Chapter 80 Chapter 80 Unable to save myself
As soon as Qiao Zhuo came over, he saw the off-road vehicle outside. He didn't know where it came from, and the body of the vehicle was covered in dust.
He got off the motorcycle and suddenly his leg cramped, leaving a footprint on the car door.
When he looked up, Fan Quan was looking at him and smiling while holding a piece of dogtail grass in his mouth. He glared back at him, turned to the other side, and kicked the passenger door.
"Yohoo—three points!" Fan Quan whistled.
"You're crazy." Qiao Zhuo walked over. "Where's my niece?"
"Here." Lu Sa called him at the door of the room.
As Qiao Zhuo walked towards her, his eyes were looking around.
"Who are you looking at? Boss Tan went to the bathroom." Lu Sa said, "Your niece is here."
Qiao Zhuo coughed lightly and his eyes fell on her arms.
"Does it look good?" Fan Quan subconsciously wanted to put his arm around his shoulder, but when his arm was half raised, he suddenly turned and touched Lu Sa's face.
"What's wrong with you!" Lu Sa spat at him.
"My wife is so pretty, hehe."
Qiao Zhuoyi shuddered and pulled out a red bag from his pocket: "Qiao Yuyi gave it to me."
"I told you not to be polite." Lu Sa frowned.
"She's not the type to be polite," Qiao Zhuoyi said. "It's nothing valuable, just a small bracelet. She and Qin Yun went to the temple to pray for their three children, to keep them safe."
"Isn't this valuable? Old Fan, keep it well!" There were few people around Lu Sa who she could talk to in confidence, except Qiao Yuyi, who called her every now and then, which relieved a lot of her anxiety as a new mother.
She looked at Qiao Zhuoyi's wrist and said, "This red string looks like a delicate little gadget. Was it a gift from Boss Tan?"
Qiao Zhuo snorted, put his left hand behind his back, and lightly touched the child's chubby face with his right hand. He stroked it again and again and said curiously, "It's grown."
"It was the same with Yueyue and Lele back then. They changed after not seeing each other for a few days." Lu Sa turned and went into the room. "I was video chatting with your sister last night. She said you seemed to be in a bad mood recently?"
"Trick me?" Qiao Zhuo followed in.
"What am I trying to trick you into saying?" Lu Sa said, "The last time I saw you, you were full of energy, but today you look so cold that you're chilling my daughter."
Qiao Zhuo frowned: "What did he say to you?"
"Who is it?" Lu Sa blinked.
Qiao Zhuo was about to leave when Lu Sa stopped him with a smile, "You're leaving without the child? Go to the bedroom and wash your hands."
Qiao Zhuo curled his lips and walked over. Fan Quan followed behind him. He was a little impatient: "Why are you following me?"
Before he could finish his words, a strong force pushed him in.
Lu Salissuo pulled out the key and said with a smile outside the door: "Talk it out, don't fight. This is our new house——"
Fan Quan followed up by shouting, "If you want to destroy my new house, I'll never let you go!"
There was another sound of a door closing, and there was no more movement outside.
As soon as Qiao Zhuo walked in and smelled the familiar aroma of coffee, he knew he had been tricked. He kicked the person on the calf without any hesitation, retreated to the window and put his arms in his tucked-in clothes.
Tan Du limped over and raised his chin: "Stand there."
Boss Tan stopped obediently and called out softly, "Zhuo Yi."
"Don't yell." Qiao Zhuo said with a cold expression, "I'm not familiar with it."
"I'm an asshole. I changed the password without telling you. The delivery guy was coming that day, so I changed it temporarily. I thought I could change it back after they left. I didn't expect you to come over so suddenly."
Qiao Zhuo's eyes flashed: "Oh, my fault."
"No," the eloquent Boss Tan was also speechless, "blame it on me."
Qiao Zhuo gritted his teeth and ignored him.
Tan Du took a few steps forward, then stopped a meter away, took out his phone and handed it over. "Look, the password has been changed back."
Qiao Zhuo didn't want to watch it and forgot about the surveillance. His misconduct that day must have been seen clearly.
What kind of surveillance system was this invented? He crossed his arms and thought about confiscating this person’s permissions next time.
Tan Du took two steps back, his steps still unsteady. His injured wrist happened to be exposed to the sunlight, and his face, when he raised it, was covered in bruises.
Qiao Zhuo felt upset when he saw this, so he simply turned his face to the side and lowered his eyelids.
I've calmed down these past few days and realized there's something behind the password. Although this guy is a bastard, he wouldn't do such a shameless thing.
But he just couldn't help being angry. Take the Su Qi incident for example. If he had just sent a message to inform him, there wouldn't have been such a misunderstanding.
This incident made him realize clearly that he knew nothing about Tan Du's past. As long as the other party wanted to withdraw, close the coffee shop and leave, he would never be able to find him again, no matter where he went.
Tan Du was also panicking. He had done something stupid and made others sad.
Before coming here, he had been thinking about how to make people listen to his explanation calmly.
Later I figured it out. Why should he ask others to remain calm? He should just take the beatings and scoldings he deserves and just give him a chance to explain.
He looked at the side of Qiao Zhuo's face and thought he was staring at his legs, so he hurried to the bed and knocked his right calf hard on the foot of the bed.
"What's wrong with you?" Qiao Zhuo shouted angrily.
"Hmm?" Tan Du looked innocent. "Don't you mean symmetry?"
Qiao Zhuo gritted his teeth, wanting to crack the man's head open and see if he could. "Try pretending again?"
Tan Du held his forehead and said, "I misunderstood."
I've never seen such a stupid boss.
Qiao Zhuoyi was so angry that he laughed out loud, but he suppressed his laughter and said coldly, "If you have something to say, just let it go."
"I've taken care of it." Tan Du's eyes sparkled. "I won't make you worry like before."
There was silence.
Qiao Zhuo, waiting for nothing more, stared at him and asked, "Anything else?"
"I'm sorry." Tan Du said.
When Qiao Zhuo looked at him, it was like looking at a sponge. He squeezed out some water when he pressed it, but it was still wet when he let go. He felt angry and powerless.
"I won't take back what I said. Let's break up."
His patience ended there. He looked at Tan Du deeply, opened the window and jumped out.
Tan Du rushed over to grab him, and only breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that he had landed unharmed.
Without looking back, Qiao Zhuoyi walked through the path into the yard and got on his bike.
"Xiao Qiao?" Fan Quan rushed out after hearing the sound of a motorcycle, and the car had already rushed out.
"Damn, am I in trouble?" He turned and looked at his wife.
Lu Sa threw him the key: "Let Boss Tan out first."
"No need." Tan Du also came out, his shoes were covered in mud.
Lu Sa laughed: "You two jumped out of the window? I only have so many seedlings in my vegetable garden, and they destroyed them all?"
"Sorry." Tan Du hurried to chase after them, "I'll compensate you next time."
"Pooh, pooh, pooh..." Fan Quan took a breath of exhaust fumes and jumped to hide beside his wife.
Lu Sa said to him: "Who are you spitting at?"
Fan Quan immediately fell silent, grabbed her sleeve and said, "Wife, let's ignore them and go back to play with our daughter."
"Say that again?"
"Hold, hold my daughter..."
There are many small roads in this area, and off-road vehicles are not as good as motorcycles. No matter how fast Tan Du goes, after a few turns, he can no longer find Qiao Zhuoyi.
When he reached the fork in the road, he slowed down the car, tapped the steering wheel a few times with his slender fingers, and then made a decision, turning left and heading towards the old street.
Fortunately, I didn’t make a mistake in the bet, and the light was on.
Qiao Zhuoyi originally planned to go back to the villa directly, but when he remembered that the tattoo machine he was going to deliver to Xiang Yuan tomorrow was still in the store, he turned back.
"Zhuo Yi." Tan Du TD was waiting at the door with a familiar smile on his face. His eyes, without the cover of glasses, looked even clearer.
Qiao Zhuo frowned and said nothing.
"I'm sorry." Tan Du climbed two steps, and Qiao Zhuoyi also took two steps back: "Stand there."
He said solemnly: "Is the matter resolved?"
"Yes, it's all resolved."
"What if it can't be solved?" Qiao Zhuoyi asked calmly.
"No." Tan Du blurted out.
"Boss Tan is so confident." Qiao Zhuo sneered, "You think that if you have solved everything, you can stand in front of me with confidence, right?"
Tan Du didn't respond.
Qiao Zhuoyi asked, "Tan Du, I have a father like Qiao Tingjin, so you don't want me anymore?"
"Of course not." Tan Du replied immediately.
"I have such a bad temper, do you dislike me?" Qiao Zhuoyi asked again.
"……No."
"Why do you think I only like your good side?"
This question was like a heavy blow to Tan Du, peeling off his mask.
Yes, he just wanted to show his best side to Qiao Zhuoyi and hide his embarrassment.
Really.
Qiao Zhuo looked at his slightly trembling body and slowly loosened his clenched fists.
It was a painful process for a hidden wound to be exposed to the light of day. He had also considered just letting it go, that life was so short, he could just muddle through it. He had hidden it at the time, too, and didn't want to talk about it, but they were different.
He couldn't bear the thought that Tan Du would hurt himself.
What big thing in this world can't be solved by two people together?
He stretched out his arm. "This tattoo took me six months, on and off, to complete. It took three sessions to complete, and even now, it still needs touch-ups. Every piece of work involves countless strokes and erasures. I love my work, not just the finished product, but every single stroke I make. Do you understand?"
Tan Du listened to his analysis word by word, as if he was being peeled off layer by layer and standing naked in front of his lover.
The cut on his fingertip was healing and a little itchy. No matter how hard he pinched it, it wouldn't bleed. Such a shallow wound would heal naturally with time, but a scar as deep as the one on his forearm that was so deep that the bone was visible would stay with him for a lifetime.
Just like the past he didn't want to mention.
Having said this, Qiao Zhuoyi was also tired. He walked past him and walked out. His body was gilded by the light, which reminded Tan Du of the picture he had made for him.
Qiao Zhuoyi is the one who can save others.
Tan Du suddenly woke up.
He couldn't save himself.
He needs Qiao Zhuoyi.
The motorcycle disappeared at the entrance of the alley.
Tan Du stood at the door for a long time, until his body was frozen, then he walked to his car, took out the cigarette boxes, and threw them into the trash can along with his glasses.
He exhaled slowly, looked towards the second floor and smiled.
It would take time to fully confess his past, but he no longer needed these external things.
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The author has something to say: There is still one chapter to be adjusted, and it will be posted at 11 o'clock~
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