The car door opened, and the first thing that erged was a large bouquet of fresh flowers.
Then a man dressed in a white suit stepped out, waving the flowers in his hand at An Yaoluo. "Hi!" he said.
An Yaoluo’s lips curled slightly as she nodded.
If it weren’t for her recent interactions with Ling Xiao, she would have wanted to turn him away imdiately based on his flamboyant entrance alone.
"Has my boss returned?"
"Yes, co in."
As soon as Ling Xiao entered, his gaze locked onto An Yan, sizing her up from head to toe. "Why do you look so pale?" he asked. "You haven’t been injured, have you?"
An Yan took the flowers from him and passed them to Wen Ya behind her. "I’m okay now, nothing serious," she said.
Ling Xiao then looked at Elder Luo. "Elder, you’ve been injured, too?" he asked. "Aren’t you the master predictor? How did you not foresee this danger?"
Elder Luo nodded, a flush of embarrassnt crossing his face. "It’s easy to predict for others but not oneself! What do you know, you impudent boy! Besides, I didn’t expect the other party to be so despicable as to actually implant a bomb in my heart."
Luo Zi’ang then recounted how he had been captured by the villains, and how An Yan and Li Tianyao had co to his rescue.
After listening, Ling Xiao poked An Yan. "Li Tianyao did well! This performance really earns him points! If it were soone else, I’m afraid they would’ve said, ’That’s your grandfather, not mine. Why should I exchange myself for him?’"
An Zhongbo glared at Ling Xiao at the sa ti.
Ling Xiao was puzzled. Did he say sothing wrong?
Then, the next second, he saw An Yan lower her eyelids, the tip of her nose turning red as if she were about to cry.
"What’s wrong? What happened to Li Tianyao?"
The others glared at him even more intensely.
Ling Xiao was left speechless.
Especially An Duxuan, who looked as if he wanted to eat him alive.
At that mont, An Yaoluo awkwardly changed the subject. "Yanyan, knowing you were coming back, Dad got up early and has been busy preparing all sorts of delicious dishes. He’s made so much; I’m not sure we can finish it all!"
An Zhongbo quickly chid in, "Yes, yes, yes. But Yanyan, since you and Elder Luo are injured, can you eat seafood?"
An Yan nodded. "Right, seafood is inflammatory; I can’t eat it."
An Duxuan quickly took over the conversation. "Besides seafood, what else did you prepare, Dad?"
"Matsutake chicken soup, braised beef, lion’s head atballs, charcoal-grilled lamb chops, milk-stuffed dumplings..." An Zhongbo started listing the dishes. He spouted over a dozen different types without considering region or taste preferences, rattling off whatever ca to mind.
In the midst of his litany of dishes, An Yaoluo led Ling Xiao away for a private talk.
"...Braised beef brisket with chestnuts, boiled pork slices in chili oil, mapo tofu..."
"That much?" An Yan was astounded. "Can we finish it all?"
"We can finish it, we can finish it!" An Zhongbo bead. "Knowing you were coming back, I already inford your friends."
Initially, he had only thought that since his daughter was coming ho, Li Tianyao would likely be with her. To prevent his daughter from being whisked away by Li Tianyao as soon as she arrived, he had invited people over. Now, he was imnsely glad he had. With them around, his daughter could distract herself from the disappointnt of Li Tianyao not being able to accompany her.
While they were talking, a car arrived at the door. Mu Enyu, Liang Chen, Su Siming, and Ya Zhuo, among others, had arrived.
Upon hearing the commotion, An Duxuan leapt up and strode out to greet them. He decided he had to go to the entrance first to explain things to them, asking them not to ntion Li Tianyao in front of Yanyan, to avoid a repeat of Ling Xiao’s blunder.
Since the chef from next door was also here, Luolie, Lin Ling, and the others settled in over there for a bit before joining the group.
Two large tables had been set up in the hall. An Zhongbo, Luo Zi’ang, Yan An, and the three An siblings, along with Ling Xiao, Ya Zhuo, Liang Chen, Mu Enyu, and Su Siming, took seats at one table. The other bodyguards sat at another table.
One exquisite dish after another was served.
An Zhongbo and Elder Luo Zi’ang drank cup after cup of tea. Mainly because the Elder’s health hadn’t fully recovered, he couldn’t drink alcohol.
An Yaoluo was chatting animatedly with Ling Xiao. Since Xinyan Group and the An family had many business collaborations, the two were quite familiar with each other.
An Duxuan, however, focused his attention on his cousin, Yan An. "What a coincidence," he said. "Your na is Yan An, and my sister’s na is An Yan!"
Yan An wrote on her phone, "My na cos from my youngest paternal aunt’s na, with the middle character ’Yu’ removed. An Yan’s na seems to be a combination of her parents’ surnas."
"Cousin, you’re really clever!" An Duxuan complinted her and smoothly served Yan An a piece of lamb chop. "Try this!"
Luolie, standing behind them, suddenly offered a pair of communal chopsticks. "Second Young Master An, for you!"
An Duxuan looked at Luolie with surprise, took the chopsticks, and picked up a new piece of lamb chop for Yan An before asking her, "Do you have a boyfriend, cousin?"
Yan An automatically wrote, "Yes."
Ever since high school, there had been no shortage of suitors around her, and her universal response to them was, "I have a boyfriend!" As for love, she never took it to heart. She didn’t have the ti!
But what she didn’t know was that besides An Duxuan, Luolie had also seen those two characters on her phone.
The man, who was over 180 centiters tall, suddenly seed to deflate.
An Duxuan eagerly probed, "What does your boyfriend do? How old is he? When can you bring him ho to et the family?"
Yan An wrote, "Aren’t there enough scandals in your entertainnt circle?"
An Duxuan said, "Gossip within the circle can’t compare to the juicy gossip within one’s own family!"
Yan An wrote, "Then why aren’t you dishing on An Yan’s drama? Her husband has run off."
An Duxuan stamred, "...One shouldn’t expose people’s shortcomings!"
Yan An wrote back, "So, your own sister’s situation is a ’shortcoming,’ but your cousin isn’t human, so you can make jokes as you please?"
"It’s not a casual joke. I was just... um, do you see that guy?" An Duxuan said, glancing at Luolie.
Yan An turned her head to look, then wrote, "What about him?"
"He has a secret crush on you!" An Duxuan blurted out.
Yan An stared, utterly shocked. Luolie had a secret crush on her? Was this so kind of joke?
"What I an is," An Duxuan continued, "if you don’t like him, you should tell him clearly and upfront. You know he’s Li Tianyao’s man, and Li Tianyao is Yanyan’s husband. We’ll be relatives in the future. If you two have issues, it’ll worry the whole family."
Yan An was silent for a mont. She hadn’t expected this second cousin to be so perceptive.
"If you can’t bring yourself to say it, I’ll talk to him!" An Duxuan offered.
Yan An wrote, "No need!"
What a trivial matter! She had plenty of experience dealing with situations like this: just be cold! If she remained cold, they’d eventually give up.
Her phone vibrated; a new ssage popped up on Yan An’s screen.
[Your parents haven’t heard from you in a long ti; give them a call when you have the chance.]
Yan An replied via text, "[I’ve been sending texts to Dad and Mom all this ti.]"
Yan Sīguī sent back, "[They said they want to hear your voice! Video call, voice call, anything works!]"
Yan An was at a loss for words.
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