"An are you set i think xiao xiao is going arrive soon" Xin Shianmeng called from the living room.
"mom I am ready so, how do I look" An asked her mother , she was in jeans and crop top with an oversized jacket.
"yes you look just fine dear, will you manage tying that long hair of yours" Xin shianmeng asked with a worried expression.
"I will just do fine, so stop worrying ok, i can handle my self" An reassured her mother while looking at her in the face.
"I know you can handle your self but I can't stop worrying since I am sending you alone in the city dear."she stated.
"mom... stop it, you are also coming in a week for goodness sake." An said.
"she is going to be ok, Iam going to look after her." Li Xiaosheng entered with smile.
"ooh... how are you doing darling, I have missed you" Xin shianmeng said hugging Li Xiaosheng dearly.
"I missed you too aunty how are doing" Li Xiaosheng greeted happily.
"guys Iam around me too" An pouted and they all laughed together.
" so how is my Ananh doing are you ready to rock the world." Li Xiaosheng said while giving a tight hug to her best friend ever.
"iam doing great with a lot of nagging from your greatest aunty" An complained to her best friend.
"iam here young lady, I can here you." Xin shianmeng said and they giggled. After chatting for sometime with much laughter and easiness they ate and said farewell.
" Darlings take care on the road and when you reach there give me a call, ok ?"Xin shianmeng said from the gate.
"yes mom we will do." An waved through the car, they were sitting in the back with Li Xiaosheng's driver in front on the wheel. "How are you miss An" the driver greeted
"Iam good uncle Hong and you, I hope you are taking care of your health " An replied with a smile.
"yes, miss An, you are becaming more beautiful each day" driver Hong commented with a smile.
"thank you uncle Hong"
"am also here uncle Hong, why aren't you commenting me" Li Xiaosheng pouted with her chicks.
"you are also beautiful young miss." he said and the girls giggled.
"you may drive so that we reach there early."Li Xiaosheng said while making her self comfortable .
"yes, young miss"
They headed for the road to the city, in the back Li Xiaosheng went showing An different pictures of the apartment and the coffee store, which was going to be ran by An's mother and everything else they needed, thoughout the journey, Li Xiaosheng fell asleep after sometime while An continued to browsing through the internet on the phone, after a 6 hour drive they finally reached the apartment which was situated farther in the city , it was a 3 bedroom apartment with bathrooms each , well equiped kitchen living room ,balcony, laundry room in summary it was a nice cousy apartment. An was satisfied with everything and it was near the school, which was also agreat advantage her. An looked around but after some time she thought of something turned and looked at her friend.
"you lied isn't it, you have also added some money and things isn't it." An eyed her friend with suspicion. Li Xiaosheng knew that An was smart and would figure it out in just a glance, she played with her fingers trying to lie but alas she had already been found out, she knew An didn't like support when she wanted to do something alone, but she had just gone and did it.
"Ananh don't get angry ok, I saw this apartment and liked it so, I could not leave it at any cost." An looked at her best friend and just shook her head, what can she say, she had such a stubborn friend, she could only sigh.
"ok not another time "
"yes ma'am" they both giggled, they were just cute together.
"ok I am going to go, tomorrow we shall go shopping and at the store so, we better rest, tommorow we have a long day ahead of us ok? "
"yes, I get you miss do-this-and-that, but wait what about your classes."
"I asked leave for two days so, it's fine "
"ok what should I prepare for you...mmh..., I know you will whine until tommorow if I don't prepare you any thing" she looked through the fridge which was stocked with fresh veggies and other foods and started preparing a light dinner for them.
"I love you, Ananh you are the best I missed your cooking mmh ...so delicious." Li xiaosheng commented with a mouth full of food she was eating with speed, she gave a thumbs up to An.
"ok ok, eat slowly no body is going to snatch your food for goodness sake uuuh ." she could only look at her friend shaking her head. "I swear you are going to get indigestion with the way your eating."An said with helplessness, after eating Li Xiaosheng sat for sometime to digest her food then said good bye to her friend, she had begged her to come with her but the other just refused and sent her home . An remembered
that she had promised her mother to call her and she called, they talked for sometime before saying goodbye to each other.
When Li Xiaosheng reached at home she found her mother and father sited in the living room discussing some thing, when they saw their precious daughter entering with a smile on the face they could already guess what was making her look so .
"hello, dear where is Ananh why didn't she come with you ." Zhou Wencheng asked in a soft voice while hugging her daughter and looking behind her daughter.
"She refused to come you know her." Li xiaosheng answered her mother while reaching to hug her father and sat beside him leaning on the sofa with tiredness.
"you know her she likes to be independent ." commented Li Huan while sipping on his tea .
"but dad we have many rooms and we could just cuddle in my bed." Li xiaosheng complained acting cute.
"darling it's ok, you are going to be with her now everyday at least mmh.." Li Huan coerced his daughter with a loving smile.
"ok, dad mom let me go rest I am pretty tired and tommorow I have along day ahead of me ." Li Xiaosheng said while standing up and heading upstairs to her bedroom.
"but dear you didn't eat." Zhou Wencheng told her daughter.
"I am ok mom I ate Ananh's delicious food, good night mom dad." she bid them good night and headed to her room .
"I really hope my baby will smile often, I want this year to be memorable for her ." Zhou Wencheng said .
"she will be fine dear, Ananh has finally come so they will both keep each other company." Li Huan soothed his wife .
"yes, speaking of which I will call Ananh tomorrow to come visit us sometime."
"don't bother her too much, she is still busy settling in and I think she will also be busy checking out everything with the store, she will come when she is settled ."
"I hope so, but I really miss Meng." Zhou Wencheng said with a dejected face .
"she is coming next week and it's not like you don't speak to her every day, and what's with the face" Li Huan couldn't help but chuckle, he had a serious and calm wife but when it comes to Xin Shianmeng she becomes totally a different person he wondered, they stayed there for sometime, after retired to their bedroom.
Li Huan was the third son in the Li family married to Zhou Wencheng and having a daughter Li Xiaosheng who was the cousin to Li Shunyuan. This family were great friends with An and her mother for years they were like relatives. Zhou Wencheng was known to be a serious and calm woman, she was respected in the circle of rich women no one dared to offend her, as for Li Huan he was calm and easy going man, though not to sociable to everyone, they lived in their own villa as happy family.
Early in the morning An was coming from the bathroom when she had the door clicking open followed by Li Xiaosheng's voice calling for her.
"I am coming I just had my bath." An said while drying her body, after sometime she came out of the bedroom fully prepared.
Prepared a light breakfast and after they headed for shopping.
In the car, An greeted the driver as usual and they set off.
" Is it even necessary to go shopping I have clothes." An complained,
don't even start giving me your lecturers miss An "we are going to go shopping, you need to change your wardrobe dear so, just sit down and let this majestic friend of yours do the job ok."
"What can I say Iam quite your highness." they both giggled.
In no time they had reached a high-class shopping mole, the manager was already there waiting for her.
"welcome Miss Li, welcome Miss..." the manager looked at An for inquiry
"just call me An" An said in a calm voice
"welcome Miss An, Miss Li..." the manager was going to say more when he was stopped.
"thank you for welcoming us but I would like, me and my friend to shop in peace, we can show our selves around, we just need people to help us carry the bags that's all .
"yes yes miss Li as you wish" the manager said everything with cautiousness which showed how Li Xiaosheng was a respected customer and could not afford to be offended. they gave them way to pass so that they can start to shop in peace.
"he looked way scared." An commented with an amused face.
"this place is under Li cooperation that's why." Li Xiaosheng answered without much thinking.
they started shopping, first they went to the clothes section, Li Xiaosheng made An try on many clothes and each one she liked was packed, after they went to the shoes section bought different pairs in all styles and edition ones , after they went to the accessories section, they bought many things, that An felt like crying she was dead tired but Li Xiaosheng could not here aword of it, they passed through each section after li Xiaosheng felt satisfied she went to swipe the card, and instructed the driver to send the things to a An's apartment because they were not yet finished.
An turned and looked at her friend with disbelief on her face.
"xiao xiao you are kidding right, we just shopped a pile of things and you are telling me that we are not yet done?."
"it has just begin baby, let's go" Li Xiaosheng said pulling her friend to the elevator and hit the button to go up, An could only be dragged by her friend, what else could she say. They first went in the sauna after did a massage later went to do thier hair.
"welcome my dear you have come to attend to your hair" a man greeted Li Xiaosheng with a hug "and who is this gorgeous lady beside you" he looked at An with a smile .
"it's An my friend the one I told you about." Li Xiaosheng said introducing her friend.
"ohh An dear it's nice to meet you finally, this girl talked alot about you, saying how you are beautiful and other things" he offered a handshake which An took.
"it's nice to meet you too sir."An said.
"ooh, no sirs here just call me Luo, so let's see what we got here." Luo ming said as they started to take care of them.
"wow An, you have long hair I guess iam not allowed to cut it xiao xiao told me, you also have a good fair skin, indeed xiao xiao did not lie you are beautiful ." Luo Ming commented with amusement showing on his face.
"thank you Luo." An appriciated she didn't like to speak too many words with new people, that's how she is . After doing their hair they did their nails and were finally done, at the time also Li Xiaosheng was super tired and hungry.
"Ananh let's go to eat something Iam famished I feel like collasping" Li Xiaosheng said with a face full of tiredness .
"atleast you finally remembered that we should eat." Ananh teased .
And they headed to a restaurant but because An was allergic to many foods it was difficult to find food which could not harm her, so she just settled for a coffee .
"oh my, just look at me I had forgotten that you have a poor stomach, let us just go home so you can make something for your self."Li Xiaosheng looked at her friend with a worried expression she really felt guilty for forgetting something important like that .
"no it's alright and remember we have to go the store so eat or else we are going to be late ."An urged.
After much coercing Li Xiaosheng finally agreed and she ate, after they headed to the store. when they entered, everything was clean and inplace it felt like home with also some books in shelves to read while taking your coffee, it was a coffee store with a vip space with rooms and good view, every thing perfect . They looked in everywhere and An could never be any happy like she was, she turned and hugged her friend with tears in the eyes.
"thank you for being a good friend I really like each and every thing." An hugged li Xiaosheng tightly.
"ok ok, you are welcome but you should hug dad more he is the one who did most of the work." Li Xiaosheng hugged back her friend.
"yes yes, I will definitely hug him too, mom is going to love the place." she looked around and felt satisfied, after sometime the workers started coming in and li Xiaosheng introduced them one by one .
"these people were also handpicked by dad they trustworthy, this is manager Ma he is going to be the one managing workers around and support aunty when she comes" li Xiaosheng said.
"thank you all for coming and giving your support and service to our store" she bowed showing respect to the employees and then looked at the Manager, he was a middle aged man "thank you manager Ma for your contribution, I know you could have refused and goneto better place but you decided to work with us which I really appreciate" An thanked. All the employees liked how she was humble despite that she was their boss.
"it's our pleasure working with you Miss An" the manager said.
"then let's work well together"An added, after speaking with manager Ma a few words the employees were left to go home since the store would start operating tommorow. Li Xiaosheng gave An lift to the apartment and bid her good bye . An entered the apartment tired she headed to her room and was impressed of how uncle Hong had organized everything in their places when she opened the walk-in closet she was stunned they had indeed bought many clothes there were many trousers as An hated showing her legs, even though Li Xiaosheng had insisted on buying some dresses in case she changed her mind, the wardrobe was totally changed with new styles An was really impressed of her friend's sence of style. Later she went to take hot bath which felt relaxing, after made some light dinner for herself and went to sleep.
The next day she went to the store to see how the opening was going and talked with manager Ma of how to run the store what to correct and other things necessary to do , she wanted to complete everything today because tomorrow she would start going to school, so she entrusted manager Ma with everything in the meantime her mother had not yet come.
At school Li Xiaosheng was seen with a happy face which was rare, she would always be calm with an indifferent expression but today she had a smiling face which confused many people.
"What's wrong with sister Li, I have never seen her happy like today" one student asked the others.
"me too Iam shocked maybe something happened in the two days leave she had asked for"another one stated.
"I wonder what that could be, I didn't know she had a good smile like that."all the students in class were curious to what was happening but couldn't ask. As for Li Xiaosheng who was causing comotion was happily chatting with her friend on the phone without any care of what was happening around her. Wang Mei approached her where she was sitted in her sit.
"Sister Li how are you" she greeted faking the smile
"mmmmh" Li Xiaosheng didn't like the disturbance.
"where have you been these two days you didn't come to school."Wang Mei asked loudly to attract everyone's attention, this time Li Xiaosheng was really annoyed and turned to look at her .
"I was taking care my businesses and I think I informed the teacher."Li Xiaosheng said with annoyance and turned to concentrate on her phone.
" You look happy, care to share." Wang Mei didn't give up.
"No, and am I not allowed to be happy."Li Xiaosheng retorted, she really disliked this girl who got on her nerves.
"no sister Li don't get me wrong i was just asking"Wang Mei acted pitiful putting on a wronged expression.
"well then, if you may excuse me you are disturbing me can you leave"Li Xiaosheng looked at her with an annoyed face. Wang Mei could only stomp her feet and go, at the time the teacher entered.
"Good morning class, ooh I see Miss Li is here." Mr kuan greeted his students.
"yes sir."Li Xiaosheng answered .
"Have you been informed of the beginning year test?"
"yes sir, I have been informed."
"that's good then, so everyone let's start our lesson." Mr kuan taught the students math lesson.
" the elites watched everything that had happened silently".