Chapter 31: Reporting Wen Xia’s Early Romance
“Ding! Ding…” The honking sound of a large truck.
Wen Xia paused for a moment, unsure whether it came from the phone or if the truck’s horn was just too loud.
“We’re about to start a meeting, I’ll hang up now.” Wen De paused for a second before adding, “Eat more.”
Then, the sound of the call being disconnected came through. Wen Xia stared at the screen, which showed 12:07 PM.
Following her gaze, Qin Mo looked at her phone, where a sentence appeared: I’m the invincible, unbeatable super academic genius.
“……”
“Do you want to be the invincible, unbeatable super academic genius?”
Wen Xia snapped back to her senses, “……”
Before she could decide how to respond, Qin Mo had already answered for her, “Becoming the invincible, unbeatable super academic genius is impossible, but… becoming Qin Shueba’s wife is totally achievable.”
Wen Xia: “……”
The two of them left Pearson, and it was already 12:15. They decided to have lunch at a small restaurant downstairs.
There were two or three training centers in the area, so there were many small eateries, offering rice noodles, noodles, and rice dishes.
Wen Xia compared them and chose the cleanest one. “How about this place?”
“Are you sure?” Qin Mo raised an eyebrow and asked.
Wen Xia gave him a puzzled look and answered seriously, “What, is there a ghost?”
Qin Mo: “……”
They entered the restaurant and chose a table near the door. The restaurant owner was busy chopping vegetables and didn’t notice them entering.
Wen Xia looked at the menu and called out to the owner, “Auntie, I’ll have a portion of stir-fried shredded pork with green peppers and a plate of stir-fried small pork.”
“Okay, I’ll fry it right away, just wait a moment…”
The auntie, who was chopping the vegetables, looked up, her voice faltering when she saw them. She then brightened and said eagerly, “Mo Mo, you’re here! Are your parents not at home again?”
“Yeah, Aunt Liu,” Qin Mo politely nodded.
“Oh, Mo Mo, wait a few minutes, Auntie will fry it for you right away.” Liu Ling bent down to light the gas stove, rinsed the spatula under the faucet, and then started pouring oil.
Wen Xia leaned forward, lowering her voice. “Who’s that? I’ve never seen her before.”
She had met all of Qin Mo’s distant relatives, but Aunt Liu was unfamiliar.
“She’s a relative from my grandmother’s side. She went out of town to work when I was in my senior year of high school.”
Seeing the guilty look on her face, Qin Mo couldn’t help but smile and reached out to pinch her small face. It felt really good, soft like jelly.
“What do you want to drink?”
“Coke.” Wen Xia glanced at the water cabinet.
Qin Mo stood up, took a bottle of mineral water and a can of Coke from the water cabinet, and sat back down, sliding the Coke can in front of Wen Xia.
While Liu Ling was frying, she paid attention to what was happening at their table. Seeing that Qin Mo was giving his classmate a drink, she smiled knowingly and said, “Mo Mo, is this your girlfriend? How long have you been dating?”
She understood—young people in love.
Wen Xia was about to take a sip of Coke, but it immediately sprayed out of her mouth. “Cough, cough…”
Qin Mo was splashed in the face, with drops of the dark soda dripping from his bangs. He glanced at the embarrassed Wen Xia, grabbed a tissue from the side, and wiped his face a few times. “Yeah, it’s been a while.”
Ten years.
Wen Xia: “……”
Why was Qin Mo so high-profile about it, while she had to work so hard to keep it a secret? Was this the difference between a top student and a slacker?
Liu Ling, having caught the gossip, quickly pulled out her phone and grinned widely. “I’m calling your grandmother.”
Then, her loud voice rang out. “Second aunt, your Mo Mo has a girlfriend!”
“It’s true! He’s even eating at my place. If you don’t believe me, I’ll have Mo Mo talk to you.”
She stopped cooking, turned off the stove, and walked over, handing the phone to Qin Mo. “Mo Mo, quickly tell your grandmother that you have a girlfriend.”
Qin Mo glanced at the stunned Wen Xia, reached out, and took the phone. “Grandma.”
“Yes, it’s true.”
“She’s just shy.”
After exchanging a few more words, he handed the phone back to Liu Ling.
Liu Ling picked up the phone again. “Second aunt, see? I wasn’t lying. The girl is really pretty—big eyes, a small mouth, fair skin, just like…”
She glanced around, looking for a comparison, and her gaze fell on the wall. “Just like a freshly painted white wall.”
Wen Xia: “……”
Can I leave now?
…
In the afternoon, the subject was English. For Wen Xia, who was the English class representative, attending the lesson was effortless, but she still took notes diligently.
While the teacher was writing vocabulary on the board, she glanced at Qin Mo. He had one hand propped on the desk, fingers running through his short, messy hair, while the other hand held a click pen as he jotted down notes.
The English letters under his pen looked as though they had been copied and pasted from the textbook.
Qin Mo was truly outstanding.
She needed to work harder and become even better.
The two-day weekend passed entirely in supplementary lessons.
…
Monday
After the second period and the school-wide flag-raising ceremony, the discipline director entered the office of the second-year teaching team with a letter in hand.
Cao Jun was busy grading the students’ assignments. The more he graded, the angrier he became. “Not only did these students copy, but they even copied incorrectly! Turning an ‘R’ into an ‘8.’ If I didn’t know better, I’d think the physics teacher was actually a P.E. teacher.”
“Mr. Cao,” the discipline director said seriously, standing beside him.
Cao Jun looked up, feeling a bad premonition. Had one of his students gotten into trouble?
“Director Wei, what’s wrong?”
Wei Tao handed the letter to him. “Someone reported that Wen Xia and Jiang Xu are dating.”
Cao Jun: “……”
He opened the letter and read it for a moment before looking at Wei Tao, assuring him, “Director Wei, there’s absolutely no such thing. Wen Xia and Jiang Xu are just classmates.”
“There’s no smoke without fire.”
Since Jiang Xu’s parents were both teachers at the school, Wei Tao didn’t plan to make this public. He added, “I’ll speak to Teacher Jiang about this later. As for Wen Xia, you handle it.”
Cao Jun let out a sigh of relief and solemnly promised, “Don’t worry, Director Wei. If there really is something like this, I’ll make sure to criticize and educate them.”
After Wei Tao left, Cao Jun went to the classroom, intending to call Wen Xia out. However, he saw her with her head down, focused on solving problems.
Wen Xia had recently become much more studious. He decided not to disrupt her enthusiasm for learning over this matter.
…
Around 11 o’clock, Wen De received a call. The screen displayed “Teacher Cao.” A few minutes later, he hung up, changed his clothes, and headed to the school.
It was lunchtime, and the entire campus was very quiet. Wen De knocked on the door of the second-year office.
When Cao Jun saw him, he glanced at the few teachers napping in the office and led Wen De to the parallel bars on the playground.
Cao Jun thought for a moment before saying, “Wen Xia’s father, I’m sorry to trouble you to come here. Um… I just wanted to ask if you’ve noticed Wen Xia engaging in any activities recently that might distract her from her studies.”
The implication was clear: he was asking if Wen Xia was in an early relationship.
Wen De pressed his lips together. “No, she’s been attending extra tutoring sessions lately.”
…
At that moment, Wen Xia had no idea that her father and her class teacher were discussing whether she was in an early relationship. Nor did she know that her supposed “boyfriend” had now been replaced by Jiang Xu.
She was currently explaining an English question to her fake boyfriend, Jiang Xu. “Afford is usually followed by an infinitive verb. It requires preceding words like be able to or can. It’s clear that the correct answer is B…”
