CH 7.2

Standing under the same neon sign, Chi Xueyan made a call for the second time. The other person picked up quickly.

He Qiao’s voice clearly entered his ears and still contained a gentle air. “Xiao Chi?”

At this moment, an inexplicable emotion surged in Chi Xueyan’s heart. He held the phone tightly and asked in a straightforward manner, “Where did I see Lu Siyi for the second time in the novel?”

The other end of the phone fell quiet for a while, as if thinking. Then the voice that rang out again became a bit more cautious. “A bar.”

A bar.

Chi Xueyan’s fingers almost let go of the phone. Then he gripped the smooth body with all his strength and said, “You have to tell me what happened next. I want to know the full details of the story.”

Before He Qiao could speak, he continued, “I just met Lu Siyi again in a bar by chance.”

He said the word ‘chance’ very softly.

In the warmly lit room, He Qiao was sitting in front of a computer when he answered the phone. A hint of surprise flashed in his eyes at these words.

He stopped asking and said in a calm tone, “Okay, shall we meet later?”

Chi Xueyan’s voice was faintly tired. “It is too late. Let’s meet tomorrow.”

He Qiao understood his confused mood at this time and agreed to meet tomorrow night. Then there was a long silence.

Just as he thought that Chi Xueyan had forgotten to hang up, he suddenly heard the other person speak again. “You said that I went bankrupt, betrayed my relatives and died. At that time, I was working in my family’s company.”

“…That’s right.”

“What about my parents?” This question sounded particularly calm. “Were they also implicated by me?”

He Qiao didn’t really want to answer this question. He was silent for a moment but still replied truthfully, “Yes.”

Thus, Chi Xueyan stopped asking.

He chuckled with strong sarcasm. Then he said goodbye to his lover in his usual tone, “Good night.”

“Good night.”

He Qiao quietly watched the screen of his phone turn from light to dark.

Then he returned his gaze to the computer screen flashing with complex numbers and charts.

He Xiao had gone on a business trip abroad today, so he didn’t have to force himself to spend time in the game room.

At the same time, the driver opened the car door in the underground parking lot of the majestic commercial building. He Huali, who had just left work, sat in the business car and rubbed his forehead in a tired manner.

The driver drove to the He house. After closing his eyes for a short time, He Huaili calmly opened the folder at hand.

The first thing that caught his eye was the photo of the red-haired young man.

He Huaili hadn’t looked for a private investigator. He simply collected some basic information about Chi Xueyan that wasn’t considered secret.

Family members, hobbies, the schools he attended, his career experience…

He Huali’s expression didn’t change when he saw the young man’s dazzling red hair and various hobbies. There was only a slight fluctuation when his gaze fell on the young man’s college major.

Further down, he stared at Chi Xueyan’s current occupation and finally revealed a bit of surprise.

A moment later, He Huaili asked the driver in front, “Old Ma, I remember the last time you went to pick up your granddaughter, you said she had bad teeth?”

“Yes, she loves sugar and has tooth decay. She is so timid that she cries when she sees the dentist.” The driver sighed. “The dentist brought over a mirror to see her teeth and she cried so hard that this matter has dragged out for almost a month.”

He Huaili listened patiently and said thoughtfully, “The problem of teeth can’t be delayed.”

“Yes, but I can’t do anything with this little ancestor if she doesn’t listen when I try to reason with her..”

The car drove forward smoothly. In the dark night, He Huaili slowly closed the folder.

Monday morning.

Chi Xueyan walked into the clinic on time and greeted the familiar staff as usual.

He raised his hand to check in and a dazzling light flashed from his finger under the warm morning sun.

The girl at the front desk was stunned. She stared curiously at his back as he walked into the consultation room and pushed her colleague beside her. “Did you see it or was it a mistake? Isn’t that Dr. Chi’s ring finger…?”

After putting on a clean-colored white coat, Chi Xueyan took off the ring on her ring finger. He gently put it on a small tray on his desk and prepared to start working.

The ring had a simple but good-looking style.

He thought that He Qiao’s aesthetics were good.

It was too bad that he couldn’t wear it at work.

A busy day officially began. He received patients who made appointments and helped obedient or noisy children check their teeth…

In the afternoon, he opened the clinic a bit early. The first little patient he received was a tearful little girl who was led by his grandfather.

She wasn’t on the list of appointments confirmed on Friday. It was said she was temporarily added due to severe tooth decay.

This was a common occurrence and Chi Xueyan didn’t pay much attention to it.

Her grandfather walked into the consultation room and waited quietly. The little girl reluctantly sat on the dental chair, trembling slightly. There were tears in her big eyes.

Chi Xueyan was obviously two meters away from her. He couldn’t help laughing when he saw this. “Do you have a toothache or are you afraid of me?”

The little girl cried. “Both…”

Seeing that she was so resistant to having her teeth checked, Chi Xueyan calmly grabbed a few candies from the small tray on the table. His wedding ring in the pile of candy shone with a lustrous silver light.

“Do you want to eat candy?”

The little girl was stunned. She instinctively reached out her hand before timidly retracting it.

“You like candy, don’t you?” Chi Xueyan chatted with her. “Then does your father like candy?”

The little girl sobbed and retorted, “Adults don’t eat sugar.”

“That’s not right.” Chi Xueyan’s tone was determined. “My father likes to eat candy and he likes many other sweets.”

At this time, the little girl’s tears slowed down a bit and she asked in a low voice, “Then will his teeth hurt?”

“Yes, adults and children are equally afraid of sugar.” Chi Xueyan shook his phone at her. “Do you want to see photos of my father when he has a toothache?”

The little girl’s eyes widened and she looked over curiously.

Chi Xueyan naturally sat on the dental chair and really opened the photo album on his phone.

The photo was a bit blurry, like it was taken by a child. The quality of the photo also made it seem like it was from a long time ago. Chi Zhongyuan in the photo looked much younger than he did now. He covered his cheeks and his face was distorted. His weak demeanor didn’t match his fierce muscles.

“He is crying as well.” The little girl laughed through her tears and said without thinking, “I am just crying because it is a bit scary.”

Chi Xueyan also smiled. “Do you want to know the difference between tooth decay in adults and children?”

The little girl nodded. She stared at his phone and suddenly understood something. “Your father’s teeth hurt and he cried, so did you become a dentist?”

“You guessed it.” Chi Xueyan rubbed her head and asked softly, “Can I take a look at your teeth for you?”

The little girl forgot to cry and finally lay down on the dental chair. Then she saw the painted ceiling and the gorgeous red hair of the dentist beside her.

“Your hair color is amazing.”

“It is the same as in the cartoon, right?” The dentist’s voice was very gentle. “Do you want to listen to a fairytale? But you have to keep quiet when listening and don’t talk casually…”

In the slowly floating dreamland, the mermaid swimming in the deep sea helped the children of the world eliminate tooth decay.

Chi Xueyan sighed with relief when he saw the crying child being taken away by her grandfather. He vaguely felt as if he had overlooked something. However, the busy second half of the day kept covering it up.

Once the clock pointed to 5:30 p.m., Chi Xueyan cleaned up and put on the ring again.

He stared at the cold ring for a moment. Then he said goodbye to the assistant, who was anxious to go home, and turned on his phone.

The screen interface was still stuck on Chi Zhongyuan’s toothache photo.

Chi Xueyan looked at this photo and a faint smile flashed in his eyes.

Then he opened the chat interface, found the dialog box with He Qiao and sent a message: I want to have a wedding as soon as possible.

Chi Xueyan’s note for He Qiao was still the casual Little Eleven, but the relationship between the two of them had changed drastically.

He Qiao was his 11th and last blind date.

He quickly received a reply.

[Little Eleven: I’ll call you.]

The phone vibrated.

“I was just about to tell you this.” He Qiao’s voice rang in his ears. “My father went to see you today.”

Chi Xueyan was stunned for a moment before realizing what he had ignored before.

The grandfather of the crying little girl had a familiar face, but he had no time to look carefully at that time. He was busy coaxing the child.

Chi Xueyan’s mind returned and he joked, “What are the results of the inspection?”

He Qiao replied, “He asked when I wanted to hold the wedding.”

Chi Xueyan tried to translate it. “So I passed?”

“He said he wouldn’t interfere with my choices.” Speaking of this, He Qiao paused before continuing, “You are a… children’s dentist?”

The puzzle left by the first meeting finally had an answer.

Chi Xueyan heard the undisguised surprise in his tone and asked rhetorically, “Do I not seem like it?”

He Qiao’s reaction was honest. “Can dentists dye their hair?”

“No.” His answer contained a cunning secret. “But I’m a special exception.”

Chi Xueyan couldn’t help laughing when he imagined the expression of the person on the other end of the phone. His tone was ridiculing. “Don’t worry. I won’t date you on the dental chair.”

There was a brief period of silence. Then He Qiao’s voice rang out again with the same smile. “We should indeed be dating now. We have to discuss the wedding date and there are things we didn’t finish talking about yesterday.

People in love were never tired of being together every day. They needed to spare no effort to show this state to others.

“Yes.” Chi Xueyan sat back at his desk. He typed and searched for something in his computer browser. “What do you want to do in the name of dating? Watch a movie?”

“Which movie?” He Qiao followed smoothly. “Do you have anything you want to see?”

Chi Xueyan looked at the theater releases information displayed on the screen and read the titles accordingly.

“The Thief, Let’s Go to Love, Laughter Story…”

After admiring the bad titles of these movies, he immediately gave up on this activity and turned off his computer. “Forget it. Let’s make an appointment for dinner.”

“It doesn’t sound as good as a dental chair.” He Qiao joked. “I’ll come and pick you up now. I’ll be there in a quarter of an hour.”

Chi Xueyan got up and walked to the window. “Okay, let’s talk when we meet.”

The road below was densely packed with traffic. The exterior wall of the new building opposite had an eye-catching rental advertisement. There were flashing lights everywhere. Orange and red spots turned on and off and the sunlight was hazy, while the smell of night slowly gathered.

Before hanging up the phone, He Qiao said goodbye to him in a natural manner.

“See you later, Xiao Chi.”

The author has something to say:

Candy-flavored kisses ^3^