Chapter 44: Chapter 40 Coaxing 2 Chapter 44: Chapter 40 Coaxing 2 At the Qi Family Villa’s living room, Ji Shuang sat on the sofa, her ears perked up listening for any noise from upstairs, while chatting on her phone in the “Close-Knit Family” group chat.
Right after she had posted that photo in the group, Qi Jingshan and Qi Chen—who hadn’t silenced their chat notifications—immediately sent messages in the group.
Qi Jingshan: It’s a nice photo.
Qi Chen: It’s the first time I’m feeling happy because of my brother. Look how intently he’s gazing at her.
Qi Jingshan: The young lady is really nice.
Although Qi Jingshan had said just these few simple words, as a leader long established in the business world, his ability to read people was second to none.
There were very few people who could gain Qi Jingshan’s approval, and Ji Shuang hadn’t expected that just one meal would lead Qi Jingshan to give Jiang Ning such high praise.
Jiang Ning was truly the lucky star of the Qi Family!
She couldn’t help but wonder what kind of family had raised such a good daughter.
Ji Shuang couldn’t help but take out her phone to take another careful look at the photo she had just taken.
She had decided that she would print out this photo tonight and frame it.
This was the scene of Qi Xingzhou and Jiang Ning’s first meeting at the Qi Family, as well as the first time Qi Xingzhou was willing to make contact with someone outside of the Qi Family—it was a moment worth commemorating!
The sound of footsteps descended the staircase. Ji Shuang looked up to see Jiang Ning coming down the spiral staircase, closely followed by the quiet and obedient Qi Xingzhou.
Ji Shuang put down her phone and said with a warm smile, “Ning Ning, are you thirsty? Come and have some tea.”
“Not really,” Jiang Ning shook her head. “Auntie Ji, I have other things to take care of, so I need to leave now.”
“Oh? In such a rush? Won’t you stay for dinner?” Ji Shuang stood up, her gaze falling upon Qi Xingzhou, who had suddenly frowned, looking somewhat anxious upon hearing Jiang Ning was leaving.
They had just finished eating lunch with the Qi family members not long ago. Now, it was barely two o’clock, far from dinner time.
Jiang Ning chuckled, “Thank you, Auntie Ji, but you don’t need to prepare dinner for me; I have plans with friends this afternoon.”
Ji Shuang nodded with a touch of disappointment.
As Jiang Ning was about to leave, Ji Shuang seemed to remember something. She picked up her phone and said, “Ning Ning, let’s add each other on WeChat. Feel free to come over and visit anytime you want, you’re always welcome.”
“Sure,” Jiang Ning also took out her phone, and the two quickly added each other as friends on WeChat.
Qi Xingzhou, standing beside them and watching this unfold, furrowed his brows and appeared somewhat irritable. He followed Jiang Ning and watched as she walked step by step towards the door under Ji Shuang’s farewell. Even Qi Xingzhou, who was usually slow to catch on, realized what was happening.
“Stay here,” Qi Xingzhou suddenly reached out and grabbed Jiang Ning’s wrist.
Jiang Ning stopped in her tracks, her wrist caught in his grip.
She glanced down lightly; the hand that was holding her wrist was pale and broad. The boy’s body temperature was high, his palm dry and warm, which made the section of her wrist he was holding heat up intensely.
The person whose wrist had been suddenly grabbed, Jiang Ning, hadn’t had much of a reaction yet, but Ji Shuang, who was beside her seeing her out, was overwhelmed.
Her son who, ever since she could remember, disliked being touched by others, was now taking the initiative to grab a girl’s hand?!
Ji Shuang wished she could immediately take out her phone and capture this moment.
But reason still prevailed, and Ji Shuang restrained herself from doing so.
She took a few steps forward, wanting to move Qi Xingzhou’s hand from Jiang Ning’s wrist but feared that her touch might discomfort him.
Ji Shuang first apologized to Jiang Ning, “I’m sorry, Ning Ning, Xingzhou isn’t usually like this, I’ll ask him to let go of you.”
Jiang Ning nodded her head to show she wasn’t upset.
Then Ji Shuang gently turned to Qi Xingzhou and persuaded him, “Zhouzhou, what are you doing? Let go of Ning Ning quickly.”
Qi Xingzhou could understand and respond to speech.
Upon hearing Ji Shuang’s words, not only did he not let go of Jiang Ning, he gripped her even tighter, his clear young voice tinged with rawness, “Live at home.”
Qi Xingzhou had spoken just before, but his voice was so soft and brief that no one could hear it clearly, and Ji Shuang didn’t even realize that it was her youngest son speaking.
This time, Ji Shuang heard clearly.
She widened her eyes, her expression filled with excitement.
Heaven knows how long it had been since she had last heard Qi Xingzhou speak.
When he was a child, Qi Xingzhou would occasionally protest in a cold tone if he encountered something he disliked.
As he grew older, his reactions to the outside world became less and less, to the point of almost none at all.
Jiang Ning didn’t understand Ji Shuang’s feelings. She had only met Qi Xingzhou a few times, just these two occasions to be exact. Not to mention, Qi Xingzhou had already spoken upstairs just a moment ago.
Even though his words were especially brief, Jiang Ning seemed to understand his meaning.
Jiang Ning lifted her wrist slightly, and Qi Xingzhou’s hand also moved, prompting her to look up and ask, “Are you inviting me to live at your house?”
After grabbing Jiang Ning’s wrist, the anxious look on Qi Xingzhou’s face vanished, and after he heard her speak to him, he thought for a moment and nodded obediently, “Not stay at the hotel, live at home.”
Jiang Ning laughed, “So I talked to you for so long, and these are the few words you remembered?”
Qi Xingzhou pursed his lips and didn’t speak, but his firm eyes seemed to be silently contradicting her, insisting he was right.
Jiang Ning finally realized that the young master had misunderstood something, “What I just said to you was about you, telling you not to run off to the hotel for no reason. Look, your house is so nicely decorated, in such a good location, and the surrounding environment is beautiful too…”
As Jiang Ning spoke, she suddenly realized something and looked up at Qi Xingzhou standing before her.
So, was it because he had heard her complimenting the Qi Family Villa earlier that Qi Xingzhou thought she liked it and wanted to persuade her to stay?
Qi Xingzhou looked down at Jiang Ning, his eyes extremely beautiful, ink-black, but upon a closer look, one could see a different beauty—as gorgeous as an emerald washed clean and revealed by clear water.
Her interactions with Qi Xingzhou had been limited to those few minutes of the elevator malfunction, when she had given him a light in the darkness.
After leaving the elevator, Jiang Ning had put that incident and Qi Xingzhou, her short-term comrade-in-arms, out of her mind. But Qi Xingzhou, on the other hand, not only carried the Small Night Lamp with him every day waiting for her by the elevator doors but also, upon hearing her praise the villa, had outright invited her to live in it.
This was not someone with autism; this was clearly a kind and benevolent Bodhisattva.
Anyone confronted with such pure goodwill couldn’t get angry, and Jiang Ning was no different. She even felt a little soft-hearted and spoke to him in a gentler tone, “This is your home… I have my own home too, you know? Everyone has their own house, and I need to go back to my own place. Thank you for your kindness, be good and let go of my wrist.”