A servant stood by, so frightened by the scene that he dared not make a move.
The man opened the car door, sat in with a composed expression, and started the car to leave. It was as if the preceding scene had been nothing but an illusion.
After Lin Xinlan and Rong Mingyan met, Rong Mingyan arranged a room for her, and the three of them had dinner together before Qiao Yiyang left.
Before he left, he handed Lin Xinlan a cell phone, saying, "Stop using your old number. If you need anything, call me on this one."
"Thank you, Mr. Qiao."
Qiao Yiyang smiled slightly, "If you don’t mind, we can call each other by our first names. The constant Mr. and Miss makes it feel so formal and distant."
Lin Xinlan smiled and corrected herself, "Thank you, Yiyang."
Yiyang wanted to suggest that it would be even better to just use the last two characters of his name.
He held back what was in his heart and also called her by her name, but he called her Xinlan, not Lin Xinlan.
Lin Xinlan felt somewhat uneasy as he called her so affectionately, but she did not show it on her face...
Yiyang gave her several concerned reminders before he left.
Rong Mingyan spoke up behind her, "I’ve known Yiyan for many years, and this is the first time I’ve seen him taken with a woman."
Lin Xinlan turned around, her smile faint, "Mr. Rong, thank you for taking me in. I won’t stay too long; I’ll find a way to leave B City as soon as I can."
Rong Mingyan smiled faintly, his profound gaze unfathomable.
"No worries, you can stay as long as you like. I have plenty of vacant rooms here; even ten more people wouldn’t be a problem."
Despite what he said, she didn’t want to impose too much.
Perhaps Rong Mingyan really was at odds with Rong Shaoze; she didn’t want to get involved in the Rong family’s disputes.
In the morning after Lin Xinlan held her press conference, almost all TV stations rebroadcast the event that day.
Lady Du and Old Master Du in the hospital room watched the news, their faces looking fouler than spoiled eggs.
"How could this be?!" Lady Du said angrily, frowning.
"Didn’t they say that she lost Shaoze’s child because it was another man’s bastard? Why is it that she had an accidental fall? Where is Shaoze? Why doesn’t he come out and tell the truth? Is he just going to let that woman keep gloating?"
Old Master Du, who always knew more than his wife, pondered for a moment before speaking, "It must be the Rong family trying to protect their reputation by having her say that. Even if Lin Xinlan is to blame, the Rong family can’t afford the scandal. It would be a disgrace to have the story that one’s daughter-in-law has been with another man get out."
Lady Du felt a burst of indignation, "That cheap woman has got off lightly! But fortunately, her child is gone now; Shaoze probably won’t touch her again."
The couple babbled on about Lin Xinlan for a long time in the hospital room.
In the waiting hall of a bus station in a certain city, Lin Xinlan’s mother sat holding Xiaocong on a seat designated for passengers, staring at the images on the television for a long while.
Xiaocong tilted his head and asked in confusion, "Grandma, was that mom’s voice just now? I heard her speaking on the TV."
Since he couldn’t see, his hearing was particularly sensitive. He could recognize Lin Xinlan’s voice instantly.
Lin Xinlan’s mother hugged him and gently coaxed, "It wasn’t mom’s voice; it was an auntie’s voice that sounds very much like your mom’s."