Iris stared intently at Lin Leyao, looking her up and down, and asked suspiciously, "Who are you? Are you Ying's friend?"
Xin Ying calmly replied, "I am her wife."
"Wife?" Iris exclaimed in shock. "Ying got married? When did she get married? Didn't she promise me that she would marry me when I grew up?"
Iris fired off a series of questions, but Lin Leyao didn't answer, and the atmosphere between the two fell silent.
Seemingly realizing that what she had just said was inappropriate, Iris rubbed the fabric at her waist with her palms. After a while, she looked up at Lin Leyao and introduced herself in a low voice: "Hello, my name is Iris."
Lin Leyao replied, "My name is Lin Leyao."
"Lin, Le, Yao." Iris tried hard to pronounce the name clearly, repeating it word by word. After a while, she blinked her clear blue eyes and smiled, saying, "You are Ying's wife, and I am her childhood sweetheart. From now on, you can call me Iris, or you can call me Ying's childhood sweetheart. We can be friends from now on."
Hearing Iris's indistinct Chinese pronunciation, and hearing her solemnly declare that she was Xin Ying's childhood sweetheart, Lin Leyao lowered her eyes.
For some reason, Lin Leyao asked, "Iris, how old are you this year?"
Iris replied, "Nineteen."
Lin Leyao asked, "Do you know how old Xin Ying is?"
Iris blurted out, "Thirty."
"Hmm. Do you know what 'green plum' means?"
Iris was puzzled for a moment, wondering why Lin Leyao asked that, but soon she heard Lin Leyao say something.
"Qingmei refers to two people who are of similar age and have a very good relationship and grew up together. The girl is called Qingmei."
Iris pondered for a moment, then asked, puzzled, "What does 'similar' mean?"
"..." Lin Leyao skipped over the question and continued, "Xin Ying is eleven years older than you, and you two didn't grow up together, so you're not her childhood sweetheart, but someone else."
Hearing this, Iris's eyes lit up, and she asked, "What's the relationship?"
"You are her junior, and she is your senior. In the future, if someone asks you, just say that she is your senior."
Is this relationship closer than that of childhood sweethearts?
Lin Leyao nodded seriously: "It's similar to blood relation."
"Ah!" Iris screamed, overjoyed at having gained some new knowledge.
Lin Leyao scratched her cheek, finding the little girl's lively personality and innocent face rather amusing.
Taking advantage of the fact that the foreigner didn't understand Chinese and had been spouting nonsense, Lin Leyao finally felt a little guilty. She picked up the pastry gift box that she had placed by the wall next to the door earlier and said sincerely, "This is for you, consider it our greeting gift."
Seeing the elegant and graceful Chinese calligraphy on the gift box, Iris was overjoyed. Her eyes swept over the bright and beautiful Eastern woman in front of her, and she thought to herself that this person was really a good person, and she would be very satisfied to have her as Ying's wife.
She absolutely had to be friends with this beautiful woman!
Iris, who had originally planned to leave, was no longer in a hurry and chatted with Lin Leyao.
Iris asked, "Do you know who that man inside is?"
Lin Leyao nodded: "It's Uncle Xin Ying."
"You know that?" Iris was very surprised. She didn't expect Ying to tell his wife his secret. It seems that the two of them have a very good relationship.
Iris glanced at the middle-aged man inside through the glass window, her face contorted with displeasure: "He's a bad person. He used to bully Ying because she was young and hurt her!"
Lin Leyao's face showed astonishment upon hearing Iris's words.
Ignoring Xin Ying's current state, Iris continued, "Ying almost died when she was little. My father was her doctor, and I—"
Ring ring—
Iris's phone rang in her bag, and she quickly answered it when she saw who was calling.
She answered several times, hung up the phone, looked up at Lin Leyao, and said, "White is coming to pick me up, so I'll be going now. See you later!"
After saying that, Iris waved and walked a long way away.
Iris didn't finish her sentence, and Lin Leyao was stunned for a long time because of her words.
She remembered Xin Ying mentioning last night that she had been treated at this hospital when she was a teenager. And from what Iris said today, she learned that the doctor who treated Xin Ying back then must have been Iris's father.
According to her, all of this was caused by Uncle Xin Ying.
The seemingly refined middle-aged man inside almost killed Xin Ying.
So why has he been coming to see Xin Ying so frequently these past two days?
--------------------
Author's Note:
Iris will appear again later, as an ally! ≧ω≦ Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants between 2022-02-17 00:00:13 and 2022-02-17 23:59:59!
Thank you to the little angel who threw the grenade: 55157345 (1 grenade);
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 30
After Iris left, the entire corridor of the ward floor was quiet.
The two people were still talking in the ward when Lin Leyao took two steps to the side.
The ward door lock malfunctioned; with a ding, the lock cylinder disengaged, and the door slowly opened a crack.
A deep baritone voice reached Lin Leyao's ears.
"Your family isn't short of money, why would you go through with an arranged marriage? And the other woman is just a young actress, what good will she do for you?"
Xin Pengchi's face was full of disapproval.
Xin Ying sat on the hospital bed, with soft pillows behind her, and replied calmly, "I'm at the age where I should get married. She has a good personality, and I know her and the Ji family very well. Wouldn't it be a good choice to marry her?"
"A good choice?" Xin Pengchi asked incredulously. "I heard that the Ji family company has been having problems lately. What's so good about this marriage alliance? The Ji family can't give you a boost right now; they might even drag you down!"
Xin Ying remained silent.
Xin Pengchi paced back and forth a couple of steps, then looked up and asked, "So you're arranging this marriage because it's a good match, not because you have feelings for this young girl?"
A silence fell over the VIP ward. After a while, Xin Ying slowly said, "Does having feelings really matter? Isn't it better for two people in one room to treat each other with respect?"
Xin Pengchi stared intently at Xin Ying's face for a long time, then looked away as if finally confirming something, and sighed: "It's good that you treat each other with respect, but you'll separate in a few years. Xiao Ying, marrying someone of the same sex goes against the laws of nature. Dad will not say anything because he dotes on you, but he's getting old, and you should also think about him..."
A gentle breeze blew in, and the door closed again in the direction of the wind, completely blocking out the sound inside.
The corridor fell silent again. Lin Leyao stood there, stunned, feeling as if she had been doused with a bucket of ice water, the chill running down her spine.
The conversation inside continued.
Upon hearing Xin Pengchi's words, Xin Ying, who had remained calm and composed, suddenly darkened her eyes.
She interrupted Xin Pengchi, saying, "Third brother, you were the kindest to me among all my brothers when we were little."
Xin Pengchi's expression suddenly turned strange, and his voice gradually lowered before abruptly stopping.
Xin Ying continued: "Back then, Dad was busy with work, and my fifth and sixth brothers didn't want to take care of me because I was a little girl. Whenever you had free time, you would take me out to play. I thought that even when I was eighty years old, you would still be by my side to take care of me."
At this point, Xin Pengchi's relaxed expression vanished, his eyes darkening as he pondered something.
“We haven’t seen each other for over ten years. I’m very grateful that you came to see me this time because of the hotel explosion. But Third Brother, I’ll still call you Third Brother, so please don’t interfere in my life. I know you’ve kept in touch with your family all these years. I don’t know what Aunt Dai said to you, after all, she’s the mother of you and my brothers, but I hope you won’t gossip about anything concerning me, including my partner.”
“Xiaoying…” Xin Pengchi began, stunned.
“If you came to see me these past few days because of Xiaohai, I would like to say that I have no objection to her returning to China. I just hope that she will not bother me after she returns to China.”
As soon as Xin Ying finished speaking, Xin Pengchi's face immediately turned ugly. He wanted to say something, but after opening his lips, he left the hospital without making a sound.
The next morning at nine o'clock, Lin Leyao boarded a plane back to China.
Xiaomi and others were waiting at the exit to greet the passengers.
We got into the van, and it headed towards the film studio.
Xiaomi was listless and preoccupied the whole way.
Lin Leyao asked curiously, "What's wrong? Why do you look so worried?"
Xiaomi held her phone, her lips trembling, and finally said, "You'll find out when we get back to the set?"
Before she could ask any further questions, Lin Leyao's phone rang.
Lin Leyao clicked to answer the call, and Xiao Yan's serious tone entered her ears.
"How did you offend the investors in this production? Such a big thing happened and you didn't tell me? Xiaomi didn't tell me either? Do you know that Producer Wu contacted me yesterday and said he hopes you will withdraw from the show!"
After hearing this, Lin Leyao finally understood why Xiao Mi looked so upset.
She cleared her throat and said softly, "Sister Yan, I'll handle this. Don't worry."
"Me, in a hurry?" Xiao Yan's voice suddenly rose. "How could I not be in a hurry! You wait, I'll finish this urgent work and go to your film set to talk to Producer Wu in person!"
The phone call ended, and a slight tension formed in the car.
Xiaomi timidly opened her mouth and called out, "Sister Leyao—"
What happened after I left that day?
"Huh?" Xiaomi didn't react, and a look of confusion appeared on her face for a moment.
Lin Leyao asked again, "What happened after I splashed Mr. Wang that day?"
Xiaomi began her narration: "After you threw a glass of wine at Mr. Wang that day, he got really angry and kept yelling. He was so loud that the staff in the other private rooms came out when they heard him, and they all knew that you had offended the investors. And now it's rumored that Mr. Wang said he wants you to go and apologize to him in person, or he will withdraw his investment."
After saying that, Lin Leyao remained silent.
In the dimly lit carriage, Lin Leyao's expression was unreadable, and Xiao Mi couldn't figure out what she was thinking.
The van was driving along the provincial highway when it suddenly braked hard. Lin Leyao and Xiao Mi in the back seat lost their balance and were thrown forward.
Steadying herself, Lin Leyao asked the driver, "What's wrong?"
The driver's voice was tense: "There seems to be someone lying on the road?"
Lin Leyao opened the car door and saw a person lying on the roadside ten meters in front of the nanny van, with a bicycle lying in the grass next to it.
Lin Leyao walked forward, and Xiao Mi reached out to grab her but couldn't.
Upon closer inspection, Lin Leyao saw that the person lying on the ground was a young woman. Judging from the helmet she was wearing, her clothes, and the style of her bicycle, Lin Leyao guessed that the woman was a cyclist who had fainted on the roadside after some unknown incident.