“What could possibly change even if I do mind? I’m already here, am I not?”
Upon hearing that, Su Qingsang smiled. She had found the new colleague of hers interesting.
While chatting, they arrived at the administration office. The paperwork was soon finished. The next day had been a Saturday, so the hospital decided to let Su Qingsang start working the following Monday.
After coming out of the administration office, Su Qingsang first thanked Zheng Chenyu before leaving. She was looking forward to starting her work at the hospital. All the colleagues she had met seemed nice, and she believed that she could work happily together with them.
She left the building and got into her car. As soon as she had driven out of the hospital, she saw a short and skinny man fleeing towards her.
The man crossed the road swiftly, but Su Qingsang didn’t manage to step on the brakes in time. A very tall and muscular man was chasing after the short man.
Before Su Qingsang could stop her car, the short man darted up to her. She gave a startled expression because she thought that she was going to hit him. However, to her surprise, the man nimbly hopped onto her car.
At that point, Su Qingsang had no choice but to step on the brakes. As the car stopped, the man leaped forward from the car.
Su Qingsang had just witnessed something that she thought only happened in action films. The tall, strong man rushed up and threw the short man onto the ground with a roundhouse kick.
“Ouch!” the short man said with a wince, as the tall man stepped forward and stomped a foot on his body before the latter could struggle up.
At the same time, a woman ran over from the other side of Su Qingsang’s car, gasping profusely.
While trying to catch her breath, the woman ran up to the tall man. The tall man snatched a lady’s shoulder bag away from the short man’s hands and handed it to the woman.
Watching that, Su Qingsang finally figured out that the tall man was catching a thief. The short and skinny man was the thief.
“Miss, your bag.”
“Thank you, thank you,” said the woman as she opened her bag and checked the things in it. “Everything is still here. Thank you so much.”
While speaking, she was still gasping for air. She had run all the way here from a very long distance.
“You’re welcome.” The tall man reached out and bent over, easily lifting the thief from the ground.
The thief burst out yelling at that moment. “B*stard! You’ve ruined my plan! I’ll make you pay!”
The tall man put both the thief’s arms behind his body, which made him scream.
“Let-let me go!”
“How exactly will you make me pay?”
“I’m sorry! I-I was wrong! Let go of me… Let go.” The thief glanced at the tall and sturdy man, then hurriedly begged for mercy, “I made a huge mistake! I have tunnel vision. Please have mercy on me and let me go, hero.”
Su Qingsang almost burst out in laughter. When had thieves become so glib-tonged? With that sort of talking skill, that thief could probably find a better job.
“Relax, I will let go of you when we get to the police station.”
While speaking, the tall man gripped the thief’s wrists and brought him away, quickly and neatly.
Soon, all the people who had gathered in that area to watch the incident left.
Su Qingsang clicked her tongue with approval. How impressive was that? That tall man was so nimble and full of strength.
Su Qingsang figured that the man was a plainclothes policeman. He was, without a doubt, very capable.
While driving forward, she saw the policeman and the thief again. The thief was still cursing, and the tall man was still gripping his wrists tightly.
Su Qingsang was driving, so she had only managed to give the tall man a glance from the rearview mirror of her car. He was pretty handsome. His thick, lustrous eyebrows made him look extra masculine.
The policeman was not only capable but had very striking features, too. As some would say, all the handsome men had been serving the country these days.
Watching the policeman catch the thief put Su Qingsang in quite a good mood. When she got home, she narrated the events to Huo Jinyao and complimented the policeman.
What she said centered around how handsome and vigorous the policeman was.
The compliments she gave the policeman displeased Huo Jinyao slightly. He pressed Su Qingsang on the bed to teach her a good lesson. As a result, she almost woke up late again the next morning.
The living room was empty by the time she went downstairs. After she had breakfast in the dining room, she found Huo Jinyao and Old Master Huo playing chess with each other.
“You’re up.” Huo Jinyao reached a hand towards her and asked, “Have you had breakfast yet? Why didn’t you get more sleep?”
Su Qingsang gave him a piercing glare. How could she possibly sleep in as the family was expecting guests?
“Did your mom leave again?” Old Master Huo asked Huo Jinyao after he had said good morning to Su Qingsang. Then, he turned his eyes back to the chessboard and put down a chess piece.
“Yes. Cheng Xianyun’s Mom is sick. She has gone to visit her.”
Old Master Huo stayed silent. He knew that Huo Jinyao’s mother had left home to visit Cheng Xianyun’s mom to avoid admitting Su Qingsang’s family status in front of the relatives.
Su Qingsang knew about that too. Every time Old Master Li and Li Qianxue visited the Huo Family, Liu Tongjia was absent.
She hadn’t expected Liu Tongjia to dislike her so much, because she couldn’t remember displeasing her so badly.
She glanced at Huo Jinyao. If it wasn’t because of her, Huo Jinyao might be the reason. What had Huo Jinyao done to make his own mother dislike him?
Since Old Master Huo was present at that time, Su Qingsang couldn’t directly ask Huo Jinyao anything about his mother.
Before the first round of the game ended, the first batch of guests had arrived.
They were Huo Yangyuan, his wife Gao Shulan, his eldest son Huo Mingfan, and his wife Jia Xibai. Their children were in another city so they couldn’t come. Huo Mingqi, Huo Yangyuan’s youngest son, was at work, so he couldn’t show up either.
However, Huo Yangyuan’s youngest grandson, Huo Ruifeng came with him. Huo Ruifeng was a gentle-looking young man wearing glasses. He had graduated from college earlier this year. He was also younger than Huo Jinyao.
Su Qingsang followed behind Huo Jinyao, to greet the elderships one after another.
Both Huo Yangyuan and Gao Shulan brought her gifts. Apart from them, Huo Mingfan and Jia Xibai also had gifts for her. Huo Mingqi couldn’t make it to the party, but Huo Ruifeng presented a gift to Su Qingsang on behalf of his parents.
Su Qingsang hadn’t been expecting gifts. She didn’t want to accept them, but Old Master Li signaled for her not to reject them.
Soon after they had sat down and started chatting, Huo Jinyao’s great-aunt and her family arrived.
“Great-aunt,” Huo Jinyao said as he stood up to greet Huo Yangxiu. Su Qingsang could tell that he and his great-aunt were rather close.
The ones who had come along with Huo Yangxiu were her eldest son-in-law, Ye Qiuan, and her twin boys Zhang Chenghao and Zhang Chengxuan.
Su Qingsang stood by Huo Jingyao’s side and greeted his great-aunt.
Huo Yangxiu held Su Qingsang’s hand, looking at her up and down. She said, “Good, good, Jinyao has married a beautiful girl. You look gorgeous.”
Su Qingsang blushed slightly.
Huo Yangxiu put a box in Su Qingsang’s hands and said, “Your great uncle-in-law and uncles are all in the army, so they didn’t have the time to come here. You should come to our place when you have time. They’ll be happy to meet you.”
“Thank you, great-aunt,” Su Qingsang said. She had heard from Huo Jinyao that his great uncle-in-law was a commander in the army, and her sons and daughter were all serving in the army too. She understood that they didn’t have many vacations.
Following behind her mother-in-law, Ye Qiuan made a step forward and presented Su Qingsang a gift too.
Su Qingsang took the gift box from her, thinking to herself that her main task for today was to accept gifts.
She looked at the pile of gift boxes. Without a doubt, every piece in those boxes was worth a fortune.
She gave Huo Jinyao a meaningful glance. She had received so many gifts. What could she possibly offer them in return?
Huo Jinyao winked at her and signaled for her to relax. In his eyes, those were only some small gifts.
Not before long, Huo Mingliang, Huo Mingmei, and their families had arrived too. The living room was instantly occupied by a large group of people. The atmosphere was warming up.
“Eh? Where’s Tongjia?”
Huo Yangxiu sat down, then realized that she hadn’t seen Huo Mingguang and his wife yet. She turned to ask Old Master Huo about them.
Liu Tongjia was the eldest daughter-in-law of Old Master Huo and her niece-in-law. Huo Yangxiu always liked her way of handling things. Along with the fact that she was friends with Liu Tongjia’s mother, she thought pretty highly of Liu Tongjia.
But now, she found that both Liu Tongjia and Huo Mingguang were absent.
“Brother, where are Mingguang and his wife? Why aren’t they here?”
Old Master Huo’s younger son, daughter, and their families had all arrived. Why were his eldest son and his wife still absent?
“One of my mom’s friends got sick. She went to visit her early in the morning and hasn’t come back yet,” explained Huo Jinyao with a bland voice.
Upon hearing that, the others in the living room glanced at each other, then turned to him.
“Where’s Qingsang’s family?”
Huo Yangyuan sensed the tension and smartly diverted everyone’s attention. He and some others had already known about the issue between Liu Tongjia and her son.
“My mom and my grandfather are on their way here. They’ll be here soon.”
Li Qianxue and Old Master Li arrived once Su Qingsang’s voice had faded. Unexpectedly, Liu Tongjia and Huo Mingguang also followed them to the family house.
Liu Tongjia didn’t look too happy. Huo Mingguang was by her side, wearing no expression.
Li Qianxue was even more sullen-faced than Liu Tongjia. She came into the house, saw the large group of people, and detected a look of concern in her daughter’s eyes. Only then did she force a smile and try to make herself look normal.
Liu Tongjia stood by the side, wearing a sarcastic smile. Huo Mingguang put a hand on her shoulder, seemingly trying to comfort her.
Something was definitely going to go wrong. Su Qingsang blinked her eyes and stepped up. She held Li Qianxue with one hand and Old Master Li with the other.
“Grandpa, Mom, I’m so happy that you’re here. Jinyao’s grandaunt and granduncle have all arrived. Let me introduce you guys to each other.”
Li Qianxue had been through a lot. A couple of seconds was enough for her to adjust her expression.
“We are sorry. There was a delay on our way here. We are very sorry.”
She saw the two elderly family members sitting together with Old Master Huo, and figured that they were Huo Jinyao’s great-uncle and great-aunt. They were Old Master Huo’s brother and sister, so of course, she needed to greet them first.
She had always been polite to the elders. To them, her tone of speech was naturally humble.
Under the circumstance, any normal person would respond to her with a nice smile and tell her not to worry. Normally, no one would be interested in knowing what exactly had happened to cause Li Qianxue and Old Master Li to be late.
However, there was one exception; that was Liu Tongjia.
