Chapter 1589: Chapter 1589: I’m Chasing You, Can’t You Feel It? (8)
“It’s not hardship, it’s happiness,” Xiao Mo corrected, looking serious.
“You’re so pretentious,” Xia Chuqing laughed, “Anyway, tonight, I’ve really changed a lot of my impressions of you. I realize now, I didn’t understand you at all before.”
To not understand someone and blindly like them.
But to like someone, why do you need to understand anything? She likes him without any need for attachments.
“Changed your impression? Did it change for the better or worse?” Xiao Mo was quite interested.
“Hmm… You seem more well-rounded,” Xia Chuqing laughed.
For example, she had heard that as a child he didn’t like studying, which was the most shocking to her.
“Oh, well-rounded…” Xiao Mo chewed on the words with deeper meaning.
“Not in the way you’re thinking!” Xia Chuqing slapped down his mischievous grin, knowing that men often weren’t serious.
“What do you think I’m thinking? How can you know what I’m thinking? Since when did we become so in sync?” Xiao Mo laughed even harder.
Forget it, Xia Chuqing was never a match for him in verbal sparring.
Neither of them felt sleepy, so they chatted casually for a while.
Xia Chuqing told Xiao Mo a lot about her family. Her parents had always spoiled her, so when her father’s incident happened, she took a long time to recover.
“Don’t be sad, I’ll spoil you in the future too,” Xiao Mo said.
“…” Xia Chuqing didn’t know how to respond; she wanted to ask, Xiao Mo, are you really serious?
Maybe still lacking confidence in herself, as the words reached her lips, she swallowed them back.
The sky gradually brightened, and they had walked together like this for a while.
Morning fog appeared; a blanket of white mist. Xiao Mo drove to a dim sum restaurant and took Xia Chuqing for breakfast.
“Mr. Xiao…”
“Don’t call me Mr. Xiao,” Xiao Mo said, slightly annoyed.
“Oh, Xiao Mo, look at that church—it’s a really old one here. I often heard the old folks say it’s haunted; I even went in with some friends when I was little,” Xia Chuqing said excitedly while eating breakfast.
Xiao Mo glanced at the church and, quite interested, asked, “And then? Were you scared to tears?”
“We went in at night, and the church didn’t scare me as much as Heng Ge did. That rascal always messes with me.”
Recalling the past, Xia Chuqing smiled happily, her eyes twinkling with excitement.
“If I were by your side, I wouldn’t let him scare you,” Xiao Mo said.
“I was in elementary school then, I didn’t know you.”
“When you were in elementary school, I was probably already in college,” Xiao Mo laughed as well.
He had probably never thought back then that his future girlfriend was still in elementary school.
Xia Chuqing also laughed. Indeed, time is a magical thing.
The morning in A City was clouded with mist, the sunlight breaking through clouds, illuminating the awakening earth.
On the morning of the first day of the new year, everything was peaceful and joyous.
“I really like A City, it’s different from C City; the pace here is much slower,” Xia Chuqing said, biting into a crab roe bun.
“Yeah, it’s definitely different.”
Accustomed to the fast pace of life in C City, Xiao Mo felt that time slowed down here.
“I haven’t been back in almost three years, I wonder if my family still recognizes me,” Xia Chuqing said anxiously.
Right now, she felt a sense of apprehension at returning to her hometown.
“You haven’t become prettier, so how wouldn’t they recognize you?” Xiao Mo laughed.
“I knew you wouldn’t say anything nice!” Xia Chuqing snorted, “I’m not afraid my family won’t recognize me, I’m afraid of what the neighbors will say…”
“Can’t you just pretend not to hear? Why care about others’ opinions? No matter what, you still have me,” Xiao Mo declared sternly.
His serious demeanor reminded her of Mr. Xiao in the office, reprimanding his subordinates.
Xia Chuqing laughed and handed him a piece of cake: “Try this, it’s a local specialty, it’s delicious.”
Although Xiao Mo didn’t particularly like sweets, since Xia Chuqing gave it to him, he accepted it.
“It’s got dates and peanuts, are you implying you want me to have many children soon?” Xiao Mo raised an eyebrow.
Xia Chuqing looked at him; this man was imaginative indeed.
“Even if I wanted you to, you couldn’t do it,” Xia Chuqing joked back for once.
“Without me, you couldn’t do it either.”
When this man joked, he didn’t seem to joke at all. He said it seriously, despite it clearly being a jest.
Xia Chuqing blushed, joking like this early in the morning.
She lowered her head, pretending not to hear, and took a sip of Bi Luo Chun tea.
“Well, isn’t this Miss Xia? How come you’re back? I heard you haven’t been back in three years,” an aunt twisted her hips as she walked over.
The aunt wore festive clothes and had applied sweet-scented osmanthus oil to her hair, smiling broadly.
Since Xia Chuqing and Xiao Mo arrived early, the dim sum shop wasn’t busy yet. As the aunt spoke up, everyone looked over at Xia Chuqing’s table.
Although A City is big, the dim sum place is close to her home, so many people recognized Xia Chuqing.
People began whispering, and Xia Chuqing caught a few phrases: “That’s Mayor Xia’s only daughter.”
“Which Mayor Xia?”
“The one who got arrested for corruption a couple of years ago.”
“That one, huh? I only found out recently.”
“Yeah, me too. They kept that news well-hidden.”
“Happy New Year, Aunt Zhou,” Xia Chuqing smiled slightly and greeted politely.
Xiao Mo frowned; given the Xia Family’s status, he was surprised Xia Chuqing knew these aunts.
“Happy, happy.” Aunt Zhou walked over and sat down at their table, “Having some dim sum? I remember you loved these crab roe buns the best. Your father loved the shrimp-filled ones; he was quite extravagant back then, flying them in during winter when fresh shrimp wasn’t available.”
Xia Chuqing’s face flushed with embarrassment: “That’s all in the past.”
“Tsk tsk, we ordinary folks could only watch back then,” Aunt Zhou said, “You wouldn’t know how envious we were.”
Even though Aunt Zhou said so, there was a sourness and scorn in her voice.
“My father did like them, but he never flew them in, that’s just a rumor,” Xia Chuqing didn’t want to explain, “My father wasn’t that particular. He liked it no matter if it’s fresh shrimp or not; it was more about who he was eating with.”
“Miss Xia speaks with such sharpness, educated people are just different,” Aunt Zhou clicked her tongue, “Of course, eating with us would devalue it.”
As she spoke, Aunt Zhou took one of the buns from the table and began eating it herself.
“Miss Xia’s morning tea is still as lavish as ever.” Aunt Zhou glanced at the table, “All sorts of things, even better than before. A lady of distinction is indeed different.”