Di Qiuhe leaned against the door and bowed to browse over the texts before the light was turned on.

He Bai: Are you really mad at me?

He Bai: Sorry for worrying you.

He Bai: I’ve been working all the day, so I set my phone to vibration mode and put it into the bag, thus not knowing you’ve texted me.

He Bai: I skipped class and paid a visit to C Province together with a client.

…

He Bai: The problem online was resolved. Thank you for helping find out the truth.

…

He Bai: Are you still on the set? Get some rest when it’s finished.

Di Qiuhe examined these texts over and over again, his expression keeping changing. Considering that Little Puppy was sincere in what he was saying, he eventually accepted his apology. Letting out a smiling groan, Di Qiuhe put on the light, walked to the bedside and reclined on the pillow, slowly typing: I just finished my work and will fly to D district tomorrow. I’m relieved that you are aware of your mistake. Be a good boy, Little Puppy, or I’ll…

His phone beeped. Another text message came.

He Bai: You must be knocking off this time, aren’t you? Still angry?

He Bai: Are you going to work at D district? I have couple days off for National Day holiday. Shall I go to see you?

Di Qiuhe sat bolt upright, stared at these two texts for about ten seconds, deleted the words he already edited and gave He Bai a call immediately. No sooner did he get through than he began to talk, “Little Puppy, I hope you aren’t lying to me! See you on October 1st!”

Di Qiuhe finished talking before He Bai said “hello”, which made him burst into laughter. Di Qiuhe was so easy to be content that a little sop filled him with childlike delight.

Peals of gentle laughter came in a seemingly affectionate way when Di Qiuhe felt his ears were somehow burning. He raised his eyebrows and tried hard to appear fierce, “What’s so funny? It’s you who made a mistake, so you’re supposed to make an apology! And, it’s necessary to… to give some compensation!

“Okay. I was wrong, and thank you for forgiving me. You’re so magnanimous.” He Bai coaxed Di whiling checking photos he had taken today, “It’s not a lie. D district is very close to my hometown, so I can also go home to mourn for my parents after seeing you… Hey, wait a minute.”

He Bai’s smile faded when he had the picture enlarged. He frowned unconsciously, tried to distinguish the two women who appeared in the corner of the picture, and asked hesitantly, “Qiuhe, is there any relative of your family or Qin family in C Province?”

At the very beginning, Di Qiuhe was delighted that He Bai would come to D district, but his joy was replaced by an indescribable nerviness when He Bai said he was about to go home to visit his parents’ tomb. Before he figured out why, he was, however, told to “wait a minute”, which put him on tenterhooks. He thought He Bai might go back on his words… Unexpectedly, the guy only asked him a question.

Having experienced an up-and-down physiological activity, Di Qiuhe strangely calmed down and answered, “No, there isn’t. Why do you ask me this?”

Having the phone wedged under his chin, He Bai quickly searched the Web for Qin Li’s photo, made a meticulous comparison between two pictures and then replied, “I’m organizing the photos I took at the airport of C Province today, only to find that there’s a woman who bears a striking resemblance to your stepmother in the corner of one picture. What’s more, she is accompanied by a teenage girl, who I suspect is your sister Di Chunhua. I’ll send you the photo. Turn on your computer and make sure whether they are your stepmother and sister or not.”

Di Qiuhe was surprised, for things were beyond his expectation. He slightly frowned, answered ‘yes’ and turned on the computer.

One minute later, He Bai sent the photo over. Di Qiuhe followed his instructions to enlarge its right lower part and saw at a glance Qin Li and Di Chunhua carrying luggage among the crowd.

“Are they your stepmother and younger sister?” asked He Bai.

“Yes, they are.” Di Qiuhe’s brows furrowed when he tried to figure out why they went to C Province. Suddenly something flashed through his mind. He strode toward the wardrobe, knocked the suitcase down and took out several business plans from the interlayer that Di Bian had given him. Di Qiuhe flipped through one of them and couldn’t help laughing, “Little Puppy, you are really my lucky star.”

“What do you mean?” He Bai asked, looking puzzled.

A smile spread across Di Qiuhe’s face. He stood up, took the plan to the bedside and sat down, looking out of the window at the night sky. A smirk emerged on his face when he answered in a low voice, “The couple who always makes a public display of affection eventually gets into a dispute.”

“What?”

“I want to send you a present, Little Puppy.” Di Qiuhe stopped smirking immediately, as if he had always been serious.

“Don’t go crazy.”

Di Qiuhe browsed through the business plan and asked happily, “Would you like D district’s specialty or jade from the border?”

“… No, thanks, I just want to know what you laughed at.”

“Well, I’ll send you both.” Di Qiuhe made the final decision when he closed the document.

He Bai frowned but asked patiently, “What did those two go to C Province for? For travel?”

“Do you want to know?” Di Qiuhe’s voice was soft and gentle.

“Yes, I do.” He Bai replied. There was a blank expression on his face.

“Then beg me.” Di Qiuhe got cocky.

“…”

“Or call me ‘sweet’ and say goodnight to me.” There was joy in his voice.

He Bai kept silent for seconds, then took a deep breath and roared, “Go to hell! I’m not leaving for D district! I’ll work an extra shift on National Day! Goodbye!”

His voice rose to such a deafening pitch that Di Qiuhe shook like a leaf and unconsciously moved the mobile phone away. After he moved it back, Di Qiuhe dared not tease He Bai, explaining, “I was only kidding, Bai. My stepmother went to C Province because…”

“Beep…”

“…”

Di Qiuhe was dumbfounded. He put down the cell phone and carefully dialed He Bai’s number again.

“Sorry, the subscriber you dialed is power off.

His heart sank.

Di Qiuhe stood for several seconds, his head bowed. He searched out Jiang Xiuwen’s number, dialed it and asked in a shrill tone, “I got on Bai’s nerves. He switched off the phone and told me he wouldn’t come to D area to see me. Now what?”

Jiang Xiuwen: “… You can go to hell.”

His words drove Di Qiuhe to despair.

Having had a sound sleep, He Bai turned on his phone, only to find that Di Qiuhe sent him more than 30 text messages last night and that the last one was sent over at 1 a.m.

He frowned and typed hard: Sleep early next time, or I’ll give you a thrashing!”

Di Qiuhe’s text came immediately: Just this once, sir.