Can't Take My Eyes Off You

61

Jiang Yao had been profusely finding a chance to interject the conversation among the adults to ask if

Lu Xingzhi had called home. Unfortunately, her attempts came to no avail.

Finally, when Lu Xiaoxiao and Lu Haixing had decided to call it a day and went home, Jiang Yao

quickly went up to her father-in-law and asked, "Dad, did Xingzhi call home these few days?"

Should she admit that she'd been waiting for his call for several days?

For the past few days in the county, she had seen Zhao Zhuangzong and the pregnant woman walking

together like a regular couple several times. Once, she had even seen them coming out of the hospital

together. From the looks of it, it seemed that they were there for a maternity checkup. Zhao

Zhuangzong didn't see her because she was standing in a secluded area. She had to stop Lu Xiaoxiao

from going forward to greet them.

That slow-witted girl still failed to notice the strangeness of it.

Besides wanting to talk about this with Lu Xingzhi, Jiang Yao missed him badly. She was also worried

about him as he hadn't called for so many days already despite his promise to call as soon as he

arrived at the base.

"No, I think he must be too busy with work that he has forgotten to call," Mr. Lu said. "Don't worry, he's

an adult, he knows how to look after himself. Besides, it's been a few days already. If something had

really happened, the base would have called us."

"Oh," Jiang Yao responded with her downcast eyes. Then, she excused herself and went upstairs to

her room.

Deep under her indifference and inexpressive expression when talking to Mr. Lu, her blood was boiling

in rage and agitation.

That a**hole! Didn't he say that he loved her to the moon and back? He went missing in action as soon

as he returned to the base, like a kite which disappeared into the sky after its line broke.

Busy! Busy! Busy!

How busy could he be? Even if he was busy, it wouldn't be that much of a bother to make a simple

phone call, would it?

In her previous life, when she wasn't fond of him, he would call home whenever he was free just to talk

to her.

Ironically, in this current rebirth, she missed him and yet he didn't call!

She pulled the drawer and saw Lu Xingzhi's bankbook. She vented her anger through her ghastly glare

at the innocent bankbook, as if she was glaring at its owner.

"I'll give you two more days. If you don't call, I will...ignore you!" Jiang Yao cursed indignantly. "B*stard!"

She crashed into the large king-sized bed, sighing dejectedly.

She never knew that it could be that frustrating and depressing waiting for a person's news or updates.

It was hard to imagine what it had been like to be in this situation for eleven years. Lu Xingzhi said that

he was waiting for her reply and response and he waited for eleven years, yet he didn't even get a

glance back from her. How did he feel back then?

As this thought flashed across Jiang Yao's mind, she couldn't help but calm down into a mellow mode.

Never mind, she owed him so much in her previous life. Regardless of whether he would call her in two

days' time or in twenty days, how could she possibly ignore him again when he really did call?

For several days in a row, whenever the phone rang, Jiang Yao was the first to rush over to pick it up

that even Mr. and Mrs. Lu found her anxious look amusing, but they didn't poke at it.

The 12th of August was an auspicious day. Endless firecrackers noises echoed across the town since

morning. Standing on the balcony of the second floor, Jiang Yao could see the family which was having

a wedding not far from their house.

Mr. and Mrs. Lu were walking in from the yard, smiling and carrying wedding candy in their hands.

When they saw Jiang Yao on the balcony, they said, "Your dad and I will go to the county tonight for a

wedding dinner, so you'll be alone at home. Just cook whatever you want to eat tonight, okay?"

"Okay!" Jiang Yao nodded.

Mr. and Mrs. Lu went out after lunch. Jiang Yao stayed in her room for the entire evening. It was only

when the day went dark that she slowly went downstairs to heat up leftovers from lunch and called it a

meal.

When she was in the kitchen heating up the food, the phone in the living room suddenly rang. Jiang

Yao sighed, turned off the fire on the stove, and hopelessly picked up the phone. She spoke before the

person on the other end of the line could. "Hello, I'm Jiang Yao. My in-laws are not at home now,

please leave a message and I'll convey it to them later."