For a long moment, Miss He sat unmoving, without saying a single word. She had seldom encountered situations that were completely out of her control. But this mild-mannered person in front of her, somehow seemed to be completely apathetic to her emotions. Despite his kind smile, his eyes seemed to see right past her.
Inadvertently, she glanced up at the person opposite her. He subconsciously turned his face sideways and looked at the busy entrance of the department store. His eyes seemed to contain a hint of anticipation.
She now knew that that anticipation would never be for her.
“I’ll be going now, Mr. Sun,” Miss He stood up. “The scones in this cafe are very good, you should give them a try.”
Xu Qichen stood up as well.
“There is no need to send me off,” Miss He smiled shallowly. “I studied medicine abroad. My clinic will open tomorrow, just above the cafe. If you feel unwell, you can come to me. I’m sure you won’t be prejudiced against women doctors.”
Xu Qichen smiled back at her, “Thank you, Nancy.”
Hearing this, Miss He paused a beat before smiling sincerely, “No need to thank me. We’re friends, after all.”
After watching Miss He leave, Xu Qichen sat back down again.
The conversation just now meant that his background was no longer a secret. If Miss He was able to find out about it, the Liu family’s mother and son are likely to find out soon as well. The only son of the Xie family was dying, so Master Xie should have made some plans.
What about Song Yuanfeng? His entaglement was mostly with the Song family, with an obvious purpose of seizing the family property from Song Yuanyan. In light of which, he should have no motive to kill Sun Lin.
But… Xu Qichen looked at his right leg.
If Song Yuanfeng began to suspect that Sun Lin knew that the car accident back then was caused by him, he would be wary of Sun Lin returning to become the heir of the Xie family, as he would then have the capital to take revenge.
Since Xu Qichen was not certain about Song Yuanfeng’s thoughts, there was little point in continuing this train of thought.
But as long as he stayed with the Song family, these people should not be able to get rid of him easily.
By the time the sky was dark, Xu Qichen had already finished two scones, a small slice of cake, and a cup of coffee before Song Yuanyan finally came out of the department store.
Xu Qichen stepped out of the coffeeshop and looked at Song Yuanyan from across the road.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Song Yuanyan, after seeing Mr. Steven off, looked up and saw Xu Qichen standing under the street lamp. He immediately jogged across the road.
“Cgf sbe mbiv? Lbk ibcu tjnf sbe yffc rajcvlcu tfgf?” Vbcu Tejcsjc lwwfvljafis tfiv We Hlmtfc’r tjcv, vlrgfujgvlcu atf qjrrfgrys bc atf ragffa.
We Hlmtfc rtbbx tlr tfjv, “P pera mjwf bea bo atf mbooffrtbq, P’w cba mbiv.”
“Rb kbcvfg sbe rwfii ilxf mbooff,” Vbcu Tejcsjc ijeutfv jr tf rilqqfv jc jgw jgbecv We Hlmtfc’r rtbeivfg. “Zbatfg lr qijslcu mjgvr klat atbrf batfg ijvlfr ja tbwf abvjs. Xblcu yjmx cbk wfjcr tjnlcu ab vfji klat atfw; pera atf atbeuta bo ktlmt wjxfr ws tfjv jmtf…”
Xu Qichen interrupted Song Yuanyan’s complaining with, “I met Miss He today.”
Song Yuanyan immediately stopped rambling, “Why did you meet up with her!?”
Xu Qichen found his anxious expression very funny, “It was a coincidence.” For some reason he enjoyed teasing Song Yuanyan more and more these days, so he said seriously, “She asked me to marry her.”
Song Yuanyan choked, unable to speak. Unreconciled, he dragged Xu Qichen into an empty cul de sac.
“She proposed to you?” Song Yuanyan exclaimed furiously, “I can’t believe she’s born as a rich family’s lady!”
Xu Qichen pursed his lips to hide his laughter.
“What did you say? Tell me!” Song Yuanyan grabbed Xu Qichen’s shoulder, “You didn’t agree, right? Yes, her family background’s good and she’s quite good looking, but I’m not bad either! I’m also…”
“Young master,” Xu Qichen finally said. “You two are incomparable.” He sighed, “And eventually, you’ll have to get married and have children, maybe even get a second and third wife… What then? Will you have me serve them as well?”
Song Yuanyan only got angrier and angrier with every word he spoke, and his grip tightened unconsciously, “You! How could you say such things!?”
Xu Qichen frowned in pain, and Song Yuanyan immediately released him. He felt suffocated, his breath stuck in his chest. Seeing that Song Yuanyan was about to have another coughing fit, Xu Qichen stopped joking.
“I told her, the one I love is you.”
Just as he was on the verge of choking, he heard Xu Qichen’s words. And like a suddenly released neck of an inflated-to-the-edge-of-explosion balloon, he too deflated.
Song Yuanyan leant against the wall, panting like a person who had almost drowned. After taking a few deep breaths, he said, “… You’ll be the death of me.”
Laughing, Xu Qichen sat down on the floor beside Song Yuanyan.
Song Yuanyan, who was too tired to be angry, sat down next to him.
The entrance of the square alley was like a small window, with passing silhouettes of the traffic outside.
“Don’t worry, I won’t let you die too young.” Despite the words being meanspirited, Xu Qichen said them with extreme tenderness.
He gently rested his head on Song Yuanyan’s shoulder, “I want to live with you for a long time.” He looked at the sky quietly, where the darkness of the sky only served to make the stars shine brighter.
Song Yuanyan’s head rested against his. “Until when?”
“At the very least, until a better era arrives.”
Song Yuanyan laughed and held Xu Qichen’s hand, “Very well, as you wish.”
Upon arriving back at the Song residence, they happened to run into Mrs. Song.
“You’re home late, come, come.” Mrs. Song waved Song Yuanyan over, “This is Mrs. He.”
Song Yuanyan smiled easily, “Hello, Mrs. Song.”
“Oyo, so this is Xiao Yan? What a fine young man, he’s even more handsome than those sons of mine.” Mrs. He laughed merrily, making her jade earrings swing back and forth.
“You really flatter him.” With a proud face, Mrs. Song grabbed Song Yuanyan’s hand and was about to say more when Mrs. He suddenly spoke.
“And this is…”
Her gaze landed on Xu Qichen, who was behind Song Yuanyan. “How strange. I don’t know if I’m imagining things, this young man looks just like the one in my Yanyin’s sketch, and he is also in a similar attire… “
Yanyin? Could that be Miss He?
Mrs. Song froze, and her expression changed, but she still forcibly kept up her smile as she explained, “This is Xiao Yan’s personal servant. Ah Lin, aren’t you going to greet Mrs. Song?”
Hearing the word ‘servant’, Mrs. He looked surprised, “Oh, I see…”
Xu Qichen greeted her very properly before excusing himself. “Madam, I haven’t finished the task assigned by the housekeeper, so I will take my leave now.”
Mrs. Song nodded.
Xu Qichen immediately left the room with a dark premonition. He thought he could relax after being honest with Miss He, but he did not expect complications to arise due to Mrs. He. Wouldn’t Mrs. Song, who wanted to make this marriage happen, treat him as a thorn in her side?
Xu Qichen sighed. Even without the debacle with Miss He, she would be furious enough with him for stealing her precious son.
Strangely, in the next few days, Mrs. Song acted like nothing happened, but Xu Qichen did not dare to let down his guard.
At dinner one day, Master Song brought up the new department store project in the Anping District, and although Song Yuanyan said nothing, in the end, Master Song gave the responsibility of overlooking it to him. “Go there tomorrow morning and oversee things.”
Song Yuanyan cut a piece of steak and put it in his mouth, “Brother can do it alone. It’s really unnecessary for me to go, I will only make trouble.”
Only when Mrs. Song kicked him under the table did he comply.
Seeing that this matter was settled, Mrs. Song put down her knife and fork and said, “A few days ago, the president of the women’s charity association made a donation and rented a church in the east of the city, wanting to run a charity primary school. It will be the end of the year soon, so she can take in some children off the streets immediately.”
“That’s great,” Song Yuanyan said. “Mother, you should do more charity. It’s much better than playing cards.”
“Don’t interrupt,” Mrs. Song cleared her throat. “Now the place is ready, but they lack manpower, especially language teachers. I think, our Ah Lin is quite good, and definitely good enough to teach little children. Plus, this job would not be too taxing for him.” She turned slightly to look at Xu Qichen, “What do you think, Ah Lin? The young master will be busy these few days, so you won’t have to follow him around.”
So this is how they have decided to do it.
Xu Qichen bowed and nodded, “As you wish.”
“No!” Song Yuanyan pushed his plate away, “What will I do with him gone?”
Master Song cleared his throat, “Surely you don’t exect Ah Lin to be with you all your life? You’re not a child anymore, keep your temper in check.”
Hearing Master Song say so, Song Yuanyan could not throw another tantrum.
Mrs. Song smiled kindly at Xu Qichen, “I know it’s not convenient for you to walk around. This won’t be a permanent job, you just have to hold the post until they find someone to take over, then you can come back.”
Thank you for the chapter!!
Tsk tsk. Mrs. Song I don’t trust you
thanks for the chapter <3
I’m excited for the murder mystery aspect. Suspects are piling up…
♥️
aaaand he’s been kicked out…