What rescued President Liu from his stupor was the sound of a chair being violently pushed back, crashing against the wall.
The "Mr. Moore" strode to the doorway and abruptly grabbed Li Xiaoya, lifting her up.
The roughness of his action and the fierceness of his expression momentarily made it difficult to discern his relationship with the child.
Only President Liu felt as if the top of his head was about to fly off.
He... he...
She... she...
The voice... the phone call... the English...
The terrifying foreign man before him was the one who had hung up on him twice earlier! The top-tier big shot President Sun had mentioned!
"President Liu, what's wrong?"
"President Liu, are you alright? Why is your face so pale?"
"It's... it's nothing." Guns are prohibited in Hua Country, guns are prohibited in Hua Country... President Liu repeated in his mind several times.
Then he cautiously raised his eyes to glance at the foreign man.
The man, however, paid him no attention at all.
This Mr. Moore carried Li Xiaoya, half-lifting and half-embracing her, to the table's edge.
His subordinate promptly brought over another chair and set it down, which became Li Xiaoya's seat.
"What would you like to eat? I hear this restaurant is one of the best in your Jin City!" The translator diligently interpreted this sentence for the man.
The waiter standing nearby thought to himself, indeed it is, Miss Li has dined here several times already.
Li Xiaoya, however, didn't speak. Instead, she first looked towards the human translator with a Hua Country face standing to the side.
"Mr. Moore," who was actually Ke Muning, smiled and said, "How is it? I specially picked him. If he's not good enough, there's another one here."
For this trip, Ke Muning had hired two translators, a driver, and a guide within Hua Country's borders under perfectly legitimate pretenses.
Abroad, Ke Muning didn't like using Hua people as subordinates, because no one could be sure if they were Wei Xuanming's people or not.
In Hua Country, however, there was no such worry.
Ke Muning found it very convenient.
Li Xiaoya looked at them and felt it was a bit dangerous.
It would be too easy for them to recognize faces!
"I'll just have what's already on the table," Li Xiaoya said, her gaze falling on President Liu again.
Why was he here?
Li Xiaoya clenched her fingers, slowly blinking her eyes, not revealing any unusual expression on her face.
What had President Liu said to Ke Muning?
Was he brought here by Ke Muning?
Why had Ke Muning come to Hua Country?
Many questions crowded Li Xiaoya's mind.
But at this moment, she already had an idea in her head.
Assuming President Liu hadn't yet had the chance to tell Ke Muning any fatal information, such as her relationship with her uncles.
Then to seal President Liu's lips now, there was only one move—
Li Xiaoya turned her head to Ke Muning and said, "I should actually be in class right now."
"Oh? But you came to see me." Ke Muning paused, then called out to the waiter, "Hey, get her a glass of milk."
The waiter responded, skillfully bringing out a glass of hot milk.
Li Xiaoya took the milk glass, feeling a bit worried.
Ke Muning wasn't a person who would casually become close to others.
On the island, he had carried her on his back only because he found her walking too slow.
But now they were eating...
Li Xiaoya wasn't used to telling others about her pain, but at this moment she lowered her head and said softly, "I fell down on the way here."
These words were relayed by the translator.
"Fell again?" Ke Muning immediately bent down to lift her trouser leg. "Having a clever mind isn't enough, you need a strong body too."
"It's not injured," Ke Muning said after checking.
Li Xiaoya frowned, "But it hurts."
The words that were about to leave Ke Muning's mouth - how she had suddenly become so delicate - were swallowed back.
Oh.
Was the Little Crazy acting coquettish with him?
Ke Muning felt somewhat uncomfortable and pinched his fingers.
No one had ever acted coquettish in front of him before.
Because everyone knew that acting coquettish to a wooden post would be more effective than doing so to him. Moreover, just looking at his face without bursting into tears was already quite an achievement.
Hey, but she was acting coquettish towards him.
A Little Crazy.
A young girl who had remained perfectly calm when asked about her injuries before was now acting coquettish with him!
Ke Muning felt uncomfortable, but... he couldn't say he disliked it.
He pondered for a moment, then said, "Shall I rub it for you?"
Li Xiaoya nodded, raised that leg, and pointed at her knee, saying, "Here."
So Ke Muning lowered his head to rub her knee.
Neither of them spoke, nor did they show any particularly tender behavior.
But for Ke Muning, this was already remarkably rare.
Most importantly, because of Li Xiaoya's single complaint of pain, there was no sign of starting the meal... it seemed they would have to wait until she felt better.
Time ticked by slowly.
Of course, there was no such word as "tired" in Ke Muning's dictionary, and he didn't know how long one should rub a bruise to make it feel better...
In the blink of an eye, five minutes had passed.
Not a single person in the entire private room dared to breathe heavily.
Finally, Li Xiaoya said, "It's better now."
Ke Muning withdrew his hand, thinking to himself that a child's act of coquetry wasn't too troublesome after all.
But when it came time to eat, another problem arose.
Li Xiaoya said, "I can't reach."
So Ke Muning had to pick up food for her, laughing as he did so: "Your face isn't as big as a pig's knuckle, and your arms aren't as long as the table, haha!"
Li Xiaoya pursed her lips unhappily and poked a meatball from his bowl.
Ke Muning became even more amused: "Oh, so I'm not allowed to say that?"
"Mm, you're getting my temperament. But you still lack some skill, see, you can only pick at my meatballs."
Li Xiaoya took a bite of the meatball and gave the rest back to him.
Ke Muning was taken aback for a moment, but didn't say anything. He tossed the remainder into his own mouth and said, "I'll be staying here for a few days. How about I teach you boxing? You can't use guns here anyway."
"Although with your fists, you'd need to grow for another ten years to be able to hurt me."
President Liu watched this scene unfold, not daring to make a sound, his entire back soaked with sweat.
The foreign man and Li Xiaoya were so close, clearly their relationship was very good. The so-called grudge against the New Shareholder surnamed Wei was completely false, wasn't it?
It was a trap!
If he said anything slanderous, this man would immediately change his attitude, right?
President Liu gasped urgently, thinking how terrible, how terrible this foreigner was...
He couldn't say anything, he couldn't say anything at all!
The more President Liu thought about it, the more sorrow welled up inside him.
He had been hoping for a turnaround.
Who could have imagined that a glimmer of hope would turn into darkness, and then darkness again!
