An Nuan actually didn't take An Hao seriously at all.
She figured that after some time when An Hao didn't achieve anything, she would demote him from his position and just let him fend for himself. She didn't expect that he would start making trouble again.
"He doesn't have enough capability, but I'm worried someone is behind him."
Qin Jiang was rather admiring of An Nuan's prudence.
It was no wonder she could accomplish so much in the An family business.
Things were becoming clearer to him now.
There's no way Ye Jinghuai has such good judgement.
It was obvious that before marrying Ye Jinghuai, An Nuan was still a nobody.
How did she instantly become a dragon and phoenix after marrying Ye Jinghuai?!
Was this called "proximity to vermilion turns one red"?!
"Okay, I'll keep an eye on An Hao for you. I'll let you know if he makes any suspicious moves," Qin Jiang readily agreed.
"Thank you."
"Anything else?" Qin Jiang asked.
"No, that's all."
Then Qin Jiang directly hung up the phone.
After hanging up, his first reaction was of course to call Ye Jinghuai. "Jinghuai."
"Mm," came the voice on the other end, the tone clearly rather cold.
Qin Jiang felt a little annoyed.
Ye Jinghuai was treating him more and more casually now.
It had been a week since leaving Qing City.
Yet he hadn't even called once.
And now Qin Jiang was calling him, but Ye Jinghuai was so cold.
He suppressed his annoyance and said, "Your wife asked me to keep an eye on An Hao for her."
"Then help her."
"I already agreed." Qin Jiang knew it would be like this.
"Good then." Ye Jinghuai's tone was clearly perfunctory.
"Are you very busy?"
"A bit."
"What's there to be busy about in that backwater place?" Qin Jiang felt it made no sense.
"Lots of things." Ye Jinghuai didn't hide it from Qin Jiang. "Busy with not being schemed against or framed."
Qin Jiang frowned.
In that moment, he also understood.
The next six months were critical for Ye Jinghuai.
If he made even a small mistake, he would never be able to come back. And there were certainly people who didn't want him to come back, so they would naturally try to trick him.
"Anything else?" Ye Jinghuai asked.
"Nothing else." Qin Jiang didn't actually have anything else. He casually asked, "When are you coming back?"
"Depends on the situation." Ye Jinghuai said, "I definitely won't come back within a month at least. It would arouse too much talk."
"Ever since you started mingling with elite families, I feel like you've lost your freedom!" Qin Jiang complained a little.
Ye Jinghuai didn't agree.
After all.
He never had freedom!
"Let's not talk about this. Contact me if anything comes up."
Then Ye Jinghuai directly hung up the phone.
Qin Jiang also put down his phone.
He was thinking.
Was everything really about to happen?!
Just thinking about it, he felt a vague sense of anticipation.
...
An Nuan didn't get off work until 10 pm.
This had been her schedule recently.
Sometimes she even wondered if it was because Ye Jinghuai wasn't around, so getting off work held no particular anticipation for her.
She sat in the car driven by Hu Feng, on her way home.
In that moment, she suddenly wanted to call Xia Qiqi, just to check on her.
"Hello?" came a groggy voice from the other end.
An Nuan frowned. "You're sleeping?"
"Mm," Xia Qiqi mumbled affirmatively.
"Then go back to sleep," An Nuan didn't want to disturb her rest.
Pregnant women needed it most, after all.
She actually hadn't expected that Xia Qiqi would be sleeping so early.
Getting pregnant really changed Xia Qiqi a lot.
"It's fine, I'm awake now," Xia Qiqi quickly said. "Sleeping is how I spend most of the day anyway, you didn't interrupt my sleep."
"Is the morning sickness any better?" An Nuan asked.
"Not at all. Not one bit." Saying it made Xia Qiqi feel utterly miserable. "Other than feeling a little better when I'm asleep, I feel awful as soon as I wake up. Blech..."
As she spoke, she suddenly retched over the phone.
The next second, An Nuan heard Xia Qiqi painfully say, "Give me a moment."
Then came the agonized sounds of violent vomiting over the phone.
An Nuan could well imagine Xia Qiqi's suffering.
After quite a while, Xia Qiqi picked up the phone again and said, "Okay, I can talk now."
"Is it really that bad? Why not go to the hospital to get checked out? Throwing up like this, won't it affect you and the baby?" An Nuan asked.
"I don't want to go to the hospital." Xia Qiqi was very firm. "I'm afraid of getting shots."
"Who said you have to get shots if you go to the hospital? You should go and let the doctor examine you. Throwing up like this, don't you need extra nutrition or something?"
"It's fine. I only vomit this badly occasionally. As soon as I see that old hag Xiao Qiang, I get so angry at her that I even forget the morning sickness." Xia Qiqi spoke casually.
An Nuan couldn't help laughing a little.
She of course knew that Xiao Qiang had moved in to live with them.
She also knew Xiao Qiang and Xia Qiqi didn't get along, and that Xia Qiqi was no match for Xiao Qiang.
"You're laughing. You have no idea how annoying that woman is!" Xia Qiqi was furious. "She won't let me wear makeup, won't let me wear high heels, won't let me wear tight clothes. And she forces me to drink chicken soup every day. She's going to drive me crazy! I figure one day you won't see your sister anymore because that Xiao Qiang has annoyed me to death!"
"Tsk tsk, pregnant women shouldn't speak of life and death so lightly," An Nuan chided.
Xia Qiqi was nonchalant.
"How's Nanchen?" An Nuan asked. "How is he?"
"How could he be anything?! When I'm being bullied by Xiao Qiang, he just stands by and watches, what do you expect him to do, help me?!" Whenever Xia Qiqi spoke of Xiao Nanchen, she ground her teeth.
"What I meant was, is he still sleeping on the couch?" An Nuan raised her brows.
"Wasn't that his own choice?" Xia Qiqi was indifferent.
"Nanchen is at a crucial stage for strengthening his legs. Sleep is very important to him. And that couch at your place, I've sat on it before, it's too soft, not suitable for Nanchen."
"Can you not talk about him!" Xia Qiqi flared up. "It's rare you deign to call me, can you not keep bringing him up!"
An Nuan laughed lightly.
Usually when Xia Qiqi avoided a topic like this, it meant she was feeling insecure inside.
Of course An Nuan didn't want to overly provoke Xia Qiqi's condition, so she didn't say more. And it was getting late, she didn't want to interfere with Xia Qiqi's sleep too much either, so she said, "I'm going to hang up now. Take good care of yourself, call me if anything comes up..."
"An Nuan! I told you not to talk about Xiao Nanchen and you go and hang up on me directly. What place do I even have left in your heart now that you've married Ye Jinghuai!" Xia Qiqi fumed.
An Nuan was speechless.
There was just no winning this.
"I always placed you first in my life, but ever since you married Ye Jinghuai you've changed! Do some serious self-reflection!" Xia Qiqi righteously lectured before hanging up the phone.
An Nuan smiled helplessly.
But deep down, she actually felt quite gratified.
The Xia Qiqi now was exactly the Xia Qiqi she had hoped to see.
The tragedy of their previous life would never befall Xia Qiqi again!
Her gaze flickered as her phone suddenly lit up with an incoming call.
Yes.
Xia Qiqi was right.
Ever since marrying Ye Jinghuai, there really was one more person in her heart!
