When Qin Sheng had visited the old house with his sister before Spring Festival, he, who had got no key to the house, had smashed the lock. There was no telling as to who had cleaned up this old house and equipped it with a new lock. Qin Sheng, who had no key, could only smash the lock once again. His somewhat violent action made Yaya on the side dumbfounded. Anyway, she had not experienced this kind of situation in Canada.
After walking into the yard, Qin Sheng showed his auntie and Yaya around the old house, which he had been living in for many years and was attached to. Qin Sheng was quite curious about who on earth had cleaned up the old house in such a thorough manner was.
After Zhao Anzhi lamented, she didn’t say anything more. Knowing the Old Master’s style very well, she was not surprised about the fact that Old Master had brought Qin Sheng to live in seclusion here. Yaya was more curious about this place than Zhao Anzhi. She asked a lot of weird questions, which Qin Sheng found quite funny. After all, Yaya had grown up abroad.
As they were about to leave, they ran into two familiar men from the village, both of whom had seen Qin Sheng before the Spring Festival and knew that the grandson of Old Master Qin was now well-off. Originally, they were curious about which relative of the Lao Qin family was here, who had driven two luxury cars back to the old house, and sighed that the Lao Qin family was not a simple one. After seeing that it was Qin Sheng, they figured it out.
The two men came over to greet Qin Sheng after seeing him. “I just knew it. It turns out that Qin Sheng is here.” Then, they naturally observed the two beauties behind Qin Sheng from head to toe. After all, they rarely saw such women as Zhao Anzhi and Yaya.
Qin Sheng handed each man a cigarette and chatted with them randomly before he asked, “Uncle Liu, let me ask you something. Do you know who cleaned up this old house?”
The man called Uncle Liu was surprised. “Hey, Qin Sheng, how come you don’t know about this? I thought you knew it. According to the one who fixed the house, he’s your friend.”
“My friend?” Qin Sheng was even more curious.
Both men were very puzzled. “How come you didn’t know it?”
Qin Sheng shook his head. “I didn’t know anything about it. Is that friend of mine a man or a woman?”
“A particularly beautiful woman. We haven’t even had such a beautiful woman in our village.” The two men laughed very happily as if that beauty were their wives.
Qin Sheng continued to ask, “Do you know her name then?”
“She didn’t say it. Nor did we ask her. After all, she was here to repair your house. Moreover, she was your friend. So we didn’t suspect her,” said the two men truthfully. In their opinion, nobody but Qin Sheng’s friends would be so idle as to repair this old house.
Originally, Qin Sheng thought that he could get an answer. But he didn’t expect that it would end up like this. He planned to ask what the pretty girl looked like and then discarded the idea. Anyway, he would know who she was sooner or later.
In the end, Qin Sheng gave the two men a cigarette each and asked Hao Lei to take a few cartons of cigarettes out of the trunk and gave them to them. Although the two men said on the surface that Qin Sheng didn’t need to be so polite, they accepted the cigarettes. Qin Sheng smiled and said that he was in Xi’an recently and would come back here to have a good chat with everyone in the village after he got his business done. After that, he got into the car and left with his auntie and Yaya.
In Qin Sheng’s opinion, since his auntie and Yaya were both in Xi’an, he, who was sort of a native Xi’an citizen, surely had to treat them to a meal. Moreover, he was planning to ask Auntie Wang and Xin Xin to join them conveniently so that the two families could sort of gather and socialize together.
Thus, Qin Sheng asked Hao Lei to book a private room at Chang An No.1, which was specialized in Shaanxi cuisine. Despite the fact that the flavor of the dishes of Chang’an No. 1 was not the most supreme, its Chinese-styled environment was sort of good. Then, Qin Sheng called Auntie Wang and informed her that his aunt and cousin were in Xi’an to pay respects to his grandfather, and they would have a meal together at noon, to which Wang Li readily agreed.
Before this, Qin Sheng had told Zhao Anzhi that he had been raised by the Lin family. Of course, Zhao Anzhi was happy to meet the benefactor of the Qin family so that she could also thank them in person. Moreover, she knew that Qin Chang’an had been busy and had not seen the Lin family. In that case, the Qin family was a bit rude from both sentimental and rational perspectives.
Qin Sheng arrived first at Chang An No.1 with his auntie and Yaya. Auntie Wang and Xin Xin were delayed due to the traffic jam. Hence, Zhao Anzhi casually asked, “Sheng’er, did you come to Xi’an for business or other things? When do you plan to return to Beijing?”
Qin Sheng truthfully told Zhao Anzhi what had happened to Uncle Lin. Zhao Anzhi frowned slightly after hearing his words and said, “So that’s how it is. Your father didn’t tell me about it. How is that thing going now? Is there any difficulty? Although your Eldest Uncle is a monk, my nasal family is still a bit influential.”
Qin Sheng shook his head. “Everything is going quite well. The old man has arranged everything.”
“That’s good.” Zhao Anzhi nodded her head faintly.
After Qin Sheng had just ordered all the dishes, Auntie Wang and Xin Xin arrived. They pushed the door open and walked into the room under the guidance of a waiter. Qin Sheng hurriedly got up. Zhao Anzhi and Yaya could tell that they were the so-called Auntie Wang and Xin Xin. Thus, they stood up as well, which was a basic courtesy.
Qin Sheng smiled and introduced, “Auntie, Xin Xin, these are my Auntie and cousin. They just arrived in Xi’an today. And it’s their first time here as well.”
Zhao Anzhi, who was from a respectable family, was adept at getting along with others. Otherwise, she couldn’t have gotten along with several grand families. Moreover, she was quite popular in the Chinese-Canadian social circle, whom everyone praised.
Consequently, with an amiable smile on her face, Zhao Anzhi strode quickly in front of Wang Li and pulled her hands as she said excitedly, “Sister, I finally meet you here. Sheng’er told me about you. We are so grateful to you. You are the benefactor of the Lao Qin family.”
Zhao Anzhi was quite a bit older than Wang Li. But she took better care of her appearance in her daily life. Moreover, in a place like Canada, the air and environment there were better, so she looked a bit younger.
“Sister, you are too polite. And I don’t know what I should say,” said Wang Li somewhat awkwardly. She could tell from the behavior, appearance, and temperament of Qin Sheng’s auntie that she came from a respectable family. Wang Li had frequently seen this kind of elegant and respectable women previously. As such, she could easily tell Zhao Anzhi’s background. Moreover, she had known the Qin Family’s background early on.
Zhao Anzhi said with a shallow smile, “Sister, the Qin family owes you. Kindly forgive us if we have done something that is not compatible with the etiquette. Qin Sheng’s father is relatively busy, and I have been far away in Canada. So we did not come over here earlier to thank you in person. It happened that I came back here to pay respects to Old Master this time and had such an opportunity.”
Wang Li replied politely, “Sister, your family has not wronged us. We have long treated Sheng’er as our family member. Everything we have done over the years is what we should do. Moreover, Sheng’er has also helped us a lot.”
“I can understand what you mean. Anyway, the Qin family owes you,” Zhao Anzhi insisted. Of course, she knew what Wang Li’s words meant. The reason why the Lin family had raised Qin Sheng for so many years was simply that they liked him. And they didn’t need any appreciation or apology from anyone. It was as simple as that.
Wang Li didn’t quite like to continue on this topic. Thus, she smiled. “Sister, let’s stop saying these polite words. As long as Sheng’er is well, everything will be fine.”
“Sister, what you said sounds more reasonable,” echoed Zhao Anzhi with a smile. Following that, she took a look at Yaya as she signaled. “Yaya, say hello to auntie.”
Yaya said pretty obediently, “Hello! Auntie.”
Xin Xin was also pulled by Wang Li to greet Zhao Anzhi. As she looked at Yaya, who was more beautiful than her, she just nodded faintly. She didn’t know why she somewhat disliked Qin Sheng’s sister, who had shown up all of a sudden. She felt that this sister probably would steal the love that belonged to her alone in the future from her. This made her have a sense of crisis. Although she had been with Qin Sheng for the longest time, which was more than 20 years, Qin Sheng and Yaya were blood-related anyway. While for her, she was just an outsider even if she wanted to be serious. Thus, Xin Xin was a little unhappy, which was different from her reaction upon knowing that Qin Sheng had a senior sister.
Yaya was three years older than Xin Xin. But she looked even more innocent than Xin Xin and was not calculative at all. So she took the initiative to chat with Xin Xin after sitting down. However, it seemed that Xin Xin was unwilling to pay attention to Yaya. She dealt with Yaya in a perfunctory manner. Yaya could also feel that Xin Xin didn’t like her at all and stopped playing up to her in the end.
In fact, Yaya and Xin Xin were quite similar. It was just that Yaya was like the Xin Xin a few years ago. Ever since the Lin family’s accident, Xin Xin was no longer the carefree and good girl previously, whose every deed would be taken care of by her parents and brother. She could only begin to take more realistic issues into consideration. This was how life should be, which would urge anyone to grow up and be mature.
Qin Sheng was chatting with the two seniors. Most of the time, it was Zhao Anzhi who was speaking and Wang Li who was the listener and would smile and echo. After all, there was a huge gap between Zhao Anzhi’s and Wang Li’s social level. Even so, Zhao Anzhi knew how to take control of the atmosphere and didn’t bring up any topic that was out of Wang Li’s knowledge range, which made Wang Li feel quite at ease. At least, by doing so, Wang Li wouldn’t feel distanced from them. Nor would she have a somewhat bad impression of the Qin Family.
At this time, Yaya whispered in Qin Sheng’s ear, “Brother, Xin Xin doesn’t like me, right?”
Yaya’s words made Qin Sheng feel somewhat amused. When he saw Xin Xin, who was staring at them not far away, he knew what was going on and could only explain to Yaya with a smile. “How can that be? You’re so cute. And everyone will surely like you. Xin Xin is just too tired lately. There are some things you don’t know. That’s the reason why I went back to Xi’an this time. So you have to understand her.”
“Oh, I see.” Yaya nodded thoughtfully. And then she resumed her previous attitude and began to chat with Xin Xin actively. Even though Xin Xin was a little impatient, Yaya was not angry at all. She was indeed kind-hearted.
Xin Xin went to the bathroom halfway. Qin Sheng took the initiative to wait for her in front of the door. As soon as Xin Xin came out, Qin Sheng deliberately poked fun at her and said, “What? Are you jealous?”
Xin Xin didn’t deny it and directly admitted it. “Yeah, I am jealous. She is your biological sister and I’m not. You will definitely like her more and more in the future. And then you will gradually dislike me.”
Qin Sheng laughed. “Why are you acting like a child? Silly girl, don’t think so much. You are my sister. So is Yaya. I like you both and will protect you both. But in terms of feelings, we have been together for over 20 years. The way you see it, who do I like more?”
Xin Xin stared at Qin Sheng and asked very seriously, “Is it true?”
Qin Sheng nodded his head heavily. “Silly girl, even if you get married or have children in the future, except for Uncle Lin and Auntie Wang, I will definitely be the one who loves you the most. And never will my feelings for you change in my life.”
Xin Xin was instantly touched by Qin Sheng’s words. With red eyes, she hugged him and directly shouted, “Brother, I’m sorry.”
Of course, Qin Sheng knew what she meant by saying sorry. He could understand Xin Xin’s feelings. After all, she had grown up with him since her childhood and had no other siblings except him. And she surely would be sad if her sole brother was snatched away by someone else.
Qin Sheng comforted Xin Xin for a while. It wasn’t until Xin Xin calmed down her mood that the two of them returned to the room. This time, Xin Xin was no longer the same as what she had been previously. She took the initiative to chat with Yaya. Soon, the two girls of about the same age got along with each other, which made Qin Sheng feel very pleased.
