Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
If she had not experienced it herself, never would she have believed that such a powerful jade bangle existed in this world.
Wearing it on her wrist again, An Xiaoning raised her arm to admire it. The more she looked at it, the more she loved it. That bangle was really a precious gift from Gu Beicheng.
Meanwhile, the Lin family’s living room was bursting with happiness.
Commander-in-chief Jin and Madam Jin arrived almost an hour late because of An Xiaoning’s sudden visit.
“Look at all of you having such a great time chatting.” Madam Jin narrowed her eyes as she arrived, talking as she walked in, “We’re terribly sorry for being late.”
Madam Lin laughed softly. “Is it because your son wasn’t at home, so the two of you were spending some quality time together?”
“Sister Mei, you’re really great at cracking jokes. We’ve been a couple for so many years already.” Madam Jin sat beside her and went on, “Xiaoning came back, so we chatted for some time. She said she’d come and visit another day.”
Upon hearing this, Lin Shishi immediately asked, “Auntie, why didn’t you ask my sister to come along as well?”
“I asked, but she said she would visit another day.”
Lin Shishi responded disappointedly, “But we’re going back tomorrow afternoon.”
“Since everyone is around, why don’t you ask your mother to give Xiaoning a call?” Chief of Staff Lin suggested.
“I’ll call her.” Lin Shishi took out her phone. “Is her number still the same?”
“She’s changed her number.” Madam Lin passed her own phone to her. “This is her new number.”
Lin Shishi keyed in the number and dialed it. She commented while frowning, “Why did she switch off her phone? Where’s Sister living now?”
“She’s living at the Gu residence right now.” Madam Jin added, “I heard she bought a new house at Sanqiao Estate, but she hasn’t moved there yet.”
At the thought that she would be going out to walk around with her husband and Sister-in-law, Lin Shishi was worried she wouldn’t have time to meet An Xiaoning, so she replied, “Mother, can you get someone to head to the Gu residence to call my sister here? Tomorrow, all of us are going out to play for the whole morning, then we’ll be going back in the afternoon.”
Madam Lin nodded and made the arrangement hurriedly.
Never would An Xiaoning have expected that the Lin family would actually send someone to call her over.
She had thought that by turning off her phone, she would be able to escape the situation. Now, it seemed like she had to face it sooner rather than later.
It was fine anyway. If she refused to admit it ’til the end, what could they do to her just from identifying her voice?
She picked an outfit again. For the top, she chose a white long-sleeved t-shirt with an irregularly-tailored small black jacket. As for the bottom, she wore a pair of long black pants with pointed high-heels.
The outfit accentuated her height and gave her a clean look.
Though she had just removed her makeup and was about to rest, she began to re-apply makeup on her face.
With her fiery bright red lipstick and makeup, she exuded the aura of a queen.
When she had finished preparing, she was all ready to face her torture.
Carrying such a mindset with her, An Xiaoning drove over to the Lin residence.
She was still praying that her identity would not be discovered.
The distance between the old Gu residence and the Lin residence took only about a fifteen-minute drive.
However, it took her more than half an hour to arrive.
In the end, she still drove toward the Lin residence.
As she got down from the car while carrying her handbag, she gazed at the brightly-lit living room entrance and took a deep breath. Then, she followed the butler into the house.
Everyone in the living room was still over the top as they were chatting merrily when the butler entered and announced, “Old Master, Madam, Big Missy is back.”
Everyone’s gaze turned to the entrance, and they watched An Xiaoning walk through the door.
As he was looking at her figure, Tuoba Gucheng’s eyes were fixed on her, and he could not help but cast a few more glances at her. This woman standing not far away was indeed very beautiful, to the extent that the sight of her was breathtaking.
“Wow, Xiaoning, you’re finally back. I heard from Shishi that you came back from overseas. Since she’s at home now, she wanted to see you badly. But she couldn’t get through to your phone so we sent someone to call you.” Madam Lin stood up and held onto An Xiaoning, bringing her in.
An Xiaoning followed her and grinned, her face remaining calm and composed. “I’d wanted to come and visit another day…”
The moment she spoke, Tuoba Danxue was astonished while Tuoba Gucheng’s face changed instantly.
This voice was extremely familiar to them. Upon looking at her figure and height, they found that those were rather familiar as well. Even her hairstyle and its length did not differ much from those of the person they knew. The only thing that vastly differed was her face. Their faces were on opposite ends of a scale.
Tuoba Danxue immediately stood up in shock and went before An Xiaoning, sizing her up carefully. “Why do you sound exactly like the female bodyguard, Mu Ning, from my brother’s house?”
An Xiaoning let out a soft laugh and gazed at her. “This must be the Princess whom Minxing is getting married to soon, right? You’re great at cracking jokes.”
Tuoba Danxue turned to her second brother. “This voice sounds exactly like hers right, Brother?”
Tuoba Gucheng gazed deeply at An Xiaoning, making her nervous to the point that her palms were sweating. After a moment of silence, he replied, “It does sound a bit similar…”
“It’s not just similar, it’s exactly the same. How in this world are there two voices that sound so extremely identical? I’m not even able to differentiate them. It’s amazing. If not for how Mu Ning has already left, I’d have really wanted to compare the two of you in front of everyone.”
Both the Lin and Jin families were puzzled by her words.
Madam Jin was still more quick-witted to reply, “All sorts of magical and strange things happen in this world. I even saw online that there are people who look exactly like biological family members. Having similar voices is a much more common occurrence.”
She then cast a glance to her son to signal him.
Receiving his mother’s signaling glance, Jin Minxing immediately added, “I’ve seen that female bodyguard Mu Ning. She looks nothing like my sister…”
Tuoba Danxue was young and naive, after all, and immediately responded, “That’s exactly right. Mu Ning’s horribly ugly. When she was working under me, we complained about it all the time. She’s on a completely different level as Ms. An. If Ms. An is a tiger lily growing in the skies, then Mu Ning’s just a bunch of grass growing on the ground.”
An Xiaoning kept a faint smile on her face throughout and did not reveal any hint of an unusual expression. “Thank you for the compliment, Princess. You’ve made me rather embarrassed, actually.”
“I’m just stating the truth,” Tuoba Danxue replied while returning to her seat.
“Sister, sit down.” Lin Shishi pointed to an empty spot on the sofa.
After she sat down, An Xiaoning apologized to Lin Shishi, “I couldn’t attend your and the Second Prince’s wedding, I’m so sorry about that.”
“It’s alright, I heard from Mother that you were injured and couldn’t rush back. Sister, are you feeling better now?”
“Yes, I’ve long recovered. I think it’s been too long since I’ve last seen you, you’ve become more feminine after getting married.”
Madam Lin broke into a wide grin. “She’s pregnant for more than two months already.”
An Xiaoning put on a pretense of being shocked by the news. “Really? That’s great. I wasn’t able to attend your wedding, but when you give birth, I’ll definitely be there.”
Tuoba Gucheng did not speak to her throughout but held onto his teacup and listened to her chat with the others.
While Tuoba Danxue realized only that their voices were similar and did not connect Mu Ning to An Xiaoning, Tuoba Gucheng, on the other hand, was instantly enlightened by many things.
Even though the person in question — An Xiaoning — could feel his intense gaze on her, so what?
So what if he had guessed something?
