Chapter 15: Wen De Caught the Two of Them
When he saw him move closer to Wen Xia, Qin Mo reached out and pulled Wen Xia to the other side, creating some distance between them.
He then glanced at Zhao Zichuan. “Do you know why you’re always the second fiddle?”
Wen Xia couldn’t help but lower her head and chuckle, thinking to herself, ‘always a wife-con’.
“Why?” Zhao Zichuan didn’t immediately react and instinctively asked the question.
“You’re blind.” Qin Mo said, sounding somewhat disdainful, as he pulled Wen Xia down the stairs.
Zhao Zichuan froze for a moment. Blind? How was he blind? What did he do?
As the two of them neared the corner of the staircase, Zhao Zichuan suddenly exclaimed, “Oh, oh, oh!” He quickly chased after them, his voice filled with shock. “You two are—” dating?
They were still at school, and everyone around was a classmate. He immediately stopped himself from finishing the sentence.
Qin Mo couldn’t be bothered to reply. Instead, he looked down at Wen Xia and asked, “How was the monthly exam?”
“Math was a disaster,” Wen Xia said, looking at him with a defeated expression, shaking her head.
Qin Mo chuckled, reaching out to pat her head. “Did you bring the test paper home?”
“I did.”
“I’ll go over it with you at home.”
Once outside the school gate, Qin Mo grabbed his black bicycle. Since his home was nearby, he chose to ride instead of taking the bus.
After Wen Xia sat on the back seat, he looked back at Zhao Zichuan, still stunned. “We’re leaving.”
The bicycle wobbled as it moved through the crowd.
“Want some milk tea? Or is there somewhere you’d like to go?” Qin Mo asked, his voice raised slightly above the surrounding noise.
“Sure…”
Before Wen Xia could finish her sentence, she felt her phone in her pocket vibrating. She took it out, and the screen showed it was her dad calling.
She tapped Qin Mo on the waist. “My dad’s calling, stop for a moment.”
Qin Mo quickly pulled over to the side and waited for her to answer the call.
The surroundings were a bit noisy, and Wen Xia held her phone to her ear. “Hello, Dad.”
“I bought some books at Jia No.2.”
“No need to pick me up, I’ll be back soon.”
Wen Xia hung up the phone and put it back in her pocket. “No milk tea now, I need to get home quickly.”
“Okay.”
Once she was settled, Qin Mo began riding again.
When they reached the entrance of De’an Community, Wen Xia asked Qin Mo to let her off. She was about to say something when she noticed her father’s car, parked about a meter away. Wen De was sitting in the driver’s seat, frowning with a serious expression.
“…”
“Dad.”
Wen Xia grabbed her bag and walked over, nervously explaining, “Dad, he’s our classmate. He bought some books and gave me a ride on the way back.”
Wen De wasn’t as open-minded as Qin Mo’s parents, and since she was a girl, he was particularly strict with her on these matters.
Qin Mo walked over and politely introduced himself. “Uncle Wen, I’m Qin Mo, Wen Xia’s classmate.”
“Mm, thanks for today.”
Wen De’s serious face didn’t reveal what he was thinking. After a pause, he turned to Wen Xia and said, “Get in the car.”
Wen Xia waved a small, secretive goodbye to Qin Mo and got into the passenger seat.
The car started and turned to leave the neighborhood.
The atmosphere in the car was quiet.
Wen Xia licked her lips, trying to ease the tension in the car. “Dad, did you come to pick me up from school?”
Normally, Wen De wouldn’t have asked her where she was just now.
“Mm, it was on the way,” Wen De answered, keeping his eyes on the road, his tone businesslike.
Her dad’s factory in Jia County was several stations past No.2 Middle School, which was in the opposite direction—one south, one north—making it difficult to call it “on the way.”
Wen Xia remembered how many times Wen De had picked her up in the past, always claiming it was “on the way.” At that time, she was going through her rebellious phase and loved teasing him by saying, “Let me know when it’s really on the way, and then you can pick me up.”
Looking back now, she felt a pang of guilt.
She grinned and said, “Dad, from now on, I’ll call you on Friday at noon to see if you’re free. If you are, you can come pick me up. Every time I squeeze onto the bus, I end up sweating.”
