Chapter 11
Lu Wanru found one of the most luxurious hotels in D city and picked a window seat that overlooked the whole city.
Xia Mao was sitting on pins and needles, looking at the knives and forks and western food in front of her, a little embarrassed, not knowing how to start.
The person sitting across from her, Lu Wanru, looked at her with understanding and said in a warm voice, "I'm really sorry, if I had known you weren't used to eating this, I should have taken you to eat Chinese food."
Xia Mao rushed at her and smiled.
Lu Wanru then spoke to her in a gentle voice, telling her how to use the cutlery, which ones she thought were delicious, and which ones were the signature dishes of this hotel, in a modest and courteous manner, just like a big sister in the neighbourhood, making Xia Mao's heart feel a warm kindness.
"Xia Mao?" Just when Xia Mao and Lu Wanru were both in a relaxed mood and had just started to taste the food, a woman's voice rang out next to them.
Xia Mao's small face immediately turned pale, without a trace of blood.
Her worst fear had happened, she had actually seen her classmate, Leng Ling.
"Why are you here? Why didn't you go to school?" Leng Ling took a few steps and walked next to Xia Mao, looking at the way she was dressed, "My god, you didn't win the lottery, did you?"
Xia Mao didn't know how to answer for a moment, she had never been good at lying since she was a child.
Lu Wanru was also stunned next to her, she suddenly felt that she was overjoyed today before she wanted to bring Xia Mao here to celebrate, as she didn't want to have any encounters with the people around Xia Mao.
"Xia Mao, you don't even know, my big brother has been looking for you for a long time, he went to school every day to look for you, I said you don't go to school here anymore, he didn't believe me, then, he followed Song Jia Nan to your house and found that your house had also moved away, he then believed it."
Leng Ling was genuinely happy to see Xia Mao, she was already getting annoyed by her big brother.
"My big brother went downstairs to get the phone from the car, he'll be back in a few minutes, I think he'll go crazy with joy when he sees you later." Leng Ling said before looking at Lu Wanru across from Xia Mao, "This is your sister ...... my god, she can't be your mother, can she?"
Xia Mao was busy standing up and pulled the credulous Leng Ling, "Ling Ling, I still have things to do, so I'll leave first."
After saying that, she looked at Lu Wanru who was already standing up.
"Let's go first." Lu Wanru maintained her usual poise, her gaze pausing slightly on Leng Ling's body before she took a step ahead and walked away.
Xia Mao's heart lifted all of a sudden, and she clearly felt Lu Wanru's cold intent.
"Xia Mao, you can't go." Leng Ling's gaze didn't stop on Lu Wanru too much, her eyes only had Xia Mao in them now, "I'm getting annoyed by my big brother, you must wait for my big brother to come and have a few words with him."
"Leng Ling, I really have something to do today, wait for the next time I have the chance." Xia Mao looked at Lu Wanru who had already reached the lift door with some anxiety, "I really have something to do today."
"Just one minute, just wait for one more minute." Leng Ling pulled her with one hand and took out the phone with the other, shouting straight inside, "Big brother, I've got Xia Mao."
Xia Mao watched as the lift doors opened and Lu Wanru walked in, Leng Junsheng took the phone and came out of the lift, rushing over excitedly when he saw Xia Mao.
"Xia Mao?" Leng Junsheng looked at the girl in front of him with disbelief, she was surprisingly more beautiful than he remembered, a few more points, "Where have you been? I looked everywhere for you and couldn't find you."
"I ...... I had some family matters and moved." Xia Mao took a step back, "I'll go first."
"What happened to your family?" Leng Junsheng thought of the news he had inquired about and asked worriedly, "I heard a bit of wind, and I don't know if it's true or not, is your dad ......"
"It's all right now," Xia Mo was busy interrupting him, "I really have to go."
She didn't really want to talk too much about what was going on at home, and the Leng family siblings' characteristic loud voices had drawn the eyes of the people next to her, which gave her the embarrassment of being stripped naked.
But Leng Junsheng had managed to find her, so how could he let her go so easily, he reached out and took her arm, "Where do you live now? Where do you go to school? I'll take you home."
"No really, thanks."
Xia Mao felt a burst of distress, she wrinkled her eyebrows and reached out to pull away Leng Junsheng's hand, but instead, Leng Junsheng held her hands back, "Xia Mao, if you have anything, just tell me, my family knows people in both black and white, and it's not bad ......"
"Can you let go of me first?" The first thing you need to do is to get a good idea of what you're getting into, and you can't even tell if you're angry or anxious.
Leng Ling kept pulling his big brother's clothes behind him, but Leng Junsheng, who was in the middle of a true confession, where would he notice his sister's small movements behind him, was still pulling Xia Mao's hand hard, and was saying with deep emotion, "Don't worry, your matter, is my matter, as long as you tell me, I will definitely find a way to help you do it, whether it's spending money, or putting up people ......"
"What's the matter, do you have people or do you have money?" Another male voice suddenly rang out from the side.
Leng Junsheng and Leng Ling looked at the man who spoke and blinked for a moment before they spoke together and called out, "Dad - mum -"
Xia Mao looked over at the sound and saw a pair of middle-aged men and women, both looking at her, and Leng Junsheng, with inexplicable eyes.
Xia Mao's face felt like it was on fire, and with a hard fling, she pulled it out of Leng Junsheng's hand.
When Leng Junsheng's hand was empty, he tried to reach out to pull Xia Mao again, but then another man's voice rang out.
"Mr. Leng, this is your son?" The voice was low and clear and cold.
Xia Mao's eyes instantly went round, looking at the man who appeared from behind Leng's father, surprisingly it was the man who ...... did that with her!
Ling Yichen appeared in front of her with a pretty young girl on his gentle arm.
"Mom, this is the Xia Mao I mentioned to you." Leng Junsheng said as he looked at Leng's mother, unable to hide his excitement.
"Mom, Xia Mao is the school flower of our school, and she's also the school bully." Leng Ling also said next to her.
"This is Xia Mao," Leng's mother's gaze glanced at Xia Mao's body before she said with a smile, "My ears are getting calloused these days, but I've finally met you today."
Xia Mao's face turned even whiter, she nodded at Leng's mother and said in a flustered but polite manner, "Hello auntie and uncle, I have something to do, I'll leave now, bye."
After saying that, she hurriedly ran towards the lift, but before it opened, she turned around and went to the next safe passage, and Wu's mother, who was waiting at the entrance of the lift, followed her into the stairwell.
Leng Junsheng also said hurriedly, "I'll go and have a look."
But he was stopped by his father, "Today Mr. Ling happens to be here, so go along and listen to this joint project of ours."
"Dad-" Leng Junsheng's eyes were still fixed on the direction where Xia Mao had disappeared, the anxiety in his eyes was unmistakable.
Chapter 12
"You just let your son go." Leng's mother looked at her son's bleary-eyed look and couldn't help but speak up.
Leng Junsheng had lost a few pounds in the past few days as he was unable to eat or drink.
"Yes, I also have something to do today, let's talk about it another time!" Ling Yichen also suddenly spoke up.
Leng's father could not say any more, he had to send Ling Yichen to the lift before releasing his son, cursing under his breath, "What a mess."
Wu's mother helped Xia Mao down only one floor before the two of them came out of the fire escape and waited at the lift door.
Not much later, the lift stopped in front of the two.
The lift was already occupied.
Xia Mao, who was upset, looked up and saw the disdainful, mocking gaze of the man in the lift.
The woman who was holding his arm had a faint smile on her face.
Xia Mao opened her small mouth and stopped outside the lift with a lurch in her step.
"In, or not?" The man asked in a cold voice.
Xia Mao was passively helped into the lift by Wu's mother who bowed her head.
The four of them were silent until the lift stopped on the ground floor, before the man said to the woman holding his arm, "Go back and sort out the information for Secretary Liao."
The woman let go of his arm and nodded at him before she ceremoniously crossed over to Xia Mao and walked out of the lift.
The lift door was closed again and only opened again when it reached the second basement level.
Xia Mao ran out like a rabbit in front of him, then took a soft, deep breath.
Although the air in the underground garage was full of the smell of petrol, she still felt that it smelt much better than the air in the lift.
Ling Yichen stood behind her and looked at her slender back, almost as if he could imagine her without her clothes on.
The few times he had seen her, she was either shirtless or in loose pajamas, and today was the first time he had seen her dressed upright.
Her hair was all combed up and tied in a pill at the back of her head, looking like an older child of 15 or 16, not like a woman who was about to give birth.
"Sir, Madam's car is parked in Area A." Wu Ma did not seem to notice the abnormality of the two of them, and only looked at Ling Yichen and said.
"Hmm." Ling Yichen raised his head and looked around before lifting his feet and walking in the direction of Zone A.
Wu's mother, supporting the slow Xia Mao, followed behind him unhurriedly.
When Ling Yichen heard the footsteps behind him, his steps couldn't help but slow down a bit.
He knew that she might be pregnant.
Lu Wanru had told him in the morning that she wanted to take her for a health check-up, so he thought it was because she was pregnant that Lu Wanru was happy to bring her here, but it was a pity that she was interrupted before she could take a few bites, and he could imagine that Lu Wanru must be chagrined now.
Lu Wanru's heart really wasn't too happy, but when she sat in the car and watched Ling Yichen walk up to her, she couldn't help but stare.
Ling Yichen reached out and pulled open the car door and sat in the back seat of the car, next to Lu Wanru.
Xia Mao stood outside the door, watching Ling Yichen get into the back seat of the car, while she felt like a superfluous person, in front of the pair who hired her, she was just a machine for giving birth to children, not even a third party, in front of them, she simply had no face to raise her head, and it would be a waste to take one more breath.
The window was lowered and the man asked her in the car with a cold face, "Is someone punishing you for standing? Still not getting in?"
Wu's mother busily reached out and pulled the car door open for her, and Xia Mao lowered her head and sat in.
She sat right across from him.
Wu Ma then sat on the passenger seat.
As the car drove on, Xia Mao honestly put her hands in her lap and kept her head down, imagining that she was a wooden stake, not moving or talking, or better still, not even breathing.
Xia Mao tucked her legs up as far as she could, careful not to touch the corner of the man's trousers opposite.
The man is sitting quite comfortably, sitting on all fours, as if he is the biggest man in the world, is Xia Mao does not look up, can also imagine out, with their class Liu Ming, the same, every day the whole thief bullying lightning, look at it invites people to be disgusted.
Lu Wanru looked at the two of them next to each other in that awkward way, and surprisingly almost did not laugh out loud.
She sometimes doesn't understand her own state of mind and doesn't know whether she cares or doesn't care about Ling Yichen.
She said she didn't care, but when she saw Ling Yichen and Lu Wanqiu together, she was so angry that her heart, liver, spleen, lungs and ribs didn't hurt.
But now that she saw Ling Yichen and Xia Mao sitting together, she was not angry at all, and she even looked at them like a hungry wolf and sheep, which made her want to laugh.
"Today, I took her for a check-up and the doctor said she was pregnant." Lu Wanru coughed lightly and looked at Ling Yichen and said.
"Hmm." Although it was expected, Ling Yichen's heart still couldn't help but jump a little, and his eyes fell on the little woman in front of him.
Xia Mao's knuckled hands were tightly squeezed together, the corners of her eyes slightly astringent, she was like goods in their eyes, right?
"The doctor said that all the test results are good, so you should go to the hospital for checkups regularly in the future." Lu Wanru said again.
"You see to it!" The man ended the conversation in a careless manner.
Xia Mao's fingers clenched tighter, the man did not seem to care about the child in her belly.
When they arrived at the entrance of the courtyard where Xia Mao lived alone, Ling Yichen got out of the car first, and Xia Mao followed behind him.
"If you don't have anything to do, just stay here for a while, the yard at home is being weeded for insects." Lu Wanru didn't get out of the car and said to Ling Yichen through the window, "I'll go home first and check, if I'm done weeding, I'll call you."
The car drove off without any reaction from Ling Yichen.
Xia Mao looked at the direction the car was leaving in disbelief.
She was always curious about this mistress, not only because she was going to be the child's "mother", but also because her attitude towards herself and this man was very puzzling to her.
"Still not going in?" The man who had already stepped into the courtyard turned back to her and said.
"Oh." Xia Mao took two quick steps and followed her into the courtyard, but as she closed the door with her hand back, she slandered in her heart: putting on a poker-like face every day, pretending to be cool?
When she turned around, she was still pouting with dissatisfaction, but when she saw the man standing there looking at her, she immediately became respectful, standing there with her head hanging like a small servant.
Ling Yichen's eyebrows raised slightly, and without moving a muscle, he turned around and went up to the first floor, while Xia Mo sat down directly on the sofa.
Ling Yichen went upstairs to take a shower and came out to see that the woman had not yet returned to her room.
Was it hard for her not to take a nap?
He reached out and flipped through the books on the table, apart from the reading selection for the GCSE essay, it was maths and English.
He thought of what Miss Leng had said about her being a schoolteacher and he put the books back in their place.
Returning to lean against the bed, he picked up the book on the bedside table that described pregnancy and flipped through it a few times, surprisingly giving himself a sleepy look.
He simply burrowed under the covers, which were filled with the scent of her body.
It was faint, but inextricably entwined with his heart, and his heart actually recalled the taste of that woman's soul.
It was not because she was avoiding him that she did not want to go back to the bedroom, was it?
Chapter 13
It was because she didn't want to see him that Summer sat bored on the sofa, but she didn't see the man come downstairs until the sun went down in the west.
She was suddenly anxious, something had happened to him upstairs, right?
Her mind flashed back to him knocking on the bathtub, with blood and water all over the floor, or he might have knocked on the corner of the bed, with blood all over the quilt, or fallen straight into the hallway and hit the door frame ...... My God, it's scary enough to think about, it turns out that danger is everywhere!
The man was sleeping under the covers.
She raised her hand to her chest and patted it, luckily, the man was still alive, but why was he so annoying?
Was it too arrogant to just go into someone else's bed? Or was she just used to being in other people's beds?
She had to change the sheets at night, what a nuisance!
Xia Mao skimmed her lips and quietly retreated, not seeing the man on the bed looking at her with narrowed phoenix eyes.
What did she mean when she was staring at her nose and eyes?
He unconsciously raised the corners of his lips, this girl is quite interesting, at least quite real, not pretentious.
Xia Mao went downstairs and walked around the living room twice before Feng Ma asked her what she wanted to eat in the evening.
"Anything." Xia Mao had never been a picky eater, but today was different, as there was still the Buddha upstairs, "Make a few things that the gentleman likes to eat."
Feng's mother smiled and said "yes" and retreated.
When Ling Yichen came down from upstairs in his house clothes, he saw the meal being served downstairs.
His eyes swept around the living room and dining room before he saw her in the kitchen.
Dressed in a pair of dark blue stretchy jeans, a light blue T-shirt, her hair tied high on top of her head and twisted in a messy tent.
Her head was slightly bowed as she sipped something, and from the back you could see that her figure was shapely, bouncy and unbelievably soft.
"Mama Feng! It's really better than the ones you buy outside."
Her voice, when she was happy, turned out to be so sweet.
"Of course it is, we use big bones," Feng's mother said with a smile in her voice, "What do you want in the sauce? Sesame sauce, spicy sauce, red sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, do you want to put in some chives?"
"I'll just mix it myself later, you'd better see if all the dishes for the gentleman are ready." The woman's voice lowered a few notches, "Feng Ma, why don't you go upstairs and see if Mister is awake?"
"It's still necessary for Miss to go." Feng Ma shook her head, "You go and get Mister now and come downstairs just in time for dinner."
The woman said half-heartedly as if she had sighed, "Okay."
Ling Yichen stood not far from the dining table, watching the woman with the floral apron turn around, droop her head, and walk out of the kitchen, until she was almost in front of him before she stood still, looking upwards along his feet and finally staring at his face, blinking her beautiful eyes twice, "How do you know it's time to get up and eat?"
Ling Yichen was sitting by himself at one side of the two-metre long dining table, with a few of his favourite dishes in front of him, while the little woman was sitting opposite him, holding a large celadon soup bowl and eating something in small bites.
As she ate, she wiped the sweat from her forehead with a tissue, eating happily, but Ling Yichen had no appetite at all when he looked at the food in front of him.
After a large bowl of homemade spicy hotpot went down, Xia Mao held her hands on her stomach and leaned back in her chair, looking up and seeing the man who was frowning at her from across the room.
"You know you could be more civilised?" He said this with no real malice, just the truth.
"Eh?" Summers couldn't help but hiccup when she heard this from him.
In a flash, Xia Mao sat up straight and grabbed a tissue and wiped it on his face and mouth before pursing his lips and asking, "What's wrong? Something wrong?"
Ling Yichen really wanted to say, "You're affecting my appetite."
But when he looked into her big deer-like eyes, full of nervousness, he couldn't say it.
"Lol?" Xia Mao hiccuped again uncontrollably.
Ling Yichen just picked up the bowl of rice and put it down again, raising an eyebrow at the woman across from him.
"Sorry."
Xia Mao's little face rose almost to the point of dripping blood, she was busy lowering her head to take a few sips of soup to suppress the hiccups, but the soup turned out to be hot, numb and spicy, and after only one sip, it caused her to cough and hiccup, making the soup everywhere, plus there was red oil in the soup, it was like vomiting blood.
Although Ling Yichen was two metres away, he was startled. He stood up and fled the table, looking at the red-faced woman across the table, and ran into the bathroom in a panic.
Feng's mother, who had heard the commotion, ran out of the kitchen with a worried look on her face, and when she saw the woman running to the bathroom, she hurriedly followed her.
Ling Yichen looked at the mess on the table again and lost his appetite even more.
He threw his chopsticks on the table and turned around and went to the study.
Xia Mao hated that she had to stay in the bathroom and not go out.
She had never been so humiliated since she was a child.
It was all because of that damned man, how could she have made such a fool of herself?
"Are you uncomfortable somewhere?" Feng's mother, who didn't know why, was full of concern.
"I just choked, there's nothing wrong." Xia Mao explained in a warm voice and washed her hands and face before looking at the soup stains on her body and begging Feng Ma, "Feng Ma, please go and get me a dress."
"Okay." Without giving it much thought, Feng Ma went upstairs and fetched her a white cotton T-shirt.
"Where's Mister?" Xia Mao asked as if she pretended not to care.
"Mister has gone to the study." Feng Ma had just asked Xiao Cui, so she answered straight away.
"Oh." Why isn't he leaving yet?
Xia Mao beamed with dissatisfaction and went out of the bathroom. After sitting in the living room for a while, she put on her down jacket and took Xiao Cui to the courtyard to go walking in circles to kill some food.
After Ling Yichen went to the study to answer a phone call and take care of some company business, when he came out again, there was still no sign of Xia Mao in the living room.
Ling Yichen looked at the time on the wall, it was only eight o'clock, she had gone to her room to read a book?
"Where is she?" He asked Feng Ma who was polishing things in the living room.
"Miss said she had eaten too much and went for a walk in the courtyard." Feng Ma stood there with her eyebrows lowered and her hands hanging.
"Hmm." Ling Yichen thought about the pot she had eaten in the evening, nodded his head and went back to the study.
He picked up the phone on the desk and thought about calling Lu Wanru, but after thinking about it, he gave up again.
He stood in front of the window, staring out at the darkening sky.
The woman in the courtyard flung her arms as she walked, her movements not at all gentle as a woman's should be, but with an overflowing youthfulness that made people look at her with envy.