Hearing the coldness in his tone, the girl simply nodded, rummaging through her mind for a new topic.

She thought of a topic that would be enough to upend the previous topic.

"Well, the rubber band you bought me earlier is so cute, I've been wearing it, you see." Xiaoqi pulled her ball head as she spoke, and she had to expose the hair tendons wrapped in the innermost part for people to see, and she also wanted to tell him, "I not only like it, but I will cherish it even more."

Du Shengzhe's thoughts couldn't keep up with the speed at which she changed the topic, but this person's demeanor really made him laugh: "See, it's very suitable for you." ”

At the same time, he was worried that the girl would continue to worry about Yan Shuting's unsuccessful confession, so he lied and said: "Also, Shuting already has a boyfriend, she is doing well, she likes me just once, I am just a small episode in my life to her." ”

"Huh?" Xiaoqi was surprised, "Sister Shuting has a partner?" ”

His face did not change: "Yes." ”

She believed.

Back at the store, Du Shengzhe told the girl that it was almost nine o'clock, "I went back late this time, is there no problem?" ”

Xiao Qi was shocked: "It's a big problem!" Why didn't you tell me sooner?! ”

"You didn't ask me about the time." He said with a shrug.

The girl was too lazy to argue with her tongues, rushed out of the store, turned around and said "no need to send it", and the whole person rushed to the subway station in a hurry.

Rushing home, it was half past nine, and my mother didn't blame anything. Xiaoqi suddenly felt that it was very "rude" to say goodbye to Ah Zhe before, and wanted to send him a message to apologize, but felt that the other party should not have reassured him about this little thing, and there was no need.

She fell asleep in the midst of such contradictions. As soon as she woke up the next day, Xiaoqi first touched her phone.

The seven missed calls displayed on the lock screen startled her, and when she looked at the number, she was completely unfamiliar. First of all, she ruled out the possibility that it was her mother or Ah Zhe, because her mother was blocked, and Ah Zhe gave a note.

Scare! It can't be an old classmate who has an urgent matter or a creditor to collect debts, right?!

When it comes to debt collection, the girl admits that she is a bit of a loser, she owes Huabei more than 350 yuan, and she has not paid it back for a month. She fantasizes that one day she can get rich overnight and repay the loan easily; Or find a well-off and economical boyfriend who eats and drinks, save the cost of skin care products, and you can return Huabei.

For now, let's implement the owner of this unfamiliar number first. Tong Xiaoqi took a screenshot of the number and checked the number in the contact one by one, but there was no result.

She threw her phone to the side, simply cleaned up and got out of bed, simply brushed her teeth and washed her face first, and when she had time, she called back the unfamiliar number and asked. Later, Xiaoqi was busy all morning and forgot all about the number.

In the afternoon, she was alone in her room, with the dim light on, and she was savoring the "supernatural events" on the web page on her mobile phone. Everything was so ordinary, but when the mother came in to look for something, the unfamiliar number unexpectedly called again, and the voice was so loud that the mother glanced at the girl.

The girl turned down the volume and answered the phone, not turning on the speakerphone. She put the phone to her ear and whispered "Hey", and there was silence on the other side of the phone for a few seconds, and then a low male voice came -

"Xiaoqi, I'm Dad."

She was stunned on the spot, and at that moment, it was as if thousands of past events had been smashed into her mind, almost breaking her reason. Seeing this, her mother asked, "Who is it?" and Xiaoqi steadied her thoughts and tried her best not to show flaws in her expression.

"It's an old classmate," she said. ”

The other end pressed the phone off.

Tong Xiaoqi's hand holding the mobile phone slowly drooped, and her mother asked again and again: "Is there anything wrong with the old classmate looking for you?" She snorted impatiently: "It's okay, you don't care." He said that the whole person broke down the door, leaving the unknown mother alone in the room.

"Didn't I just ask, do I care about you, why are you so grumpy?"

Behind her, her mother's concerned and helpless voice came from behind, her heart ached, but she still didn't say anything, walked out of the store quickly, and walked straight to the public fitness facility opposite.

How do you describe the mood of the girl at the moment, excited? Terrified? Hope? She calmed down for a moment and picked up her phone again, ready to call back, but received a text message from that number—

"Xiaoqi, I'm Dad. I haven't seen you for many years, and I don't know how you're doing, Dad misses you so much, and so does your Aunt Xiang. I recently had some work schedules in Guangdong, and I also contacted your mother, and she told me that you are now in Shenzhen."

"Dad wants to go and see you, the time is today, I arrived in Shenzhen with my aunt last night and found a hotel to live in, can you tell me your area and specific location?" When Daddy finds you, he takes you out for a meal, and we'll get together.'"

"Don't call your mother." (*Note: The "Aunt Xiang" mentioned in the text message is Tong Xiaoqi's stepmother, whose full name is Wu Yuxiang.) ）

After reading the text message, Xiaoqi only had the hope of seeing her father in her heart. Although after this incident, there is a high probability that her mother will know or ask about it, it is secondary to her.

As soon as she was happy, she sent the address.

Worried that eating out today would conflict with her work in terms of time, Xiaoqi asked Du Shengzhe for leave again and explained the reason, and she changed her father's name to friend in the reason.

Everything went so smoothly that the girl naturally met her father in the designated restaurant.

During this time, the father and aunt noticed Xiaoqi's bandaged left arm and asked about it, and she took it with her. "I just got hurt by accident."

The aunt sat opposite her father and Xiao Qi looked at her father's appearance again and again, and felt that there seemed to be no difference from the vague appearance in her impression. It's just that my father has gained a lot of weight now, and some gray hair has grown on his head. She couldn't imagine how he had spent all those days without his daughter by his side for so many years.

Tong Hao shushed Xiaoqi for a while, but the aunt didn't interject much, just sat on the side and looked at her with a smile. (*Note: Tong Hao is his father's name)

The ordered things were quickly served on the table, and the girl ordered some food, picked up some food, took the tip of the chopsticks in her mouth and tasted it temporarily, and her eyes couldn't help but cast on her father's face. Tong Hao noticed his daughter's gaze, looked at her a few times, and his attitude of wanting to speak and stopping was clearly revealed.

She didn't ask, thinking that sooner or later her father would take the initiative to tell the story.

After the meal, Tong Hao asked about the girl's birthday: "If Dad remembers correctly, Xiaoqi's birthday should be on the 28th of next month." ”

The girl nodded, humming.

Tong Hao bent his eyebrows: "Dad has a birthday gift for you in advance." He took a fresh, simple square bag from under the table and handed it to his daughter. Xiao Qi just stared at the bag and didn't take the gift for a long time.

He shook the bag again and said, "Take it." ”

The girl took it slowly and thanked her.

"Hey... What do you want to say to your father......" Tong Hao's mouth pursed playfully.

She smiled, lifted the bag to her eyes, glanced at its surface, and asked, "What kind of gift?" ”

"If you don't take it apart, you never know what it is."

Xiaoqi took out the gift box from the bag, and the box was printed with the pattern of the two English letters "C" superimposed on the front and back. When I opened it, I saw a delicate and transparent glass bottle lying inside, and if I looked closely, the bottle had the English word "CHANEL" on the bottle.

The girl only thinks that this English transliteration is like Chanel - she guessed, because she only knows that this brand is quite famous, and she has never seen the real thing, let alone used it.

"Is this a Chanel perfume?" She asked.

Tong Hao nodded: "Yes, Chanel is a good brand, it's precious." ”

Tong Xiaoqi's inner world was ecstatic at this time, just a few days ago, she was still envious of Sister Shuting's perfumes, and she also collected a variety of cheap perfumes on the Internet...... This birthday gift really made Xiaoqi love it.

The girl said that she liked her father's gift very much and would treasure it even more.

However, she faintly felt that her father and aunt must have come to see her this time not only to give her a birthday gift, but also to say something, which was the real purpose of the two of them.

Somehow, Xiaoqi began to feel nervous and scared. She immediately interrupted the strange thoughts, telling herself not to think about it.

Wu Yuxiang, who was sitting next to Tong Hao and was silent for a long time, asked, worthy of being a stepmother, and as soon as she opened her mouth, it was enough to overwhelm the girl. "Xiaoqi, the relationship between you and your mother is not too stiff, is it?"

She wasn't sure. Thinking about it carefully, the things that happened intermittently some time ago cooled down a lot of the already ordinary relationship between the mother and daughter.

However, shouldn't an aunt ask about her relationship with her mother? Xiaoqi thought to herself, how can she mention the word "relationship stiffness" when she opens her mouth? She didn't dare to think about it anymore.

The girl replied, "It's the same."

Wu Yuxiang added: "When you came to your father's place to play during the summer vacation of junior high school, you said at that time that you hated your mother, and you told your father and me a lot, do you remember? ”

Xiaoqi was stunned for a moment, saying that she didn't remember.

Although she had little memory of these events, the aunt may have inferred from these past events that the girl had a cold relationship with her mother.

Wu Yuxiang and Tong Hao glanced at each other, and the two of them once again showed a look of wanting to speak and stopping, this time Xiaoqi really couldn't help it, and said bluntly: "Dad, and Auntie, if there is anything, just say it, I am already an adult, and I still have to worry about what I can't bear." ”

This is said to Wu Yuxiang's heart. She briefly explained to Xiaoqi: "Promote the relationship with your mother/." The girl noticed that her father's expression instantly tensed, and solidified into a bitter face.

Xiaoqi is also very bitter-

The words I just said that I were "not afraid of blows" were just that. She didn't know if what she was going to hear next would have a lot of bad effects on her, and in the end, she didn't have to digest it slowly.

"Xiaoqi..."Tong Hao's mouth trembled, "Dad has already become a new family, you know, I hope you can understand the plight of Dad and this aunt, and relieve us of some burdens......"

Tong Xiaoqi's whole body froze, and the gift box on his hand clicked with his nails.