"I know." Long Jinjing smiled, grabbing her best friend's hand and squeezing it.
"So what happened when you brought that ass—Zihao and Grandpa Lu to meet with Auntie Jingfei?" Chen Fei asked.
Iris was also interested to hear about it.
Long Jinjing lowered her head and didn't say anything but her quickly reddening face only made the two more curious about what happened. Iris and Chen Fei looked at each other before leaning towards Long Jinjing and persuading her to spill everything to them. At that moment, the siblings Dom and Clover finally joined them, unaware that they arrived at a juicy time.
The only people missing from their girl squad were Jiang Ying Yue who was still not back yet from putting her son Little Jun to sleep and Meimei who once again fell asleep at a hidden corner after eating dinner.
The siblings quickly caught up with what was happening after Chen Fei's succinct explanation. Dom and Clover's eyes immediately shone with anticipation and turned their heads in unison at the blushing Long Jinjing.
"Uhm…" Long Jinjing bit her lower lip and hesitated for a few moments more before finally relenting.
The friends gathered their heads together while she whispered to them what happened during her visit with Lu Zihao and Grandpa Lu at her mother's home.
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"
Everyone was startled by Dom and Clover's squeals. They all looked at the group and saw the crazed siblings, a blushing Long Jinjing, a calm Iris Long, and a torn Chen Fei.
While the others were curious about what happened and even directly asked Iris' group, Lu Zihao watched Long Jinjing with deep eyes. Based on her red, embarrassed face, he already had an idea why the Chua siblings were acting like demented fangirls. His mouth curved. Then he sent his brother-in-law a look before walking away.
Jin Liwei raised an eyebrow before excusing himself and following Lu Zihao to the buffet hall next door. Moments later, their other sworn brothers plus Jin Chonglin received text messages. The clueless men also excused themselves and headed to the buffet hall. Their disappearance was noticed but didn't affect the party's cheerful atmosphere. Everyone returned to their own groups and continued chatting away.
After some time, only Lu Zihao returned. Jin Liwei and the others were nowhere to be seen. Iris was curious but wasn't worried about her husband. She watched as her big brother headed straight towards them and extended his hand to Long Jinjing.
"Let's go," he said.
"Huh? Go where?" Long Jinjing looked at him in confusion.
He gave her a devilish smirk. "Don't tell me you're not planning on speaking with your father about us."
"Oh." Her face which only returned to her normal complexion just a few minutes ago after the Chua siblings' teasing turned red again.
When she still didn't move from her seat, Lu Zihao stepped forward and hauled her up to her feet. "I'll be taking her for now."
"Go ahead." Iris waved a hand to them.
The friends watched as the couple headed towards Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui. Then the four excused themselves and left.
Later, Jin Liwei returned and called for everyone's attention. He asked everyone to follow the butler. Everyone was confused but still followed Jin Liwei's instructions, trusting him as the host of tonight's Christmas party. They thought that Jin Liwei and Iris must have prepared a special event for everyone. Iris, however, had no idea what was going on.
"What's happening?" Iris asked her husband in a low tone as they followed the crowd out of the room into the hallway.
He whispered directly to her ear, preventing others, even her friends, from overhearing. Iris gasped. Then the husband and wife exchanged conspiratorial smiles.
Dom and Clover didn't forget to wake up Meimei. They followed everyone out of the party room.
The large group walked a long way but nobody complained because the Christmas decorations all around them were wonderful. The atmosphere was very festive. Even the long walk was enjoyable. In addition, they were experiencing the thrill of the unknown. They were looking forward to the surprise that Jin Liwei and Iris Long had prepared for them.
For some reason, Grandpa Lu was chuckling like a mischievous devil. No matter how the others asked the old man, he wouldn't say anything, only continuing to chuckle with an unmistakable glint in his eyes.
A few steps behind, René Alejandro was walking with Wei Lan and Randy. He knew that something was up. Yu Mo and Jin Chonglin left one after another after receiving a phone message, leaving him to fend for himself. He didn't mind because it gave him more opportunity to try getting closer to the other guests and judging which ones would be useful to him.
After what happened with Lu Zihao earlier, he was mentally beating himself up for his carelessness. As a result, he approached Lu Jianhong and apologized to his earlier rude behaviour to the old man's grandson. Lu Jianhong didn't seem to take it to heart, even assuring him with boisterous laughter that everything was fine, but René Alejandro could sense that the old man was now more guarded and perhaps even suspicious of him.
'Damn it. Now I have to work even harder to get closer to the old man. It's Hunter's fault, that cocky bastard! If it weren't for his arrogant gaze, I wouldn't have reacted so badly. What's up with him? I'm not the type to lose control so easily like this, no? Even Liam has become a few degrees colder towards my presence after what happened.'
René Alejandro knew that he got off at a wrong start. His mind was filled with various plans to rectify the situation in order to prevent his mission from heading towards utter failure. He maintained a pleasant and interested expression, appearing as if he was listening to his step-mother's nonsensical conversation with Randy, when in fact, he was busy calculating the possibility of solving his predicament before the Christmas party was over tonight.
While he was occupied with his thoughts, the large group arrived at the indoor forest.
