It was already almost 10am when the trio woke up the next morning.
Those who needed to accompany their girlfriends like Zhang Ninglang, Old Wai and Tan Yao and those who had their own amusement outside like gambling or whatnot had already gone out.
There was a text from Song Ni on Fu Cheng's phone:
We girls have all gone shopping for clothes for Niannian. The camera and the data cable are both in the drawer of the suite. As for the room card, you guys think of something yourselves. Ms Fang actually hasn't made her decision yet. I feel like she's been deliberately avoiding thinking about this problem. Maybe you should bring her back to Yanzhou when she's still confused and uncertain. Mrs Fang has gone back to accompany Mr Fang. Perhaps Ms Fang said something to her, because she was looking pretty relaxed these past few days. The two elders may be thinking of taking a trip back to their hometown first.
The three hastily got up and showered. Xu Tingsheng got the spare room card for Ms Fang's suite from the Housekeeping department and opened the door. Fu Cheng quickly found the camera, in which were over a dozen photographs of Little Niannian.
The photographs were very well taken. There was Niannian's adorable smiling face, of her looking up and into the camera with her big eyes, and of her wobblingly attempting to walk.
Fu Cheng turned on QQ using the computer in the room. Amongst the older demographic, Weibo and Weixin of Xu Tingsheng's Xingchen Technologies were still far from QQ's match.
Fu Cheng's parents had their icons dimmed, indicating that they were offline. Rather than going through a selection, Fu Cheng sent all of Niannian's photos to his father in one go before typing:
"Mum, Dad, this is your granddaughter. Full name Fu Qing, pet name Niannian. These past two years have really been tough on them."
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtThe they here naturally referred to Ms Fang and Niannian. Fu Cheng did not elaborate, leaving it to their own imagination as they looked at Niannian's little frame and big eyes.
If that connection of blood that was thicker than water truly existed, there was probably no one grandparent alive in this world who would not like her, feel sorry for her as their heart softened…
"My heart aches just looking," Huang Yaming sighed, "I don't believe that your parents' hearts are really made out of stone!"
Xu Tingsheng nodded in agreement.
"Let's hope so," Fu Cheng said rather helplessly, "If they won't let up, there will definitely be a lot of trouble in the future. Ms Fang will probably also be unable to set down her determination. She could refuse to go back with me then."
By going back, he naturally did not mean for Fang Yunyao and Niannian to return to Libei where his parents were. She would definitely be unwilling to go back there, after all, and Fu Cheng himself would also be residing in Yanzhou, the same being true for Xu Tingsheng and co.
It was just that even if they resided in Yanzhou together, things would hold a totally different significance altogether, especially for Ms Fang's psychology, depending on whether Fu Cheng's parents approved.
…...
Meanwhile, in the streets of Chengdu, a bunch of women was also chattering about this matter.
"Ms Fang, are you still going to do something related to education after going to Yanhzou?" Ye Qing asked.
Her relationship with Fang Yunyao had improved quite a bit over the past few days. This could be partially attributed to their ages being closer, which made it easier for them to communicate.
"Oh, I still haven't decided yet," Fang Yunyao answered.
Actually, Fang Yunyao might really mean that she had not yet decided if she would return with Fu Cheng. Still, Ye Qing and the others were unable to sense this underlying layer of meaning.
"You don't have to worry about that. If you want to continue a career in education, just go to Xu Tingsheng's Hucheng, or the training institute. If you want to try something new, you could give internet education a try...he definitely wouldn't dare to not treat you well, at least," Ye Qing said, "And if you want to switch your career path entirely, Zhicheng does real estate as well as a hotel business. I have a shipping business along with some other miscellaneous things. Sis Chu has a trading company...anyway, there are a lot of choices. No rush. You can try them one by one…"
"Well, I…" Fang Yunyao did not know how to respond to that.
"It's just the bar that's not okay, right?" Fang Chen gesticulated, "Remember what we discussed last night? The first thing we're going to do when we get back is tear down Huang Yaming's bar together...that dastardly bar actually dared to chase Ms Fang and Niannian away? They're just asking for it!"
All of them had been present when Ms Fang had poured out her grievances to Fu Cheng at Dujiangyan. On hearing of what Ms Fang and Niannian had experienced at Bright Brilliance, their hearts had all been filled with righteous indignation.
There is really nothing as scary as offending a woman, more so a group of them. While Bright Brilliance was clearly derived from a combination of Huang Yaming's and Tan Yao's names, with the latter having a stake in it too, Ye Qing was also an eager participant in this scheme.
"Right, we won't be satisfied until we wreck the place good. Whenever I imagine how Ms Fang took a train with Niannian in her arms for two days and three nights to see Fu Cheng, but was actually chased out of the bar less than ten minutes after sitting down...I really feel like ripping Huang Yaming and Tan Yao to shreds," Ye Qing said.
"We can't let Fu Cheng off too. He's still the root cause at the end of the day," Someone said.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"That's right! So he was actually part of Rebirth! In that case, since he was singing up on stage at that time, shouldn't he have glanced over and taken a few good looks? Shouldn't he be able to sense her presence somehow?" Someone replied.
Carrying two bags of branded clothing, Little Xiang Ning patted her chest as she thought: Luckily, this has got nothing to do with Xu Tingsheng.
Just like Little Xiang Ning, virtually all of them were carrying shopping bags of varying sizes, with less than two hours having passed too...such was the scariness of girls when their innate natures cease to be suppressed.
After coming to Chengdu, Xu Tingsheng had handed Little Xiang Ning a card for use when she was out alone with the others.
Little Xiang Ning was a bit of a money grubber as she loved to lean against Xu Tingsheng after spending some, snapping her fingers as she said dramatically, "Wah, my heart aches a little." That day, however, Little Xiang Ning would rush to proffer the card first for everything they bought for Little Niannian and Ms Fang.
The current Little Niannian had a completely different look from head to foot. Also, everyone was holding bags that contained Little Niannian's clothes, hats, gloves, even shoes and socks…
As for Ms Fang, after multiple refusals, she too had finally bought some new clothes and a few pairs of shoes. Women love to look beautiful by nature. It was just that the difficulties of the past two years had resulted in her forgetting about herself as she had virtually never bought herself any decent clothes at all during that time.
In Fu Cheng's last two years at Libei, Fang Yunyao had actually loved plain-coloured skirts.
Once in a while, even as she walked to the front of the room, she would naturally sweep back and insert a hairpin into her long hair before smiling as she said, "Alright, let's begin the lesson."
The hearts of all the male students would be made to sway…
She had already changed into a white-coloured long trench coat that day, her beauty leaving all the younger girls in awe.
Little Xiang Ning had seen so many girls trying on and changing clothes that day. She had taken more notice of Ms Fang, and had been left feeling very conflicted as a nagging question popped up that she could not quite bring herself to ask…
"If they're too small, won't that mean that there's no way to feed the baby...Ms Fang's aren't small, but even so, Niannian still needs milk powder. Sigh, how troubling, how depressing."