Chapter 68 Sizing Up
Su Niannian listened to Lina's words.
He couldn't help but show a look of surprise.
I never expected this ruthless older brother to be in front of me.
She actually has such a tender side.
Su Niannian asked hesitantly, "Then is Yaoyao no longer alive?"
Lina shook her head: "Yaoyao was tricked away by the second young master of the Shen family at kindergarten when she was three years old. Since that day, she has been missing. The Xie family used all their connections, and even the Gu family helped. They searched everywhere, but seventeen years have passed and there is still no news of Yaoyao."
As the eldest sister-in-law, Lina learned the whole story from Xie Tingyan.
At this point, her voice choked with emotion: "We don't even know if Yao Yao is still alive. She was so young, she didn't even have the ability to survive. We can't imagine what she has been through."
Xie Tingyan's chest heaved violently.
The hand that rested on Lina's shoulder trembled almost imperceptibly.
He fell silent without uttering a word.
The man in front of me was completely different from before.
The sharpness and sinister aura he always carried seemed to have vanished all at once, leaving him radiating immense sorrow.
Su Niannian couldn't help but look at him.
I don't know why.
Seeing Xie Tingyan like this.
It was as if they were all infected by his sadness.
She suddenly felt suffocated in the chest area.
A wave of grief washed over her.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked that question. It reminded you of your painful past."
Lina said understandingly, "Miss Su, please don't say that, and don't blame yourself."
Su Niannian was grateful for Lina's understanding. She regretted that she had overstepped her bounds earlier. Just as she was feeling annoyed, she caught Xie Tingyan's gaze on her out of the corner of her eye.
She looked up in a panic, only to meet his deep gaze.
She thought Xie Tingyan was unhappy that she was talking too much.
But the next second...
Xie Tingyan suddenly said, "Pudding won't attack people. It's usually free-range and there's nowhere in this yard it can't go. I only had the wire mesh lowered because you came today."
Su Niannian instantly understood what he meant.
Xie Tingyan was telling her that he meant her no harm.
Pudding heard Xie Tingyan mention her name.
Its big head was pressed against the wire mesh, squeezing the lion's face into a round, flat shape, making it look like a big cat, howling and whimpering.
Su Niannian turned her head to look and was amused by its appearance.
"Do you want to touch it?" Xie Tingyan asked, glancing at Su Niannian.
"May I?"
Xie Tingyan neither agreed nor disagreed.
He then summoned the servants and had them open the iron fence.
The servant walked to one side of the iron mesh, reached out and pressed a button. With a rumbling sound, the large iron mesh slowly rose forward like a roller shutter.
Until it rose into the air.
Pudding saw that the wire mesh that had been blocking him had disappeared, shook his big head to shake off the grass that had brushed against his head, and he became a clean little lion again.
Oh, no.
The lion is already eighteen years old.
Su Niannian stood beside Xie Tingyan, and saw Pudding, who had regained her freedom, running towards them with brisk steps.
She couldn't help but feel nervous.
After all, it was her first time getting so close to a lion.
It would be a lie to say I'm not afraid.
"Don't be afraid, Pudding won't bite," Xie Tingyan said from the side.
Su Niannian said "Oh," and then she felt a furry sensation on her calves.
Looking down, she saw Pudding rubbing its big head against her calf.
Noticing her gaze, it suddenly raised its large head and let out a howl at Su Niannian.
Su Niannian was so frightened that she dared not move. Pudding's gentle chirping sounded deafening to Su Niannian's ears.
Lina laughed and said, "Miss Su, this pudding looks scary, but it's all bark and no bite. Just like Tingyan, it's all just for show. Just think of it as a big cat."
Xie Tingyan frowned.
Clearly, they don't quite agree.
Su Niannian also realized that Pudding was actually not a threat.
Just as she reached out to touch its head.
The back door, not far away, opened.
A black Maybach drove in.
"Sir, your uncle has arrived," the butler hurriedly announced.
Xie Tingyan glanced at Xie Shen and said, "Lina, you stay here with Miss Su and play with Pudding. I'll go take care of Uncle."
"Go ahead."
Xie Tingyan walked towards the car.
Su Niannian looked up.
A middle-aged man stepped out of the car. He was about sixty years old, with the marks of time on his face. His lips were tightly pursed, making him look very serious and unsmiling. He was tall and upright, and he was no less imposing than Xie Tingyan.
He gives the impression of being upright but also rigid and conventional.
The two stood and talked for a while.
Then they headed towards the villa.
Just as Su Niannian was about to look away, she bumped into Xie Shen, who was looking over unintentionally.
Xie Shen glanced at her and said, "Tingyan, this young lady looks unfamiliar."
Xie Tingyan casually replied, "Lina's new friend."
Xie Shen nodded thoughtfully and didn't ask any more questions.
Neither Su Niannian nor Lina took this incident to heart.
The two sat on wicker chairs on the lawn and chatted.
The maid brought two glasses of freshly squeezed coconut juice.
"Lina, is Pudding really seventeen years old?"
"You wouldn't believe it."
Su Niannian nodded.
Lina looked at Pudding lying at Su Niannian's feet and said.
"Yaoyao watched an animated film when she was little."
Su Niannian didn't know what was wrong with her, but she actually interrupted, "Is it The Lion King?"
Lina paused for a moment and said, "Niannian, how did you know?"
Su Niannian vaguely remembered that she seemed to have such a memory.
I'm not sure if this memory is real.
She had dreamt about it.
Because her classmate had said something similar.
“After watching The Lion King, my elementary school classmate said she wanted to raise a Simba.”
"Oh, I see. Yao Yao also watched The Lion King and really liked Simba. She said she wanted to raise a lion too. I thought it was just childish talk, but Xie Tingyan, that doting brother, heard it and immediately ran to Grandpa to ask him to buy a lion for his little sister. Grandpa also loves his granddaughter. After hearing this, he immediately sent someone to select a three-month-old white lion cub and brought it back for his granddaughter to raise."
"Later, Yaoyao went missing, and Tingyan raised this white lion with him."
Su Niannian couldn't help but sigh. She never expected that Xie Tingyan had a soft heart hidden beneath his seemingly cold exterior.
When Su Niannian entered the room, she was walking right past Xie Shen, who was leaving.
Xie Shen's expressionless gaze lingered on Su Niannian's face for a moment.
He then walked past her.
Su Niannian felt a chill run down her spine under his gaze; she had never met such a serious person before.
Xie Tingyan returned after seeing off the guests.
The maid served dinner.
Su Niannian kept Gu Yuheng in her heart.
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