"…"It was Qiao Lan"s.
The man could not mistake this number.
Once more, Kang Jun looked at Lu AnLing, who slept soundly. This time, curiosity and worry burned in the deepest parts of his gaze.
Without a second thought, the man began to read the message.
"Hi, I"m glad you contacted me. It was nice meeting you late time. We should meet up soon. I"ll choose a date and you can tell me if you"re free. I"m sure my daughter would also like to see you again. We both really want to thank you."
Reading this, Kang Jun clenched his teeth.
Did Qiao Lan know that he was trying to court Lu AnLing? Impossible.
Did Qiao Lan really want to "thank" the girl for her kind deed at the Starlight Event or was she scheming something else? Kang Jun wasn"t sure.
Though, if there was one thing Kang Jun knew about the woman, it was that she never did anything uselessly. If she really wanted to meet Lu AnLing it must be because of something more important to her schemes rather than to just give thanks.
But where had the two women met?
Kang Jun knew for a fact that when Kang Mei Xue had met Lu AnLing, Qiao Lan had not been anywhere in the surrounding area and he had been with Lu AnLing the whole time after that.
Oh no… He hadn"t…
Immediately, Kang Jun took out his own phone. He then unblocked Kang Liang"s number before he called the boy.
After barely two rings, Kang Liang answered.
"Yes…?" Unlike his usual reactions, the boy answered cautiously. After all, it wasn"t like his brother to call him. Most of the time the man didn"t even answer his phone calls! And seeing how all of his phone calls to the man had been up going to voicemail for the past couple of days, he had a.s.sumed he had been blocked.
"Did Miss Lu meet Qiao Lan?" Kang Jun asked. He had no time for pleasantries.
"Uhhh," Kang Liang started. He knew his answer as soon as the questions had left the man"s mouth but for some reason, he felt afraid to answer. "yes… they did. Though it was only for a second. We were heading out when we ended up b.u.mping into her, Mei Mei, Yue Yue, and that old a.s.shole Qiao."
Listening to his brother speak, Kang Jun"s face turned dark.
"Though, why are you asking, bro? Did Qiao Lan do something to her?"
"No. Thanks. Bye" Kang Jun hung up the phone.
As soon as he had hung up, though, his brother called again.
"Yes?" Kang Jun hesitated to answer his but he had faith that his younger brother wasn"t calling him for some nonsense.
"Yo bro, don"t just hang up on me. Since you got to ask me something. Let me ask you something…" Kang Liang waited, but Kang Jun didn"t say a word so he took it as a yes. "Did Miss Lu decide if she was going to sign—"
He was wrong.
As soon as he hung up Kang Jun received another call. Completely annoyed, Kang Jun blocked the man"s number once again.
Sitting down in a lone chair in the corner, Kang Jun sunk into it and sighed.
He wasn"t sure what he was going to do about the meeting between Qiao Lan and Lu AnLing, but something had to be done.
As Kang Jun though of how he was going to deal with the situation, Qiao Lan was headed to her grandfather"s place, but once she got there, the man wasn"t home. In fact, he wasn"t going to be home for a few hours. He was with his friend having dinner at a five star, western restaurant.
In the restaurant, at a table in the middle of a bustling room, Qiao Jianhong, his friend and Rong Yue Wan sat with jovial expressions.
Many times during the night, the group of three had had nice chats though sometimes the men would go off on their own tangents, which allowed Rong Yue Wan a chance to rest.
Or so she thought…
The two men were having a good time; laughing and drinking while Rong Yue Wan tried her best to make sure the two elders didn"t drink themselves to death.
Qiao Jianhong raised his gla.s.s to his mouth for the dozenth time, but this time, Rong Yue Wan extended her tired hand, stopping him from taking a sip.
"Sir, please stop. Lan Lan will not be happy if you come home drunk?"
Hearing the name "Lan Lan" the man put the gla.s.s down without drinking it. Beside them, Qiao Jianhong"s friend laughed.
"You really never change. Always letting women control you," Taking the whole bottle of wine and bringing it over to his side, the man poured more of the drink in his gla.s.s. "Only Guanting was worse. Even now, I bet his wife is the one who wears the pants in the family."
Qiao Jianhong laughed, "I haven"t seen Old Madam Kang in a while, that should say a lot about the status of his relationship."
The man took another sip of wine. "No, you"re mistaken. She would never leave him. I mean, after all this time it would be a waste! She had gone through so much trouble to get with the man."
"Yes, you"re right. I remember those days…" Qiao Jianhong scratched his head and then he began to think back to his glory days. There was a faraway look in his eyes now, "Really... because of them, back then was way too eventful. Those two might have been betrothed since they were babies but then, when they became teenagers, Guanting just had to get himself a girlfriend."
"Hahaha, yes." As the man spoke, his face was beginning to become red and he also began to slur his words, "That was a really stupid move. Poor girl, she suffered the wrath of that queen b.i.t.c.h for barely any reason. It"s not like whatever-her-name-was knew Guanting was betrothed. But then again, she did refuse to break up with him after finding out, so, I guess she got everything she deserved after that…"
The man continued to talk but he became more and more inarticulate as the words escaped his mouth. At some point, Elder Qiao wasn"t even listening to him.
Elder Qiao: "I wonder… whatever happened to that girl?"
Hearing this question, the elder"s friend quickly stopped talking and then drunkenly slammed his gla.s.s on the table.
"Knowing Old Madame Kang, she probably died."
The man said it as if it was a joke, but, at the side, Rong Yue Wan felt shivers go down her spine. Old Madame Kang was truly a scary woman. She had only had the pleasure of meeting the woman around a dozen times since she was a child and the woman had always been kind to her but there were times when she had witnessed the old madam"s unmercifully dangerous side.
The thought was enough to give Rong Yue Wan an upset stomach.
Rong Yue Wan looked at their table. The two men had finished eating long ago, now they just drank but she had decided that it was enough.
Immediately, the girl left to go pay the bill. On her way, she pa.s.sed by a waiter and told him not to give their table any more alcohol, even if they begged.
When she came back, the men where both standing up. Both men had slightly pink complexions and Qiao Jianhong"s friend began to hiccup.
Looking at them, Rong Yue Wan sighed.
It was going to be a long night.
Making their way out, Rong Yue Wan called for their driver. Once the man had arrived, the three made their way outside but before they left, Qiao Jianhong stopped dead in his tracks.
"Sir?" Rong Yue Wan called.
Believing the man to be drunk, Rong Yue Wan made her way to the man"s side. She shook his arm.
"Sir?"
The man didn"t respond.
This caused Rong Yue Wan to scrunch her eyebrows.
Following the man"s gaze, Rong Yue Wan met with a table of five but there were only four people sitting down. Rong Yue Wan recognized them as Mr, Long, Kang Mingyu, Kang Mei Xue and Rong Xin. Since there was one person missing, she guessed that it was Kang Jun.
Thinking of him, Rong Yue Wan felt her heart grown. She looked down to gaze at her clothing. She was wearing a cute yellow pantsuit and nude single-strap pumps.
Nodding in approval, Rong Yue Wan turned back to Qiao Jianhong. "Should we go over and say hi?"
Qiao Jianhong didn"t answer, but just when Rong Yue Wan began to walk their way, Qiao Jianhong stopped her.
"No…" The man started with a low voice. "We need to go. Little Lan is waiting for us at home."
Rong Yue Wan wanted to argue. She wanted to wait until Kang Jun showed up but it wasn"t meant to be…
She walked straight out the door, accompanying Qiao Jianhong"s drunken friend first. While the elder himself, continued to stare at the table with a darkened face before he turned and walked out the door.
As he left, the darkness lingered.