Chapter 74: You Look Better When You Smile
But unfortunately for Su Yuqing, her mother rarely came back.
And the sign that her mother had returned was the name she called her.
Only when she started calling her Qingqing did it mean that the mother who loved her had come back.
"Mom, I’m sorry, but I still have to go." Su Yuqing pulled away from her mother after crying for a while.
She knew that her mother wouldn’t be back for long before she left again.
The reason she had told Chen Mo she wanted to study psychology and psychiatry was for her mother.
She believed it wasn’t that her mother no longer loved her, but that her mother’s emotional wounds were so deep that they had made her sick.
It was a difficult illness to treat, but she wanted to cure her mother.
That was the only way the mother who was full of love for her might stay in her world forever.
"Qingqing, please forgive me. Don’t go, okay?" Li Fengzhi said softly, looking at Su Yuqing with a loving expression.
"Mom, I just can’t bear the days without you anymore." Su Yuqing looked at her mother with teary eyes, hoping for her understanding.
"Auntie, if you truly love Yuqing, the best thing you can do is reduce the chances of her suffering. Forcing her to stay, given the current family environment, isn’t necessarily a good thing for her. I promise you, she won’t be wronged in the slightest while she’s with me. Please, entrust her to me with peace of mind," Chen Mo said, looking at Li Fengzhi, whose mental state was now completely different.
Hearing words that sounded like a groom’s vow to the bride’s parents at a wedding, Su Yuqing’s heart trembled once more.
Two people she loved, who also loved and protected her, were by her side. For Su Yuqing, this was the happiest moment.
Li Fengzhi suddenly grabbed Chen Mo’s and Su Yuqing’s hands. This woman, who always held her back straight, was now hunched over like a reed in the wind. "Mommy is useless. I can’t always be by your side. Now that you’ve found a good boy, Mommy is happy for you. Classmate Chen, Auntie believes in you, but if you bully Yuqing..."
Just as Chen Mo was about to speak, she grabbed his hands, pressed them into Su Yuqing’s palm, and shook her head with a self-deprecating smile. "A boy that Yuqing can trust must be trustworthy. Auntie won’t say any more."
Li Fengzhi’s hands were as cold as if they’d been pulled from an icehouse, yet they seemed to scorch the two young people’s skin. "This girl has never been good at telling others about her troubles or when she’s upset. I’ll have to trouble you to look after her and pay close attention."
After speaking, Li Fengzhi gave a final touch to the sunny-day doll charm on her daughter’s suitcase. Su Yuqing had begged her to buy it back in middle school when she’d placed in the top ten of her grade, but at the time, she had been so busy choosing baby formula for her son that she’d forgotten to praise her.
Su Yuqing kept looking back at her mother every few steps, only to see her waving with a loving expression on her face.
Finally, the last weight was lifted from Su Yuqing’s heart.
Her biggest fear had been that her departure would lead to a fierce conflict and argument with her mother.
If that had happened, even if she had successfully escaped this home, she wouldn’t have been able to stop herself from reliving the unpleasantness that had occurred between them today.
But now, her mother had come back, given her blessing, and even smiled as she sent her off. This made Su Yuqing feel that her trip home today was finally complete.
She was so overwhelmed with happiness and relief that she grew a little bold. Dragging her suitcase with one hand, she used the other to loop her arm through Chen Mo’s, leaning against him in her delight.
So much so that Chen Mo’s arm could clearly feel the soft, supple press of her chest.
Seeing the look of happy relief on her face, Chen Mo couldn’t help but smile, his own mood lifted by hers.
When the two of them got back in the taxi, even the driver noticed the change in Su Yuqing.
"Seems like the young lady is especially happy after her trip. Did something good happen?" the driver teased with a smile.
"Yeah, we won 100 yuan on a scratch-off ticket. I’ll add 10 to your fare later, Sir," Chen Mo said with a grin.
"Well, congratulations then! Big prize or small, winning means your luck is turning. That’s always a good thing."
The driver smiled and added, "Young lady, you were pretty before, but you’re even more beautiful when you smile. You should smile more often; good luck will naturally follow."
"Thank you, Sir. I’ll remember that."
It was rare for Su Yuqing to speak so directly with a stranger.
Chen Mo was also a little surprised by Su Yuqing’s change.
But it was a good change, and Chen Mo was very happy for her.
However, before getting into the car, Chen Mo had distinctly felt that someone was secretly following and watching them.
He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination.
He hadn’t felt it when he brought Su Yuqing home earlier.
But after coming back out, the feeling had suddenly appeared.
’Maybe it’s just Su Yuqing’s mother. She couldn’t bear to see her go, so she’s secretly following us.’
Although he thought this, Chen Mo still felt that something wasn’t quite right.
As the taxi started moving, he kept looking back through the rear window, trying to see if he was imagining things.
"What are you looking at?" Su Yuqing noticed something was off with Chen Mo and asked curiously.
"Nothing," Chen Mo said, smiling and shaking his head at Su Yuqing.
He left Su Yuqing with a suspicious expression on her face.
’Was it really my imagination?’ Chen Mo glanced out the window one last time before stopping his frantic looking.
After returning home and putting away the luggage, Chen Mo and Su Yuqing finished the leftover taro and pork rib rice from the rice cooker, then headed to school together for evening self-study.
Evening self-study was different from the daytime classes; students could sit wherever they wanted.
The teachers generally didn’t mind.
So when Chen Mo and Su Yuqing arrived at the classroom, they saw Zhao Yuanyuan and Huang Mao sitting in the second row. She had intentionally saved the first row for Chen Mo and Su Yuqing.
Seeing this, Su Yuqing blushed slightly and sat down in her seat without a word.
Chen Mo sat down next to Su Yuqing and looked at Zhao Yuanyuan with a smile. "Look at our Little Yueyue, being so thoughtful. Daddy is very pleased."
"So, aren’t you going to show your appreciation? The night is long and hard to endure without snacks," Zhao Yuanyuan said, grinning at Chen Mo.
"You little opportunist. I knew you weren’t being nice for nothing," Chen Mo retorted with a laugh, handing Zhao Yuanyuan fifty yuan.
"Whoa, so much?!" Zhao Yuanyuan didn’t even dare to take it.
Previously, whenever Zhao Yuanyuan teased Chen Mo, he would give her ten yuan at most, and she would usually spend half of it on Chen Mo himself.
The rest she would use to buy snacks for everyone to share.
But fifty yuan was a huge sum; she wouldn’t even know how to spend it all.
The reason Chen Mo had splurged on fifty yuan was simply because Su Yuqing had smiled from the heart today, and he wanted to celebrate.