Chapter 99: End of Heat, Summer Coolness (4k5)
More than a month ago, during the stalking blunder in the shopping mall, Xia Liang discovered some clues by calling "Cui Que's cell phone" on Lin Yun.
In order to avoid embarrassment and cover up the truth, Lin Yun explained that "he knew Cuiqiao and she left her phone at her home."
There are actually many contradictions behind this statement, but he had very little time to think at the time, and the situation was urgent, so he could not give a better explanation.
And now, when Xia Liang used almost the same method again and asked this question, Cuique knew: there was no room for explanation.
Even if she used the same trick to deceive, saying "Lin Yun left her phone at Cuique's house", she couldn't explain the logic behind this matter: Why did she take someone else's phone? If you want to make up for a lie, you need to use more lies to make up for the omission; if you want to conceal something, your behavior will be distorted.
Delphinium was not a professional speaker or liar. She did not want to invest too much energy into endlessly fabricating lies. So, she narrowed her eyes and sighed slowly:
"If you keep pursuing these things, you will be too willful."
She chose to give up the argument completely.
"About what?"
Xia Liang tilted his head while holding the phone, and said innocently, "I don't know what you are talking about, young senior?"
As soon as she finished speaking, she was hit hard on the forehead by Delphinium.
"It hurts!" Xia Liang immediately covered his head.
"You've already guessed it, why are you pretending?"
Cuique withdrew her hand helplessly, and looked at Xia Liang with drooping eyelids: "When did you start to notice this, kid?"
"Young senior, are you admitting it?" Xia Liang said in surprise, pressing his forehead.
"It has come to this, why don't you admit it?" Taking a few steps back, Kuizi leaned on the balcony railing. "Although it is a difficult thing to talk about, I won't cheat on a child."
"Hehe, that's good." Xia Liang let go of his hand that was covering his head, took two steps forward with a sly smile, lowered his voice again, and asked in Cuique's ear: "So, the 'Uncle Lin' I saw is really the same person as the young senior?"
Delphinium didn't reply.
She just looked at Xia Liang expressionlessly, then turned her head towards the balcony door.
The meaning of this action was very clear: let Xia Liang close the door first, so that the subsequent conversation would not be heard by Lin Xiaolu in the room.
Xia Liang quickly understood what she meant. She turned around and ran to close the balcony door very actively, then looked at Delphinium again with curious and inquiring eyes.
"...First tell me how you discovered it." Cuiqiao said with her eyes lowered.
"Does this count as me giving an acceptance speech?"
"You can think so, because I also want to understand your thinking." Delphinium said bluntly.
"Hmm... If you want to say when, it should be after the last phone call?"
Xia Liang tapped his chin and said thoughtfully, "I really didn't think about it in this direction at first. I just thought that you and Uncle Lin knew each other. After all, you also said that you and Xiaolu's mother were teammates before, so it's normal for you to know her father."
"But, last time, when that magical girl with claw marks attacked, you were the first to show up at Uncle Lin's workplace."
"Then I remembered what happened before, which Xiaolu also told me: On the day when Uncle Lin went to attend the parent-teacher meeting for her, the light rail tram encountered a disabled beast on the road. Was it also the young senior who dealt with the disabled beast that time?"
Delphinium's expression paused for a moment, then nodded: "Yes, but this still doesn't seem to be evidence. If it's just this extent, it can still be explained as 'there is a close connection between him and me'."
"But this is the second time, cell phone."
After hearing Cuiqiao's question, Xia Liang pointed at the other party's pocket and said, "If you and 'Uncle Lin' are really two different people, and you are in close contact with each other, so that you can rush to the scene as quickly as possible whenever a remnant beast appears... then there is no reason to leave the other party's phone here, causing the two of you to lose contact, right?"
"Just like you, little senior, were worried about our safety, so you asked Xiaolu to inform you if she found a crippled beast. If you and 'Uncle Lin' also have some kind of close relationship, even if you lost your phone with him, you would definitely retrieve it as soon as possible."
"There are many other suspicious points. For example, you and 'Uncle Lin' seem to have a close relationship, but your actions overlap. Hongsi and your sister also seem to be interested in 'Uncle Lin', but they have no opinion on your relationship..."
As she explained sentence by sentence, Delphinium's expression changed from helplessness to contemplation, and finally to calmness.
There was no sign of joy or anger in her calm expression, and no trace of personal emotion, which made Xia Liang, who originally had a sense of seeking credit, gradually become hesitant and even a little guilty.
"I know, but even at this point I'm still not sure. My guess is too weird, and it's probably just my own fantasy. So I took this opportunity to play a prank on you. I want to get the real answer from you, young senior."
After describing her thoughts, she saw that Delphinium still didn't say a word, so she could only bite the bullet and ask, "Did I make you angry by doing this?"
—Am I angry? Delphinium couldn't help asking herself.
Logically speaking, when something a person tries to hide is revealed by others, he or she will feel ashamed and annoyed to some extent, and feel that it is an offense to have his or her privacy pried into by others.
However, she didn't feel that way at all now. Rather than the shame of having her secret revealed, she felt more relieved after having put down a heavy burden.
After all, her original intention, what she really wanted to do, was never to deceive.
Thinking of this, Delphinium's gaze finally softened, and in the end, she closed her eyes.
The bits and pieces of information that they get to know each other day and night will always reveal some clues, and Xia Liang is indeed sensitive enough to extract the correct answer from a pile of clues.
"...Children who are too smart are sometimes disliked."
She commented softly.
"Hey, thanks for the compliment."
Seeing that Cuiqiao finally responded to him, Xia Liang smiled again: "But I don't want to be hated by the little senior yet. I will start to be a stupid child now. Can you please stop hating me?"
"It's enough that you don't hate me. Rather, I thought you would be very angry."
After opening her eyes again, Cuiqiao's eyes were clear: "After all, I actually lied to you. I just concealed it from you because I couldn't face the relationship between Xiaolu and me frankly."
"Besides, it's also weird that a man in his thirties is secretly a magical girl, right? Don't you find it disgusting that such an uncle would point fingers at you guys for being magical girls in front of your seniors as if nothing had happened?"
——"Huh?"
Hearing Cuiqiao's words, Xia Liang was a little stunned, then shook his head and said, "No?"
"I don't have the right to think others are disgusting, right? What's more, that person is a junior senior. You are the person I respect and rely on the most right now."
She walked to the balcony railing and stood next to Delphinium. "I am very aware of my bad nature. When I was a child, I failed to speak out to stop my parents' conflict for the sake of pure self-satisfaction. Because of these things, I gave up on myself and became a 'bad child' in the eyes of most people. Now that I have finally found my home in the magical girl team, I am still immersed in such desires, craving for more care and love."
"I am so ugly that I have no right to despise others for being disgusting."
She said as if she was sighing about something.
As Cuiqiao turned her gaze over, the two looked at each other for a moment, and then Xia Liang suddenly opened his arms.
"What?" Delphinium asked curiously.
"I want a hug." Xia Liang said with his arms open.
"Why?"
"Young senior, if you don't believe me, let me hug you to prove that I don't hate you."
"I already believe it. Don't do such a coy thing." Delphinium said with a face turned away.
"If you don't want to, I'll tell Xiaolu." Xia Liang pouted as if he was being upset.
Delphinium was speechless.
She looked up at Xia Liang, and couldn't help but look towards her room, only to see that the light was still on in the window, casting the shadow of Lin Xiaolu working at her desk.
"...Okay." She couldn't help but sigh again and opened her hands stiffly.
Xia Liang laughed with some secret joy.
She took two steps forward, bent down slightly, and then hugged Delphinium.
In late summer, during the Beginning of Autumn, the dry heat in the air is taken away by gusts of cool breeze. The nights are slightly chilly, and the breeze passes through the buildings and brushes across the small, low balcony.
The cicadas downstairs were chirping in a hoarse and low voice, and the cicadas on the trees were trying their best to make the last chirping sound of their lives, as if saying goodbye, saying goodbye to the last summer of their lives.
"...How about it, do you feel it? I don't hate you, little senior."
On the balcony, Xia Liang gently hugged Kuznetsura, his voice buzzing: "Even if 'Uncle Lin' is standing here now, this pure feeling is the same. Although in that case, I might not dare to hug you."
"Actually, you didn't need to be held here." Kumarajiva stood there motionless, her body a little stiff. "I said, I already believe you."
Xia Liang did not respond to this sentence, as if he did not hear it, or pretended not to hear it, and just hugged Cuique quietly for a while.
"Sure enough, I feel safe when I hold my little senior. He is cool, soft, and fragrant."
After maintaining this for a while, she suddenly said, "Actually, I wanted to ask you last time, what shampoo do you use for your hair, young senior?"
"…If you need, I can send you the brand of shampoo."
Delphinium looked blank: "I've been holding you for long enough, so can you let go now?"
"Can't."
Xia Liang also remained motionless and whispered, "It's better to say that right now, my heart is filled with a very ugly joy: because I feel that I have found the secret that the young senior is too ashamed to talk about. Now we have something in common, a common secret, and now we finally have a different relationship."
"I have to emphasize many times that I don't hate you, Senior. After all, it was you who pulled me back from the edge of the cliff. I just want to know more about you, Senior. I want to know more about you."
"Like I said before, I'm a child who lacks love, so please don't blame me for holding on so tightly."
"After all, if I don't do this, what I get will always be the leftover love from Xiaolu, which is like the leftovers."
"Although this is my ugly, insatiable greed, what I want is not the scraps, but the piece that belongs to me. It doesn't matter if the size doesn't change, as long as it belongs to me."
This time, Delphinium really didn't know how to respond.
Although Xia Liang's expression was very obscure, she could understand what Xia Liang meant.
The same things as Xiaolu, not the scraps, even if there are not so many. Cuiqiao can give Lin Xiaolu wholeheartedly, but it is difficult to share with Xia Liang, so naturally there is only one thing - family affection.
Xia Liang's request was tantamount to saying that she wanted him to treat her like a parent and hoped that he could treat her like his own children.
But because she understood, she couldn't speak. Rather, for the first time, she felt confused by Xia Liang's idea that crossed the line and was even stubborn.
This request was too abrupt and casual, while it should be a very serious matter.
She could understand Xia Liang's desire for family affection after losing her father and being coldly abandoned by her mother, but she never expected that she would make such a request at such a time.
If Cuiqiao was a very casual person and didn't care about the various responsibilities and ethical issues behind this request, then she could naturally agree to it casually and say that Xia Liang would be her adopted daughter in the future, and both parties would regard themselves as real child.
However, she is not that kind of person. She fully understands the importance of family and kinship, and she attaches great importance to them.
From being a senior of the magical girl to being a parent and child, the span of this relationship is too big, and the responsibility behind it is too heavy, so heavy that Delphinium was speechless.
Even with Lin Xiaolu, their only daughter, they had caused so many problems with each other. Could he really take on this responsibility?
After thinking for a long time, Cuiqiao pushed Xialiang's shoulder and the two separated from the hug.
"Think about it carefully. I need to think about it too."
She tried to keep her voice as soft as possible so as not to upset Xia Liang: "You are a very good and excellent child. I am very happy that you are willing to recognize me in this way. However, I don't want you to regret it in the future. I also hope that we can both be responsible for your future life, so don't make such a light decision."
"I already..." Xia Liang wanted to say something, but he saw Cuiqiao making a gesture to keep quiet and then shook his head.
"Today's time for being willful is over. You should remember that you should be willful in moderation." said Delphinium.
Xia Liang was stunned for a while, then shook his head and laughed helplessly: "Okay, let's talk about these things later."
"But I have another request."
Patting her face, she regained her spirit and looked at Kuei-ching seriously: "As the last act of a bad boy, although I didn't intend to tell Xiaolu, I want a hush money."
"What exactly?" Delphinium raised her head and folded her arms.
"Specifically, let's make an appointment on any day and -"
——"Ah, you are all here!"
Xia Liang was unable to finish his words because he was interrupted by a voice coming from the living room on the balcony.
Lin Xiaolu came from the living room in a rage, holding the test paper in her hand and wearing slippers. She then suddenly opened the balcony door and said, "You left me alone and are talking behind my back. I want to hear what you are saying too!"
Xia Liang could only stop talking, because this was not something that should be mentioned in front of Lin Xiaolu, so she chose to keep silent and looked at Cuique with a smile.
Delphinium knew what the other party meant. In just one night, this was the umpteenth time that she had the urge to sigh.
But at the moment, she was not ready to reveal the truth to Lin Xiaolu, so she had to droop her eyelids, and then said in unison with Xia Liang: "Nothing, we are talking about the topic."
This is yesterday's update, but I still can't finish it until now. There will be another chapter in the evening, which will be today's update. I will try to write as much as possible.
(End of this chapter)
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