Rebirth of the Rich Second Generation's Growth Diary

Chapter 177 Sharing a Room (Part 2)

As Li Xu brushed his teeth, he recalled the things he had confessed to Tang Qiaoning's mother the night before. Unconsciously, more and more white foam accumulated in his mouth and dripped onto the disposable pajamas provided by the hot spring resort.

Li Xu looked at the conspicuous drop of white foam on the surface with a sigh of exasperation, wiped it off with his hand, and then rinsed his hand under the tap.

……

Overall, things went smoothly.

Tang Qiaoning inexplicably wanted to recite French poetry to him, and he didn't want to offend her.

To be honest, although he achieved good results in learning English in high school, it took a lot of effort and time. Li Xu no longer had high expectations for learning languages, and he was even less interested in French.

But let Tang Qiaoning read it if she wants to.

I was mentally prepared to lull her to sleep in a chanting-like setting, but to my surprise, Tang Qiaoning ended up falling asleep herself after chanting a few lines.

Li Xu was speechless at the sight. Tang Qiaoning was lying on the table, drooling all over the floor.

Li Xu felt that this couldn't go on, and he had to find a way to get her to sleep.

However, Li Xu wasn't very sleepy at the time, and he happened to have a copy of "Instructor's Quotations" on hand. The hot spring management office had the air conditioning on, and the temperature was just right, so he wasn't worried that Tang Qiaoning would catch a cold.

Li Xu then quietly began reading a book next to Tang Qiaoning.

About half an hour later, Li Xu was engrossed in watching when Tang Qiaoning's mother, Shu Xiaohui, found him.

Seeing the harmonious scene between Li Xu and Tang Qiaoning, Shu Xiaohui's face showed a genuinely happy expression.

She walked gently to Li Xu and calmly looked at her daughter's boyfriend. She sensed a calm and gentle demeanor on Li Xu's face; often, one's impression of a person can be formed in just a short time.

Shu Xiaohui explained with a smile, "I was a little thirsty in the room just now, so I came out to get some drinks. Aren't you guys going to sleep yet?"

Li Xu chuckled and pointed to Tang Qiaoning, who was fast asleep on the table, saying, "Qiaoning dragged me to read French poems to her, and she fell asleep while reading them."

Upon hearing this, Shu Xiaohui was taken aback for a moment, then gently covered her lips and chuckled softly.

Then, she looked at her daughter and sighed softly, saying, "My daughter may not have inherited 100% of my looks, but she has definitely inherited more than enough in terms of being funny."

She reached out and gently stroked Tang Qiaoning's hair, then looked at Li Xu earnestly and said, "I don't expect the two of you to be together forever, but I hope you can bring my daughter a happy memory."

Li Xu's eyes flickered at those words. To be honest, he was somewhat surprised. Shu Xiaohui's views... well, as a bystander, Li Xu could respect them, but...

He paused for a moment, then looked at Shu Xiaohui with a level gaze, and said seriously, "Auntie, if it's convenient for you right now, can we go over there and talk?"

Shu Xiaohui paused for a moment, then nodded slightly.

The two walked to a coffee table a short distance away and sat facing each other on the sofa. Li Xu hesitated for a moment, then his words were astounding: "Actually, I'm not Tang Qiaoning's boyfriend."

Shu Xiaohui's eyes widened in surprise. She blinked, then subconsciously unscrewed the bottle in her hand, picked up the Perrier she had just taken, and put it down again as soon as it touched her lips.

The surprise in her eyes had vanished, replaced by a mixture of doubt and relief. She sighed softly, then smiled and said, "I was right. It is indeed a bit difficult for Qiao Ning to find a top student from Tsinghua or Peking University."

Li Xu shook his head: "Given Qiao Ning's conditions, if she were willing, there would be too many talented young men from Tsinghua and Peking Universities lining up to pursue her."

Shu Xiaohui remained silent for a moment, but even at this point, she still showed no sign of anger.

At this moment, Li Xu was somewhat impressed by Shu Xiaohui's emotional stability.

Shu Xiaohui picked up the glass bottle, took a sip of water, and then asked, "Why is that? What's your relationship with her?"

Li Xu paused for a moment and said, "Let me answer your second question first. To be honest, my relationship with Qiao Ning is quite complicated. My father and her father are important business partners and friends. I was the first friend she made after returning to China, and we were also high school classmates. And then, there's another identity..." Li Xu raised his head, "...I am her boss."

Shu Xiaohui paused for a moment, her fingers gently stroking the emerald green Perrier bottle. "So, in what capacity are you talking to me now?"

Li Xu said, "Boss."

Shu Xiaohui couldn't help but laugh, her expression somewhat strange: "Why this identity?"

Li Xu said earnestly, "All the other identities make me your junior, but this identity is better."

Shu Xiaohui was also an extremely intelligent person. Her eyes flickered slightly, but she still smiled and asked, "So you mean to look me in the eye as much as possible, is that what you mean?" Shu Xiaohui lowered her head: "Are you planning to criticize me?"

Li Xu shook his head: "No, and I've never liked lecturing. Also, my position is not really suitable for doing this. I'm just speaking from the perspective of Tang Qiaoning's good friend, and from the perspective of her boss, to seriously analyze this matter with you. Oh, it's about you taking your boyfriend to her father to get a divorce."

Shu Xiaohui did not refute, but simply nodded.

Li Xu then smiled and said, "Auntie, I'm so glad you're someone who's willing to listen to others."

Shu Xiaohui nodded gently: "Thank you."

Li Xu lowered his head, gathered his thoughts, and slowly spoke, his first words being: "Auntie, Qiao Ning... to be honest, doesn't look much like you!"

Shu Xiaohui remained silent.

Li Xu said, "The first time I played with her was in high school, when I took her to go karting. When the red go-kart crashed into the buffer zone, Tang Qiaoning's seatbelt was still fastened tightly. I helped her take off her helmet and found two puffs of water vapor in her goggles. She was so scared that she cried, haha. Later, she would still be scared and cry several times, but she insisted on extending her eight-minute trial ticket to a full-trip pass."

"Later, when I was starting my own business, I had a project that required me to connect with banks. She solemnly pinned a preserved hydrangea to her pocket."

Upon hearing this, Shu Xiaohui couldn't help but chuckle.

Li Xu then recounted some stories about Tang Qiaoning from the time they started their business.

Li Xu said, "Her progress is astonishing. She single-handedly negotiated all the bank cooperation deals. Once, she couldn't get a taxi, so I went to pick her up. She was squatting in the back alley of the bank feeding stray cats. On the day she signed the contract, it was drizzling. She skipped and hopped towards me, holding a folder. The brown paper bag had a cartoon Pixiu wearing a bow tie drawn on it, and there was a tea bag label stuck to the dragon horn that she had somehow gotten from the tea room."

"These scenes left a deep impression on me. She was an innocent, kind, and lively girl."

Shu Xiaohui listened silently until the end, then interjected appropriately, "How is she unlike me?"

Li Xu paused for a moment before saying, "Qiao Ning is standing at a crossroads in your life, observing you."

"And her views on love are unlike yours."

“Back in high school, I tutored her a few times. When she was doing math problems, she would hesitate for a long time when choosing multiple-choice questions, but she would be unusually firm after making her choice. I asked her if she would change it, and she always said that she would never change it, even if… some of the questions were ridiculously wrong.”

These words stunned Shu Xiaohui for a moment.

"If you turn away from a 20-year commitment, she will turn all the difficult questions on her life's answer sheet into multiple-choice questions."

This statement then became somewhat sharp.

This caused Shu Xiaohui to fall silent for a long time, and the atmosphere became somewhat oppressive.

After a moment, Shu Xiaohui remained gentle, but asked in return, "Why can we only choose once?"

There was a checkers board on the table, marbles scattered across it. Li Xu carefully placed the marbles back into the box one by one. "Auntie thinks that knowing she has many chances to choose makes her first choice more resolute and cautious..." Li Xu looked up. "Is that so?" Shu Xiaohui silently looked down at the bottle of Perrier in her hand, gently shaking her head. "Probably not, but I only made a second choice after making the wrong one the first time. I... didn't presuppose anything to myself..."

Li Xu interrupted Shu Xiaohui and said, "But next time... Qiao Ning will make a pre-planned decision."

By this time, Li Xu had put all the marbles back in. He closed the chess box, looked up and smiled, "I'm sorry, Auntie, please don't tell Qiao Ning what I confessed to you today."

Shu Xiaohui remained silent for a while before nodding gently.

Li Xu then said, "It's late, let's go and rest."

Then Li Xu stood up and walked towards Tang Qiaoning, who was fast asleep. Shu Xiaohui hesitated for a moment and followed, looking at Tang Qiaoning, who was sleeping soundly.

Li Xu sighed slightly, feeling a bit of a headache. He was wondering how to get her back. After all, he had already revealed his identity to Shu Xiaohui, so it wasn't convenient for him to make any physical contact.

Just when things were getting difficult, Shu Xiaohui said, "I'll have to trouble you to carry Qiao Ning back to her room. I probably can't carry her anymore." Shu Xiaohui lowered her head and carefully looked at her daughter, saying, "This child is already taller than me."

Having received the imperial decree, Li Xu carefully picked up Tang Qiaoning. The girl was still fast asleep; she hadn't woken up despite all the commotion. Instead, she wrapped her arms around Li Xu's neck.

The girl's body was very supple, and her body temperature was very warm.

Li Xu put Tang Qiaoning on the bed in the guest room and was about to leave when Shu Xiaohui stood at the door and said to him, "You can sleep in here tonight too, since it's a standard room with two beds."

Li Xu blinked and hesitated for a moment: "Isn't this a bit inconvenient?"

Shu Xiaohui suddenly gave her a meaningful look and said, "You could have woken Qiao Ning up just now."

Li Xu was stunned for a moment.

Then Shu Xiaohui chuckled softly, slowly left the room, and stood outside the door, saying, "Child, I trust your character. Besides, didn't you say you didn't want Qiao Ning to know you were being honest with me? If I hadn't seen the two of you in the guest room, wouldn't I have been suspicious?"

After saying this, Shu Xiaohui closed the door and left.

Li Xu snorted heavily, "Good heavens, is this how a mother should act? Since you don't care about your daughter's innocence, then... I don't care either!" He glared fiercely at Tang Qiaoning, who was sleeping in a rather domineering posture.

Then he went over, pulled back the covers on his bed, jumped on, closed his eyes, and went to sleep.

……

Li Xu had finished washing up and saw that Tang Qiaoning was still sleeping. He sighed slightly and muttered to himself, "She really can sleep. She slept for so long last night and even talked in her sleep. It's this late and she still hasn't woken up."

Tang Qiaoning suddenly threw off the blanket, glared at Li Xu and said, "Who said I was still sleeping?"

Li Xu blinked and said slowly, "So you're already awake."

Tang Qiaoning lowered her head and remained silent for a long time before suddenly staring at Li Xu and asking, "You didn't do anything to me yesterday, did you?"

Li Xu blinked, his expression turning somewhat strange. He slowly walked over and sat down next to Tang Qiaoning, then breathed on his fingers.

Before Tang Qiaoning could react, Li Xu flicked her forehead.

Tang Qiaoning winced in pain and said angrily, "What are you doing?"

Li Xu asked slowly, "Does it hurt?"

Tang Qiaoning stared wide-eyed and said, "Of course it hurts!"

Li Xu said, "If I flick you like this while you're sleeping at night, will you wake up?"

Tang Qiaoning paused for a moment, then blinked: "I...I guess so."

Li Xu then said irritably, "So if I had done something to you yesterday, would you have slept like a log?"

Tang Qiaoning paused for a moment, then thought about it and it seemed to make sense. But she lowered her head and thought about it seriously for a while, then raised her head again and asked earnestly, "But, but what if you are very gentle?"

Li Xu rolled his eyes.

……

After the four of them had breakfast at the hot spring resort, it was time to leave.

At Li Xu's suggestion, Tang Qiaoning agreed to take her mother to visit the Capital University of Foreign Studies today. The university was indeed beautiful, but Tang Qiaoning, just like yesterday, was reluctant to interact with Gao Lei.

Li Xu and Tang Qiaoning walked ahead, while Gao Lei and Shu Xiaohui followed behind.

Not long after they started walking, Tang Qiaoning suddenly took Li Xu's arm. Li Xu was taken aback for a moment, and then he heard Tang Qiaoning say in a serious voice, "Don't talk, lest my mother become suspicious."

Li Xu blinked, coughed lightly, and remained silent.

Shu Xiaohui, watching from behind, found the scene amusing, her eyes flickering slightly.

The group spent a long time wandering around the Capital University of Foreign Studies. Because of the entrepreneurship competition, the university had become a client for the smart campus solution, and Tang Qiaoning, a team member, excitedly introduced the project's achievements to Shu Xiaohui. Holding up a campus card, she said, "This campus card can do so many things in the future, and we also have… blah blah blah, you know, even America doesn't have such advanced technology."

Even Shu Xiaohui couldn't help but exclaim in amazement. Then, she looked at Li Xu with a skeptical and surprised gaze and asked softly, "Did you really make this?" Li Xu just smiled and said, "Qiao Ning is also part of the team."

Although Capital University of Foreign Languages ​​wasn't that large, it was Tang Qiaoning's alma mater, so Shu Xiaohui explored it very thoroughly, spending more time there. After just visiting one university, it was already afternoon, and since Shu Xiaohui had to catch a flight to Jinchuan City, Li Xu drove them there.

In the car, Tang Qiaoning whispered to Li Xu, "I really don't want Gao Lei to get on too."

Before entering the terminal, Shu Xiaohui suddenly pulled Tang Qiaoning aside, and then said to Li Xu and Gao Lei, "I want to have a few words with my daughter alone."

The mother and daughter walked to a quiet corner and exchanged only a few words. Li Xu then saw them hug tightly. When the mother and daughter returned, Tang Qiaoning's nose was red again, and she looked like she was about to cry.

Shu Xiaohui said with a smile, "You're such a grown-up now, don't cry all the time."

Then Shu Xiaohui and Gao Lei slowly went inside.

Li Xu then patted Tang Qiaoning on the shoulder, who was still in a daze, and said, "Alright, let's go back too."

Just then, Tang Qiaoning suddenly looked at Li Xu and said, "Do you know what my mother told me?"

Li Xu blinked and shook his head: "Of course I don't know."

Tang Qiaoning lowered her head and said, "My mother suddenly told me that she still wants to do this, but she hopes... I won't follow her example. That's wrong. I should stick to what I believe is right."

Li Xu's eyes flickered, and he nodded, saying, "That's good."

Tang Qiaoning kept her head down and said, "She also said something to me."

Li Xu smiled and said, "Oh, what is it?"

Tang Qiaoning suddenly looked up and laughed: "No, I can't tell you, hee hee."

(End of this chapter)