Li Yan walked back into the room and slammed the door. Her face was red.
"What's wrong sweetie?" Feng Mian asked, the look on her daughters face was awful.
"I was just trying to be a good sister." Li Yan wailed.
"I asked her to reconsider the idea and she gave me the finger!"
Hearing her daughters cries, Feng Mian turned to Li Zheng.
"Look at what that girls done. Are you sure everything will be alright?" Feng Mian asked.
"I'm sure. She'll learn her place and come back one day." Li Zheng comforted her.
"I'm just so worried about that girl. We were just trying to help."
Feng Mian leaned onto Li Zheng. Her sweet voice had been tainted by sadness. All because of Li Hua. The thought annoyed him. This child once again was a hindrance.
"Don't worry darling. I'll make sure of it."
He was a very powerful person with ties all around the city. If Li Hua didn't want to go the easy route then he'd pick the hard one. She was a freshly out of college woman who didn't have much work experience. If she was to live on her own she'd have to need a job.
The solution was simple. Blacklist her. That way she'd run out of money and come crawling back. She should consider herself lucky. Gu Ming was from a very well off family. By being with him she'd have a carefree life, what was a little pain?
When she married Gu Ming, she'd be the Gu Families problem and finally out of their lives.
While Lu Zheng was in thought, Feng Mian glanced at Li Yan. Li Yan, who had previously been upset, sat there in silence. Her face may have been full of tears but her eyes were cold. Noticing her mother's stare, she smiled 'What a gullible man'.
All they had to do was shed a few tears and he would crumble at their feet. Li Hua wanted to be an issue? Well they had a solution in the palms of their hands.
~~~
The next day Li Hua woke up. She looked at her surroundings and sighed. She seriously had to find her own place. It wasn't a very nice hotel, the wallpaper was ripping and the lights were flickering. The smell of smoke from the neighbors had made its way to her. She had to find something cheap to make her money last but wow was this different.
Looking at her phone, she saw the time. It was only 11 a.m. and she didn't have to go to work until 5.
Bored out of her mind she sat and thought about some ways she could kill time. She didn't have a lot of places to go. Any friends she had 7 years ago, she didn't have any way to contact them. She looked at her phone.
The only messages she had was from her friends in America. There were messages wishing her well and to be safe on her trip. She smiled. She wasn't all alone.
She finally decided to just walk around. She wanted to get familiar with the city again since it had been so long.
It wasn't a special occasion so she didn't bother applying makeup or anything. She felt it was too much anyways.
When she was outside, she breathed in the fresh air. It was a very nice day outside, the weather was slightly hot but there was a cool breeze. The wind had a hint of food in it which made her hungry.
'I'll get something to eat on my way back'
As she walked down the streets she took in her surroundings. Yesterday wasn't a good day so she didn't really get a good look at anything.
The streets were just like she remembered them, there was the usual stalls and shops. Some of them had been replaced but for the most part nothing changed.
"Pretty lady! would you like some ice cream?"
She turned to see an old man behind an ice cream stall. The man seemed to be in his late 60's too old in her opinion to be working. His cart was a little old and run down. It didn't seem like he was getting much business either.
"I'd love some."
Seeing her walk over the old man brightened up. He eagerly showed her the list of options. Li Hua settled on vanilla.
When the time came to pay she tried to give the man extra. She didn't have much money but she wanted to help the man out as much as she could.
Seeing her kind gesture the man was overcome with joy. "Thank you young lady! You are so kind. Surely the heavens have blessed me today to have come across someone as kind as you."
Hearing this Li Hua thought the man was overreacting. It was only a bit of change. However seeing his reaction, she realized that she had been fortunate enough in life to never worry about money. While others like the old man was lucky to see even this much.
"It's my pleasure, really." She smiled and laughed.
~~~
While Li Hua was talking with the old man she was unaware of the figure staring at her.
Inside the car, the man seemed to be solely focused on the her.
"Young master are you all right?"
Su LingTian snapped back to reality and turned towards the driver, "I'm fine. I have a meeting at 1 let's hurry."
He had been driving on his way to work when the road was blocked so the driver took a detour. As they were driving his attention was drawn to something outside. He saw a girl walking down the street. Her hair had been tied into a ponytail with a cute ribbon. It was the same thing Li Hua would do when it was hot in the garden. She told him that since her hair was long it would stick to her face, so she tied it into a ponytail.
Something about the girl seemed familiar.
Subconsciously, he told the driver to pull over.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Pull over."
Watching from the side of the road, he saw the girl stop to buy ice cream and talk with the vendor. He was completely focused on the girls actions, something about her captivated him. It seemed that the man had said something that took the girl by surprise. Her hands had reached behind her and she slightly tugged at her wrist.
Seeing that, his eyes widened. That was something Li Hua had done when she was nervous. He noticed that she would do that whenever she was flustered. Which made making fun of her even better. Remembering those years he shook his head.
It couldn't be her...could it? He had looked for her for so long but couldn't find her.
He was about to say something when the driver called out to him.
Realizing his actions and the time, he realized he had to go now.
As the car pulled off, he looked at the girl one last time. However, this time the girl seemed to be looking back.
He turned around and the driver rode off.
~~~
Li Hua had felt something was weird. She looked around her but saw nothing. She was about to brush it off when she noticed a fancy black car pull off down the rode.
"What a nice car." She thought.