Ten-Year Loyal Dog’s Road to Chasing Her Wife (GL) - Chapter 39

Chapter 39

Because the incident was discovered early, many people were able to evacuate in time. Even though some were injured, most of them were hurt because they didn’t know to keep their heads low and inhaled toxic fumes, or because of the pushing and shoving during the evacuation that caused people to trip and fall.

For such an unexpected incident, this could only be described as a stroke of luck.

After all, there weren’t as many people today as there had been in previous days. If it had been the scale of the crowds from those days, it likely would have taken much more time to evacuate. Shortly after they got out, the circus tent was engulfed in flames. By the time the fire brigade arrived, only the iron framework remained in the center of the site; the tent was completely incinerated.

It was only after being led out by Qiao Mo for a good while that Qiao Wan finally regained her senses.

When she saw the fabric of the tent burning and falling in the middle of the grounds, she felt a wave of lingering fear. If Qiao Mo hadn’t led her out just now, where would she be? But why hadn’t she felt afraid when they were running out earlier? From a distance, she heard a boy calling her name in the crowd; it sounded like Yuan Tianci’s voice.

She stared blankly in the direction the voice was coming from and saw Yuan Tianci, who had run to the other side of the road during the evacuation. As if by some telepathy, the boy suddenly looked back and saw Qiao Wan standing on the curb in her white dress. Instantly, the look of panic faded from his face, and he shouted to her across the wide road: “Stay right there, I’m coming to find you now. Don’t move.”

Qiao Wan had no intention of moving; she stood ramrod straight by the roadside, but her figure looked incredibly stiff. Even when Yuan Tianci rushed over and pulled her into a hug, she remained expressionless, as if she had been scared out of her wits.

Yuan Tianci looked her over and found she wasn’t injured. Completely relieved, he couldn’t help but complain: “How could it take so long to borrow a power bank? I thought you were dead; I’ve been looking for you for ages.”

“I’m fine.” Qiao Wan pushed him away stiffly. Although she knew Yuan Tianci only hugged her because he was so relieved she was okay that he couldn’t control himself, she still felt that this kind of hug was strange and awkward it wasn’t as comfortable as the hug when she danced with Qiao Mo.

“Qiao Mo brought me out,” she said. But she didn’t look Yuan Tianci in the eye.

“You scared me to death. If something happened to you while you were with me, wouldn’t Uncle Qiao peel a layer of skin off me?” Yuan Tianci patted his chest, calming his racing heart that was almost jumping out of his ribs. Honestly, the moment the fire started, besides immediately taking Xia Hanyin to flee for their lives, the first person he thought of was Qiao Wan.

Where had this stupid woman gone? It would be fine if she was actually with Qiao Mo and the others, as that group would definitely get her out; but what if she wasn’t? What if she had quietly run off somewhere because she didn’t want to be with him, and there was no one around her? Would she have met with disaster?

Qiao Wan was Uncle Qiao’s only daughter not counting any illegitimate children whose existence was unknown. Uncle Qiao had spent a lot of time cultivating Qiao Wan. If anything happened to her if she was injured or even died the blame would fall squarely on him.

Yuan Tianci admitted he couldn’t shoulder that burden.

So, seeing Qiao Wan outside the venue made him incredibly happy, to the point that even Qiao Mo, standing next to Qiao Wan, looked like a beautiful fairy. “Come home with me. Uncle Qiao already knows about what happened here, but since your phone was dead and turned off, he couldn’t get through. He called me instead. You’ll need to give him a call yourself in a bit.”

As if she had finally snapped out of the thrilling ordeal, Qiao Wan gave a cold laugh and said, “His information is more efficient than the firefighters’.”

Yuan Tianci naturally didn’t dare to respond to such a remark. If he did, the one dying wouldn’t be Uncle Qiao but himself. He could only pretend he hadn’t heard and turned to the Qiao siblings: “Thank you both. If it wasn’t for you…”

Qiao Rui didn’t like listening to such formalities at all, but he couldn’t curse in front of his sister, so he simply turned around and acted as if a mosquito had just flown by. Qiao Mo, on the other hand, replied politely: “We’re desk-mates, it’s only right.”

After another round of pleasantries, they went their separate ways. Most of those polite words were incredibly hollow; Qiao Rui found it funny listening from the side, but since one of the parties was his dear sister, he knew if he laughed now, he wouldn’t see her true smiling face tomorrow. After some deliberation, Qiao Rui decided he had to hold it in.

Having just come out of a fire, everyone’s faces and clothes weren’t exactly clean, and there was a scorched smell in their every movement, so they quickly dispersed.

The driver had naturally been waiting nearby. Qiao Mo insisted on watching them get into the car. All the way, she could hear Qiao Wan snapping at Yuan Tianci’s phone: “I’ve said it before, don’t have people follow me! I don’t like it! I don’t need it! I don’t need you watching over what I do. Who do you think you are? Father, Dad? Do you own me?”

“I don’t need your hypocrisy. When that ‘Auntie’s’ baby comes out, I’ll see if you still care about me this much! If it’s a girl, maybe I’ll still be your ‘treasure,’ but what if it’s a boy? I don’t need your phoniness! That’s it!”

With that, she cut the call and stuffed the phone back into Yuan Tianci’s arms. Yuan Tianci hurried to stow his phone away, thinking that it wasn’t good for Qiao Wan to fight so fiercely with Uncle Qiao, so he advised: “After all, you’re the only young mistress of the Qiao family. It’s normal for Uncle Qiao to be a little nervous. Look at my family don’t we also bring bodyguards when we go on a long trip?”

This earned him a chilling look from Qiao Wan: “I don’t need you playing the ‘good person’ or being a mediator here; this is our family business. As for you, when you called my name just now, did you ever consider that there might be many people from our school nearby? When we go back after the holiday and rumors are flying everywhere, let’s see how you’re going to suppress them!”

Yuan Tianci had been in a panic earlier and truly hadn’t thought of that. He felt a bit at a disadvantage and rubbed his nose sheepishly, whispering: “Who would think that much in the moment…”

Qiao Wan had finished venting her temper, but she couldn’t go anywhere else. After all, she was being secretly observed by her father, so she had to return obediently to the Yuan household. However, though she was originally fuming, as she stepped into the Yuan family’s black sedan, she caught a glimpse of the two people standing by the road. The hem of the girl’s white skirt billowed slightly in the breeze, revealing a glimpse of her snowy-white calves.

Suddenly, she couldn’t stay angry anymore.

The world was so beautiful.

Being angry was no good.

She nodded slightly toward Qiao Mo, then regardless of whether Qiao Mo could see her, she sat inside as the driver opened the door.

Gentle pure music played inside the car, as if the driver wanted to soothe the young mistress who had just been startled, but Qiao Wan couldn’t hear it at all. Her head was filled with the image of Qiao Mo’s wrist, reddened from her grip, and that soft sentence spoken amidst the firelight:

We won’t leave you behind.