CH 95

this solution sounded too simple, blatantly obvious, and straightforward. however, it had never appeared in qi yanbai’s list of “alternative plans’ ‘ before.

qi yanbai paused for a moment, only to realize that his thought pattern seemed to have become used to not trusting anyone and not getting a response from anyone. so when faced with something he wanted, he would always subconsciously bypass this straightforward route, trying to obtain everything through his own abilities.

but lu ye was not just anyone, qi yanbai thought. he would respond to me, and he would love me.

if there was only one person in the world he could trust, it would undoubtedly be lu ye himself.

qi yanbai knew that his sense of security had always come from his complete control of the situation. so when lu ye proposed this suggestion, he thought he would instinctively resist the idea of relying entirely on the other person for control. but when he actually imagined the scene according to lu ye’s words, he was surprised to find that he not only didn’t resist it but even had some anticipation.

he liked it when lu ye paid attention to him and cared about him. if lu ye was willing to focus his attention on him anytime, anywhere, then compared to cold positioning, qi yanbai certainly preferred the current situation.

“anytime?” qi yanbai couldn’t help but ask.

“anytime,” lu ye replied with confidence.

qi yanbai didn’t say anything more, but lu ye could see that his attitude had already relaxed a lot. he was no longer impatiently pulling lu ye, but he had unconsciously relaxed, clutching the phone in his hand.

lu ye knew this was a signal of his excitement, so he smiled and didn’t say anything more, just reached out and touched the tip of his hair, then said goodbye.

as he said this, he put on his boots, walked to the door, and suddenly changed his mind. holding the doorknob, he turned back and asked casually, “by the way, are you going to the training center now?”

lu ye said, “if you’re going, should i drop you off?”

of course, qi yanbai wouldn’t refuse. his eyes lit up when he heard this, and he almost immediately became enthusiastic about “going to work.” without a word, he rushed into the bedroom, changed his clothes, and left with lu ye.

qí yanbai had been on leave for about ten days and had finally returned to work. he looked radiant and in high spirits. even the receptionist noticed his good mood.

“good afternoon, teacher qi,” the receptionist looked up from her desk and greeted him with a smile. “is everything settled at home?”

“everything is settled. i’m about to go to the administrative office to end my leave,” qi yanbai said, stopping by her desk with an art book in his arms. he smiled warmly and said, “i’ve caused everyone a lot of trouble by taking so many days off. i’ve ordered some afternoon tea, so i’d appreciate it if you could distribute it to all the teachers later.”

he had completely shaken off his previous gloom, reverting to his polite and gentle demeanor. although the receptionist didn’t know what had happened during this time, seeing him finally in good spirits made her genuinely happy for him.

“teacher qi, you’re too polite,” the receptionist said, blinking at him and smiling. “i’m happy things are resolved—during this time, the children have been asking about you. when they finish class, they always gather in a circle and ask when teacher qi will be back.”

she bent down slightly, pulled out a large gift box about a meter square from under the front desk, and placed it on the table. then she opened the lid and signaled for qi yanbai to take a look.

“look, there are so many greeting cards inside,” she said.

the large gift box was filled with greeting cards, most of which were hand-drawn by students, mainly from the kindergarten classes. they were colorful and almost covered half of the box.

qi yanbai glanced down and immediately spotted several familiar names from the classes. he couldn’t help but purse his lips, feeling overwhelmed.

“i’ll thank the children later,” qi yanbai also added apologetically. “i’ll also make up for the missed lessons. after all, i’ve taken leave for so long.”

“that’s great,” the receptionist smiled and said, “the children will be so happy.”

she then closed the lid of the large gift box. besides the greeting cards, it also contained the “selected works” of the past two weeks from the training center’s “art exhibition.” qi yanbai thanked the receptionist, picked up the box and the artwork, and planned to take his time looking at them later.

qi yanbai arrived at the training center at a convenient time, during the lunch break. the morning classes had ended, and the afternoon children had not yet arrived. the entire second floor was empty and quiet.

there was no one in the office, so qi yanbai sat at his desk for a while, casually looking at a couple of greeting cards. it didn’t take long for him to start feeling itchy, and his gaze kept drifting to the phone on the desk. he was eager to exercise the “right” he had just obtained.

however, he was used to playing the perfect, gentle, and understanding lover. he wasn’t used to expressing his controlling tendencies so directly, so he thought for a moment. unlocking the screen, he took a photo of the greeting cards scattered on the desk and sent it to lu ye.

“these are from the students,” qi yanbai typed as he tapped on the phone’s keyboard. “there are a lot of them.”

the green text bubbles appeared promptly on the screen, and qi yanbai patiently waited for about ten seconds before adding a sentence, as if he had “just remembered” to do so.

“by the way, have you reached the police station? if you haven’t, no need to reply to me; focus on driving.”

in fact, qi yanbai knew this excuse was a bit contrived. after all, lu ye’s location tracking was still active, so he could find out whether he had reached the police station without asking. however, he wanted to test lu ye with this poor excuse. besides, he craved lu ye’s attention and indulgence.

qi yanbai wanted to test, but subconsciously, he knew that lu ye would follow through on his words. so, at the moment the message was sent, he was already looking forward to lu ye’s response.

as expected, lu ye’s reply came very quickly. a few seconds later, two messages from lu ye popped up in qi yanbai’s chat window. they were almost the same length and lined up side by side in the chat box, appearing brief and to the point.

“ask directly,” lu ye said.

“be straightforward,” lu ye added.

qi yanbai: “…”

qi yanbai finally realized that lu ye had already seen through him. no matter how far he tried to twist and turn, lu ye could always pinpoint his most hidden thoughts with pinpoint accuracy.

simple text communication couldn’t convey voice or facial expressions, and it inevitably felt cold. qi yanbai understood that lu ye just didn’t want him to beat around the bush, so he gritted his teeth and decided to tell the truth.

“…have you arrived at the police station?” qi yanbai typed the message briskly. “are you going out this afternoon?”

he was still concerned about what lu ye had mentioned earlier, about the location being active only up to the police station. he couldn’t help but wonder about lu ye’s whereabouts for the rest of the day.

“good boy,” lu ye noticed every change in qi yanbai’s behavior and praised him. then he replied, “i’m not going out anymore. i’ll be helping with paperwork at the precinct this afternoon.”

as if rewarding qi yanbai for his honesty, lu ye reached for a few sheets of blank paper from the nearby printer, covered the application form on the desk, and took a photo, sending it to qi yanbai as “evidence.”

lu ye had forgotten to turn off the camera sound, and the shutter click sounded particularly loud in the quiet office. yao xing, not far away, raised her head in confusion and glanced at him.

“lu ye, what are you doing?” yao xing wondered. “it’s the weekend, shouldn’t you be resting at home. instead, you’re at the police station chatting with someone online. aren’t you tired?”

“no, i’m good.” lu ye leaned back in the spacious chair, tapped out a few lines of text on his phone, then pursed his lips, smiled with a hint of sarcasm, and casually said, “after all, it’s the noble cause of education, a hundred-year policy—no complaints about being tired.”