Chapter 60 Out of Home, We Rely on Friends
The hands hugging her are powerful. Li Baoer is fully locked in Dai Zhongheng’s embrace.
Li Baoer is surrounded by strong masculine breath with faint fragrance, fresh but powerfully masculine. It gives her heart a strong shock.
Li Baoer is stunned. She looks at Dai Zhongheng blankly.
Dai Zhongheng takes Li Baoer into his protection, while Lin Kai rushes in and stands in front of Xia Ning and protects her from the fighting.
“What is going on?”
The two who are fighting are shocked by the shouting. Seeing there are two army men here, Cheng Xiaofang and Huang Guoliang stop fighting blankly.
“Mrs. Yi, are you hurt?” Lin Kai asks in a low voice.
Xia Ning shakes her head. She walks to the luggage and takes the bags. Lin Kai at once comes to her and grabs the bags, “Mrs. Yi. Let me carry them. They are heavy.”
“Thanks.” Xia Ning says and gives a stare at Cheng Xiaofang and Huang Guoliang, who still keep their fighting posts. Then she looks to Li Baoer.
She sees Dai Zhongheng and Li Baoer hugging together and is stunned. Dai Zhongheng lets go of Li Baoer and turns his face s.h.i.+ly.
Li Baoer blushes. She stands by Dai Zhongheng silently.
Xia Ning goes to hold Li Baoer’s hand, “Let’s go, we are not living here.”
“Ning!” Li Baoer stops her, “I…I…”
“I what? Let’s go.” No waiting for her response, Xia Ning drags Li Baoer and they go out of the house.
They get on the army car. When they close the door of the car, Cheng Xiaofang and Huang Guoliang come out too. They see the mighty Dongfeng Warrior and are shocked there.
Gosh, they go by an army vehicle. What happens?
The car roars the way, leaving the confused couple there alone.
“Miss Li Baoer, how do you know these friends? If you stay with them, I will be more worried than your mother.” Xia Ning is angry.
Li Baoer lowers her head and doesn’t speak for quite a while.
Xia Ning frowns, realizing that something happened to Li Baoer, “Baoer, do you have anything that you didn’t tell me?”
Li Baoer curls her lips and gives a long sign.
“Don’t sign. I am your friend. Tell me.”
“I…” Li Baoer curls her lips. She hesitates for a while and says, “My mother was in hospital. It almost cost all my money. I didn’t bring much money to come here… So, I tried to stay at my friend’s home…”
Li Baoer lowers her head. She is almost sobbing and cannot continue her words.
Xia Ning’s heart tightens anxiously, “What? Your mom is sick? How is she now? Is it serious?”
Li Baoer shakes her head, “She has left the hospital and my father is taking care of her. It is just that we don’t have much savings at home…And I cannot stay in B city. So, I want to leave for some time…”
“You Fool!” Xia Ning scolds her. Though Li Baoer seems to be careless and cheerful, she is weaker than anyone when something happens to her. Xia Ning says, “Don’t you have me? You should tell me. Accommodation is not a problem.”
“I don’t want to disturb you. I really don’t want to disturb you…”
“Nonsense!” Xia Ning interrupts, “Do you regard me as a friend? Anyway, I am well-off enough to afford the expense for you! Colonel Dai, would you please do me a favor?”
Dai Zhongheng glances at Li Baoer, “Yes?”
“Do you know where I can rent a good apartment in C city? Please take us there.”
“Yes. OK.” Dai Zhongheng nods, “Kunshan Road.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Kunshan Road is surrounded by middle and high-grade residence communities with enjoyable environment. Xia Ning and Yi Yunrui went there yesterday.
“Ning, I don’t have much money. I cannot afford so expensive apartment.” Li Baoer is anxious.
“You don’t need to worry about that. I will pay for the rent.” In B city, Li Baoer always took care of her. Xia Ning really appreciates this friend. Last time, Li Baoer was kidnapped and hurt, but she never complains about it. Xia Ning is sorry about the incident. She feels sorry to Baoer.
She thinks she did not do well and did not pay enough attention to Li Baoer. A terrible thing happened to Li Baoer’s family, but she didn’t know it at all. Aunt, Li Baoer’s mother, is a nice person. Every time when she went to Li Baoer’s home, Aunt would prepare a lot of foods for her.
Now she is having a good life, but she rarely cares for Li Baoer’s family. She is guilty. She is very guilty.
“Well…” Li Baoer hesitates, “I temporally don’t have enough money. When I do, I will return it to you later. OK?”
“What are you talking about. Am I your friend?” Xia Ning is almost angry, “Don’t mention it. You just live here. As it is said, out of home, we rely on friends. Don’t feel embarra.s.sed. You are here in C city and I will help to arrange everything for you.”
The car arrives at Kunshan Road. They get off to look for an apartment. Luckily, Lin Kai knows some people and soon they find a satisfying apartment.
The landlady is a gentle old lady. Her children all went abroad. She doesn’t want to leave and stays. She has quite a lot of apartments, which are comfortable but not expensive. She only rents them to people she knows.
When she sees Xia Ning’s group, she promises at once. An apartment of more than 100 square meters with two bedrooms and a living room, which are well-equipped, asks for less than a thousand yuan. That is really cheap.
Xia Ning pays the rent for a whole year at once. They sign the contract. The old lady gives some instructions and leaves.
The decoration of the apartment is good. The facilities are of top grade. Li Baoer admires, “I have never lived in such a big house alone all my life.”
“Hum. It is nice. Thank you. Lin.” Xia Ning thanks Lin Kai.
“Well, Mrs. Yi. You are welcome. It is my pleasure.” Getting used to ordering and scolding, Lin Kai is shy when hearing Xia Ning’s appreciation.
Dai Zhongheng doesn’t speak. He checks around the house and then sits down, “The electric appliances are all OK. If some may go broken. You can tell me.”
Li Baoer widens her eyes. To tell him that appliances are broken? To ask a Colonel to do the electrician’s job? That must be kidding…
“Well. Don’t bother with it. If they do, I will ask the landlady for the contact of electrician.”
Hearing this, Dai Zhongheng’s eyes flash and he doesn’t say anything.
Xia Ning rolls her eyes. What is going on? Colonel has just given an offer, but Miss Li simply doesn’t accept it.
Xia Ning looks at the watch. It is past twelve. She is hungry, “Let’s go for lunch. Does Colonel Dai have any good recommendations?”
Dai Zhongheng glances at Li Baoer, “You two go for lunch. I have other things to do. I am leaving soon.”
Not knowing if Dai Zhongheng is telling the truth, Xia Ning glances at Lin Kai. Lin Kai blinks his eyes and shakes his head.
Xia Ning glances at Li Baoer secretly and finds that she is a little disappointed.
“Well…” Xia Ning strokes her head, “The problem is that Baoer and I are new in C city. We are not familiar with the roads and we are afraid that we may be cheated by taxi drivers, while walking is a very tiring job…”
“Not far from here, there is a hot pot restaurant. It is quite good. I can take you there.” Dai Zhongheng responds.
Xia Ning lifts her eyes, “Oh, thank you. But after lunch, we are going to walk around. Miss Li would not like to stay alone. When in B city, she likes hanging out. Neither of us know the way. I wonder where we will go to…”
“Lin, what is the time?” Dai Zhongheng suddenly asks.
“Commander, it is twelve ten.”
“Till three o’clock in the afternoon, after lunch, I can show you around.” Dai Zhongheng says.
“Oh…” Xia Ning gives a long response. Didn’t Mr. Dai say that he had other things to do? Why can he accompany them till three o’clock.
“Then, thank you. Colonel Dai.” Xia Ning ignores Dai Zhongheng’s previous response. She winks at Lin Kai. Lin Kai curls his lips and nods.
They get on the car and come to the hot pot restaurant mentioned by Dai Zhongheng.
It is a beef hot pot restaurant with numerous people. And it is full of rich flavor of beef, which blows in the streets and makes people’s mouths water.
Because the business of the hot pot restaurant goes on well, Xia Ning’s group has to wait for more than ten minutes before they get seats to sit down. What Xia Ning orders are all the popular dishes of the restaurant.
They have a hot pot with more than ten dishes. Li Baoer is stunned. The prices on the menu are not what to be called cheap.
“Listen to me. It is my treat. Don’t try to fight for it.” Xia Ning warns in advance.
Dai Zhongheng smiles and puts down the menu, while Lin Kai cries, “Wow. Mrs. Yi is generous.”
Xia Ning shrugs her shoulders. She turns to Dai Zhongheng and Li Baoer, “Well, why do you drop down the menu? Are you afraid that I don’t have enough money for the check?”
Li Baoer shakes her head, “Who dares say so? I am relying on a rich woman now. But, Ning, you ordered too much. Let’s finish these first.”
“What about Colonel Dai?”
“I am good. Any foods are OK for me.”
Hearing this, Xia Ning can feel the confusion on her own face.
“Good. So it is.”
The clerk takes the order. Dishes are served soon. Within several minutes, the table is full.
Looking at the dishes, Li Baoer finally understands what is called “higher price for better quality”. They are expensive. But they are much enough.
Xia Ning is also shocked. It is lucky they called a stop, or, they will need to get ready for the doggy bags.
The foods remind Xia Ning of something. She takes out her phone and dials Yi Yunrui’s number.
The phone is ringing but doesn’t get through. Seemingly Yi Yunrui is too busy to answer the phone. Xia Ning is going to hang up when it suddenly gets through.
“h.e.l.lo, is that Miss Xia?”
Xia Ning is frozen. The answerer is Mei Ruo, “Er…”
“Miss Xia, Rui is in a meeting. What is up? I will tell him later.”
Hearing Mei Ruo calling the word “Rui”, Xia Ning’s heart tightens.