After ending the call with CC, I sat on the sofa in a daze for a while before remembering that I had to take Li Xiaoyun to buy engagement jewelry this afternoon. I quickly picked up my phone again and dialed Li Xiaoyun’s number. After we agreed on a meeting place, I hurriedly left home, driving Mr. Ban’s car towards our destination.

Twenty minutes later, I met Li Xiaoyun at the south entrance of Times Department Store. She was holding a cup of hot milk tea, seemingly having waited for a while.

I approached her with an apologetic expression, “Xiaoyun, have you been waiting long?”

“Not too long… Do you want some milk tea? I just bought it, it’s still hot!” Li Xiaoyun offered the milk tea she was drinking to my lips.

I took a sip and smiled, praising, “What flavor is this? It’s quite good.”

“Taro. I’ll go buy you a cup.”

“No need, let’s get our business done first. After we finish buying the jewelry, we can go have a drink together.”

Li Xiaoyun obediently nodded, then linked her arm with mine and we headed into the Times Department Store.

We looked at several jewelry brands, and in the end, at Li Xiaoyun’s request, we only got a diamond ring from the IDo counter. We didn’t get the traditional three gold items – earrings and necklace. The 30,000 yuan my mother had prepared for me was not all used up.

I gave the diamond ring to Li Xiaoyun. She looked at it happily for a long time before putting it in her bag, expressing her anticipation for the day when I would personally put the ring on her finger at our wedding.

As we were about to leave, we unexpectedly ran into Manager Lin from the planning department of Times Department Store. He nodded at me from a distance and warmly invited Li Xiaoyun and me for tea.

Unable to refuse his kind invitation, the three of us went to a teahouse across from Times Department Store and got a private room.

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, Manager Lin said to me seriously, “Zhao Yang, the advertisements that your company, Aosen, has been running for our Times Department Store have been very effective. Our senior management is very satisfied. We didn’t expect such a high level of advertising planning in a city like Xuzhou.”

Before I could respond, Li Xiaoyun took over the conversation with a smile, “Manager Lin, regarding the advertising plan for Times Department Store, Zhao Yang has really put in a lot of effort. Everyone in our company has seen it.”

Manager Lin nodded in agreement with Li Xiaoyun’s words.

I laughed, “Creating value for our clients is our duty, it’s what we should do.”

Manager Lin also laughed, “It’s rare to see someone your age with such a calm demeanor. We at Times Department Store are also looking forward to our future cooperation… By the way, for the Christmas promotion plan, as well as the advertising placement and execution for Times Department Store, I plan to hand it all over to Aosen Advertising. I wonder if you have the confidence to do a good job. If so, we can continue to work in depth in this mode in the future.”

Li Xiaoyun looked at me expectantly. After weighing it for a moment, I said, “No problem, we can have a meeting to discuss the details of the cooperation.”

In the middle of our conversation, my phone suddenly rang. I took it out and saw that it was CC calling. My heart tightened inexplicably. After quickly apologizing to Manager Lin, I immediately answered the call and walked out of the private room.

Before CC could speak, I asked anxiously, “What’s the situation, CC? Is she at home?”

CC replied regretfully, “I rang the doorbell for a while and no one answered. I waited downstairs for nearly an hour and no one showed up. She’s probably not at home.”

My anxiety increased, and I hurriedly asked, “Did you see her car?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Go check the open space across the building, maybe she parked there.”

CC said “okay”, and after a while, she told me, “No, her car isn’t there either.”

I felt a lump in my throat and fell silent…

CC comforted, “Zhao Yang, don’t worry too much. I’ll come over again tonight to check. Nothing should have happened.”

I responded dejectedly, “Thanks for your help.”

“What are you talking about? I’m worried about her too. Anyway, I’ll let you know as soon as there’s any news.”

“Okay.”

…

After hanging up the phone and preparing to return to the private room, Li Xiaoyun and Manager Lin had already walked out together. After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Manager Lin left first.

I was somewhat dazed, but Li Xiaoyun didn’t notice. She said to me excitedly, “Zhao Yang, I didn’t expect Times Department Store to entrust all of their marketing to our company. You’ve made another great contribution to the company. Compared to a month ago, you’ve given me a big surprise.”

I smiled, “This proves that Aunt Zhang, who introduced us, is very reliable.” As I spoke, I subconsciously took out my phone from my pocket to check it, afraid of missing any news.

Li Xiaoyun finally noticed something was off with me and asked, “Zhao Yang, you seem a bit out of it, are you okay?”

“Do I?” I brushed it off lightly, then said, “Let’s go get something to eat.”

“But we just had some snacks at the teahouse.”I looked at Li Xiaoyun, unsure of how to respond to her. She smiled and said, “Maybe you’ve been under too much pressure from work recently. You should go home and rest early today, don’t tire yourself out!”

I looked at Li Xiaoyun with guilt. She still spoke with concern, “Go on, drive slowly on the road. I’ll make you a carrot and bone soup tomorrow, it can help clear your mind.”

“Um, thank you, Xiaoyun.”

“Let’s not say thank you to each other… Alright, hurry home. If anything comes up, we’ll talk on the phone.”

I said goodbye to Li Xiaoyun with a strange feeling and then drove home.

Sitting on the sofa watching TV, I was still restless. Driven by worry, I even thought about driving to Suzhou overnight to find out what was going on.

…

It was already ten o’clock at night, and CC still hadn’t called. I could no longer restrain my worry. I picked up the car keys from the table, packed a few clothes, and prepared to rush to Suzhou overnight. I forgot to think about what I could do even if I went to Suzhou…

I rushed downstairs recklessly. The phone that had been silent finally rang. I reflexively pulled it out of my pocket, overjoyed. This call was from CC, she must have news about Mi Cai.

I immediately answered the call, almost ecstatically asking, “CC, have you found Mi Cai?”

CC took a deep breath before saying with relief, “Yes… she’s back, she’s eating at my restaurant right now.”

“Where did she go?”

“She’s right next to me, I’ll give her the phone, you can ask her yourself.”

“Um, give it to her quickly.” I urged anxiously.

But CC responded with a teasing tone, “She’s back now, why are you still so nervous?”

I was stunned for a moment, not responding to CC’s words, because I realized that I seemed to be overly nervous!

——————

I’ll add one more chapter today, and update more tomorrow.