Xiao Su did not anticipate her to react so strongly. Moreover, what on earth was she thinking? Why would she expect him to come looking here just to stop her? Or, did the words he said previously, which had inadvertently hurt her, made her warier toward him? So, no matter what he said now, would it still make her suspicious of him?
Caught up in his thoughts, he forced himself to smile, hoping to make himself look less threatening. It was fine when he wasn’t smiling, but when he smiled, the scar on his face became even more ferocious. Yan’s brows shot upward and the corners of her mouth twitched. “W-What exactly do you want?”
Seeing the terror in her eyes, which wasn’t there before, he was bewildered. Then, seeming to have realized something, he reached up his hand to touch the scar on his face. “Ah, did I scare you?” Saying that, the smile slid off his face and his gaze unmistakably looked sad. “I’m sorry.” He knew the scar on his face was terrifying—simply smiling made it even more horrifying. Normally, he was conscious of it and tried his best not to let anyone face him directly. But, today of all days… he forgot to do so.
It wasn’t his intention to cause her to be frightened. Seeing his lowered eyes and depressed manner, Yan instantly felt uncomfortable. He had been so badly hurt; for her to express her emotions so clearly on her face, wasn’t she simply rubbing salt in his wounds?
“Erm… I wasn’t frightened by you; please don’t misunderstand.” She thought about it and decided to explain herself, “I was just afraid that you would stop me from bringing Little Bean to visit Muzi. There was no other meaning to my expression.”
He lifted his head again at her words. Once again, she could see the terrifying scar. It was really scary to look at. However, since the beginning, that wound… seemed painful just to look at.
“Don’t worry. I have the same intentions as you do. It’s been a long time… since I’ve met with Young Master Ye.”
Hearing his words, she vaguely understood the meaning behind his words. Hesitatingly, she asked, “Don’t tell me… you want to come with us?”
Xiao Su nodded his head.
Yan breathed a sigh of relief, her guard against him dissolving in an instant. “You should’ve said so earlier. You could’ve just said you wanted to come with us! Your opening act was so long; I thought you were here to stop me!” She glared at him resentfully. He scared me to death just now!
He rubbed his nose. He thought he had been very straightforward; was he still being indirect? Then, the next time he had something to discuss with her, he had better be blunter with his words.
He was deep in thought when she picked up his identity card from the table. “You want me to book your flight tickets for you, right?”
“Yes. I want to be on the same flight. I will reimburse you twice the amount of the costs of the flight tickets later.”
Holding the identity card in her hand, she pondered over something. “Alright, I understand. I’ll handle the flight tickets for you. How should I return your identity card to you?”
“Seeing as it’s only a few days away, let us exchange our phone numbers. You can just send me the flight details on my phone and return my identity card to me when we meet on the plane.”
She nodded. “Sure, no problem.”
Having achieved his goal, Xiao Su left. As he got up to leave, she watched his figure from the back. Thinking about how she had let out a terrified expression at the sight of his scar, she wanted to stop him and comfort him somehow. However, she couldn’t say a single word. Forget it! He’s already hurting. If I said anything more about it, wouldn’t I just make him feel worse?
In the end, Yan said nothing and Xiao Su soon left the company. Afterward, she bought his flight tickets and sent the flight details to him.
…
In the blink of an eye, it was time for the trip.
Yan had chosen a midnight flight. Since she had to work during the day, and Little Bean had to join his uncle for lunch, a flight during the day would have been discovered easily. Therefore, she bought a midnight flight instead. When the time came, she and Little Bean carried a backpack each, lugged their luggage with them, and got in a car to head for the airport.
The airport at night was still brightly lit and many people were coming and going. She and Little Bean had been wrapped in many layers, including a hat, sunglasses, scarves, and an overcoat. Luckily, it was winter right now, so they could get away with pretending to be keeping warm despite how balled up they were. If it had been summer, they would have been smothered to death from being wrapped up like that.
“Little Bean.” She stretched out her finger and poked the little guy’s shoulder. “Look around and see if your daddy’s assistant has arrived.”
“Aunt Yan, you’ve wrapped me up in too many layers! I can’t move!” Little Bean retorted.
Yan was speechless for a moment. “What nonsense are you saying? I was just afraid that you’d feel cold so I made sure you had enough clothes on, alright? Don’t you know how cold that damn place, where your mommy is staying, is? If you don’t have enough layers on, you could freeze to death when you get off the plane later!”
“But we could have packed our clothes in our luggage and put them on after we got off the plane! Why do we have to wear them now? Aunt Yan, you’re such a clown! Just because you wanted to wear them, you forced me along with your farce! You were just afraid of being embarrassed if you did it alone!”
“My God! If you continue insulting me, believe it or not, I’m going to ditch you here!” Yan said.
“Hmph! Ditch me if you want to. I’ll just look for daddy’s assistant myself. I can get Mr. Xiao Su to bring me aboard the plane!”
“Sure, go ahead then! Besides, the flight tickets are with me. If you go with Mr. Xiao Su, I’ll make sure to seat you far, far away from us!”
“Aunt Yan, you’re terrible! I’m going to tell Uncle Qing.”
At the mention of Han Qing, Yan’s expression changed immediately. She leaned forward and appealed flatteringly, “Don’t! I didn’t mean what I said just now. When the time comes, I’ll bring you along with me! I won’t even let you stray away from my side. Be a good boy, alright? We’re taking this trip in secret, so we can’t let others find out about it. If we dress like this, nobody can recognize us!”
Even then, Little Bean couldn’t be bothered to talk to her. Based on their figures—one big and one small, and dressed the way they were as they roamed the airport—they stood out like a sore thumb. If there were any of Han Qing’s informants here, they would quickly be discovered. As they were exchanging words, his eyes glinted. “I’ve found Mr. Xiao Su.”
She glanced about her surroundings when she heard him say that. “Where? Where? Why don’t I see him?”
He lifted his head and shot her a look, then kindly reminded her, “Aunt Yan, you’d spot Mr. Xiao Su immediately if you took off your hat.”
Her duck-billed cap had been pulled low; when she glanced around, she could only see the ground, and could not see anything higher. At his reminder, she realized that she was way too conspicuous. Therefore, she hurriedly took off her hat. Sure enough, she spotted Xiao Su immediately—he was walking toward them from not too far away.
Looking at Yan, Little Bean couldn’t help curling his lips at her. Won’t we be getting the short end of the stick if I matched this silly Aunt Yan with Uncle Qing? What if their future babies turned out to be as stupid as her? How repulsive! Little Bean wrinkled his nose.
Xiao Su’s strides were long; he quickly reached where they were standing. Noticing how they were balled up like rice dumplings, he asked, “Is it very cold?”
Being questioned like that, Yan felt slightly embarrassed and could only stubbornly nod her head. “It’s cold! Aren’t you cold?”
