Su Qingsang and Huo Jinyao went home. Earlier that day, she asked Sister Lu to clean the apartment.
“I asked Sister Lu to clean mom’s room. She will be released in a few days, and we can take her home and look after her.”
“Sure,” Huo Jinyao agreed.
“I thought about moving into your villa since it is roomy and it will be more convenient for mom to do her exercises.”
“No problem. It’s up to you.”
“And—” Su Qingsang has talked for a while and discovered that Huo Jinyao did not express any opinion of his own. “What happened? Don’t you have any ideas?”
“You decide,” Huo Jinyao pulled her to his side and sat down. “It’s small stuff. You don’t need to ask me.”
“I was just talking,” Su Qingsang turned her head to look at him. “What happened to you today? There’s something wrong with you.”
Huo Jinyao shook his head. “The Lantern Festival is coming. Do you want to go back to Rong City with me to visit Grandpa? We could make an arrangement and bring Mom there.”
Su Qingsang bit her lip. They decided it a long time ago, and she felt fine with it.
“Okay. I’ll ask my mom and consult with Doctor Jiang. If he says there’s no problem, we will take her back to Rong City.”
Huo Jinyao reached out his hand to touch her hair gently. “Great. Let me know once you have consulted with the doctor. You can leave the rest to me.”
“Sure.” Su Qingsang was always at ease with Huo Jinyao. He was productive and efficient, and even more thoughtful than she was.
It was believed that Xiang Caiping would also agree to return to Rong City. However, Su Qingsang was suddenly silent, with a hint of mixed feelings showing on her face.
“What’s wrong?”
Su Qingsang looked at him, her lips pressed firmly.
“Do you think she will come back before we leave Lin City?”
Huo Jinyao saw the struggle in her eyes, and his heart ached for her.
He reached out to hug her, holding her tightly in his arms.
“Do you want to see her?”
With her face buried in his chest, Su Qingsang found Huo Jinyao smelled clean and fresh. “A little bit. If we leave for Rong City, we will rarely return here. I want to see her before we leave.”
Huo Jinyao didn’t speak. Su Qingsang looked up at him. “You don’t think I should?”
“I don’t see why not,” Huo Jinyao held her tightly around her waist. “If you really want to see her. You can even fly to the U.S. to visit her. You don’t have to wait for her to come back.”
Su Qingsang looked down. She seemed to be contemplating something. “Forget it. It’s better for me not to see her.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to see her?”
“No, I don’t want to.” Su Qingsang shook her head. “She must have been in a bad mood recently. I should not bother her.”
Su Qingsang heard that Li Qianxue suspected Su Chenghui of cheating on her, and she also suspected he fell in love with someone else. She must have been through a rough time.
Su Qingsang thought that if she appeared again, it would doubtlessly burden Li Qianxue even more.
Huo Jinyao stared at Su Qingsang. She could seem a little detached, but she had a warm heart. As long as people approached her and got to know her, they would understand her kindness.
“I told you, if you want to see her, just do it. You don’t need to have too many concerns.”
“All right.” Su Qingsnag thought about it and said, “Let’s set a date for leaving for Rong City. If she comes back before that time, I will see her. But if she doesn’t come back before the day we leave…”
She didn’t finish her sentence. If it went that way, she’d take it as their karma.
Huo Jinyao enfolded her whole body in her arms and lowered his head to kiss her cheek.
His kiss was gentle like the touch of a feather.
“Do you miss her very much?”
“Not very much,” Su Qingsang shooked her head. “If I had known the truth earlier in my life, I probably wouldn’t be as cool as I am now. But right now, I am a grown-up, and I have my mom. So I feel calm.”
Suddenly Su Qingsang became serious and looked at Huo Jinyao with a straight face. “You know what? When I was little, I always saw her hugging Su Peizhen and talking to her in such a gentle voice. I knew she was a strict and tough person outside the house. But she was so gentle to Su Peizhen that I couldn’t help but imagine if I had a mom, she would also treat me like that.”
Su Qingsang always wanted to be close to Li Qianxue, but none of her attempts succeeded.
Huo Jinyao nodded. Looking at the tranquil expression on her face, he felt she was too calm. “Do you still want to acknowledge her?”
“No,” Su Qingsang said, “I don’t want to acknowledge her. I just feel that, if possible, I want to see her. Just seeing her will be enough.”
She would consider it as a closure of an old wish buried in her heart. It was silly to have such an idea, though.
“Don’t worry. All I want is to see her. I won’t tell her anything.”
Since she made the decision, she would not go back. But before she could let it go, she needed time and composure to digest.
Without a word, Huo Jinyao hugged her more tightly. His deep-set eyes squinted slightly, and he seemed to have decided something.
It never occurred to Su Qingsang that she would meet someone else before she went to see Li Qianxue.
Since she was going to Rong City, she had to prepare some gifts to bring to Old Master Huo, as well as to Huo Jinyao’s Great Uncle who settled in Rong City and Huo Jinyao’s other uncles and aunts.
Su Qingsang went shopping with Shi Mengwan that day.
Judging from snippets of information she heard from Su Qinngsang, Shi Mengwan knew Huo Jinyao had a large family.
“Huo Jinyao has so many relatives. Qingsang, do you think you can handle it with your reserved personality?”
“I must handle it even if I don’t like it.”
In fact, Su Qingang was scared of messy and complicated relationships, but what choice did she have?
“Huo Jinyao is so good to me. I feel that, for his sake, I should try to develop a good relationship with his family.”
“It sounds reasonable,” Shi Mengwan patted Su Qingsnag’s shoulder heavily. “But I don’t think you are in a good mood today. What happened? Do you feel sad because you are leaving me?”
“Obviously,” Su Qingsang nodded eagerly and pinched Shi Mengwan’s cheek. “I am overwhelmed with sadness at the thought of parting with you.”
“You can look, but please don’t touch me.” Shi Mengwan touched her own face in an exaggerated way and said, “I just had a facial yesterday.”
“Let me take a look,” Su Qingsang leaned over to look at her with a definite note of humor in her voice. “Your face is so smooth, and your skin so fair. You are already beautiful without facial care, but you still insist on doing it, which makes you even more beautiful than the rest of us. You are trying to outshine us all.”
“Oh, come on. Why would that matter to you? You have Huo Jinyao, but I am single. I have to work hard to look beautiful so that I can lure a rich and successful man like you did.”
“You don’t need to lure anyone. I can ask Huo Jinyao to introduce some guys to you. What do you think?”
“Cool,” Shi Mengwan nodded casually. Su Qingsang didn’t believe her and said, “Why do I think it sounds fake?”
“Why would it? If you don’t believe I’m serious, I’ll find an eligible bachelor myself.”
“Come on. Please do that. Find one.” Su Qingsang looked around and noticed a man standing with his back to them. He looked familiar.
“That one. He looks pretty fit. Didn’t you just say you were looking for an eligible bachelor? Go ahead.”
“Off I go. Who is afraid?” Provoked by Su Qingsang, Shi Mengwan gave her a stare and walked towards the man at a quick pace.
She took a hundred–dollar bill from her pocket, turned her head to make a funny face at Su Qingsnag, and hurried to the good-looking man who was a few steps ahead of them.
” Sir, excuse me, did you drop it?”
Shi Mengwan’s face changed the moment she looked up. She stood there, looking awkward and embarrassed.
Sensing something was wrong, Su Qingsang stepped forward. “Mengwan, what’s going on?”
Su Qingsang also paused when she saw that man. No wonder the handsome man looked familiar; it was Zhan Haoze.
“Hello, Mr. Zhan.”
“How are you, Mrs. Huo?”
Zhan Haoze greeted Su Qingsang and caught a glimpse of Shi Mengwan. “Sorry, that’s not mine.”
“Really?” Shi Mengwan bit her lip, crumpling up the bill in her hand. “OK, I’ll ask around.”
“H’m,” Zhan Haoze nodded and looked at Su Qingsang. “Are you shopping, Mrs. Huo?”
“Yes.”
“Please pass my greetings to Mr. Huo.”
“I will, thank you.”
“I have other business. Sorry, I have to take off now.”
“Sure.” Su Qingsang felt no pleasure communicating with people like Zhan Haoze. After he walked away, she turned to look at Shi Mengwan.
“You are so lucky.”
At her first attempt at flirting, she came across Zhan Haoze.
“Lucky?” Shi Mengwan smiled ironically. “On the contrary, I have bad luck.”
If she didn’t have bad luck, how could Zhan Haoze forget her?
“Mengwan, I think you might want to try something different.”
“What?”
“I just thought you might have been mistaken about this man’s identity. After all, you two haven’t met for over ten years.”
Shi Mengwan saw Su Qingsang’s concern and waved her hand as if she didn’t care. “Don’t worry about me. I was just talking. I have already decided to give up.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course.” Shi Mengwan took her by the arm. “All right, let’s continue shopping and buy gifts. Huo Jinyao has so many relatives. How many gifts do you have to buy?”
“Let’s go.” Su Qingsang was genuinely concerned about Shi Mengwan, whose situation was more complicated than hers was. However, she knew it would be hard to persuade her within a short period of time.
Su Qingsang thought about it and decided to invite Shi Mengwan to visit Rong City after she came back. Then she would let Huo Jinyao introduce some eligible bachelors to her.
Perhaps after Shi Mengwan got to know more eligible young men, she would realize there was more than one fish in the sea.
“Let’s go. I remember there is a nice store ahead. Let’s check it out.”
Shi Mengwan pulled Su Qingsang to go ahead. Still concerned about her friend, Su Qingsang couldn’t help but stare at her.
Unexpectedly, Shi Mengwan pulled on Su Qingsang’s arm too abruptly, which ended up with Su Qingsang accidentally knocking down someone who just came out of a nearby store.
“I’m sorry,” Su Qingsang apologized immediately and stepped backward.
She looked up, realizing the person she knocked down was Su Yuxin. By his side, there was a young girl she didn’t recall seeing before.
…
