When Cheng Qicai went to tell Gu Liji that she was going back, Gu Liji subconsciously looked behind her, in the direction of Gu Rongqi.

Seeing Gu Rongqi nod slightly, he was taken aback, but quickly recovered and turned his gaze back to Cheng Qicai.

He smiled and said, "Okay, I'll have the driver take you home."

Cheng Qicai nodded.

As she walked forward with Gu Liji, she suddenly stopped and turned back to look in the direction of Gu Rongqi.

Their eyes met unexpectedly, and Gu Rongqi's eyes softened, like a soft cloud enveloping her. Cheng Qicai's heart began to pound again.

Like a drumstick striking a drumhead, each sound is deafening and dizzying.

She lowered her eyes to look at the lawn on the ground. The tender green color stimulated her eyes. After she calmed her breathing slightly, she turned around and followed Gu Liji's back.

The drumstick slipped from his hand and fell to the ground, but the lingering vibrations from the drumhead persisted for a long time.

Once inside the car, Cheng Qicai took a deep breath, held it in her chest, and only exhaled after the pain subsided, relieving the numbness in her heart.

She tilted her head, looking at the ever-changing and receding environment outside the car, and a sense of melancholy continued to spread in her heart.

After watching for a long time, she realized she couldn't dwell on these emotions, so she said to the driver, "Excuse me, Uncle Li, could you take me somewhere else?"

Uncle Li nodded, and Cheng Qicai told him the address of Ms. Yun's place.

The car changed direction and drove towards Ms. Yun.

Cheng Qicai got out of the car at the entrance of the residential area, waved to Uncle Li, and then turned to enter the residential area. When she got to her own door, she knocked but no one answered.

She took out her key and opened the door.

The room was empty and quiet. She took out her phone and made a call to Ms. Yun.

After hearing the noisy background sounds on the other end of the phone, Cheng Qicai knew where she was.

After exchanging a few words with Ms. Yun, she headed towards the mahjong parlor where Ms. Yun was.

As soon as she entered, she was instantly overwhelmed by the cacophony of voices and the clatter of mahjong tiles.

Cheng Qicai searched for Ms. Yun in the crowd. Ms. Yun was easy to recognize; the person dressed in the most flamboyant way was most likely her.

Cheng Qicai quickly spotted her and walked over, calling out, "Mom!"

"Hmm..." Ms. Yun answered her absentmindedly, her mind clearly on the mahjong tiles on the table.

Seeing her expression, Cheng Qicai didn't interact with her much. She found a plastic stool and sat down next to her to watch quietly. She didn't want to bother her and then have her blame her if she lost.

After Ms. Yun finished her game of mahjong, the aunt across from her suddenly stood up and said she had to leave.

Their mahjong game was suddenly missing one player. As they were discussing who to find to join, the aunt next to her spoke up: "Oh dear, who else can we find? Isn't there someone ready? Old Yun, let your daughter play."

"I'm not very familiar with it, Auntie!" Cheng Qicai waved her hand in refusal.

She only plays cards with relatives and friends during holidays. If you asked her to play with people who play cards every day, she would lose everything and go home penniless.

"You won't play well!" The aunt said with surprise in her tone, then realized that her tone was too obvious, so she changed her words, "No, I mean it's a good opportunity to practice."

"I won't play..." Before Cheng Qicai could finish her refusal, the aunt pressed her back into her seat.

"Come on, let's shuffle the cards!" the aunt called to the others.

"Alright, since Aunt Wu has said so, let's play a few rounds with them!" Ms. Yun glanced at her, then said to the others, "Just for a little while, we'll go home for dinner later."

Cheng Qicai knew that Ms. Yun's words were meant to leave her a way out, so that she wouldn't lose too much and would have an excuse to leave later.

Left with no other choice, Cheng Qicai had to join Ms. Yun and the others in the fight.

Once she sat down, her hands touching the cold mahjong tiles, and she was thinking about how to play her cards, all the other chaotic emotions in her mind disappeared, leaving only thoughts of "eating, ponging, and winning".

For some reason, Cheng Qicai's mahjong skills, which are usually just average, were incredibly good today, as if she were protected by a god of cards.

She was overjoyed as she looked at the ever-increasing amount of money on the table.

Going home for dinner is just a pipe dream, and the racing heartbeat is completely forgotten.

"I'm not playing anymore, I'm going home for dinner." Aunt Wu across from Cheng Qicai stood up and said after Cheng Qicai won the game again.

She looked at Ms. Yun and said, "You even said your daughter couldn't play cards, but she's winning all our money. Old Yun, that's not fair of you. You're saying that on purpose to lower our guard."

"No way, how was I supposed to know she was so lucky today? I still lost to her." Although Ms. Yun said this, her eyes narrowed with laughter.

"Alright, I'm going home now." Aunt Wu was in a bad mood after losing the game, so she waved her hand and went home.

Cheng Qicai happily counted the money in her hand, and in the end, she had nine hundred and sixty yuan!

She couldn't suppress the smile on her face; it seemed her luck was absolutely phenomenal today!

"Alright, stop counting." Ms. Yun watched as she took out the money and counted it countless times. "Why did you come back today?"

"I missed you!" Cheng Qicai said happily.

"Ha... Don't be ridiculous!" Ms. Yun sneered. "When you first arrived, you were practically drooping with embarrassment, and you still think about me? Do you even believe that?"

Cheng Qicai was embarrassed, not expecting Ms. Yun to be so perceptive. "Um, it's nothing, just a small problem, but I've figured it out now."

She thought, what's the use of worrying so much? It's just unnecessary trouble for her.

"Relationship problems?" Ms. Yun asked bluntly.

Cheng Qicai was a little flustered by the call, wondering how Ms. Yun could tell. From the moment she entered the mahjong parlor, she felt that Ms. Yun's eyes had never turned to look at her.

Cheng Qicai remained silent, and Ms. Yun said even more disdainfully, "Hmph! Cheng Qicai, with your looks, I can tell whether you're going to poop or fart just by sticking your butt out. You think you can fool me?"

Seeing that Cheng Qicai still didn't speak, the impatient Ms. Yun pressed on, "Is it about Xiao Ren? Did you two break up again?"

Upon hearing Ms. Yun's words, Cheng Qicai's skin instantly tightened, and even the hairs on her body went into a state of readiness. She forced herself to remain calm and said, "No... Mom!"

Cheng Qicai's cry of "Mom" was uttered with a thousand twists and turns, and was extremely obsequious.

Although this wasn't her real worry, it was Ms. Yun's guess of another fact that made her even more terrified.

Let her know about this... Although she would have found out sooner or later, it's not good to leave her to face it alone like this!

She didn't want to bear Ms. Yun's storm alone.