua was not yet ready, so she stumbled for a short distance before she could properly walk again.

As soon as they got back in the car, BaiQiao turned the heater on full blast. "We can't have you falling sick again." He said with a sweet smile.

ChunHua returned it a half-hearted smile.

The car quickly became hot but also stuffy. ChunHua listlessly watched the road ahead, badly looking forward to the breath of fresh air she would get upon reaching home.

In her irritation, she shot daggers at him from the corner of her eyes. His thin and light shirt was halfway opened down to his stomach. Any thirsty woman would have drunk him up like he was water in a desert. Meanwhile, ChunHua was only guessing how much he had schemed.

'So he even planned for this part to happen. How can my illness not relapse with all these? How stupid I was.'

The hand hidden behind her puffy skirt clenched tightly into a ball.

'It's like he planned everything down to the smallest detail. I have to be more prepared than that to win.'

ChunHua's gaze fell. 'Can I make it?'

She could not help but feel scared about going up against someone so devious, alone and with no experience to call her own. After all, she had failed so badly before. Nothing she did after finding out about his true colours had worked. Water slowly gathered in her eyes.

"If you can't deal with something as simple as this, you can't make it in this world. Give it up and return to your castle, Princess." A deep and clear voice dipped in arrogance suddenly sounded in her head.

The abruptness of her recollection shocked herself. Then, her irritation crept up. Her family's nickname for her sounded so belittling when it came from his lips. 'There's another person I must prove wrong. What did he know?'

The look in ChunHua's eyes fired up again. 'I will make it. I will.'

ChunHua mentally worked through all the information she had gathered thus far.

'I know what will happen. This gives me the advantage. I must not waste it.'

However, the thought of going through things she did in her past life made her hair stand on its ends and sick to her stomach.

'I don't have to stick to the script, do I? I know his goals and his method of getting to them. How can I change my actions, make him miserable, without ending it all too soon?'

She wrecked her brain for ideas but none came to her even after BaiQiao turned into the driveway of her home.

"Can you make it to the door by yourself?"

She looked at him in a surprised daze. 'This is different.'

"You can't, huh?" He said almost with a sigh.

She shook her head vigorously. "I can. I can."

"Really? I'm worried." Although his tone conveyed worry, he could not keep the relief he felt off his face. His mask was slipping.

"I'm fine." She smiled weakly. She continued to act to the best of her ability. She refused to be like him.

ChunHua left the car and slowly made her way to the door by herself. She had not even taken three steps before she heard him speeding off. She stared at the yellow car disappearing in the distance.

'He went off a lot earlier... So little inconveniences actually tick him off that much!'

Ideas sprang up in her mind. However, as quickly as she rejoiced, she went back down in the dumps. 'I would have known this if I wasn't so blind and spoiling him all the time.'

ChunHua dragged her feet to the door. Just as she grabbed the door knob, a question popped up in her mind.

'Where did he go?'

ChunHua whipped out her smartphone, sat down where she was, and rushed to find all the information she needed. Only after she made a rushed phonecall did she hurry into her house and up the stairs.

"Little Miss?!" Ah Mei cried out in surprise to see a wet and muddy young lady running into her room, leaving mud in her trail, and giving Ah Mei more work to do. "You-!"

BANG!

ChunHua slammed her door shut and locked it before she got down to finding all the documents she needed.

"Hey! What's wrong?! Why did you lock the door?!" Ah Mei's voice travelled through the closed door along with her persistent knocks.

"I'm fine! I just want to be alone." ChunHua tried to sound as tearful as possible.

Then, she returned to snapping pictures with her phone and attaching them to an email.

"Well, if you say so." Ah Mei's nonchalance caused a slight pause in ChunHua's actions.

ChunHua's gaze turned colder and her expression became more solemn. Then, she decisively hit the "send" button.

'The game's on.'