Dongfang Ming did not want to draw for her. It was not their place to speak, so they should just see things through.

Ming Yan understood his orders and came forward. As he was about to take away the tools, Wang Xiangyun threw a temper tantrum.

She stopped Ming Yan from taking away the ink slab. Facing Dongfang Ming, she exclaimed, "Brother Ming, why are you so unwilling to draw a portrait for me? My brother's not here, but I want one now. Why can't you just do it?"

She was really going mad! What was all this about?

She had never been so furious before! She was not sure if it was because Dongfang Ming was being unusually nice towards Liu Duo.

And she could not pinpoint exactly how.

"Miss Wang, please show some self-respect." Ming Yan stared at the hand grabbing his arm and gave her a look, all the while maintaining his composure.

Little Tian saw that and tapped Wang Xiangyun on the other arm, urging her to let go, as she advised, "Miss, perhaps Mr. Dongfang is tired after drawing two portraits. We can do that another day."

"Brother Ming, will you draw me or not?" Wang Xiangyun totally ignored Little Tian. She could be very stubborn when her temper tantrum got the better of her.

She could guess how this would turn out, but she just wanted to hear the heartbreaking reply from Dongfang Ming.

Dongfang Ming listened to her threatening tone. He did not give an immediate response, nor did he even look her in the eye.

At that moment, the atmosphere in the pavilion got very tense.

Ye Ling looked at them then turned to Duo Er next to him. What should they do about this situation?

Sitting beside him, Liu Duo lightly shook her head. They could only look on. This was Dongfang Ming's affair. He would manage.

A few minutes passed before Dongfang Ming spoke up, void of emotions. "Ming Yan, why have you stopped? Ahem..."

He lifted his eyelids and gave him a once-over. Hadn't he told him to remove those tools?

Ming Yan heard that and swore he felt a cool breeze.

The others might not be able to sense Dongfang Ming's rage, but he certainly could.

"I'll take them away now!" Ming Yan uttered. He shook off Wang Xiangyun's hand blocking his way, and quickly cleared the table.

Otherwise, he would be punished.

He was not afraid of punishments, but he just did not want Dongfang Ming to be disappointed in him for not being able to complete a simple task.

Seeing that Ming Yan was following his orders, Dongfang Ming turned to his guests and said, "Ling, Little Duo, I have a boat prepared. Why don't we go get some lotuses? We can even see the water lilies close up."

"Great, we can add the lotuses into our porridge!" Liu Duo gracefully accepted.

Finding herself being ignored yet again, Wang Xiangyu,n in a moment's fury, made a grab at the ink slab Ming Yan had yet to take away. Before she could smash it on the ground, Dongfang Ming stopped her.

Clearly, this had happened numerous times before.

"If you want to break things, do it at home," Dongfang Ming said plainly, facing her.

He did not mind losing an ink slab, but he sensed that the woman was obviously aiming the object at Liu Duo.

He did not know in what way Liu Duo might have deceived her, but he would certainly not allow her to harm Liu Duo.

He took away the ink slab in Wang Xiangyun's possession and passed it to Ming Yan, and only after that did he let go of her hand.

"Brother Ming, I hate you!" Tears flowed down her cheeks. She felt completely misunderstood.

Now that the woman had burst out crying out of the blue, Liu Duo took Ye Ling's hand and spoke up, saying to Dongfang Ming, "Dongfang, I think we should take a rain check on the lotuses. Ling and I will go home now."