C20

Yang Ling stopped bothering about them and focussed on her food. She really liked many food items in this restaurant. She called the manager and asked about the menu.

She asked him, "The food is delicious especially the Indo cuisines. I also loved your pasta, especially its sauce."

The manager replied, "Thank you for the compliments, Ma'am. With the recent change in ownership, the menu has been revamped, especially the Indo and Saian cuisines."

When they heard the manager, it caught the attention of many people around the table.

Song Liu narrowed his eyes. He asked, "Change of ownership? Has Wang Lei sold the restaurant?"

The manager replied, "Yes sir. The restaurant has changed ownership."

Tang Yue asked, "When did it happen?"

The manager said, "About two months back."

Tang Mo was also interested and he asked, "So, do you know the new owners?"

The manager nodded and said, "Sir, you have also seen her. She was just having dinner adjacent to your table. Her name is Dr. Yang Mei."

Everyone around the table was stunned.

Song Liu asked, "But how? Wang Lei would never sell this place. It is an iconic place."

Tang Yue said, "Maybe there is something we don't know."

The manager coughed and said, "Sir, if I may?"

Yang Tian said, "Go ahead, say what you want to say."

The manager said, "There is a rumour going around about the sale of this restaurant."

Yang Tian said, "And what is that?"

The manager hesitated and replied, "That the restaurant was sold at five times the market value."

There were gasps all around the table.

Sun Yichen said, "If the rumor is true then the sale doesn't make sense. It's a bad deal for the buyer. Why would she do this?"

Song Liu thought for a moment and said, "It doesn't make sense unless you have too much money to burn."

Tang Mo said, "How can she have so much money? All of this doesn't add up. Any explanations?" He then looked around the table.

All of them shrugged their shoulders. He saw Song Liu deep in thought and asked him, "What do you think?"

Song Liu grinned and said, "I don't know but it is very interesting."

They continued with their dinner.

They left the Golden Palace around midnight.

============================================

Two weeks later-

Bing Xue had been very busy in the past 2 weeks. She had to assist in a few major operations and had many individual surgeries as well.

Whenever she was free her mind would wander to her conversation with Mei two weeks earlier. She would think about it every night before going to bed. She was not sure what she wanted to do. Bing Xue was an extremely intelligent and judicious person. She knew that what Mei had told her was only the tip of the iceberg. She also had a feeling that there were many dark secrets that even Mei was not aware of. From her understanding of Yang Li, she could tell that he would never place such a burden on his sister.

She didn't know what she would find. She didn't know if she could accept what she found. Since she was young, she had never lacked confidence. However, ever since she met Yang Li she had wavered on multiple occasions. She was nervous as she didn't know if she would accept him after she knew everything.

Incidentally, Yang Li had messaged her only a couple of times in these two weeks. She was not sure about anything yet, but she knew one thing for sure- she missed him terribly.

She wanted to meet him.

She said to herself in a determined manner- 'Whatever I find, I will process it slowly. And I will ultimately accept everything about him.'

Xue walked towards the elevator on her floor. When the elevator opened there were already two people inside. One was Yang Mei and the other was a man whom Yang Mei introduced as Han Kai. He was the same age as Mei.

Han Kai was 180 cm tall. He had black hair, grey eyes, and an ivory skin tone. He belonged to the tier 1 Han Family of Zijin. A lawyer by profession, he was one of the top lawyers in Colchis. He was one of the closest people to Yang Li. They had known each other since Kai was 17. They met in the final year of high school when Kai had transferred to Li's school.

His father-Han Dong and mother-Shi Xiaofei were the largest partners in HanXi law firm. Han Dong was one of the best corporate lawyers in the country whereas Shi Xiaofei was the best criminal lawyer in all of Colchis.

Xue was aware of the Han family of Zijin. She had heard about them when she was in Zijin.

She greeted him. Han Kai smiled and replied, "It's a pleasure to meet you. And Thank You."

Xue was confused, "Thank you? For what?"

Kai replied, "For taking care of Li. And I hope you can continue to do so."

"Since I have known him, I have never seen him moved by anyone."

He then sighed and said in a distressed tone, "I myself proposed to him once but sadly he rejected me!!! I was so sad and depressed…. BOHOOOO."

Xue was surprised at his words. She frowned and thought to herself- 'Why is this dude so weird??'

All this while, Mei was watching on the side. She suddenly burst out laughing.

"Hahahahahah...…. Stop it! Kai. Xue, don't mind him. He has a weird sense of humor. He was just pulling your leg. You will get used to it."

Xue saw Kai grinning and said, "Hehehe…Miss Xue, I was just kidding. I hope you don't take offense."

Xue replied with a smile, "No worries. It's cool."

After a pause, she said, "You have known brother Li since he was 15. So, you must joke around him a lot."

Kai raised his chest in a proud manner and said, "Of course. I'm his best frie----"

Before he could finish Mei interrupted and snorted and said, "Oh! he tried to when we were younger. But he was always beaten up by Li. Hehehehe...it was so fun to watch. After he got beaten up a few times, he would only joke around when Li was not present."

Xue giggled when she heard this.

Kai said in a begging tone, "Sister Mei." But she ignored him and started talking to Xue.

They were near the hospital canteen on the ground floor when Xue got a call. After the call ended, she parted ways with Mei and Kai.

She had a small surgery scheduled in half an hour. She went to the operation theatre. On her way to the OT, she got a message. It was from Yang Li. It stated- 'Can we talk in person? If you are free, I will pick you up in the evening.'

Xue was a little nervous when she read the message. At the same time, she was excited. They had little contact in the past two weeks. She had been very anxious. After thinking for a moment, she replied- 'Ok. I will be free by 5 p.m.'

He replied- 'Great. I will pick you up at 5 then.'

After reading the message she put away her phone and entered the OT.

===========================================

5 p.m.- outside MLH-

A black jeep was parked on the street across MLH. Yang Li was sitting in the driver's seat. He was on a call with Zhou Jin.

He said, "I will bring her to the base today. Make proper arrangements before we arrive."

Jin said, "Sure I will. Now stop nagging. So, today is the D Day huh!"

Yang Li, "Yes I will tell her today."

However, when Yang Li said this, he was nervous. It was the first time he felt this way. He had been to war zones. He had killed many people. He had been in dire situations. However, he had never been as nervous as he was thinking about his upcoming conversation with Xue.

When he ended the call, he saw Xue coming out of the hospital and walking towards his jeep. He got down and waved at her.

Xue had just exited the hospital when she saw Yang Li's Jeep across the street. She started walking towards it. Yang Li came out and stood beside the vehicle. As usual, he was in disguise. He was wearing a blue T-shirt and black jeans with army boots. Once she saw him, she had butterflies in her stomach.

Yang Li opened the door for her and she got inside. She then greeted him. He replied gently, "How have you been?"

She complained in a childish tone, "I am not talking to you…... Why have you been out of touch for the past two weeks?" She then paused, looked at him, and asked, "Did something happen?"

"I had gone abroad on a business trip. It was a rural area so the cell reception was very bad." Replied Li.

"But you should have a found a way to contact me. I was so anxious!! I thought something had happened. It was only after sister Mei told me that you were fine that I could finally relax."

Li looked at her and grinned.

"Stop grinning! I'm serious.", she replied.

He asked, "How do you know I'm grinning?"

She snorted and replied, "Oh! Please I can easily tell from your eyes."

Li replied, "Alright! it was my mistake. I apologize. It will not happen again."

After hearing this she calmed down.

Li started the jeep and they were on their way.

She asked, "But where are we going?"

He said, "It's a surprise. It will take about two hours. If you want to take a nap, go ahead. I will wake you up when we reach there."

Xue said, "Ok." She then relaxed and closed her eyes. She slowly drifted off to sleep.