Ten-Year Loyal Dog’s Road to Chasing Her Wife (GL) - Chapter 35

Chapter 35 

Qiao Wan was born in 1997. By logic, she was actually the same age as the vast majority of her classmates; however, unless she produced her ID card herself, others simply wouldn’t believe her claim.

Standing next to Qiao Mo, in terms of height, it was simply like an older sister bringing along a younger sister.

The two didn’t look like classmates at all, let alone the fact that Qiao Mo was actually a year younger than her.

She stood with Qiao Mo at the school gate for a while, and Qiao Mo’s family car indeed arrived. It was a motorcycle, driven by a woman who looked very gentle and intellectual. The woman found a place to park, then came over to pick up Qiao Mo’s luggage. She happened upon Qiao Mo wiping Qiao Wan’s mouth and looked a bit surprised: “Mei’er, who is this?”

Without waiting for Qiao Mo to speak, Qiao Wan leaned forward herself and said with a sweet smile, “Hello, Auntie! My name is Qiao Wan, I’m Qiao Mo’s desk-mate.”

“What a beautiful and well-behaved girl. I’m happy as long as Mei’er can make friends.” The woman smiled gently. In truth, she was already somewhat old, but when she smiled, one could still see that she must have looked just like Qiao Mo when she was young, smiling quite beautifully, and likely a very gentle person.

It made sense; how could a person who wasn’t gentle raise a daughter as gentle as Qiao Mo?

Getting along with Qiao Mo was simply like being soaked in a warm hot spring, with the distance maintained just right; it neither gave people a sense of constraint nor made them feel distant.

While following the woman to move Qiao Mo’s things onto the bike, Qiao Wan quietly asked her desk-mate: “Why does your mom call you Mei’er? Could she really be calling you by the wrong name?”

Shouldn’t it be Mo’er?

Qiao Mo smiled slightly with pursed lips and said, “I have an older brother above me, born in ’96, who is currently a sophomore at Longting High School. Because I am the younger of the two children, I am called Mei’er (Little Sister).”

“I’m the only one in my family, and my mom calls me Wan’er.” It actually matched Qiao Mo’s name quite well. “But why do I never see your brother come to find you?”

“The Grade 11 classrooms aren’t very close; why would he come find me for no reason?”

“If he came to find you, then I could see what he looks like.” Qiao Wan looked full of integrity, clearly having no real justification, yet she spoke nonsense with a perfectly serious face: “I should get to know my desk-mate’s family members too.”

“My brother’s name is Qiao Rui. You’ll probably meet him if there’s a chance in the future.” Qiao Mo used her free hand to hold Qiao Wan’s, leading her through the area with the most traffic. It wasn’t clear when she had found out whether she had seen it by chance or heard Qiao Wan say it herself but ever since she knew Qiao Wan was afraid of crossing the street alone, she would hold Qiao Wan’s hand every time they crossed.

Even though, as a qualified “young miss,” Qiao Wan was doted on by her father and loved by her mother; usually, she would either walk around the campus, but once she stepped outside and the range of activity exceeded a hundred meters, Qiao Wan’s father would nervously call a driver to pick her up.

For a little princess like this, there truly weren’t many opportunities to cross the street by herself.

But basically, whenever Qiao Mo saw it, she would proactively go up and take her hand to lead her across.

It wasn’t that Qiao Wan didn’t know how to cross; she was simply afraid of the cars coming and going.

As long as someone held her hand, she wouldn’t be afraid.

As they kept holding hands, even Qiao Wan herself began to adapt; every time they crossed the street, she would check if Qiao Mo was by her side. If she was, the two of them would naturally join hands.

“This…” The things had already been moved onto the vehicle when Qiao Mo’s mother suddenly noticed Qiao Wan hiding behind Qiao Mo again, and said with a smile: “Would the classmate like to come to our house for a meal?”

Qiao Mo thought to herself: Mom, you’re really big-hearted. You dare to use ordinary home-cooked dishes to entertain the eldest miss of the Qiao family? She’s eaten plenty of delicacies from land and sea.

“Is it okay?” Qiao Wan had to admit, for a moment she was truly tempted going to Qiao Mo’s house for dinner! She would probably be able to see Qiao Mo’s family and see what Qiao Mo’s bedroom looked like. However, before she could agree, the phone in her pocket rang. Her top-bunk mate, Qiu Liannan, asked her to help bring food back, saying she had a bit of a fever.

Qiu Liannan was the person she got along with best in the dormitory. Qiao Wan couldn’t bring herself to leave her alone in the dorm. It was a bit of a pity, but she still declined Qiao Mo’s mother’s kindness. “Then I’ll take you back another time,” Qiao Mo said as she climbed onto her family’s motorcycle. Qiao Mo’s mother also nodded with a smile, “You are Mei’er’s friend; whenever you are free, you can come play at Auntie’s house. Just treat it like your own home, no need to be too formal.”

Qiao Wan nodded repeatedly and said “okay,” looking exceptionally well-behaved—so well-behaved that Qiao Mo’s mother spent the whole way back telling Qiao Mo, “That friend of yours looks like a really good person. Mom thinks she is worth a deep friendship, and besides…” She gave a deep sigh, “Your face…”

“That’s enough, Mom.” Qiao Mo cut off the topic gently but directly. “I know I don’t need to settle. Even with a face like this, I don’t need to desperately grab onto anyone who reaches out—that would be too lowly. Mom, I don’t need that.”

The woman gave another deep sigh, “Fine, whatever you say goes. Anyway, even if you stay at home for a lifetime, Mom and Dad can afford to support you. As for carrying on the family line, isn’t your brother there? That boy looks quite presentable, he just doesn’t like to study…”

Qiao Mo just listened quietly and didn’t interject again. The family had spent a lot of money for her face, but it couldn’t be cured. She had also said before: don’t worry about it anymore; being able to survive back then was already very lucky, and whatever the face looks like now feels like a blessing.

“But you were originally such a beautiful little girl… everyone was envious when you were small.” If it hadn’t been for that major illness, Qiao Mo wouldn’t have fallen into her current state. But thinking about it, the face was, after all, on her own daughter’s face; if anyone was to be sad, it should be her daughter who was most sad. Qiao’s mother paused for a moment and forcibly shifted the topic: “Was the food at the military training base okay?”

“I think it was alright,” Qiao Mo said with squinted eyes and a smile. “There just wasn’t much meat. Mom, I want to eat meat.”

“Sure, Mom will buy whatever you want to eat. Luckily you take after me you don’t get tanned even under such a big sun.”

Qiao Mo also secretly felt relieved in her heart; good, now this matter could be considered passed over. That incident back then was considered a natural disaster and a human misfortune, but her parents both felt it was their own fault. Therefore, as long as there was even a tiny bit of hope to cure the acne on Qiao Mo’s face, the Qiao family would try their best.

Qiao Mo herself felt that it didn’t matter anymore. In the beginning, she did feel as if the sky had collapsed, but once she started getting used to it, she inexplicably felt that it was actually okay—the Earth was still spinning. After all, the most important thing now was still ability; in the face of absolute strength, a face is of no use at all.

Because they had just returned from military training and tomorrow was the National Day long holiday, under these circumstances, the homeroom teacher, Mr. Bu, didn’t expect these young people to be able to calm down immediately. Therefore, in the evening, the school distributed the school IDs and uniforms.

There wasn’t much to say about the school IDs, an essential proof of identity for entering and exiting the school gate. The middle school division’s IDs were so large it was appalling; they could only be carried in a card holder hanging around the neck, simply like a dog tag. In comparison, high school was much better; many people envied the style of the Longting No. 1 High School IDs. It was a small plaque with a pin on the back, like a brooch that could be pinned directly onto the uniform. In the summer, without that string around the neck, it felt like receiving salvation.

The fashion value was greatly improved, but more importantly, because the space on the card was limited, the space for the printed photo was also very limited, much smaller than the “dog tag” version. It wouldn’t be so conspicuous that a casual glance could see it clearly; by comparison, the students were very satisfied.

Of course, the most important thing was that within the entire area of Longting Town, only the high school division of No. 1 High School used this type of school ID. It was unique and very recognizable.

It was a point of pride.

When the uniforms were carried in, the students found that they seemed very different from what they had imagined; they weren’t “flour sacks” (baggy tracksuits)! Looking at that blue and white color scheme, it was clearly the most famous blue and white sailor suit of Longting No. 1 High School. The students were about to explode with excitement; heavens, they actually hadn’t changed it yet!

Originally, the middle schools in Longting all had various styles of sailor suits, following the trend. Later, the “flour sacks” became popular. The leaders found that these flour sack uniforms could more effectively hide the lines of the students’ bodies, reducing the chances of puppy love, and of course, more importantly, they were convenient for the students to do morning exercises.

In almost just one month’s time, various middle schools began to announce their uniform reform plans, and then the sailor suits successfully vanished into thin air.

The uniform reform plan for Longting No. 1 High School had originally come out as well, but unexpectedly, they were still using the old version of the plan: a blue and white sailor hat, a white top with a blue sailor collar, and a deep blue knee-length pleated skirt.

It looked very full of “maiden heart” (girlish).

The autumn/winter set actually included outerwear, and there were three types of jackets a vest, a thin jacket, and a relatively thick and large coat.

In autumn, it was the vest plus the skirt. When it got a bit colder, they could wear the thin jacket. The thin jacket was more form-fitting, while the thick coat was for when the weather was particularly cold; because it was very large, one could add any clothes underneath.

It could be said to have thoroughly taken care of the students’ needs for warmth.

Undoubtedly, this was the best news.

“The National Day holiday starts tomorrow. Come back for self-study on the evening of the 6th, and then on the 7th, we need to have the opening ceremony for new students. You need to wear your uniforms properly. So during the days you go back for the holiday, wash your uniforms yourselves. Don’t come and tell me then that the uniform wasn’t washed or something, or I’ll slap you to death,” the homeroom teacher said with a stern face on the podium. “If the clothes don’t fit, you can have them altered, but the length of the skirt must be at the knee. If you make it a miniskirt, you’ll be the one losing face during gymnastics.”

The students all obediently indicated that they understood.

Wearing school uniforms and school IDs these had been the rules for many years.