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When An Mulan was being looked at by Ling Xihan, Father An also turned his head to look at her and his face was three parts disgust and seven parts satisfaction.
Father An"s att.i.tude changed because she a.n.a.lyzed the plot and the host"s memory. These days, she took the initiative to talk to Father An and made some changes to the root causes of the host"s original temperament.
Once An Mulan knew about the upcoming marriage, she took the initiative to find him that night, expressing her grat.i.tude to him for his nurturing and expressing her regret for what she had done in the past.
She said she would repent past mistakes and turn over a new leaf to a.s.sist her father instead of making him worry.
This conversation improved the relationship between the two people, which also changed Father An"s att.i.tude towards her a little and these days, she also made substantial gains because of his economic support.
After that, the first thing she did was to respond positively to the marriage.
These days, she ordered feminine clothes, took the initiative to dress herself up, and began to decorate the perpetually cold room with warmth and sweetness. Some of her actions, also in accordance with the tutor"s instruction, helped to change Father An"s mind.
Her purpose was to create an image of obedience and pave the way for her next action.
Because of these factors, Father An"s att.i.tude toward her was more satisfied and he began to regard her as important. She only heard him say, “I have something to discuss with Ling Xihan. Go back to your room to pack your luggage and move to Ling Xihan"s house this afternoon in order to cultivate feelings with her.” These words reflected Father An"s earnest instruction towards his daughter.
An Mulan had known about it beforehand due to the original host"s memory so she did not show much reaction when she heard the instructions. Instead, An Mulan responded with a clear voice: “Okay, father.” She watched the two go upstairs to Father An"s study before returning to her room to pack and a.n.a.lyze their first meeting.
The description of the villain, Ling Xihan, in the novel was not much. The reason why she was chosen as the key character of this mission was based on the standard criteria of a villain: formidable strength, complex background, fierce means, the protagonist aura, strong luck, entanglement with the male and female leads, and many other factors to choose from.
In the memory of the original host, she has some impressions. Coupled with today"s in-person meeting, An Mulan now knew that the target of this mission was a woman who did not show her feelings on her face, making it quite difficult to see her thoughts. For her task, An Mulan could only advance one step at a time and improvise for the time being.
As mentioned in the plot, by this time, Father An had made the news of the marriage public.
Ling Xihan was the fiancee of his youngest daughter, causing various media to report on it. Most of them were t.i.tled “the joining of hands between millennial families and the nouveau riche”.
It was also because of this that when the original host and Lingxi Han dissolved their marriage, Father An became so angry. Not only was it a marriage of daughters but also a combination of interests between families.
Now An Mulan naturally will not choose to dissolve the marriage, she moved into Ling Xihan"s house making it more convenient for her villain walkthrough.
She quickly picked up her luggage and ordered the servant to carry it downstairs. Then she sat quietly on the sofa in the living room with her hands overlapping on her legs, looking earnestly at a book about marriage between a woman and a woman.
After waiting for about half an hour, An Mulan took the lead in standing up and looking up the stairs. Father An appeared with an elated and satisfied expression on his face. From time to time, he glanced at Ling Xihan. In his eyes, she was to his satisfaction.
When Father An came to the living room, he warmly invited Ling Xihan to have lunch together. He ordered the kitchen to set up a big meal and told the housekeeper to call all the young masters back for dinner. Then he turned his head, looked down at An Mulan and said to her, “Have a meal before you leave. Take Ling Xihan to your room for a rest. How about it, Xihan?”
The corner of Ling Xihan"s mouth hooked upwards, clear voice on the low side, she said: “Just listen to your father-in-law ok, I want to get along well with Mulan.”
When Father An heard this, he was more satisfied with Ling Xihan. He gestured to An Mulan with his eyes. An Mulan immediately answered, “President Ling, my room is over here. Please follow me.”
An Mulan took Ling Xihan to her room. When Lingxi Han entered into her bedroom, she saw a princess" house decorated with young girls. Ling Xihan glanced over the room with cold eyes and looked into An Mulan"s eyes with a slight unexpected look.
An Mulan smiled indifferently and said, “President Ling, this is my room. Please sit down.” As she spoke, she guided Ling Xihan to the sofa in front of the window to sat down. She knelt on the cushion beside the low table and asked her with her head askew, “Does President Ling like tea or coffee?”
Ling Xihan sat down with her back to the light on the sofa before turning to answer with her clear voice, "Tea, is good."
An Mulan nodded, making tea smoothly, her long and slender fingers bent, showing the art of tea. Her expression was gentle and attentive, full of the charm of Oriental women.
When the tea was ready, she immediately poured a cup of tea, pushed it to Ling Xihan"s side, and said to her, "Ok done, you can taste it.”
Ling Xihan picked up the tea, a light aroma entering her nose. She took a shallow sip and then leaned to look at the girl in front of her.
An Mulan blushed under her gaze and opened the cupboard of the low table with soft countenance. She took out a biscuit box from it and handed it to Ling Xihan. Her soft voice said, “President Ling, these are the biscuits that accompany the tea. It tastes delicious. Would you like to try it?”
Ling Xihan nodded. Although she was not interested, but in the face of such a girl in line with her tastes, she made a different move. She took a biscuit and ate it. The sweet taste filled her mouth. She looked up at An Mulan and saw that she was looking at her with a smile. The dimples around her mouth were deep. She looked very beautiful, pure and soft.
Ling Xihan"s heart was marked. She always liked such a girl. I thought it was a temporary commercial marriage and a union of interests but I didn"t expect it would bring me such a big surprise. She looked at the girl"s smile and found that the other side made the taste of biscuits sweeter in her mouth.
Ling Xihan looked down, took up her tea cup, and the white vapor covered her face. She said, “Miss An, you can call me Xihan. After all, we are fiancees and you are going to live with me, we will have a closer relationship.” After that, she put down her tea cup, sat upright slightly, and hooked up the corner of her mouth into a smile, which made her usually cold face a little more vivid and beautiful, unexpectedly seductive.
An Mulan"s heart jumped and her cheeks blushed. She quickly warned herself that it was she who had to seduce the villain not be seduced. Hold on! Don"t fall for the other"s beauty!
She admonished herself while she lowered her head shyly, the top of her head concealed the look in her eyes which were not too bashful but her speech was still fluent and relaxed to say, “Xihan, you can call me Mulan, Mu as in right side of the log in the water and Lan, the orchid.”*
*T/N: apparently boat orchids are aka cymbidium
When Lingxi saw her seriously saying her name, there was an unspeakable innocence and charm. Her eyebrows furrowed as she opened her mouth and called out, “Mulan.”
They met for the first time and talked about various topics, naturally mostly about An Mulan. When Ling Xihan raised the topic slightly, An Mulan had disclosed her entire situation to Lingxi Han.
At noon, the housekeeper knocked on the door to call them for lunch and An Mulan and Ling Xihan went down to the living room for lunch.
There are dozens of delicate dishes on the dining table from which it could be seen that Father An regards Ling Xihan seriously. This was the first time An Mulan saw the entire An family at the dining table.
Of four brothers, Eldest Brother and Second Brother, already worked in the company. Third Brother studied art and was considered a well-known artist. Fourth brother was still in college and attended the same school as An Mulan.
These four people were very outstanding, the elder was imposing and careful, the second was elegant and graceful, the third was aesthetically tender and literary, and the fourth was confident and uninhibited. They were a powerful part of the maid"s harem.
But now An Mulan watched them as if they have were only NPCs on the road to revenge part of the mission.
After lunch, Father An walked Ling Xihan to the door of their house and the four brothers naturally accompanied him all the way.
An Mulan secretly sized them up to see their expressions. The eldest and the second wore masks on their faces making her unable to see their mood. The third was worried and the fourth was visibly angry.
An Mulan knows that the video of the maid and the four brothers, which was posted on the campus website, still had a partial impact on these people.
This satisfied her very much. It seemed that everything she had done before had not been in vain.
After today, she would move in to live with Ling Xihan and settle down. The howling wind and torrential rain would not have much to do with her as the four brothers would not be able to find out the truth. In the end, they would only push the matter to their opponents. Even if she was suspected, with the focus on making the marriage succeed and having no motive, she would be washed clean off the suspect list.
An Mulan was in a good mood to say goodbye to all the people who saw them off and took a car to Ling Xihan"s villa on the other side of the city.
Ling Xihan now lived in a villa area in a suburb. Ling Xihan"s residence was in line with her new President ident.i.ty and was not prominently low-key.
There were no servants or housekeepers in her villa because Ling Xihan was a person with a strong sense of privacy. She does not like other people to approach her territory so there was no trace of other people in this villa except the a.s.sistant who occasionally comes to clean up.
Ling Xihan entered the villa, arranged a room close to her bedroom for An Mulan, and said, “This room belongs to you” and left the villa in a hurry.
An Mulan looked at the room and spent two days arranging it neatly. During this time, Ling Xihan was out on business and did not come home.
When Ling Xihan finished what she was doing, she came home at night, opened the door and saw An Mulan in a pink nightdress and ap.r.o.n, carrying a dish of home-cooked food, coming out of the kitchen.
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