Chapter 17 - 17. That was it....

The family of four plus the secretary were now having their lunch.

Qin Mo was still in shock and was not receiving signals from earth, he hadn't touched the food yet and has been staring into nothingness with a blank but stern gaze, he was doing this unconsciously.

Xia Jingyi was fidgeting on her seat beside him as she took occasional glances of the old man, she had been taking small bites of her food, now and then.

Feng Jiajie seated on the other side of the old man looked calm on the surface but he has been opening and closing his mouth like a fish for sometime now, it seems he wanted to say something but was unable to do so or didn't know what to say and as he took side glances to check the mood of his Master, he was nibbling on his food though, quite slowly.

The maids serving them had their heads down and were quite terrified to even breathe, it was rare for them to see such pressure from this family. It was really awkward la.

Qin Meilin on the other hand was a bit apathetic, even though, she could see the tense air surrounding the old couple, well, she did what she could and being the adults they were, they should be able to solve this on their own was her thought on the matter and though she was a bit irked by them, she kept her usual silence.

She was enjoying the lavish spread over the table, in her usual pace, as she placed food on her XuanXuan's plate from time to time, he hadn't eaten much since morning, she was a bit worried.

Qin ZiXuan, on the matter, was a bit troubled. He just couldn't ignore the atmosphere like his Linlin.

Even though he acted cordially with everyone, in the business world everyone knew of his coldness but he just couldn't act indifferent to his family now, right?

He knew that Linlin was a bit too rational when it came to matters that didn't concern him, even though she was very caring of her family needs and thrived to full fill them like today, she didn't know how to show it, her EQ was probably in the negatives.

As he took a bite of the sweet and sour pork, something Linlin had served to him just now and even though he like it a lot, in this atmosphere he just could relish it, a small sigh left his mouth.

Ah!! That was it. A vein popped out near her temple and she snapped.

The pressure she applied was enough to break the custom made chopsticks in her hand.

"Do the thinking after you are done with your food. Aunt Xiao and the rest didn't prepare it, for you guys to play with it!"

Ah!! She was definitely pissed, she appeared to be a poker faced aloof beauty but her temper was something everyone in and outside the family were scared of ba.

The three of them snapped out of it and slowly started eating their food, the tense atmosphere, for the time being, dispersed.

Qin ZiXuan just smiled, he was a bit glad now so, he went on to eat to his fullest, it's not always he got to eat homemade food these days ba.

Watching him enjoying his food, Qin Meilin smiled a bit.

' It seems he still prefers home made food, I will cook more for him in the future.Well, I have to make sure to decline more of those meeting over food in the future, last night was really my bad. He always had a weak stomach so, I should get more time to prepare his lunch and dinner too. I haven't been taking care of him well...haaah' she was still guilty about yesterday.

After she came back from abroad, she had watched over his daily routines for over a month and it seemed like he was okay with the schedule so she didn't mind much, though she occassionaly cooked lunch for him, he acted like he was okay with everything. Now that she thought about it, it seems he has been putting up a strong front for all, even she didn't notice it till yesterday.

Her smile faded and her eyes held a glint, she couldn't let him shoulder all the burden more than he already has.

After they were done with their lunch....

In the lounge...

This time it was Qin Mo who broke the awkward silence, it seems he adjusted his mindset during their lunch earlier.

"xiao Mei, it seems you've something to tell us all?" he was a bit hesitant.

"hmm....well, it was irrelevant so, I didn't speak about it", said Meilin, nonchalantly.

" Last year, after grandma left home, Qin Yu- I mean father, contacted me, he was in the same city."

Everybody gasped cold air internally, as their face showed a bit of bewilderment.

Qin Meilin was talking about her father, who she met for the first time but it seemed like she was talking about weather, she was too indifferent.

"Irrelevant?", usually the name of that man was taboo but when his own daughter talked about him like that even Qin Mo, was a bit disheartened.

Qin Meilin took a side glance at her grandfather and continued with her usual poker face and flat tone, though their was a bit of coldness in it, "Well, what do you expect?"

The coldness was not because she was talking about her estranged father, he like she always felt, was just a stranger to her; it was only because her grandfather was using this topic to start the conversation and was, in a sense, using her to talk with her grandmother, she being a straight forward person, didn't like it.

A cold silence fell upon the room.

Before she let out more of her cold unfeeling words a bigger and warmer hand squeezed her small and cold hands gently.

Her coldness receded in an instant, she looked at the man who always gave her warmth and was the sun in her life.

He whispered to her, "Linlin, calm down."