Chapter 12 - Rumors

It was raining outside. Li Qin Yao was alone at home when she heard a movement outside. She held a baseball bat in her hand and waited behind the kitchen wall.

The door swung open, and a familiar silhouette showed up.

Li Qin Yao immediately put down the baseball bat behind the wall and walked towards the door. Her eyes flickered with joy as she saw her mother stepped inside the house. Li Qin Yao went to help her mother with the bag on her mother's hand. "Ma! How come you're home early? Didn't you say that you should return tomorrow?"

Her mother, Xu Yilan, handed her daughter the baggage in her hand as she replied, "There was a change in plan." She sat down on the couch with a sigh.

A few minutes later, Li Qin Yao appeared with a glass of water in her hand. Xu Yilan drank her water and let out a satisfied sigh when the glass was empty. She looked at her daughter and thanked her.

Ever since Li Qin Yao had resigned from her position in QL Group, she moved in to live with her mother in B City.

Her parents have divorced for more than ten years. Although they were divorced, before her father passed away, their relationship was quite decent.

Her father, Li Xuan, comes from an influential family in the city. The family, owned QL Group, a company that focused on real estate while her mother was an accountant, who came from a middle-class family.

When they divorced, both of them agreed to let her father have custody over her. They both wanted the best for Li Qin Yao and staying with the Li family will ensure that she will have the best. She will not have a lack of love, money, or education.

Sometimes, Li Qin Yao wondered whey her parents were divorced. In her opinion, her parents loved and cared about each other. Even after their divorce, both of them never remarried.

She asked the question to her mother once. Her mother told her that sometimes, even when two people are in love, they don't necessarily will have to stay together.

At that time, she did not understand this. But after staying with the Li family for too long, facing her relatives, she began to figure out something. Her father loved her mother, but the company matters are much more important. Her mother loved her father, but she was not strong enough to stay by his side, especially when her father was always absent.

"Mom. How was your trip?" Li Qin Yao moved behind the sofa and gave her mother a shoulder massage.

Xu Yilan leaned back on the sofa to enjoy her daughter's shoulder massage. "It was fun. I bought some souvenirs for you. Later, you should go and look at it."

Li Qin Yao nodded. "I know."

Her mother closed her eyes for a second and turned around. "That's right. How did you end up losing your phone the other day? You don't know how worried I was when I could not reach you. Imagine how surprised I was when I heard a man's voice when my call finally got through."

"I was too careless." Li Qin Yao lowered her gaze. Then she retold everything to her mother.

"You are this big, and you still make me worry."

Li Qin Yao smiled sheepishly. "I'll be more careful next time."

Xu Yilan looked at her daughter with a frown. "There will be a next time?"

"No. I won't let this happen again." Li Qin Yao said, laughing. Then she started to think of something to change the topic of conversation. "Mom. Are you hungry? Should I cook something for dinner? Or do you want to go out?"

Xu Yilan waved her hand. "I'm too tired to go out. Besides, it's raining outside."

"Then I will whip something up. What do you want to eat?"

An hour later, the dining table was set up. Li Qin Yao prepared two vegetable dishes, steamed fish and soup.

The mother and daughter then enjoyed their meal while conversing about her mother's trip to Vietnam with her friends. Once they finished eating, Li Qin Yao cleared the table and washed the dishes. When she stepped out of the kitchen, she found her mother watching a sitcom.

Li Qin Yao hesitated before she walked to her mother. "Mom."

"Hmm?" Her mother raised a brow, but her eyes were still on the television.

"A few days ago, Li Mu Bai visited my cafe."

Xu Yilan tore her gaze away from the television and looked at her daughter. "Your cousin? What did he want from you?"

Although Li Qin Yao never told her mother the truth about her life in Li's family, her mother was fully aware of the rivalry between her daughter and her cousins in the family, especially with Li Mu Bai.

After her daughter resigned from her position in QL Group due to a scandal, Xu Yilan no longer wished for her daughter to have too much interaction with the Li family members. Xu Yilan had been a daughter-in-law for the Li's family for years. She knew how ambitious and cruel some of them could be.

"Next month will be Grandfather's birthday. The company will arrange for a celebration," Li Qin Yao said slowly. "Grandfather sent both of us an invitation."

"Oh." Xu Yilan turned her attention back on the sitcom. "Then, you should go. I will prepare a gift for your grandfather."

"You're not going?" Li Qin Yao asked.

Xu Yilan smiled, but her smile did not reach her eyes. "I don't think it's suitable for me to go. Besides, I don't have anyone I wanted to meet. It would be boring for an old woman like me to attend such events."

Li Qin Yao nodded. "My former assistant, Bei Ruo Xi said that there are rumors that grandfather wanted to bring me back to QL Group."

Her mother was quiet for a while. "If your grandfather wanted to bring you back, what would you say? Will you return to QL Group?"

"I don't know." Li Qin Yao bit her lips.

She had been thinking about the matter ever since she found out about the rumor from her former assistant. She thought about returning to QL Group. A part of her wanted to return if she was given a chance. She loved working with the company, the working environment…

However, a part of her felt that she should give up. She did not want to go through on another round of plotting and scheming against her family members.

"Yao Yao," Xu Yilan turned to her daughter. "Whatever it is that you decide, later on, I will support your decision."

Li Qin Yao continued to ponder the question in the living room even after her mother had left to sleep. Finally, she snapped out of her trance when her phone beside her rang. Without realizing it, she had been thinking about the matter for almost two hours.

Li Qin Yao turned to look at her phone screen. A message from Chen Hao.

She has not heard from him for a week!