Chapter 64

Qiao Ruiyi raised his head suddenly, his voice trembling: "You...you followed me?"

The housekeeper did not answer Qiao Ruiyi's question, but instead asked, "Ruiyi, should I be the one asking you why you are here? Didn't you say you were going to school to find a teacher? Why did you end up in the competition venue?"

He followed the other person all the way, and was finally surprised to find that the other person actually followed a strange young man into the competition venue.

Who is this person? Why does he know Qiao Ruiyi?

The puzzled butler wanted to follow and continue observing, but was stopped by the security guard because he did not have a ticket. Undecided, he could only wait at the door until Qiao Ruiyi and the man walked out slowly, then he quickly followed.

When Qiao Ruiyi's lie was exposed in front of the other party, his mind went blank and he was speechless for a moment.

"Rui Yi," the housekeeper changed the subject and began to persuade earnestly, "Your mother believes that you will not lie to us, so she agreed to let you leave home after reporting to me. But how can you betray your mother's trust in you?"

If Ms. Li had not been familiar with Qiao Ruiyi's mentor, they would not have known that Qiao Ruiyi would actually deceive them.

The housekeeper took out his cell phone and played the voice message sent by his employer. The female voice that came out was irresistible and powerful: "Teacher Li told me that he didn't look for Ruiyi. You should follow him quickly and see what Ruiyi is going to do. Then report his whereabouts to me in real time."

Qiao Ruiyi's face turned pale in an instant, and his fingers unconsciously clenched the corner of his clothes.

The housekeeper put away his phone. His expression was obviously shaken for a moment, and he sighed again, "Rui Yi, your mother was very angry when she found out about this. She asked me to take you home and told you not to leave the house for three days."

Qiao Ruiyi may not know that his mother's desire for control has not diminished with the passage of time, but has only changed from overt control to secret surveillance.

After he left home, every place he went to had more or less Qiao's mother's spies, either teachers at the school or staff at the venue. This also included the security guard who fed the cats in Changqing Park every year and met him. He was also Qiao's mother's man.

No matter where he goes, someone will report to Qiao's mother first.

Qiao Ruiyi, who knew nothing about this, slowly lowered his head, and his hands hanging at his sides clenched uncontrollably. That suffocating feeling came back, as if an invisible pair of hands in the air were tightly gripping his neck, almost making him unable to breathe.

"Ruiyi, don't make your mother sad. She...only has you." The housekeeper's words directly extinguished the restless fire in Qiao Ruiyi's heart.

He closed his eyes heavily, his body shaking slightly.

"Let's go." The clenched hands slowly loosened.

Qiao Ruiyi opened his eyes, but the lively light in his eyes was gone.

…

After Qiao Ruiyi followed the housekeeper back home, he sat alone at the desk, staring blankly at the darkening sky outside the window.

In the family photo placed on the desk, brother Qiao Ruien’s smile is forever frozen at the age of eighteen.

Qiao Ruiyi thought of what happened this morning. He gently stroked the photo frame with his palm and felt the cool touch on his fingertips.

Should he tell his mother about these things?

Tell the other person: My brother was going to see Youen on the day of the accident...

"Your brother has been gone for seven years!" Qiao's mother's eyes were red and her voice was trembling. "Why do you have to open this scar again and again?"

Mother Qiao walked to the window, with her back to her son, and the tears that had been pent up for a long time finally burst out, "Do you know how painful it is for me to lose a son? I can't lose you again!"

The fragment that flashed through his mind successfully made Qiao Ruiyi give up this idea.

——He tried to complain, but saw his strong mother breaking down in tears.

At that moment, he suddenly understood that behind his mother's obsessive control was bottomless fear and pain.

"I'm sorry," Qiao Ruiyi apologized to someone unknown.

In the photo, Qiao Ruien's smile showed a little more understanding.

The room then fell into dead silence.

Qiao Ruiyi was silent for a while, then sat up straight, put away his surging thoughts, raised his hand to turn on the computer.

Although his personal freedom was restricted, his access to the Internet was not restricted.

Opening his graduation project, Qiao Ruiyi put all his extra emotions into the densely packed codes, trying to use the busyness to forget the pain and fatigue in his heart.

An unknown amount of time had passed before Qiao Ruiyi rubbed his sore eyes and saved the file on the computer screen.

"Knock knock knock" - there was a knock on the door, and the housekeeper came to call him for dinner.

After dinner, Qiao Ruiyi stood on the balcony of the room and looked at the sunset in the distance. His deep eyes reflected the colorful evening glow.

The setting sun dyed the sky into orange and golden silk, and inlaid the mountains with hot golden edges. In a second, the skyline swallowed the last bite of gild, and the dusk was like a flock of crows, instantly occupying all the territory of light.

——The sunset demonstrates the most heroic death every day: some falls are not the end, but for rebirth in another sea.

Qiao Ruiyi looked at the scene in front of him thoughtfully, but his thoughts were interrupted by a rapid ringing of his cell phone.

The boy took out his cell phone and found two characters jumping on the screen: Li Jie.

After he answered the phone, he asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"

The person on the other end of the phone invited excitedly: "Ruiyi, are you free? Come and play games with us! You promised us before."

Qiao Ruiyi was reminded by the other party and slowly remembered that night when he borrowed Yuan Xingyou's trumpet and wanted to play ranked with He Lijie. Although he left temporarily because of Hu Lie's matter, he seemed to have promised the other party to play together next time...

"Old Joe, you haven't forgotten, have you?" He Lijie sensed something wrong from the other party's silence.

Qiao Ruiyi rubbed his brow and denied, "I haven't forgotten."

After being interrupted by He Lijie, he no longer had any extra thoughts.

"Then what are you waiting for? Come online quickly," He Lijie said excitedly, rubbing his hands. "By the way, you don't need to borrow a small account this time, because my girlfriend's account and I can play with you."

“Hmm, um…?” Qiao Ruiyi changed his tone and found something wrong in the other party’s words.

"girlfriend?"

When did the other party get a girlfriend? Why had he never heard of it?

"Ha," He Lijie laughed triumphantly on the other end of the phone. In fact, he called this time not just to invite the other party to play games together, but also to announce an important event to his good brother.

He——He Lijie, is finally in love!!!

"Actually, my girlfriend is also someone you know," He Lijie dropped a clue, wanting Qiao Ruiyi to guess this person's identity.

"She is a girl in our class?"

"wrong."

"A girl from our school?"

"wrong."

"Yes..." Qiao Ruiyi suddenly couldn't remember any other women he and He Lijie knew in common.

Seeing that the other party had no clue, He Lijie mercifully revealed the answer, "It's the cute pink peach who played games with us last time! We got along quite well after you left, and then... hehe..."

Love always comes unexpectedly.

These days, he almost woke up laughing in his dreams.

Qiao Ruiyi was stunned for a moment, his thoughts slowly starting up like a rusty machine, he was shocked and said: "Another online romance?!"

How come the other party is the same as Xi Cheng and Yi Xiaolan?

"It's an online romance, but why did you add 'and' in front of it? Could it be that you are also in an online romance?" He Lijie found the bright spot in the other party's words, and suddenly took the initiative to question Qiao Ruiyi.

Could it be the shining star who used to have a couple ID with Qiao Ruiyi?

No wonder he felt something was wrong at the time...

"It's not me, it's another friend of mine who is also in an online romance." Qiao Ruiyi explained.

However, he did not say that their relationship might be in trouble.

"Oh... so that's how it is," He Lijie easily believed the other party's explanation. After all, Qiao Ruiyi didn't look like someone who would casually fall in love online.

"But I want to ask you a question, why do you choose online dating?"

Qiao Ruiyi listened to Xi Cheng's explanation, but he also wanted to hear other versions of the answer.

"Because I love her voice so much, every time I hear it, my heart feels like it's been electrified."

He Lijie said frankly that the first impression is very important. Even if he has never seen the other person's appearance, he can guess from the other person's voice that she must be a beautiful woman with a sweet voice.

"When I lost the game and was in a bad mood, she always comforted me and helped me analyze the reasons for my failure."

She is a good person and He Lijie doesn't want to miss her.

So he took action and chose to confess to the other party.

In He Lijie's opinion, feelings can be cultivated later. Once you miss the other person, you may never meet him/her again.

He Lijie's voice was filled with unconcealable sweetness.

Qiao Ruiyi was silent for a while, then asked, "Do you know her name?"

"I know! She told me her name, Xu Helian, which means "He" for red-crowned crane and "Lian" for lotus. Isn't this a very poetic name?"

He Lijie couldn't help but imagine that the other party must be a girl from a scholarly family, well-read, and only had time to play games after studying.

"Xu Helian..." Qiao Ruiyi chewed on these words carefully.

I have to say that the other person's parents must be very educated.

When he heard the name, the image of the noble red-crowned crane walking slowly in the lotus pond emerged in his mind.

"Hey, stop talking nonsense and come online quickly! He Lian and I are waiting for you." He Lijie urged.

"Well, I'm online now."

Qiao Ruiyi turned back to his seat and opened the game app on his mobile phone.

As soon as he logged into the game, he heard He Lijie's excited voice in the team chat: "Ruiyi, you're finally here! Helian and I have been waiting for you for a long time!"

A gentle female voice sounded: "Hello Ruiyi, Lijie has been talking about you in my ear every day."

Qiao Ruiyi was about to respond, but found out that He Lijie and Xu Helian were using a couple ID, one was called "Jiejie is not Sister" and the other was called "Lianlian is not Lianlian".

His id, which was out of place at the end of these two people, seemed inexplicably...redundant.

The expression on Qiao Ruiyi's face suddenly froze. Oh no, has he become a light bulb?

"Rui Yi, let me tell you, He Lian is really good at playing mid lane. He even carried me several times yesterday!"

Qiao Ruiyi recalled that when they first played with Xu Helian, the opponent's mid-lane hero had always been very impressive and had won many cards. He immediately agreed, "She really played the mid-lane hero well."

(Brands: Top, Gold, Silver, and Bronze. They are determined based on the player's in-game performance. Different brands can increase different rank points.)

The three of them started the game. Qiao Ruiyi chose Ma Chao for the confrontation lane, and the two young lovers chose output heroes respectively, Diao Chan in the middle lane and Marco Polo in the shooter lane.

After entering the game, He Lijie cleared his own troops and continued running towards the middle lane: "He Lian, I'll help you catch people!"

"He Lian, let's go to the opposite side for the blue buff... This blue buff is for you!"

"He Lian, be careful of the enemy jungler, I'll be there soon!"

Qiao Ruiyi was quietly pushing the tower in the top lane, and all he could hear was He Lijie's caring voice. He couldn't help but tease, "Lijie, if you keep staying in the middle lane like this, the bottom lane tower will be pushed down by the opponent."

While controlling Ma Chao to accurately take out the head of the enemy laner, Qiao Ruiyi shook his head helplessly. He never expected that He Lijie would be like this when talking about love.

He Lijie's confident voice came from the team microphone: "It's okay, they won't push down the outer tower in the bottom lane. Besides, my Helian can carry the whole game only if she develops well, and you are in charge in the top lane."

They have two output points in this game, but not the shooter and the mid laner, but the top lane and the mid laner.

Xu Helian gently reminded: "Lijie, you should go back and defend the bottom lane. I can do it alone."

The middle lane is almost becoming a two-person lane.

"Okay, okay, I'll be right back!" He Lijie agreed, but still squatted in the bushes in the middle for ten seconds, "I'll just take one more look, I promise not to delay... Ouch!"

Suddenly, a killing sound was heard in the game.

It turned out that the opponent's jungler and support were flanking them, and He Lijie's Marco Polo was killed instantly because he moved too deep.

Qiao Ruiyi couldn't help laughing, "Is this the price for 'one more look'?"

"Old Joe, you are so mean! Why are you so happy that I'm dead?" He Lijie wailed, "He Lian, look at him!"

Xu Helian chuckled and comforted him: "Okay, remember to look at the small map next time."

Qiao Ruiyi glanced at the economic panel and suggested: "Helian, you go to the top lane to take this wave of lines, Lijie, you follow Helian, I will go to the bottom lane alone to lead the line."

"Okay!" He Lijie recovered with full health, "Ruiyi, you are the best!"

Qiao Ruiyi's Ma Chao relied on his excellent ability to lead the line to contain the enemy; Xu Helian's Diao Chan showed off his skills after getting the blue buff and got a triple kill in one breath; He Lijie also made some good plays with the help of his teammates.

Finally, the enemy crystal exploded and the word "Victory" popped up on the screen.

"That's awesome!" He Lijie shouted excitedly, "Ruiyi, Helian, let's continue next time!"

Several people played five games in a row, losing one and winning four.

Qiao Ruiyi had a smile on his face. Although he was fed a mouthful of dog food, the relaxed and happy atmosphere made him temporarily forget the oppressive reality.

Suddenly, a familiar game ID appeared in the friend list on his right—Yuan Xingyou was online.

Qiao Ruiyi's eyes suddenly lit up, and the desire to find the other person to play together overwhelmed everything.

He suggested, "Lijie, you guys continue playing. I'm going to go find my friends."