Despite his gentle tone, Tong Xiaohuai could detect the teasing and mockery in his words.
She turned around and bravely met his gaze.
After all, the word "admit defeat" doesn't exist in her dictionary.
"Forget it, let's just have a couple of bottles of sorghum liquor here!" Tong Xiaohuai said, raising an eyebrow.
Yanbo chuckled!
"Heroine, please spare me! Can I request to drink red wine instead of sorghum liquor?"
Yanbo really didn't have the guts to drink too much of that stomach-burning stuff.
As for Tong Xiaohuai, because he always hung out with Boss Tong and a bunch of rough men, he had actually drunk quite a bit of sorghum liquor.
"Look how pitiful you are, I'll reluctantly grant your request!"
Tong Xiaohuai wasn't reluctant to offer Yan Bo these vintage wines; rather, she was persuaded by his "atmosphere theory." Besides, she was genuinely afraid that if she randomly grabbed a bottle from the wine cabinet and opened it, Yan Bo would drag her to some other strange place.
She was only afraid that Yan Bo might suddenly go crazy, but she seemed to have overlooked one point: if she insisted on not going anywhere, this was her territory, and Yan Bo couldn't do anything to her.
He bent down and took a bottle of wine from the cabinet under the bar; it was the same red wine we had drunk that day.
Yanbo took the red wine, reached for the corkscrew on the bar, and deftly corked the bottle.
Tong Xiaohuai handed over two more wine glasses, Yan Bo poured them, and the two sat down on the bar stools by the bar.
Are you really that busy?
Yan Bo held his wine glass and slowly swirled the wine inside, his gaze once again firmly fixed on Tong Xiaohuai's face.
The small bar was dimly lit, even with a slightly ambiguous light pink hue. The thin layer of pink on Tong Xiaohuai's face further accentuated her childishness and tenderness as an eighteen-year-old girl.
At this moment, in Yan Bo's eyes, Tong Xiaohuai was no longer the eldest daughter of the Tong family, but merely a little girl whom he found increasingly difficult to let go of.
Tong Xiaohuai leaned against the bar with one hand and held a cup in the other, swaying it slowly.
Her long eyelashes drooped, her gaze fixed on the dark red wine color.
Are you busy?
I guess so!
However, it seems that something else, more important than being busy, is troubling her.
But she had no way to tell anyone about these troubles, not even the person in front of her.
Yan Bo received no answer and did not press for an answer; he simply watched her quietly.
Watching her fan-like eyelashes cast two rows of shadows on her fair face, gently tugging at his heartstrings.
The helplessness subtly revealed in her lowered eyes struck his supposedly strong heart heavily.
The stubbornness revealed by her slightly pursed lips made him feel suffocated.
"Are you having any difficulties? Is there anything I can do to help?"
Tong Xiaohuai's fragility made Yan Bo surrender so easily.
The idea of ignoring her for a while had long since vanished into thin air. He felt a pang of disgust and self-reproach towards himself for deliberately trying to distance himself from her.
Tong Xiaohuai looked up, smiled at him, brought the cup to her lips, and took a small sip of wine.
The glass was moved aside, and a thin layer of crimson wine clung to my lips, glistening with moisture, which was incredibly tempting.
Yan Bo couldn't help but swallow. He felt a little embarrassed about his perfectly normal physiological reaction. Then, he quickly looked away from her lips and said...
"Tell me about it. Even if I can't help, I'll be a good listener."
Tong Xiaohuai gave him a deep look. “My parents went on a trip abroad, but for some reason, I always felt that they were unhappy! I thought that it should be their belated honeymoon, and they should be very happy.”
What she said was only part of what troubled her; she naturally couldn't tell him the other part.
Because he is the culprit behind all the trouble.
Yan Bo was somewhat surprised. He had assumed her troubles stemmed from the chaotic and demanding work at the Tong family's home. He hadn't expected it to be about her parents.
Could it be that there's something else going on about Mr. and Mrs. Tong going abroad?
"Perhaps it's just your imagination?"
Until he understood the situation clearly, this was all he could do to comfort her.
However, Yanbo was still very happy that she was willing to tell him these things.
At the very least, the wall she deliberately built that day was torn down by her own hands today.
However, he still couldn't figure out why she suddenly became wary that day. Was it because of Ling Qingyun?
Or is it for some other reason?
"Maybe..."
Tong Xiaohuai herself couldn't find the answers to her parents' questions.
"I really hope this is just an illusion. It's because I'm so preoccupied with trivial matters that I'm so anxious and insecure."
Tong Xiaohuai often felt that her intuition was quite accurate, but this time, she hoped that her intuition would fail her.
"Don't worry, your parents aren't children. With so many years of relationship, how could they not be happy? They're probably just tired from the journey, which is why you had that misconception."
Yan Bo couldn't bear to see her so down, so even though he didn't know the actual situation, he tried his best to put her in a positive light to comfort her.
As children, we can't really interfere too much in our parents' affairs. After all, they are adults, and they are capable of bearing the consequences themselves, whether good or bad.
"Hmm..." Tong Xiaohuai's tense lips relaxed slightly, clearly indicating that Yan Bo's persuasion had some effect.
"By the way, I went back to the capital a few days ago and only returned this afternoon. I brought back a lot of local specialties and many tonics. When do you have time, I can give you some."
While tidying up in the afternoon, I wondered when I would be able to hand over that big bag of local specialties to her.
Unexpectedly, I didn't have much patience to argue with her.
Yan Bo smiled bitterly to himself. Now he finally realized that competing with the person he liked was just a way of torturing himself.
Something flashed in Tong Xiaohuai's eyes, but she didn't ask anything.
She simply responded with a faint sound, then pushed her empty wine glass towards Yan Bo, gesturing for him to pour her some more.
Yanbo poured her a small half-cup and couldn't help but nag, "Don't drink too much, it's bad for your health."
"Hmm..." Tong Xiaohuai responded again.
These past few days, she's needed to drink some alcohol every night to fall asleep.
Because she was afraid of Uncle Ming nagging and worrying him, she only took half of the ten sleeping pills in the end.
Since medicine was not an option, alcohol became the only recourse.
Little did she know, alcohol was not a good thing either. The night before last, she drank a bit too much and slept directly on the carpet. As a result, she caught a cold and developed a fever the next day.
She was in good health and her fever subsided that day. However, she hadn't had much of an appetite for the past two days, so Uncle Ming forbade her from going out and told her to rest at home.
Only today, after she repeatedly emphasized that she was fine, did Uncle Ming reluctantly allow her to come out for a walk.
"I'll treat you to dinner tomorrow. Please bring some local specialties with you."
Tong Xiaohuai didn't care about those local specialties; she just wanted an excuse to meet him.
After she said it, she paused for a moment, but it was too late to take it back.
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