Chapter Twenty-One

At the restaurant two bowls of congee were brought to Chen Yu Bai and Xiao Li’s table. Out of habit Chen Yu Bai wrinkled his forehead and looked at Xiao Li before picking up his spoon to eat.

An Xiao Li felt refreshed after a peaceful nap so it didn’t matter what angle she looked at Chen Yu Bai, she felt he was still handsome.

‘Mmm… How’s Seven Up?’ An Xiao Li asked.

‘I’m not free to look after it, thinking about letting it go within the next few days,’ Chen Yu Bai said.

‘Where?’ An Xiao Li asked.

‘Depends, if it’s too bothersome I’ll just take it outside to let it leave. Even if it gets hungry it won’t die. But it only eats dog food, it’s cold outside and I don’t know if it can adapt quickly outside on its own,’ Chen Yu Bai said.

An Xiao Li’s spoon fell into her bowl of congee.

Chen Yu Bai used a tissue to wipe his mouth. He saw Xiao Li’s startled look and he smiled. ‘But if you come home and look after it, I’ll think it over.’

An Xiao Li’s eyes were teary after she heard Chen Yu Bai joked about her going back to his house.

An Xiao Li thought Chen Yu Bai was always like that, suddenly good to her one moment then cold the next. When they lived together they didn’t fight with each other instead she was unhappy, he was angry, if he wanted to look at her then he looked at her, if he didn’t want to then he snorted and left. But when his anger was provoked he had an angry outburst – ‘An Xiao Li, from this moment, this minute, don’t appear in front of me anymore. Or else I’ll let you know what it means to be better off dead than alive.’

An Xiao Li’s heart wanted to say to little Bai – ‘since you appeared, she knows what it means to be better off dead than alive.’

Chen Yu Bai stopped smiling when he saw Xiao Li’s eyes were teary then she cried and her tears fell into her bowl of congee. His heart tightened and he held her hand. ‘I was joking, nothing to cry about.’

‘What is it that you want?’ An Xiao Li asked. She couldn’t stop crying. She bent her head and wiped her tears. ‘You said you don’t want me to appear in front of you but now you’re like this. Chen Yu Bai, you deserve to be hated. I wanted to help you before I thought Chu Hao Ran fainted. But you were fierce with me and threatened me… Yes, I’m always scared and don’t dare to give myself away. I always want to leave you because I’m scared of getting hurt. I don’t love deeply. But what about you? You always deceive me, you tell me nothing… it’s obvious we’re both wrong. But you’re casual like this, I need to avoid you…’

Xiao Li was talking and crying at the same time. Chen Yu Bai was shocked and speechless. They were quiet for a long time before he sighed.

‘It’s my fault. Ask me whatever you want to know, I’ll answer all your questions, ok?’ Chen Yu Bai said.

Chen Yu Bai pinched Xiao Li’s runny nose and her snot dribbled onto his hand. He shook his hand then wiped her tears.

An Xiao Li sniffed her nose then her phone rang and Chen Yu Bai’s phone rang too.

‘Big sister Xiao Li come quickly… my older sister… hospital…’ Xiao Chu said in a choked voice.

Chen Yu Bai said a few words on his phone and hung up. He immediately stood, pulled Xiao Li up and took her outside.

‘What is it?’ An Xiao Li asked.

‘Qin Sang is injured and right now she’s at the hospital. Come with me to the hospital,’ Chen Yu Bai explained.

Chen Yu Bai felt a cold rage, someone hurt Xiao Li’s friend. Zheng Hao was attacked whilst Qin Sang was with Zheng Hao. Chen Yu Bai knew that the feud between the western district and Liang’s company was going to be public knowledge.

Chen Yu Bai drove An Xiao Li to the hospital. Her legs were limp before she got out of the car. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder, she leaned into him for support and he led them inside the hospital. When they arrived at Qin Sang’s hospital room, they saw Li Wei Ran escort Qin Sang’s dad Qin Yue outside Qin Sang’s room. Li Wei Ran and Qin Yue’s expressions were distraught.

Chen Yu Bai stayed outside to talk to Li Wei Ran. Xiao Li ran to Qin Sang’s bed.

Chen Yu Bai waited for Qin Yue to walk away at a far distance before he asked Li Wei Ran about Qin Sang. ‘What condition is Qin Sang in?’

‘A broken leg, face scratched, waist and spine is still unclear, perhaps nothing major. The doctor injected a sedative. She’s sleeping at the moment, the doctor will wait until she wakes up before doing a complete examination.’

‘Any news yet who’s behind the attack?’ Chen Yu Bai asked.

Li Wei Ran shook his head.

An Xiao Li sat beside Qin Sang’s bed whilst Qin Sang was sleeping. An Xiao Li’s heart wouldn’t stop pounding anxiously. An Xiao Li saw how Li Wei Ran was distraught about Qin Sang too. It made An Xiao Li asked herself – if it was clear that two people could love each other, was it right for them just to take a glance at each other and pa.s.s by each other? She felt that a human lifespan was short and it wasn’t easy to find someone to willingly eat a warm breakfast with.

Chen Yu Bai gently opened the door, stepped softly toward Xiao Li and stood behind her. Suddenly she turned around and hugged him.

An Xiao Li could smell the familiar cool mint scent and heard Chen Yu Bai’s heartbeat was in sync with her heartbeat, it gave her a sense of peace. In that moment she was willing to be deceived for life, she was willing to be little Bai’s Miss dummy.

A while later after Chen Yu Bai finished discussing plans with Li Wei Ran, they returned to Qin Sang’s hospital room. Chen Yu Bai saw Xiao Li resting against Qin Sang’s bed. Chen Yu Bai looked at his watch, it was late. He gently lifted Xiao Li into his arms, farewelled Li Wei Ran and carried Xiao Li outside to the elevator. When the elevator opened, she was half awake. ‘Going where?’

Chen Yu Bai bent his head and gently spoke to Xiao Li. ‘Right now the situation is complicated. We don’t know who’s behind the attack. I’m worried about your safety, tonight stay at my house, ok?’ He didn’t hear her make a sound, his body stiffened and he felt frustrated. ‘I can sleep somewhere else.’

An Xiao Li didn’t make a sound, because she wasn’t certain if she misheard what Chen Yu Bai said before ok. ‘I’ll sleep in the guest room.’

‘Um,’ Chen Yu Bai said.

On the way back to Chen Yu Bai’s house, he ordered for dinner to be delivered but when he heard the connection signal from the restaurant he glanced at Xiao Li. ‘What do you want to eat?’

An Xiao Li was too tired to eat and shook her head.

Chen Yu Bai smiled, he ordered a few dinner dishes that Xiao Li liked to eat and chicken soup.

By the time Chen Yu Bai and Xiao Li were home, their dinner was delivered too. She woke up with a healthier appet.i.te and happily ate the dinner dishes that she liked. He took a sip of his chicken soup, put his chopsticks down and stared at her eating for a while. Then he stood and went to his study room. He came back to the dining room and put an envelope in front of her.

Chen Yu Bai sat down, opened the envelope and took out each item one by one – there was one close up photo of Xiao Li, a listing of her awards, her college timetable, her work application and a stack of papers reporting about her daily life.

‘All this is everything from two years ago after I came back from overseas, I asked an a.s.sistant to investigate about you because… honestly I didn’t know the reason. The first time I met you, it was engraved in me. After I met you I was living overseas until I met Liang Fei Fang and joined Liang’s company. Straight after I joined Liang’s company I wanted to find you, but I saw that you were living a good life so I didn’t want to bother you. Your IT college belongs to Gu Yan. Gu Yan and my first brother have contributed many scholarships. That day Wei Ran said he wanted to do a few things at your IT college, I thought of you so I went with Wei Ran. I purposely caused the car accident that day… from a distance I saw a girl that looked like you driving a car, I thought if it was you then it was the heavens’ will.’

Chen Yu Bai finished talking and An Xiao Li saw that he still looked calm. But she was too shocked and didn’t notice the shyness and embarra.s.sed look in his eyes.

‘You… the first time you met me, you liked me?’ An Xiao Li asked. She felt confused and didn’t understand. ‘All those years you couldn’t forget me? The first thing you thought about after you came back from overseas was me? Later you made an effort to coincidently meet me again?’

Chen Yu Bai bent his head and awkwardly sipped his chicken soup and reluctantly admitted the truth. ‘Um, it was like that.’

The evidence in front of An Xiao Li made her happy, satisfied and her cheeks blushed pink. ‘Then… why didn’t you let me know from the start?’

Chen Yu Bai didn’t say anything and continued to sip his chicken soup.

‘Chen Yu Bai?’ An Xiao Li called. Chen Yu Bai was still silent. ‘Little Bai?’ Finally he was too embarra.s.sed, became angry, pursed his lips and looked away from her.

That night An Xiao Li slept lightly, she felt that her bedroom door was opened and someone gently laid on top of her…

In the morning the alarm clock rang, An Xiao Li was frustrated and fumbled around for the alarm clock to turn it off. It was a strange feeling, she remembered it wasn’t her room and wondered where the alarm came from.

An Xiao Li opened her eyes and saw Chen Yu Bai sat at the head of the bed and realised what she fumbled was his body. In his hand was an alarm clock that looked like an apple, it was the same alarm clock she couldn’t find when she moved out.

‘Today’s Sunday…’ An Xiao Li said.

An Xiao Li buried her head under the bed sheet and was too lazy to move.

Chen Yu Bai felt a familiar sense of deja vu, he lifted the bed sheet off Xiao Li, he learnt a move from Miss Chen and poked a finger into Xiao Li’s cheek. ‘I need to go to work and you need to come with me.’

‘I’m not your secretary anymore,’ An Xiao Li said.

An Xiao Li wrapped the bed sheet around her body and played dead.

Chen Yu Bai laid on top of An Xiao Li. He rubbed his body against the bed sheet that she wrapped around her body. ‘An Xiao Li, I don’t mind using a more intense method to wake you up…’

An Xiao Li felt her face burned hot – when they lived together, the mornings Chen Yu Bai wasn’t in a rush to go to work, the intense method he used to wake her up had many positions. Her body felt cold remembering his intense method.

An Xiao Li pushed Chen Yu Bai off her, forced herself to wake up, changed her clothes and washed her face.

When Xiao Li was eating breakfast she was still frustrated and didn’t bother to look at Chen Yu Bai. She drank her gla.s.s of milk. Chen Yu Bai’s mood was really good during breakfast, it was a long time since he had a warm breakfast. He comfortably ate his breakfast and read the newspaper. ‘Starting today, you’ll be following me, you can’t go anywhere without me. I’ll resign on your behalf at the IT company.’

An Xiao Li wrinkled her forehead. ‘No! I want to go to work!’

Chen Yu Bai had a full work schedule for the day, he looked at his watch and saw that it was nearly time to go to work. ‘Zheng Hao was attacked. In the district there are many powerful groups of people who want to inflame the feud between Liang’s company and the western district to achieve their agenda. If that’s the case then yesterday’s attack is just the beginning. Later I don’t know what will happen. So before finding out who is behind the attack, if you follow me, I can guarantee your safety.’

An Xiao Li’s throat choked. ‘The relationship between you and I… is it to the point that I can be killed by your enemy?’

‘My enemies don’t need to kill you, they just need to kidnap you and I’ll willingly exchange anything to get you back,’ Chen Yu Bai said.

The morning sunlight shone warmly on the dining table. Chen Yu Bai bent his head so An Xiao Li couldn’t see his expression clearly. She could only see his lips that were soft and beautiful. She was deeply moved and stunned whilst staring at him.

An Xiao Li felt that even if the world wasn’t at peace, she had Chen Yu Bai so she wouldn’t be scared.

End of Chapter Twenty-One.