My Straight Childhood Friend Successfully Pursued Me After The Breakup - Chapter 22

After dinner, Zuo Zhimi brought Zuo Xian home. She planned to sleep with Zuo Xian tonight to enhance their mother-daughter relationship.

Although Zuo Xian was happy about this, she had promised Tao Ran she would call her tonight.

It wasn’t that she had to hide it from Zuo Zhimi, but her mother’s presence made things a bit inconvenient.

Forget it.

In the end, Zuo Xian couldn’t bear to refuse her mother.

The best she could do was coax Zuo Zhimi to sleep before calling Tao Ran.

Anyway, Tao Ran was in a different time zone, so she probably wouldn’t be free until very late.

“Xiazai, do you want to take a bath with Mommy?” Zuo Zhimi had drunk a little wine. She wasn’t drunk, but she was starting to feel a little tipsy.

Zuo Xian: “Mommy, stop fooling around. Go take your bath. Oh, and don’t lock the door.”

“You little brat, acting all proud. Fine, Mommy won’t lock the door. You can come in later and I’ll scrub your back.”

Zuo Xian: “…”

The reason she asked Zuo Zhimi not to lock the door was that she was afraid her mother might faint inside and she wouldn’t be able to get in to rescue her.

Grandma Liu was in the kitchen preparing honey water so Zuo Zhimi’s stomach would feel better after she finished her bath.

By the time the mother and daughter were finally lying in bed together, it was past midnight. Zuo Xian counted on her fingers; she estimated it would be about two more hours before Tao Ran would be free.

Zuo Xian didn’t actually know exactly what Tao Ran was doing abroad. Tao Ran said her dad had arranged a study program for her, but Zuo Xian vaguely felt it wasn’t the same kind of studying she did at school.

It was probably similar to the things Xue Ying made Xue Shuangxi learn.

“Xianzai,” Zuo Zhimi suddenly spoke, bringing Zuo Xian’s thoughts back.

“Hmm?”

Zuo Zhimin turned over to face Zuo Xian. The mother and daughter had identical eyes; just looking at the upper half of their faces was like looking in a mirror.

However, Zuo Zhimi’s eyes had a few more fine lines than her daughter’s, marks left by time.

“Mommy has been so busy, I haven’t been able to be with you during your most stressful time in school. Do you blame Mommy?”

“Of course not,” Zuo Xian said naturally. “That’s your career. I support you in pursuing your career, just like you support me.”

Zuo Xian’s words nearly made the already sentimental Zuo Zhimi, who had been drinking, cry. Her nose felt incredibly sore, and she held Zuo Xian’s face and kissed her.

Zuo Xian calmly wiped the kiss away.

“The thing Mommy regrets most in this life is not choosing a good father for you. My judgment was so poor when I was young, I was too eager to get married,” Zuo Zhimi sighed.

Unlike the common perception of “a woman and a man having a child,” Zuo Zhimi firmly believed that Zuo Xian was her destined child, and even if she had married a different husband, the child born would still have been Zuo Xian.

She had no theoretical basis for this, she just simply believed it.

She had regretted it every so often over the years, and as her company’s business got better and she became busier, Zuo Zhimi regretted it even more.

If only I had chosen a good one, at least he could have stayed home and looked after Zuo Xian.

However, despite the regret, Zuo Zhimi wasn’t foolish enough to bring another boyfriend home.

She would not allow any unsafe elements to get close to her daughter.

“Mommy, I’m going to get calluses on my ears from hearing this,” Zuo Xian said helplessly. “I don’t feel like anything is missing. This family is complete with just you and me.”

“Xianzai, Mommy loves you.” Zuo Zhimi quietly wiped a tear. She looked at her daughter.

Recently, Zuo Xian’s room had switched to sheer curtains—making it easier for the sun to wake her up.

This also made it easier for the moonlight now. The soft light fell on Zuo Xian’s face, outlining her three-dimensional profile.

Her daughter had grown into a beautiful young woman.

Zuo Zhimi couldn’t help but get a little gossipy, “Xianzai, is anyone pursuing you at school?”

“No.”

“Then do you have anyone you like?”

Zuo Xian’s heart tightened. She glanced at Zuo Zhimi, worried that her mother had noticed something.

Zuo Zhimi hadn’t noticed anything until that one glance, which made her narrow her eyes.

Something is off.

“No, I’m very busy every day, I don’t have time to like anyone,” Zuo Xian quickly added.

Hearing this, Zuo Zhimi was half-convinced. “Really none?”

“Really none. Look, I’ve only ever had Tao Ran around me, I haven’t been in contact with anyone else, right, haha.” Zuo Xian sneakily played a trick known as “hiding in plain sight.”

It successfully fooled Zuo Zhimi.

Zuo Zhimi inhaled sharply and became unhappy instead, “Why haven’t you ever liked anyone since you were little? Don’t they say adolescence is the time for young people to develop ambiguous feelings? Xianzai, are you asexual?”

Zuo Xian: “…”

“Mommy, can you go to sleep now?”

After finally coaxing her overly excited mother to sleep, the hour hand only pointed between one and two.

Still a long time to go. Zuo Xian couldn’t help feeling a little glum.

Her phone on the bedside table suddenly vibrated. Zuo Xian immediately propped herself up to grab it. Tapping it open, it was from the person she had been longing for.

Finished being busy.

Zuo Xian quietly got out of bed with her phone and earphones, unlocked the bedroom door, and went into the study.

She dialed the number, and it was answered on the first ring.

“Hello?” Tao Ran’s voice came through, soft and gentle, like a feather brushing past her ear, making her heart itch.

Zuo Xian sat on the bay window, pulled a small blanket over her legs, and couldn’t help but curve her lips upwards when she heard her voice.

“Ranran, you’re done being busy.”

“Mm, I had a bit too much going on today. I made you wait,” Tao Ran said apologetically. “I’ll try to be earlier next time.”

“It’s okay,” Zuo Xian shared with her. “My mom is sleeping with me tonight. She chatted with me for a long time and just fell asleep.”

“Aunt Zuo is there too?” Tao Ran said in surprise. “Will she be woken up?”

“No, because I’m in the study.”

Tao Ran’s heart softened. She raised her hand and glanced at her wrist watch. It was very late.

She said warmly, “Then let’s chat for half an hour, and then you go to sleep, okay?”

“Ah… only half an hour?” Zuo Xian was openly greedy.

Tao Ran coaxed, “Be good, you have school tomorrow.”

The quality of the earphones was excellent, making it sound almost like Tao Ran was speaking right next to her ear. In a daze, Zuo Xian even felt the fine hairs on her ear tremble.

Tao Ran’s voice was lovely, clear and gentle, and in the deep night, it especially took on a seductive quality it didn’t usually have.

Extraordinarily tempting.

A flush of pink crept up Zuo Xian’s neck. She pressed the back of her hand against her burning cheek to cool it down, bit her lower lip, and mumbled a low “Mm.”

She will be very obedient.

However, half an hour passed too quickly. Zuo Xian felt like she hadn’t listened to Tao Ran’s voice enough before it was time to end the call.

So, her spoiled, childish nature began to show. She pretended to forget the time.

Tao Ran let her play her little trick for a while, but after ten minutes, she reminded her, “A-Xian, you should go to sleep now.”

“Ah, but I’m not tired at all. Can’t we talk for a little longer?” Zuo Xian whined. “Don’t you miss me at all? You just want to hang up.”

Tao Ran couldn’t help but chuckle at Zuo Xian’s complaints.

When Zuo Xian heard her laugh, she got even more upset and declared dramatically, “If you don’t miss me, then I won’t miss you either.”

Tao Ran paused in her movement of flipping through documents. Her fingertip rubbed against the paper. Her voice was still gentle, but it seemed to hold a different meaning now.

“No, A Xian.”

“You say no, so it’s a no?” Zuo Xian became even more defiant. “Don’t you believe that I’ll start calling other people late at night… I’ll call Xue Shuangxi, she definitely won’t want to hang up on me.”

Tao Ran was silent for a long time, so long that Zuo Xian started to feel a little guilty.

Then, Tao Ran slowly said, “I don’t believe you. You wouldn’t make me that sad.”

Zuo Xian admitted defeat.

After hanging up the phone, she kept muttering to herself that straight girls flirted with no sense of proportion.