We ordinary people also need to fall in love.

drop!drop!

Upon recognizing the approaching vehicle, the security guard immediately opened the gate to the residential compound, stood at attention, saluted, and respectfully greeted, "Mr. Xie, welcome home!"

At eight o'clock in the evening, the sky had already darkened, and the warm yellow lights shone on the three gilded characters of "Yuehu Bay", making it look luxurious.

Xie Zhiqiang parked the car smoothly in the underground private garage, got out of the car, went upstairs in one go, and casually threw his briefcase on the sofa after entering the house, looking somewhat tired.

He looked at Xu Ting, who was sitting on the sofa reading a book, and asked, "Where's Xiao Shu?"

"In the room." Xu Ting casually turned a page of the book, her tone flat and without any emotion.

Xie Zhiqiang frowned, his tone tinged with reproach: "How come your relationship with your child is so strained?"

"You, as a father, are busy at the company all day long, but I haven't seen you have a very good relationship with your child." Xu Ting rolled her eyes and retorted without any politeness.

Xie Zhiqiang was momentarily speechless. After a few seconds of silence, he paused, then changed the subject, asking, "Have you booked your plane tickets to Jiangnan?"

"We'll leave on the afternoon of the 19th and return on the morning of the 21st," Xu Ting replied casually, her gaze still fixed on her book.

"Little Book...would you like to go?"

"If we don't let her go, are we going to let her stay here and hang out with the boys at school?" Xu Ting retorted.

Xie Zhiqiang lowered his head and remained silent. This was the "open window effect." Rather than forcing Xie Shu to go to Jiangnan, he was more unwilling to accept that his daughter had been abducted by some unknown boy.

"For the past month, haven't you been picking up and dropping off Xiaoshu from school? What's the progress between her and that boy?" he pressed, a hint of urgency in his voice.

"have no idea."

"You don't know?" Xie Zhiqiang's voice rose a few decibels, barely concealing his urgency. "Didn't I tell you to pay more attention? Why aren't you taking it seriously? What will we do if our daughter gets emotionally deceived by some young man?"

"It doesn't matter, as long as Xiao Shu is willing to go abroad." Xu Ting suddenly put down her book, scoffed, and said, "Xie Zhiqiang, weren't you just a young boy back then?"

"That's different... That boy can't give Xiaoshu happiness."

Xu Ting sneered: "Weren't you and I both penniless back then?"

"We were science students back then, so we had a future. That boy was an arts student, and his family had no power or influence. At best, he could only become a teacher at some university," Xie Zhiqiang explained with a stern face.

"If you want to manage it, then manage it yourself! I'm only responsible for ensuring that Xiao Shu can go abroad smoothly!" Xu Ting was too lazy to argue with him anymore. She casually threw down her book, took off her gold-rimmed glasses, got up and went upstairs to her room, leaving Xie Zhiqiang alone in the empty living room.

The villa was eerily quiet, and a chill crept in, making Xie Zhiqiang feel a bit cold. He remained silent for a few minutes, then got up and sat in Xu Ting's seat, picking up the book she had just put down—an autobiography.

Successful people seem to like writing memoirs or autobiographies. When Xu Ting was pregnant, she had nothing to do, so she also had this idea. In the end, she spent tens of thousands of yuan to successfully publish her autobiography with a publishing house in Pingyang.

This book has been out for over a decade and has not been reprinted. Even the first edition has disappeared from the ever-changing market. Xu Ting kept a copy for herself, which is the one Xie Zhiqiang has.

He subconsciously followed the path Xu Ting had just taken and turned to one of the pages—"Remembering My High School Years".

His fingers gently traced the familiar names and past events in the book, finally stopping. He pondered in his heart that this matter should be handled gently, not hastily, and he should wait until he finished his work at the company...

"Look here, the objective questions in math were quite difficult this time, so you didn't get points on questions 11, 12, 15, and 16. Now let's look at the problem-solving questions..."

On Sunday, back at school, in the club activity room, Xie Shu was patiently analyzing the wrong questions for Li Mubai, who was holding his monthly math exam paper.

"Do you understand?" Xie Shu asked, looking up after finishing the last question.

"Understood." Li Mubai nodded.

"And there's the English answer sheet, let me see it," Xie Shu continued, speaking like a teacher.

Li Mubai took out his English answer sheet from his bag somewhat embarrassedly. His English score was a few points lower than last time. Did he really not have the talent to learn English?

Xie Shuzai carefully reviewed the answer sheet and slowly said, "You lost a lot of points on reading comprehension. Was it because you couldn't understand the main idea of ​​the passage?"

"That's one factor."

After listening, she pondered for a moment, took the English test paper in front of him, and turned to the first article: "I'll teach you some test-taking techniques. Of course, the best way is to be able to understand the article. Let's start with the first reading comprehension question."

Her voice was clear and melodious, like a gentle stream flowing slowly in the summer heat of mid-June.

Li Mubai couldn't help but glance at Xie Shu. She looked calm, with a faint blush on her cheeks and her hair hanging loosely over her shoulders.

"Don't look at me, look at the exam paper," Xie Shu whispered a reminder.

Li Mubai snapped out of his reverie and focused his attention on the exam paper. A soft chuckle came from Chen Qiuhe around him.

The house quieted down, with only the occasional sounds of students laughing and playing outside, and Xie Shu's voice. It wasn't cold or hot today; perhaps this kind of life, right up until the college entrance exam, wouldn't be bad...

"Xie Shu, Li Mubai, the final assignment for the school-based course is due this Thursday. Have you finished drawing it?"

Seeing that they had finished, Chen Qiuhe asked about the final assignment for the traditional Chinese painting class.

"It's finished," Li Mubai replied.

"What did you draw?" Chen Qiuhe asked curiously.

"Bamboo." He did want to paint Xie Shu, but given his poor painting skills, he decided not to "tarnish" it.

"Xie Shu, what are you drawing?" Li Mubai suddenly asked curiously.

Xie Shu was silent for a few seconds, then uttered two words softly: "Bamboo."

It's bamboo too... Is this what you call telepathy? I hope the teacher won't give Xie Shu a zero just because they saw his final assignment.

"No, did all three of you choose the traditional Chinese painting class?" Deng Yi belatedly realized.

"Yes!" Chen Qiuhe answered without thinking.

"I wish I had chosen traditional Chinese painting; calligraphy class is so boring," Deng Yi complained.

"Calligraphy is done with a brush, and so is traditional Chinese painting. You might find traditional Chinese painting boring too," Chen Qiuhe said with a smile.

"It's different. At least you guys are here for the traditional Chinese painting class, but I'm all alone for the calligraphy class."

"That's true." Chen Qiuhe thought for a moment and nodded in agreement. "But there's nothing we can do now. Besides, the school-based curriculum will be over soon, so don't worry about it!"

Xie Shu looked at them and suddenly said, "I need to ask for leave tomorrow afternoon and won't be back until Wednesday."

"What?!" Chen Qiuhe stood up excitedly.

"Are you taking leave? Is something wrong at home?" Li Mubai guessed.

"Hmm." Xie Shu didn't say anything more, just nodded slightly.

It's nothing, it's just that I'm taking a few days off, not that I'm never coming back. I don't know why Chen Qiuhe is so agitated.

He looked up at Chen Qiuhe, who had already sat down.

"Then Xie Shu, you weren't here all day Tuesday?"

"Um……"

Tuesday? What for? Li Mubai was completely confused.