Bathed by the glow of the sun, a man stood holding a colorful huge ice cream in his hand. It was quite an unusual sight.
Tang Xin stared at him for a moment before she pursed her dry lips and reached her hand out for the cone.
This was also the first ‘present’ she had ever received from the man before her.
Tang Xin raised her head to look at Li Dun, only to realize that he was also looking at her. Her heartbeat quickened before she lowered her head as fast as she raised it.
What’s wrong with me? Why am I feeling these things? It’s just an ice cream is it not?
But ever since young, apart from my deceased mother, no one else has bought me an ice cream before.
Tang Xin was lost in her thoughts, ice cream forgotten. Instead, she said softly, “Sorry, I was a little overboard just now.”
Li Dun shook his head. “It’s nothing. I rarely mingle with people. That’s why I tend to overlook some details. I just hope that Miss Tang is willing to believe that I didn’t bully the children on purpose.
“To be honest, I feel honored by my choice. After all, a woman who treats other children so gently will definitely care for her own children. I believe that Miss Tang Xin will make a good mother to our future children.”
“Children?” Tang Xin almost dropped her ice cream when she heard this. Frowning, she said shyly and anxiously, “Young Master Li, what are you talking about?! Please don’t say meaningless things. It’s really impossible between us.”
Li Dun’s serious look immediately faded away. He showed a slightly evil look and said with a soft smile, “Miss Tang Xin, the possibilities of our relationship are not defined by words. It depends on how we feel in our hearts. In any case, I am very confident in our future. Hurry up and eat your ice cream, or it’ll melt soon.”
Tang Xin wanted to say something else, but Li Dun had already walked back towards his seat.
Yang Chen and the Cai sisters had been watching them since long ago. Cai Ning who was next to Yang Chen said to him slowly, “She’s a good person by nature.”
Yang Chen gave Cai Ning an astonished look. “You seem to know something.”
“Call it women’s instinct,” Cai Ning said with a smile.
Yang Chen raised his eyebrows. “It could all be an act.”
Cai Ning shook her head. “My instincts tell me that she is not acting.”
“Hmph,” Yang Chen shrugged, “Let’s hope for all our sakes that it is correct.”
Tang Xin did not hear this conversation. She stood there for a while, lost in a daze before she returned to her seat. It took her quite a while to finish her ice cream.
Since Li Dun hadn’t bought an ice cream for the Cai sisters, they continued with their dinner.
After they finished the meal, Li Dun sent Tang Xin home, whereas Yang Chen drove back to the Cai’s with the two sisters in his car.
In the car, Cai Yan was still struggling to come to terms with her blunder of the day. Sitting in the backseat of the car, she hugged Yang Chen’s neck from behind. She pouted as she said, “Yang Chen, am I stupid? Everytime I think about what happened earlier, I feel like killing myself by banging my head against a wall.”
Yang Chen reached a hand behind to caress Cai Yan’s hair gently. “I didn’t say anything about you. Why are you thinking about all these?”
“Don’t you think that I’m too stupid?” Cai Yan said doubtfully, “Look, Elder Sister would never do such a thing.”
Cai Ning was sitting in the front passenger seat. She just shook her head in resignation and said nothing.
Yang Chen placed his hand on Cai Yan’s face and started pinching her cheeks, saying, “A woman who lives her life with a sincere attitude is beautiful no matter what. Compared to many other women in this world, our Yanyan is not stupid by any means.”
Cai Yan blinked her eyes. She suddenly strangled Yang Chen’s neck with brutal force and said happily, “Dear I knew that you are the best!”
Cough!
Yang Chen said gloomily, “I know I’m the best, but you didn’t have to strangle me! I’m still driving!”
Cai Yan chuckled, “Since you’re so understanding, I’m not going to sleep with my sister tonight. I’ll prepare a present for you!”
Yang Chen’s mind started burning upon hearing her words. If Cai Yan hadn’t reminded him of it, he would have had forgotten about his lonely stay the previous night. He asked eagerly, “What present? Tell me about it.”
“Hmph! Come and see it for yourself tonight,” Cai Yan said mischievously.
Yang Chen’s heart was leaping in anticipation. He looked at Cai Ning beside him and said with a naughty smile, “Ning’er, how about you join us too?”
As though she had already anticipated this, Cai Ning immediately turned on the car speakers without saying a word. She turned up the volume and said, “Let me listen to my music in peace.”
Cai Yan chuckled and said, “My sister knows how to be embarrassed too. Look, Dear, she’s blushing!”
Under the dim light, Cai Ning felt even more embarrassed and annoyed. Finally, she turned around and glared at Cai Yan while pinching her little sister’s cheek.
When they reached the Cai residence, Cai Yuncheng and his wife were watching the news in the living room. When they saw that Yang Chen had brought the two sisters back, Jiang Shan stood up excitedly before Cai Yuncheng could say a word. She asked enthusiastically, “Yang Chen, you’re back! Have you had dinner yet? Do you want a cup of tea?”
After all that had happened, how was Yang Chen supposed to be in the mood for tea? He was all too anxious to dash towards Cai Yan’s room in the backyard. Thus he rejected Jiang Shan in a few words.
But before Yang Chen could walk towards the backyard, Jiang Shan called him out again and said, “Yang Chen, don’t be in such a hurry to leave. There’s something I’d like to ask you.”
Yang Chen was crying out in his mind, Hurry up and spit it out. I’m in a hurry to get intimate with your daughter! But on the outside he still put up a gentle and calm face said, “Aunt, is anything the matter?”
Jiang Shan smiled embarrassingly and slightly awkwardly as she said, “Well, now that our Cai clan is related to your Yang clan, I intend to prepare some presents for the Master Yang. But since Yanyan and Ning’er are going to live with Ruoxi in the future, I should send Ruoxi some presents as well since she’s your legal wife. Although I’ve known Ruoxi since she was young, I’m not sure what her likes and dislikes are. That’s why I wanted to ask you.”
Upon hearing this, Yang Chen let out a bitter smile and said, “About that, I think it’s better if you just let it go. There is nothing that she needs.”
“I still have to give her something even if she lacks nothing,” Jiang Shan said awkwardly. “I just gave Ruoxi a call. She didn’t sound too happy to hear about your relationships. I want to help Ning’er and Yanyan form a good relationship with her so that it won’t be too awkward between them in the future.”
Yang Chen’s eyeballs almost dropped out upon hearing what she had just said!
“Wha—wha—what did you just say?!” Yang Chen asked as he lost control. His facial expressions had stiffened up.
Jiang Shan asked with a confused tone, “What’s wrong? I said Ruoxi didn’t sound too happy. It’s understandable given the fact that she is a woman. In all these big clans, it’s common to find legal wives who agree on the surface about their husbands’ affairs even though they’re secretly upset about it. That’s why military clans are good in a sense that the men usually wouldn’t get in contact with too many women. Just like our Old Cai, he doesn’t have the luck even if he had the guts to do it.”
Yang Chen’s knees almost gave way immediately. This Jiang Shan was like a jinx to him. She could create trouble for him even when it was not her intention to!
Although he had never intended to keep on hiding his relationship with the Cai sisters from Lin Ruoxi, but he had never expected everything to be exposed so suddenly!
What made it worse was that it was communicated to Lin Ruoxi via Jiang Shan’s phone call. This made it look even more like Yang Chen was purposely hiding it from her, which would only further enrage Lin Ruoxi.
“Mom, why did you act on your own accord without even asking Yang Chen first?!” Cai Yan realized the graveness of the situation and was stomping anxiously.
Cai Ning looked a little gloomy too, but there was nothing she could do.
Jiang Shan finally realized that something was amiss. She pondered for a while and asked, “Could it be that… Ruoxi does not know of your relationship?”
Cai Yan found it a hassle to even answer her question. She rolled her eyes and let out a long sigh.
Jiang Shan quickly covered her mouth and returned to her seat on the sofa awkwardly.
Yang Chen sorted out his thoughts and turned towards Cai Yuncheng, “General, why didn’t you stop her earlier?”
Cai Yuncheng smiled bitterly. “I was about to tell you just now. I wanted to stop her too, but your mother-in-law made the call when I wasn’t looking. I only learned about it afterwards too. But since these are all the truth, you’ll have to tell her eventually. As you are the one who chose this path, you should face it on your own.”
“Oh shit! Ruoxi is going to hate me even more than she already does!!! I was planning to find an opportunity to apologize to her face-to-face…” Cai Yan said anxiously.
Yang Chen placed his hand on his forehead, mulling over whether to give Lin Ruoxi a phone call. But he figured that she was probably still jumping in fury, and it was better to just feign ignorance for the time being. It was a good thing that he was going back to Zhonghai very soon. There was nothing he could do in the meantime but take this time to formulate his speech.
