1347 A Huge Battle
Xia He could read Qiao Mei very well by now. Although she did not know where all those whimsical thoughts in Qiao Mei’s head came from, and sometimes she did not quite understand Qiao Mei’s intentions, she could always get an accurate feel of Qiao Mei’s emotions.

“You don’t have to think so much. It doesn’t matter whether I get married earlier or later. It’s not like I’ve never been married before. If Deng Fan keeps urging me to marry into the Deng family immediately, then I’ll wonder if there’s something wrong with the family and if they’re waiting for me to fall into the trap! So there’s no need to blame yourself for doing things that are related to work. I’m completely fine about it,” Xia He teased.

“Then I’ll really order Deng Fan around this once! You’re the one who says I can do whatever I want!” Qiao Mei said to Xia He with a laugh.

“Go ahead and order him around. It’s also a good opportunity for me to find out what Deng Fan is like when he’s at work and whether he’s a reliable man. It’ll give me a chance to observe him closely. I can’t just throw all caution to the winds and get married so easily. As long as we haven’t registered the marriage, I can go back on my word at any time,” Xia He said.

Qiao Mei had still wanted to put Deng Fan through a few more tests, but she did not expect Xia He to be so cautious too. It seemed that there was no need for her to be the one to test him anymore. It was good enough that Xia He was being very clear-headed about the whole situation.

Xia He asked Xu Kang to go to the convenience store at the entrance of the alley to make a phone call to Deng Fan. However, there was no sight of Deng Fan after a long time and he still did not turn up when it was time for dinner. Xia He stood at the door and looked around anxiously.
Based on her understanding of Deng Fan, he would not miss an appointment for no reason. He must have run into some kind of trouble. Xia He suddenly heard the roar of a motorcycle, then she saw Deng Fan riding towards her.

Xia He was about to berate Deng Fan when she saw that there were many scratches all over his body. He looked very disheveled, like he had just fought a huge battle with an animal. It looked as if he had been fighting with a tiger.

Xia He was at a loss. What exactly happened? Could it be that Deng Fan had fallen into a tigers’ den?

“You… what’s wrong with you?” Xia He asked.

“Something happened and there was an argument. I must have been injured accidentally. It doesn’t hurt at all,” Deng Fan said with a smile, as if he was not standing there with injuries all over his body.

There was even a long and thin scratch mark on Deng Fan’s face that was still oozing a little bit of blood. For dancers like them, their looks were as important as their lives. Who had beaten up Deng Fan and how could that person be so heavy-handed?

“Who the hell did this! Tell me! I’ll get Eldest Brother to deal with them immediately! It’s too much! How can they hurt your face!” Xia He said agitatedly.

Even if it was no problem for Deng Fan to quit being a dancer and become an architect instead, he could not be beaten up like this. There was no issue in this world that could not be discussed peacefully and had to be resolved by force.

Deng Fan was a person who did not fight for anything. It was obvious that the scratch mark was caused by a woman. He probably just stood there in a daze and did not fight back at all. He did not have a habit of hitting women.

“Alright, let’s go in and talk about it. This matter is a bit complicated and I also don’t know how to handle it.” Deng Fan had come to Qiao Mei’s place to ask her for help and see if there was any way to resolve his current predicament.

Xia He pulled Deng Fan towards the study to look for Qiao Mei. When Qiao Mei saw what had happened to Deng Fan, she was concerned about Qiao Qiang and Li Gui being worried if they saw him. The two of them had long treated Xia He like one of the family and Xia He’s status in their hearts was second only to hers. If they caught a glimpse of Deng Fan in his current state, they might want Xia He to delay her marriage to Deng Fan!

“Sister Xu, please bring our food to the living room at my side. Just set out enough for the three of us. Don’t tell Grandfather why so that they don’t have to worry,” Qiao Mei said.

“Sure.” Xu Kang followed Qiao Mei’s instructions and replated all the food. It was still too early to bring the food out for Qiao Mei and the others since they were still discussing matters in the study. After Qiao Mei’s group finished their discussion, Xu Kang would set the food out for them. For now, she would serve Qiao Qiang and the rest first.

“Why do the two of you look so serious? What happened?” Qiao Mei asked.

Deng Fan looked at Xia He and did not know what to tell Qiao Mei. After all, this was the Deng family’s issue, yet he could not handle it on his own and now had to trouble the Xia family members. He felt really incompetent.

“Just say it. Qiao Mei is one of us. It’s fine!” Xia He said agitatedly.