"Jie, let me introduce you to someone," He Susu pulled Ye Jie with herself towards where Li Man was chatting with the newcomer. "Meet Xin Qian... She’s actually Li Qiao’s aunt but she had been our neighbor in Country A for all these years." She took a pause before adding, "We are more like a family now."
Ye Jie looked at the woman standing before him in an A-line dress. She had beautiful features and wrinkle-free skin.
"Xiao Qian, here’s my son, Jie." He Susu spoke with a hint of pride in her tone.
Xin Qian smiled at Ye Jie and said, "Nice to meet you, Jie." She spoke elegantly in her soft and mellow voice.
"Likewise..." Ye Jie replied politely.
Meanwhile, Wu Wang asked Li Qiao, "Who came that your mother is talking so loudly?" But Li Qiao only shrugged his shoulders indifferently and focused on the baijiu in his hand.
"What are you guys doing?" Lin Shen joined the three of them and leaned down a bit to pick a bottle of baijiu for himself. But his hand was swatted away by He Jian. "Ouch! What is wrong with you?" He glared coldly at Li Qiao.
"No alcohol for you Mr. doctor." He Jian replied plainly.
"I just want to join you guys," Lin Shen told them feeling wronged. He had been having a feeling that his friends were distancing him and it wasn’t a good feeling.
"No, no, no..." Wu Wang spoke making Lin Shen frown. "You can’t join us. You’re the only winner in our group and we don’t want to share our misfortune of love with you. So, please go and spend time with your fiance."
"Exactly! We’re drinking our sorrows and we don’t want you to do that too." Li Qiao added ruefully.
"Not today and not ever in the future." He Jian concluded.
Lin Shen didn’t whether he was supposed to be happy that they were thinking about his happiness or be sad that they were this sad. He could only look at the desolate faces of his best friends and had nothing to say. He couldn’t even argue with them especially while they were a bit tipsy. Lin Shen sighed heavily and informed, "Qiao, your aunt is here."
Li Qiao raised his brow in surprise and immediately changed his desolate demeanor to a lively one as he shot up from the chair to walk away.
"Hey, auntie!" Li Qiao came up to hug Xin Qian. He had always been close to his one and only aunt and this time was no exception.
"Do you know where Xiamu is, Li Qiao?" Xin Qian inquired about her son’s whereabouts.
The smile on Li Qiao’s face stiffened a bit but he managed to say, "He... He went on a date with Yu Kim."
Xin Qian shook her head lightly, "I can’t believe this... He’s impossible."
"What’s so wrong about that, Xiao Qian? Xiamu went out with his fiance." Li Man defended her nephew brutally hurting her own son with words.
’Did you have to mention the ’fiance’ part?’ Li Qiao thought to himself.
"Sis, you’re not understanding. That kid’s whole life revolves around Kim. He’s always talking about her. Even I get tired of it." Xin Qian talked about her troubles.
"That shows how much he loves her." Li Man answered giving another stroke to her own son.
"Oh, wait! I want to introduce you to my daughter-in-law." He Susu told Xin Qian and looked around for Xu Mey. She frowned since Xu Mey was nowhere in sight which troubled her a bit. "Jie, where is Xiao Mey?"
Hearing her question, Ye Jie looked around but couldn’t find her at all. "I’ll look for her."
"Okay..."
When he went to look for Xu Mey, Wu Wang and He Jian came to greet Xin Qian. They had seen the way Li Qiao’s face was changing colors and the only way to help him was to interrupt this talk about Xin Xiamu and Yu Kim.
"Oi! Bingbing, look who’s here..." Fan Bingbing turned and strutted towards Zhu Qinyang hearing her voice.
"Hi, Bingbing," Xin Qian greeted Fan Bingbing with a smile but Wu Wang could see the scowl on his mother’s face as always. In all these years, he never understood the reason for the animosity between his mother and Xin Qian.
He just found out that for some reason, his mother hated Xin Qian while Xin Qian always acted cordially with her. There was a time when he used to say that his mother is wronging Xin Qian but after understanding his mother’s nature, he reckoned that there must be some serious reason for his mother’s strange behavior.
"Hello to you too!" Fan Bingbing replied to Xin Qian and was gonna turn away to look for Xu Cheng. There was no way that she could let him see Xin Qian. Knowing Xu Cheng’s health, she was really worried.
Watching Ye Jie coming with a worried look, He Susu asked, "Where is Xiao Mey?"
"She’s gone." Ye Jie replied.
"Where? And why?"
"Her dad wasn’t feeling well. So, she took him home." Ye Jie replied plainly.
’Not feeling well? Did he see Xin Qian? Damn!’ Fan Bingbing thought and turned to a silent corner to call Xu Cheng. His phone was constantly unreachable making an ominous feeling creep up in her heart. She dialed Xu Mey’s number but even she was picking up. ’Something is definitely wrong.’
"Wang, come here!" Hearing his mother calling him, Wu Wang walked towards her side.
"Yes, dear empress," he spoke passively.
Fan Bingbing wasn’t in the mood to play with him. So, she got straight to the point. "You friends have an app that can detect your whereabouts, right?" Wu Wang nodded his head. "Look through it and tell me where is Little Mey."
"Huh? Why?"
"Just do it!" Fan Bingbing glared at him. Wu Wang rummaged out his cell phone and clicked on the app.
"What is this?" He stared wide-eyed at the screen.
"What’s wrong?" She inquired anxiously.
"Little Mey is at a hospital." Wu Wang replied softly.
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