Chapter 43

Until the end of her time at the hospital, Su Miao Miao still couldn’t understand the meaning of Shang Yan’s words. Before she could ask, she was interrupted—after the young physician who had previously examined Shang Yan left for a moment and returned to the emergency room, his attitude towards the two became more attentive.

Finally confirming that Shang Yan’s burn did not require hospitalization, he enthusiastically escorted the two out of the emergency room and took the initiative to introduce the way out.

Su Miao Miao followed behind Shang Yan in a daze, leaving the hospital.

It was already close to two o’clock in the afternoon at this time.

As the two of them struggled all the way back from Qushan, let alone lunch, they didn’t even take a sip of water.

Shang Yan thought for a moment, then turned to look at the girl behind him, “Not hungry?”

Su Miao Miao was brought back to attention and honestly replied, “I was hungry earlier.”

“Then let me take you to eat.”

“Where are we going?”

Shang Yan didn’t answer, just waved his hand to hail a taxi.

He opened the back door with one hand.

“Get in.”

“…”

The girl’s expression showed obvious hesitation.

Shang Yan smirked.

“Are you afraid I’ll kidnap you and sell you?”

“It’s not that…”

“Don’t worry.” Shang Yan leaned against the door with one hand, smiling as he leaned closer to the girl’s ear, lowering his voice:

“After I really kidnap you, I definitely won’t bear to sell you… It would be so much better to keep you for myself.”

The last sentence was very soft, and Su Miao Miao couldn’t hear it clearly, but that didn’t stop her from feeling the disrespectfulness of the first half and the teasing intention of this person.

The girl’s cheeks swelled unconsciously with anger. She bent down and jumped into the car, ignoring Shang Yan.

Shang Yan smiled and then bent down to get into the car.

The door closed.

Shang Yan smoothly recited a string of addresses.

Since arriving in City C, Su Miao Miao had rarely ventured out of the sanatorium, so she wasn’t familiar with the city. On the contrary, the taxi driver, upon hearing that string of addresses, paused for a moment and unexpectedly glanced at Shang Yan and the girl through the rearview mirror.

—

That area was the most expensive in City C, where it was said that every inch of land was worth its weight in gold.

Especially for someone living there, why would they still need to take a taxi?

With this doubt in mind, the driver pressed on the accelerator, and the car drove off.

About half an hour later, the car stopped outside the villa area.

A security guard rushed out of the guardhouse, obviously with the same curiosity as the taxi driver. But he still respectfully bent down to the car window.

The rear window rolled down, and Shang Yan nodded slightly towards him.

The security guard was momentarily stunned, “Young Master Shang? What brings you here…”

Shang Yan’s smile was faint, showing no inclination to speak.

The security guard was even more tactful. He stopped mid-sentence, swallowed his words, and signaled to his colleagues inside the guardhouse.

The security measures in front of the taxi were manually unlocked by the person in charge inside the guardhouse using a computer key. The metal collision-prevention doors slowly opened to the sides.

The taxi drove inside.

This completely enclosed villa area evidently retained the topography features from its initial construction. The smoothly paved asphalt roads inside were clean as if they had never been touched by dust. Alongside the road, flowers, plants, and trees rose and fell with the terrain, creating a serene and tranquil atmosphere outside the windows.

There were few signs of human activity inside the gates.In fact, as Su Miao Miao looked out the window during the drive, she noticed that this villa area was different from where the Wen family lived. It didn’t seem like a residential area; it was more like being in a vast natural park, with sporadic villas scattered in a few corners.

They were far apart from each other, not interfering with one another.

Living here must feel like living in a secluded paradise…

“It does feel a bit like that.”

The person beside her suddenly spoke.

“…”

Su Miao Miao was momentarily stunned, then realized that she had unconsciously muttered what she was thinking.

She turned her head to look at him.

And met Shang Yan’s gaze, which she didn’t know how long he had been watching her.

“Do you like it here?” Shang Yan asked.

Su Miao Miao thought for a moment. “I like the environment, but it’s also too quiet…”

Quiet to the point where even in the warm sunshine, the air felt inexplicably cool.

Shang Yan regretfully withdrew the words he didn’t manage to say.

He raised his gaze and said to the taxi driver, “Turn right up ahead.”

“Ah…” The driver responded nervously.

He was much clearer than Su Miao Miao. The people living in this “park” were all big shots who could shake City C with just a stomp of their foot.

Although the person sitting in the back seat looked like a student, judging from the security guard’s address just now, he obviously had a big background. It was still unknown which family’s son he was…

With this thought, the driver tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

These forks in the road were evidently all reserved for the private use of those unique standalone villas.

Following the route indicated by Shang Yan, the taxi quickly arrived at the end of this road.

A villa with a modern design and a sense of style appeared in their sight at the end of the road.

At the front of the villa at the end of the road, a woman dressed simply and elegantly stood by the roadside.

Shang Yan paid the fare, opened the door, and led Su Miao Miao out of the car.

As the taxi drove away, the two of them walked across the quiet and clean asphalt road to the villa opposite.

The woman standing by the roadside was evidently surprised, looking at Su Miao Miao with an unexpected gaze.

As they walked over, Shang Yan introduced, “This is Aunt Chen, who my family hired to take care of me. She’s nearly fifty. Her surname is Chen, and I call her Aunt Chen. You can do the same.”

“…”

Su Miao Miao nodded lightly.

At this moment, the two of them arrived in front of Chen Wanfang.

“Aunt Chen,” Shang Yan gestured towards Su Miao Miao, “this is my classmate, Su Miao Miao.”

Chen Wanfang snapped out of her thoughts, nodding with emotion. “What a beautiful young lady.”

The woman’s voice seemed to carry a hint of an accent from elsewhere, adding a unique flavor.

Su Miao Miao obediently inclined her head slightly towards her. “Hello, Aunt Chen.”

“No need to be so polite.” Chen Wanfang smiled, then turned to Shang Yan, asking with a hint of confusion, “Just now, the security guard called to report, and I thought he had made a mistake—wasn’t the plan to go on a day-long outing? Why are you back today?”

Upon mentioning this, the girl’s lovely face beside them seemed to dim.

Shang Yan noticed and instinctively reached out to rub the girl’s long hair.

“Let’s talk inside,” he said.

Chen Wanfang, seeing Shang Yan’s gesture, had a flicker of surprise in her eyes.

But she quickly suppressed her emotions, giving a “hmm” in response to Shang Yan’s words, then turned to open the main door of the villa.

There was a voice from behind—”Don’t touch my head.”

“Why not?”

“…”

“If you don’t give a reason, I’ll pretend I didn’t hear it.”

“…They said it would stunt my growth,” the girl’s voice sounded aggrieved after a while.

The boy chuckled, “They’re lying to you.”

“—You’re touching again!”

“Master shared some of his luck for growing taller with you.”

“…………”

Listening to the playful banter between the boy and the girl, Chen Wanfang couldn’t help but be surprised, her expression a mix of surprise, hesitation, and uncertainty.

Unlocking the password lock, she pushed open the main door of the villa and turned to invite the two inside.

The temperature inside the villa was a comfortable 26 degrees Celsius.

Shang Yan casually removed the coat draped over his shoulders, revealing a black sweater with white bandages underneath.

Chen Wanfang, who had just turned around to say something, was startled.

“What happened?!” she exclaimed.

Su Miao Miao attempted to speak but was interrupted by Shang Yan.

“It’s nothing,” he smiled. “Just got a little burn from the barbecue grill.”

Chen Wanfang’s complexion didn’t look too good—”If you’re all bandaged up like this, how could it be just a simple burn? Don’t just brush it off like it’s nothing,” she said, concerned. “How’s the injury? Should I call a doctor to take a look?”

“Not today, let’s change the dressing tomorrow,” Shang Yan replied, changing the subject. “Aunt Chen, we soaked our lunch with the barbecue grill today, what do you think…?” he continued.

Hearing that they hadn’t eaten lunch yet, Chen Wanfang sighed helplessly. “Why didn’t you call earlier? I could have prepared something for you in advance.”

Then she remembered the reason.

Chen Wanfang glared at Shang Yan reproachfully. “Look at you, not even bringing your phone, and now the poor girl has to go hungry with you—wait here, I’ll go prepare something for you.”

With a worried glance at Shang Yan’s arm, Chen Wanfang hurriedly walked towards the kitchen inside.

The living room was now only occupied by Shang Yan and Su Maomao.

Su Miao Miao’s gaze swept around the ground floor of the villa, but she didn’t see any other people or hear any other sounds. She looked at Shang Yan curiously.

“Didn’t Uncle and Auntie come back?”

“…,” Shang Yan’s eyes flickered. After a moment, he gave a slight smile.

“I don’t live with them.”

Su Miao Miao was taken aback.

Although Shang Yan’s expression seemed to be smiling, there was no hint of amusement in his dark eyes.

With some speculations in her mind, Su Miao Miao chose not to ask further.

After a two-second pause, Shang Yan, for some reason, chuckled softly again. “So, from now on, you can come anytime.”

This time, genuine amusement filled his dark eyes.

Su Miao Miao: “..….”

What was the cause-and-effect relationship behind this “so”?

After a simple lunch, which came late, Shang Yan showed Su Miao Miao around the rooms upstairs, introducing each one.

As soon as they entered the study, the multi-line connected landline phone in the room began to ring.

“Wait a moment,” Shang Yan said, walking over to the phone. He glanced at the caller ID and seemed somewhat surprised.

He raised his hand to signal Su Miao Miao to wait and then pressed the speakerphone button.

The anxious voice of Wu Hongbo came through the speaker of the landline phone.

“Hello? Hello? Is that you, Brother Yan?”

Seeing the curious little head peeking under his eyelids, Shang Yan couldn’t help but shake his head.

He lowered his eyes and gave a distracted “Hmm,” then asked somewhat absentmindedly, “What’s up?”

“Brother Yan, I heard you got hit by the barbecue grill! Is it true or not!?” A reminder came from the side, sounding like Luan Wenze. “If it’s not true, Brother Yan should be on the mountain for the outing now and wouldn’t answer your call.”

“Oh, yeah…”

Wu Hongbo seemed to be stunned for several seconds on the other end of the phone. Then he started shouting at the top of his lungs—

“So you really got burned? Damn, Brother Yan, are you okay!? You’re the hope of our whole group—your hand is even more precious, it’s worth a fortune! It can’t be ruined by a fall outing accident!”

Shang Yan was getting a headache from Wu Hongbo’s shouting.

He clicked his tongue disapprovingly.

Wu Hongbo’s wailing abruptly stopped, instantly silenced.

Su Miao Miao listened in astonishment from the side.

Shang Yan tapped the desk impatiently.

“Who told you?”

———

Since Wu Hongbo knew, it was likely that the whole school knew by now.

“Brother Yan it’s all over the school now! They’re saying you’re a hero, saving your little disciple at the cost of your own life. They even said that the fiery coals from the barbecue grill fell directly on you, and they also said—”

Shang Yan finally couldn’t bear it any longer.

He chuckled disdainfully. “And what else are they saying? That I’m seriously injured and won’t recover, and then I’ll bid farewell to this world?”

Wu Hongbo: “…………”

This topic was a bit frightening, and he dared not continue.

Su Miao Miao finally couldn’t help but laugh softly.

Hearing this sound, Wu Hongbo’s excitement surged.

“Eh? Eh? Did I hear the voice of our little Su beauty? Did you hear it too, or am I imagining things?”

“No, you’re not.”

“Yeah, I heard it too.”

“So little Su is with Brother Yan, then we can rest assured—”

Wu Hongbo’s silly laughter abruptly stopped, like a duck whose neck had been suddenly gripped.

A few seconds later, his voice on the other end of the line became panicked.

“Wait, Brother Yan you’re at home answering the phone, what are you going to do to our little Su!?”

This series of “our little Su” finally touched Shang Yan’s nerves. His eyes darkened.

After a brief silence.

Shang Yan suddenly raised his right hand and kissed the back of it.

—

Subtle sounds of water droplets sparked contemplation.

The others on the line collectively froze.

Meanwhile, Shang Yan lightly licked his upper palate, chuckling softly.

“Guess what it is, and it’ll be exactly that.”