381: Ah Ying, who was slow to realize

"Brother, today feels just like a dream to me."

Chau Pham Thuy Anh shifted from her seat to sit next to Li Qinghe.

A female classmate she had gotten along with lukewarmly had suddenly started getting close to her recently, and it turned out she wanted to sell her to Cambodia to harvest her organs.

Fortunately, Li Qinghe had returned these past few days and discovered the problem in time.

Otherwise, the consequences would have been unthinkable.

Thinking that if she had been sold to Cambodia, she might never see this nearly perfect man beside her again.

With that thought, Chau Pham Thuy Anh's feeling of sympathy upon seeing Doan Thi Xuan being taken away by the police in handcuffs that morning instantly vanished.

If Doan Thi Xuan appeared before Chau Pham Thuy Anh now, Chau Pham Thuy Anh swore she would give her two slaps.

Reflecting on her wonderful life now, Chau Pham Thuy Anh practically gritted her teeth.

Li Qinghe noticed her changing expression and reached out to pull her into his embrace.

"What's A Ying thinking about, gritting her teeth like that?"

"Brother, if A Chun had tricked me, I might never see you again. I'm scared."

Chau Pham Thuy Anh, belatedly feeling a surge of fear, leaned into Li Qinghe's chest. She only felt her heart beating wildly.

Her whole being seemed to be detaching from the world, her head buzzing.

"Brother, my heart is beating so fast. I'm so worried. Those people won't come looking for me again, will they?"

Back in her freshman year, Chau Pham Thuy Anh had dared to take a part-time job at an outside SPA shop and return alone to her rented room late at night.

But today, she felt as if the entire city of Hanoi was unsafe.

Sensing her current state, Li Qinghe held her tightly in his arms, letting his strong arms give Chau Pham Thuy Anh some sense of security.

Chau Pham Thuy Anh seemed to feel that just being held by Li Qinghe wasn't enough. She sat up, pulled her short skirt up, and settled into Li Qinghe's lap, her long legs tightly wrapping around his waist.

Her arms wrapped around his back, holding him close.

Only then did she truly feel Li Qinghe's complete presence. His strong heartbeat and solid arms made Chau Pham Thuy Anh genuinely feel she was still in Hanoi, not tricked and taken to Cambodia.

Normally, being able to deeply feel Li Qinghe's body heat would be the best thing right now, but this was a Japanese restaurant, and the environment didn't permit it.

Chau Pham Thuy Anh rested her face against Li Qinghe's neck for a long while before finally letting go.

Encouraged by Li Qinghe's physical presence, Chau Pham Thuy Anh finally recovered, feeling as if she had come back to life.

"Brother, I'm okay now."

She stood up from Li Qinghe's embrace, straightened her clothes, regained her smiling expression, and pulled Li Qinghe to leave the restaurant.

Li Qinghe paid the bill at the front counter. For four people, having some sake and several signature Japanese dishes, the total came to 22 million vietnamese dong, nearly 6000 in dragon country currency.

Truly worthy of being considered the pinnacle of Japanese cuisine in Hanoi.

After leaving the restaurant, because Li Qinghe had drunk some alcohol—though it didn't affect him at all—he still decided to walk around a bit to let the smell dissipate before driving.

Cau Giay District, now a concentrated area for Hanoi's emerging office buildings, had many clusters of CBD-style high-rises.

The Japanese restaurant where they ate wasn't far from one such office building cluster.

From there, a large integrated shopping mall could be seen in the distance.

Li Qinghe planned to take Chau Pham Thuy Anh to stroll around the mall and maybe buy a couple of outfits.

"A Ying, where do you and A Ling usually go to have fun?"

"We usually stay near Hoan Kiem Lake on weekends. It's livelier there, and we can take walks along the Thirty-Six Streets..."

Chau Pham Thuy Anh, holding onto Li Qinghe's arm, walked while describing the usual way the three of them spent time together.

Cooking was a joint effort, especially recently, as they were all practicing stir-frying dragon country dishes.

The three of them would wash vegetables and prepare ingredients together, discuss cooking techniques, and critique each other's finished dishes.

Sometimes they even brought some dishes to school for their classmates to taste.

Originally, all three girls knew how to cook. Through such continuous learning and summarizing of experience, they managed to prepare the rather good dragon country feast Li Qinghe had enjoyed last night.

"Wait, you learning to cook dragon country dishes wasn't entirely for cooking for me."

Walking along, Li Qinghe suddenly had an epiphany.

He looked teasingly at Chau Pham Thuy Anh, who was clinging tightly to his arm:

"A Ying, are you practicing dragon country cooking so you can please your future parents-in-law after going to the dragon country?"

"Brother, you clearly know, yet you still say it out loud..."

Chau Pham Thuy Anh was a bit embarrassed but also admitted straightforwardly: they hoped that by showing her mother-in-law they could also cook dragon country dishes, she would feel reassured.

That they would take good care of Li Qinghe in Vietnam.

This point, Li Qinghe wasn't worried about.

He could imagine that when these three girls prepared an authentic table of dragon country dishes in the dragon country, his mother would be absolutely astonished.

Li Qinghe suddenly remembered there was another little girl who would be following him back to the dragon country. Although Nguyen Thi Linh wasn't nearby, asking Chau Pham Thuy Anh was the same.

"A Ying, is A Shui also at home learning to cook dragon country dishes?"