Chapter 109 - Practice Run (2)

The private room became awfully quiet after the waiter left them. There was this awkward tension roaming on top of them, and neither one of them felt like breaking it. 

Well, the one feeling this tension was more Xiong Jingfei than Yang Zheyan. He remained like his usual self. Calm and tranquil. While she was squirming in her seat, wanting to leave as soon as possible. 

She felt like something between them changed after she found out his identity. Before, she was still able to interact with him without being wary. Then why is she suddenly feeling self-conscious around him? He wasn't acting any differently from who he was previously. 

Yang Zheyan smiled when he caught Xiong Jingfei staring at him. When he did, she quickly averted her eyes elsewhere. At this rate, she might end up dashing out again. Breaking the silence, he put the tablet and her drawing on the table, "Here." 

Xiong Jingfei's face immediately lit up. Her hands went for the drawing first, showing the different importance of the two items. Opening it, everything was still in excellent condition! Beside the folded lines of the paper, it didn't seem like he tossed it randomly at a corner. 

She traced the drawing of the butterfly hairpin with her fingers. Just like in her dream, she could hear the cling of the two small bells hitting each other. 

Oh, Xiong Jingfei's mouth slightly opened. Realizing she missed a minor detail when she drew the hairpin. There should be another small flower carved into the pin near the butterflies. She picked up the pen used to sign the doc.u.ments and drew them in.

Seeing her draw another flower onto the paper. Yang Zheyan was sure now that she was the drawer of the hairpin. But something was telling him that she was not the creator of it.

Just then, Yang Zheyan's phone started ringing. Normally, he wouldn't pick up in the middle of a meeting. However, he had to make an exception for this person. When he clicked the answer button, a stern elderly man's voice was heard, "What did you do to get her mad at you? Huh?" 

"What do you mean?" Yang Zheyan acted like he didn't know the waiter was assigned to spy on them. He didn't think the waiter was this efficient and reported him to his grandpa already. 

Xiong Jingfei stopped drawing her tiny flower and noticed how drastically Yang Zheyan's tone changed. It was completely different from the way he talked to her and to the waiter. Like he actually cared for the person on the other side of the phone. 

Yang Zheyan glimpsed over at Xiong Jingfei before answering, "Of course not, grandpa." 

"Let me speak to her! Oh, wait... Old me almost forgot."

"How about video cam?" Yang Zheyan suggested, turning on the video chat option and waited for his grandpa to accept it. Once he did, his grandpa insisted on speaking with Xiong Jingfei only and not him. He chuckled, "Okay, give me one second." 

Yang Zheyan held the phone away from him. Then he suddenly did a turn capturing the unexpected Xiong Jingfei in the background. 

The sternness belonging to the person in Yang Zheyan's phone screen vanished. Instead, a childish voice said, "Hello there! You must be Feifei, I had been waiting so long to meet you! If it wasn't for this brat stubbornness-" 

Yang Zheyan loudly cleared his throat, "Grandpa."

"Ah, forget it! It's all in the past now. Tell me, is this brat treating you well? Don't be afraid to tell me! If he mistreats you, tell grandpa. I will beat him for you!"

"Grandpa..." Yang Zheyan calmly said but was surprised at how much his grandpa has taken a liking to Xiong Jingfei. When he barely even knew her. As his grandpa's most beloved child, it seems like he is about to go down the ladder with Xiong Jingfei on top. 

Xiong Jingfei chuckled silently and waved her hand. Grandpa Yang was not someone she was expecting to meet today. She became nervous when he wanted to talk to her. The head of the Yang household wanted to speak to her! The other unexpected thing was that Grandpa Yang looked nothing like in his pictures? 

In the pictures shown to her, he looked like someone very strict and always frowning. According to Li Roulan, he was terrifying and not someone you can hold a conversation with. Something Xiong Jingfei overheard when Li Roulan was teaching Xiong Changchagn the ins and outs of the Yang household. In case a switch between them became an option. 

"Zheyan, why don't you bring her home? Yes, come see me right now!" Grandpa Yang had on a silly smile. His eyes curved upward whenever he laughed, and he had a full head of white hair.

Xiong Jingfei wasn't sure if that was a good idea yet. They just finished signing their divorce and contract paper. Meeting Grandpa Yang would make her feel guilty for what she just did. Pretending and lying to him when he was so welcoming of her. 

"Grandpa, you might scare her off." Yang Zheyan helped her denied the request. Turning the phone to face only him now, he whispered, "I'll make sure to bring her home soon."

Grandpa Yang grumbled then whispered back, "Better take good care of her."

"I know," Yang Zheyan replied, hanging up the phone. He turned back around, "Not that scary, right?" 

Xiong Jingfei smiled, not scary at all. He was more friendly than she had imagined. She can tell Yang Zheyan and his grandpa are very close. In her memories, she could only vaguely recall her grandpa. He passed away when she was around six-year-old, so memories of him were fading little by little. 

"I have a question about your drawing," Yang Zheyan didn't let the room go back its odd silence from earlier. "You're not the creator of it, right?" 

She didn't nod or shake her head. How did he know? Has he seen this hairpin? Just as she was writing down a question for him instead of answering. A knock was made at the door. 

A few of the waiters walked in carrying their food in a fancy tray. It didn't take long at all for their food to be served. Well, that's because their order was considered as a priority over others. It was quiet between them while the waiters put down the plating of food. 

Xiong Jingfei watched them put down one plate after another. Where has she seen this before? She peered back up at Yang Zheyan and rapidly blinked her eyes. Was she seeing things again?

Yang Zheyan... It was him, but it wasn't either. His short hair reached his waist, and part of it was pulled up into a bun. It was held together by a jade hairpin. He wore a black-robe decorated with silver threads. It wasn't just him that was different. Everything else around her was different too. She was wearing different clothes too! 

***Past***

"M-miss... Ahem, serve the tea." 

As if that voice was like magic, Xiong Jingfei's arms and hands moved on their own. Taking the teapot near her, she poured into the empty teacup sitting in front of Yang Zheyan. 

He smiled and lifted the teacup from the table, "As expected, the Eldest Miss of the Xiong manor is well mannered." 

"You're praising me too much," Xiong Jingfei replied, setting the teapot back down on the table. She doesn't even know why she said those words to him. Everything she was doing and saying, was something she was unable to control. "Please enlighten me. How would you like me to address you?"

Yang Zheyan put down his teacup without dropping his smile, "Wouldn't it better to have us discuss this in private?" 

Xiong Jingfei didn't have to say anything besides nodding her head for the servants to understand her command. All of them quietly left them alone in the main house. By leaving them alone, it was left in the air for open gossip. However, the Xiong servants knew better than to do that. Right now, the person in charge was no longer Li Roulan but Xiong Jingfei. 

Except, one of them couldn't hold back from asking, "Why would he suddenly make an unannounced visit to our Eldest Miss?" 

"You, shush! If Xu Song hears you, you will be punished for talking too much."

Everyone was thinking of the same thing, but who will have the guts to ask the Right Prime Minister's son that question. After all these years, this was the first time he came to visit their Eldest Miss. Their first meeting happened without Xiong Guozhi in the house too. Plus, their Eldest Miss wasn't polite at all upon greeting him. 

Both of them listened as the chatter that will turn into gossip faded in the distance. Xiong Jingfei was the first to drop her politeness, "So, how would you like me to address you? As Wei Weimin or Yang Zheyan?"