Chapter 464: She Has Never Done Something Like That Before
Liu Lexian was a little scared by Liu Tongjia’s att.i.tude.
“No. My cousin said that she’s my cousin-in-law. He said her name is Su… Uh… Su…”
Liu Lexian didn’t remember the girl’s name. Liu Tongjia snorted and said, “Su Qingsang.”
“Yes. That’s her name.”
Liu Lexian thought Liu Tongjia seemed very angry, but he wasn’t sure why.
Was she angry because Huo Jinyao had gone to hang out with Su Qingsang, or because of Su Qingsang? Her tone sounded a little strange.
Old Master Huo, who was sitting on the other side, didn’t look happy either. As for Huo Mingguang, he looked sour-faced too.
Liu Tongjia was the most displeased of them all. She abruptly stood up and looked at Old Master Huo.
“Father, see, what did I say? I said a girl from a humble family like that wouldn’t know the right thing to do. What did you say to me back then? You said Jinyao chose her and nothing else matters as long as he likes her. What happens now? She’s come back to Rong City, but not home. Instead, they’re hanging out somewhere together. Does this family mean anything to Huo Jinyao? Does he have any respect for us, his elders?”
Old Master Huo was indeed a little unhappy, but he stayed calm. “We haven’t talked to him about it yet. Maybe there are other reasons.”
The more Liu Tongjia thought about it, the angrier she got. “I’ve wanted him to break up with that woman for such a long time, but he never listened. Now he’s obsessed with her.”
“All right, that’s enough.”
Old Master Huo held no grudges against Liu Tongjia, his daughter-in-law, but sometimes, he found her a little too fierce.
He was indeed unhappy about the fact that Su Qingsang hadn’t come home right after she had arrived in Rong City, but he wouldn’t make a scene because of that.
“Call Jinyao and ask him what’s going on.”
Liu Tongjia was angry. “No,” she said. “I just want to see when he plans to bring that girl home. I also want to know how proud this Su Qingsang is, exactly. She had better not ever come into our family house.”
Old Master Huo furrowed his brows. He didn’t agree with Liu Tongjia, but he didn’t say anything.
Liu Lexian sat on the other side, wearing a gloating smile.
…
Huo Jinyao held Su Qingsang’s hand as they headed toward the cafe where Li Qianxue and Old Master Li were waiting.
“How have you been these days?”
Huo Jinyao had back to Rong City ahead of schedule so that Su Qingsang would have more time to spend with Li Qianxue.
Judging by their conversations on the phone, things were going well.
“Not bad.” Su Qingsang smiled at him and talked to him about Li Qianxue coming to Rong City with her.
“I think she’s nice. Actually, she wanted me to spend a few more days with her, but in the end, she traveled so far with me. It’s cold here. I can tell that she doesn’t like the weather here.”
“Hmm.”
“She also wants to buy me a house.” Su Qingsang told Huo Jinyao about what Li Qianxue had said to her. “How could things ever be like that? If you did something to hurt me, I’d simply move into a hotel.”
Huo Jinyao abruptly stopped walking, stepped before Su Qingsang, and looked down at her.
“Don’t you trust me?”
“It’s not like that. That’s not what I said.” Su Qingsang wore an innocent look.
Huo Jinyao narrowed his eyes and lowered his head toward Su Qingsang, saying, “You better not think that way.”
“What if I do think that way?” Su Qingsang raised her head provocatively.
Huo Jinyao suddenly bit her on the lip. Su Qingsang took a step backward when she felt the pain.
Huo Jinyao quickly put an arm around her waist, squinted at her, and said, “If you have those kinds of thoughts, I don’t mind proving my loyalty to you with my actions.”
Su Qingsang was deeply aware of what he meant by “actions.” She blushed immediately.
“Stop it. My mom is waiting for us.”
Huo Jinyao turned, holding her hand as they headed toward the cafe.
The buildings nearby had been constructed in exotic styles, but the ones two blocks away had been designed in the typical local style.
After taking a rest in the cafe, Huo Jinyao brought Old Master Li and Li Qianxue to that area.
Many small, unique things were sold in the stalls that lined the streets. Old Master Li had no interest in those.
Unlike them, Su Qingsang looked at those small things excitedly, turning from stall to stall.
Every time her eyes lingered on something for a few extra seconds, Huo Jinyao offered to purchase it.
Su Qingsang couldn’t bear that, so at last, she stopped looking at them.
“These things look interesting, but we don’t have enough room in our home for them.
“Let’s go. I heard there’s a snack street over there.”
Huo Jinyao raised his eyebrows and glanced at Li Qianxue and Old Master Li, who were behind him. They would never eat anything from a snack street.
Su Qingsang stuck out her tongue. She wanted to visit the snack street.
“If Qignsang wants to go, let’s go.” Li Qianxue never ate street food, but she was happy to do anything that her daughter liked.
“Let’s go and take a look, then, shall we?”
Su Qingsang’s extra-careful att.i.tude made Li Qianxue’s chest hurt. She stepped forward, took Su Qingsang’s hand, and turned to look at Old Master Li.
“Dad, I’ve never visited a place like this. Let’s just go and take a look.”
Old Master Li surely wouldn’t disagree. Soon, the four of them turned around and headed toward the snack street, which was not far away.
Su Qingsang didn’t want to eat in front of so many people. However, she failed to resist the temptation of roast sweet potatoes.
“I want one.”
The fresh snowfall had made the temperature drop. Having a hot roast sweet potato in such weather sounded like a comfortable thing to do.
“No.” Huo Jinyao responded without thinking. “You won’t eat anything for dinner if you eat such a large sweet potato.”
“We can share it.”
Huo Jinyao looked skeptical.
“Do you want it or not?” Su Qingsang began to lose her patience.
“No.”
Huo Jinyao was rather determined. “Haven’t you watched the news? This…”
He stopped talking when the old man selling the roast sweet potatoes looked at him. Su Qingsang gave him a cheery glance and bought two roast sweet potatoes.
The old man put the sweet potatoes in a plastic bag for her. Hearing her say that she didn’t have any change, he took out his phone to let her scan the QR code and pay via phone.
“Mister, you are so fas.h.i.+onable. I’m surprised that you know about this online payment app.”
“Yeah, everyone should get with the times. I spent a long time learning how to use it from my son.” The old man laughed, then looked at Su Qingsang. “Girl, are these two sweet potatoes enough for all of you? How about I give you another one for free?”
“Oh, thank you, but you don’t have to do that. These are enough.”
Su Qingsang was a little shocked by how friendly the old man was. Hurriedly, she brought the roast sweet potatoes back to her family.
She glanced at Li Qianxue and said, “Mom, would you like to try some?”
Li Qianxue had a very complicated look on her face. She had never in her life eaten something like that.
She looked at that steaming roast sweet potato, not knowing how to react.
“Mom, aren’t you gonna try some? This is really good.”
Seeing the look on Li Qianxue’s face, Su Qingsang figured that she had never tried food like that.
“It’s really good. s.h.i.+ Mengwan and I often went out after night cla.s.s to buy these when we were in college.”
“Let’s give it a try, then.” Old Master Li responded to Su Qingsang first.
He took the sweet potato, broke it in half, and handed half to Li Qianxue. “I ate a lot of these when I was a boy. I’m old now, but I think I can still eat it.”
“Dad.” Li Qianxue had no other choice but to take it. “You’re not gonna let me eat this here on the street, are you?” she said with embarra.s.sment.
“What’s the big deal? These people don’t know us.”
Su Qingsang smiled. She turned around, split the sweet potato in two, and handed half to Huo Jinyao. The look she directed at Huo Jinyao contained an obvious meaning.
Even her grandpa and her mom had agreed to try it. Was he even pickier than them?
Huo Jinyao mussed Su Qingsang’s hair, helplessly taking the half sweet potato.
He took a bite and found it rather sweet.
“It’s not bad.”
“It’s good!” Su Qingsang was happy. “Let’s go.”
Huo Jinyao felt a little embarra.s.sed. When had he, Young Master Huo, ever eaten on the street? He would only do it for Su Qingsang.
Su Qingsang liked watching Huo Jinyao eat a roast sweet potato on the street.
Feeling people looking at him, Huo Jinyao wanted very much to throw the sweet potato away.
Li Qianxue felt very awkward too. After all, she had been raised as a fair lady by Old Master Li.
When had she ever done something like this?
However, seeing Su Qingsang eat happily, she convinced herself to take a bite.
It wasn’t as good as Su Qingsang described, but it was something new for her. Also, eating the food that her daughter liked made her feel that she and Su Qingsang had grown closer to each other.
The four of them spent the whole afternoon this way.
At dinnertime, Huo Jinyao brought the three to a restaurant to try the local food.
Following that afternoon, Li Qianxue and Old Master Li liked Huo Jinyao more than before.
It was not because of who he was. It was because what he was trying to do was not easy for a man like him.
After dinner, Huo Jinyao drove Old Master Li and Li Qianxue back to the hotel.
“Grandpa, Mom, what time do you plan on getting up tomorrow morning? I’ll send someone here to pick you up.”
“We’re going to visit your family tomorrow morning. We don’t want to go too early or too late because that’d be inappropriate. I think nine o’clock will be good.”
“All right, I’ll tell Wenchang to come here at eight-fifty.” Huo Jinyao looked at Li Qianxue. “Wenchang is my a.s.sistant. I think you’ve met him.”
“It’s okay. It’s up to you.”
Li Qianxue had started to like Huo Jinyao more and more.
“Qingsang and I are heading home, then.”
“Okay.”
Su Qingsang picked up her luggage and followed Huo Jinyao home.
She didn’t know that people were gathering in the Huo family at that time.