A Miao's first reaction was to jump up. As a result, a pair of hands appeared on her waist the next second, imprisoning her in Shen Xinglan's arms.
"Yes... I'm sorry... I'll get up right away." A Miao put her hands on his chest and tried to remind him to let go.
Shen Xinglan had a momentary impulse to press her down on the table. But he soon sobered up and slowly let go of her hand. Unfortunately, the throbbing in his eyes was still there, making A Miao's heart tighten.
"Thank you." Shen Xinglan blew out the candle. "Let's eat."
A Miao also fell silent, nodded, and sat down opposite him.
Neither of them enjoyed the meal. A Miao tried her best to not think too much, while Shen Xinglan struggled until he finally left first.
"Hello, Shen!" Le Yi was not surprised when he received the phone call from Shen Xinglan. "By the way, today is your birthday. Have you forgotten again?"
Shen Xinglan rubbed the space between his eyebrows. "I just ate longevity noodles and blew out some candles."
"Oh?" Le Yi thought he had misheard, so he paused and guessed. "Is it A Miao?"
"I like her," Shen Xinglan said directly. "The situation is a little out of control."
Le Yi was particularly calm and said, "Wasn't that already confirmed? If you like her, go for it."
"What about Shanshan?" Shen Xinglan threw out the sentence.
"Have you ever thought what if Shanshan is dead? What if she is alive and married?" Le Yi sighed. "More importantly, are you sure that your feelings for Shanshan are really love?"
Shen Xinglan's eyes darkened. "I hate the feeling now."
"Because it is not under your control." Le Yi smiled. "As a doctor, for the sake of your health, I suggest letting nature take its course and not resisting."
"I am not your patient," Shen Xinglan said and then hung up the phone.
Le Yi shrugged his shoulders over the phone. Strong-willed people are often not easily moved, but once they do move, they cannot easily go back...
When returning to school on Monday, A Miao received a phone call from Zhou Xiao saying that Song Baohua had not seen her for a long time and asked her to go to dinner. So, on Friday, she asked Shen II to take her to Song Baohua's place.
"A Miao, have you been all right recently?" Song Baohua pulled her to look left and right. "Those... ladies haven't made any more trouble for you!"
A Miao turned around and said, "Auntie Song, haven't you noticed that I've gained weight?"
"Not fat, you're still so thin." Song Baohua pinched her face and Zhou Xiao curled her lips beside her. "She just doesn't become fat considering how much she eats."
While Song Baohua was cooking, Zhou Xiao took A Miao to the second floor.
"What happened last time? How did I get home?"
Zhou Xiao looked at her suspiciously. A Miao said that she fainted at the banquet hall after drinking too much. She had sent herself back. However, no matter how she asked herself, she did not mention the man who talked to her at the party.
"I told you on the phone last time!" A Miao said casually, "The man disappeared when you were drunk."
"Really? He didn't try to find me later?" Zhou Xiao did not believe it.
A Miao really wanted to slap her and wake her up. She was scared for a long time about the last incident, for fear that some rich playboy would find her to compensate for the car. Later on, although nothing happened, she estimated that the man certainly did not want to offend Shen Xinglan.
Now Zhou Xiao was still thinking about that jerk. It's simply...
"Xiaoxiao, have you lost your mind?" said A Miao in a somewhat harsh tone. "I don't know that guy. How do I know if he tried to find you?"
Zhou Xiao's attitude was even worse. She growled at her harshly, "Then why won't you make Shen Xinglan go and ask? They should know each other."
"Ask him what?" A Miao smiled angrily. "He doesn't know you."
"Nonsense! That day he praised me for my beauty and said he would invite me to dinner," Zhou Xiao said, pleased with herself.
A Miao reluctantly shook her head and was about to persuade her when she saw Song Baohua push the door open with a cold face.
"A Miao, don't pay any attention to her. All day long, she just doesn't study hard and let her imagination run wild."
When Zhou Xiao saw her mother coming, she snorted unconvinced and went downstairs. "Anyway, you can't bear it that I know rich people."
"Auntie Song, don't be angry. Zhou Xiao is still young. When she is older, she will understand your painstaking efforts."
Song Baohua sighed. "She is one year older than you! I wish she could be half as sensible as you."
A Miao had a meal at Zhou Xiao's house. Because it was still too early for Shen II to come and get her, she went to the nearby shopping street and turned around. When she passed by the gate of a hotel, she bumped into someone.
"Ah! Sorry! Are you all right?" A Miao hurriedly apologized.
The other party was a man, who was in a hurry. He did not even care about A Miao and left in a hurry.
"What a strange person..." A Miao murmured.
She did not know that there were two people standing behind her looking at her, and she knew one of them.
"That woman is Shen Xinglan's fiancee." A middle-aged man with glasses spoke carefully to another man.
The man's eyes were cold. "Do you think she saw us?"
"I don't know..." The man with the glasses hesitated. "Should we?"
"Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it." The man narrowed his eyes in the direction where A Miao left.
A Miao was still unaware that the greatest danger had arrived at last. When watching the news at night, she suddenly heard Ji Xue's name.
"Is it true?" She hurried downstairs. Shen Xinglan was also watching the news. Seeing her eyes without makeup, he immediately shifted his attention.
The TV was broadcasting the police's on-site inspection of a nightclub, where there was actually a nude party. The screen was full of mosaics, and glistening men and women were huddled together.
Ji Xue's face was panicked for a few seconds, but A Miao could see it clearly.
"Didn't you see it?" Shen Xinglan shut the TV off.
A Miao had not recovered from the shock. "But... but how could she go to a party like that..."
"Nothing is impossible in that circle." Shen Xinglan lifted the corners of his mouth. "It's just that she was unlucky and was caught on her first visit."
A Miao looked at him suspiciously and felt that Shen Xinglan had something to do with this.
But before she could ask him, the phone rang.
"Hello!"
"Oh? I don't know. When did it happen?"
"Dad, this kind of thing happens to everyone. You don't have to be so nervous."
Ji Zeming, who was on the other end of the phone, was almost furious. When the police informed him, he thought they were mistaken.
"But they didn't make the news!" He looked at Bai Yongwei, who was crying beside him and said grumpily, "Anyway, it's our family that is shameful. Go to the police station and bring her back."
"Do you hear me?" Ji Zeming asked in a heavy voice. "Check it out and see if they came at the Ji family."
Shen Xinglan smiled sarcastically, but Ji Zeming could not see it from over the phone. "Dad, I think Ji Yan should go at this time. After all, they are siblings."
"Do you think I didn't look for him?" Ji Zeming said angrily, "He did not answer his phone. You should first go quickly and get her back."
Hanging up the phone, he saw A Miao's face looking at him strangely.
"Did you hear?"
"...I heard it."
Shen Xinglan stood up. "Go rest, I'll go to the police station."
At the police station, Ji Xue was shivering in the corner.
"Miss Ji, you can come out." A policeman opened the door.
Shen Xinglan was listening to the policemen talk about the night's events.
"We received a tip that someone was selling ice * poison in that venue. We didn't expect it was such a party." The police were also quite embarrassed. The upper-class society was having fun openly. The police knew it and did not care about these kinds of parties.
"But Miss Ji has nothing to do with drugs. Sign and you can go."
Ji Xue came out when Shen Xinglan had signed it.
"Let's go." He stood up.
Ji Xue asked him with an ugly expression, "Are you the only one here to pick me up?"
After leaving the police station, Shen Xinglan turned around and said, "You can call your brother or your mother and wait here until they come to pick you up."
"I didn't mean that." Ji Xue did not want to stay there for one minute. She pulled open the car door and sat down.
Shen III started the car and Shen Xinglan did not look at her the entire way. Ji Xue could not help crying.
"I didn't know it would be like this. My friend took me there. I didn't know what kind of party it was." She shrank back into her seat in shock and fear. "Does everyone know? What shall I do in the future?"
"You should go back and discuss this problem with the Ji family," Shen Xinglan said indifferently. "I've just come to pick you up."
Ji Xue looked at him with a face of resentment. "Are you still doing this to me at this time?"
"Didn't you think I would do this to you when you locked A Miao up?" Shen Xinglan glanced at her. "I said that the next bullet would hit your head, I hope you remember it."
"You..."
"If you talk again, you can walk back by yourself." His cold voice warned her.
Ji Xue knew that he was not threatening her, so she had to endure it by crying while cursing in her heart, and at the same time she was afraid of everything she was going to face. All this had nothing to do with Shen Xinglan. He did not even enter the Ji family home and just left after she got off the car.
The night was already very deep. Ji Xue was not only scolded by Ji Zeming, but also got a slap in the face.
"Mom! I don't want to go to school, everyone must have watched the news. I... I can't go and lose face."
Bai Yongwei applied an ice towel to her face. "Are you scared now? Why did you go there in the first place?"
"I said that I was cheated. Why do you still say that to me?" Ji Xue cried and lost her temper.
"Somebody tied you up with a rope? Or were you forced to go by a gun?" Bai Yongwei said sternly. She knew about her own daughter. Although some people had urged her to go, she was definitely curious about it.
Ji Xue pushed her aside. "Mom, does it help by saying these things? Hurry up and think of something I should do!"
"Now I ask you, answer me honestly and don't conceal it." Bai Yongwei stared at her. "Who is the person who took you? Where did you meet him? How did you meet him?"
"Mom, what do you mean?" Ji Xue's eyes widened. "You... you don't doubt that someone did it on purpose this time, do you?"
Bai Yongwei smiled coldly. "If not... how could it be such a coincidence?"