At the Zhou Family residence.
“How is it? Did Yan mention what time she’ll be back?”
Luo Huimei had woken up early in the morning to whip up some porridge. The husband-and-wife duo had been unable to get any decent shut-eye throughout the night, so she had gotten out of bed at the crack of dawn. She hoped that their daughter could eat the porridge she cooked when she got home, but their daughter had failed to return home despite waiting for a while. Furthermore, there was not a single phone call from her. Therefore, they decided to call her instead. Hearing that Yan was about to return, Luo Huimei urged Mr. Zhou to finish up his bowl of porridge quickly and to eat some more.
“Didn’t she say she’ll be back soon? Why are you still pressing for answers? Just finish your porridge.”
Mr. Zhou replied, “I was unable to get any shut-eye last night out of worry for her. How can I swallow anything when I still have not seen her face until now?”
“If you can’t bear to eat it, then don’t. Just make sure you still have the energy to speak when your daughter comes home later. When the time comes, I don’t want to see you hungrily wolf down the food in front of her.”
Mr. Zhou said, “I must say, Huimei, why do you have to speak like that? Are you not worried about our daughter when something has happened to her? Look at you; how are you eating so much? Doesn’t your conscience hurt?”
She was pissed off by his words and took the bowl in front of him away. “Do you want to eat it, or not? If you don’t want to eat it, then put it aside. My conscience doesn’t hurt; in fact, it’s perfectly fine. Why don’t you put some thought into why I ask you to eat? If you don’t eat now, will you have the energy to teach the little b*stard a lesson if the things your daughter tells you later anger you? I’m guessing that Li Sihan did something unsavory to Yan last night; otherwise, why would he be sent to the hospital?”
Listening to those words, he reacted instantly, “I see! Then, I must hurry up and eat more. If that Li Sihan really did something to Yan, I promise I’ll send him back to his hometown to be a farmer!” Then, Mr. Zhou tried to take the bowl back from her hands. Luo Huimei sneered at him, “If you want some, you can serve yourself. Do you not have hands?”
He was rendered speechless. There was no other choice; since he lashed out at her just now, and received a scolding in return, he did not dare to let out a single peep in front of her now. Hence, he went into the kitchen himself.
Meanwhile, Han Qing sent Yan to her house. She undid her safety belt and turned her head to look at him. “Thank you for sending me back, and… thank you… for last night too.”
The words had just rolled off her tongue when she saw him undoing his safety belt too. Stunned, she asked dumbfoundedly, “What are you doing?”
“I’ll accompany you upstairs to explain the situation.”
She was astonished. How can this happen? If he goes up to my house, then my mother will get the wrong idea about us! At that thought, she hurriedly tried to stop him. “It’s already 9; don’t you need to go to work?”
“I shifted my schedule back so I’ll have some time in the morning.”
“But, you’re the president! Won’t it be bad if the president doesn’t go to work?” She was putting in all her effort to deter him. Thus, he paused for a moment, then turned to look at her silently. Despite doing her best to persuade him just now, her scalp tightened in fear when he stared at her coldly, and she did not dare to say another word.
“I’m in no hurry.” He looked at her as he uttered word by word. Then, he slowly continued, “Let’s deal with your problems first, then we’ll see how things go.”
She kept quiet and chewed on her lower lip. Her emotions were a tangled mess, but she felt that she did not need his help to deal with this. Moreover, he had sent the guy to the hospital after beating him up, so the other party probably would not do anything else to her.
“It’s really—” Yan wanted to say something more, but Han Qing had already opened the car door and got out without her. She sat in her seat in a daze for a moment, then realized that he would not be deterred from doing what he had decided to do. Thus, she got out of the car too. If he wanted to come with her, then so be it; she just needed to react accordingly later.
They prepared to head up together when a high-pitched voice rang out from not too far behind them. “Oh, my! Didn’t I say that the Zhou Family’s daughter had gotten herself a man? Yet, she had shamelessly proclaimed that she was single before. To think I even went out of my way to introduce a potential suitor to her. Who knew she already had somebody? If I knew that, I wouldn’t have wasted everybody’s time like this.” From afar, Mrs. Zhang’s voice floated toward them.
No matter who it was—whether they were far away, or close to them—everyone heard those words. Several neighbors were crowding around the entrance; some were playing with their kids while others were hanging about chatting together. This was a daily sight in Yan’s neighborhood. For Mrs. Zhang to shout those words at them from so far away, it must have been because she wanted them to hear it.
Is she trying to whitewash herself by discrediting me? Since when have I gotten myself a partner? Is this all because Han Qing is standing beside me? If it wasn’t for him, I might have been raped last night… As the thoughts ran through her mind, the hostility in her heart grew, and her hands hanging by her sides curled into fists. She quietly waited until Mrs. Zhang approached her.
Mrs. Zhang might be elderly, but her walking speed was not slow. Soon, she arrived in front of Yan. At first, she wanted to rush over to Yan, but seeing the tall and broad figure of the man standing next to her, she changed her mind and kept her distance slightly.
“Yan, what is wrong with you? If you have a boyfriend, then why did you ask me to introduce a potential suitor to you? Li is a dependable guy, moreover, he helped you out at your shop every day. He goes to your shop the moment he gets off work—every single day. Don’t you see how down-to-earth he is? He was sincere toward you. Even if you don’t like him, you should have spoken to him nicely. Why did you let your boyfriend beat him up until he had to be hospitalized? Right now, he is lying half-dead in the hospital! Oh my God! His injuries are so severe, I heard the doctor say he sustained more than ten broken bones too.”
Yan said nothing, but the corners of her mouth twitched. She thought in her heart, You must be lying; how can he survive if he has so many broken bones in his body? Well, it’s not like he’s dead; he’s only half-dead. In her eyes, after everything Li Sihan had done to her last night, she hated him to the core. If Han Qing had not appeared, what were the consequences she would be facing? What would happen to her in the future?
Her eyes turned colder considerably as she raised her eyes to look at Mrs. Zhang, not a hint of fear in her. “Mrs. Zhang, you keep talking about how he was hospitalized as a result of my boyfriend beating him up, but did you witness it yourself?” Her voice was not loud, but it carried enough for everybody to hear. Lured by the prospect of juicy gossip, the neighbors gradually crowded around.
Yan was aware that if she did not explain herself clearly today, then the neighbors would be talking behind her back in the future. Although she didn’t care if these people poked a hole in her back from all the gossiping, she could not allow them to talk bad about her parents.
Mrs. Zhang was shocked, for she did not expect Yan to retaliate. After pausing for a few moments, she said, “It’s true I did not witness it myself. How could I possibly witness it when I stay at home all day? However, Li gave me a call this morning saying that he was injured, so I visited him at the hospital. Do you know how severe his injuries are?”
