Chapter 29 – If You’re Hungry, Come Down and Eat with Me
By the time Leng Yan got home, it was already lunchtime.
The house was completely empty.
Oh.
She had forgotten.
She had forced all the servants to take time off.
“Where’s He Yinshao?” Leng Yan looked around and went upstairs. Almost instinctively, she checked the storage room and all the rooms on the second floor.
“No one?”
“Looking for me?”
A soft voice came from above.
It was He Yinshao.
Leng Yan instinctively leaned over the second-floor railing and looked upward. “Why are you on the third floor?”
“I…” He Yinshao lowered her head and looked down at Leng Yan, gently biting her lip.
“Leng Junhui arranged it, didn’t he?” Leng Yan immediately thought of that useless cousin of hers and how ridiculously precious He Yinshao was to him.
For some reason, it was really irritating.
“Mm.”
Her voice was soft, but Leng Yan still heard it clearly.
Leng Yan sighed. Remembering that there had been absolutely no one at home when she returned, which naturally meant there was no lunch either, she extended an invitation.
“Hungry? If you are, come down and eat with me.”
“Okay.”
Before long, Leng Yan was waiting for He Yinshao by the staircase.
She still had her suit jacket draped over one arm, so once the two of them reached the living room, she simply left it at home.
“Can you drive?”
“Yes.”
Leng Yan tossed the car keys to her. “You drive. I don’t feel like it.”
The two got into the red sports car. After fastening her seat belt, He Yinshao turned toward Leng Yan.
“Where are we going?”
“Anywhere. Just drive to whatever place you feel like eating at.” Leng Yan rested her head against the neck pillow and reclined her seat.
“Okay.” He Yinshao’s voice softened slightly.
A little over ten minutes later, an eye-catching red sports car stopped outside a wonton shop.
Leng Yan slowly opened her eyes. “We’re here?”
“Yeah.” He Yinshao unfastened her own seat belt and reached over, intending to undo Leng Yan’s.
“I’ll do it myself.” Leng Yan placed her hand over the buckle.
As she sat up, the waist beneath her clothes looked slender, yet strong.
He Yinshao stared at Leng Yan’s narrow waist, and the tips of her ears involuntarily turned red.
“Is it that hot?” Leng Yan asked in confusion when she noticed He Yinshao’s reddened ears.
“It’s nothing. L-Let’s go.” He Yinshao practically fled out of the car.
“Oh.”
The two entered the wonton shop one after the other.
He Yinshao very familiarly ordered a bowl of cilantro wontons, then turned and softly asked Leng Yan, “What do you want?”
Leng Yan shook her head. “Anything’s fine. I’ll have the same as you.”
“Okay.”
Watching how naturally He Yinshao ordered, Leng Yan couldn’t help asking, “You seem pretty familiar with this place. Do you come here often?”
“I used to… after I moved out, I ordered from here a lot.” He Yinshao nearly bit her own tongue.
She had almost exposed the secret of her rebirth.
Leng Yan stared at He Yinshao’s face for a while before nodding and saying nothing more.
But when she turned her face away, the suspicion in her eyes was impossible to hide.
She always felt that something about He Yinshao was… strange.
“Here you go~ Two bowls of wontons for you beautiful ladies.”
A slightly plump middle-aged woman brought over two bowls, sweat still beading on her forehead.
“Enjoy.”
“Thank you.” Leng Yan smiled.
“Aiya~ You’re welcome~”
Leng Yan watched the proprietress walk away to attend to another customer before withdrawing her gaze.
As she did, her eyes met He Yinshao’s.
“You don’t seem to dislike places like this?” He Yinshao looked away, awkwardly scratching her cheek as she spoke.
“Mm. I don’t.”
Leng Yan slowly took a sip of soup.
Back in high school, she had often gone to places like this.
At the time, her father had been busy cultivating his relationship with the current Auntie Song, so naturally he had paid less attention to her. He would transfer her some money every month and leave everything else alone.
She disliked how respectfully the servants treated her.
There was no sense of life in that house at all.
So she would sometimes skip evening self-study and wander around the snack street.
Places like this were full of ordinary warmth and life.
No one treated her like some lofty young heiress.
They would only greet her enthusiastically with, “Hey, little student!”
He Yinshao watched Leng Yan’s slightly distant expression and gently touched her.
“Leng Yan?”
“?” Leng Yan came back to herself at the touch and stirred the spoon in her hand. “Oh. Eat. It was too hot just now.”
“Mm, okay.”
He Yinshao didn’t expose her.
She had seen nostalgia in Leng Yan’s eyes.
The two ate in complete harmony.
They didn’t talk, yet somehow the atmosphere between them felt unusually peaceful.
He Yinshao ate faster. Once she finished, she simply watched Leng Yan eat.
Leng Yan took small bites of her wontons and chewed slowly, looking very refined.
From He Yinshao’s angle, that face somehow looked very easy to bully.
She watched Leng Yan slowly finish the wontons in her bowl, her expression softening.
“Let’s go home.”
“You drive.” Leng Yan hadn’t paid attention to the words “go home.” She merely wiped her mouth and left behind a hundred-yuan bill.
“Okay.”
Two in the afternoon.
The two were sitting inside the red sports car when a sudden phone call broke the quiet atmosphere.
Leng Yan pressed the answer button.
She had forgotten her phone was still connected to the car’s Bluetooth.
“Hello? Yanyan?”
Luo Jibai’s voice echoed throughout the sports car.
The car suddenly swerved and took the wrong turn.
“Sorry. We’ll have to circle around.” He Yinshao apologized, though there wasn’t much apology in her tone.
“It’s fine…”
Leng Yan didn’t know why.
It was clearly her car and her phone, yet somehow she felt guilty.
She disconnected the Bluetooth.
“Hello, Sister Luo. It’s me.”
Luo Jibai’s hand paused around her phone. “Why are you calling me Sister Luo just like Leng Junhui does?”
“Uh, Luo Jibai. What is it?”
Alright.
At least that wasn’t as distant as what she had called her before.
Standing inside Leng Yan’s office, Luo Jibai asked, “Your assistant said you took the afternoon off?”
“Mm, yeah.”
“Are you feeling unwell? Should I come see you this afternoon?”
“Huh? No, there’s no need. We’re almost home.” Leng Yan looked at the familiar stretch of road outside and declined.
“We?” Luo Jibai’s voice immediately became more urgent. “Yanyan, who are you with?”
“Uh, He Yinshao.”
Luo Jibai suddenly remembered running into Leng Junhui outside Leng Yan’s villa that morning.
The “Xiao He” he had mentioned back then was probably He Yinshao.
Heh…
So much for “Yan Mian He Cun.”
“Yanyan, I need to talk to you about something this afternoon…” Luo Jibai’s tone carried a trace of helplessness.
“Fine. Come over this afternoon, then.” Leng Yan closed her eyes briefly.
“We’re here.”
The sports car suddenly slammed to a stop in front of the villa.
The force of the braking made Leng Yan feel slightly carsick.
“…” Leng Yan hung up and glared through gritted teeth. “He Yinshao, are you trying to kill me?”
She had reasonable grounds to suspect He Yinshao was attempting murder.
“Sorry. I’m not very good at driving.” He Yinshao looked at Leng Yan with an innocent expression.
“Then how were you driving just fine when we went to the wonton shop?” Leng Yan unfastened her seat belt with a fake smile. “Damn woman. Don’t play innocent with me.”
“There were fewer cars then, so it was easier to drive,” He Yinshao explained calmly.
“Get lost.”
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