The little girl in red buried her face in Zhou Qiang's neck, her arms wrapped tightly around him.
She secretly turned to take a look, then quickly hid her face again.
A few seconds later, she took another look.
"Daddy, are they bad guys?"
Zhou Qiang said nothing.
The little girl poked half her head out of his arms and frowned at Wang Xiaoliang and Huang Xueli as they drew closer.
"My dad's really strong!"
Neither man stopped.
The little girl grew anxious, her voice rising a notch. "My big brother Guoguo! He's really strong too!"
Kong Xiuyun hurried over and reached out to take the child. "Yuanyuan, don't talk nonsense. Say hello to your uncles."
Yuanyuan refused to let go, clinging tightly to Zhou Qiang's neck and kicking her feet twice.
Zhou Qiang finally spoke.
"What took you two so long?"
His tone was astonishingly level, as though he had been waiting half an hour for a food delivery.
Huang Xueli faltered, an extraordinary look on his face. He stared at Zhou Qiang for a full three seconds before squeezing out through his teeth, "How did you get even more shameless than before?"
Wang Xiaoliang ignored Zhou Qiang and turned straight to Kong Xiuyun.
"Sis, you really know how to lie."
Kong Xiuyun did not avoid his gaze, but she was clearly flustered. Her lips moved twice, yet no words came out.
Wang Xiaoliang felt a tightness in his chest.
Over the years, he had called Kong Xiuyun every so often. Whenever he asked, she always gave the same answers-she was managing a restaurant back in her hometown, she was getting by all right, she had not seen Zhou Qiang, and she did not know where he was.
She had switched to an out-of-town phone number long ago, and