"Hello, Uncle Wei." Jing Lihua politely smiled at him.
"Where have you been all that time. Have you any idea? You had driven Madam Bao insane. At that time she had done everything she could to find you. I asked countless times but Li Zhiqiang wouldn't tell me! How could you leave us all like that!" Uncle Wei looked like he had been wronged.
Jing Lihua was at a loss of what to say. She glanced at Li Zhiqiang as if asking for a direction.
"Madam must be so happy now that you are back. I can't begin to imagine her happiness. Let me give her a call to congratulate her personally that her daughter-i..." Uncle Wei ready to sprint away.
"Uncle Wei" Li Zhiqiang interjected. "Mother doesn't know yet."
"What do you mean she doesn't know?" Uncle Wei couldn't believe it.
Li Zhiqiang glanced at Jing Lihua. "Jing Lihua is not yet ready to meet her."
"Am I not?" Jing Lihua didn't say that she was not ready. In fact, she was looking forward to greeting his mother.
Li Zhiqiang narrowed his eyes at her. "Do you know what will happen if my mother knows that you are here."
"...No?" Li Zhiqiang sounded like he was not talking about his mother but some dangerous creature. "What could possibly be wrong about Madam Bao. From what I gathered, she doesn't dislike me." Though she didn't specifically recall her personality, the image in Jing Lihua's mind was the one of a sweet, warm motherly figure.
"You are not ready yet." Li Zhiqiang declared. He looked at Uncle Wei. "Uncle Wei, wait for some time. We will tell our mother ourselves. We are just not ready yet."
"Don't worry Da Li, I understand. Now let me know what do you wish to eat tonight. Do you want the same as before?" He smiled warmly and ran away towards his kitchen.
The first thing he did was to give a call to Madame Bao. She would be so happy to get the news! It was an emergency! He had to tell her before her daughter-in-law ran away again!
...
"I don't think he is not going to tell your mother." Jing Lihua noticed that how excitedly Uncle Wei had dashed out of there. "In fact, I think he is just making a call right now as we talk."
"He won't be successful." Li Zhiqiang's lips curled up.
Jing Liha glanced at him. This President Li was so cunning. He always had everything planned up. He must has already done something to stop the connection between him and his mother.
Li Zhiqiang guided Jing Lihua to a table. "Why is your brother not here yet?"
"I'm training him how to hold the office so he is having a lot of responsibilities to attend to. That must have halted his progress."
Jing Lihua looked suspicious. According to her memory, Li Xun admired and worshipped his brother. He would do anything his brother asked him with the best of his abilities just to appease him. If Li Zhiqiang had told him to appear here at a specific time, he wouldn't have dared to delay.
"Maybe he changed."
"He has changed a lot. Always thinking of ways to avoid work. He needs some strick administration. I think I've been too easy on him." Li Zhiqiang voiced out his dissatisfaction
"Don't be too hard on him. Besides, why do you need to train him in the first place?"
"In the future, I'll have to accompany you. So I will need him to look over the office."
Jing Lihua laughed. "You are so certain that I'll let you accompany me." Jing Lihua glanced out and a flash of another memory came to her mind. She frowned and focused on that memory. "I remember something... There had been four of us who came here before. Hasn't it?" Jing Lihua looked at Li Zhiqiang only to find complicated expressions on his face.
"Who was the fourth person?" She couldn't recall his face. She couldn't even remember whether it was a female or a male. The fourth person's face was blurry. But Jing Lihua recalled that the person was as close to them as they were to each other.
When Li Zhiqiang didn't reply, Jing Lihua opened her mouth to say something but just then, Uncle Wei came back with slightly dissatisfied expressions. Two waiters were following him holding different dishes.
"Uncle Wei why you look so sad?" Jing Lihua politely asked. She still remembered that this middle-aged man had been very nice to her. So returning his kindness was what she must do.
"There is nothing Xiao Jing. Nothing you have done." Uncle Wei smiled at her and threw a glare at Li Zhiqiang.
"Is there anything wrong Uncle Wei?" Li Zhiqiang asked with innocent expressions. "If not, please have us served the dinner. We are starving."
"Who said I'm here to serve you? I'm here to serve Xiao Jing." Uncle Wei grumbled and when he looked at Jing Lihua, once again his face immediately blossomed with smiles. "Xiao Jing, make sure to visit me later. I want to have chat with you a lot! Chat with you without the interruption of some people." It was clear Uncle Wei meant 'Li Zhiqiang' by some 'people'.
Uncle Wei was opening ways to have Jing Lihua here in the future without Li Zhiqiang so he could kidnap her and hand her over to Madam Bao.
This, of course, Jing Lihua was aware of. "Don't worry Uncle Wei. Whenever I visit Hong Kong in the future, I'll make sure to give a visit to your place."
"You don't live in Hong Kong?" Uncle Wei was all ears. Until now they all had thought that she was also from Hong Kong. He wanted to get as much information as possible. In case he might need to provide that to Madame Bao to search for Jing Lihua.
"I..."
"Uncle Wei, Jing Lihua is very hungry. Please have the waiters serve the dinner." Li Zhiqiang didn't let Jing Lihua reveal any further information and glared at her, hinting her to shut up.
The current number of people he had to deal with to stay with his Jing Lihua was already enough. He didn't want to deal with his mother too.