Chapter 108: One of Us
"What’s wrong? Are you not feeling well?" Chen Mo had noticed that something was off with Su Yuqing. He gave her a gentle smile and lightly patted her on the back.
This instantly put Su Yuqing at ease. His concern sent a sweet warmth through her, putting a stop to the rapidly unfolding drama serializing in her mind—a complicated, emotionally entangled campus romance plot already a hundred-some Chapters long, full of questions like ’I love him,’ ’Does he love me?,’ ’Does she love him?,’ ’Will he ever love her?’...
"I’m fine," Su Yuqing replied, turning to him with a brilliant smile.
Seeing that she was really alright, Chen Mo relaxed.
He was quite perceptive when it came to the emotions of those around him. If Su Yuqing were feeling down, he could almost sense it immediately.
For instance, now that her mood had improved, he could clearly tell she was fine, so he naturally felt at ease.
He then took out his phone and sent the picture Wang Lulu had just forwarded him to the small family group chat.
[Momo]: Dad, Mom, do you know this person? If you don’t, I’m going to call the police.
Chen Mo’s nickname in the group chat was different from the one his parents privately used for him.
The same went for his parents’ nicknames in the group.
[Handsome Dad]: What’s wrong? Why call the police?
[Beautiful Mother]: Sweetie, is there a problem with this person?
[Momo]: I’ve noticed him spying on our house for several days in a row. If this isn’t someone you know, then he must be a bad guy, and I’m going to report him and have him arrested.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, in a top-floor conference room of what looked to be a very high-tech office building.
Chen Miao and Chen Xi sat next to each other, both looking at their phones.
"How did Momo find out? Judging by this camera angle, that kid’s counter-surveillance skills are impressive. He even spotted this?" Chen Xi said, puzzled.
"Forget it. Since he’s already found out, let’s just tell him the truth," Chen Miao said with a helpless smile.
"Will he think we’re spying on him? Kids his age are very sensitive. Shouldn’t we explain things first?" Chen Xi asked worriedly.
"Just explain it normally. Momo isn’t the type of kid to let his imagination run wild." Chen Miao still had faith in his son.
Chen Xi nodded and began typing a message.
[Beautiful Mother]: Mom and Dad were worried you might run into some danger living alone, so we asked this uncle to help look after you. He’s a retired special forces soldier, not a bad person, so you don’t have to be scared.
Seeing his mother’s message, Chen Mo finally understood. Before time had rewound, he had only heard from his parents that someone had looked after him while they were away.
But they had never said who it was, and he had never learned the details.
That was because the person had passed away from an illness not long after Chen Mo graduated from high school.
They hadn’t kept in touch afterward, so not much more was known.
Chen Mo had never even met this person who had secretly protected him during his high school years.
Now that he had confirmed the person wasn’t a bad guy, he felt much more relieved.
[Momo]: Oh, so that’s what it was.
[Beautiful Mother]: He’s only responsible for checking if there’s any danger around you, not monitoring your daily life. If it makes you uncomfortable, Mom and Dad can have him pull out.
[Momo]: That won’t be necessary. It’s just that I recently found some unusual footprints in front of the window of the guest room where Yuqing is staying, which is why I thought there was danger. But if he’s monitoring my safety, why would he be at the guest room window?
Seeing Chen Mo’s question, Chen Xi remembered the instructions she had given earlier.
[Beautiful Mother]: Didn’t you say before that Yuqing would be staying in our guest room? I asked him to help check if the guest room window was sturdy and if the security bars were safe. He probably left those footprints when he went to confirm that.
Speaking of which, Chen Xi and Chen Miao couldn’t help but exchange a look, both amazed at their son’s powers of observation.
People were always coming and going around the house, yet he was able to spot the abnormality in the footprints. It showed how observant he was in his daily life.
In reality, it wasn’t that Chen Mo was meticulously observant everywhere he went; otherwise, he’d be burning out his brain cells every day.
It was just that ever since fate had sent him back to the present, he had never once let his guard down.
He paid special attention to every situation that could possibly pose a danger to Su Yuqing.
That was why he naturally noticed the footprints on the ground that a normal person would have overlooked.
Although his mother’s explanation seemed plausible to Chen Mo, he quickly noticed something was still off.
[Momo]: Wait, your explanation makes sense for the first time I found the footprints. But why did they reappear after I erased them? Isn’t one check of the window enough?
"See? Momo is so cautious," Chen Xi laughed as soon as she saw his message.
[Beautiful Mother]: That’s because he said one of the screws on the security bars was rusted, so I asked him to help replace it. You probably discovered and erased his footprints right after he found the rusted screw and went to buy a new one.
When he came back to install the new screw, he left footprints again.
Seeing this reply from his mother, Chen Mo finally understood.
He decided to go home and see if there really was a new screw on the security bars.
His attention before had been focused on the footprints and on using a camera to capture their owner. At the time, he had only checked whether the security bars were sturdy and hadn’t noticed if an old screw had been replaced with a new one.
It wasn’t really Chen Mo’s fault for not noticing. The man was a professional at stealth; after replacing the screw, he had deliberately smeared rust back onto it to make it look old.
As for the footprints on the ground, he hadn’t deliberately erased them because he saw that there were many other prints nearby.
After all, if he had wiped away the dirt in that one spot, it would have been a dead giveaway, as it would have destroyed all the other shoe prints in the soil there.
Most importantly, he figured a high school kid wouldn’t possibly have such keen powers of observation.
But he never expected that Chen Mo would not only discover the issue but also set up a surveillance camera nearby.
After confirming all the information with his mother, Chen Mo finally let out a huge sigh of relief.
The matter had been weighing heavily on his mind for the past two days.
Until he figured out the identity of the mysterious person appearing outside Su Yuqing’s window, he couldn’t sleep soundly or enjoy his food.
After all, he had been constantly worried about Su Yuqing’s safety.
Knowing it was one of their own, he could finally relax a little.
The moment he turned off his phone screen, Chen Mo felt his taut nerves slacken. A sudden wave of mental exhaustion washed over him, and he slumped forward, resting his head on the table.
After all, between trying to catch the mysterious person and studying for his exams, the mental toll over the past two days had been immense.