Cheng Qingchong's lips curved into a smile, and just as she replied with an "okay", her phone rang. She stopped talking and pulled the zipper of her bag open to retrieve her phone from it. When she saw the caller ID, Cheng Qingchong was stunned for a moment. When she saw her mother looking her way curiously, she immediately answered the call. "Hello?"
"Fetched your mother already?" Qin Yinan's cold voice asked.
Cheng Qingchong was still shocked from Qin Yinan's sudden call, so she collected herself before answering rather mechanically, "Yes."
"Where are you now?"
Qin Yinan's tone was still icy, but this was their first normal conservation since their marriage, so Cheng Qingchong found herself rather unused to it all. She looked around for a sign before replying, "B4 exit."
Qin Yinan stopped talking. Cheng Qingchong waited for a while before moving her phone to look at it. The signal was fine. When she was about to raise the phone back to her ear and ask if he was still there. Mrs. Cheng, who stood beside her, suddenly pulled on her arm and gasped, "Wait, isn't that Yinan?"
Cheng Qingchong followed the direction her mother was pointing and realized she was right. Qin Yinan in a beautiful suit was pushing through the crowd to head towards them.
When he saw Cheng Qingchong and her mother, he hung up on his phone. He closed the gap in a few steps and apologized politely and kindly to Mrs. Cheng, "Mother, I'm so sorry. I rushed over the minute the meeting was over, but I'm still too late."
Mrs. Cheng was exceptionally happy when she saw Qin Yinan. "You shouldn't have come. Qingchong can fetch me just fine. I understand that you're busy."
"How can I not come in person to fetch you?" Qin Yinan pulled the luggage from Mrs. Cheng's hands and said, "My car is just down there, come on."
Mrs. Cheng followed Qin Yinan, and when she saw Cheng Qingchong still standing there spacing out, she turned around to ask, "Let's go, Qingchong, what are you doing standing there?"
Cheng Qingchong recovered. She hastily pulled her gaze away from Qin Yinan and replied a swift, "Coming."
On the way home, Mrs. Cheng chatted happily with Qin Yinan. Qin Yinan maintained a calm and polite demeanour. No matter the enquiry from Mrs. Cheng, he answered with absolute. In fact, when they were stuck in traffic, he even pulled out a bottle of mineral water, twisted the cap open, and passed it to Mrs. Cheng.
Cheng Qingchong, who saw this whole scene, had a complicated feeling in her heart.
This was the Qin Yinan that she had known when she first met him, gentle, kind, polite, and gentlemanly.
Once upon a time, she had admired this side of him. In fact, when he was being cruel to her, she still found herself cherishing this gentler side of him.
But now, when he had reverted to this gentler self, she found her heart breaking with an even greater pain.
Because she knew he was acting.
He had used this side of him to steal away her heart little by little…
…
Qin Yinan didn't drive Mrs. Cheng home but took them to Golden Corner. Qin Yinan ordered a tableful of food to welcome Mrs. Cheng.
Throughout the dinner, Qin Yinan kept serving Mrs. Cheng food and pouring her tea—his performance could only be described with one word: perfection.
When they finished dinner and paid the bill, it was 8:30 pm. They reached home at 9:30 pm.
Mrs. Cheng had just flown for more than ten hours that day, so she was exhausted. After they stepped through the door, Cheng Qingchong led her mother to the guest room and helped up fill up the bathtub.