The bedroom was very quiet. Qi Le and Gu Bai looked at each other in silence. They didn't speak but the voice of Mother Qi came from the living room, urging, “Come and eat.”

Qi Le snapped out of it, mumbled an "Mmm," and put down those books on spiritual therapy, resigning himself to the situation. Then, he patted his face, took a deep breath and turned to walk out with a determined expression. Gu Bai looked at his wife’s state and guessed that he would most likely run out and kneel down in front of his mother with a loud thud and start crying. He quickly grabbed him and whispered, “Calm down.”

Qi Le sniffled. “My mum must know. What else is there to be calm about? She obviously doesn't agree to this. What should we do?”

Gu Bai immediately felt helpless. He rubbed Qi Le's head. “After I got up in the morning, I put away the stuff that should be hidden. We don't have to explain the messy sheets. We've been close since young so sleeping in the same bed means nothing.”

Qi Le blinked, pointing to the books next to him and the newly changed sheets and curtains. “Then you can explain to me what is going on?”

That's where the problem lies. He doesn't know why either… Gu Bai stared at the stuff and was about to speak when he heard Mother Qi's voice again. “Come out quickly. The food will be cold soon.”

Qi Le shivered all over and grabbed him nervously. “What should we do Erquan?"

Gu Bai comforted him by patting him gently. “Let’s go. Don’t mention this. We'll wait and see first.”

“I'll… I'll try…”

Gu Bai rubbed Qi Le's head helplessly and pushed him out. Mother Qi had just brought the last dish to the table. Seeing her son, she was shocked and worried. “What’s the matter? Why do you look so awful? Not feeling well?”

“I'm alright. Let’s eat.” Qi Le sat down, trembling with fear. His heart pounded, maintaining an abnormally high rate.

“Are you really okay?” Looking at her son, Mother Qi grew more worried. “If you feel uncomfortable, just tell me. I’ll take you to the hospital.”

“I'm really fine…” Qi Le bowed his head to shovel rice into his mouth. He picked one of the dishes and took a bite. He could hardly taste anything under such high mental stress, but he knew to change the subject. He looked at his mother tearfully. “It’s so delicious… I finally get to taste your cooking again…”

Gu Bai, “…”

“…” Mother Qi said. “Son, what you just ate was scallion used for seasoning.”

Qi Le took a second to respond, with no change in his expression. “It's delicious too. Everything you cook is delicious.”

Mother Qi finally smiled and reminded him uneasily. “If you feel uncomfortable, go to the hospital.” Only then did she sit down to eat. Qi Le bit his chopsticks and observed her silently. He felt that his mother didn’t seem willing to mention anything about him and Gu Bai. He struggled for a long time and finally couldn't stand it any longer. He said weakly, “Mom, I want to ask you something.”

Gu Bai instantly perked up, only to hear Mother Qi say with a smile. “Mmm, what?”

Qi Le struggled for a moment. “Why did you suddenly buy me those books?”

Mother Qi's expression suddenly became a bit unnatural, before it returned to normal. She smiled. “It's nothing. I thought they looked good so I bought them for you. Read them in the future. They can help you maintain a good state of mind.”

Qi Le took an overall view of the change shown by his mother. Knowing that she was being perfunctory, he was more and more sure of his own idea. He bowed his head and continued eating. He was extremely sad. His mother found that he and Gu Bai were together but didn't agree. What should he do ah?!!

Gu Bai kept calm the whole time and secretly observed. He didn’t feel that Mother Qi had any hostility towards him or rejected him, which meant that she probably was still unaware about them. However, her behavior didn’t seem as if she didn’t know anything. It was really strange.

Qi Le didn't have class in the first period in the afternoon but Gu Bai had two consecutive classes. He went to school after lunch and a short rest. Qi Le walked him to the door to send him off and stood silently looking at him in the corridor, looking really pitiful. Gu Bai rubbed his head and said softly, “Be good, don’t be nervous. It should be nothing.”

“How can it be nothing…”

“Look, your mother isn't angry. So it's fine.” Gu Bai comforted. “Don’t mention anything. Leave it all to me, okay?”

“…Mmm.” Qi Le watched him go down, turned around and went in, and sat down to chat with his mother.

Looking at her obedient son, Mother Qi couldn't help sighing inside at the thought of Xiao Ying. She thought to herself that she had to help her son out of the pain. She asked tentatively, “Are you getting along with your new classmates?”

“Mmm.”

“Did you make any new friends? You're majoring in arts. There should be a lot of girls.” Mother Qi smiled and tried to make her expression look natural. “Are there any beautiful girls in your class? “

Qi Le thought for a moment, “Yes.”

Mother Qi's tone sounded cautious. “Do they all have boyfriends?”

Qi Le froze for a second and slowly understood his mother’s purpose. He almost wanted to cry. His mother was starting on other strategies after spiritual therapy. Was she trying to get him to find a girl to fall in love with, forget Erquan, get married and have kids? No way ah! They had gotten along very well during this period of time. He felt that he was more and more inseparable from Erquan. He didn’t want to be separated from Erquan ah!

Mother Qi observed her son’s expression and seemed troubled. “They're all taken?”

Qi Le’s little heart ached when he saw that his mother still wanted to say something. He quickly interrupted. “Whether they are or not has nothing to do with me. I'm not interested in them…” He was suddenly inspired. “I still have Xiao Ying. I’ll find a chance to come clean with her, so don’t worry.” He thought that Xiao Ying didn’t like him anyway, so he used her as a shield, and could drag this matter on for a while longer.

Mother Qi opened her mouth to say something but felt uneasy at once. She was afraid that her son wouldn't be able to withstand the blow after he knew the truth. What could she do now? She thought for a moment and set out from a different angle. “I'm just casually asking. Even if you don’t like them, you can’t be rude. After all, you're classmates. You should improve the friendship and make more friends.”

He was done for! His mother didn’t care what he said anymore. Was she asking him to cast a net and catch more fish? As long as he got a girl then it was okay? Qi Le nested on the sofa pitifully, his heart bleeding. He was thinking about kneeling down straight away. However, his cellphone suddenly rang. He pulled it out, glanced at it and found that it was the idiot. He immediately looked excited. For the first time, he felt that this person was so lovable. He pressed the answer button hastily. “Hello, are you still at school?”

“Mmm, do you have any classes in the first afternoon? If not, I'm going back to play games.” Yi Hang said, “You can tell me now. What did you say to that retard?"

“I’ll meet you right away. It's settled then.” Qi Le hung up and looked at his mother, saying that he had something to do at school and hurried off. Mother Qi stood at the door watching him leave, getting more and more worried. With her son’s character, maybe her was already planning on how to surprise Xiao Ying with the truth. She struggled for a while and decided to go to Xiao Ying, make things clear, and get the child to help cooperate for a few days. At least, it wouldn't be too cruel.

Qi Le took the bus to school, pulled out his cellphone and sent a text message to his man: My mother wants me to have a girlfriend! What should I do? She must know!

There was a moment of silence before Gu Bai’s text message came: Really? Could you have misunderstood?

Qi Le sniffled and replied: No way. That’s what she means. I think she will continue to enlighten me at night. Why don’t you stay close and listen to our conversation?

Gu Bai quickly replied: Okay, don’t bring it up yet. Let me handle it. What are you doing now?

Qi Le obediently replied that he was going to the school to find Yi Hang, talked to him a little bit more, then told him to concentrate on class, while he got off and slowly strolled to school.

Yi Hang was still sitting on the steps, holding a bag of potato chips and looking at the door. When he saw him, he immediately jumped up and said, “You really came. I thought you lied to me.”

Qi Le sat down beside him, casually took out another bag of potato chips from Lu Yanbin’s bag, opened it and began to eat. He sighed, “It’s a long story.”

Yi Hang sat down again and looked at him. “What’s wrong with you?”

Qi Le didn't answer. He looked left and right. “Do you have water? I was in such a hurry that I didn’t even have time to drink water.”

“I haven’t had a sip of water either. I came out here to wait for death to come so I only brought the taxi fare…” Yi Hang looked at Lu Yanbin piteously and said, “Go buy a bottle of water. I’ll talk to him and then go home with you.”

Lu Yanbin was finally satisfied, holding his chin for a kiss before he got up and left.

~~~

P.S. Just wanted to let you guys know, I will be updating sporadically as I have been for the past couple of weeks, but I will definitely try to do as much as I can. I have a stomach ulcer so I was ordered to sleep more and work less.