Chapter 164 - A Plan

A tall and lean man in a brown jacket stood at the doorstep with a stack of files in his hands. Silver rimmed glasses adorned his face and his overall look spoke of an honest and diligent man. Behind him stood a girl in a simple cream colored blouse and jeans with a stylish red scarf wrapped around her neck. She had an amiable and innocent smile on her face. They were waiting for the door to be opened so that they could enter the mansion.  Finally the pair entered and they were greeted by a butler before being escorted to a spacious room where two men sat in the chairs and a young girl sat poised on the couch.

The man in the brown coat walked forward and introduced himself,"Director Shi Qinglan,I am Si Ming,the social worker who has been recently been assigned to this case and this is my assistant,Miss Shi Xaio Ai." 

Shi Qinglan nodded politely to the two people,not letting any expresssions on his face. There was no sing or recognition in his face as he invited them to sit.

Si Ming then turned towards the young and graceful girl and murmured,"And you must be the lovely Shan Shan." The young girl nodded politely but said nothing.

Si Ming then looked at the other man in question as if waiting for his introduction.  Shi Qinglan smiled and politely introduced,"Mr Si,this in my brother in law and business partner,Mr Qin Yung."

Though the man was introduced leisurely,Shi Qinglan observed the young woman's reaction as he stressed the word brother in law. And Shi Qinglan was not disappointed because Shi Xaio Ai gave him the perfect reaction with her eyes widening shooting to the man's face while her hands tightened a bit. 

Acknowledging the man,Si Ming hen began,"Nice to meet you Mr Qin.Very well. Now that the introductions are out of the way let me just go over with the regulations with you Director Shi. We understand that this is not new to you but as you know your previous case worker has been caught in his wrong doing and so now all the cases under him are below the scanner. So it is better to follow the procedures. First we will need to interview Miss Shan Shan and you.  The next step will be the evaluation in which we will be interviewing each of you individually and then finally we will be having a one on one interview with you to determine the other foster kids you are going to have. Usually in a foster family we try that there are both a mother and father figure for the children but you are already a pre approved foster parent so that experience will also be taken into consideration. For today.."

Even as Si Ming continued to talk,Shi Ai paid no attention. She was supposed to have been distracted today but she did not even have to pretend her distraction.  She had not expected her biological father to be present here at this moment. She knew that Shi Qinglan had wanted to unbalance her and she realized that he had succeeded. Her focus should have been on observing Shan Shan but she could not move her eyes away from Qin Yung. Qin Yung sat there looking at her from time to time with a puzzled expression on his face as if trying to recollect if he had seen her somewhere. 

It was only after Shi Qinglan started to talk about the man did she realize what was going on. Shi Qinglan hoped to hit two targets with one arrow tonight,"Mister Si,I have nothing to hide so you are welcome to proceed as per the regulations.  I only ask that you be careful and kind with the children. I may be a foster parent to these children but they are like my own flesh and blood. My little Shan Shan is actually the most precious of all the children I have fostered until now. This is because she is of the age my niece was when shebwas lost in a tragic accident. Shan Shan reminds me of her. My whole purpose for fostering these children is that I hope that somewhere someone is also providing for our child. But Shan Shan has been feeling a little unwell since last night so.."

Finding her chance,Shi Ai interrupted,"Mr Shi,it's okay of she is a bit unwell. Children tend to worry a lot and she must be concerned about her new upcoming change in environment. She does look pale. I can take her back to her room and we can get the one on on interview in her bedroom where she can rest and answer. Mr Si can conduct your interview right here."

Actually Shi Qinglan had been going to ask for the interview date to be pushed forward as the medication they had started last night needed some time to seep properly into the blood flow as they had to be given in small undetectable  ways.

But now that she had offered to take the personal interview immediately they were at a loss on how to refute. Just then a maid walked in with a tray laden with a few cups and a plate of cookies. Taking this opportunity Shi Qinglan refuted and said,"There is time still to conduct the interview. Let us first have a few biscuits and tea. Please Mr Si and Miss Shi. As he passed the cup to Shi Ai, Shi Qinglan had a small smirk on his face. His plan had succeeded. He could see that Shi Xaio Ai was fl.u.s.tered. Her eyes were straying to Qin Yung and her hands were fiddling with a ring on her finger. She wanted to talk to her father and her curiosity was at it's peak as she tried to sit still..

If Shi Qinglan had been able to peep inside Xaio Ai's brain he would have known that he was gloating over nothing and his plan had rather failed miserably. Because Xaio Ai was restless and fidgety not out of curiosity but out of wanting to control her urge to commit murder. She looked at Qin Yung repeatedly as a thought played in a loop in her head. She should simply murder the man with the poisonous ring in her hand.

Her hatred was almost at it's peak

To control and calm herself, Shi Ai picked up the tea cup in front of her bringing it to her mouth but the cup slipped from her hand at the last minute,spilling the tea on herself and the carpeted floor. Screaming,Shi Ai stood up as she tried to get rid on the burning liquid.

Turning to the girl,Shi Ai said panicking, "Shan Shan please show me to the washroom."With that,before anyone could utter a word the young girl had been held by the wrist and taken away from the hallway. A discreet glance later, a lady maid followed  the two people who were walking away.

Shan Shan was in shock at being grabbed by the lady so suddenly and confused as well. She had been given strict instructions to not talk to these people at all of she wanted to live but now this person had dragged her here alone. Shan Shan wondered  what punishment she would receive for this. That was when Shan Shan spied the woman following them at a discreet pace. Shan Shan was about to show her the door and leave but her wrist was held tightly as she was dragged into the washroom before the door was tightly closed.

In a loud voice,Shi Ai said,"Miss Shan Shan please hold this scarf for me. It is a limited edition and cannot get wet while I clean up my jeans. Thankfully the tea did not spill on my blouse or ot would have been ruined." Shi AI continued to chatter in a loud voice seemingly not wanting to ask anything. The maid that stood outside listening to everything was nodding in satisfaction as Shan Shan kept quiet and did not try to ask for help.

But Shan Shan was quiet not because she had been obedient to their threats but because she stood in shock staring at the woman's neck where in small letters was a simple question,"Do you need to be rescued?"

Shan Shan was terrified. Was this some kind of a test to see if she was loyal or was this really true and there was hope for her. She stood still as she tried to come up with an answer. 

Seeing the terrified hope on the child's face,Shi Ai felt her heart ache. The child was even scared to hope for rescue. Giving in to impulse,Shi Ai extended her hand to clutch the child's cold one giving her a reassuring nod.

Seeing into the beautiful angel eyes Shan Shan believed that God had answered her prayers and nodded her head.