“So, um… actually I’m not here alone today.”
“What do you mean?”
Before Xu Ye could explain further, the Audi’s door swung open and Jiang Meilin stepped out, forcing a bright smile and calling out, “Qingqing.”
Chen Qingqing turned toward the voice — and the second she spotted her mother, she yanked her hand back and took two quick steps to the side.
“Mom—” Chen Qingqing ducked her head, asking quietly, “What are you doing here?”
Jiang Meilin smiled. “Mom’s in town for work. Thought I’d swing by and see you while I’m here. Where were you two headed?”
Chen Qingqing was too embarrassed to answer.
Xu Ye jumped in to cover for her. “She found this great noodle place — wanted to drag me along.”
Jiang Meilin waved them over. “Get in, then. Let’s all go together.”
She climbed back into the car. Xu Ye stood beside Chen Qingqing for a second, murmuring, “Don’t be mad at me — your mom’s the one who told me not to give you a heads-up. I could hardly go against her, could I?”
Chen Qingqing tilted her head up at him, her stubborn little glare practically saying you just wait, you’re dead. She shot him one more glare, then got in the car.
Even Xu Ye, shameless as he was, didn’t dare sit in the back with mother and daughter — he climbed into the front passenger seat instead.
The car pulled away from campus.
Jiang Meilin glanced at her daughter’s damp hair, still draped loosely over her shoulders, and dug a black hair tie out of her own bag, reaching over to pull it back into a ponytail for her.
“It’s about to get cold in Shanghai. Once the weather turns, make sure you actually dry your hair after washing it.”
“Mm.”
“It’s cold at night now — remember to switch to the heavier comforter.”
“Mm.”
“If showering in the dorm is ever inconvenient, you can use the hotel… actually, you’re staying at the hotel with me tonight.”
“Oh.”
Chen Qingqing seemed to slip right back into the version of herself she was at home. Jiang Meilin could only sigh inwardly at that.
A few minutes later, Chen Qingqing said flatly to the driver, “You can just stop here.”
The three of them ended up at a ramen shop. Jiang Meilin picked out a table and sat down while Xu Ye and Chen Qingqing went up to the counter together to order. Chen Qingqing lowered her voice.
“What do you want?”
“Whatever you’re having’s fine.”
Chen Qingqing: “Three bowls of tomato beef brisket ramen, no scallions on one of them, thanks.”
The two of them came back and sat down across from Jiang Meilin. Nobody said much; the atmosphere had gone faintly delicate. Once the noodles arrived, all three dug in.
Mother and daughter ate in near-identical fashion — unhurried, small careful bites — a stark contrast to Xu Ye slurping his noodles down beside them with zero restraint.
Once he’d finished, Xu Ye spent the rest of the meal openly staring at Chen Qingqing, right in front of Jiang Meilin. Chen Qingqing had clocked the idiot staring at her out of the corner of her eye ages ago — if her mother hadn’t been there, she’d have already snapped, “What are you looking at? Stop staring at me!” But with Jiang Meilin right there, all she could do was pretend not to notice.
From the noodle shop, Jiang Meilin led the two of them to a five-star hotel near campus called Chief Residence. Knowing her daughter had always been particular about sleeping alone, Jiang Meilin had booked three separate suites, all on the same floor.
Xu Ye figured Jiang Meilin — who rarely got the chance to visit — would have plenty she wanted to say to her daughter, so once he had his keycard in hand, he tactfully swiped into his own room without lingering.
Bored out of his mind, Xu Ye scrolled through his QQ Zone and WeChat Moments for a while, and was just about to hop in the shower when a message came in from Qin Zhiwei.
Qin Zhiwei: “I found something.”
Qin Zhiwei: “This Zhang Bin guy owns more than one place off-campus. He just had dinner with a few school officials, and afterward he drove alone into this residential compound.”
Qin Zhiwei: [Image]
Xu Ye zoomed in on the photo of the compound, then typed back: “Why didn’t you follow him in?”
Qin Zhiwei: “I didn’t dare.”
Xu Ye: “You idiot, he doesn’t even know who you are. What are you so scared of.”
Xu Ye: “His wife and kid don’t live in this compound, right?”
Qin Zhiwei: “Right.”
Xu Ye: “Then go in now. Find his car, post up downstairs from wherever it’s parked. My guess — this guy’s got a mistress stashed somewhere.”
Qin Zhiwei: “And if he doesn’t come back down? Am I supposed to camp out in the compound all night?”
Xu Ye: “He’s got a wife and kid. No way he’s staying out overnight. He’ll be gone by ten at the latest.”
Xu Ye: “If I’m right about this, get a couple of sneaky photos.”
Qin Zhiwei: “Got it.”
Qin Zhiwei: “First time doing something like this. I’m super nervous right now.”
Xu Ye: “Normal. Do it a few more times, you’ll stop being nervous.”
Qin Zhiwei: “Where are you right now anyway?”
Xu Ye: “Got a hotel room with my girlfriend.”
Qin Zhiwei: “???”
Qin Zhiwei: “???”
Qin Zhiwei: “???”
…
Next door.
“Qingqing, I went by Xiao Xu’s school this afternoon.” Jiang Meilin slipped off her jacket and hung it on the rotating coat rack by the door, then pulled a bottle of mineral water from the mini fridge, twisted off the cap, and took a sip before continuing. “He’s opened a fruit shop on campus. Do you know what it’s called?”
At those words, Chen Qingqing’s fingers reflexively tightened around the hem of her shirt. “I know,” she said quickly.
“Besides the fruit shop, Xiao Xu’s also got a vending machine business going now.”
“I know that too.”
Jiang Meilin smiled. “Then do you know one of his business partners is a very pretty girl?”
Chen Qingqing went quiet.
That part, Xu Ye genuinely hadn’t told her. She really hadn’t known.
But if even her own mother thought the girl was pretty, then she had to actually be pretty — her mom worked in cosmetics, dealt with models on a regular basis, and almost never handed out compliments like that to just anyone.
So why hadn’t Xu Ye ever mentioned her?
Chen Qingqing’s mind started drifting somewhere she didn’t want it to go.
Jiang Meilin sat down beside her, resting a hand on her daughter’s back, and said with a smile, “I already looked into it for you. They really are just friends — that girl knows perfectly well Xiao Xu’s seeing someone.”
Chen Qingqing’s face went red instantly. She shot up out of her seat, blurting out before she could stop herself: “What… seeing someone… we’re not — what are you even talking about?!”
Now Jiang Meilin was the one who looked confused. That girl Jiang Wei knew Xiao Xu had a girlfriend this afternoon, and everyone else at the shop knew too — weren’t the two of them quietly dating already?
“You two aren’t together?”
“No!”
Then why did Xiao Xu call me his mother-in-law this afternoon… Jiang Meilin muttered to herself, but out loud she only said, “Well, I wouldn’t know then. Either way, his roommates and friends all seem to know he has a girlfriend. I even saw your photo set as his phone wallpaper in the car earlier.”
Chen Qingqing hung her head, face burning, muttering under her breath, “That jerk. I never even said yes, and he’s out there telling everyone whatever he wants.”
Watching her reaction, Jiang Meilin pretty much had the whole picture now. Whether the two of them had formally confirmed anything or not hardly mattered anymore — even Jiang Meilin could see by now just how much space Xu Ye had come to occupy in her daughter’s heart. She was a woman too; she knew exactly what it looked like to fall for someone.
“Anyway, I’m not going to interfere with your love life the way your father does. Whatever happens between you and Xiao Xu, I have no objections. But don’t ever assume that just because someone likes you, their kindness toward you is something owed — whether it’s friendship or love, it takes two people working at it together.”
Chen Qingqing grabbed her keycard off the table and walked out, her face still burning red.
The moment she got back to her own room, a message came in from Xu Ye.
Xu Ye: “You two done talking?”
Xu Ye: “There’s a wild cat on my windowsill and it can do backflips. You wanna come see?”
(End of Chapter 102)