"What do you have in mind?" Xiehan felt an ominous feeling rise in his heart when he heard her words.
Lanni regarded him and chuckled meaningfully. "Feng Ci still has feelings for you, doesn't she?"
"I don't know, but what about it?" Xiehan did not understand why she was suddenly interested in whether another woman had feelings for him.
"I bet she still does. She doesn't seem like one to give up so easily…" Lanni smiled as she concluded.
"What about it?" Jiang Xingyu was curious too.
"The main point is, why are you making it sound like something to be happy about?" Luna's eyes narrowed in ridicule. Just how many women were after her future brother-in-law? First, there was a Ruby and now there was a Feng Ci? And why was Lanni acting so happy instead of bothered?
"The point is, we can use it in our favor." Lanni answered.
"How?" the trio were curious, and Xiehan could vaguely guess what she was up to.
He scrutinized her expression. "What kind of mischief are you planning?"
"Take a guess!" Lanni laughed excitedly, making the three have a weird feeling about whatever she was plotting. Seeing their synced expressions of worry, she languidly leaned back in her backrest. "How about the three of you give me time to check whether the plan can work? If it can, I will let you know all the details before I execute it."
"Okay…" The three could only nod and wait to see what she was up to.
Rejuvenated from her despair a moment ago, Lanni rubbed her tummy. "I'm so hungry."
She stood up and picked the high heels she had kicked off. "I'll go make something to eat. Are you guys hungry too?"
"I'm starving." Luna complained, shoving the last piece of potato chips into her mouth.
Jiang Xingyu peeked at her.
"Why are you looking at me? Do you have something to say?" Luna gave him a condensing look.
"No." Jiang Xingyu shook his head and chuckled. She was famished even after making him buy her snacks and ravaging all of them…
"I'll make something to eat. Just go and take a bath." Xiehan stood up, promptly folding his sleeves in preparation to go to the kitchen.
"Baby, why are you so cute?" Lanni hugged him with the shoes still in one hand and the wig and glasses in another.
Xiehan rubbed her back slightly and grinned. "Mmh. Do you want to thank me?"
A flush crept onto Lanni's ears when she understood his hidden meaning. She coughed the awkwardness away and whispered in a voice she thought only the two of them could hear, "How about you stay here tonight? I will thank you then."
Xiehan wrapped an arm around her waist to pull her closer to him. "Alright, it's your first day staying in a new apartment so we can use this chance to warm up the atmosphere."
"Hey, you two! Can you at least make sure you are alone before you suddenly turn the conversation R-18?" Jiang Xingyu could no longer pretend not to hear them. "Luna and I are getting blinded and deafened by you!"
"Please do not include me, thanks!" Luna grabbed a pair of earphones and connected them to her phone then randomly started listening to music.
Jiang Xingyu was speechless.
"Ahem...I'll go and start cooking then." Xiehan winked at Lanni, ignoring his friend.
"But I didn't buy anything." Lanni slapped her forehead as she suddenly remembered. She had only meant to check out the apartment and had not thought of buying any food.
"I bought a few ingredients on my way here," Xiehan said when he understood what she was worried about. Although he said that he had bought a few, the fridge was currently filled with all sorts of grocery and fresh fruit. Hence he went to the kitchen and thought about what to cook, then picked the suitable ingredients and started preparing them.
Lanni went to her new bedroom at the same time. She tossed the wig and glasses onto the bed and the shoes on the floor then flopped onto the bed with a sigh.
Looking around in the room, a hint of surprise flashed through her eyes. She had only known that Xiehan found her a high-end apartment but she had not expected it to be this detailed!
Even the bedroom was designed simply and with the same colors and designs as those in her bedroom at home. Not a single detail was missing!
She smiled slightly. Xiehan must have done it this way so she would be comfortable and get used to it quickly if she wanted to stay here permanently. Actually, she had not thought about it before.
But now that she was here, she found it a waste of space to merely use it to deceive people. Considering that Xiehan had put in so much effort and she liked it, she could move in and stay here, then pay Li Yuming a visit every few days.
Coming to a conclusion, she stood up and headed for the bathroom.
She was done bathing and changing in half an hour. Xiehan was not yet done cooking so she used the chance to check through the phone notifications that she had been unable to check while at work in fear of being exposed.
She found an email from B City Universityand checked the contents before replying. Aside from several spam messages, there were also a few missed calls from Cheng Yu and Li Yuming; she called them back and briefly let them know that she was alright. She was just about to connect her phone to the charger when she caught sight of a series of digits in the missed calls window.
She stared at the digits for a moment… it was a German cell phone number.
Her lips clenched as she thought of her dad. This was the same number they had been using to communicate for the past few days, so he must have missed her and had them give her a call. Unfortunately, she had been at work so she absolutely could not receive the call. She had even gotten a new cell phone to use for work purposes. She wondered whether the mean big boss would still let her speak to her dad now that she had missed the call.
"There's only one way to find out." She smiled.
She then decided to plug the phone charger and called.
She waited with bated breath. The call rang for a while and no one answered it. Disappointment engulfed Lannis heart. The call was just about to be automatically disconnected when someone answered it. In the next second, Xia Hanchen came into view.
"Dad…" Lanni half-whispered, almost on the verge of tears.
"My little cupcake." Xia Hanchen croaked. "How are you? Is everything going hard on you?"
Lanni swallowed the lamp in her throat. "Don't worry, it's not too difficult, I will complete it in the shortest time possible." she promised, even though she knew it was not as easy as merely saying the words.
"Of course I trust my little cupcake." Xia Hanchen was not just saying it, he believed that no matter what predicament there was, Lanni would surely find a solution to it.
Lanni scanned the man on the screen. He didn't show any signs of being bullied. But when she saw a glimmer from the corner of the screen, she frowned. "I have already started the mission. Are the chains still necessary?!"
Xia Hanchen sharply detected the disdain in Lanni's tone and chose to change the topic. "Is Luna there? It's been long since we last spoke."
"Yeah, I will call her right away." Lanni peeked at the time and found that they had already used up four minutes.
She sprinted into the living room to save as much time as possible but just as she was about to call out her sister's name…an unusual scene met her eyes.
Jiang Xingyu had his arms wrapped around Luna's slender body. Her hands were holding his neck and they were kissing passionately, locked in each other's embrace.
Lanni was startled. With flushed cheeks, she turned and went back to the bedroom. She would have Luna talk with their dad the next day.
...
In the living room, about half an hour ago.
Once Lanni and Xiehan left, Luna no longer had a reason to keep pretending to be listening to music. She awkwardly gripped her phone when she suddenly realized that it was just her and Jiang Xingyu left in the living room, and how close they were.
He was so close that she could faintly feel the scent of his cologne. She had simply not noticed it earlier since they were not on their own but now, she could feel a slight hint of nervousness creep under her skin.
In the next moment, she took a deep breath to calm herself then yanked the earphones off.. It was just Jiang Xingyu. What was there to be nervous about?