Although Chen Kuang did not intend to fuss with her over the drunken mess from last night, as long as Qiao Ling was alone with him, she could not help but recall her own shameful scenes one after another. In the end, she still insisted on returning to her parents’ home to sleep, not going back to Zhoucheng Huating with him.
Taking advantage of drinking, she said a lot of bold and overly suggestive things to Chen Kuang. The whole night, Qiao Ling felt a bit worried and fearful, afraid that Chen Kuang would send a WeChat message to make her little thoughts clear, ending the two’s relationship that was still in the friend stage.
In a daze, she slept through the night. In the morning, with two patches of dark circles under her eyes, she got up. While holding a youtiao in her mouth and zoning out, she received a half-asleep phone call from Qiao Jing.
“At nine in the morning you’re not sleeping? What’s so important?”
Qiao Jing, half-asleep, still did not forget to hand this matter over to her: “…Are you busy today?”
“What, just say it straight.” Qiao Ling was also groggy and tired, and just thinking about going to work soon made her feel as if her heart had turned to ashes.
“I promised Rouyin yesterday to help pick up Xiao Feng today. Didn’t she go on a study tour with the school? Today at noon she’s coming back by high-speed rail, then the bus will send them to the school gate.”
As Qiao Jing spoke, he was already about to fall asleep: “Rouyin has something today, and I drank quite a lot last night with the customers. Probably once I fall asleep again, I won’t be able to wake up.”
“I’m afraid of delaying picking up the child. If you have time, help me make a trip, anyway Xiao Feng now also lives downstairs from your shop.”
Qiao Ling pinched the youtiao flat through the bag, “Of course there’s no problem picking up Xiao Feng, but I’m saying you! Can’t you put in a bit more effort when chasing someone? You agreed to help and yet you still drank too much!?”
“Working at the bar, even if I don’t want to drink every night, I still have to.”
He was also helpless, “The bar needs to liven up the atmosphere, that kind of shot to accompany customers drinking, don’t look at it as small, one after another poured into the stomach, even if it were a cow it would get drunk.”
“And I haven’t sobered up yet, I can’t drive either.”
“Forget it forget it, you hurry up and go to sleep, no one would feel at ease leaving Xiao Feng to someone half-asleep like you.”
Qiao Ling shouted once and hung up the phone: “Don’t worry about it, I’ll go pick her up!”
…………
At eleven-thirty noon, Qiao Ling saw there were no customers in the shop, so she temporarily closed up shop and ran off to the affiliated elementary school to pick up Xiao Feng.
The road was congested, but fortunately she was riding a little electric scooter and could weave freely, arriving at the pickup point at the school gate before the school buses returned.
Three school buses pulled into the school. After more than ten minutes, the teachers brought the students lined up in rows out to look for their parents.
Qiao Ling stood among a pile of parents older than herself by a generation, looking like a student pretending to be an adult.
She straightened her back stick-straight, cheering herself up.
Before long, the homeroom teacher led the class’s students over. Once they reached the pickup point, the students dispersed toward their own parents with a shout.
Qiao Ling waved to Xiao Feng, who was looking around: “Xiao Feng, over here!”
Xiao Feng raised her smiling face, her head of blonde hair glowing under the sunlight, like a living foreign doll, bouncing and hopping over.
“Ling Ling little auntie! How come it’s you picking me up, mom called last night and said today it would be Uncle Qiao Jing picking me up!”
“Uh,” Qiao Ling thought, still better to leave him some face in front of the child, and smiled while covering it up: “Your little Uncle Jing is really busy today, so I came in his place. Do you like me picking you up?”
Xiao Feng nodded hard, actively grabbing her hand.
Qiao Ling imitated the other parents, wanting to carry her schoolbag, but was refused by Xiao Feng, “Mom said, older brothers and sisters also get tired from work, so our own schoolbags we have to carry ourselves.”
At only six years old already so sensible, Qiao Ling felt her heart turn soft hearing this, pulling the little girl to stroll towards the place where the little electric scooter was parked: “Xiao Feng is really good, let’s eat lunch before going home, what do you want to eat?”
“I want to eat McDonald’s, is that okay, jiejie?”
“Of course, jiejie [older sister] also loves eating McDonald’s, we are people of the same path.”
Qiao Ling held her hand and walked to a nearby street corner, her gaze sweeping past and catching sight of a Madeira gold-colored Panamera parked by the roadside, spotless, noble and beautiful.
She didn’t understand the differences between these luxury cars, only knew that just by looking, it was expensive.
The affiliated elementary school was one of the top schools in Binyang City Center, hard to get into. That the students’ parents had some power was within reason.
However, in the next second, as her gaze swept forward, she actually discovered a tall man lazily leaning against the passenger side car door.
Qiao Ling locked eyes with him.
The man was wearing a suit, the buttons undone, the tie pulled loose and slack, the collar open, faintly revealing his good-looking collarbones.
His short, layered hair was fresh and clean, styled with a sense of layers. It wasn’t hard to tell he was a business person who paid attention to grooming himself.
However, this businessman who seemed like he had just walked out of a meeting room actually tore open the packaging in his hand and, under her gaze, stuffed a paper-stick lollipop into his mouth.
The man in a suit eating candy collided with her doubtful gaze, squinting his beautiful fox eyes.
“Hey.”
Qiao Ling stopped walking.
Sure enough, this person had been staring at her the whole time.
He gradually moved his gaze away from Qiao Ling and fixed it on Xiao Feng’s doll-like face, straightened up, and with the lollipop in his mouth, walked closer.
“Your family’s child looks quite good, name a price, sell her to me.”
Qiao Ling was horrified, pulling Xiao Feng protectively behind her, “You!”
Did she encounter some lunatic pervert!?
The man tilted his head, his gaze following Xiao Feng, wanton and unfathomable: “Such a tender little child, eating her up could make me ten years younger, right?”
Qiao Ling was scared silly. Just as she was about to curse out loud, behind her, Xiao Feng suddenly sighed and spoke to him: “Little uncle, don’t scare Ling Ling little auntie anymore.”
“Every time it’s this same routine!”
Qiao Ling: “?”
Little… uncle?
Jie Rouyin actually has a younger brother??
Exposed mercilessly by the little niece, Xie Lisheng tilted his head, his gaze drooping, looking a bit regretful that his trick had failed.
When he spoke, his teeth clinked against the lollipop, lazy and sloppy: “Hello.”
Xie Lisheng directly faced Qiao Ling’s frightened and guarded gaze, a flash of inspiration suddenly coming over him. He suddenly said again: “Actually, I’m really her biological father.”
Xiao Feng was convinced already, scolding him: “Uncle! If you keep acting like this my mom is going to hit you again!”
Qiao Ling: “……”
Lunatic?
…………
The three of them found a McDonald’s nearby.
The shop was full of parents bringing their just-dismissed children to eat lunch.
Qiao Ling held onto Xiao Feng and glanced at the unfamiliar man standing beside them. No matter how she looked at it, she felt that the three of them standing in line together waiting for their order looked a bit strange.
It felt just like…
She suddenly slapped herself in her heart—what family of three! Bold!!
What are you taking Chen Kuang for!?
……
There’s nothing there anyway, she and Chen Kuang aren’t even at that stage yet.
While arguing with herself inside her head, Qiao Ling turned her head and was attracted by a flash of dark light under the lamp, catching sight of the plain ring on Xie Lisheng’s left ring finger.
This person is actually already married?
He looked so unreliable, so odd, completely not the type who would choose early marriage.
She squatted down and quietly asked Xiao Feng: “Your little uncle is already married?”
Xiao Feng nodded, half-understanding: “Mom said little uncle had a flash marriage, just one or two months ago. I haven’t met little aunt yet either.”
Qiao Ling understood and took her to pick up their meal.
The three of them sat down by the window. Xie Lisheng unwrapped his beef burger and very naturally clinked burgers with Xiao Feng next to him like making a toast, both biting into it in sync.
Qiao Ling was quite surprised watching this scene, also feeling a little warm in her heart.
“I didn’t know before that Jie Rouyin had a younger brother. Sorry, just now on the street…”
Xie Lisheng swallowed a mouthful, looked at her, and shamelessly said: “Wasn’t it me deliberately saying beast-like things to scare people? What are you apologizing for?”
Qiao Ling: You know it yourself! Then at least apologize to me!!!
Xiao Feng happily ate fries, asking him: “Little uncle, mom didn’t say you were coming. Why did you suddenly come to Binyang?”
Xie Lisheng casually brushed it off: “Missed you. Got off work and went straight on a plane. Didn’t you see I didn’t even change my clothes.”
Xiao Feng giggled, speaking shockingly: “Don’t believe.”
“Mom said you’re too delicate, you think northern air is too dry, that as soon as you get off the plane you’ll die, so you wouldn’t just casually come over.”
Qiao Ling’s cheek twitched, holding back laughter with effort.
Before, she never felt Xiao Feng talked this savage. Is this Jie Rouyin’s private teaching style with her child?
“It hasn’t even been that long, how did you become like a little grown-up.” Xie Lisheng rubbed her blonde hair, snorting: “Your mom only knows how to sow discord between us.”
“You guessed right. Missing you is one thing, but your mom specially brought me over as backup.”
Xiao Feng thought hard, not understanding: “Backup? Little uncle, who did you come to save?”
Xie Lisheng snorted coldly, a trace of pride floating by.
“To save your favorite honorary uncle Chen Kuang.”
He then raised his eyes and looked at Qiao Ling sitting across from him.
“Is your surname Qiao?”
Qiao Ling nodded and asked: “Did Jie Rouyin mention me to you?”
“Oh.” Xie Lisheng suddenly leaned forward, carefully looking her up and down, “My jie said, the girl Chen Kuang can’t handle is you?”
“Ah?” She was also stunned, her gaze drifting, inexplicably becoming shy: “What, when did Chen Kuang ever try to handle me…”
Qiao Ling’s face flushed as she squeezed her hamburger until it became deformed, “Shouldn’t it be me that one for him…”
Xie Lisheng propped his chin, his brows lightly furrowed, not understanding at all.
“What kind of script are you guys playing? Is it rated eighteen and above?”
Seeing that this girl wasn’t too quick in the head either, he simply didn’t pursue the question further, waving his hand, “I heard Dan Zi chased Chen Kuang all the way to Binyang, is that right.”
“You know her too?” Qiao Ling was surprised.
Xie Lisheng placed the beef burger, chicken burger, and cola together, giving a concise explanation of the relationship: “Chen Kuang and I are university classmates. Dan Zi is our schoolmate, one year younger.”
“When we were in second year, Dan Zi entered as a freshman, took one look at Chen Kuang, and went all-out chasing him.”