Chapter 41
41
When they arrived at the Imperial Palace, Qi Chengyan sent her straight home.
"You're back, miss." The auntie at home greeted her. Guan Zhiyi greeted back and went upstairs to change her clothes.
Seeing Guan Zhiyi go upstairs, Qi Chengyan asked, "Is Yuanbai at home?"
"Young master is here, I'll go call him for you."
"Okay."
Today not only Guan Yuanbai is at home, but Guan Xinghuai is also home. After Guan Zhiyi changed into comfortable clothes, she saw three men sitting in the living room, each one more frightening than the other.
"Come and sit down." Guan Xinghuai patted the position beside him.
Guan Zhiyi was not too happy about it, but she still walked over with her father's stern eyes.
"I saw you receiving an award while watching a live broadcast with your brother." Guan Xinghuai said.
"Oh ......"
"You did good, I actually watched that drama of yours, and this award is well deserved."
Guan Zhiyi was taken aback for a moment, she looked at her father in surprise, "You... watched my drama?"
"So surprised?''Guan Xinghuai glanced at her. "Can't I watch the drama that my daughter participates in?"
Guan Zhiyi was very happy, because this was the first time she heard praise about her career from her father.
Guan Xinghuai: "I won't stop you from doing this job now, but filming is filming, life is life. Xiao Ran is a good child, you two are also well matched in the drama, but you guys mustn't confuse drama and reality ah."
The conversation suddenly changed into a strange direction.
Guan Zhiyi looked at the other two with a black line on her face. She saw Guan Yuanbai and Qi Chengyan sitting quietly with a look of approval on their faces.
Guan Zhiyi: "..."
Guan Xinghuai: "Listen to me, Xiao Ran is so popular among paparazzi in the industry. Are you aware of how much dirty water will be thrown on you?"
"Aiya, Dad. I'm not, don't easily believe in hearsay."
Guan Xinghuai: "That person specially sent you home, I read all the news."
"That's because Maomao's car broke down, and I didn't drive myself, he just dropped me."
Guan Xinghuai frowned, "Then why don't you drive yourself? Your brother has so many cars collecting dust in his garage."
"He's just prodigal…"
"What?"
"I mean I haven't drive in a long time."
"Your driver license is really just a decoration for you."Guan Yuanbai said casually, "Well, I'll take you to practice driving for the next few days."
Guan Zhiyi didn't reject him, she actually also wanted to drive by herself sometimes, it's just that she was too busy to practice.
"You don't have that many schedules these days, right?"
"No..."
"That's good."
The next afternoon, Guan Zhiyi woke up after a nap and recalled that yesterday Guan Yuanbai said he would accompany her to practice driving.
So she went to his room and knocked on the door.
"Come in."
Guan Zhiyi pushed the door and poked her head in, "Brother, let's go practice."
Guan Yuanbai was standing in front of the mirror, tying his tie, and smiled at her, "Wait a minute, Cheng Yan should be here soon."
Guan Zhiyi looked confused,"Why is he coming? Didn't you say you'd accompany me to practice."
Guan Yuanbai put on the suit beside him and walked over, "Something suddenly happened in the company, I have to go there, don't worry, I've asked Cheng Yan, he said he will teach you."
Guan Zhiyi was stunned, "We can just cancel the practice if you don't have time today. Why are you bothering other people ah."
Guan Yuanbai gave her a puzzled look, "Since when did you think of him as other people?" He raised his eyebrows,"Oh, You're not fighting with him, are you? What a rare sight, there's finally a moment where you find fault with him"
Guan Zhiyi choked, "I didn't."
"Since there is no such thing, come with me to the garage." Guan Yuanbai glanced at his watch, "It's about time, we should be there."
In the end, Guan Zhiyi was still dragged to the garage by Guan Yuanbai.
The two of them waited in the garage for a short while before Qi Chengyan arrived. Guan Yuanbai got into his car when he saw him coming, "I'll leave her to be taught by you then, she knows how to drive, just a little timid. She should be better if she drives more."
Qi Chengyan nodded and took the car key from him, "I know, you can go."
"Um."
Guan Yuanbai raised the car window, and with a roar, went out of the garage.
Guan Zhiyi stood still, watching Qi Chengyan walk towards her after taking the car key. He didn't go to work today, so he didn't wear a proper suit. He wore casual black pants and a long coat, lean and stylish.
Guan Zhiyi moved her eyes away, somewhat uncomfortable.
"Get in the car." Qi Chengyan handed the key to her.
Instead of opening the door, Guan said, "Do you really want to assist me practice driving?"
Qi Chengyan: "What's the matter?"
"The one who said he'd accompany me to practice is my brother, how can I leave this to you? My skills are so bad, what should I do in case of an accident...ah."
Before she could finish speaking, Qi Chengyan flicked her head, "What unlucky words to say."
Guan Zhiyi clutched her head, "I'm serious…"
"Then he's doing this on purpose. If I was by your side during the accident, I'll be the one who died with you."
Guan Zhiyi was stunned, stared blankly at Qi Chengyan. She saw the latter smile faintly,"In this way, your family will still have descendants to survive, and won't be annihilated."
Who's the one saying unlucky words now?
"Okay, get in the car now. Don't go faster than 40 yards. You'll be fine."
"Oh."
Actually Guan Zhiyi is not that unconfident on her own skills. She just felt that it's a bad idea for him to come and accompany her to practice.
But she couldn't back out now, she had to open the car door and get in.
Guan Yuanbai chose a two-seater sports car for her. He said that this car was relatively small and easier to control. However, Guan Zhiyi suspected that it's entirely because Guan Yuanbai thought she would make the other car scratched, he was unwilling to give up his babies.
After getting into the car, Qi Chengyan briefly explained to her about the control of various places, Guan Zhiyi then hit the road. She drove very slowly, dawdling around thirty yards speed, and went out of the residence.
Despite the slowness, she was still nervous. She was stiffly staring straight ahead, afraid that someone might suddenly appear somewhere.
"Don't panic. there's no one on this road."
"Oh…"
"We will be on a straight road for another ten minutes. If you feel you can adapt, you can speed up." Qi Chengyan supported his head with one hand and looked forward faintly.
"No, no, no speeding up, this is fine."
Qi Chengyan glanced at her, the corner of his mouth ticked slightly,"Okay, it's up to you."
Guan Zhiyi hits the road for the first time in more than two years. So at first, Qi Chengyan guided her to drive on an empty road with few people. When she got used to it and dared to increase the speed, he then allowed her to drive downtown.
The car drove downtown after the sky had darkened, Guan Zhiyi found a roadside to turn off the engine,"Let's end it here today, I think we can go home now."
Qi Chengyan: "Okay, then you drive back home."
Guan Zhiyi turned her neck, her whole body was tense when she drove, and now that she had relaxed herself, her neck and arms became sore.
"I don't want to drive again."
Seeing her exhausted face, Qi Chengyan realized, "I'll drive, you sit over here."
With that being said, he got out of the car, and Guan Zhiyi climbed directly to the passenger seat from inside. As Qi Chengyan sat in, his phone rang. After answering the call, he looked back at her,"Are you hungry?"
Guan Zhiyi nodded.
"My friends called me, let's go have a meal first."
"Ah... Then I will drop you off and drive home by myself."
Qi Chengyan gave her a disapproving look, "I'm still not rest assured with you, it's okay, after eating dinner, I will send you back."
Qi Chengyan directly drove the car, not allowing her to refuse.
Guan Zhiyi thought it ought to be a banquet, but when she arrived at a private club and saw the people inside, she realized that she knew some people there.
This private room was large, the entertainment area and dining area was clearly divided and fully equipped. At this time, there were three men and two women sitting at the dining table.
Seeing them coming in, the person sitting by the door stood up first,"Cheng Yan, you are here. I was wondering why you said you wouldn't come at first, it turned out you were with a girl ah, eh this girl --"
The person's voice stuck, he recognized her, "Isn't this Guan Xiaowu."
Guan Zhiyi had no impression of the person who was speaking, and looked at Qi Chengyan with questioning eyes.
Qi Chengyan explained, "He's Song Li, your brother and I used to be classmates with him, you should have seen him several times when you were young."
"Oh, Hello."
Song Li waved his hand,"It's okay, it's okay if you can't remember me, but I remember you, and I often see you on TV recently."
Guan Zhiyi smiled a little embarrassed.
"Come here, don't just stand there, hurry up and eat something."
Qi Chengyan led her to the dining table. When she reached the table, she politely greeted the only person she knew in this room.
"Brother Suizhou."
Song Li pulled out a chair and sat down, saying, "Why did you call him brother, just call brother-in-law."
Guan Zhiyi touched her nose, that person has not married her sister yet, so she can't just call him recklessly…
Jiang Suizhou, who was sitting across her, smiled faintly: "Don't pay attention to him."
"Tch, it's okay to call him brother-in-law, he's been in a relationship with Guanxi for so long." Song Li said, signaling the waiter to come over and add two sets of dishes, and asked, "Oh yeah, why did you guys come together today?"
Qi Chengyan answered "Xiao Wu is learning to drive these days, I'm teaching her."
"You become an instructor ah?" Song Li smiled faintly and said, "Only Guan Xiaowu can make you play the role of an instructor in between your extremely busy schedule. Hey, I remember this girl always clinging to you tightly when she was young, she used to follow you when you came out to play ball several times."
Guan Zhiyi was somewhat embarrassed listening to it, everyone really know everything that happened during her childhood.
"By the way, I read on the Internet that Xiao Wu is in love with that big star Xiao Ran, is it true?"After Song Li asked, all the people present looked over with some curiosity, even Jiang Suizhou was quite interested about it.
As soon as Guan Zhiyi was about to say something, Qi Chengyan already said, "It's fake."
Song Li was a little disappointed, "Ah, I knew it would be fake, how could Guan Yuanbai let his sister fall in love with someone from the entertainment industry, Xiao Wu, is he still stopping you from being an actress now?"
"Fortunately, he's not against it anymore."
"That's good, that's good."
The food came one after another, however the people present did not seem to have much intention to eat, they were basically just chatting and drinking. Guan Zhiyi was very hungry, but was too embarrassed to bury her head and stuff herself with food.
"Why aren't you eating?" Qi Chengyan gave her two chopsticks of food.
Guan Zhiyi: "...... I'm eating."
Qi Chengyan brought her a few more warm pastries, turned his head to her and said in a shallow voice, "You don't need to care about them, just focus on your food."
He leaned a little closer, there was a slight smell of alcohol when he spoke. Guan Zhiyi looked at his eyes shining with the shards of light, and slowly nodded.
Qi Chengyan: "Or which one do you want to eat, I'll get it for you?"
Guan Zhiyi shook her head. Just when she was about to say no, she heard Song Li from the other side said, "For God sake, Qi Chengyan, Xiaowu can eat by herself. How can she find a future husband later if you keep spoiling her like this?"
Song Li was already a little drunk, he was half teasing and half joking, he didn't think too much before speaking.
"You worry too much." Qi Chengyan faintly said.
Song Li : "Then I'll refrain from worrying about it. If she can't find a husband later, I can just give you to her."
Guan Zhiyi chopsticks paused, she choked fiercely, "...... cough, cough."
Qi Chengyan glanced at her, took a piece of tissue and handed it over,"Eat slowly."
"Cough--"
Song Li became sober when he heard the little girl's choking, oh…he was used to joking around, but why did he have to make trouble with this girl.
Others may not know, but he knows how much Qi Chengyan and Guan Yuanbai look after this child when they were young, so he immediately stopped joking, "Hahahaha, I'm just kidding--"
Qi Chengyan ignored him and frowned at Guan Zhiyi, who was still choking, her face turned red.
On the other side, Jiang Suizhou's gaze turned between the two, the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.