Ambush

"So I was sitting at the table, just drinking the tea, waiting for you to come when I heard the glass shatter. I worried for your mother and so I rushed in to help her not realizing that she was luring me." Coughing into a fist to clear his throat, Jian continued looking at Lihua.

"..I would never have guessed that she was lying in ambush for me. When I went in, I saw glass on the floor, but did not see your mother. She managed to catch me by surprise when she smashed my kneecap. She had me off guard for a moment. Which was all that your mother needed. She went feral and started bashing me with a pan or something."

Jian's cheeks had a slight red hue to his face as he recounted the embarrassing story. "She beat me until I was incapacitated and then tied me up in the center of the kitchen. Your mother is quite terrifying when she wants to be."

'Heh you probably could have handled her liar..' Chuckling to herself, Chang gave him a look that showed her rueful disbelief. Out loud she did not dare refute his statement as her mother would most likely make her the next example.

"Heh. Tell me about it." Chang couldn't help giggling at his putoff expression. Lihua closed her eyes and lifted her chin proudly, smiling tightly at the two of them.

"Under duress I told her that I was your husband, that I was just looking for you as we were in the middle of a dispute. Your mother didnt believe me at all though and if anything I think she beat me worse for saying that." Humming in affirmation, Lihua nodded her head. "Eventually I was able to convince her, thankfully. That was not easy." Trying hard to stifle her laughter, Chang pictured what must have been a ridicuolous sight.

"After I managed to convince her, I brought Hao Jin Ying over to America with me and had her attend your mother, for whatever she might need. As the two are fairly close in age, they hit it off quite well and Hao Jin Ying has been more of a companion for her while you have been gone. She also served as an extra pair of eyes and ears to help search for you."

Listening on the side Hao Jin Ying wanted to object, she had been working so hard over the past year and had not been just a mere companion, but certain things could not be told to Chang as of yet.

'Also what did he mean by close in age, I am almost ten years younger than Lihua! How rude!'

Chang averted her eyes, guilty. Jian's concern overwhelmed her a little.

'Wow, I can't believe he went through so much for me, he really does care a lot.. ' Looking back at him, Chang gazed into Jian's eyes with a new light in her eyes. Jian gazed into hers deeply and she found herself drawn to him, closing her eyes as she kissed him lightly.

Liang Jian Amal was surprised and did not react as it was had been the first time while completely sober that she had initiated a kiss between the two of them.

The kiss lasted only for a brief moment as she felt he was not kissing her back. Feeling that Chang pulled back and away, keeping a hand over her lips, remembering the soft warm touch of his to herself.

Liang Jian Amal shared a look with Li Hua, the last part of the story had not been entirely true, and he was glad she had bought it. The both of them were.

Li Hua had indeed ambushed him shrieking like a banshee as she bashed him repeatedly with a metal pan, after having stumbled him with the cheap shot to his kneecap. As she hit him repeatedly the older woman had demanded that he tell her what he had done with her daughter. Liang JIanAmal had tried to defend himself from her attacks without hurting the older woman, which had left him covered in bruises. All while trying to explain himself, he had defended himself trying to get a word in between her screaming, but it had been unsuccesful. It had been complete chaos until Lihua had been forced to stop.

Halfway through her beating him, LiHua had stumbled away, holding her hand to her head. Before his astonished eyes he had watched as the older woman staggered back as blood began to drip profusely from her nose. With a loud pak her weapon hit the ground only a few seconds before she did. Rising unsteadily to his own feet, Liang JianAmal was barely able to catch the middle-aged woman as she had fallen to the ground, unconscious and covered in sweat.

Immediately he had phoned an ambulance for her a rode with her to the hospital. It was there that he had learned of Lihua's predicament and was able to gain the trust of his mother-in-law, who profusely apologized for beating him. After telling him, Lihua had begged him not to tell Chang when he found her, as she wished to do so herself when the time was right. Neither of them had realized that it would take as long as it did to find her, or that Lihua would deteriorate as quickly as she had.

At the time he had aquisced to her demands and summoned Hao Jin Ying from where she attended the company's matters in his absence to attend to his mother-in-law. Hao Jin Ying was very skilled in medicine, among many other things, and even had a nursing degree. He immediately then hired a competent replacement for her, whom he then summoned to LA to help him with his search for Chang, as well as to work on the company's expansion into the western market.

Luo Jun was now attending to loose ends before heading back to Shanghai to liason for him. Chang was his first priority.

"So as you can see, you may need to learn to help defend your husband." Li Hua piped in teasingly.

Chang knew for a fact that Jian was highly skilled in martial arts, as well as being an expert marksman. She had never seen him with a weapon but had seen the way he brutalized the two thugs in the alleyway. She in fact could learn a thing or two from him, even with a few years of jujitsu under her belt, as well as everything her father had taught her.

"Uh mom, I don't think sneak attacks exactly count, that's kinda the whole point about them, you're surprising them with an attack. Plus cast iron versus human flesh is a cheat in and of itself, you're lucky you didnt really hurt him." Chang chided her mother lightly.

"It's fine, it was just some bruising that faded away soon enough. I have had far worse, though I'm glad that you are concerned for me." Squeezing her left hand he held in his Jian, placed a light kiss on the back of her knuckles.

"Of course.."Mumbling under her breath, Chang felt her heart flutter a bit but was able to keep her composure. Looking at her right hand held by her mother, and her left in Jian's, Chang felt at peace. So many of the worries that had plagued her heart had dissipated like smoke in the wind.

After chatting with her mother for a little while longer, Chang moved to rewitch seats with Hao Jin Ying to be seated back by Jian, who had returned to his seat already. Before she extricated herself from her mother's side one of her fears came true when her mother asked what was on her face.

Smiling too forcefully Chang had told her mother she had no idea what she was talking about. Her mother had smiled gracefully in response before reaching out with two slender fingers and pinched her cheek where it had been bruised the night before. Squeaking in pained surprise, she heard Jian rise to help her only to be forced to sit back down by the ferocious look in her mother's eyes.

Holding it tightly until Chang cried for mercy with tears in her eyes, she had broke down and told her mother she had done it to herself several days beforehand from walking while reading. Even if she was being forced to explain, she could not tell her mother the truth and hoped she would buy it. Harrumphing her mother warned her to be more careful, as she released the throbbing spot. Ruefully Chang massaged her already swollen cheek and gave her mother an evil side eye.

Gratefully going to sit back beside Jian, they watched a movie together to help pass the remaining several hours of the journey. After a couple she found herself falling asleep again with her head leaning on his shoulder and his right arm wrapped around hers.

'I must be becoming a pig..' Were her last thoughts before she drifted off.

She slept through the landing even when they touched down early morning on a drizzly Republic of Lahat.