After sulking for a while, Miss Sea was finally willing to come back into the room and they started to discuss the plan for the next two days.
The event for today would be in a bookstore at a newly opened shopping malls. And the event for tomorrow would be outdoor, at an art festival.
Despite their "unique" first impression, Miss Sea was actually a very dedicated writer that loved her readers so much.
Miss Sea kept making sure that all tiny details, including gifts for the fans were properly discussed.
In the middle of discussion, Mr. Wang called Shao Yan to check on the progress. Shao Yan, knowing that Miss Sea had taken interest on Mr. Wang, cheekily put the call on speaker so everyone could hear.
"Mr. Wang, I'm with Miss 'Deep Blue Sea' and her manager now." Shao Yan opened the conversation.
"How is everything? Did you encounter any road block?" Mr. Wang was talking to her while reading some documents at the same time. They could hear rustling papers or scribbling pen noises. Shao Yan peeked at Miss Sea and carefully answered all his questions.
Mr. Wang would asked more questions, and Shao Yan would answered, while Miss Sea and her manager would just listened in.
After a while, Miss Sea suddenly chimed in, "You don't have to keep calling me 'Deep Blue Sea', Mr. Wang"
She paused for a while and then continued, "Call me Shen Lan."
**'Deep Blue Sea' is 深蓝海-Shen Lan Hai and her name is 申澜-Shen Lan.
Everyone went silent.
Mr. Wang who was flipping papers earlier also paused his movement.
Shao Yan didn't know what to do next. She looked at the manager, and the manager just shrugged inconspicuously to her and then shook her head, mouthing 'I don't know'.
Miss Sea who was looking at the phone on top of the desk, then started to ask another questions about tomorrow's event.
Everyone slowly returned back to the working rhythm again.
All three of them finally finished the meeting and was about to step out for the event now.
Uncle Yang picked them up at the lobby and then drove them to the location.
City Q central area looked similar to City S. High-rise buildings were all around. But somehow, the sky looked brighter and clearer here.
The organizer from the mall was already waiting for them in front of the shopping mall lobby. He escorted them to the bookstore. Along the way, he kept talking to Miss Sea, it seemed that he was also her fan.
"Miss "Deep Blue Sea', are you able to give us a clue, who actually the baby is? Was it the village girl or the big guy with big sword?" he asked her eagerly.
Miss Sea chuckled and looked at him, "Do you know that someone once offered me $8 million just to tell him who the baby is. How much are you willing to pay?" then she gave him a bewitching smile.
The man looked stunned and missed a step behind. Miss Sea was already walking forward confidently.
When they reached the bookstore, her fans were already lining so long.
Some fans even purposely dressed up as the characters from her novel. And everytime they were finally standing in front of her, almost everyone would asked about the identity of the baby.
Shao Yan was actually amazed that Miss Sea could be so patient in answering this same question over and over again. And she even had different answer everytime.
Shao Yan was so busy today. She ran around the area with the store organizer, making sure all the items on Miss Sea request list had been prepared.
She talked to the people that was supposed to deliver the gifts but they're late. So Shao Yan had to ran downstairs to the lobby, and personally pick them up.
After a while, things seemed to be in control. The event went smoothly.
Looking at the line, Shao Yan predicted that the event should ended in about one hour.
She decided to walk around the book store, maybe she should look at recipe books.
She was reading through a book about Italian pasta, when she received a text message.
She took out her phone and saw that it was from Li Xiqing.
'Was the drive okay?'
She put down the book and started typing, 'I haven't actually driven the car yet. I am currently out of town.'
Within few seconds, she received a reply, 'Oh, when are you coming back?'
She replied, 'If all goes well, I should be back in city S on Wednesday.'
And then she received another quick reply, 'I can pick you up. Airport or train station?'
She paused and just stared at her phone.
After a while, she still didn't know what to reply.
She read and re-read his message again.
She started typing, 'You don't have to, I will just take a taxi.' and then she sent it.
All of a sudden, her phone rang, and she almost threw it away, because she was too surprised.
it's him!
Her phone rang so loud, that everyone was looking at her with annoyed faces now.
Shao Yan quickly picked it up and then she hid behind the book shelves to avoid those stares.
"Are you busy?"
The store was really quiet. She was able to listen to his voice clearly.
His deep, magnetic voice.
Unconsciously, she blushed when the image of him licking his lips from the night before came to her mind.
"Not really, I'm on a signing event for one of my author. It should be done soon." she was looking down and was playing around with the books near her, and speaking softly. She was afraid she would disturb others around her.
"Don't feel burden about me picking you up. it's on the way anyway."
Shao Yan stayed silent, she was still thinking what to reply back.
"Shao Yan?"
When he called her name, her heart skipped a beat, suddenly she was picturing the him, who was sitting on her kitchen bar stool, looked up from his mug, and softly called her.
"Airport or train station?"
.....
She debated and debated.
.....
And finally replied, "Airport."
He smiled. He stood up and walked to the window to look outside, "Text me your flight number. I'll call you again tomorrow."
Li Xiqing waited for a while, and she still didn't say anything.
He looked down at the cars down below. His left hand was inside his pants pocket. His right hand was holding the phone closely to his ear. He kept smiling while patiently waiting for her response.
They were each still holding on to their phone, but no one was talking. He could hear her soft breathing, she could hear his.
In a moment of courage, Shao Yan finally said , "Okay."
And then she quickly added, "Talk to you tomorrow."
And she hung up first.
.....
And then she squatted down and put her hands to her face. She could feel that her face was so warm.
Aargh! So embarrassing!