“No one in our house eats this anyway,” Grandmother Qi said casually while Aunt Liu lifted the gift box from the table.
Liang Lihua pursed her lips tensely. She then inhaled deeply before saying, “Madam Qi, I think you misunderstood me. I’m not sure if anyone tried to slander me behind my back by feeding you untrue facts about me. I’ll excuse myself for today. However, there’s a saying ‘time will reveal a person’s heart’, one day you’ll know that what I’m telling you is the right thing.”
Liang Lihua straightened her back. She felt insulted and embarrassed by Grandmother Qi’s sarcastic mockery.
She was trying to find a way out for herself. She could only put up a righteous pretense and turned gracefully to exit.
This time around, Liang Lihua no longer dared to treat Aunt Liu like the way she used to.
Liang Lihua did not receive the gift box that Aunt Liu passed to her after she got out of the house. She said politely, “The Changbai Mountain Wild Ginseng is rather valuable. If Madam Qi doesn’t want it, you can have it. It’s a healthy tonic for old people.”
“Heh heh,” Aunt Liu laughed and continued, “This is too much for a gift. I can’t accept it. Also, Madam Qi usually includes me on everything. Anything that Madam Qi eats at home, I’m honored with a portion as well. My body is still very sturdy. Please take it back.”
While she was speaking, she shoved the box into Liang Lihua’s hands and said, “Take care and goodbye.”
Then, she turned around and entered the house.
Leaving only Liang Lihua who stood by the car, watching Aunt Liu enter the house. She was so angry that she started to tremble.
When Aunt Liu reached the living room, she saw Grandmother Qi holding the phone. Shortly after, she heard her saying, “Wenna, Liang Lihua might be heading to your place in awhile. You don’t have to see her.”
“It’s no big deal. Her daughter kept pestering Chengzhi but got chased away by him. She as a mother came to lodge a complaint and demand justice for her daughter. This pair has an unusual way of thinking, their mindset deviated from normal human beings. Stop seeing her! I’ve already told her that I have accepted Song Yu as my granddaughter-in-law.”
Grandmother Qi was still a civilized person. She did not directly refer to Liang Lihua and Yu Keyao as lunatics.
However, she made her point clearly to Xia Wenna from the last part of her remark, suggesting her to stand on her side and stop creating troubles for Qi Chengzhi and Song Yu. She wanted her to see Song Yu as her daughter-in-law and treat her sincerely.
It was obvious that Xia Wenna obeyed her request when Grandmother Qi hung up the phone gleefully. Then, she picked the script up and read out the lines.
“Xiao Liu, I think that I can take up the role of the female lead’s mother. I wonder if Xiao Han had finalized the actors? I don’t think I can showcase my acting skills by portraying a traditional old lady,” Grandmother Qi said while she continued studying the script.
Aunt Liu thought to herself, ‘You’ve already incorporated your acting skills into your daily life, what more do you want to showcase?’
Her headache just now looked so genuine!
Nevertheless, Aunt Liu still took out the phone book and searched for Han Zhuoli’s number, “Madam Qi, this is Mr. Han’s number.”
…
…
As expected, Liang Lihua went to Xia Wenna. When Xia Wenna heard from her housekeeper that it was Liang Lihua at the door, she did not answer her request. She let out a sigh and said, “Tell her that I’m not in.”
Missus Lian informed Liang Lihua through the intercom without even opening the door of their mansion.
Liang Lihua felt extremely humiliated as she stood in front of the intercom.
Since she was already here, she thought that she should be invited into the house out of courtesy even when Xia Wenna was not in.
Now, they did not even bother to open the door for her. She was doubtful whether Xia Wenna was really away or she was just avoiding her on purpose.
The Qi family treated her with an attitude as if they were avoiding an epidemic. Liang Lihua clenched her jaw angrily with so much force that her chin was twitching.
She got into the car with a long face and did not immediately start the engine. She gripped the steering wheel with her hands and thought a while with a stiff expression before taking her cellphone out.
Xia Wenna sighed when she saw Missus Lian return from the window. She asked, “Has she left yet?”
“There’s no one at the door,” Missus Lian walked over and said.
Xia Wenna let out another sigh. At first, she tried to introduce Qi Chengzhi to Yu Keyao out of goodwill. Who knew that she would be badgered by this mother-daughter pair?
“Madam, your phone’s ringing,” Missus Lian took the cellphone for Xia Wenna. She glanced and saw the caller was Liang Lihua.
Xia Wenna got a bit frustrated and pursed her lips. She stared at Liang Lihua’s name on the screen and let the phone ring continuously.
Silence ensued only after the phone got cut off automatically after it reached voicemail since no one answered it.
However, it started to ring again after merely three seconds.
Xia Wenna had no choice but to pick up. “Mrs. Yu? So sorry, I didn’t notice my phone was ringing since I’m outside.”
“Ha Ha, I just went over to Imperial Terrace. Your maid said that you’re not in,” Liang Lihua laughed dryly.
“Yeah, my schedule’s rather empty today, so I went out for a ride,” Xia Wenna said before continuing, “Mrs. Yu, is there anything that I can help you with?”
After that, Liang Lihua repeated the whole story that she told Grandmother Qi just now to Xia Wenna. Her tone was so melodramatic and she even shed tears in between her lines.
Xia Wenna was getting annoyed after listening to her. At this moment, she had the same exact thoughts as Grandmother Qi. Liang Lihua was just being unreasonable.
If Liang Lihua accused and blamed Song Yu for making a mistake, Xia Wenna might believe her.
However, she was blaming Qi Chengzhi for it. Was she expecting Xia Wenna to lecture Qi Chengzhi?
That’s impossible!
Xia Wenna was Qi Chengzhi’s mother, of course, she would side her own son. She would never criticize her son for Yu Keyao, who was a nobody to Qi Chengzhi.
Xia Wenna got so irritated that she left her cellphone on the coffee table without ending the call. She let Liang Lihua continue talking while she stood up and went into the study room. She chose a book from the shelf and returned to the living room to read.
Xia Wenna turned a few pages before saying, “Missus Lian, can you make me a cup of fruit tea?”
Liang Lihua’s mouth went dry with all the talking. She felt that something was wrong while she was speaking since no one answered on the other side.
“Mrs. Qi? Mrs. Qi?”
Xia Wenna picked up the cellphone hurriedly when she heard incoherent sounds spread through the phone, “I’m here. About this, Chengzhi had overdone it. No matter how much he disliked Keyao, he shouldn’t have treated her like that, right? He should’ve told her nicely since she’s a girl.
“How about this, I’ll give him a piece of my mind when Chengzhi’s back from his outstation trip. Of course, Mrs. Liang, you should also advise Keyao not to be so stubborn. There are so many men out there, it’s not like Chengzhi is the only outstanding guy, am I right? There will not be a happy ending if you like a man that doesn’t reciprocate. You’ll just hurt yourself more, so why should you?
“Chengzhi is not the kind of guy who has a soft spot for women. If you annoy him, he will not listen to me even though I’m his mother, not to mention Keyao who’s unrelated to him. That’s why you should go home and tell Keyao not to bother Chengzhi. If she doesn’t appear in front of him, she wouldn’t need to suffer from all of this, do you agree with me?”
Liang Lihua was infuriated by Xia Wenna since she made her point by taking a step back. There was no chance for Liang Lihua to argue.
It was not like Xia Wenna was going to stay out of this. She had agreed to talk to Qi Chengzhi, which achieved her goal of this phone call.
Nonetheless, she knew that Xia Wenna was just brushing her off. She could tell by her perfunctory tone.
If Qi Chengzhi continued to be rude to Yu Keyao, Xia Wenna could just put the blame on Qi Chengzhi that he refused to listen to her.
Without having a choice, Liang Lihua hung up the phone call unwillingly.
Xia Wenna shook her head. She still could not fathom Liang Lihua and her daughter.
Usually, a normal person would get the hint from the person that he or she was not interested in them. There was no need for any bad blood for them to back away.
However, Qi Chengzhi was already making it so obvious but they still acted out of their own accord. This behavior of them was rather obnoxious.
No wonder Yu Qianying had cut off all ties with the Yu family.
…
…
Not sure if Yu Keyao was traumatized from Qi Chengzhi’s threat, she did not return for the past two days.
Paris was a place full of romance. With Qi Chengzhi beside her, she felt that there were not many dangers around them. Even the locals were especially friendly. Whenever they meet a black-haired, dark-eyed Asian, regardless of your nationality, they would greet you in simple Chinese with their strange accent, “Ni hao”.
All of it was good except for one, Song Yu was not used to the cuisine here. She really missed all sorts of dishes from her country throughout these five days. She even craved for food that she disliked before.
If she were to have a packet of pickled mustard, she would be more than grateful.
However, the thing that she missed the most was instant noodles and hotpot.
After Qi Chengzhi heard about it, he said, “We’ll go to Yan Beicheng’s place to eat hotpot when we return.”
When they got back to B City, Chang Lai drove Qi Chengzhi’s Range Rover and was waiting for them at the airport.
The Range Rover was repaired three days before they returned. Chang Lai drove them back to Viewpark Residence.
Due to the time difference, Qi Chengzhi had planned not to go to the company today. He was going to rest at home to recover from his jet lag.
On the way, Song Yu could feel the soreness in her eyes, but she just alighted the plane and it was only 6.30 am here, she had no urge to sleep at all, even though she was exhausted.
She perched her head on Qi Chengzhi’s shoulders and looked outside of the car window. Even though she could not fall asleep, she felt the tiredness after such a long flight. Her eyes were half-closed lazily while one of her hands interlaced with Qi Chengzhi, the other covered the back of his hand and caress it subconsciously.
“Chang Lai, stop aside for a while,” Song Yu said suddenly.
Chang Lai glanced at the cars behind them before turning the wheel and parking on the roadside. Song Yu told Qi Chengzhi, “I’ll go and buy something.”
Then, she got down of the car.
Qi Chengzhi sat in the car and saw her scurry into a convenience store. He was puzzled at first but he understood immediately as to what she was going to buy and found it funny.
As expected, Song Yu carried a full bag of cup noodles from the convenience store moments later.
When she got back into the car, he noticed that there were all sorts of flavors, including Laotan Pickled Vegetables, Spicy Beef, Sour and Spicy Beef noodles. She bought several packets for each flavor.
Usually, Song Yu would not choose to eat these. She would only eat them once in a blue moon under certain circumstances where she did not have a choice.
Especially like a basic flavor such as Spicy Beef, she would not even eat it if she was forced to do so, but she bought a huge bag of it.
“How many meals are you trying to have since you bought so much?” Qi Chengzhi extended his hand and combed through her wind-kissed hair with his bony fingers to smoothen out the tangles.
“I saw the racks were filled with instant noodles when I went in just now. I’m craving for all of the flavors, that’s why I unknowingly bought so much. I think I won’t be sick of it even if I eat them continuously throughout the whole week. I feel like I’ve cleansed my digestive tract after five days in France. My mouth feels tasteless too. I just want to eat something exciting,” Song Yu saw the huge bag in her hand. She did not sense the actual size of it in the store just now, but now she felt that it might be a tad too much.
It was only 8.00 am when they reached home. Song Yu prepared a cup of instant noodles for herself eagerly. Qi Chengzhi could not help but make one for himself after smelling it while Aunt Yang stood aside awkwardly.
These two blatantly ignored her presence and went on to make instant noodles without asking her to cook.
After he was done eating, Qi Chengzhi headed to his study and organize some stuff from the company that he missed while he was not in the country.
Song Yu stayed wide awake until 2.00 am. By the time she woke up the next day, it was already past eleven o’ clock.
She noticed that there was no one beside her when she woke up. The bed was cold, indicating that Qi Chengzhi had left for quite some time.
She recalled that Qi Chengzhi had kissed her for a moment while she was still in a daze this morning.
It was rather blurry since she dozed in and out of sleep. Her eyes were half-opened, with discharge sticking on the corner of her eyes. It was not a flattering look.
“What’s the time now?” she asked hazily with a raspy voice.
“Still early. Go back to sleep. Zhao Rongcheng approved your leave, you don’t have to rush to work. Stay home and recover from jetlag,” he kissed her cheeks below her eyes and said, “I’m heading to the company. I’ll pick you up in the evening to visit Grandfather and Grandmother Qi to inform them about our engagement.”
The way she was lying on the bed with such an obedient mien looked so adorable.
Her fair complexion shone brightly in contrast to the bed. She was still oscillating between consciousness and a dream-like state, looking so defenseless. This scene belonged only to him.
There was some discharge on the corner of her eyes. She was no longer obsessed about her image when she just woke up compared to the beginning when they moved in together.
Back then, she would always cover her eyes and mouth, feeling disgusted by her eye discharge and her overnight breath.
Now, she acted much more natural, where she no longer cover herself in front of him. She put her guard down in his presence and was not afraid to let him see her ugly side.
One would only do this when he or she fully trusted the person.
Qi Chengzhi wiped the corner of her eyes and planted a kiss gently on her forehead and said with a lowered voice, “Sleep.”
Song Yu mumbled something before replying with “uhm” in a raspy voice. Then, she closed her eyes and fell back to sleep. She was not aware of when he left.
She rubbed her eyes and got out of bed, fixed herself before going downstairs.
Before she spoke, Aunt Yang told her, “Sir went to the company this morning.”
Song Yu nodded and Aunt Yang asked her what she wanted to eat.
Song Yu smacked her lips and thought for a while before saying embarrassedly, “I think I’ll have another bowl of instant noodles!”
Aunt Yang did not know whether she should laugh or cry, “Miss, I’ll be losing my job in no time if you keep on eating instant noodles.”
“There’ll be no such thing,” Song Yu was definitely not going to believe Aunt Yang’s joke, “It’s just that Europe’s cuisine was too bland, my tastebuds are deprived. That’s why I want to eat something with a strong aroma.:”
Aunt Yang had no choice but to let her eat it.
While she was waiting for the noodles to be cooked, she gave a call to Ruan Danchen. She asked her how was work when she was not around.
“It’s fine, we’re quite lucky. No problems arose during the few days when you were not around. I didn’t have to do much in your absence,” Ruan Danchen said.
“I brought back a set of skincare products for you,” Song Yu said. “I know that you’ve worked very hard when I’m away. Use this to rejuvenate your careworn face after these hectic days.”
“Ha ha, feel free to say anything about me as long as I get free skincare products,” Ruan Danchen laughingly said. She did not mind the tease from Song Yu at all.
“Tell me, what was Qi Chengzhi plotting when he insisted on bringing you to Paris?” Ruan Danchen asked.
Song Yu shook her head and cracked up. She had to give it to Ruan Danchen that she had an exceptional sense of intuition.
“He… he proposed to me,” Song Yu still felt embarrassed to admit something like that personally. Even though there was no one around, she could feel her face burning up.
Ruan Danchen’s cry of shock came through the phone, “I knew that he was up to something! He doesn’t seem like the person to mix personal and work matters together.”
Then, she heard Ruan Danchen asking, “How did he propose?”
Song Yu narrated the whole proposal with a soft voice and flushed face.
“Aiya, you guys are gross!” Ruan Danchen yelled suddenly. Her sudden increase in volume shocked Song Yu, where she could feel the pain in her ears due to the piercing volume.
She removed the cellphone until it was quite some distance away and only placed it back to her ears after Ruan Danchen had calmed down. She stuck the cellphone between her ears and shoulders while she tore the lid on the instant noodles. Then, she held the cellphone with one hand with the other holding the plastic fork from the instant noodles to stir it.
“Does this mean that you guys don’t have to use birth control anymore? Since you’re getting married,” Ruan Danchen continued.
“Cough, cough, cough!” Song Yu choked and coughed violently. She was really impressed by Ruan Danchen guessing everything accurately.
Ruan Danchen waited for her to soothe the coughing patiently. Aunt Yang entered hurriedly and poured a glass of water for Song Yu when she heard her coughing.
It was extremely uncomfortable since she choked on the spicy noodles, hurting her trachea. Song Yu gulped down the cup of water to ease the discomfort.
Song Yu answered all of Ruan Danchen’s questions honestly. Only then, Ruan Danchen was willing to let her go.
…
…
In the evening, Yu Zixiu’s secretary knocked and entered. She said, “Director Yu, Young Master Cheng has arrived. He’ll come up in a while.”
“Noted.” Yu Zixiu closed the mailbox that he was viewing on his computer.
Two days ago, Qi Chengzhi’s assistant Cheng Dongge called suddenly to make an appointment with his secretary. He said that Qi Chengzhi wanted to come over to discuss something with him.
His schedule was originally packed. Once his secretary heard that it was Qi Chengzhi, she reported to him immediately and he made sure to clear the afternoon for him.
However, he had no idea why Qi Chengzhi wanted to talk to him.
Could it be about Song Yu?
When this idea just popped into his mind, his secretary opened the door and let Qi Chengzhi in.
Both of them talked for about an hour. No one knew what they discussed.
When the office door reopened, Qi Chengzhi strutted out of the office. He had the same conserved expression without any telltale signs on his face about what was going on.
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