An Impossible to Reject Confession

“Mom, help me find out more.” Xu Youyou moved to Madam Ji’s side, her eyes shifting to the window.

“Why do you like gossip so much?”

“How is this gossip? This is caring for my classmate. When I first transferred here, Qiao Mu was my first friend. I also hope to go to his house to get free food.” Xu Youyou said.

Although Ji Leyao said she didn’t want her daughter to gossip, she still took a plate of fruit over. The past few weeks when Xu Youyou went to school, she recovered from her cold illness very fast and Qiao Mu must have played a big part. 

Xu Youyou hurried to follow, pretending to rearrange the order shelf as she listened.

“Senior Brother, were those two your students?” Ji Leyao and Teacher Wang were students at the same high school. 

“Thank you” Teacher Wang received the plate and nodded his head, “Yes, they both are.”

“One of them is Youyou’s classmate, named Qiao Mu. I remember that Hongluo Middle-High School only takes in local people from Hongluo Town. Whose family is he from?” Qiao Mu and Xu Youyou were the same age, so Ji Leyao may know his parents.

“He is Yinghua’s child.” Teacher Wang said.

“Senior Sister Lu?” Ji Leyao was shocked. “I thought she got married and went to City B. How come Qiao Mu goes to school in Hongluo Town.”

“She got divorced and later remarried. She left her child with Teacher Chen.” Qiao Mu’s grandmother’s surname is Chen, and before retirement was an elementary school art teacher. 

“Qiao Mu is Teacher Chen’s grandson?” Ji Leyao was surprised and said, “But they are both your students, why didn’t they go to the training center to play instead of coming here?”

“Because he doesn’t want me to know he still plays.” Teacher Wang sighed again.

“What is there to hide about playing Weiqi?” Ji Leyao asked curiously. 

“It is probably because he’s afraid I’d ask him to continue playing.” Teacher Wang let out another sign, “Qiao Mu is incredibly talented, his ability far surpassed those of his classmates. At ten years old, he had achieved Chongduan. Six year ago, I shouldn’t have let him attend the ranking competition.”

Teacher Wang’s tone was full of regret. 

“He lost? If he lost, he could just try again. I remember you had to attend twice before you passed, right?” Ji Leyao asked. 

“Qiao Mu had the skills, but at the time he was still just a ten year old child. His psychological state wasn’t mature enough and there was a lot of pressure. In the end……
Teacher Wang closed his eyes and sighed once more, “In the end, it’s all my fault.”

Ji Leyao saw Teacher Wang’s pain and didn’t dare ask any further. She comforted him with a few sentences. 

“But perhaps there is still hope. In his heart he likes Weiqi.” Teacher Wang looked at the chess board and said with delight, “As long as he still likes it there is still hope.”

Because of a single failure at a rank competition, he had given up on Weiqi? Xu Youyou did not believe it. With her understanding of Qiao Mu, Qiao Mu wasn’t the type of person who was that weak. 

But Xu Youyou did not go immediately to ask Qiao Mu because with their current relationship, asking about this situation without having a connection would result in an adverse reaction. Besides respecting another’s choice is another basic respect. Even if the current Qiao Mu is only a sixteen year old youth. It was like what Teacher Wang, as long as he still liked it, Qiao Mu would not give it up. 

Perhaps it was because of Xu Youyou’s attitude, Qiao Mu was able to relaxed in front of her. Afterwards, Xu Youyou sometimes could see Qiao Mu burying his head drawing chess plays during their self study period. 

Today, Xu Youyou had just returned from the cafeteria and a bunch of girls in the class suddenly surrounded her. 

“You want me to help you take a picture?” Xu Youyou asked. 

“Yes, we saw your photo that you posted in WeChat Moments. Your photo of the ancient town looked even better than the one on the ancient town’s publicity website.” The group of girls were led by a girl named Shen Lili. 

Xu Youyou suddenly understood, the first day she received her camera she had taken pictures of the ancient town’s scenery and had randomly posted it to WeChat Moments: “But I haven’t really taken photos of people.”

“But it will at least be better than us.” 

“How do you want me to take the photo? If it is too troublesome, I won’t do it.” It was the first time her classmates asked her for help, if she directly rejected them it would be clear they weren’t friends, but she also didn’t want to tire herself out.

“It isn’t troublesome. In two days is the Mid-Autumn Festival and there is an event in the ancient town. We bought a couple Hanfus and planned to wear them in the ancient town as we have fun. During that time, you can bring your camera and take a few photos for us. It’s very simple.” 

“Yes, and we will post it on Weibo. Lili’s Weibo has over ten thousand fans. Doesn’t your family own a pottery studio in the ancient town? We can take a few photos at your shop, and help publicize it.” Another girl said. 

“That’s no problem.” Shen Lili immediately showed her cooperation. 

She didn’t expect that nowadays, high school students had a business mind. And over ten thousand followers was more than the followers she had on Facebook in her previous life. 

“Okay. But I will help you guys for two hours at most. So you guys should find a location beforehand.” When Madam Ji divorced, she received a lot of Xu Youyou’s scumbag father’s money. Now her networth was pretty high, but if the pottery studio had good business, it would probably also make her happy. 

In a blink of an eye it was the Mid-Autumn Festival. Today there were a lot more tourists at the ancient town. Xu Youyou woke up at 10:00 and in the afternoon helped Madam Ji with the customers. 

“Youyou, send this box of mooncakes to Qiao Mu’s family.” Around 4:00, Madam Ji gave her daughter a box of mooncakes. “Hurry back after you send them. Today is the Mid-Autumn festival, do not stay over for free food.” 

“Oh.” Xu Youyou nodded and took the mooncakes, preparing to leave.

“While you are there, help me ask Teacher Chen if she considered my proposal. “

“What proposal?”

“A design.” Madam Ji said, “Didn’t you take a set of plates to Qiao Mu before? The next day, Teacher Chen came and asked me if she could make her own sketch. I saw that Teacher Chen looked quite happy when she was drawing and I coincidently have been so busy, so I thought about having her come and help.” 

“Okay.” Xu Youyou thought that Madam Ji’s idea wasn’t bad, if Grandmother Qiao had something to do, perhaps she would get better. 

During this period of time, she became familiar and Xu Youyou was now completely familiar with the alleyways of Hongluo town. Carrying the gift box ten minutes, she arrived at Qiao Mu’s house. At the entrance was a black car, according to the license plate it must have been from another city.  

A guest arrived?

Xu Youyou quickly walked in and found the door to the yard was open. As soon as she stepped in she could hear the sound of something shattering from inside. 

“Leave.”

It was Grandmother Qiao’s voice, besides the time at the training center when she was triggered, Xu Youyou had never seen Grandmother Qiao lose control of herself like this. 

“Mom, I’m doing this for Qiao Mu.” A young woman’s voice carried through from inside. 

“Qiao Mu has become like this and it still isn’t enough? You still want to insult him?” Grandmother Qiao angrily said. 

“It’s not that I’m making Qiao Mu play Weiqi, I just want him to take back what’s his.” 

“What’s his? The little money that Qiao Dongyuan has? Lu Yinghua, you’ve been divorced for many years now. You are still concerned about your ex-husband’s money. Since you couldn’t get it, you are having your son get it. You clearly know that now Qiao Mu cannot touch anything related to Weiqi. Must you kill Qiao Mu before you are satisfied?”

“Mom, I gave birth to Qiao Mu. How could I harm him? Qiao Dongyuan is his father. Qiao Mu has a share of Yuanfang Chess Hall.” Lu Yinghua said, “I just hope he has financial security in the future.” 

“Leave and don’t come back. Leave.” As the words were said, another round of the sound of shattering pottery was heard. 

After a while, an exquisitely dressed beautiful woman came out and Xu Youyou bushed passed the woman without saying anything. 

Xu Youyou saw that the woman ignored her and she let out a sigh of relief. As soon as she arrived she was met with a hostile environment. She felt very awkward. Xu Youyou originally wanted to retreat and go in later, but after Lu Yinghua left she did not drive away but continued to stand at the entrance of house. Xu Youyou was caught between a rock and a hard place. Finally she hugged the mooncakes and went in. To be honest, she was also a bit worried about Grandmother Qiao. 

Xu Youyou entered the main house, Grandmother Qiao was seated and covered her chest. She was clearly angry. When Xu Youyou entered, Grandmother Qiao had thought her daughter had returned until she clearly saw it was Xu Youyou. The color of her face cleared a bit: “Youyou, it’s you. Why are you here? Be careful, earlier I wasn’t careful and broke a few glasses. Don’t step on them.” 

Xu Youyou pretended she didn’t hear the argument and laughed as she said: “My mom had me send some mooncakes over and wanted me to ask you if you finished considering her proposal.” 

“You can return and tell your mom that I retired and don’t have anything to do, if she likes my drawings I’d be happy to help of course.” Grandmother Qiao smiled as she received the mooncakes, “I also made a few Mid-Autumn Festival snacks. Later I’ll have Qiao Mu send them over.” 

“Okay.” While Grandmother Qiao turned around to place down the mooncakes, Xu Youyou took the opportunity to grab a small broom from the yard to help sweep up the broken glass. 

Grandmother Qiao saw her but didn’t stop her. She smiled and said: “Youyou, tonight the ancient town is having a lantern festival, will you go watch it?”

“Yes.” 

“Then I’ll have Qiao Mu take you,” Grandmother Qiao immediately said. 

Xu Youyou heard and understood Grandmother Qiao’s meaning. With the snacks, she could obviously take them back now, but Grandmother specifically kept them to have Qiao Mu send them later so that she could accompany Qiao Mu as they watched the lantern festival. 

“I was thinking about calling him. I just came back from abroad and haven’t been to a lantern festival and wanted someone to accompany me.” Xu Youyou said. 

“I’ll have him accompany you to guess the lantern riddles.” Grandmother Qiao beamed with joy. 

Xu Youyou swept up the broken glass and talked with Grandmother Qiao for a while. After confirming that Grandmother Qiao’s emotions weren’t affected by the situation earlier, she left. When she came out, the car outside had already left. Xu Youyou turned into a nearby alleyway, preparing to head home. 

But as she turned the corner, she lifted her eyes to see a familiar shadow. Qiao Mu’s back was against the wall, slightly bent over. He looked strange. 

“Qiao Mu, why are you here? Qiao Mu?!” Xu Youyou just got closer when Qiao Mu whose back was against the wall fell. Xu Youyou was frightened and hurried over as she reached out a hand to hold him. But Qiao Mu fell suddenly and Xu Youyou was not prepared. She wasn’t standing steady and they fell down together. 

Xu Youyou not caring about the pain turned over to check on Qiao Mu’s condition. She could only see that Qiao Mu’s hand was on his throat. His face was turning red and his eyes were tightly shut. An asphyxiated appearance. 

“Qiao Mu, Qiao Mu?” Xu Youyou hurried to lay Qiao Mu flat on the ground. The first step was to see if Qiao Mu had choked on something. She tried to pry open Qiao Mu’s sealed lips, but Qiao Mu was biting down with all his might and wouldn’t relax. 

If someone lost their consciousness, they would not be able to bite down so hard. 

Xu Youyou’s heart lurched. She lifted her hand and violently slapped Qiao Mu’s face. After the “Pa,” Qiao Mu’s tightly sealed lips suddenly released. His bent over body began violently gasping for breath and coughing on the ground. After a while, the color began to return to his face after the red from the asphyxiation. 

“What happened to you?” Xu Youyou waited until he calmed down before asking. “If it weren’t for me, you would have suffocated yourself to death.” 

“I wouldn’t have died.” Qiao Mu sat up with his back against the wall, his voice was faint, “After passing out, I’d be able to breathe again.” 

“Why are you so experienced with this?” Xu Youyou squatted by his side.

“Qiao Mu lowered his head and didn’t say anything.” 

“If you don’t say, I’ll go ask Grandmother.” 

“Don’t tell Grandmother.” Qiao Mu held onto Xu Youyou, his face full of anxiety. 

Xu Youyou waited a while for him, but Qiao Mu just held onto her and did not explain. He opened and closed his mouth but no words came out, his eyes showed his struggle.

“Let go.” After a long time, Xu Youyou let out a sigh and pulled on Qiao Mu’s hand that was holding her. 

Qiao Mu didn’t let go, but instead held on tighter. 

“Let’s go home.” Xu Youyou rolled her eyes. 

Qiao Mu’s eyes brightened and stared at Xu Youyou for a while as if he were confirming that Xu Youyou was not tricking him. After around five seconds, he finally let go.

“I think you should lose weight. You almost crushed me to death.” Xu Youyou ridiculed. 

“……” Qiao Mu.