Shameless Gangster

Chapter 20A

Title: Unshakeable determination

Translate: Sae

- Past -

Since the day Jiang Xiaoning lost control of his emotions by his words and rushed out through the door, Han Jia had not heard from him for one consecutive week.

He met Manli's daughter, Xiao Rong, and avoided Xin Muran, arranging a place for Xiao Rong himself. He and Xin Muran worked together in a cooperative manner. He had to deal with the matters at Jin Ting and many other people; he had no time to think about Jiang Xiaoning.

He also did not intend to give himself any chance to think about it. Since that day, he had been living in Jin Ting and had yet to return to his place.

When Jiang Xiaoning called him, he was leaning against a sofa in Jin Ting, listening to Xin Muran's brilliant idea about Jin Ting's accounts.

As soon as the ringtone sounded, he immediately knew that it was Jiang Xiaoning - although he had mingled with a mixture of good people and scumbags for all these years, the expression on Han Jia's face was still a bit soft.

Xin Muran seemed to notice that something was amiss but also seemed not to have noticed at the same time. He glanced at him without pausing the words coming out of his mouth.

Han Jia took out his phone and immediately hung up on the call then after thinking about it for a moment, he put it on silent mode and placed it back in his pocket.

Zhang Xueming was still talking, but Han Jia was completely unable to calm down and listen. His posture and expression may not have changed, but his heart was already in a mess. In one moment, he wanted Xin Muran to disappear from his sight but then in the next moment, he thought that it was better if Xin Muran continued to talk so that he had no time to hesitate on whether or not to accept Jiang Xiaoning's call.

In the end, after sitting for a while like this, he couldn't endure it anymore and waved his hand: "You can go upstairs, Xiao Ma knows the most about the accounts. If you have any other questions, come back to ask me later."

Xin Muran smiled and looked at him again, "I understand, Han Laoban."

Han Jia watched him turn around and went out of the door, then suddenly lost his courage and sat in a daze. He took out his phone once more.

The screen flashed silently, revealing the caller to be "Jiang Laoban".

Han Jia stared at the three characters until the call ended, and the words "12 missed calls" displayed on the screen. His eyes hurt with these words, but he couldn't bear to shift his gaze. 　

The screen flashed again; it was still "Jiang Laoban".

Han Jia took a deep breath, stood up, walked to the window, and received the call. 　

"What's the matter?" He said coldly without waiting for the other person to speak.

The person was silent, and for some time, Han Jia only heard shallow breathing.

He frowned, and just as he was about to say, "I'm hanging up if there's nothing," he heard Jiang Xiaoning laugh.

The laugh was a bit frantic, seemingly frivolous; Han Jia had never heard him laugh like this before.

Jiang Xiaoning finished laughing and asked in a low voice: "Han Jia, Han Jia, why haven't you returned home?"

Feeling as though his own question rhymed and had a rhythm to it, he laughed again and then repeated it very rhythmically. "Han Jia, Han Jia, why haven't you returned home...?