“Why? Second Brother. Why do you suddenly ask me to go back to Hai City? What happened on earth?”
Wenbei Su signaled me to calm down. “No big deal. Even though I’m not feeling good these days, I still deem it too dangerous for you to take care of everything for me. After all, you don’t need to get involved in these matters, not to mention taking the risk for me.”
“There’s not much risk, only to be tricked by manager Liu. Luckily, we successfully got through it, didn’t we? Whatever the condition we are in, but wherever there are people, there will always be struggles and battles, say, my experience in Hai City. Don’t you remember, when I was there, I was framed by someone to be in prison for a whole year, even until now, I couldn’t prove my innocence. Therefore, you can see the risk in Hai City is no less than that in Yang City.”
His eyes reflected profound anxiety. “The reason why I settled you in Hai City was that I wanted to protect you, but what was beyond my expectation was that I myself had gotten into trouble before I could protect you. It’s too tiring and challenging for you to lead our way and shoulder too much pressure. I feel so sorry for that.”
“You needn’t be so polite. It is you who has always been protecting me. Since you’re in trouble now, it’s reasonable for me to do something for you in turn. You just free yourself from all the trifles and get relaxed, and you can begin to protect me again until you will be completely recovered. For me, you are my family member that can be replaced by no one.”
“Alright. You just hang in there for a period of time, but my instinct reminds me that something else is going to happen after the matter about manager Liu. I’m afraid you will take more in charge because it’s inappropriate for me to show up now.” said Wenbei.
“Never mind. I’m willing to do everything for you as long as I can share your burden.” replied me, firmly.
While I was chatting with Wenbei, my phone vibrated. After a quick look, I found it was called from Ling Jiang.
“Aunty Jiang, what’s up?” asked I.
“Nala, where are you now?” asked her.
Of course, I couldn’t tell her my exact location in Nan House, instead, I told her I was at my Second Brother’s house.
“How about I asking my driver to pick you up and we dinning together? You haven’t had dinner, have you? A friend of mine brought me some Japanese spiny lobster. You can come to join us to try it.” said Ling.
“Thank you, aunty Jiang. I appreciate your invitation, but I’ve already had my dinner, and therefore can’t join you.” answered I.
“We are the family who should share all the good things. Since Japanese spiny lobster is pretty delicious, be sure to come and try it by yourself. I’m going to arrange the driver to pick you up now. The only thing you should do is to get yourself prepared to wait for him who will come to you soon. I will ask him to wait there until you decide to come to my home. By the way, take Wenbei with you, too.”
“My Second Brother is doing research on his project and I’m afraid he won’t get out of his house these days, so we really can’t go to your home. Aunty Jiang, you just eat and don’t wait for us.”
“Even if he can’t come, you have to come anyway. We should gather often to keep us closely intimate, but we haven’t gathered for a long time. Well, I’m going to ask the kitchen staff to prepare for dinner.” said she before she hung up the phone.
“What’s wrong again?” asked Wenbei while he was looking at me.
“Today, I came across Xi Su on the street where she said my car was better than hers. Felt extremely uncomfortable about this, she asked me to give to her the car that Aunty Jiang had given me and I did as she required. Besides, Aunty Jiang just called me to go to her house for dinner and emphasized that I must do that.”
Again, Wenbei frowned his eyebrows and said,” How could she be so ignorant and behave that ridiculously? And you permit her to be mischievous as well?”
I forged a smile and said, “Brother, you are crystal clear about my situation, although I am the nominal member in Su Family, they didn’t treat me as part of them, except you. Now that Xi wanted the car back, how could I refuse to give it to her?”
“Spoiled badly by Aunty Jiang, Xi was too ignorant. The reason why Aunty Jiang asked you for dinner was to repair the bad consequence of that event, which in other words, is purposely shown to our dad. So, are you going to?”
“I don’t want to, but Aunty Jiang insists that.”
“Well. You have to, otherwise, you will be proved angry at Xi. And if you don’t give a chance for Aunty Jiang to repair the bad consequence that Xi has caused, it will remain forever. Hurry up. Aunt Jiang has already sent a car to my house to pick you up. You have to get there before the driver arrives.”
What Wenbei said did make sense. After checking the time, I realized it was a little bit late for me to get there, so I hastened to say goodbye to him and set off as soon as possible.
“It’s rush hour now. You will sure be late if taking a taxi. I’m going to get someone to send you there, and you just stay here and wait for a motorbike to pick you up. After all, motorcycles are always faster in traffic jams.” suggested Wenbei.
“Ok. I’m waiting at the door gate.” said I.
As soon as I got to the door gate, a motorbike was already there waiting for me. It was hard to recognize the driver’s face covered by a helmet. The only thing I could tell was the motorbike was used for police.
The driver didn’t talk to me, only to signal me to get on the motorbike. He kept riding fast all the way, and soon we arrived at Wenbei’s villa.
After I got off the motorbike, I thanked him, but receiving no response from him. He just waved his hands and then left.
Entering the villa, soon after I had cleaned myself up a bit, Aunty Jiang’s car arrived.
The traffic jam was so heavy that it cost us half an hour to get to the luxurious villa of Su Family.
Before I had entered the villa, I saw Xi standing outside the house. Seeing me, she put on an even darker face. Having cast a glance at her, I walked straight into the house without greeting her.
As for Aunty Jiang, she showed great hospitality to me. “Has Nala arrived? Hurry to offer her the towel to wipe hands. The dinner has been ready.”
“Thank you, aunty Jiang. Actually, I’ve had dinner.” said I, with a smile.
“Since we are family, good things ought to be shared. Get yourself seated. We’re waiting for you.” said Jiye Su as he was walking toward the table, with Xiaodong Su followed him.
I hadn’t thought badly of Jiye, but after the event related to Manager Liu, I didn’t remain any good impression on him anymore. I didn’t offer to greet him, but only showed a little response to him when he nodded to me.
Everyone present took their seat, except Xi who was still standing outside the house.
“Where’s Xi? Why hasn’t she come in?” asked Xiaodong.
“She has behaved rudely to her sister because of her ignorance, so I ordered her to stand outside. And without my permission, she was not allowed in for dinner.” answered Ling.
Xi’s sister? After a quick thought, I realized she was talking about me. How could I, an outsider, be qualified to be Xi’s sister? What a great “respect” for me!
“What’s going on?” asked Jiye in puzzlement.
“Xi came across Nala on the street today. She didn’t know Nala’s car was given by me, so some misunderstanding happened. Nala was therefore returned her car to Xi. Today, Xi has to receive her punishment for what she did to her sister was too shameful!
Obviously, her explanation was trying to cover up something. The truth was she forced me to return the car even though she knew it was given to me by her mother.
I was thinking to myself whether to correct her explanation. He would never know the truth if I didn’t do that, but if I did do that, was I deliberately against her?