Jiang Meilin called Chen Qingqing, and she still didn’t pick up.
All Jiang Meilin could do was call Chen Hansong instead.
Chen Hansong had been meaning to tell her about it, and her call came in at exactly the right moment. He answered immediately.
“Meilin, listen to this. That little bastard Xu Ye—”
Chen Hansong described what he had seen outside the mall. While Jiang Meilin listened, she could also hear her daughter crying. Her slender brows knit hard, and when he had finished she asked, “You both saw it. Why didn’t you get out of the car and ask? What if it’s a misunderstanding?”
“A misunderstanding? What misunderstanding could there be? I saw the two of them at the entrance laughing and talking together.”
Chen Qingqing had been crying the whole time, and Chen Hansong was hardly going to take Xu Ye’s side at a moment like this.
Jiang Meilin sighed. “Let me call and ask.”
She hung up and called Xu Ye again.
The voice call connected.
Jiang Meilin got straight to it. “Xiao Xu, where are you right now?”
“Over at the Wanda mall.”
“On your own?”
“No. My cousins are with me.”
“Your cousins?”
Xu Ye heard the doubt in her voice and switched the voice call straight to video, then flipped the camera around. “There. Those three.”
Jiang Meilin looked at the three of them sitting in the back seat. One really was about the same age as Xu Ye.
She frowned. “I’ve met Yuxin. The other one is your cousin too?”
“Oh, she’s my Second Aunt’s daughter. They came over from Suzhou yesterday to visit my grandmother, and my aunt asked me to take them around Jiangzhou.”
“I see.”
Jiang Meilin’s brows gradually smoothed out, and a slightly helpless smile appeared on her face. She began to explain. “Your Uncle Chen just took Qingqing out for lunch, and they happened to see you. Qingqing has probably gotten the wrong idea about you. She’s still in the car crying.”
“What?!”
“Don’t panic,” Jiang Meilin said quickly. “Let me call them first and make it clear. If you have time, come over to the house too — it’s better said face to face.”
“All right. I’m on my way now.”
Xu Ye hung up and drove straight for Red Leaf Estate.
In the back seat Wang Manning was curious. “Xu Ye, who was that on the phone?”
“My mother-in-law.” Xu Ye sounded resigned. “I’m going over to my girlfriend’s house now. When we get there you do what I tell you to do and say what I tell you to say.”
“Why should we?”
Xu Ye was afraid this willful cousin of his wouldn’t cooperate when the time came, so he went straight for the bribe. “Weren’t you saying you wanted an iPad? I’ll buy you one.”
Wang Manning’s face lit up. “Are you serious?”
“Relax. I do what I say.”
……
Elsewhere.
Chen Hansong and Chen Qingqing had already gotten home.
The two of them had barely sat down on the living room sofa when Jiang Meilin’s call came in again.
Chen Hansong: Hello?
Jiang Meilin: Put me on speaker. I want to say a few words to Qingqing.
Chen Hansong meekly did as he was told.
Jiang Meilin began to explain the whole thing for Xu Ye.
Chen Qingqing sniffled. With her face covered in tears she made a pitiful sight. Listening to her mother, she suddenly didn’t know what to do with herself.
Was it really a misunderstanding?
Her heart had been breaking the whole way home. It had taken her so long to fall for somebody, and if it ended this way she wouldn’t be over it for years.
Chen Qingqing was still quietly sobbing.
A Mazda came barreling straight into the courtyard from outside.
Xu Ye got out, slammed the door and headed into the living room. Seeing that, Wang Yuxin brought Wang Manning and Wang Zixuan in after him.
When Xu Ye saw Chen Qingqing on the sofa, her eyes red and her face still wet, it hurt him to look at her. But he didn’t go over and comfort her the way he had before. Instead he asked, very loudly, “What are you crying for?”
Chen Qingqing looked at him, then at Wang Yuxin and Wang Manning beside him, and immediately reached up to wipe the tears from the corners of her eyes.
Xu Ye’s tone was close to reproach. “Am I really so unworthy of your trust? You see me with a girl and you assume I’m cheating on you? Is that the kind of person you think I am?”
Three questions in a row, and Chen Qingqing couldn’t get a word out.
Her lips moved, but she stopped herself.
“Wang Manning. Tell your future sister-in-law. What am I to you?”
Wang Manning pulled a face. “My cousin.”
“Did you hear that? Yesterday evening my mom called and told me to come home — it was so I could go to the train station and pick up my Second Aunt. They’re from Suzhou. It’s not often they get over here, so I’ve been taking them around Jiangzhou. And you’re always telling me I’m dumb — you’re the dumbest one here.”
Chen Hansong was about to say something.
But Xu Ye included him in the telling-off. “Uncle. And here I’ve been thinking of you all this time as my future father-in-law. Fine, you laid into me on the phone just now — but you didn’t even tell me why. What exactly is going through your head? You’d love it if Qingqing and I broke up, wouldn’t you?”
“I—!”
Chen Hansong was left with nothing to say.
Having finished explaining, Xu Ye took a tissue out of his pocket, handed it to Chen Qingqing, and said to Wang Manning, Wang Yuxin and Wang Zixuan, “Come on. We’re going home for lunch.”
With that he turned and walked out.
Wang Manning and the others hurried after him.
Chen Qingqing got up immediately to go after him and explain, but by the time she reached the living room door he was already in the car.
……
On the way back.
Wang Yuxin asked in a small voice, “Xu Ye-gege, are we really just leaving like that?”
“At a time like this, the tougher you are the more you’re in the right. I’ve explained everything there was to explain anyway. What I want is for your Qingqing-jiejie and her dad to feel guilty, because then they’ll treat me better from now on, and things like this won’t happen again.”
“Huh?” Wang Yuxin didn’t quite follow. Her big eyes were full of questions.
Wang Manning spoke up now too. “Your girlfriend’s family is actually that rich? How on earth did she end up liking you?”
Xu Ye gave her a flat look. “Don’t want the iPad after all, is that it?”
Wang Manning hurriedly withdrew what she had just said and pressed him instead. “So when are you buying it for me?”
“Depends on my mood. I said I’d buy you one. I never said when.”
“You—!”
“You what? And from now on you’re not to call me by my name. Call me gege.”
“Tch~”
……
Chen Qingqing sat on the sofa gripping her phone. After hesitating a moment she opened the chat with Xu Ye and started sending messages…
Chen Qingqing: I’m sorry. /pitiful/
Chen Qingqing: I didn’t know she was your cousin. /pitiful/
Chen Qingqing: But you can’t blame me either. You never told me you had another cousin. /pitiful/
He still hadn’t replied.
Chen Qingqing went on typing. “Are you coming to see me this afternoon?”
Chen Qingqing: If you are, could you bring the delivery from the Fengchao locker?
Chen Qingqing: The stockings I ordered have arrived.
Xu Ye: Yes.
(End of Chapter 270)