Chapter 38 Company
"Mom, are you still in your room?" The call was answered quickly.
"She's long gone," Jiang's mother's voice was tinged with the busy background noise. "Your father and I are helping with the decorations at your uncle's house. Weren't you off to pick up your bride? Where are you now?"
Jiang Yining subconsciously touched her nose, glancing guiltily at Xie Shiyan beside her. Xie Shiyan took her hand and walked steadily toward the elevator, a knowing smile playing on his lips.
“I…didn’t go,” Jiang Yining explained softly into the phone. “Yunting said they’d probably be busy until noon, so I…wasn’t too lazy to go.” She could almost picture her mother rolling her eyes on the other end of the line.
"You're incredibly lazy," Mother Jiang said, clearly disappointed in her son. "What about Ayan and the others? You'd better take good care of them."
"Okay, okay," Jiang Yining replied hastily, but her voice lacked confidence.
“They know the place better than I do. If anyone should be helping someone, it should be them helping me… Mom, I’m hanging up now.”
She quickly hung up the call, as if if she hesitated even a second longer, her mother would yank her ear through the airwaves.
The elevator doors slid open and closed silently, carrying the two down smoothly. Jiang Yining opened WeChat and quickly sent a message to her younger brother, Jiang Yunting, who was there to pick up his bride that day. The screen lit up with a reply: [Just getting back to the hotel now, a bit congested on the way, won't arrive until at least 1 a.m., make yourselves at home.]
"Yunting said he wouldn't arrive until after 1 p.m. at the earliest." Jiang Yining put away her phone and turned to Xie Shiyan. "Are you busy? Why don't you go take care of it first? I'll call you again when the banquet is about to start?"
Xie Shiyan led her out of the elevator, through the hotel's magnificent lobby, and straight to the entrance of the underground parking lot. He didn't pause for a moment, and his tone left no room for doubt: "Are you just going to wait here by yourself? Come with me to the company, I have some things to take care of, and then I'll bring you back."
Jiang Yining blinked, then, thinking that sitting idly in the hotel lobby for more than two hours would indeed be boring, she obediently nodded: "Oh, okay."
Time always seems to fly by when he's around.
Xie Shiyan's smile deepened as he gripped her hand and led her toward the sleek, understated black Maybach.
He opened the passenger door, his hand instinctively and protectively cradling her head. Once she was settled, he leaned down and carefully fastened her seatbelt, the buckle making a soft "click."
He closed the car door, walked around the front of the car, and got into the driver's seat. The engine started, and a deep, powerful roar vibrated slightly in the enclosed space. The car smoothly glided out of the parking space and merged into the slightly busy midday traffic.
Inside the carriage, a crisp yet familiar lemon scent lingered faintly in the air, a scent that stirred a deep longing in Jiang Yining's taste buds.
She wanted lemon candy, the kind of hard candy that's so sour it makes your eyes squint, yet the sweetness slowly seeps out. She habitually opened her small chain bag and rummaged through the compartments, her fingertips searching, but it was empty.
The small box of lemon candies she always kept in her bag was now empty. "Ayan," she looked up, her gaze sweeping around the car.
"Is there a convenience store nearby? I want some candy." Her tone was soft and unconsciously coquettish.
Xie Shiyan kept his eyes fixed on the road ahead. Upon hearing this, he used his free left hand to press the switch on the glove compartment in front of the passenger seat.
The lid popped open silently, revealing a transparent acrylic candy box filled to the brim with round, bright yellow lemon candies.
"Wow!" Jiang Yining exclaimed in surprise, her eyes lighting up instantly. She reached out to grab the heavy candy box, her fingertips touching the cool sides of the box.
"Brother Shiyan, don't you dislike this? It's both sour and sweet, how come you've hidden so much in the car?" She looked up at him, her face full of mischievous smiles.
Taking advantage of the red light, Xie Shiyan turned his head to look at her. Sunlight outlined the handsome profile of his face, and his deep eyes were filled with undisguised doting affection, incredibly gentle. "Hmm, she doesn't really like to eat it," he said in a low, calm tone, with a hint of indulgence.
"The taste is a bit strange, but..." He deliberately dragged out his words, his gaze sweeping over her eyes, which were sparkling with surprise, "I can't resist this little glutton's love for it. I always have to keep some on hand, so she doesn't get hungry and start crying again."
The three words "crying" are like a small key; with a "click," they easily unlock the floodgates of memory.
A sweltering afternoon from her elementary school days flashed before Jiang Yining's eyes. Her mother, determined to prevent cavities, had emptied her of all the candies she had hidden.
She was anxious and aggrieved, clinging to Xie Shiyan, who was more than half a head taller than her, like a little tail, her eyes brimming with tears as she pleaded, "Brother Shiyan, candy... just one piece, please? Please..."
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