Heart-Warming Youth - Chapter 34

Chapter 34: Unexpected Encounter Again

Translator: Noodletown Translations Editor: Noodletown Translations
Xu Ai got into the car reluctantly.
She was grumpy at the thought that her next Sunday was booked like this.
She was even grumpier when she thought that she’d go to Su Xuan’s home.
Su Xuan’s home!
Su Xuan drove for more than ten minutes when Xu Ai turned to him and demanded, “I must ask you something. Your grandma went to my school to see me; your aunt went to my school to get her home; you set the trap and mentioned my visit to your home in front of my grandma. Did you plan all these things?”
Su Xuan glanced at her. “Do you think I planned them?”
Xu Ai stared at him with accusations in her eyes.
With one hand on the steering wheel, he touched his forehead. “My grandma went to your school without my knowledge. She’s an elderly lady; do you think I’d let her go by herself if I knew of her plan?”
Xu Ai didn’t speak.
“After you hung up, my aunt happened to call me and I asked her to go to the school and get my grandma,” Su Xuan continued.
Xu Ai remained silent.
“As to the trap you mentioned…” He sighed. “Your grandma let me come and see her next weekend, which reminded me of my grandma’s plan. If your grandma didn’t mention it, I wouldn’t have brought up my grandma’s plan. But my grandma will call you next week and ask you to see her in my home.”
Xu Ai turned her head away and said stiffly, “It’s your fault anyway.”
Su Xuan chuckled. “Okay, I admit it’s all my fault. If I didn’t pursue you, all these wouldn’t have happened.”
Xu Ai snorted.
“Please don’t be so grumpy. You’ve met my grandma and my aunt. They are the most difficult people to deal with in my family, but they have extremely good impressions of you. There are a few others in the family anyway, so you don’t have to worry about the visit,” Su Xuan comforted her.
“I didn’t agree to go.” Xu Ai glared at him. “Why are you telling me this?”
Su Xuan chuckled. “My grandma is a determined woman. If you don’t agree to see her, you’d better be prepared to be badgered by her.”
Remembering the old lady who took good use of all kinds of facial expressions, Xu Ai felt her head begin to ache.
Seeing her expression, Su Xuan’s lips curved up slightly and turned his attention back to driving.
Xu Ai sank into endless regret. If she hadn’t softened and gone downstairs to see the old lady, nothing would have happened. But she had been afraid that the old lady would pass out or something under the glaring sun.
Frustrated, she lounged on the seat and closed her eyes in defeat.
“We must bring gifts to Grandma Li,” said Su Xuan suddenly. “Let’s go to the nearest store, okay?”
Xu Ai said listlessly, “Whatever.”
Xu Xuan parked the car in the parking lot of the store, walked to the passenger side and pulled Xu Ai out of the car.
Xu Ai was dispirited.
Amused, Su Xuan touched her head. “It’s one week away. You don’t have to worry about it now.”
“Who said I’m worried about it?” Xu Ai stood taller.
“Then pull yourself up.” Smiling, he took her hand and walked into the food section of the store.
They took one round in the section and Su Xuan chose several gifts. Xu Ai realized she contributed nothing in the task. Looking at the boxes in the shopping cart, she asked, “Is there anything you can’t do?”
“Things I can’t do? What do you mean?” He asked.
“You can do cooking, laundry, cleaning, etc. even better than a girl. Is there anything you can’t do or are not good at?” Xu Ai explained, “Things that make you look less of an all-round guy.”
Su Xuan raised his brows. “Am I an all-around guy in your eyes?”
Xu Ai nodded.
Su Xuan’s eyes glinted with great pleasure as he said, “There’re many things that I can’t do.
“For example?” Xu Ai asked.
He glanced at her and said, “I won’t tell you. You must discover them by yourself.”
Xu Ai pursed her lips.
As they walked toward the cashier, someone called out from behind, “Xu Ai?”
Xu Ai paused and turned around, seeing it was Lin Shen’s mother. Surprised, she greeted her, “Hi, Auntie!”
Su Xuan turned around and greeted her with a smile, too. “Aunt, what a coincidence.”
“Yeah. What a coincidence.” Lin Shen’s mother walked up and looked at them, saying with a smile, “I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. I’m surprised to see you here. You’re…” She glanced at the shopping cart.
Su Xuan said with a smile, “We buy gifts to see an elderly who’s sick.”
Lin Shen’s mother said with a smile, “Go ahead then. I just saw you and wanted to say hi.”
Nodding with a smile, Su Xuan took Xu Ai’s hand and turned back. “Goodbye, aunt.”
Xu Ai said immediately, “Bye, Auntie.”
Saying goodbye to them, Lin Shen’s mother watched them pay for the goods and walk out of the store. She turned around and saw Lin Shen had walked up from behind a nearby shelf and was standing behind her. The shelves and bustling people in the store couldn’t dilute the heavy air around him. She called out to him, “Shen!”
Hearing his mother’s voice, Lin Shen looked back. “There’s nothing we need in these two shelves; let’s go to another section.”
His mother nodded.
As he walked in another direction, his mother followed him and said hesitantly, “I heard Su Xuan returned from abroad just two months ago. How did he meet Xu Ai? You said Xu Ai’s family…”
“Mom!” Lin Shen interrupted her.
His mother looked at him; seeing he didn’t want to talk, she sighed and stopped talking.
Su Xuan and Xu Ai went to the parking lot and put their purchase into the trunk. Getting into the car, Xu Ai remained silent.
Without a word, Su Xuan drove out of the parking lot.
Xu Ai watched the busy traffic and skyscrapers calmly. After running into Lin Shen and his mother yesterday, she had quickly forgotten it. If it was in the past, she’d be sleepless, tossing and turning in bed; she’d be wondering what his mother thought of her! But yesterday, she had thought nothing about it.
Today when she saw his mother, she just greeted her as with any classmate’s mother.
Lin Shen!
The person whom she had thought about countless times each day was now fading away from her mind.
If she didn’t see him, she’d not think of him.
Her lips curved up self-mockingly. She had thought she’d love Lin Shen for the rest of her life, but it turned out she had been wrong.
Three years were still short compared with a lifetime and couldn’t compete with the changes happening in the last two months.
She closed her eyes tiredly; thinking of this was more tiresome than going to Su Xuan’s home.
Comparatively, visiting his family was not torture.
“Don’t tell me that you’re going to sleep again,” Su Xuan said in his mild and melodious voice.
Xu Ai shook her head. “Who said I’m going to sleep?”
“Then you drive! I stayed up quite late last night working on a file,” said Su Xuan. “We’ll reach Grandma Li’s home in one hour. I’ve got to take a nap.”
Xu Ai opened her eyes. “What are you worried about?”
Su Xuan pulled up and unfastened his seat belt, saying, “Uncle Sun likes to play chess, right? I need to stay awake to play chess with him.”
Xu Ai brightened. “You must take a good nap. Uncle Sun is a good chess player and you need a clear head to play chess with him.” She unfastened her seat belt, got out of the passenger seat and switched places with him.
Sitting in the passenger seat, he closed his eyes. “Drive slowly. So long as we can arrive before noon…”
Before he could finish, Xu Ai’s cellphone rang.
Seeing it was from Grandma Li, she answered it.
“Ai-Ai, are you coming?” Grandma Li asked over the phone.
“We’re on the way and will arrive in one hour,” Xu Ai glanced at Su Xuan and said.
“Excellent. Your Uncle Sun has taken out the chessboard and chess pieces for Xuan.” Grandma Li said with a chuckle, “Drive slowly. He can wait.”
Xu Ai said okay with a laugh and hung up.
Su Xuan looked amused. “It seems I need to grab some sleep.”
“I can drive but can’t drive slowly. You only have one hour.” Xu Ai drove the car into the traffic.
With a chuckle, Su Xuan lowered the seat back and closed their eyes.
He had truly stayed up late last night; a few minutes later, Xu Ai heard his steady breathing.
He had fallen asleep!
Obviously, he could sleep any time in any place; she remembered how fast he had fallen asleep in Lin Shen’s company. They were similar in this area.
She pursed her lips at the thought and turned her mind to other things.
One hour later, they arrived at the entrance of the residential community where Sun Pinting’s family lived.
Xu Ai glanced at Su Xuan and saw he was still sleeping. It was ten o’clock. After a moment of thinking, she pulled up at the roadside and turned the engine off. Lowering the seat back, she muted her cellphone and began browsing the news.
Half an hour later, someone knocked on the windowpane.
Xu Ai looked up and saw Sun Pinting, so she opened the door.
With a big watermelon in her hand, Sun Pinting whistled. “You drive today? What do you think of the car? It must feel good driving such a fancy car.”
“No matter how good the car is, it crawls like a snail in Beijing’s streets.” Xu Ai looked Sun Pinting up and down; wearing a tank top and shorts, Sun Pinting didn’t have the usual fancy look when she dressed up. Xu Ai laughed out loud. “You must feel cool dressed like this.”
“Where’s Young Master Su?” Sun Pinting brushed her away and looked into the car.
Su Xuan had woken up and was unfastening the seat belt. He got out of the car and greeted Sun Pinting; his voice was slightly raspy since he had just woken up.
Sun Pinting looked him up and down and clucked her tongue. Nudging Xu Ai, she said, “With such a gorgeous boyfriend, you’ll have lots of trouble waiting for you ahead.”
Xu Ai gave her a dirty look.
Pulling open the door, Sun Pinting out the watermelon in the car and sat behind the steering wheel, saying to Xu Ai, “Walk to the house with him. I’ll park the car for you; while I’m doing it, I’ll have a taste of driving such a fancy car.”
Then, she drove away quickly.
Xu Ai said “Hey” after the car and looked back at Su Xuan.
Su Xuan looked amused. “Let’s walk in. Show me the way.”
Xu Ai nodded.
The security guard at the gate recognized Xu Ai; he greeted her with a smile and let them pass.
Taking two steps forward, she felt something wasn’t right. She looked back abruptly and saw the security guard was taking photos of her and Su Xuan. Resigned, she glared at Su Xuan, “You’re so eye-catching.”
Su Xuan looked helpless. “I have no choice; I’ve got to do publicity for my company.”
“You mean your Empyrean Group can’t afford the advertisement expenses? It needs its chief to gain publicity with his face?” Xu Ai looked at him.
Su Xuan looked resigned. “The bigger the group becomes, the larger staff it needs to pay. It needs money to keep all the departments working and we must save whatever we can on advertisement. As the old Chinese saying goes, ‘The leader must make a good example for his soldiers’.”
Hey! How can he use the old saying in this way?
Xu Ai rolled her eyes and had the urge to kick him. She said in a huff, “If your Empyrean is short in funds, then the other companies will go starved.”
Su Xuan chuckled. “I don’t care what the other companies do. I just want to save money, so my wife won’t have a hard life with me.”
Xu Ai pursed her lips and ignored the hidden meaning in his words.
He leaned closer to her and asked in a whisper, “It takes only one hour to drive here. Why did it take you one and a half hours?”
“It’s none of your business!” Xu Ai snored.
He rubbed her hair with a chuckle.
“Take you paw away! You messed up my hair!” Xu Ai slapped his hand down in a huff.
Amused, Su Xuan withdrew his hand and said, “I think you got the wrong direction. That way leads to No. 5 Villa.”
She stopped and looked at him. “You know we’re going to No. 5 Villa?”
“Grandma Li called me and told me the address specifically,” said Su Xuan.
Xu Ai cursed silently.
When they arrived at No. 5 Villa, Sun Pinting was waiting at them at the gate with the watermelon and a pile of boxes at her feet. She said in disdain, “You guys are so slow. Save your love talks for the night. It’s not proper to do it in broad daylight.”
“Shut up.” Xu Ai went to pick up the boxes from the ground.
With a smile, Su Xuan picked up the heavier ones.
Before they rang the bell, Grandma Li had opened the door and said with a broad smile, “Here you are finally. I thought you’d come earlier.”
“Grandma Li!” Su Xuan and Xu Ai greeted her with smiles.
“Good! Come on in.” Grandma Li stepped to one side to let them in, mumbling, “Whoa. You bring gifts again. Xuan, you bought me lots of nutritious food when I was in the hospital; I haven’t finished eating them yet.”
“You need lots of nutritious food to recover your health.” Su Xuan entered the house. Seeing the people in the house, he was surprised. “Hi, Aunt, President Li.”
Hearing his words, Xu Ai was startled. She looked up and saw Lin Shen and his mother. Having never met them before in Sun Pinting’s home, she turned her head and looked at Sun Pinting.
Sun Pinting shrugged and whispered, “I’m surprised, too. Why are they in my home?”