Chapter 28 He's really gone mad!

Zhuang Bieyan paused in his steps as he went upstairs. "The canelés are sold out."

"What about macarons?" she pressed on, unwilling to give up.

"Sold out." Zhuang Bieyan went upstairs without looking back.

“PADA’s business is too good, but don’t they restock every day?” Zhuang Xi poked Xue Meiniang in disappointment.

Suddenly remembering something, she shouted upstairs, "Uncle! Could you please give me Sister Qu's WeChat ID?"

The door to the study upstairs slammed shut.

Zhuang Xi: "......"

She turned to look at the living room sofa: "Mom, what's wrong with Uncle?"

Zhuang Liuyue smiled meaningfully, "Him? He's just feeling guilty."

Zhuang Xi: "..?"

When did my uncle become a thief?

The little brain thought for a long time but couldn't figure it out, so it gave up.

"Mom, remember to go buy PADA early tomorrow!"

"Okay, okay, I've already talked to your Uncle Yu. He'll take you to buy it after school tomorrow."

"Great!" Xiao Zhuangxi cheered, putting all her doubts behind her, and took a big bite of the mochi with a satisfied look on her face!

at this time.

Second-floor study.

Zhuang Bieyan stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, holding his phone in his hand.

His thumb hovered above the keyboard, and after a moment's hesitation, he finally exited the interface.

The moonlight outside the window was like water, and he looked up.

The moon is beautiful tonight.

...

Baiyu Bay.

Qu He hung clothes to dry on the balcony after taking a shower.

Looking up, the bright moon hangs high, making the night seem exceptionally gentle.

She went back to her bedroom and heard a WeChat notification.

Qu He picked up the phone and saw a friend request.

[Sister Qu, this is Zhuang Xi.]

Qu He clicked on the headshot and zoomed in. In the photo, Zhuang Xi was smiling brightly while holding a strawberry bear that was taller than her.

A smile unconsciously crept onto her lips as she clicked "Agree".

Almost simultaneously, a voice message came from the other end.

[Hello Sister Qu~ This is Xiao Zhuangxi! Good evening, are you asleep?]

The little girl's voice came through the speaker in a soft, sweet tone.

Qu He was typing for a while when she suddenly remembered something and deleted it one by one. She then pressed the voice message button: "Good evening, Xiao Xi."

The phone vibrated again, and a voice message popped up: "Sister Qu, do you miss me? The bayberries at home will be ripening soon, remember to come over!"

Qu He clicked her tongue and chuckled.

This little girl has a pretty good memory.

She pressed the voice call button, her voice unconsciously softening: "Of course I miss you."

After thinking for a moment, I added, "[The little bowls Xiaoxi made at the shop last time will be ready to pick up soon.]"

A cheer quickly came from the other end: "Really? Then Xi'er will have the driver come and get it!"

The little girl sent several voice messages in a row, enthusiastically sharing what had happened in the past few days with her. Qu He felt embarrassed to interrupt, so she put her phone aside and tidied her clothes.

"Sister Qu, I received a little red flower from Teacher Amy today!"

"Mom's new manicure is so sparkly, like stars, Xi'er wants one too..."

The audio played automatically one message at a time, and then suddenly stopped after a few messages.

Qu He picked up the phone and saw on the screen that the other party had retracted a voice message.

No wonder.

She waited a while longer, and seeing that there were no new messages coming in, she glanced at the time. It was almost nine o'clock, and she guessed that the girl was probably getting ready to go to sleep.

She was about to exit WeChat when a new message popped up in the chat box.

【Good evening. 】

Qu He smiled and pressed the voice message button: 【Goodnight.】

at the same time.

Beishan Villa.

Zhuangzhai.

Second-floor study.

"Uncle, what are you doing!"

Xiao Zhuangxi pouted and looked at her uncle with a displeased expression. Her eyes were full of dissatisfaction. She jumped up and down several times, trying to take the watch back from his hand.

"I haven't finished talking to Sister Qu yet! I just told her that I ate PADA's bayberry mochi today, why did you retract the message!"

Zhuang Xi stomped her foot in anger.

She finally managed to get Sister Qu's WeChat after pestering her uncle, but her watch was taken away after only a few words.

Zhuang Bieyan held up his watch with one hand and easily pressed down on his niece's frantically bobbing head with the other.

His gaze remained fixed on the watch screen, his voice calm and measured: "What did you agree to just now?"

Xiao Zhuangxi snorted before reluctantly saying, "I can't disturb Sister Qu's rest."

She was still young and couldn't type in pinyin. In order to let her sister Qu know that it was her, she asked her uncle to help send a friend request, on the condition that all chats had to be under his "supervision".

"I only said a few words," she muttered, still unwilling to give up. "Besides, Sister Qu replied very quickly."

Zhuang Bieyan glanced at the chat box on his watch and said calmly, "You can go back to sleep now."

Xiao Zhuangxi spread his chubby hand and said, "Then give me back my watch!"

Zhuang Bieyan finally shifted his gaze from his watch and looked down at Zhuang Xi, "Want me to keep playing?"

With a nimble flick of his wrist, he concealed the watch, leaning slightly forward: "I'll leave it with you here for today, and return it to you tomorrow morning."

"Aaaaaah! Uncle's bad!" Little Zhuangxi exclaimed in a panic, jumping up and down in a "street dance."

"The day after tomorrow." Zhuang Bieyan's expression remained unchanged.

Xiao Zhuangxi immediately wilted.

"...Uncle, I'm so sorry!"

Zhuang Bieyan glanced at her indifferently.

Zhuang Xi pouted her lips sadly, "Then I'm going to sleep, goodnight Uncle."

"Um."

The study door closed gently.

Zhuang Bieyan took out his watch and turned the screen back on. The last message in the chat box was "Goodnight," which he had just sent, followed by her voice reply.

He paused for a moment, then tapped lightly.

Goodnight.

The soft, gentle voice, with an upward-sweeping ending, was like a feather brushing against the heart.

Even through the screen, he could almost picture Qu He's smiling eyes.

Zhuang Bieyan's Adam's apple bobbed slightly as he unconsciously swiped the screen upwards.

Open the previous voice message.

I miss you too.

The same voice, the same tone, but with an even sweeter smile.

It floats lightly, like a breeze.

On a whim, he clicked on it and listened to it again.

In the quiet study, the same sound rang out for the third time.

"......."

Zhuang Bieyan looked at his watch and finally realized what he had just done.

He abruptly slammed the watch screen shut, shaking his head and chuckling softly.

"This is insane...."

He murmured to himself, raising his hand to rub his temples, but the restlessness in his chest just wouldn't subside.

Zhuang Bieyan unbuttoned the top button of his shirt, walked to the balcony, and took a deep breath.

The night breeze was faintly bright, but it couldn't dispel the restlessness in my heart.

He raised his hand to look at the children's watch in his palm, and gave a self-deprecating smile.

Self-control?

These two voice messages easily defeated me.

He ultimately didn't listen to it a fourth time; he just gripped his watch tightly.

...

The weather in the northern part of the city is unpredictable during the plum rain season.

After resting at home for two days, Qu He was fully recovered.

I took advantage of the shop's closure to meet up with Siyue for shopping and a meal.

Just as the two finished lunch, it started raining heavily outside, and a puddle formed at the entrance of the mall.

Just then, Qu He received a call from sales, saying that the tie she had ordered a month ago had arrived.

Two months ago, she ordered a tie for Qian Zhaoye as a birthday gift.

His birthday is less than a week away.

There's no longer any need to send it.

But the money has already been spent; 30,000 yuan doesn't come from thin air.

Qu He pulled Si Yue to the third-floor counter.

The saleswoman quickly came up to her, "Ms. Qu, the tie you ordered has finally arrived today."

Qu He smiled.

The sales assistant was exceptionally enthusiastic and quickly brought over the tie.

A month ago, she spotted this jacquard tie on the official website and immediately contacted the sales assistant to place a pre-order.

How readily she paid and how much she looked forward to it back then—that's how ironic it is now!

Si Yue muttered under her breath, "Is this what a 30,000 yuan tie looks like?"

She leaned closer to take a look, then whispered in Qu He's ear, "From a distance, this pattern looks like a spider web."

Qu He chuckled, looked away, and asked the saleswoman, "Can I return it?"

The sales clerk's eyes widened, but she quickly put on a professional smile again. "I'm sorry, Ms. Qu, but the store has a policy that returns are not accepted unless there is a quality issue with the product."

Thirty thousand yuan has gone down the drain.

Si Yue, standing beside him, looked pained.

Shop assistant: "Ms. Qu, you can also look at other items. If you find something you like, you can exchange it."

Qu He: "Okay."

She browsed around the store, but after a while, she still couldn't find anything she wanted.

I was just thinking of buying a bottle of perfume when I saw a brooch as I passed the glass counter in the jewelry section.

The shop assistant noticed her stop and quickly came over.

"Miss Qu, you have excellent taste. This brooch just arrived today."

She carefully took out the brooch, pushed it in front of Qu He, and began to introduce it.

"This brooch consists of two parts. As you can see, the outer ring is set with European-cut diamonds..."

Qu He's attention was not on the diamonds the shop assistant was talking about.

She just thought the brooches together looked like the letter Y.