Chapter 41

Knowing that Chen Kexin was going to come to him for training, Lan Xiao could not suppress the smile on his face. However, his excitement had since waned, so had his anticipation.

Looking at his disappointed expression, Chen Keren could tell that he was upset about Chen Kexin changing her mind at the last minute.

Chen Keren took a sip of red wine, squinted and said, “Are you upset with my sister?”

Lan Xiao shook his head and without hesitation, he said, “No.” “How could I ever be upset with her? It is just that he does not dare to set his expectations too high when he remembers Chen Kexin’s fickle nature.”

“Really? But dismay is written all over your face.” Chen Keren chuckled as she gave her honest opinion.

Lan Xiao smiled wryly and said, “I am not dismayed, you think too much.”

Chen Keren stopped smiling and looked at Lan Xiao pensively. Although she did not have other thoughts about Lan Xiao, she had to admit that Lan Xiao fitted into the image of her ideal man. The only deviation was Lan Xiao’s complacency and lack of competitiveness.

Chen Keren blushed when she suddenly thought of the conversation in Wang Weixi’s office. She was struck dumb when he mentioned the word “fiance”. If Wang Weixi had known her intention of replacing him with Lan Xiao as her brother-in-law, would he not be mad? Would Yi Duanfang believe her words? In that instant, Chen Keren was flabbergasted at her own thoughts. Why would she be thinking about that detestable newhalf?

She could only shook her head, feeling resigned. Too many things happened lately and she was probably overwhelmed.

Lan Xiao looked at Chen Keren who was deep in thoughts and asked curiously, “What are you thinking about, looking all happy?”

Chen Keren snapped back from her thoughts and said matter-of-factly, “Nothing really, I am going back to work.”

Lan Xiao said gently, “Let me send you home.”

Chen Keren neither accept nor turn down his offer. She simply up and left.

Lan Xiao got up from his seat and followed her quietly. They were currently at Lan Xiao’s work place, where classes for “Training housewives” had just started today. To Lan Xiao’s surprise, the number of people who sighed up for the classes was encouraging.

As Chen Keren tried to size up this medium enterprise, she could see that there was Lan Xiao’s office and a gym on the upper floor, and the lower floor was where the housewives’ training classes were conducted. It was break time at the moment and a few young housewives were seated in a circle, chatting away about their husbands.

When Chen Keren descended the stairs, all gazes were turned to her. Chen Keren, on the other hand, kept looking straight ahead and walked directly towards the door. Following closely behind her was Lan Xiao, who continued to wear a warm and gentle smile on his face. His gentlemanly demeanor had won the hearts of the many who were present.

Lan Xiao sighed as he looked on at Chen Keren’s car rolled out of his sight. Finally, he returned to his office.

Suddenly, one of the women asked curiously, “Manager Lan, was that your girlfriend?”

Everyone looked at Lan Xiao with curiosity as he shook his head and replied, “No, she is like a sister to me.”

A few among the women looked at each other. One of them adorned in a red dress said with a teasing smile, “Sister? Is there a difference between a sister and a girlfriend nowadays? Isn’t there a song which goes ‘sister, you sit at the bow of the boat, while I, the brother can sit at the stern’?”

All the women burst into laughter. Embarrassed, Lan Xiao said, “Please continue chatting, I am going upstairs.”

“Oh come on, don’t you be shy.” “Hasn’t he given himself away?”

All the women burst into laughter again.

Lan Xiao smiled as he thought to himself, It was no wonder that Confucius equated a woman with a thousand and five hundred ducks. There was no way he could defend himself against these many women.

Once back in the office, he sat down on the sofa feeling a little exhausted. Immediately, Chen Kexin’s lovely face came to his mind and he stood up again to walked towards his desk, opened its drawer and took out a book. As he flipped through the pages, he came to a yellowing photograph.

As Lan Xiao stared at the lovely girl in the photograph, a warm and gentle smile broke out on his face.

“Should I try to win her heart again?” Lan Xiao was surprised at himself for having such a thought.

How could he harbour such thoughts? Did he not make a resolution that he would keep his heart at bay as long as she found her happiness? Could it be because the phone call from her this morning that made him realize his heart of reluctance to let her go?

Neither one-sided love nor the fact that one could never again see his love was scary. What was scary was when you had not seen this person for a long time, and she came into your life once again, you realized that you loved her more than you imagined. It was a wake-up call to the fact that you were unable to let her go afterall.

At this thought, he placed the photograph back among the pages, set the book back into the drawer, closed it and slowly sat down on his chair.

——————– break ——————–

Time seemed to fly and soon, it was time to knock off from work. However, Wang Weixi had never felt this agonizing waiting to finish his work day.

He packed up in a flash upon receiving Chen Kexin’s phone call. While all the people in the office looked on, he rushed off into his car and headed off as fast as he could.

Yi Duanfang who was taking his own sweet time bumped into Wang Weixi. He looked at Wang Weixi with disdain. How could this dude leave the office so early while there were still many colleagues in the office? He was repulsed by Chen Weixi’s so infatuated with that evil woman.

In his opinion, Chen Kexin and Chen Keren were without a doubt the two most evil women in the world. Whoever fell in love with them ought to be blind. Unfortunately, Wang Weixi was the first to be blinded. As Yi Duanfang sighed at this thought, he was oblivious to the sympathizing look the surrounding people were giving him.

After a long time wallowing in the sense of pity on Wang Weixi, Yi Duanfang eventually stepped out of the office building with the many other colleagues.

Once on the car, Yi Duanfang abruptly remembered the humiliating incident that afternoon. He thought that since he bought her lunch, it was his turn to gobble up these two bags worth of snacks.

He grinned at the thought and started the engine of the car and mumbled, “Wang Weixi, here I come…”

A few people who were standing by Yi Duanfang heard his mumbles and thought that Yi Duanfang and Wang Weixi were somehow involved after all.

Wang Weixi was not aware of Yi Duanfang’s plan to come over for a free meal. What he knew, as informed by Chen Kexin, was that Chen Derong was coming over to his house.

Chen Derong was coming! His father-in-laws had lowered himself to come to his house. Wang Weixi cursed himself in his heart for not making a trip to Kexin’s father’s house with her earlier. At the same time, he was puzzled that his father-in-law was coming to his house instead of busying himself with his businesses.

“Could it be because Wang Weixi did not give him a call the other day? What exactly happened on that day?” Wang Weixi wondered. There was nothing unusual about Chen Kexin the other day when she came home from her father’s house. All she said was that she went to visit her mother’s grave. Chen Keren, on the other hand, appeared totally nonchalant so much so he was not able to detect any abnormality.

However, Wang Weixi’s exaggerated reaction was not surprising. After all, he still could not figure out why his father-in-law had given him her daughter’s hand. Moreover, he really did not know Chen Derong very well. Despite Chen Derong’s friendliness towards him, Wang Weixi had always felt that Chen Derong was a somewhat deep character whom he found difficult to read.

Wang Weixi could not help but felt a little miserable. If it were in his hometown, there would be nothing usual about a father-in-law coming to see his daughter. However, in the A City, Wang Weixi felt that this same act was rather unusual.

Was it because Chen Derong was an exceptional character, or that the entire A City gave him the feeling of coldness and hostility?

Wang Weixi went at full speed all the way home, parked the car and dashed into the lift.

Once in the lift, his heart started pounding faster. He began second-guessing the reason for Chen Derong’s surprise visit. At the opening of the lift door, Wang Weixi briskly walked to his apartment and unlocked the door. What awaited him however, was an empty living room with emptied snack packets all over the place.

Wang Weixi furrowed his brows as he walked into the bedroom. Before his eyes was Chen Kexin watching cartoon excitedly. When she saw Wang Weixi, she took off her earphones and welcomed him with an embrace, saying, “Dear, I missed you so much…”

Wang Weixi patted Chen Kexin lightly on her back and gently said, “Dear, didn’t you say your father was visiting? Where is he?”

Chen Kexin looked curiously at Wang Weixi and replied, “Who? When is father coming?”

… Wang Weixi was dumbfounded.

Chen Kexin contemplated for a moment and suddenly said, “Dear, my father did not come. Just now I dreamt that he came.”

… Wang Weixi almost spat blood.