To My Dear Mr. Huo

After hearing his question, Su Qingsang shook her head. “I came with my friend.”

They fell into silence after the brief conversation. Although Su Qingsang was wearing a bathrobe, she looked disheveled. She felt strained and pondered over how to end such a situation.

Zhang Yichen discovered her uneasiness and frowned. He was about to say something but stopped after hearing a knock on the door.

Su Qingsang and Zhang Yichen both looked at the door, thinking that those people had come back for him.

Zhang Yichen looked around. Certainly, he couldn’t hide in the closet. He noticed that there was a small window in the bathroom, but he was too oversized to climb through it.

Su Qingsang started to look worried. Considering this current circumstance, where could Zhang Yichen hide? Just as Zhang Yichen was thinking about going to the bathroom, Su Qingsnag Shi Mengwan’s voice.

“Why is the door locked? I didn’t lock it,” came Shi Mengwan’s voice from outside. Relived, Su Qingsang looked at Zhang Yichen and signaled that it was fine.

She turned to open the door. The moment the door was open, Shi Mengwan was dragged in. Su Qingsang moved so fast that Shi Mengwan had no time to react.

“Qingsang, you——”

Shi Mengwan saw Zhang Yichen after the door was closed. She held her breath, eyes wide open, and turned to Su Qingsang. “What——”

“This is Huo Jinyao’s uncle, Zhang Yichen.” Su Qingsang pointed at Shi Mengwan. “This is Shi Mengwan, my friend.”

“Hello.” Zhang Yichen was pretty calm and went straight greeting Shi Mengwan.

“Hi,” Shi Mengwan said, blinking and directing her eyes at Su Qingsang. She was quiet, but her eyes were full of questions.

“Never mind. We just happened to encounter each other.”

Zhang Yichen’s business was a secret even to Huo Jinyao, so how could Su Qingsang tell Shi Mengwan about it?

To her surprise, Shi Mengwan didn’t ask any more questions, and Su Qingsang forgot to ask Shi Mengwan why the phone call took her so long.

Under normal circumstances, Su Qingsang would have noticed that there was something wrong with Shi Mengwan.

With Zhang Yichen being present, Su Qingsang and Shi Mengwan were reluctant to go back into the hot tub. They had just started the hot spring a while ago and expected to stay in for a longer time.

Now they couldn’t. Su Qingsang looked at Zhang Yichen, then turned to Shi Mengwan, and said, “Mengwan, why don’t we go to our room and rest?”

“Sure.” Although they wore swimming suits while in the hot tub, with a man standing by their side, they felt shy about staying there longer.

“You——” They looked at Zhang Yichen.

The room they lived in and this hot spring compartment were on the two opposite sides of the salon. On their way back to the room, they had to walk through the corridor and a yard.

If they left now, what would Zhang Yichen do?

Zhang Yichen cast his eyes upon Su Qingsang and went to the bathroom. He couldn’t climb through the bathroom window.

When he got back, he hurried to find a way out.

Looking around, he came up with an idea.

“You don’t need to worry about me. You can leave if you want.”

Zhang Yichen stood still. Taking a look at him, Su Qingsang believed that he was capable of dealing with it himself.

Shi Mengwan felt strange but didn’t ask anything more.

They took their clothes to the inside room and got changed. Su Qingsang was thinking about how Zhang Yichen would sneak out later.

However, when they came out of the room, they found that Zhang Yichen had already disappeared.

Su Qingsang and Shi Mengwan looked at each other. Neither of them heard the door opening and had no idea where Zhang Yichen went.

Since Zhang Yichen had already left, they did what they wanted to do. They changed into their swimwear again and returned to the hot tub.

This time, these people didn’t come back, and neither did Zhang Yichen. They enjoyed the hot spring peacefully.

Shi Mengwan stayed in the hot tub, enjoying the hot spring steaming, and started talking to Su Qingsang.

“Who’s that? Your uncle looked very young.” He looked like he was in his thirties at the most.

“He is the son of one of Huo Jinyao’s great-aunts. His great-aunt was not young when she gave birth to Zhang Yichen. That’s why he and Huo Jinyao are of similar age.”

“I see,” said Shi Mengwan, nodding. “He is good-looking.”

“Do you like him? I can introduce him to you.”

“No, thanks.” Shi Mengwan thought of the call she just had with Zhan Haoze.

Shi Mengwan and Zhan Haoze didn’t say a word to each other on the phone and just stayed silent throughout. He didn’t talk, and she didn’t know what to say.

She should have hung up the phone, but she didn’t want to. Besides, she felt that just listening to Zhan Haoze breath had made her feel peaceful and contented.

Therefore, although their phone call had lasted for a long time, they only spoke a few words.

Even so, Shi Mengwan was steadfast that she would only choose Zhan Haoze. As to other men, she was not interested right now.

Su Qingsang knew her mind even if she didn’t say it, so Su Qingsang stopped asking.

After the hot spring, they slept in a room at the salon. The next morning, the salon manager served them breakfast all by himself and apologized again for the disturbance he had caused the previous day.

Su Qingsang was not an unreasonable person. Considering that he showed a lot of good faith, she decided not to leave him in a difficult spot.

Still, she indicated that she forgave them only for the sake of Huo JInyao.

In fact, she was still curious in her heart. Where did Zhang Yichen hide?

They had dispatched so many men to look for him, but he still managed to disappear. He truly was truly brilliant.

Last night, after Su Qingsang and Shi Mengwan had come back to their room, they observed for a while and didn’t notice any chaos.

The noises faded at the end, which showed that Zhang Yichen had left without being caught.

Coming out of the salon, they went into the car. Shi Mengwan patted Su Qingsang’s shoulder and said, “good job! You look more and more like a rich lady.”

What Shi Mengwan meant was Su Qingsang’s coincidental encounter with someone earlier on. When Su Qingsang had left the salon, she met the mustache man from yesterday in the courtyard.

Yesterday, Shi Mengwan had gone to take a call, so she missed the scene. Shi Mengwan didn’t know who the mustache man was, but Su Qingsang did.

Su Qingsang faced him with a poker face. Though her eyes didn’t exude any discontentment, she didn’t look too friendly either.

It looked like the mustache man had failed to locate Zhang Yichen. Facing Su Qingsang, he didn’t change his facial expression, but Su Qingsang saw the hidden anxiety behind his eyes.

“I’ll take it as a compliment,” said Su Qingsang. She was unwilling to behave like that in general. However, she had to put on a show in front of him so that he would not doubt her performance yesterday.

More importantly, Zhang Yichen should have left safely yesterday. Actually, Su Qingsang believed that even if she had been absent yesterday, Zhang Yichen could have escaped safe and sound.

Since the incident had already passed, Su Qingsang decided not to think about it anymore. She decided to tell Huo Jinyao about this some other time.

As the popular saying goes, three strikes, and you are out. Although Su Qinngsang and Zhang Yichen had met in person only a few times and barely talked, she still wanted to let Huo Jinyao know about their encounters.

Su Qingsang had been staying in Rong City for some time already but didn’t manage to visit a lot of places. For the next few days, she would be spending time alone with Shi Mengwan, visiting different places.

Hou Jinyao knew she took time off to accompany Shi Mengwan, but Liu Tongjia didn’t know that.

When Liu Tongjia found out Su Qingsang wasn’t coming to the Huo Mansion during weekends, she took for granted that Su Qingsang was dissatisfied with her. She then set her mind to carry out her scheme.

She also had an alternative to her plan. She believed that she would surely defeat Su Qingsang this time.

On Saturday, Huo Jinyao was finally available and took Su Qingsang and Shi Mengwan on a day trip around Rong City.

In the evening, he took Su Qingsang and Shi Mengwan to have dinner with his childhood friends. He also took the opportunity to introduce Shi Mengwan to people such as Wan Xianyang.

Except for Li Junsheng who was working in Lin City right now, all his childhood friends were there. Though Li Junsheng was absent, Li Wanyu was here.

Unclear about what Huo Jinyao had told her last time, she was very kind to Su Qingsang today.

It was a relief to Su Qingsang.

It was noisy at the party so Su Qingsang couldn’t talk to Huo Jinyao about her experience yesterday.

However, there was another thing at dinner that caught her attention. Wan Xianyang seemed to be showing interest in Shi Mengwan.

At the very beginning, when Shi Mengwan had entered the room, Wan Xianyang was staring at her.

When they were seated, he looked at Shi Mengwan from time to time, with fascination in his eyes.

When they were having dinner, he chose to sit next to Shi Mengwan. Later, when they headed to the club that belonged to him, Wan Xianyang sat by Shi Mengwan’s side again. He asked her if she wanted to eat something one minute and invited her to play with him the next. He succeeded in making his presence known to her.

Shi Mengwan knew that these people were Huo JInyao’s friends. Thus, she didn’t refuse his requests.

Even when Wan Xianyang invited her to sing a song with him, she agreed, so she went up on stage and sang with him.

Shi Mengwan had a good voice, which was no news to Su Qingsang. While she was singing, Apart from Wan Xianyang, even Tang Mohan and Cheng Xianyun were attracted by her voice.

Su Qingsang could tell that Shi Mengwan was not interested in Wan Xianyang, but Wan Xianyang also obviously had a thing for Shi Mengwan.

Su Qingsang trusted Wan Xianyang as Huo Jinyao’s friend. If Shi Mengwan and Wan Xianyang could have a relationship, Su Qingsang would be happy for her.

But Shi Mengwan looked like she didn’t want Wan Xianyang as one of her admirers as well. She only regarded him as Huo Jinyao’s childhood friend.

Considering that, their relationship would be nearly impossible.

But all in all, their get-together had been great.

They had enjoyed themselves so much that they didn’t go home until late that night.

Shi Mengwan was tired when she got home. She didn’t intend to be the third wheel, so she wished them good night and went to her room to rest.

Su Qingsang had a shower in her adjoining bathroom, and when she was going to dry her hair, Huo Jinyao came over and took the hairdryer from her hand, blowing her hair out.

It was not the first time that he dried her hair. Huo Jinyao was pretty skilled at it. His hand rubbed Su Qingsang’s scalp, which made her feel so comfortable that she narrowed her eyes in joy.

“Honey, can you ask your best friend tomorrow if she has feelings for Wan Xianyang?”