Chapter 465: Trip to the Qiao Family
Ling Feng was simply at a loss for words.
He turned and looked at Li Fei’er crawling out from the trunk of the car, asking with a wry smile, "What’s all this about?"
"Surprise! I knew if I told you, you’d definitely refuse, so I went for a ’do first, report later’ approach!" Li Fei’er said, wrinkling her nose with a look of triumph on her face.
"Who said I would refuse?"
Ling Feng looked at her with a half-smile, "If I really didn’t want you to come, hiding secretly in the car wouldn’t work. I could have Shiyun drive over and take you back!"
"Oh no, Uncle, I really want to go to Anna’s house!"
Hearing Ling Feng say this, Li Fei’er quickly cozied up to him, hugging his shoulders and acting spoiled.
Ling Feng felt dizzy from her shaking and quickly begged for mercy, "Alright, alright, I was just scaring you. If you want to go, you can go. Why would I stop you? It’s not like we’re going to encounter any danger on this trip!"
"That’s right, even if there is danger, it’s Ling Feng who will take it on. You can just stay in my house!" Joanna said with a laugh.
"Uh..."
Ling Feng was speechless, turning to look at her, "What do you mean?"
"Nothing, just scaring you!" Joanna said with a mischievous smile.
The unexpected appearance of Li Fei’er added a lot of joy to the journey. The trio chatted and laughed, and they didn’t feel lonely. The hours flew by quickly.
By noon, after resting for a while at a service area on the highway, Ling Feng took over the driving and set off on the road again.
By this time, the car had already entered the neighboring province, but to reach their destination, they still needed to drive another five hundred kilometers.
Ling Feng gripped the steering wheel, his eyes fixed on the road ahead, yet he joked and bantered with the two women, seemingly enjoying himself greatly.
The journey was uneventful, and by evening, the car entered Xiangnan Province and then off the highway, with Joanna taking over the driving.
After traveling nearly a thousand kilometers, the environment and scenery here were completely different from Ling Feng’s home, so his gaze was quickly captivated.
"The winter here doesn’t seem very cold!" Ling Feng commented, looking at the green trees outside the window.
"It can get down to zero degrees at its coldest, but it’s usually around ten degrees, much better than your place!" Joanna said.
Ling Feng was slightly indignant, "What’s so great about that? My home might be cold, but we can see snow, what do you have here?"
"Lots of great things!" Joanna pouted her lips.
Ling Feng looked at her, "Tough mouth!"
"Don’t believe me if you don’t want to, you’ll see for yourself when we get there!"
The car continued on the road for another hour, after which it entered among mountains.
Noticing that Li Fei’er had been quiet for a while, Ling Feng turned around for a glance and saw that the young girl was lying on the back seat, already fast asleep!
Shaking his head helplessly, he couldn’t help but ask, "How much longer do we have to go?"
"Almost there, another hour and we’ll arrive. Are you sore from sitting so long?" Joanna glanced at him and asked.
"I’m fine, but look at Fei’er, she’s fallen asleep!"
"After sitting in the car all day, anyone would feel uncomfortable. But don’t worry, once we get home, it’ll all be better!" Joanna said.
Though Ling Feng didn’t understand, he didn’t ask further.
An hour later, the sky had completely darkened, and except for Joanna’s car, there were no other vehicles on the road. The bright headlights illuminated the path ahead as it was clear they were driving on a mountain road.
A stretch of lights appeared not far away, and Joanna pointed out, "See that? That’s where my home is!"
Ling Feng, who had been dozing off, instantly perked up upon hearing this and looked up.
He could see nothing clearly in the night, so he turned back and tapped Li Fei’er, "Wake up, we’re almost there!"
"Mmm..."
Li Fei’er grunted, turned over and continued to sleep as if she hadn’t heard a thing.
Ling Feng was speechless and gave her another pat, "Dinner’s ready, there’s good food!"
"Oh? What are we eating?"
Li Fei’er finally woke up, rubbed her hair, and sat up.
But then she realized she was still in the car, with no food in sight, and she instantly became fully alert, glaring at Ling Feng, "You stinky uncle!"
"I was just worried that you might catch a cold if you got up later when we arrived!" Ling Feng said with a mischievous smile.
After entering the brightly lit area, Ling Feng saw that it was a small town, with buildings on both sides of the street hung with light bulbs, illuminating the whole town.
The car continued driving until it reached the very end of the town, pulling into a large yard.
"We’re here, this is my home!"
Joanna stopped the car and stretched languidly.
Ling Feng and Li Fei’er were both looking around curiously, taking in the yard’s quaint architecture.
There were several houses, and the tallest was only three stories high; the rest were predominantly single-story bungalows.
And just by looking at the architectural style, one could tell that these houses were built a long time ago, having withstood many years of history.
Ling Feng exclaimed, "It really is an old family house, just looking at these houses gives the feeling they have been passed down for over a hundred years, right?"
"Over a hundred years? It’s been three hundred years, actually!"
Joanna gave him a white look.
While they were talking, two middle-aged people came out of the three-story building, smiling as they approached, "Miss Anna, you’re back!"
"Mm, where’s my dad?" Joanna asked.
"In the study, waiting for you guys!" the two said.
Ling Feng looked at them and realized that although their clothes were loose-fitting, they couldn’t conceal the sturdy muscles underneath. He felt they must be bodyguards or something for the Qiao Family.
While he was still pondering this, another person ran out of the house; this time it was a little girl, about eight or nine years old, dressed in a princess dress with a lollipop in her mouth, laughing as she rushed straight to Joanna, "Sister, you’ve finally come back!"
Seeing the little girl’s golden hair and blue eyes, Ling Feng had already guessed who she might be, and he was right.
Joanna squatted down and scooped up the girl, "Anran, have you been behaving at home?"
"How could I not? Anran is always the best-behaved!" the girl said with a giggle.
By this time, Li Fei’er could hardly contain her excitement as she approached with a face full of awe, "What a pretty little girl, just like a doll! Anna, is she your sister?"
"Yeah, she is Qiao Anran, Anran, this is your sister Fei’er!"
"Hello, sister!"
Qiao Anran was well-mannered, greeted Li Fei’er, and then offered her lollipop, "Sister, would you like some candy?"
"Uh, no thanks, but that’s really sweet of you, little sister An Ran!"
Li Fei’er said with a forced smile.
"Come on, I’ll take you to meet my dad!" Joanna said.
Following her into the interior of the building, Ling Feng realized there was another world inside.
Although the exterior was traditional, the inside was very modern, lavishly decorated.
The group arrived at the study, and upon entering, a middle-aged man around fifty stood up, a warm smile on his face, "Mr. Ling, welcome to the Qiao home!"
"Mr. Qiao is too kind, I’m sorry for troubling you and causing any inconvenience!" Ling Feng said with a smile.