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Along the way, Ji Huailuo was cursing nonstop.
He cursed the heavens, cursed the earth, cursed the owner of the hair salon, then turned his anger towards Xu Zhiqiao, before going full circle and cursing the heavens and earth again.
After repeating this cycle a few times, Xu Zhiqiao couldn’t hold it in anymore: “Big Brother, how did you end up at our school?”
“Your mom said that you have military training at Shen University tomorrow, and that you’re not attending, so your mom asked my father, and my father asked me,” Ji Huailuo quickly explained. “He told me to come pick you up. But halfway here, I heard Zhou Cong had been discharged from the hospital, so I went to see him. He said my car was too dirty…”
He ended up driving his own car.
Xu Zhiqiao was dumbfounded: “Big Brother! Our classmates just saw you!”
“……” Ji Huailuo thought of something else and remembered, “You saw me just now, didn’t you?”
Xu Zhiqiao didn’t answer.
Ji Huailuo: “I called you, and you’re pretending you didn’t hear me?”
“It was you who said it,” Xu Zhiqiao retorted, “Don’t let others know that we have a relationship, or else you’ll lose face.”
“……” Ji Huailuo froze for a second, then said, “I called you. Couldn’t you tell what I meant? I called you, and you should have come over enthusiastically…”
Xu Zhiqiao: “I couldn’t tell.”
Ji Huailuo: “You couldn’t tell, or you couldn’t be enthusiastic?”
Xu Zhiqiao: “I couldn’t run over.”
“……”
Silence.
At some point, a short, playful, and mocking laugh came from the driver’s side.
Ji Huailuo got angry: “Xu Zhiqiao, are you looking for death? I ask you yes or no, and you give me an ‘or.’”
Xu Zhiqiao fell silent again.
“Zhou Cong, why are you laughing?” Ji Huailuo expanded his curse, “You think it’s funny watching her play me like a dog, don’t you?”
The driver suppressed his laughter and replied calmly: “Hmm.”
“……”
Silence again.
After a moment of quiet, Ji Huailuo tugged at Xu Zhiqiao’s T-shirt, clearly displeased: “What kind of rags are you wearing? Where are the new clothes I bought for you? Why aren’t you wearing them?”
“……” Xu Zhiqiao hesitated, “I put them away.”
“Put them away my foot,” Ji Huailuo cursed, “Those are summer clothes! If you don’t wear them now, it’ll be winter soon.”
Xu Zhiqiao: “I’m afraid that one day, when you’re in a bad mood, you’ll ask for them back.”
“……”
The Nth moment of silence.
Ji Huailuo had never been so humiliated in his life.
He had a bad temper and could be harsh when impulsive, but the things he gave away, he never took back!
He was the only son of the Ji family, raised in a world where material things were never lacking. He just couldn’t, would never, do such a shameless thing!!
“You think I’m Zhou Cong?” Ji Huailuo gritted his teeth, enunciating each word clearly. “Give something away and then ask for it back?”
Zhou Cong: “……”
Thinking of this, Xu Zhiqiao remembered Er De. She looked to her left: “Zhou Cong, can you return the dog to my brother?”
Zhou Cong glanced at her from the corner of his eye: “Isn’t it allergic?”
“It stays in the backyard and doesn’t come into the house,” Xu Zhiqiao said, “And my brother brushes its fur every day. I just watch from the second floor…”
Ji Huailuo didn’t let Er De upstairs, and when he brushed its fur, he would curse as he did it, calling it a crying baby, a chatterbox, and criticizing the fact that a big young master like him had to keep the dog in the backyard.
Ji Huailuo responded with irritation: “I’m not doing this for you, don’t get too full of yourself.”
Xu Zhiqiao turned her head: “Then do you still want it?”
“…I do.”
“Then stop talking.”
“……”
After a brief moment, Ji Huailuo suddenly realized: “Wait a minute, if I want him and you want him, he’ll be given to you?”
Xu Zhiqiao: “……”
Right.
She just had to prove that she wouldn’t be allergic.
“Zhou Cong, ever since we got Er De, my brother’s been much more stable, you know? All his energy gets spent taking care of Er De…”
“Xu Zhiqiao!!” Ji Huailuo, more upset with every word, exploded again, “You mean, I’m not raising the dog, the dog’s raising me, right?”
“……”
Zhou Cong’s shoulders trembled with quiet laughter, his low chuckles filling the car: “Alright, I’ll have someone bring him back later.”
Ji Huailuo’s face turned red and his neck thickened with anger: “I don’t want it!”
“That won’t do,” Zhou Cong teased, “I promised Little Bao, no turning back.”
“……”
If it wasn’t for the presence of the two of them, Ji Huailuo would have felt like he was being toyed with, humiliated in front of everyone.
After a moment of silence, Ji Huailuo sneered: “I say, you didn’t let me sit in the passenger seat, but you let my sister sit there?”
“Your sister is a girl,” Zhou Cong replied calmly, “Do you want to be a girl?”
“……” Ji Huailuo was momentarily stunned, “Only girls can sit in the passenger seat?”
Zhou Cong: “It’s my passenger seat.”
“……”
When did this dog develop this habit?
“Since you’re like this,” Ji Huailuo said, “Tomorrow I’ll do the same. My passenger seat will only be for girls.”
Xu Zhiqiao looked out the window, speechless.
She almost wanted to advise Ji Shou to have another child.
The three returned to the Ji family home and made up for the meal Zhou Cong had missed earlier.
Xu Shu once again helped her with medicine, both angry and distressed: “What kind of hair salon is this? They’re just picking on people!”
“It’s fine, Mom, my brother kicked down their door,” Xu Zhiqiao said.
“Don’t be too nice,” Xu Shu lectured. “An apology is their attitude, compensation is their sincerity. If either is missing, they don’t want to take responsibility.”
Ji Shou stood by the window, speaking seriously on the phone. From the conversation, it was clear he was investigating the background of the hair salon owner.
With such a grand gesture to seek justice for her, Xu Zhiqiao’s nose tingled, and her eyes suddenly welled up, a faint sense of belonging rising in her heart.
While Ji Shou was on the phone, Zhou Cong, who had been sitting opposite and playing on his phone, suddenly looked up, seemingly glancing at her.
Then, in front of everyone’s gaze, Zhou Cong stood up from his chair, leaned over the table, and bent down in front of her.
Xu Zhiqiao shrank her neck, almost hiding in Xu Shu’s arms.
They were so close now that Xu Zhiqiao could see his pupils change from black to amber, reflecting her watery eyes.
At that moment, everyone thought Zhou Cong was just teasing her, playing with her like an older brother.
But Ji Huailuo yelled out: “Right? Finally someone understands how I feel! Every time she cries in front of me, I get goosebumps all over!”
“Mm,” Zhou Cong’s gaze locked onto Xu Zhiqiao’s, “I understand.”
He didn’t just get goosebumps.
His knees were weak.
There was a feeling, if Xu Zhiqiao were to cry and beg for his help, he’d kneel to do it for her.