Chapter 72
Yunshan Mansion
“Meeting today?”
As Qin Qing walked out of her bedroom, she turned to look at Grandma Qin in surprise.
“Yes,” Grandma Qin said, placing the tray on the dining table and looking up with a smile. “Yesterday, you said you didn’t have any plans for today.”
Qin Qing was momentarily at a loss for words before she let out a resigned smile and sat down at the table. “I didn’t realize you were talking about this.”
Grandma Qin beamed. “How do you like it? Surprised?”
Qin Qing: “……”
More like shocked.
“Grandma, I don’t really want to go today. Can we reschedule—”
Upon hearing this, Grandma Qin’s expression immediately darkened.
“Have you forgotten the promise you made to me? Or do you just want to brush me off?”
“It’s not that. I’m just not in the mood recently…”
“The worse your mood, the more you should go out and meet new people. I don’t necessarily need you to talk about relationships with them. Even if you just go out and meet someone, be a bit more outgoing, I’d be happy!”
“…” Qin Qing sighed. Under Grandma Qin’s watchful gaze, she couldn’t refuse with conviction.
After a moment, she slowly nodded. “I’ll go. Grandma, you sit down and eat.”
Grandma Qin’s smile returned. “Good. So it’s settled. This afternoon at two o’clock, at the ‘Encounter’ café. — It’s a place I personally selected. I read online that young people nowadays like to meet in cafés, so I chose the highest-rated one in Qincheng. Are you satisfied?”
“Satisfied—satisfied enough,” Qin Qing replied with a resigned smile.
…………
A few hours later, at the Fulin Garden.
Wen Yufeng, fastening his bathrobe and wiping his wet black hair, walked out of the bathroom and into the living room.
“What are you doing here?”
He didn’t look at the person sitting on the sofa, instead heading straight for the refrigerator to grab a bottle of mineral water.
On the sofa, Qiao An gave a wry smile. “Yufeng, I came to admit my mistake voluntarily.”
“……” Wen Yufeng paused in unscrewing the bottle cap, then looked at Qiao An with dark, piercing eyes.
Feeling the intensity of that gaze, Qiao An instinctively stiffened his back.
Realizing how the edge of Wen Yufeng had been sharpened since his return from the army, Qiao An couldn’t help but feel that despite being older, he now seemed the younger one.
He sighed inwardly and said, “A few days ago, I met with Miss Qin.”
“……”
Wen Yufeng had a premonition before Qiao An spoke, but once confirmed, his emotions churned violently.
His voice deepened. “What did you tell her?”
“I just told her the facts that I think she should know.” Qiao An replied.
Wen Yufeng’s eyes grew colder. “Who gave you the right to speak out of turn?”
“President Wen instructed me to,” Qiao An said without hesitation, adopting an innocent expression. “He said he didn’t want to see you looking so desolate anymore. Since your vision has recovered, he asked me to make sure Miss Qin quickly takes you out of his sight.”
“……” Wen Yufeng’s brow twitched. “Is that how you told her?”
Qiao An straightened up. “Of course not. I only explained the reasons behind your inability to communicate and the details of your rule-breaking.”
Seeing Wen Yufeng’s face darkening, Qiao An instinctively fell silent.
The living room remained quiet for a while.
Just before Wen Yufeng was about to move, Qiao An quickly added,
“Oh, and I also explained that your retirement two years ago was due to blindness and that you only recovered two months ago. — I believe Miss Qin will understand all of this.”
“……”
Before Wen Yufeng could respond, Qiao An’s phone rang.
“Sorry, Yufeng, I need to take this call.”
Grateful for the call that rescued him from the predicament, Qiao An answered it, but his expression quickly turned flat.
“……”
“Yufeng,” after hanging up, Qiao An maintained a stern face, “Sorry, I think I made a mistake. It seems Miss Qin hasn’t fully understood everything.”
…………
After getting out of the taxi and realizing that the “Encounter” café, praised by Grandma Qin, was the same as the one on the first floor of the entertainment complex, Qin Qing’s mood was quite complex.
However, with the time and place already set, she had no choice but to enter the café.
After meeting the other person at the reserved table, Qin Qing greeted him and took a seat.
As she adjusted her sitting posture, the person across from her stared at her in surprise.
“Qin… Miss Qin?”
After a few seconds, the person finally snapped out of it, his face slightly reddening with surprise.
“Mr. Fang Zishu.”
Qin Qing gave a slight smile and nodded, her almond-shaped eyes devoid of emotion.
Fang Zishu, however, was too caught off guard to notice her lack of emotion. Having only heard about the date’s academic background and not taking it seriously, he was now struck by the reality.
Feeling like he’d been hit by a pie, Fang Zishu, who had previously been indifferent about the blind date, immediately started asking a flurry of questions.
Although Qin Qing wasn’t keen on this kind of meeting, she still answered politely and briefly.
Not long after, the side door of the café jingled, and a female waitress at the door bowed, “Welcome—”
Before she could finish the word “welcome,” she froze upon seeing one of the two people at the table: “Mr. Qiao?”
Qiao An waved his hand to signal the waitress to keep quiet.
His gaze quickly scanned the café and then focused on the direction where the man and woman were sitting opposite each other.
Qiao An tried to give a sign to the man standing next to him, but as he turned around, he saw that the man’s dark eyes were already fixed on the table where the couple sat.
At that moment, Qiao An realized that the earlier gaze he received was rather “gentle” compared to the current situation.
Instinctively, Fang Zishu, engaged in a lively conversation with Qin Qing, paused slightly and glanced toward the side door of the café.
He then froze.
At the end of his line of sight was a man around 1.85 meters tall.
He wore a dark blue, thin shirt on top, black pants on the bottom, highlighting his long, strong legs. The minimalistic outfit did not hide his well-defined muscles — evident from the expression on the waitress’s face standing by the door.
Adding to that were his chiseled, handsome features…
Fang Zishu cleared his throat awkwardly, avoiding eye contact, and took a sip of his coffee.
Then, for the first time, Qin Qing broke the silence by asking, “Mr. Fang, did you ever serve in the military?”
Fang Zishu’s attention returned, reminding him of his recent introduction regarding his military experience. He straightened up slightly.
“Yes, I have a few years of military experience.”
“Was it very tough in the military?”
The girl across from him asked, her fingers gripping the cup handle turning white from the force.
Fang Zishu thought for a moment before responding, “The military isn’t a place for relaxation. It’s indeed tough, but it’s very formative. That experience will be unforgettable and has the most profound impact on my life.”
“……”
This time, Qin Qing, rarely forgetting her politeness, let her gaze wander slightly, seemingly lost in thought.
When Fang Zishu spoke again without getting a response, he looked up in confusion.
“Miss Qin?…… Miss Qin?”
“—Ah, sorry.” Qin Qing snapped back to reality, apologizing. “What did you just say, Mr. Fang?”
Fang Zishu waved it off casually. “No problem. I just mentioned that we’ve been sitting here for half an hour. How about we go for a walk?”
Qin Qing hesitated, almost instinctively ready to refuse.
Before she could speak, she suddenly remembered Grandma Qin’s instructions:
————
“Don’t even think about leaving right after you arrive. At least stay for an hour and a half, understood?”
————
“……”
Qin Qing sighed inwardly and forced a smile. “All right. Where would you like to go, Mr. Fang?”
Fang Zishu scratched his head, somewhat embarrassed. “I’m not sure where girls like to go… Maybe a movie theater? An amusement park?”
As Qin Qing was about to suggest something, her gaze flickered slightly.
“Do you know if Mr. Fang has ever seen… mixed martial arts?”
……
“Yufeng, they’re leaving.”
Behind a large green potted plant, Qiao An looked at the man sitting across from him, who was as still as water, then glanced back at the direction of the table.
“It looks like they’re leaving together… Probably not heading back to their own places…”
The trailing tone was laden with meaning as Qiao An cautiously observed Wen Yufeng’s reaction.
Seeing that Wen Yufeng showed no signs of exploding, Qiao An continued, “Should we follow them?”
“……”
Wen Yufeng, having entered the café, instinctively took a strategic position. From his vantage point, he could see the couple’s departing figures reflected on the angled glass wall.
He lowered his gaze, his thick, long eyelashes casting a faint shadow on his face.
At the same time, he masked the swirling, dangerous emotions boiling within him.
“No.”
After a moment, Qiao An heard Wen Yufeng’s low, cold, and unmoving voice.
“……”
So determined?
Qiao An was surprised but remained silent.
Half an hour later.
Qiao An stood expressionlessly outside the mixed martial arts arena.