Zhang Xiulan and Bai Hualing had a girl-talk before they hit the sack. They sat face to face, each with a cup of warm milk in one hand.
"Did Mr.Tang find out the culprit?" Hualing had been curious about it for a long time.
Xiulan shook her head dejectedly, "Not as far as I know."
"By the way, what is Liu Tengfei doing? I have rung him about a hundred times. He doesn't pick up my calls on purpose. Tell your man to call me back as soon as possible!" Xiulan berated furiously.
"Xiulan, don't tell me you forgot we broke up." Hualing muttered softly while gazing down.
The shocking news flabbergasted her, "Oh! I am sorry. I didn't know that. What happened?" The break-up between the two was unbelievable. Starting from the first year of university when they got together, they had never had a fight or quarrel. Tengfei loved her deeply, so he always found a way to compromise their different opinions.
"It's alright, I forgot to tell you. These days my mind is all over the place. We broke up, that happened. Why did you call him?" Hualing changed the topic. It wasn't because she didn't want to disclose the detail, but because she had to ruminate over the predicament again and suffer from the pain of heartbreak.
"I have something to ask him about Bai Suying." Xiulan replied. "Ah, do you often touch base with her?"
Bai Hualing was puzzled at her sudden question, "Suying? No. Why do you ask me? Is that concerned with the case?"
"Un-huh." Zhang Xiulan waggled her head lazily.
"We don't see each other except for when we had some celebrations in our orphanage." Bai Hualing and Bai Suying grew up in the same orphanage. But, they had little acquaintance with each other. Perhaps they had different natures and personalities.
Xiulan nodded and was deep in contemplation. She needed to check on Tengfei.
Curious, Hualing asked cautiously, "What's wrong? Is Suying somehow involved?"
"I am not quite sure. For now, she is the only lead we have. Weimin failed in tracking the surveillance records. He said he would ask his big brother for a favor. But currently no updates from him yet." Although Xiulan wanted to keep on the conversation, her sleepy eyes betrayed her intention. She couldn't carry her heavy head on her neck anymore and dropped herself on the back of the soft mattress and a pillow.
She used to bare her heart out to Hualing, but now she couldn't share the information she had with her regarding Suying and Tengfei. At first, she was under the impression that Hualing was just an innocent bystander turned into a victim. However, after a chat with Suying, the speculation might not be entirely true. But why did the string-puller choose her and not the other girl? Is that intentional or not? Various thoughts run across her mind, bugging her, and making her dizzy. "I thought Weimin had only one younger brother. You know him, right. Tang Quan. He went to the same university as us. Did you know Weimin has an elder brother too?"
"How would I know when even his fiancee doesn't know?"
"Former fiancee. We called off the engagement. Didn't you see the news?"
"What! Seriously? Why? Is that because of the incident? I don't keep tags on the local news these days, they are all about me being a b*tch poaching an engaged man."
"Language! I'm sorry. You don't deserve it."
She sighed and mumbled. "My reputation is ruined. I was almost fired and my career as a teacher nearly is over. Anyways, Xiulan, thank you for believing me." The girls exchanged a warm hug. Hualing continued, "I don't understand why you have to cancel it. I heard the conspiracy was taken down. The video evidence they hold just shows that Mr.Tang and I enter the same room at different times, which obviously is not solid proof. And I said I didn't remember how I was there, right? Now I recall it."
Xiulan was intrigued and sat up straight to shorten the distance between them so that the sound reached faster. She hated to have even a second of delay.
"The chance of me getting lost and ending up in that particular room is low. You also know that I'm not a type of person to wander around the unfamiliar places. So I might have had something that lured me to go there. I searched for it and found it. Here." Hualing pushed her phone into Xiulan's palm. The screen showed a message saying to come to the given address, that was the room's number and the floor it was located on. The sender ID was "Xiulan".
"I didn't send it, It wasn't me."
"I know. There's another occasion I recollected. After entering the hotel room, it was so quiet. I shouted your name and there was no reply. So I grabbed my phone to make a call to you. Then I was attacked."
"Attacked? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. But I didn't see the culprit's face. He came from behind. I struggled but failed. I think it's a man, he's strong. I was unconscious for a while. When I woke up, I saw Mr.Tang pacing back and forth. My first thought was that he kidnapped me."
"Don't tell me you threw a pillow at him."
"I didn't. He calmed me down and explained the situation. That's how I found out Mr.Tang and I were stuck in the locked bedroom. Our phones were nowhere to be found and the telephone was out of reach. Those damned walls are unnecessarily soundproof."
"Well, it can be necessary sometimes."
"We're not talking about it. By the way, Mr.Tang called me." Bai Hualing recalled all of a sudden and put her body on the side and supported her head with her hand to look at her friend.
Her words made Zhang Xiulan abruptly recollect the business deals her father had with Grandpa Tang which were supposedly broken by now. Although she was being idle, her father never made a case for it. So she wanted to bring him some benefits by joining hands with Tang family. She shook the thoughts off her head and responded, "What did he say?"
"I didn't notice it. Tengfei has been calling me all the time and I dare not face him. So I muted my phone."
"What a good friend he is! He didn't answer me, but he kept calling you. That's huge discrimination!" Xiulan made a joke to ease the atmosphere. She had no idea why they broke up, but she suppressed the urge to ask it. Both of them didn't seem to be the likes to take the relationship lightly. "How are you feeling?"
"Good." Hualing's eyes stung and she lowered her head.
Xiulan noticed a change in her friend's expression and blurted out another topic, "Give Weimin a call back when you are free. Honestly, he checked on you through me. He worried about your wellbeing."
"I will." Bai Hualing nodded at her friend's advice and their little chat came to a halt and they slept peacefully.
The next day, Xiulan asked her father about the business deals. They were on negotiation terms. No conclusion had been drawn yet. After strolling around on the farm for a while, she went home to create a memorial to her encounters with Jianyu. A messy portrait of his birthday gift was on the paper after half an hour, colored carefully. She blew the excess color particles on the paper before sticking the polaroid at the left top corner. The polaroid was the result of her sneaky shot when he was giving the speech. He looked so sophisticated and her drawing complemented it. She remarked and was contented with her creation.
Bai Hualing was at school when some strangers in black showed up and insisted on coming together with them. She was frightened at the sight. After pulling herself together, she sent a text. "Xiulan, the people of Chairman Tang ordered me to come with them forcefully. They threatened me that they will use every means necessary to get me to go see him. Now, I am on the way back to our city."
When Xiulan saw her message, she was flustered and immediately grabbed a taxi to follow her to the city. Something bad was about to happen. She could sense it.
She requested Honghui to get the particular dishes in advance. When she reached her brother's restaurant, the food was already ready. She brought them and went straight to Tang's mansion right away.
She called Tang Quan to come to fetch her at the entrance. Tang Quan was perplexed at her sudden appearance. Still, since he was at home, he went downstairs to get her. His steps were halted by a loud voice, "What are you planning to do?" It was his grandfather.
"I…" He was about to open his mouth when he realized there was another person aside from his grandpa in the living room. He realized Xiulan's intention of abrupt arrival. That was Bai Hualing.
Tang Quan worried upon seeing Bai Hualing's pale face. Grandpa must be giving her a hard time regarding his brother, Tang Weimin.
Not patient enough to wait for him for a long time, Xiulan broke into the house by herself. "Grandpa!!!! Look what I got for you. I personally requested my big brother to cook the special dishes only for you. They all are your favorites!" She blathered under false pretenses.
"Huh? Hualing?" She feigned astonishment.
"What brought you here out of the blue? You should've notified me. Then, I can send a chauffeur to escort you." Tang Renshu uttered deliberately to belittle Bai Hualing.
Xiulan pretended to feel wrong, "Grandpa, I told Quan to inform you beforehand."
"Quan, didn't you convey my message?" Xiulan nudged Tang Quan.
"Sorry, I forgot." He played along with her.
If Grandpa knew she came for Hualing, according to his character, he would give her friend hell.
"By the way, why is Hualing here?" Xiulan spouted with an innocent look on her face.
Tang Renshu harrumphed, "There were some small details we needed to discuss. You can get out now. Don't forget what I remind you. We won't see you off." He drove Bai Hualing out.
Xiulan gave Hualing a reassuring glance.
"Lan'er, how did you know I am craving your brother's dishes?" Tang Renshu changed his attitude while facing his favorite young lady.
"It is telepathy, Grandpa. I know you ached for them." Xiulan uttered while bringing the food to the dining room.
"Lan'er is the best. No one in my house cares about what I want to eat. They only made me healthy dishes which I don't like. They dare not go against my wife's order."
"I brought you the dishes. So I have the responsibility. You can only have the amount I approved. I can't let my lovely grandpa get sick." Xiulan warned him. She decided she wouldn't show mercy if he broke her rule and immediately go complain to Grandma Tang.
"Why don't you actually become my granddaughter? That foolish Weimin had let you down. But, we still have Quan in our house. What do you think of my grandson?"
"Grandpa, I appreciate your offer. As a matter of fact, I already have a crush. So I'm going to stop meeting blind dates." Xiulan and Quan were in the same batch in university although they barely knew each other back then. But they became closer after her engagement with his brother. He was her good friend and she would never see him as a husband. Thanks to that beautiful encounter with Jianyu, she could come up with an excuse.
"It's just a crush. Chances are that he won't like you back. You should consider Quan as your backup plan."
Xiulan scrunched her nose upon receiving his scorn. Grandpa was looking down on her charm!
Tang Quan howled, "Grandpa!! I refused your arrangement too."
"No one is asking your opinion." Tang Renshu shut his grandson's mouth.
"Lan'er, although Quan has a carefree temperament and plays games all the time, he is an extremely capable man. He is devoted to his work and doesn't take things lightly when he has to handle it seriously."
"Fine! I will put him on my next-in-line list." Xiulan surrendered his persistence in the end. Successfully avoided his nagging!
Only then did Tang Renshu nod in delight.