“I know, right?” Lily grinned. “You are so lucky.” She added before turning towards him. She kissed his lips. “We should go now.”
“Hm.” He nodded and led Lily out of their closet. After a couple of minutes, Lily and Zhou Jingren arrived in a hotel where they will have the dinner that Lily scheduled with her father.
“Call me once you are done.” Zhou Jingren reminded. Seeing Lily nod, he leaned forward to give her a kiss. He then instructed Lily’s two bodyguards to keep their eyes on her. After making sure that Lily reached the restaurant safely, Zhou Jingren left to see George.
Meanwhile, Lily instantly spotted Qin Yuanfeng standing at the entrance of the restaurant. She smiled. “Why are you standing here?” she asked. “Is he already inside?”
Qin Yuanfeng’s face turned stiff. He stared at Lily’s face for a few seconds before he answered. “He is with someone.”
“What do you mean?”
“Let’s go.” Qin Yuanfeng said before leading her inside. The moment Lily spotted her father, the smile on her face vanished as if it was never there in the first place. She stood a few feet away, eyes narrowed at the woman sitting next to her father. She felt her world stopped revolving as she saw the woman’s features.
“Lily! Yuanfeng!” Qin Chuan instantly beamed when he spotted them. He stood from his seat, smiling. “Come… I want you to meet someone.” His cheerful voice woke Lily up from her stupor.
“Let’s go,” Qin Yuanfeng walked alongside Lily. His face is equally blank as Lily’s expression.
“Everyone please meet my good friend, Miss Su Ma.” Qin Chuan’s delighted expression only made Lily more irritated. She sat opposite to the woman named Su Ma and waited for her brother to sit next to her. “She is a voice actress that I met in one of my recent trips to Wujin district. She is also known as…”
“The voice actress who never showed her face in any the public.” Qin Yuanfeng finished his father’s statement. “I remember.” As someone who spent most of his time with his laptop, he had stumbled upon some forums online about this woman.
Su Ma’s face turned red at Qin Yuanfeng’s words. She gave a gentle smile as she stood from her seat and bowed towards the siblings. “Mr. Qin told me a lot about you and your sister. It is my honor to meet you.” Her soft voice reached Lily’s ears. She then sat back on her chair and poured some tea to Lily and Qin Yuanfeng.
“Please accept this tea. This is the specialty of our restaurant.”
“You own this place?” Qin Yuanfeng asked.
“Yes.” Su Ma smiled. “I used all my savings to start this oriental restaurant back in Wujin. After a few years, I got lucky and was able to branch out in Hong Kong. Imagine my surprise when Mr. Qin told me that we will have dinner here?”
Su Ma held the tea in front of Lily, who was still staring at her. “Is there something wrong, Miss Lily?” she asked, her brows furrowed. “I — Did I say something that made you uncomfortable?” she asked.
In response, Lily accepted the teacup however, she didn’t drink it. Instead, she placed it in front of her. “It’s too hot for my tastebuds.” It was a silly reason. However, this was the only thing that she could think of at this moment.
Lily watched as Su Ma nodded and smiled. “Oh… my apologies. I will ask someone to replace it.” She then turned towards an attendant and give specific instructions about the tea.
Meanwhile, Lily only stared at the woman’s features that were clearly identical to her late mother, Bec Facci’s face. The woman was obviously shorter than her mother. This Su Ma was about 5’1 or 5 feet tall while her mother was 5’4.
Ideas — various ideas swirled in Lily’s mind.
“Lily… I am so glad that you were able to attend today.” Qin Chuan’s voice made Lily snapped out of her theories. “Miss Yang Mi told me that you are rather busy. So… I was hesitant to come here.���
“She was very busy.” It was Qin Yuanfeng. When Qin Yuanfeng saw Lily’s blank reaction earlier, he already knew that she would be too troubled for this meeting. “Also… she just acquired another company. So her schedule was extremely tight.” He added.
“Is that so?” Qin Chuan looked at his daughter. Ignoring the questions in Lily’s eyes, he continued, “I heard that you are already working with the Facci Group?” He asked his son.
“Yes… I am.”
“You two are already talking about business.” Su Ma chimed in. “We haven’t even ordered something. Why don’t we make our orders before you start talking about your jobs?”
“Oh! Of course… here… you already know what I wanted to eat. Please make the order for me. How about you, Lily? Yuanfeng? What would you like to eat?”
Lily instantly lifted an eyebrow at her father’s words. She glanced at her father’s bright face. His hair was groomed properly, his eyes sparkled under the light of the chandelier as his lips slightly lifted into a gentle smile. He looked younger and… happier.
For some reason, Lily felt a brief tug in her heart. She shifted her gaze towards Su Ma that was happily looking at the menu. Memories of her mother… good and bad ones resurfaced in her head, like small needles reminding her of what transpired in the past.
“Here… Lily wanted to have the Sichuan pork and Shrimp with Vermicelli and Garlic.” Qin Yuanfeng answered. When he saw Lily’s reaction earlier, he already knew that she would act this way. After all, Lily grew up with their mother. Unlike him, she was lucky enough to hold their mother’s hands and hugged her. “Hey… I remember that Jingren mention about milk teas? Would you like some?” He asked. Hoping that it was enough to calm the currents of emotions in Lily’s eyes.
…..
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