“Mei Xiawen?! He’s here in the States? And you met him too?” Yin Shixiong sipped his drink, the cool liquid quelling his rage towards He Zhichu. The news of Mei Xiawen’s appearance quickly commanded his attention, “What a coincidence?! You saw him randomly?”
This was a huge country, what were the chances of two classmates running into each other?
Gu Nianzhi detected Yin Shixiong’s animosity and displeasure towards Mei Xiawen. She blinked her huge doe like eyes at him and said softly, “It wasn’t randomly. I’ve kept in touch with Xiawen over text and told him our address before, so it wasn’t hard for him to find here. He’s actually so nice to me and even carried me home when I couldn’t walk anymore.”
Yin Shixiong snorted as he deliberately ignored Gu Nianzhi’s smile. He crossed his arms and looked up, “Even if that’s the case, he should’ve came to the apartment to look for you? –What’s the meaning of this, randomly seeing you on the street? And even carrying you home. He’s just looking to earn bonus points…”
Could it be that Mei Xiawen had an ulterior motive too? Yin Shixiong had been infected by Huo Shaoheng and began imagining conspiracy theories too…
Gu Nianzhi understood what Yin Shixiong was implying and burst into laughter, “Brother Xiong, what are you thinking about? Xiawen’s phone can track the location of mine. He just has to turn on the location function to know where I am.” Mei Xiawen probably used the location function as soon as he arrived to her building to see if she was home, then discovered she was away… With the location provided by his phone, he was able to find Gu Nianzhi, whose legs were numb from walking by then.
Yin Shixiong slapped his forehead, “No, that’s not ok. I have to find a way to delete that from his phone.” He went on to warn Gu Nianzhi, “You have to pay attention to your safety too. Why did you let him locate your phone? Did he give birth to you, or raise you? You don’t have a conscience, do you not want us now that you have a boyfriend?”
It was the second time that Gu Nianzhi had been told she “lacked a conscience.” Her emotions were conflicted and hung her head, “It’s you guys who don’t want me anymore, how do I lack conscience?”
“Who? Who doesn’t want you?! Tell me and I’ll go beat him up!” Yin Shixiong rolled up his sleeves jokingly.
Gu Nianzhi looked up and smiled, “You’d really beat him up?”
“Of course. There’s less than five people in the world that your Brother Xiong can’t defeat!”
“…Then can you beat Uncle Huo?”
“…He’s too difficult, let’s have someone else.”
“Hmph” Gu Nianzhi pushed Yin Shixiong, “I knew you couldn’t beat Uncle Huo, you shouldn’t have boasted in front of me. –Go make me dinner, I’m starving.”
“Ok, ok, I bought prawns and fresh scallops and was going to make garlic prawns and baked garlic scallops.” Yin Shixiong dragged Gu Nianzhi to the kitchen so he could make her smell like garlic and prevent shameless guys from bothering her all the time, “Tell me, how is it that Mr. Ho doesn’t want you anymore?”
“He has a girlfriend, so he’ll get married andhave kids one day. He won’t have time for me anymore.” Gu Nianzhi sighed as freed herself from his grip and scrunched her nose, “I’m not staying in the kitchen, you cook and call me when it’s ready.”
Yin Shixiong’s heart softened when he saw her swollen face, “Ok, you go shower and get some rest. I’ll call you for dinner.”
Gu Nianzhi nodded and watched Yin Shixiong go before taking clothes to the bathroom. When she was done, Yin Shixiong had finished making dinner. The pair sat across from each other and had a delicious meal. Gu Nianzhi paced around the room to digest the food while she thought about calling Mei Xiawen to confirm a time for him to come over for dinner tomorrow. She got the busy tone, and thought perhaps he was calling his family. Gu Nianzhi hung up and didn’t try calling again.
Mei Xiawen was indeed on the phone, but he wasn’t speaking to his family. Jiang Hongcha was calling him from the Empire.
“Xiawen, why did you go to the States without saying anything?” Jiang Hongcha’s voice was smooth like velvet, soft and alluring, “I miss you.”
Mei Xiawen was silent for a long time, and finally spoke after Jiang Hongcha pressed him on, “Hongcha, I have a girlfriend.”
“Really? Who is it? Is it the little girl you went to see in the States?” Jiang Hongcha asked gently, “Xiawen, don’t be so stubborn with me, ok?”
Mei Xiawen was unsure what to say.
“Xiawen, I know there’s something you still can’t let go of in your heart. I’m not going to say anything more. You haven’t been on ‘Black Tea’s Sky’ for a long time, right? I wrote some posts recently, have a look when you have time. I’ve sent the password to your phone already.” Jiang Hongcha hung up.
After hesitating for a long moment, Mei Xiawen unlocked his phone and logged into Weibo.
…
Yin Shixiong placed all the dishes into the dishwasher and returned to his room to report to Huo Shaoheng. This time, he actually go through to him at the first try. “Mr. Huo? You haven’t slept yet? Or did you wake up early?”
It was 7am in the Empire right now, and he had just been on the phone with Huo Shaoheng two hours ago at 5am local time. Huo Shaoheng actually hadn’t sleep all night, but didn’t feel tired at all. His work was busy and intense, so it was common for him to stay awake for several days and nights.
“Tell me, what is it?” Huo Shaoheng put on his headset and closed his eyes. He leaned back on the high backed chair to relax.
Yin Shixiong peeked out the door and said quietly, “…He Zhichu kicked Nianzhi out. She somehow angered him and made her walk home alone. It was a three mile walk and it took her an hour.”
Huo Shaoheng shook his head impassively, “Took one hour to walk three miles? You should make sure Nianzhi continues her morning exercises and not skip the ten kilometer cross-country runs.”
Yin Shixong, “…” Mr. Huo, you’re not focussing on the right thing! However he didn’t dare confront Huo Shaoheng and laughed before continuing, “Mei Xiawen is here and apparently came to see Nianzhi.”
Huo Shaoheng kept his eyes shut as he rubbed between his brows and asked casually, “Why did he go to the States? Did he see Nianzhi?”
“He did. The kid was lucky and ran into Nianzhi after she got kicked out from He Zhichu’s. He even carried her for a while.” Yin Shixiong reported anything to do with Gu Nianzhi in great detail to Huo Shaoheng.
“Useless. You tell Nianzhi that if she can’t even walk three miles, she should be too ashamed to tell people she was raised by Huo Shaoheng.”
Yin Shixiong thought Huo Shaoheng was being too harsh, “Mr. Huo, Nianzhi was seriously injured today, did you forget? She was hurt physically and emotionally, can’t you call her to comfort her?” This was the true reason why he called Huo Shaoheng again that day. Poor Gu Nianzhi was said Huo Shaoheng didn’t want her anymore, and it scared Yin Shixiong witless. What a poor little girl! Her saddened look was just like an abandoned kitten on the streets…
Huo Shaoheng opened his eyes and put the privacy film on his monitor as he entered the password. He grunted, “Was it a serious injury? Didn’t you say He Zhichu was there to help?”
“He Zhichu left her, but you can’t do that to her.” Yin Shixong mustered up his courage, “Even if you have a girlfriend, you can’t abandon her.”
Huo Shaoheng’s hand froze when he detected a slight change in Yin Shixiong’s tone. This didn’t sound like something Yin Shixiong would say at all. He squinted his inky eyes and they appeared inscrutable, but the corners of his mouth lifted slightly. Huo Shaoheng regained his composure and said dryly, “Then you can tell Nianzhi that I don’t have a girlfriend. I also won’t abandon her.” He hung up and sighed deeply before getting up for a ten kilometer cross-country run.