CH 19

"Woo*... Teacher Qi... I don't want to go to math class..." Lu Wei hung up the phone, turned her head and threw herself into Qi Yan's arms, crying loudly. She fought back the tears that didn't fall in class, and now they flow like a mountain torrent.

*crying/sobbing sounds

Qi Yan opened her arms and hugged her tightly, a scalding wetness spread in front of her instantly, her heart also twitched, and suddenly felt infinite sadness.

In fact, when she saw Lu Wei crying in a corner just now, she had a hunch in her heart that it was probably because of what happened in math class. As the saying goes, beating is not just slapping the face. An adult may not be able to bear being humiliated in public, let alone an immature child.

But obviously she was so wronged, even then, she refused to tell her mother on the phone.

"Niu Niu..." Qi Yan softly called the girl's nickname, rubbed her head, "Stop crying, it's Teacher Xu who is wrong today, she is getting old and has a bad temper, I have already told him, in the future he won't do that again."

"Woo...I've worked very...very hard...cough cough...me too...uuuu...I don't want to..." 

"Could it be...cough...all the teachers...uuuu... all...hate me ..."

The little girl was panting from crying, trembling, gasping for breath and coughing, unable to speak clearly. Qi Yan watched as her heart ache, and gently wiped away the tears on her face with her thumb, and said in a gentle voice: "How come, I like you very much, your composition is so good, every time I read it as a model composition to the whole class, and the English teacher also likes you very much, and praises you as the best student she has ever taught..."

As she spoke, hot moisture welled up in her eyes, she blinked twice quickly, and the corners of her mouth deepened little by little.

"But I still think...I'm so stupid..."

"Niuniu, you are not stupid at all. Everyone has their own good and bad things. No one is born with everything. Don't lose confidence in yourself." Qi Yan couldn't help but kiss the girl's forehead.

Lu Wei stopped sobbing immediately, and looked at her with wide eyes, with a few drops of crystal hanging on her tear-washed eyelashes.

The afterglow of the setting sun spilled in through the window, half of Qi Yan's side face was soaked in the soft light, the hair on the sideburns was dyed golden brown, and there was a gentle smile in her eyes, bright and sparkling, like sparkling amber wine.

The teacher is a little bit like a mother.

She suddenly missed her mother.

"Hmm." Lu Wei sniffed, lowered her eyelids, and hugged Qi Yan without letting go.

Mom's not here, so it's okay to hug the teacher, right? Anyway, the relationship between teacher and mother seems to be pretty good. She thought so.

The little girl was well-behaved and quiet, she didn't even make a sound when she acted like a baby. Qi Yan's heart was hot and soft, overflowing with a strong desire to protect, she stopped talking and just hugged her quietly. When the sunset had completely set and the dazzling rays of light disappeared into the sky, the tears on the girl's face dried up slowly, and her body stopped twitching. She raised her head and let go of Qi Yan reluctantly.

"Niuniu, what did mom say on the phone just now?" Qi Yan fished her back and hugged her.

Lu Wei was stunned for a moment, and replied truthfully: "Mom said she have to work overtime."

"Let's go, I'll take you to eat delicious food."

"..."

As night fell, the downtown commercial street was bustling with cars and pedestrians. The high-rise buildings on the street are shining with brilliant neon lights, and a ray of silver moonlight pierces through the sparse clouds and falls down. Today is the sixteenth day of the lunar calendar, a full moon.

Qi Yan took Lu Wei to a restaurant opened by a friend for dinner. At first the little girl was very reserved and didn't want her to spend money, but she was a child after all, so she surrendered after coaxing her softly. After eating, she went to the video game city again. Qi Yan spent a lot of money to buy a lot of game tokens, catching dolls, racing cars, and shooting basketballs. One adult and one kid went crazy for nearly two hours.

Children naturally like to play around, and now they have forgotten their grievances, and they are very happy on the dancing machine.

"Ah, Teacher Qi, that's not right, you should dance like this..."

"I'm getting old, I can't move anymore."

Qi Yan counts this as an eye-opener. The little girl whom she thought was introverted and quiet, turned out to be a huge ball of energy hidden in her tiny body. She can also be crazy, laugh, and have the nature of a child, but for some reason, all natures are suppressed and buried deep in her heart, and she pretends to be precocious and sensible.

Such a child makes people feel distressed.

As a teacher, she shouldn't have close contact with students, and shouldn't favor a certain student. She knows the reason clearly, but she still wants to be willful for a while. From the time she met Lu Zhiqiao at the bar that night, there were two more people in her life, as if it was destined, and she could never be as carefree as before.

Tired of playing, Qi Yan took the child to drink milk tea. There were many people in the store, and they waited for a long time to get it. The two of them walked to the parking lot of the building while drinking the milk tea.

"Ms. Qi, thank you for today." Lu Wei suddenly turned her head.

"Huh?"

"I'm very happy."

The little girl squinted her eyes and smiled, her pupils seemed to be shining, like a pair of translucent black pearls.

Qi Yan also smiled, and patted her head: "It's good that you're happy."

The empty parking lot echoed the footsteps of the two, and when they reached Qi Yan's car, Lu Wei got into the passenger car with the baby doll in her arms, and Qi Yan fastened her seat belt for her. She also got into the car, but didn't rush to start it. She bit the straw and asked casually, "Niuniu, will your grandma and grandpa visit your house during the Chinese New Year?"

"I don't have grandparents..."

"Where are your grandparents?"

"None."

"Other relatives, such as aunt? Uncle?"

Lu Wei shook her head, "I've never seen one before."

"..."

The answer was somewhat beyond Qi Yan's expectation. She opened her mouth and swallowed the pearl almost without chewing.

"Ms. Qi, why are you asking this?" The little girl looked at her suspiciously.

Qi Yan paused, then smiled and said, "I promised to help your mother take pictures during the Chinese New Year, and I'm worried that it will be inconvenient for her to have guests at home." Instead of trying to make up lies, it's better to tell the truth. This is a legitimate reason and there is nothing shameful about it.

Unlike the father mentioned last time, Lu Wei did not show the slightest disappointment, but her eyes lit up instead: "Do you take good photos? There is no one in our house during the Chinese New Year. My mother and I will go on vacation. Teacher Qi, you can go with us. I also want to take pictures too~"

Everyone loves beauty, let alone girls of this age, when they are young, they pay more attention to their image. When she was ill before, Qi Yan showed her a photo album, both the scenery and the models were very beautiful, and she wanted to have one too.

Qi Yan didn't expect that she could get so much useful information out of a single sentence of the truth. She's secretly sighing at the little girl's naivety and innocence, but inwardly couldn't help but to have a dark motive. She pretended to be calm and asked, "Only if your mother agrees right?"

I'll talk to mom!" Lu Wei nodded her head with conviction.

After all, a child is easy to bribe.

After drinking milk tea, Qi Yan drove home. When she parked in the complex, she saw the black a8 parked next to her. Knowing that Lu Zhiqiao had returned, she sent Lu Wei into the house under the pretense of helping the kid bring the dolls.

The lighting in the living room is warm and bright, but there is no one there. There is a laptop computer on the coffee table, which is turned on. The screen displays the word interface, and there are several thick folders scattered beside it. At this time, a figure came out of the bedroom, and the eyes of the three met, and they collided.

She was wearing a beige woolen skirt with long sleeves, a button undone at the collar, and a thin belt tied casually around her waist. Half of her paper-white calf was exposed under the hem, and house slippers were on her feet. It seemed that she had just come back not long ago, and her clothes hadn't been changed yet.

"Mom!" Lu Wei changed her shoes and jumped over, holding up the crab doll as if offering a treasure, "I caught it, and I'll give it to you~"

Lu Zhiqiao looked at the person standing by the door, and the complicated expression in her eyes flashed away. It took a while to come back to her senses. She took the doll with a smile and lowered her head, praised in a warm voice, and asked her daughter to do her homework.

The little girl obediently returned to the room.

There was silence everywhere, Qi Yan stood there quietly, staring at Lu Zhiqiao silently, the person in sight was covered by the soft shadow of the lamp, giving birth to a sense of nothingness, as if it was just a phantom, which would disappear at any time. She suddenly felt that there was a layer of fog that could not be dispersed between the two of them, and no one could see the other clearly.

Lu Zhiqiao was stared at apprehensively, clutching the doll tightly with her fingers. She stepped forward after a long time, and apologized: "Today cost you money." 

A while earlier, she received a WeChat message, but she was working overtime and did not look in time, and when she saw it was too late to politely refuse, she could only let Qi Yan take her daughter to play, she thought she owed her a favor again, and do not know how to pay back.

Qi Yan's eyes were as hot as fire, and she froze for a moment, then suddenly hugged her fiercely, and breathed hard the air that smelled of her perfume.

Lu Zhiqiao's body froze, but she didn't struggle, but slowly closed her eyes, "Would you like to come in and sit?"

Her voice was very soft, and it was rare for her to actively invite.

Qi Yan didn't answer, she tilted her head slightly to kiss her ear, but was blocked by her own hair, she ignored the obstruction, and kissed her through the fragrant and silky strands of hair, her thin lips gently grinding from the lobe of the ear to the chin, Then to the face, and finally to the corner of the mouth.

"Lu Zhiqiao..."

She called out to her, her voice so low it couldn't be lowered, almost humming out in a nasal voice.

Lu Zhiqiao's breathing was stagnant, her heart felt numb and itchy as if she had been scratched by fine fluff, and the pores all over her body were stretched out. This was the first time Qi Yan called her name, so she discovered the feeling of being called by her name is so special after experiencing it first hand.

At that time she failed to understand, especially not because of being called by name, but because of the person who called her name.

"Still working?" Qi Yan pecked the corner of her lips, but her eyes were on the coffee table.

Her feet seem to have a mind of their own, she quickly took off her shoes, and automatically put on the pair of slippers that have been placed beside the floor mat, and her arms are tightly wrapped around the other person's slender waist  like a sticky brown sugar, very strong with no plan to let go.

Lu Zhiqiao unknowingly tensed up, leaning against her bosom habitually, but couldn't even lift her eyelids, and replied in a low voice: "I was just about to wrap up."

Being led by Qi Yan to move to the side of the sofa, the crab doll in her hand was squeezed out, and a warm surge was suddenly felt in front of her. Her throat let out a muffled hum, her feet a little soft, and then she was flung down on the sofa .

"I...I'm going to pour you a cup of water, let go..."

Lu Zhiqiao's mind was buzzing, blood rushed to her ears, and she hurriedly found an excuse to break free, but before she could get up, Qi Yan grabbed her hands, pressed them down and kissed the tear mole, and looked at her tenderly  : "I don't want to drink water."

At this moment, the bedroom door opened, and Lu Wei came out with slippers:

"Mom, tomorrow I—"