The most beautiful space

32 Invitations

"Woof woof woof!" Kongkong came running out wagging its tail. It kept barking at Su Tong, and knew that it was no longer the little dog that Su Tong could carry around anytime. Kongkong was very insecure. Every time it was separated from Su Tong for a while, it would use all its cute tricks to stick to Su Tong even more.

Su Tong called "Kongkong, Kongkong" several times, squatted down, stroked its fur with her left hand, and rubbed her nose against Kongkong's nose before getting up and going inside. Kongkong followed Su Tong inside, snuggling close. Su Tong had called her mother as soon as she arrived at the station, and now the food was already laid out on the table.

Su Tong's parents, who were sitting at the table waiting for her to come back for dinner, were shocked to see Su Tong's right hand with a bandage around her neck.

Originally angry about Su Tong being Su Wen's bridesmaid, Su's mother, who had been ignoring Su Tong, suddenly pounced on her: "Tongtong, what's wrong with you? You've only been gone for two days, how can you not take care of yourself at your age? Are you trying to make your mother worry to death?"

Seeing that Su's mother was scolding Su Tong, Kong Kong circled around Su's mother, barking pitifully, "Woof! Woof!"

Su Tong touched her empty head, sat down on the chair by the table, and said with a smile, "Oh dear, Mommy, it's just a dislocated shoulder. We just had it fixed just in case. It's really nothing serious."

Su's mother wasn't about to let Su Tong brush it off like that. She pretended to be angry and said, "Why would you dislocate your shoulder if nothing's wrong? Su Tong, talk to me properly, what exactly happened?!" In Su's mother's eyes, a dislocated shoulder can take several weeks to reset.

Su's father also looked distressed. Since Su Tong went to university, she had always reported good news and never bad news. She had a good personality and many friends. Whenever she was sick or in pain, her friends would accompany her to the hospital and she would get better. She never told her parents. So, in Su's parents' eyes, this was the first time Su Tong had been injured like this since she became an adult.

Su Wen's scheming against her was a bit too cruel for a girl, and revealing it would inevitably cause Su's parents worry. However, this incident also severed the last vestige of kinship between the Su family and Su's second uncle's family. After all, Su's father and second uncle were brothers, and it was impossible for them to keep it from Su's father. Su Tong embellished the story and told Su's parents, making it seem like she wasn't in such a dangerous situation when facing Chu Changmao; she had only dislocated her shoulder due to excessive force when she hit him with something to knock him unconscious. She also mentioned that Chu Changmao had been arrested and imprisoned.

As a result, Su's mother was still furious, wanting nothing more than to drag Su Wen to her and beat her up. She berated Wang Jia and Su Wen, saying that like mother, like daughter, they were corrupt and good for nothing but jealousy and framing others; not a single good person in the family could do anything. She also said she would keep an eye on the news regarding Chu Changmao's trial, and that he absolutely had to be sentenced to at least ten or eight years in prison.

Su's father and Su's second uncle's relationship had already cooled, but they still had some affection from growing up together. Although they were sad, their emotions weren't too intense. However, when Su Tong was washing the dishes with him after dinner, Su's father asked, "Is that Chu Changmao the new deputy director of our provincial education department?"

Su Tong nodded as she wiped the bowl.

"When Su Wen persuaded him to take the risk of getting you into the room, there were actually a lot of people outside, right?"

Su Tong paused for a moment, then nodded.

Mr. Su stopped washing the dishes and looked at his now exceptionally beautiful daughter. His usually smiling face lost its smile, and he said earnestly, "Tongtong, I remember you used to love wearing dresses, but now you dress loosely and casually every day, and you've started wearing hats. You're not as willing to go out as before. But this can't go on. Does my daughter have to hide her beauty now that she's become so pretty?" Mr. Su sighed. "Besides, you need to understand that now that you've become so beautiful, no matter how ordinary you dress, you can't look the same as before. Chu Changmao has reached this position; he must cherish his reputation. He wouldn't have taken such a risk unless he had truly evil intentions towards you. If Chu Changmao would do something like this today, as long as your appearance remains the same, no matter how you try to hide it, the trouble will only increase."

Su's father couldn't hide his worry: "Tongtong, Dad is worried about you."

At 26 years old, this was only the second time that Su's father had said such mushy things to Su Tong.

At the city train station, Xie Mingyuan asked Su Tong to call him when she got home, but Su Tong was in no mood to deal with him. She sent Xie Mingyuan a text message saying that she had arrived home safely. Only then did she realize that his phone number was not in Su Tong's contacts. When she was under call restrictions, Xie Mingyuan had actually called her dozens of times. Considering the undisguised admiration he had given her in the hospital, Su Tong felt even more complicated and heavy-hearted.

Ever since Xie Chengjing caught her emerging from her spatial dimension at the party, even though she and Xie Chengjing weren't in the same room at the hospital that night, Su Tong hadn't dared to enter the space because of Xie Chengjing's intimidating presence. Now that she was home, she simply took Kongkong into the space and strolled slowly around the plot of land where her family had planted cabbages, potatoes, and other crops. This little world that belonged only to her was hers. Kongkong ran around her like crazy; as long as its owner, Su Tong, was by its side, Kongkong was carefree.

Then Su Tong ate some cherries she picked from her space, and took a quick bath with the space spring water, avoiding her right hand, before she calmed down a bit. Lying in bed, her father's words kept echoing in her mind.

Su Tong understood everything her father said, but she didn't want to admit it.

The word "invisible" left by Xie Chengjing when he left already told her that he wouldn't let this matter pass so easily. Just facing Xie Chengjing was already exhausting, not to mention the various problems caused by her appearance. Kongkong slept peacefully by the bedside. The small wind chimes by the window tinkled crisply in the night breeze. A few twinkling stars could be seen in the sky above the small city outside. Nights like this always made girls vulnerable. Su Tong thought, "Forget it, I'll just wait a few days."

Su's father didn't mention Su Tong's appearance again. Normally, the recovery period after a dislocation is 2 to 3 weeks, but thanks to the fruits and spring water in the space, Su Tong's right hand was basically back to normal by the third day after returning home. However, in order not to appear too abnormal, she still used a triangular bandage to fix her right hand, planning to remove it after two weeks. In fact, she has already found two companies in the province, one is a state-owned enterprise in the city, and the other is a branch of an emerging electronics company in Y city, but she no longer has the courage to face the workplace with her current appearance.

On the fourth day, Su Tong had just returned from her morning run and was playing with Kong Kong in her room when two distinguished guests arrived at her home.

Su Tong's family owns a restaurant. The people who came were from the Municipal Health Bureau, which Su's parents often dealt with and who would give gifts during holidays. However, this time it wasn't an ordinary staff member from the Health Bureau, but rather the Director of the Municipal Health Bureau, Xu Wanghai, and his wife, who were usually hard to even get an audience with.

When Mr. and Mrs. Xu Wanghai arrived, they were carrying large bags of gifts. Xu Wanghai, who was a few years away from retirement, greeted Mr. Su with a handshake and a pat on the shoulder, his smile very warm: "Zhengdong, I've worked in the Health Bureau for so many years, and your family's restaurant has never required any inspection from us. Every time my subordinates go down to inspect the hygiene, I tell them that with my brother Su's character, if the food in your restaurant is delicious, the hygiene is also beyond reproach. We can just go through the motions. You haven't disappointed your brother Xu all these years. Well, since we had nothing to do today, your sister-in-law and I came to visit your family."

Faced with the unsolicited guest's overtures, Mr. Su simply smiled and said, "Director Xu, you're too kind. This is just what businesses do. Please come in."

Su's mother quickly poured out the finest tea, and then brought out several plates of fruit, dried fruit, melon seeds, and peanuts. The two couples then started chatting in the living room.

Xu Wanghai's wife was a slightly plump, fair-skinned woman. After entering the house, she glanced around the rooms on the first floor of the Su family's house, seemingly unable to find what she was looking for. Then she sat down, took out a small box about half the size of her palm from the bags she had brought, and handed it to Su's mother: "Yadan, I've come to your house with great humility, but I didn't bring anything with me. This is for you to wear and play with."

With a forced smile, Su's mother opened the box and saw a jade bracelet inside that looked to be of decent quality. It was light green with few flaws. Historically, only business people like them would give gifts to officials. Su's mother felt a chill when she saw this and pushed it back, saying, "Oh dear, sister, when I was little, my mother had a fortune teller tell me that I'm not suited to wearing jade. You should give this to someone who can actually use it."

Unexpectedly, Xu Wanghai's wife, Xiao Qingyun, was not disappointed at all. Instead, her eyes lit up, and she smiled as she pressed the box into Su's mother's hand: "I didn't expect that. But how can we take back the gifts we brought unopened? Yadan, isn't your daughter about the same age as my girl? This bracelet isn't worth much. Just consider it a gift from me, an elder, to your Su Tong."

Xu Wanghai, who was standing next to him, immediately chimed in: "I'm not saying this to be rude, but your Su Tong is really something else. She graduated from a prestigious university, is beautiful, and can even dance classical dance. I, Old Xu, would never have a daughter like that."

Su's father laughed and said, "Not at all, not at all. Your Meixin is the one with class. She studied abroad and now works in a government agency. My Tongtong is so old and still can't do anything right. She's unemployed and just lazing around at home. By the way, I heard that Brother Xu is getting a promotion soon. Congratulations to Brother Xu! My wife and I will go over to his house and give him a little chat."

Su Tong was walking downstairs to the corner of the stairwell between the second and first floors when she was in high school. Xu Wanghai was the deputy director of the Health Bureau. Su Tong had visited their home twice during the New Year when she accompanied her mother. After taking a closer look, she recognized the couple and her heart skipped a beat.

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Su's parents kept steering the conversation away from Su Tong, while Xu Wanghai and Xiao Qingyun couldn't stop talking about Su Tong, making their purpose in coming to the Su family quite obvious.

Finally, Xiao Qingyun laid out her purpose directly. She seemed to be as close as Su Ma, like two sisters, and took out an invitation, saying, "I have a distant nephew who is exceptionally handsome and comes from a very well-off family. His 29th birthday is in a few days. The older generation in his family believes in celebrating birthdays after the ninth birthday but not the tenth, so we'll celebrate his 30th birthday as if it were a real birthday. Since we're all young people of similar age and we elders have such a good relationship, I'd like to invite your Tongtong to come and have some fun."

Upon hearing this, Su Tong finally went downstairs to the living room.

Su's mother was still thinking about how to refuse, but the family actually understood clearly that they wouldn't let anyone else come, but instead sent people from the health bureau who had the most dealings with Su Tong's family's restaurant business. It was obvious that they wouldn't let her refuse.

Author's Note: Today I got featured on the homepage! A special thank you to all the female readers who have been with me since the first few chapters, and to all the female readers who came to read and enjoy my book along the way. Although the story has many flaws, I will keep working hard.

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