After what had just happened on the stairwell, an odd tension lingered between them.
Sitting in the passenger seat, An Yuanyao kept her head slightly lowered, remaining silent, while Liu Changqing focused straight ahead, his expression unreadable.
Before long, they arrived at An Yuanyao’s residence.
As she got out of the car, she stood there for a mont, clutching her bag, as if she had sothing to say.
Liu Changqing looked at her.
On the way here, An Yuanyao had been deep in thought. It seed she had made up her mind about sothing. Lifting her head, she t Liu Changqing’s gaze and spoke, her voice slightly louder than usual.
“Liu Changqing, the two of us—”
“You should go inside. Get so sleep early tonight. Don’t be all groggy when I pick you up tomorrow.”
“…”
She had barely begun to speak when Liu Changqing cut her off.
For a brief mont, she was left at a loss.
The words she had mustered the courage to say had vanished like air escaping a balloon. The chance was gone, and she suddenly lacked the confidence to try again.
She stared at Liu Changqing’s expressionless face inside the car, dazed. After a long mont, she finally gave a small nod.
“…Okay.”
Liu Changqing sat quietly in the driver’s seat, watching her.
Thinking.
After what felt like an eternity, he sighed and finally spoke.
“Wait for .”
“…What?”
An Yuanyao heard his words clearly, but she didn’t quite understand what he ant.
Just as she was about to ask, the car engine roared to life.
She took a few steps forward, but in the end, she stopped.
She could only stand there in silence, watching as his car disappeared from sight.
—
Inside the car.
Liu Changqing gripped the steering wheel, exhaling deeply. His eyelids drooped, heavy with thought, before he forced them open again.
That mont on the stairwell…
The instant An Yuanyao had clung to him, he had felt his self-control wavering.
He had no idea what kind of shampoo she used, but there was a faint, lingering fragrance around her.
It made no sense.
They both used shampoo, body wash, and soap—so why did she sll like that while he barely managed to avoid slling like sweat?
Won were just… different.
When he had seen her face slowly leaning in, he had no choice but to stop her.
Even when she had tried to speak just now, he had interrupted her again.
Because Liu Changqing knew exactly what would happen if he didn’t.
And the reason he stopped her was simple—now wasn’t the right ti.
If he gave in without thinking, it might be understandable for An Yuanyao.
She was a woman.
But he couldn’t afford to be reckless.
Their relationship was complicated—so complicated that even Liu Changqing himself sotis felt like he was watching so soap opera.
Beyond that, there were his children, her family…
All these things made it impossible for him to act impulsively.
So, the only thing he could do was avoid the situation for now.
Once everything was settled, only then could he think about it.
That was what he ant when he told her to “wait for him.”
His gaze locked on the road ahead.
His eyes gradually hardened with determination.
It wouldn’t take too long.
—
When he arrived ho, Liu Changqing took a mont outside the door, pushing aside his thoughts before unlocking it and stepping inside.
He saw Liu Xiazhi curled up against the sofa cushion, eyes glued to the television.
Whatever she was watching must have been interesting, as she didn’t even notice him co in.
Without saying a word, Liu Changqing walked over, sat down on the sofa, and poured himself a cup of water from the kettle on the coffee table.
He downed it in one gulp.
Then, turning to look at his daughter, who was still completely absorbed in the screen, he paused before asking:
“School starts tomorrow. Did you finish your howork?”
“All done!”
Liu Xiazhi responded imdiately, sounding quite proud of herself.
Unable to hold back her excitent, she jumped off the sofa, slid into her slippers, and ran to her room.
A mont later, she ca running back, dragging her old school bag.
She hadn’t even transferred her things into her new one yet.
Standing in front of Liu Changqing, she tilted her chin up slightly, holding the bag toward him like a trophy.
“If you don’t believe , Dad, you can check for yourself!”
“Feeling pretty confident, huh?”
It was clear that his daughter wanted so praise. Seeing her smug little face, Liu Changqing decided to play along.
“Alright, let’s see the results of your sumr break efforts.”
Saying that, he took the pink backpack from her hands and placed it in front of him, unzipping it.
Inside was a stack of sumr howork.
Compared to his son’s, Liu Xiazhi’s workload was much lighter. Even so, with her usual pace, there was no way she could have finished everything so smoothly.
Fortunately, she had been going to the office with him every day, studying alongside Feng Shuyan, whose academic performance was much stronger. With her influence, Liu Xiazhi’s howork speed had improved significantly.
It was only just before school started that she finally managed to complete everything.
Elentary school only had three main subjects.
During the last parent-teacher eting, when the teachers assigned winter break howork, they had also inford the parents about the sumr assignnts, ensuring that parents would supervise their children in completing them.
Chinese, math, and English.
Each subject had a sumr workbook, and the teachers had preemptively removed the answer keys from the back.
In addition to the workbooks, math required two test papers to be completed, while Chinese and English required students to copy down classical poetry and vocabulary words.
Each subject had to be copied into a designated school-issued notebook.
Liu Changqing took out the assignnts from the bag and flipped through them with exaggerated expressions, occasionally glancing at his daughter with feigned astonishnt.
Noticing his reaction, Liu Xiazhi placed her hands on her hips, looking beyond proud.
The review didn’t take long.
After setting the completed assignnts and test papers on the coffee table, Liu Changqing frowned slightly.
Sothing felt off.
Turning to his smug daughter, he asked, “Where’s the notebook for copying the poems and vocabulary?”
“…What notebook?”
“…”
Hearing her response, Liu Changqing was montarily stunned. He picked up her backpack again and checked the side pocket, pulling out two slim notebooks.
When he flipped them open, the pages were completely blank. Not a single word had been written.
He paused, then looked at his daughter.
“Your horoom teacher said you had to copy this sester’s classical poetry and English vocabulary…”
“…”
Frozen in place, Liu Xiazhi stared at her father as if she had just lost her soul.
Her small face was filled with disbelief.
—
Later that evening.
After his evening self-study session, Liu Zhiyue returned ho.
As he stepped into the living room and changed his shoes, he was greeted by the sight of Liu Xiazhi, her nose sniffling, eyes watery, sprawled over the coffee table, furiously writing away.
Without disturbing her, he made his way to the sofa, where his father was seated, and lowered his voice.
“Didn’t she say she finished her howork a few days ago?”
“She forgot about the two copying assignnts.”
Hearing his father’s explanation, Liu Zhiyue instantly understood and muttered, “No wonder…”
“Brother!”
Hearing their conversation, Liu Xiazhi suddenly lifted her head, looking at him with a pitiful expression.
“Help write… Waaaah, it’s too much…”
For a mont, Liu Zhiyue froze, then pretended not to hear her and continued speaking to his father.
“Dad, is there anything to eat? I’m a little hungry.”
“Want so noodles?”
“Sure!”
“Thick or thin?”
“Thick.”
“Want an egg with that?”
As the two of them casually discussed dinner while heading toward the kitchen, Liu Xiazhi sat there, mouth slightly open, completely dumbfounded.
Tears welled up in her eyes and began streaming down her cheeks.
She hastily wiped them away, then lowered her head once more, gripping her pen so tightly it looked like she was about to tear through the notebook.
The night grew darker.
For Liu Xiazhi, tonight was destined to be anything but easy.
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