11 Li Wang Zhen

Han Lixue sat at the cafe in the center of the city and slowly sipped her mint tea, a picture of serenity and beauty. She had her hair in soft waves and wore a cream sweater along with gray jeans. A gold necklace with a small, rectangular drop adorned her neck and gave a very pure and calm feeling. The staff in the small cafe looked at her and wondered who she was waiting for, At the time when all adults were too busy to care about anything else and rushing to their offices. A ding was heard and a man in a buttoned shirt and sweats walked in, his jacket tied around his waist.He had reflective black sunglasses and looked a bit ridiculous Han Lixue smiled at the man as he walked in.

" You're right on time as always" She softly spoke as he sat in front of her. He looked at her and raised his eyebrows.

" Have I ever given you reason to doubt that?" The man spoke and Han Lixue's grin grew.

" Okay, Mr. Fashionista, you can take your glasses off. Don't you know your eyes are your best feature?" The man took off his glasses and revealed electric blue eyes, shocking everyone in the cafe. They had initially laughed at him, but seeing him now, those two seemed on the same level. " Who selected your clothes, a 5 year old? Jinhai, how can you still be so blind!" The man huffed at the girl laughing over his choice in clothes.

" C'mon, these aren't that bad! Do you remember junior year in college? That was ridiculous! This isn't!" Li Jinhai hurriedly defended himself. He stopped for a second, seeing Han Lixue laughing even louder, reminiscing his horrible wardrobe choices. It was like they were back in college. Inadvertently, talking to the girl this freely felt… nice. " Xue, why are you nice to me? Weren't you pissed before?" Li Jinhai didn't like beating around the bush and asked the question. If she said she wanted to be his friend again, he could easily record it and quickly leave the place. Somehow, using the girl like that made him feel somewhat uncomfortable, but he suppressed his emotion and waited for her to answer.

Han Lixue sighed and swirled around her tea before taking a sip again.

" Jinhai, It was still new to me. I accepted your request, that means that you are someone I am willing to spend time with and protect , not a go-between person. I don't have friends like that. Either I genuinely treat you as a friend or I don't. That saying, you are still on trial, but it was nice to sit and talk with you normally again. I am also aware that the incident is more complicated than it seems" Li Jinhai felt the guilt of wanting to use and throw her away climbing up. Knowing her for a long time, this was already something he knew a long time ago. In fact, it was one of the reasons he decided to hangout with her. Han Lixue smiled again. " Jinhai, how is yeye? Is Auntie Mo still taking care of him? Both of them are old, we can arrange something for them both!"

Li Jinhai looked down after she finished. The memory was still fresh in his mind. He had regretted it. Once upon a time, the person he was closest to in the Li family was his grandfather. Now… Li Jinhai looked up. Han Lixue, who was expecting a joke, was stunned to see his red eyes. She panicked. According to her information, he was still well and healthy. If anything happened to that old man… she didn't know how to take it.

" We fell out. After the incident… I haven't gone to the Li family once." Li Jinhai expected her to apologize and say she was sorry for him, instead, the girl laughed.

" So you fell out because of me? Then I'll bear the responsibility! How far is the Li residence? C'mon!" Li Jinhai stared as Han Lixue dragged him to his feet and pulled him into the Veneno parked outside. He continued staring at her when she inserted the address into the GPS, and only spoke up after he buckled himself.

" You will get me and yeye back together? Really?!" Li Jinhai couldn't hold in the excitement. But as the huge Li estate came into view, he couldn't help feel nervous. He hadn't seen the place he grew up in 2 years, even though he lived in the same city. Usually, all the main houses of established cities tended to be in the suburbs. It was ridiculous to think that this much land could belong to one house, in the middle of the city.

The car rolled up to the front gates when a security guard came to the car to check who it was. Han Lixue stuck her head out and was about to explain when Li Jinhai beat her to it. He got out of the car and looked at the security guard. " I want to see grandfather". The security guard had joined this year and hesitated when the man said 'grandfather'. This couldn't be an illegitimate grandson, could it? He was about to speak up when his friend joined him. The other guard dropped the bagel he was holding.

" Young Master!" He rushed to open the gates and the car slowly drove in, not wanting to disturb the estate. The guard saw the girl driving and then Li Jinhai sitting next to her. The face looked familiar, but it seemed to have been a while he had seen it. The entire estate was in chaos as soon as Li Jinhai walked out of the car. When Han Lixue got out and locked the car, the entire courtyard froze. The two of them walked in, shush-ing the staff. Li Wang Zhen, the patriarch of the Li family was laying on a chaise lounge, a book on his face. He was listening to music and tapping his fingers to the rhythm. Han Lixue quietly walked behind the old man, then waved her hand for Li Jinhai to speak. He felt himself wanting to follow her, but stopped himself. He felt stumped. Just a week ago, he was mocking Su Chuanli for following her command like a dog. Turns out even a lion would turn into a docile cat after spending some time with her.

" Grandfather". The staff all stopped their work and watched the duo in the center. The old man jumped up at the sound and pulled his earphones out. The book fell to the floor as the old man stared at the young man in front of him. Two years had passed and the boy had grown so much! The man felt his eyes tear up. What! Who's crying! You're crying! Your whole family is crying! He felt his eyes quickly being covered, the palms smooth and soft.

"Yeye!" Han Lixue stuck her head out from behind Li Wang Zhen, her hands now on his shoulder.

"Xue?... Xue'er! You're here? You're here! to see me!" Li Wang Zhen jumped to the ground and grabbed her hands and jumped up and down, obviously elated. He saw the staff staring and slowly let go and cleared his throat, not willing to look up. Looks like he was getting judged by his own butlers. He walked to Li Jinhai. " Someone get me a cane!" The butler pulled a cane out from behind the rack of antiques. He raised his cane, but with a trembling hand, he dropped the cane and hugged the boy. Tears rolled down his face and he spoke in heartbreaking sobs. " Jin'er! Just because I was angry and scolded you in the moment, you actually never come to see me in 2 years? Are you really the grandson who used to chase me around all day? Stupid, stupid children these days! They can't even spend time with their family properly, Jin'er, if you didn't want to talk to me again, did you expect me to die like that? After all, what can this old man do…" Li Jinhai stood frozen and then broke down too.

" Yeye! Don't say stuff like that! You're going to live till you're a hundred! It was my own blockages that stopped me from coming to visit you! You're right I'm stupid! I'm so stupid!" Before Li Jinhai continued, Li Wang Zhen grabbed his face with both hands. The two stared at each other, then laughed at how quickly a feud going on for 2 years got resolved. Han Lixue saw the scene and smiled at how beautiful the scene looked. She had known both of them for 6 years, and most of them were filled with beautiful memories. The old man was probably the closest elder to her, other than her own grandmother.

Not wanting to interrupt, Han Lixue quickly removed herself from the scene. "Jinhai, Yeye, I'll go make you guys something. Continue talking!" As she was walking away, Li Wang Zhen quickly interjected.

"Xue'er! You haven't been here in 4 years! Sit down and talk with us!" Han lixue quickly smiled and stuck her tongue out at him.

" Yeye, I'm making ice cream, are you sure you don't want me to make it?" before he could answer, she ran into the kitchen. The staff looked as she familiarly took out everything and set it up. So that's what the liquid nitrogen was for!

Hearing that she was making her custom ice cream, both Li Wang Zhen and Li jinhai's eyes turned dreamy. After all, her ice cream was once the most famous in college. There wasn't one person who didn't know of it.

" Gege! I'm visiting! You will not believe your Grand nephew's behavior a couple days ago!" Li Meizhen waved to Li Wang Zhen and got in, excited to spill the beans about her grandson. Li Wang Zhen waved his younger sister in and proudly showed off Li Jinhai.

" Meizhen! Come in! See, Jin'er and I made up!" Li Meizhen almost rolled her eyes at her brother. He was so childish sometimes!

"That's good Jin'er. Your grandfather has been pestering me to visit so much that my daughter-in-law almost stopped talking to me! Who else would I talk with then?" Li Wang Zhen made a face.

" Am I not a person in your eyes?" The friendly banter between the siblings livened up the atmosphere even more.

" Jinhai! Come help me with this!" Han Lixue's clear voice sounded from the kitchen. Li Meizhen looked at Li Jinhai with an ambiguous look.

"Is that a girl? Haiz… Jin'er, I always knew you would settle down than my ice block grandson. Go! She's calling you right?" Jinhai gave his grandfather a look, as in to explain the situation and then ran into the kitchen, wanting to get the first taste.

" Meizhen, they're not togethe-" Li Wang Zhen stopped when his grand nephew entered the house. He wore a white shirt, with the first two buttons undone, and came into the house looking like an angel. " Ah Zhe! It's been so long since you came! Sit down, sit down! Jin'er is in the kitchen, he'll come in a minute." Yan Weizhe acknowledged him with a small nod and sat down, his eyes looking bored. In the kitchen, there were three cups with a bit of ice cream in each and Li Jinhai tasted each as she explained it.

" The base layer was coffee in each ice cream. These are all new recipes, anyway. Since Yeye likes a tangy flavor, I paired oranges with coffee from Bolivia." Once Li Jinhai nodded satisfactorily, She moved on to his ice cream. "You are more of a chocolate person, so I did dark chocolate and Brazilian coffee, an excellent combination." Since it was suited to his taste, Li Jinhai ate almost all of it, almost wanting to moan in delight. This was amazing! Lastly, she showed her own. " And since I like a little sweeter things, I paired strawberries with Ethiopian coffee!" Her explanation was short, but quickly briefed things for others. "I made an extra cup, just in case. I did hear voices outside, it would be rude if I didn't make any for them". Li Jinhai heard his grand aunt's voice so he nodded and walked into the main hall, almost dying from keeping his word in. He didn't want Xue to know he liked it, of course! That would ruin his nonchalance earlier!

" Yeye! You will not believe how good this stuff tastes! It's completely coffee based and tastes delicious! I could die happily after eating it!" Li Jinhai was whispering excitedly but stopped when he saw his cousin. He pitied Xue. Who knew this devil would also come? "Hehe, cousin, you're here too…" Li jinhai quickly sat next to Li Wang Zhen. The elders continued their conversation.

" Gege, this boy no… he puts up such a strong front next to others, but in front of that girl, he acted so meek and sweet!" Li Meizhen continued talking with big gestures as Li Wang Zhen looked like he didn't believe what she said.

"Meizhen, Ah Zhe is one of the most upright men I know. I can't imagine him acti-" Li Wang Zhen was interrupted by the sound of silverware clattering on the floor.