Chapter 1219: I Want to Make You Stay (97)
The pair of father and daughter stood up and headed to the kitchen to bring the dumplings out. The girl placed the dumplings in front of him and said, “Brother Qingyan, these are for you.”
“Alright, they look delicious.”
An Xiaoning watched as Jin Qingyan picked up a pair of moldy chopsticks and a yellow and rusty metal bowl.
Seeing how relaxed he was while eating, she could not help but think, Is he the same person who despised Mount Heyuan and found it too filthy?
The middle-aged man placed some dumplings in front of her and said, “Ms. An, have some, too.”
“No, thank you, I’ve already had my meal before leaving the house. You guys go ahead. I’ve really already eaten. I don’t lie,” said An Xiaoning, who then placed the bowl in front of him.
“You really have?”
“Yes.”
The middle-aged man did not insist any further. An Xiaoning initially thought that Jin Qingyan had stayed for lunch because he had something important to discuss with them about later. To her astonishment, he actually planned to leave after the meal and had even decided to bring the girl along.
An Xiaoning was dumbfounded and bewildered. However, she found it too embarra.s.sing to ask him for the reason in front of the girl’s parents. Thinking that he must have his own reasons, she did not say anything else and instead just paid the taxi driver and told him to drive away. They then entered her car one after another.
While they were on their way back, she desperately wanted to ask him about it. However, he still did not take the initiative to explain it to her. Besides, the girl was around too. Hence, An Xiaoning curbed her curiosity and proceeded all the way to Wei Ni Estate.
Fan s.h.i.+xin had yet to go to the office. Upon the sight of Jin Qingyan and An Xiaoning returning with a girl, Fan s.h.i.+xin asked, “Young Sir, who’s this?”
Since Fan s.h.i.+xin had already asked the question that she was dying to ask, An Xiaoning decided to listen to his answer calmly.
“You don’t have to care about who she is. Give her a position in the office.”
Fan s.h.i.+xin squinted and asked, “Young Sir, what position?”
“Do as you deem fit. A receptionist or secretary would be fine. We’ll let her get familiar with the environment today and report to work officially tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
Fan s.h.i.+xin left with the girl, allowing An Xiaoning and Jin Qingyan to be alone. An Xiaoning finally bombarded him with all the questions that she had been keeping to herself, “Who is she? What were you doing at her house? Why did you leave via the secret pa.s.sageway instead of the main entrance? Why did you bring her home? Please answer my questions.”
“Can I not answer them?”
An Xiaoning squinted and said, “I want to know.”
“But I don’t want to tell you.”
He then turned around and left. Staring at his back view, An Xiaoning squinted and said, “Henry.”
He stopped in his tracks. An Xiaoning recalled the dream she had last night, which was now proven to be a premonition.
She scurried toward him to stop him from leaving. Staring at him with a mirthless smile, she gibed, “You two are just the same person. Wow, I actually couldn’t tell straight away that you were pretending to be him. If it weren’t because of your att.i.tude that give it all away, I would’ve been duped by you. I suggest you explain everything about this girl to me. Otherwise, I can’t guarantee what I won’t do to you.”
“I’m not going to explain it to you. What can you do about that?”
“In that case, I’m sorry, but that girl is not going to get a job at the office. Who do you think Fan s.h.i.+xin would obey? Me or you?”
“You really haven’t changed a single bit.”
An Xiaoning humphed, “I’m better than you… you’re clearly the second personality and yet you still pretend to be someone else.”
“Didn’t you say that we’re the same person? How is that pretending, then? How things are going to be handled all depends on me.”
“I did say that. Although you’re just another part of him… you don’t have to deliberately do this. How did you know about the secret pa.s.sageway in the cellar?” An Xiaoning answered.
“Why must I answer you? There’s no need for you to find out,” he said while walking past her.
A frown creased An Xiaoning’s forehead, and she grabbed him by his arm before dragging him upstairs. Despite being pet.i.te, she could manage to move Henry, who was more than 1.8 meters tall.
“An Xiaoning, what are you doing!?!”
“What am I doing? I should be asking you, what are you doing? I haven’t seen you in a long time. Did your temper come back again?”
She pushed him onto the bed and kicked her shoes off. She then straddled him and raised his wrists above his head while holding his gaze.
“If you don’t answer my questions, I’ll do whatever I want to you.”
She knew that he hated it whenever she took liberties with him.
“Get off me!” he barked while trying to struggle, to no avail. He felt as if there was a ball of energy within him that was waiting to explode.
An Xiaoning did not discover anything different about him and refused to let go, for she wanted to threaten him into explaining to her about the girl.
“Wouldn’t everything be fine once you tell me? There’s a need for me to know.”
“I told you to get off me!” All of a sudden, he felt as if he was empowered and had gained tremendous strength, which allowed him to push her away effortlessly. An Xiaoning was slammed against the wall before falling onto the ground. She twitched in pain, and fresh blood began flowing out of her head. She opened her eyes slightly and muttered in a faint voice, “Qingyan…”
Her voice was so soft that no one else could hear her.
She actually wanted to say, “Qingyan wouldn’t do this to me.”
However, she suddenly recalled the nightmare that she had last night.
It turned out she wasn’t addressing him by his name, unlike what Jin Qingyan had conjectured.
She blacked out and collapsed.
Henry lay down on the bed and stared at the ceiling above. He panted a few times and sat up straight again when he did not hear any sounds from An Xiaoning.
He was greeted with the sight of An Xiaoning lying motionless on the ground.
“Stop pretending, hurry and get up.”
Noticing that she still wasn’t moving, Henry stood up and walked toward her in a bid to pull her up. The moment he saw the pool of blood on the ground, he stood rooted to the ground in utter shock.
More than ten seconds later, he hurriedly picked her up and zoomed downstairs.
Before Fan s.h.i.+xin even arrived at the office, he received a call from Xiao Bai, who informed him that An Xiaoning had been admitted to the hospital. He immediately ordered for the news to be kept under wraps and headed to the hospital together with the girl.
Once they arrived in the hospital, Fan s.h.i.+xin sprinted toward the operating theater and caught sight of Henry, who was remaining silent. He could immediately tell that it was Henry.
“What did you do to Young Madam?”
Henry looked up and answered, “I just gave her a push and she was flung against the wall… I didn’t do it on purpose.”
Just as Fan s.h.i.+xin was about to speak, the girl caught up with him. He immediately instructed Xiao Bai, “Bring her to the human resource manager in the office. I’ll call the manager.”
“Yes, Chief.”
The girl had to return to the office again.