“Ran away?” Qiao Xuan hollered, dropping the two large bags she’d been carrying to the ground.
“Yes ah.” The Aunty in charge of housekeeping at the B & B reluctantly revealed.
“Then, then did he say where he was going?” Qiao Xuan was stupefied.
After last week’s resignation from Fu Hua, she also terminated her lease, sending the remainder of her things to Yilan. She had finally cut ties with Taipei.
She’d been lugging two large bags of luggage on the train home, only to learn that her Dad had run away.
“I don’t know, probably to Shenzhen.”
“Shenzhen? To Shenzhen?” Qiao Xuan raised her voice.
What happens now? That Uncle went to Shenzhen, her Dad is going to Shenzhen. Are the two of them going to hide there together?
“We can barely make the monthly payments, how can my Dad run away?” Qiao Xuan doesn’t understand.
“Ah, you don’t know how terrible the interest is on top of the payments. Every month we have to pay the interest including the payments, it’s simply not enough. About two months ago, those debt collectors started to hara.s.s us. Your Dad didn’t want to implicate everyone, so the best choice was to hide somewhere far so that they wouldn’t find him. Originally, he wanted to let you know, but was afraid you’d be worried so he ran away without informing you.”
“Did he leave a contact number?” She hadn’t expected things to get this bad in such a short time.
“No, but he’ll call back occasionally, probably this week ah.”
“How could’ve it gotten so serious?!” Qiao Xuan was at a loss.
“My child, why are you suddenly back home? Yesterday, I also helped to sign for several boxes of freight sent from Taipei. Aren’t you staying in Taipei?”
The Aunty has been working at the B & B since she was young, so Qiao Xuan looked up to her like family.
“I wanted to come home to help out with Dad.”
“Huh? But I heard your Dad say you went to Taipei to raise money. He said now everything depends on you. As long as you finish the task successfully, we don’t have to worry anymore. You’re suddenly home now, does that mean you were successful?” The Aunty looked overjoyed.
“Uh, no, I failed. I’m sorry.” Qiao Xuan was ashamed to admit. She had failed miserably.
“Well.” The Aunty was disappointed.
“It doesn’t matter Aunty. If this method doesn’t work, we will think of other ways!” Although Qiao Xuan consoled her, but she was also very confused. What were they going to do?
“Well, Ok.” In order not to worry Qiao Xuan further, the Aunty put on a brave smile. “You haven’t eaten dinner? Come inside, Aunty cooked food for you to eat.”
Since Yu Rong Gui ran away, all the business burdens were taken on by Aunty. She actually lives in the next village. But in order to help Yu Rong Gui take care of the B & B, she’s been staying her these days.
“Thank you Aunty. Today was really hard for you.”
“Don’t say that, we’re family. Encountering difficult times in solidarity is a given.” The Aunty rubbed her shoulder in comfort.
“Yes.” Qiao Xuan nodded, eyes slightly flushed.
Starting tomorrow, the first plan was to take care of the B & B. As for the debt, she’d have to think of another plan.
But the next day, once again Qiao Xuan was at a loss.
“How is that possible? You tell him to come here right now.” A burly chap with a group of men came looking for Yu Rong Gui.
“I said he’s not here. If you don’t believe me, I can’t do anything about that!” Qiao Xuan bravely stood in front of the men, blocking them from entering.
Qiao Xuan and Aunty had just finished serving breakfast to the guests when suddenly these men came looking for her Dad.
“Is that right? Then, never mind.” The lead bruiser turned away, and spoke to the group of men, “Go in and have a look.”
“Yes.” The group of men answered in unison.
“Hey! What are you doing? I’m calling the cops!” Qiao Xuan tried with all her might to stop the men from entering, but eventually the men were stronger and entered her home.
The men began to wreak havoc, some flipping over the table, some smashing the vase, they even removed the clock wall. The lovely and warm B & B instantly became devastated.
“Okay, stop.” The lead bruiser called. The men stopped instantly, then he turned to Qiao Xuan and said, “Today was just to give you a little lesson, so I only destroyed a few things. The next time I won’t be so lenient. I’ll make those people upstairs hand over the money along with you, and then you’ll truly be done, understand?”
The lead bruiser turned and walked out the door, waving his hand. The rest of the men followed him immediately.
At this time, Qiao Xuan suddenly heard from the staircase a female guest talking with Aunty.
“What the h.e.l.l happened? What’s going on? Was someone throwing things?” The anxious guest wanted to come downstairs to check.
“The noise was from the outside. We’re having renovations done. Miss just wait for a while…” Aunty tried to prevent the guest from coming downstairs.
“This, how did this happen?” But Aunty couldn’t stop the guest, and finally let the woman see the gloomy picture.
“I’m sorry, because we had a little misunderstanding, they left in a hurry. We didn’t explained clearly, and they behaved irrationally.” Qiao Xuan immediately came forward, gathering her spirits, but revealed a tired smile. The female guest must be frightened with the situation.
Now that the situation has turned into a renovation, it’s absolutely justifiable, but they can’t let the guest know about the debt crisis. Qiao Xuan had to evasively come up with an explanation.
“So that’s it. Well then, I’ll be packing up and checking out, etc…” The female guest flew back into her room.
“Hey, Miss, Miss!” Aunty tried to persuade the guest from leaving.
“It doesn’t matter Aunty. If the guest wants to leave, let her leave. The other guest, give them back a refund, and don’t pick up anymore reservations.” Qiao Xuan said.
“No more? This can’t be!” Hearing this decision from Qiao Xuan made Aunty anxious. “We’re short on money. If the B & B doesn’t pick up on business, then we will lose thousands in revenue a month!”
“But the problem is, if these people dare to do this today, then tomorrow it will be worse. If we don’t earn money it does not matter, but we can’t involve the innocent guests. Before the debt has been solved, the B & B will close indefinitely.”
Although she had just gone through an ordeal, and with the mounting pressure and responsibilities laid at her feet, but somehow she is unusually calm at this moment.
“Well… Well, I know.” Listening to Qiao Xuan’s reasoning, Aunty also felt it was reasonable and no longer opposed.
“Aunty help me clear the downstairs, afterwards you can go home. If I don’t call you, you don’t have to come okay?”
“No, I’m worried you’ll be alone here.” Qiao Xuan was like her own daughter, how could she leave her in a dangerous place alone.
“Don’t worry, I will take refuge in Taipei with friends. So you can rest a.s.sured and go home.”
“Well… Well, if you go to Taipei, then I’ll be a.s.sured.”
They gently laid the news to the rest of the guests and helped them check out. After all the guests left, Aunty and Qiao Xuan began the arduous task of cleaning the horrible scene. It was seven in the evening before everything was cleaned.
“Aunty, ride a little slower ah.” Qiao Xuan sent Aunty on her way home.
“Well, if you’re going to Taipei, then quickly pack up, it’s not too late yet.”
“Yes, I know Aunty, bye.” Watching her back disappear into the main road, Qiao Xuan turned back into the house. However, she didn’t pack her things because she didn’t intend to leave.
She only promised Aunty to rea.s.sure her, but in fact she didn’t plan to leave the B & B.
Those men were arrogant. Today, there were people, but if not, maybe they wouldn’t burned the house down.
Not to mention her Dad will call. If she wasn’t home, how will he reach her?
She must quickly let her Dad know her plans had failed. When he returns, they will think of another way together.
“Oh, was I impulsive?” Qiao Xuan sighed.
In retrospect, she should’ve stayed at her job and earned enough to repay the debt and then left. In the end, she decided to leave because of her conscious. Maybe she was too naïve to think that there were other easy ways out of this.
Since young, her Dad has lent money from morning till night, but in these twenty years, this has been the worst.
Today, she finally understood the consequences of this huge debt. Before, she had failed to grasp the opportunity to coerce Ji Yu Heng into the acquisition, making this a really big hurdle to overcome.
When it comes to Ji Yu Heng, Qiao Xuan found herself thinking of him often, especially since leaving Fu Hua.
“How is he doing now?” Qiao Xuan looked out of the window at the moon, thinking of the distance.
She decided to leave before she was discovered. Did her decision cause him problems? Before she left, she wrote him a note. Did he save it?
Feeling so alone at that moment, she had the desire to cry. However, she shouldn’t be weak in these times, and desperately suppressed those emotions.
“Well, don’t think of him. Please cheer up!”
Qiao Xuan switched off the lights, ready for bed. She made her way towards the rear of the B & B… Where her home was located. Suddenly, she noticed a figure standing outside the door. Looking through the window she observed the figure.
From the dim lights, she noticed it was a man.
Qiao Xuan panicked, she thought it was the group of men from this morning.
“There is just one? Well, I’ll fight with you!” Qiao Xuan squatted down reaching for the fire extinguisher. She quietly made her way out the back door, and crept behind the man at the front.
“You son of a b.i.t.c.h, take that!”
Qiao Xuan held the fire extinguisher, prepared to knock the man in the head, but her statement exposed her presence. The man turned around just in time before being hit. One hand blocking the fire extinguisher, while the other hand accurately grabbed her wrist, then with a hard twist, locked her arm.
“You, what are you doing?! I warn you, hurry up and let me go. If you want to infringe upon me, I will bite my tongue on the spot!” Qiao Xuan struggled against the man.
She was trapped with her back towards him, so she couldn’t see his face or guess his intentions.
“Yu Qiao Xuan?” Suddenly, the man called her name in Qiao Xuan’s ear.
This succeeded in getting Qiao Xuan to still.
Ji Yu Heng, she turned around hardly believing who she was looking at.
“What are you doing? What’s with the fire extinguisher…” Yu Heng didn’t finish before Qiao Xuan flung herself into his arms, burying her face in his chest and hugging him tightly.
“Why is it so dark?” Yu Heng said, making his way into the house. “Because I’ve just turned off the lights, just wait a moment.”
Qiao Xuan turned on the light, and the house instantly restored light, exposing her flushed face.
Suddenly seeing Ji Yu Heng, she unexpectedly threw herself on him. Surprised by her gaffe, she hurriedly moved away from him.
Qiao Xuan was holding onto her hot face, not knowing why she did something like that.
“Oh yes. You just said this place is?” Yu Heng examined the house he once lived in for a period of time, probing her.
“Is my great aunt’s house.” Qiao Xuan hastened to repeat her nonsense answer.
“So you are here because?” Yu Heng slightly narrowed his eyes at her response, but he still didn’t reveal too much.
“To help her for a while. The family is traveling abroad, and temporarily can’t find anyone to help. I had no choice but to resign to help her.” Qiao Xuan said avoiding his eyes.
She was afraid once she looked at him in the eye, he would immediately see through her lie.
“Oh, I see.” Yu Heng didn’t continue to ask, and just pretended to nod in understand.
Yesterday he had asked Sister Li for Yu Qiao Xuan’s address but he was left perplexed when she had given him an address in Yilan. If he remembered correctly, Qiao Xuan had once told him she lived in Ilan.
With no other clues, Yu Heng had other choice but to go to this address. He never expected that the address Sister Li gave him turned out to be “the place”, from his childhood.
Although it had been twenty years already, but as the taxi pulled into the driveway, he immediately recognized the house.
He had originally came in search of Yu Qiao Xuan, but unexpectedly came back to the Lan Kwai Fong. Yu Heng’s mind was full of questions, mainly her connection with this place.
This woman must be keeping something from him!
Past images of Qiao Xuan kept floating in his mind.
He remembered she followed him to the orphanage, remembered that she always snooped around near his desk and she apparently lived in Ilan, but deliberately concealed Yilan from him.
But even from her strange behavior, he didn’t understand why he didn’t feel any malicious intent?
It was obvious he had been tricked by her, but he didn’t feel any anger. Perhaps because he finally got to see her again or perhaps it was discovering that she was the little girl from his past, so he wasn’t angry but was joyful.
Now that he’s found her, he wasn’t going to let her escape so easily, so he was in no hurry. Sooner or later he was going to make her talk.
“Oh, General Manager, the… How did you get here?!” Compared to Ji Yu Heng, Qiao Xuan was very anxious.
Just one look at him and she nearly lost her wits, not realizing his visit was unusual. Now that she’s calmed down, it seems something is not right.
What did he find? Did he discover her motives entering Fu Hua? Why else would he come here?
“Since you are no longer Fu Hua’s employee, don’t call me General Manager.” Yu Heng frowned slightly.
Hearing her call him General Manager makes him a bit uncomfortable now.
“Oh.” Qiao Xuan timidly looked at Ji Yu Heng with one eye, “Well, that… Mr. Ji, why did you come here?”
“Of course for…” Yu Heng replied without hesitation.
“For…?” Qiao Xuan almost choked on her saliva.
“Well you see, someone wrote a note telling me I can’t do this, can’t do that, and I must obediently follow her instructions. But then, she suddenly ran away without saying goodbye. Shouldn’t I as a concerned citizen see if she’s okay?” Yu Heng’s smile was hard to decipher.
“Oh, so that’s it.” Qiao Xuan breathed a sigh of relief.
“Why do you think I’m here?” Yu Heng prodded her.
“Uh, no, no!” Qiao Xuan waved her hands.
Seeing Qiao Xuan’s response, Yu Heng was more determined.
She was keeping something from him.
But he decided not to press her tonight.
“I was only jesting with you.” Yu Heng suddenly went to stand in front of Qiao Xuan staring at her for a moment. His hands unconsciously cupped her cheeks, with a serious face, “I was concerned for you, so I had Sister Li look up your address.”
The moment he saw her again, he finally understood how much he missed her.
Back at the door, when she embraced him, he had wanted to embrace her back but was afraid of scaring her so he suppressed the urge.
“Mr. Ji…” Qiao Xuan didn’t dare believe what she saw in his eyes.
Was she imagining things? Why did she feel Ji Yu Heng looked at her with eyes that seemed to reveal… Love?
The feeling was so strong it made her breathless, is it true?
“But I’m a little curious, why you gave the company your aunt’s address?”
“Uh…” Qiao Xuan froze on the spot.
Ji Yu Heng’s words suddenly woke her up.
G.o.d, Yu Qiao Xuan, you’re in the middle of a disaster, there’s no time to be infatuated!
“Er… Because I went to junior high school in Yilan, and never changed… Oh, yes, are you staying here tonight? Just today, there are no guests. I’ll help prepare the best room, you wait for me here.”
In order to avoid the topic, Qiao Xuan quickly found an excuse to sneak out.
Yu Heng didn’t stop her.
Someday, he will put the little ostrich out.