novelraw Chapter 254 - 242: Lying and Deceiving
Chapter 254 - 242: Lying and Deceiving
"I’m exhausted too, the smell is suffocating me." Right now, Qian just wants to get home and take a shower.
The two of them feebly waved goodbye and got into their respective cars.
Qian opened the car door and saw it wasn’t the driver; it was her older brother who came personally.
"Big brother, why are you still up so late? Just get a driver to pick me up."
"You little rascal have been causing trouble outside. If I don’t escort you properly, the youngest will come back and demolish my house—Qian, are you waiting tables or slaughtering sheep?" Big brother wrinkled his nose, picked up the car freshener, and sprayed Qian again and again.
"Still serving you wicked capitalists, it’s not easy for us common folk."
"I won’t take this job, don’t stress yourself out like this. When the youngest comes home and finds out I dumped you here, he’ll definitely wreck my house."
"I never leave a task unfinished once I start."
"Do you really have to do it this way? What’s your plan?"
"I must do it this way. She needs to learn that every penny is hard-earned, to reshape her worldview, and to begin understanding her father better, giving him more opportunities to pay attention to her. Of course, I don’t actually have to be involved—I could just direct her to do it herself."
"Then let her wait tables, without you tagging along."
Qian suddenly chuckled, playfully sizing up her brother.
"Big brother, are you scared to be caught by my sister-in-law? Did she ask where you went?"
Yu Mingli coughed twice, "Nonsense, we’ve been together for so many years. Your sister-in-law trusts me the most."
After dropping Qian off at home, Yu Mingli handed the phone to Qian, who raised an eyebrow.
"Call your sister-in-law to assure her, otherwise she won’t be at ease."
"Pft!"
The billionaire real estate mogul’s fear of his wife was amusing and helped alleviate Qian’s fatigue from a day of work.
Jia Xiufang waited until late at night, her eyelids sticking together, holding a remote, staring at the TV with her head nodding. Hearing the door open, she perked up instantly.
"Qian’er, you’re back!" Her daughter had called saying she’d be working until late; Jia Xiufang wasn’t at ease and waited until now.
"Hmm, has the water boiled yet? I need a shower."
Jia Xiufang took Qian’s thick coat and suddenly sniffed, yelled angrily.
"Chen Xiaoqian, you dead girl, didn’t you say you were working at a barbecue restaurant? Why do you smell of perfume? Tell me honestly where did you go, did you go to some crazy lavish place to work?"
Qian was speechless.
Yu Mingli’s two sprays on her successfully misled her mom.
"Mom, calm down, I didn’t go to those places."
"Where’d you get all this perfume if you didn’t go? From the moment you said you’d work till late, I’ve been uneasy, I’m telling you, if you dare go astray, I’ll break your legs. We’re not wealthy, but if you dare do such disgraceful things, I’ll, I’ll—"
Qian reached out to cover her mouth, it’s late, why are you getting so worked up!
"What smell..."
"Lamb smell, washed multiple times but can’t get rid of it. I told you I was skewering lamb, you didn’t believe, who wears my kind of thick coat to those places, they all wear miniskirts at Night Shanghai."
"Stop joking around! Am I supposed to know if you’re pulling a fast one or not? Who just sent you back?"
"Minglang’s big brother, Yu Mingli."
"Call him, let me talk to him." Jia Xiufang was worried her daughter would go astray, insisted on confirming.
Qian had no choice but to dial back to Yu Mingli.
"Big brother, it’s Qian, my mother wants to speak to you..."
Qian swore she clearly heard the unscrupulous businessman laughing openly, seemingly gloating a bit, getting back at her for teasing him about his submissiveness to his wife.
What goes around comes around.
Once Jia Xiufang was reassured after the call, she started lecturing Qian.
"What’s with all the fuss, why work? If you want to make money, stay home, I’ll pay you to wash clothes. Go take a shower, I’ll heat up your meal, honestly, always acting on whim, my girl doing this kind of service work..."
"Mom, no job is beneath dignity; the more labor-intensive it is, the more it builds character. You see, Shuixian never likes to eat much, yet today she had half a bowl."
Jia Xiufang pushed Qian into the bathroom, "Other kids eat half a bowl, my child looks like a skinny monkey, still smelling like lamb. Chen Xiaoqian, don’t come out until you’re clean."
While Qian was scrubbing herself, Teng Shuixian also returned to the hotel, weary.
Standing in front of the door, she paused.
Ever since her father started doing business, she’s seen less and less of him, many times he came home only after she fell asleep.
Two thirty in the morning, it must have become routine for her father.
Her arms were now too tired to lift, she realized working late felt like this.
She hadn’t contacted Teng Daye all day, didn’t even know if he’d returned. After she soaked in the hotel tub, used half a bottle of body wash to finally rid herself of the lamb smell, changed into her pajamas, she was originally very sleepy but pushed herself to open the door, wanting to see if Teng Daye had come back to the adjacent room.
Teng Daye had just gotten off the plane, and was walking over, saw his daughter’s head poking out just in time.
Teng Shuixian shut the door, but her father’s weary face is etched in her memory, realizing that is the look of a father coming home at dawn.
The phone rang, she went over to grab it, saw it was sent by Qian.
Your view of the world isn’t complete, there are always many things happening where you can’t see them. Here’s your bowl of motivational soup, drink up.
So fitting, Teng Shuixian replied with a sentence, hurriedly set the phone down, and ran to the door. When she opened it, Teng Daye’s hand was awkwardly suspended in the air, about to knock.
"Shuixian, want to have a midnight snack together?"
"Sure."
"Was working tough, did you gain any insights?"
"...My insight is, I think their lamb is probably fake, the smell is overpowering, could it be mixed with essence? Dad, don’t eat skewers in the future."
"Haha, okay, I’ll listen to my girl, let’s go, dad will take you for congee." Teng Daye laughed heartily.
Soaking in the bathtub, Qian grabbed her phone, reading Teng Shuixian’s message, just a simple line: Tomorrow the battle continues.
Qian placed her phone on the soap tray, grabbed the milk she’d sneaked in, and poured the whole bottle into the tub for a milk bath to relieve fatigue for the next day.
Who knows what Xiaoqiang is busy with at this moment, Qian feels she’s quite split herself.
While she’s guiding Teng Shuixian, she speaks so clearly about believing in perspectives of the world, yet she’s lied to her own patient.