Ten-Year Loyal Dog’s Road to Chasing Her Wife (GL) - Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Qiao Wan rolled her eyes grandly and said, “You are truly childish.” Yet, she still obediently ran to Qiao Mei’s side, letting herself be shielded strictly by her. Then, continuing her habit of not walking properly, she stared blankly at Qiao Mei in a daze until Qiao Mei, unable to take it anymore, grabbed her hand and said: “Your cerebellum is already dysfunctional; are you trying to fall to your death right in front of me so that I’ll go bankrupt and have to sell myself into debt bondage to pay it off?”

“No,” Qiao Wan said, curling her lip. “Even if you really sold yourself, you still couldn’t afford it. I just suddenly realized, after so many days of military training, you didn’t get tan at all? Not even a little bit.”

Even if the areas covered by the uniform didn’t change, at least the hands, neck, and face places that couldn’t be covered should have darkened, right?

But… nothing?

She was still white to a dazzling degree, looking practically like a human-shaped reflector.

There was absolutely no change compared to before military training.

“Thank you for your sunscreen,” Qiao Mei said, glancing at her indifferently.

“No.” Qiao Wan got anxious and started pulling open her shirt collar, but was pressed down by Qiao Mei, who looked at her helplessly and said: “What are you doing? We’re still on the school path with boys coming and going. Pay a little attention to your personal image.” Lest some photos get leaked and the boys start howling and screaming again tomorrow.

“Oh.” Qiao Wan sulkily retracted her claws. “I actually just wanted you to see clearly we used the same brand of sunscreen, so why did I get tan and you didn’t? It’s not fair.”

“Why don’t you look at the other girls and see how dark they’ve become by now?” Qiao Mei helplessly took her small bucket back from Qiao Wan’s hand. “Alright, the school gate is just ahead. I can go home by myself.”

Qiao Wan blinked her eyes: “Where do you live? I think I saw on your records when school started that it said… Longting No. 2 High?” Longting No. 2 High was about two or three kilometers away from No. 1 High. Now that Qiao Mei was carrying things in both hands, she naturally couldn’t ride a bike. Was she going to walk all the way back? “Is someone coming to pick you up? Should I call my family’s driver over?”

Although Qiao Wan’s family didn’t live around here, her father fearing it would be inconvenient when she occasionally went back to her uncle’s house, or that she’d be kidnapped while squeezing onto a bus had hired a driver for her. Though most of the time, the driver and the car were in a state of “growing grass” (idleness).

Qiao Mei hesitated for a moment, then smiled and said: “Someone will come to pick me up. I’ll just make a call in a bit and they’ll be here.”

“Then I’ll wait with you?”

Without waiting for Qiao Mei to refuse, Qiao Wan had already linked arms with her and walked out. After watching Qiao Mei finish her phone call by the roadside, she stood on the street corner to accompany her while waiting for her family. They waited for a long time. Qiao Wan felt that if a driver dared to make her wait this long, she would definitely call her father to fire him later; but on second thought, the person coming for Qiao Mei was family, not a driver.

Thinking this way, she calmed down again, standing beside Qiao Mei and watching quietly, her eyes drifting from time to time toward the roadside snack stalls. Qiao Mei was a sharp one; one looked at her and she understood: “Want to eat?”

“…Takoyaki.”

Qiao Mei patted her fluffy head: “Help me watch the things; stand here and wait for me a moment.” Saying so, she had already walked far off.

Her tall, thin frame gave her a significant advantage in a crowd; like a light piece of paper, she easily squeezed through the throng. It wasn’t until Qiao Mei had completely vanished into the tide of people that Qiao Wan slowly uttered the second half of her previous sentence: “…They look like they’d taste really good.”

Qiao Wan: “…”

Having a deskmate with too much initiative sometimes didn’t seem like a particularly good thing.

The Qiao family never allowed Qiao Wan to eat roadside food, always feeling as if everyone was out to poison their little princess. Regarding this, Qiao Wan didn’t care much, but to be honest, every time she saw protagonists in books eating it, she felt her life had a void.

Because the freshmen had returned from military training, there were particularly many vehicles on the street coming to pick people up. Among them, the most conspicuous one was clearly from Yuan Tianci’s family.

The black luxury car crouched like a leopard by the roadside not far away. Qiao Wan squinted and identified it for a while; once she confirmed it was the Yuan family car, she pulled Qiao Mei back a bit. Qiao Mei looked around uncomprehendingly and saw a person dressed as a driver get out of the black luxury car. Seeing that Qiao Wan had already retreated, the driver could only stand dejectedly by the car door, no longer coming over.

“You know that driver?”

Qiao Wan expressionlessly brought a takoyaki ball to her lips. “I don’t know him, but he knows me. Yuan Tianci’s parents and my father know each other. We played together when we were little that was a long time ago, but it doesn’t change the fact that our families were very close and knew each other well.”

Even when eating something like takoyaki, which easily messes up one’s whole face, she was slow and methodical. Because she was afraid the seaweed on top would stick to the corner of her mouth and make her look foolish, Qiao Wan basically took a bite and then inconspicuously licked the corner of her mouth. Qiao Mei watched her eat for a while and said: “Try swallowing a whole one at once?”

“It’ll get messy,” Qiao Wan said, glancing at her. The look in her eyes was clear: This fairy will never lose. “If anything sticks to the corner of my mouth, tomorrow you’ll see the school forum split into two factions: one saying I’m so cute for not even wiping my mouth after takoyaki, as if they have some weird aesthetic; the other saying I’ve become arrogant, utterly despising other girls, and ‘letting myself fly’ in a way that isn’t ladylike.” Qiao Wan shrugged. “I’ve already figured out their routines.”

After a pause, she added, “Actually, I want to let loose a bit too, but I can’t manage to ignore the gaze of others.”

She still cared about how others saw her.

Knowing full well that living this way was too exhausting.

“Why don’t you try?” Qiao Mei said tentatively. “I guarantee… I won’t let you look foolish.”

“…” The ball Qiao Wan was bringing to her mouth stopped just like that. After a long while, as if she had finally found her voice, she whispered: “…That’s a pretty bold idea. I’ll give you full marks.”

Qiao Mei continued to look at her seriously: “Want to try? Trust me.”

“Is it really okay?” Qiao Wan was still a bit hesitant, especially when she saw Yuan Tianci coming out of the school gate; she subconsciously hid the small box of takoyaki behind her back. Yuan Tianci also knew her father; her biggest fear was the “neighbor’s kid” snitching.

Supposedly, Yuan Tianci also looked down on roadside snacks. Qiao Wan remembered when they played together as children; once she showed the slightest interest in the outside world, Yuan Tianci would scold her, nagging until Qiao Wan gave up her curiosity.

In the crowd, Qiao Wan was like a massive glowing body; Yuan Tianci saw her instantly and walked over quickly: “Qiao Wan? Why are you standing here?”

If Uncle Qiao knew the Eldest Miss of the Qiao family was standing by the street inhaling car exhaust, wouldn’t he be heartbroken?

“Ah, no, I just came out to look…” Seeing Yuan Tianci walking over, Qiao Wan became even more nervous and quietly stuffed the takoyaki into Qiao Mei’s hand. The latter, seemingly in a daze, reflexively took the paper box, skewered one, and swallowed it.

Yuan Tianci, watching from the side, frowned and turned to ask Qiao Wan: “You didn’t eat any, right?”

“No, no!” Qiao Wan hurriedly denied. Yuan Tianci looked closely at the bamboo skewers two of them and seeing that it didn’t look like enough for two people, he felt relieved. He reminded Qiao Wan again: “Your health isn’t good; don’t just eat roadside things. That’s what Uncle Qiao told me. What are you doing standing here? Do you want to come to my house for a meal?”

“No need.” Qiao Wan wished she could stay as far away from his house as possible. The last time she went, the old grandmother of the Yuan family had such a kind face as if she were looking at her own granddaughter-in-law. It made Qiao Wan’s skin crawl. “I just came out to see Qiao Mei off; she’s carrying quite a lot of things.”

Qiao Wan’s expression looked very innocent, but she gave Qiao Mei a fierce glare out of the corner of her eye when she saw Qiao Mei sneak another of her takoyaki balls.

Hmph, so annoying! This person is bullying me just because I can’t eat.

Being glared at like that, Qiao Mei seemed to start coming to her senses. She inconspicuously closed the small box in her hand and, under Yuan Tianci’s surprised gaze, calmly wiped the seaweed from the corner of her mouth. “Monitor, I see your driver. You should head over quickly.”

“Let him wait a bit longer.” Yuan Tianci was carrying a large backpack, which held all his equipment from military training; it looked bulging and quite heavy. “Wan’er, my grandmother really wants to see you. Are you sure you won’t come to my house for a meal? Uncle Qiao entrusted our family to take good care of you. If he sees you’ve gotten thinner by then, won’t it be my fault?” As he spoke, he reached out to lead Qiao Wan, but she inconspicuously avoided him.

Qiao Wan took a small step back and said: “It’s not necessary.” Then she moved even closer to Qiao Mei. “You go back. I don’t want anyone else to know about the matters between our two families.”

If she, Qiao Wan, got into Yuan Tianci’s car today, tomorrow’s school topic would be “The School Beauty and School Grass are together.”

Some people might even dig up the connections between the two families and then “add oil and vinegar” (exaggerate) to the story.

Even if Qiao Wan had a hundred mouths and a thousand tongues, she wouldn’t be able to explain it away.

As soon as Yuan Tianci left, Qiao Wan immediately stepped on Qiao Mei’s foot: “You stole two of my takoyaki balls!”

This earned her a silly grin from Qiao Mei. “What’s the big deal?” she said. “There will be more in the future.”

Qiao Wan didn’t know what she meant by “there will be more in the future.”

After all, things of the future are only known when the future arrives.