Entering An Siyao’s villa, Xia Yu and Xu Youxiang arrived together at the artificial river in the backyard.
Inside the pavilion, An Siyao was already waiting.
Seeing Xia Yu approach, the young girl happily stood up and waved at him.
Xia Yu waved back and pushed Xu Youxiang into the pavilion.
The pavilion was made of stone, supported by an eave-like base, and the entire structure stood over the water, with the sound of flowing water coming from below.
After pushing Xu Youxiang to an appropriate spot, Xia Yu sat down on a nearby stone bench.
An Siyao signaled to a nearby maid, who went to fetch some new snacks.
Looking at the skewered dumplings on the plate, Xia Yu felt somewhat disappointed.
Unlike the translucent and unique white jade dumplings, these dumplings looked quite ordinary.
Picking up a skewer, Xia Yu examined the dumpling on it.
The dumpling was light red, slightly pink. In terms of shape, although it was round, upon closer inspection, there were still some imperfections, indicating they were hand-rolled.
Smelling it, there was a faint aroma of sticky rice.
Finally putting it into his mouth, Xia Yu frowned slightly. The taste was somewhat peculiar, not resembling any familiar flavor—it must have been a unique creation by the pastry chef. Not bad, but acceptable.
If it wasn’t good enough, the chef wouldn’t have served it.
“How is it?” Supporting her chin, An Siyao watched Xia Yu’s expression.
“It’s just okay,” Xia Yu picked up another skewer. “It’s pretty fresh for the first time.”
“Mm-hmm.” An Siyao smiled with her eyes narrowing, continuing to watch Xia Yu eat the dumplings.
Feeling a bit awkward under her gaze, Xia Yu picked up another skewer and put the dumpling into her mouth.
An Siyao’s smile became even brighter.
“What are you smiling about so happily?” Xia Yu reached out and rubbed the girl’s face.
“Ugh—” An Siyao made a sound effect.
Xia Yu had only intended to tease her, but upon touching her face, he found the texture unexpectedly pleasant, so much so that he didn’t want to let go.
After rubbing her face five more times, he finally let go.
An Siyao immediately picked up a skewer and offered a dumpling to Xia Yu’s mouth.
Looking at An Siyao’s anxious expression, Xia Yu opened his mouth.
An Siyao’s face lit up with joy, but the next moment, Xia Yu closed his mouth again.
Before her face had fully recovered from the joy, the new confusion and disappointment combined into a complex, wondrous expression.
Enjoying An Siyao’s expression for a moment, Xia Yu finally bit into the dumpling.
An Siyao’s face brightened again.
She picked up another skewer and watched Xia Yu’s mouth, waiting for him to finish.
Their oblivious display annoyed Xu Youxiang greatly. She used her skewer to stab the dumplings on the plate forcefully.
The tapping sound of the skewer hitting the plate caught Xia Yu and An Siyao’s attention.
Looking at the pockmarked dumpling, Xia Yu felt a bit uneasy.
An Siyao, seeing Xu Youxiang’s dark expression, thought for a moment and offered the dumpling in her hand to her mouth.
When she fed Feng Yujia, Feng Yumo would make this kind of expression too; back then, feeding her again was enough to resolve it.
Xu Youxiang immediately blushed, retreating slightly, but An Siyao stood up directly, almost pressing the dumpling to Xu Youxiang’s lips.
Xu Youxiang opened her mouth and ate the dumpling, her expression no longer gloomy.
The remaining three dumplings were eaten one each, they drank tea, and today’s gathering was over.
Xia Yu was driven home by the driver.
In the car, he was thinking about a truly important matter.
What should he do about Xu Youxiang?
If he had to give her up, Xia Yu was reluctant, but if he wanted to keep both, it would make him seem despicable.
Thinking back and forth without reaching a conclusion, Xia Yu decided to leave it to time.
For now, the best he could do was to be completely honest with both of them, without deception.
He also needed to deal with Yan Wei as soon as possible—two people were already complicated enough.
Taking out his phone, he first inquired about An Siyao’s schedule.
An Siyao replied quickly:
“I’m always free whenever.”
After sending a head-pat emoji, Xia Yu messaged Yan Wei to invite her out for dinner this Saturday.
Yan Wei did not reply immediately.
Putting the phone down, Xia Yu began mentally formulating a plan.
He would bring An Siyao along to the dinner. Once Yan Wei saw An Siyao and gave up, everything would be perfect.
However, there was one issue in between.
After Yan Wei gave up, would he still have a chance to see Yan Baiyu?
Well, it didn’t really matter whether he saw Yan Baiyu or not. He should handle the important matters first before thinking about the rest.
After clearing this up, Xia Yu relaxed. He gazed out the window at the scenery. The car was now driving along a relatively bustling street, with many pedestrians and interesting sights on both sides.
As the car turned a corner, Xia Yu suddenly felt a sense of danger.
The sense wasn’t extremely strong, but it was significant. Based on Xia Yu’s understanding of his own intuition, it was probably enough to cause a minor injury.
He first scanned the surroundings—nothing seemed unusual. The danger wasn’t from this stretch of road but from ahead.
Xia Yu said to the driver, “Stop the car.”
The driver, puzzled, pulled over and was about to turn around to ask what was wrong.
At that moment, a sound of breaking glass came from the side of the street. A dark object was thrown from the second-floor window of a nearby shop and crashed onto the road.
It was a phone.
The driver assessed that if he hadn’t stopped, the phone would most likely have hit his car. The car was sturdy and the glass strong, so nothing serious would have happened, but a sudden attack could have caused panic and led to an accident, possibly even fatal.
In reality, the driver underestimated himself. As someone with mild paranoia, he was always alert. A phone attack wouldn’t have panicked him to the point of a fatal crash.
After the initial shock, the driver’s first reaction to the incident wasn’t an accident—it was attempted murder.
He was just an ordinary person, not someone worth targeting, but there was another person sitting behind him in the car.
Turning to look at Xia Yu, the driver thought:
He originally thought this young man was just another plaything of the young lady, besides Xu Youxiang, but how could a plaything be the target of an assassination? This young man must have a secret identity.
The driver also recalled Xia Yu’s earlier warning and began to find him mysterious.
How did he know there would be an attack in advance? Did his side’s intelligence team intercept the attackers’ plans, or did he have special observational skills and noticed something unusual earlier?
In the driver’s mind, An Siyao, who stood behind Xia Yu, became even more terrifying.
“Sir, what should we do now?” The driver adjusted his attitude and asked Xia Yu for instructions.
“Go check what happened,” Xia Yu said.
The driver hesitated for a moment, thinking that no one would attack openly in a public place, so he got out of the car and went upstairs to the shop.
Ten minutes later, the driver returned to the car. Frowning, he told Xia Yu, “Sir, it was just a couple fighting and throwing things. When I entered, they had already started using knives.”
“I see, let’s go,” Xia Yu nodded.
This explanation was indeed the truth, so Xia Yu didn’t think much of it. However, in the driver’s mind, the couple fighting was just a cover story to deal with the police.
So when he came back down, he was still frowning. He had expected Xia Yu to be angry or cursing after hearing the news, but instead, Xia Yu’s expression remained calm and composed.
No wonder he was the man who could enter and leave the young lady’s villa—he didn’t even flinch at such an incident!
The driver now placed Xia Yu in the category of powerful figures, just one level below An Siyao.
For the rest of the journey, the driver drove cautiously, fearing another assassin might appear from the side.
It took one and a half times the usual duration to get Xia Yu home safely. The driver sighed in relief and started his return journey.
Unaware of the driver’s anxiety, Xia Yu entered his home as usual.
As he was changing his shoes, his phone beeped with a notification.
It was Yan Wei replying, agreeing to meet him on Saturday.
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