Chapter 360 Disappointment

As he uttered her name, it carried an indescribable tenderness, slowly creeping into Zhang Yueran's ear, tickling her and making her want to reach out and scratch her earlobe.

She squeezed her palms to stop the strange movement.

The courage in my heart, like a seed that has been watered with a drop of warm water, quietly swelled a little more.

Zhang Yueran suddenly didn't want to leave like this.

Even if it's just standing here, it's good to stay a little longer and hear him say a few more words.

In that moment of urgency, my mind went completely blank, and I couldn't find a suitable topic no matter how hard I tried.

Before she could figure it out, Zhou Xingzhi's gaze fell into the void, he nodded slightly in her direction, and turned to leave.

Zhang Yueran stood there, stunned, her gaze following his back until he pushed open the door to the left side hall and disappeared behind the door, only then did she come back to her senses.

After a while, she walked unsteadily toward the right side hall.

It's like having just had a short but beautiful dream, only to wake up feeling lost.

Upon entering the side hall, bursts of laughter filled the air.

Sister Sun told some funny story that made Li Xiaoxuan and Nan Zhiyi laugh so hard they almost fell over, and even Comrade Lin Weila showed a reserved smile.

Nan Zhi saw her younger sister come in and asked, "Why did you take so long?"

Zhang Yueran forced a smile, sat down on the chair next to Li Xiaoxuan, and casually replied, "No, I just watched the birds outside for a while."

Before Li Xiaoxuan could respond to this, Lin Weila, sitting opposite her, spoke up:

"Those are no ordinary birds. The parrots are rainbow lorikeets that Qin Fen had someone bring from the south. Their plumage is very vibrant, and the myna has been trained since it was a chick. It's very intelligent and can say quite a few words. You can't usually see them on the market."

Her words sounded like an introduction, but her tone and expression clearly implied that Zhang Yueran was unsophisticated and couldn't even recognize the species of birds, revealing a sense of superiority.

The laughter in the side hall faded away.

Nan Zhiyi frowned slightly and glanced at her younger sister, Zhang Yueran, who had already lowered her head.

Li Xiaoxuan was very unhappy and said in a sharp tone, "So what if it's rare? Who can't tell that it's a parrot or a myna? When we feed it and play with it at home, my mother-in-law and even Qin Fen himself just call it 'bird, bird, bird', don't they? Do we have to call it by its real name, 'Rainbow Lorikeet'? Isn't that exhausting!"

Lin Wei choked, lifted her eyelids to glance at Li Xiaoxuan, and knew perfectly well that Li Xiaoxuan was determined to protect the two sisters and distance herself from her.

She felt embarrassed, but she couldn't directly confront Li Xiaoxuan, so she could only suppress her anger and forcefully slam a card on the table, making a loud noise.

Zhang Yueran hadn't really taken Lin Wei's words to heart; her mind was still preoccupied with the light and shadow in the corridor and that person...

Seeing Li Xiaoxuan stand up for her, Zhang Yueran patted Li Xiaoxuan's arm.

"Xiaoxuan is right, those little birds are all very cute. That little myna is especially interesting; it even asked me, 'Have you eaten yet?' in a Beijing accent, which sounded a bit like Minister Qin's tone."

Li Xiaoxuan laughed heartily: "That's right! Qin Fen treats it like his own son, and he personally teaches it to talk whenever he has time. No wonder it imitates his mannerisms!"

While drawing cards, Sister Sun interjected with a smile, "Yes, yes, yes, when you have your own kids in the future, I think Qin Fen will definitely have to personally take charge and teach the kids to talk every day. He might even be more enthusiastic than teaching this myna bird!"

Nan Zhiyi had heard Li Xiaoxuan complain privately before that her relatives and friends were always urging her to have children, which annoyed her to no end.

Seeing that Sister Sun had brought up the topic again, she played a card that Sister Sun needed.

When Sister Sun saw the cards she played, she beamed and pushed the cards over: "Hey! I won! A pure suit! Zhiyi, Zhiyi, it seems your skills are really not good. You've already given me a winning hand?"

Nan Zhiyi smiled and counted out the chips, handing them over. "Oh dear, I was careless. I have to be more serious next time and win it back!"

With this diversion, the topic of children was naturally steered away from the conversation.

Li Xiaoxuan winked gratefully at Nan Zhiyi, then nudged the tip of Nan Zhiyi's shoe with her foot under the table.

Seeing that Zhang Yueran had been sitting quietly beside her, her eyes drifting out the window, she assumed she was bored and asked softly, "Yueran, is it boring sitting here? Want to play a couple of rounds?"

Zhang Yueran quickly waved her hand, "No need, no need, Xiaoxuan, you guys have fun. I just can't be without my sister, I'm willing to be her little shadow, wherever she is, I'll stay there!"

She deliberately acted silly, which made Nan Zhiyi and Li Xiaoxuan laugh.

After a few more rounds, the sky outside the window turned a deep blue, and Zhang Yueran got up to turn on the light.

At this moment, Qin Fen appeared at the entrance of the side hall. He leaned against the door frame, tapped the open door with his finger, and said loudly with a smile, "Ladies, please stay for dinner tonight. I have already asked the master chef from Fengzeyuan to come over with his tools and cook. They should be arriving soon, so please don't refuse!"

Before anyone could respond, he continued, "I've notified all your families! Old Gu is coming over later, I've also invited Deputy Editor-in-Chief Deng, and Vera too. Your Director Huang said he'll be there on time. Let's all get together and have some fun today! The wives of the other brothers are coming over too, the more the merrier!"

Qin Fen made thorough arrangements, even inviting everyone's husbands, so the women naturally couldn't refuse.

Sister Sun was the first to agree: "You always pull these surprise attacks! Okay, since you've made all the arrangements, we'll respectfully comply."

Lin Weila nodded indifferently.

Li Xiaoxuan smiled and glared at Qin Fen: "You always have so many ideas!"

Nan Zhiyi glanced down at her watch, thinking of Xiaoman, but with Sister Zhang there, she didn't need to worry too much.

"Then we'll be in your way."

Zhang Yueran thought that Zhou Xingzhi would probably join them for dinner too...

Li Xiaoxuan originally wanted to invite everyone to move to the living room, where it would be more comfortable to sit, drink tea, and chat.

But Sister Sun was in high spirits and refused to leave.

"No, no, no, this is perfect! We can talk and play at the same time. You guys just took a lot of my winnings, and I haven't even recouped them yet, so we can't just break up like this!"

Her subordinates continued shuffling the cards efficiently.

The group had no choice but to continue staying with them.

Nan Zhiyi's mind was no longer on the card table.

She was preoccupied with Gu Xiao, and was somewhat absent-minded when playing her cards, giving away several points and losing a lot of chips.

This delighted Sister Sun, who was eager to recoup her losses, and she happily collected her chips.

About half an hour later, Gu Xiao appeared at the door and knocked to signal.

Nan Zhiyi's gaze was fixed on him. He must have gone home and changed his clothes. He was wearing a white shirt, a gray sweater, and black trousers. Under the warm yellow light, he was handsome and captivating.

She called his name softly, "Gu Xiao".

The other women at the table also greeted him with smiles.

Gu Xiao nodded to the group, "You can continue."

As he spoke, he strode up behind Nan Zhiyi and placed one hand on the back of her chair.

Nan Zhiyi looked up at him. "Go play with them! Why are you standing here looking at me?"

"I've already greeted them, I'll go over later."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Qin Fen's loud voice rang out from the other end of the living room, "Old Gu! Hurry up and come out! Your wife won't get lost! You're the only one missing! What are you dawdling for!"

Upon hearing this, Gu Xiao raised an eyebrow helplessly, whispered to Nan Zhiyi, "I'll go over there for a moment." He then nodded slightly to the others at the card table, turned, and walked towards the door.