Chapter 45 — Meeting Again
Years of Heartflutter · Page 1 of 3
Sure enough, when Xiao Qing opened the wardrobe door, Chu Huifang deliberately—or perhaps instinctively—let her eyes drift toward the closet. When she saw nothing, she relaxed and stopped being suspicious.
Xiao Qing breathed a sigh of relief as well; it seemed Yang Ce had hidden himself well and given nothing away. She took out a large windbreaker and purposely left the wardrobe door hanging open without closing it.
This time Chu Huifang looked for a good long while but still could not spot anything amiss.
"Let's go, Mom. Let's head home," Xiao Qing said, having put on her coat, and casually shut the wardrobe.
"All right, let's go." Chu Huifang swept one more glance around the office before leaving with Xiao Qing.
Yang Ce waited a good while longer, until the room had gone completely quiet, before opening the wardrobe door and stepping out. He took a deep breath—the smell of mothballs in there was really nothing to write home about.
Before long, Yang Ce's phone buzzed with a text message from Xiao Qing, telling him to lock the door when he left and then to act as if nothing had happened and come over to his godmother's for dinner.
Yang Ce shook his head with a wry smile, checked that he had left no trace in the room, and only then went out, locked the office door, and headed downstairs.
Yang Ce did not go straight to Liu Yan's place. Instead, he wandered around the campus for a couple more laps before arriving at his godfather's home. Chu Huifang, naturally, had no suspicions, and Xiao Qing's expression had returned to normal—clearly she had already explained things to Chu Huifang. Besides, with Liu Yan present, there was no way they could bring up that kind of woman-to-woman topic again.
After dinner at his godfather's house, Yang Ce took his leave together with Xiao Qing. Chu Huifang even made a point of telling Yang Ce that he absolutely must walk Xiao Qing to the entrance of her apartment building—it was dark out, the students were on holiday, and she was afraid it would not be safe.
Yang Ce agreed readily to everything. Only once they were inside Xiao Qing's apartment did Xiao Qing let out a long sigh, pat her chest, and exclaim, "I was scared to death today—Mom almost caught us!"
"That's only because you were so nervous," Yang Ce said. "Though it was pretty funny—Godmother thought you were taking care of yourself."
"Don't even start," Xiao Qing shot him a glare. "It's all your fault. You just had to play out some office romance. See how that turned out? We nearly both went down in flames."
"Heh heh, well, no more of that from now on," Yang Ce said with a wicked grin, "so Godmother won't have to say you don't know the time or place—or that you're unhygienic."
"You—you're going to be the death of me," Xiao Qing said in exasperation.
Of course, Yang Ce still could not skip going home for the night. He had already told his family he would be back a little late, but being late and not coming home at all were two different things. So after he and Xiao Qing had their fill of each other's company, he headed home.
The business with Zhou Yanning and Chen Shutang had left him frazzled today, and his mood was not the best. Still, the time he had spent with Xiao Qing had been fairly pleasant, and for the moment Yang Ce was able to forget his troubles.
When he reached the school gate, Yang Ce suddenly spotted an all-too-familiar figure standing in the bitter wind, trying to hail a taxi. His heart tightened, and a strange impulse surged through him.
"Sister Ying," Yang Ce called softly.
Zhao Ying heard Yang Ce's voice and whipped around, a flicker of delight flashing in her eyes. "Yang Ce! What are you doing here? Aren't you on holiday?"
"I joined a college winter camp. It just ended today," Yang Ce said. "What about you, Sister Ying? Where are you headed so late?"
"I'm going back to my hometown for the New Year," Zhao Ying said. "My train leaves at eleven. I didn't expect it to be so hard to flag down a taxi."