Chapter 56
Xie Yiyi nodded: "It can only be you, you'll see if you don't believe me." Saying this, Ying Jing took a step forward, getting closer to the baby who had just woken up and was playing with bubbles. The baby, who had been lying obediently, pouted when he saw Ying Jing. Seeing Ying Jing still approaching, he finally couldn't hold back and burst into tears.
Ying Jing could only retreat, helplessly spreading her hands: "You see, it's not that I don't want to take care of the child, it's that I simply can't."
Yoda had no choice but to accept his fate and scooped the baby up in his arms. The baby, who had been crying, reached out and placed his little hand on Yoda's neck; it was warm and comforting.
Thinking about the potential impact of Li Mi's actions on the baby's future life, Yoda was also stirred by a bit of youthful spirit. "So what should we do now?"
By now, Li Mi and the others must have gone far away. Looking at Xie Yiyi and Ying Jing's well-prepared appearance, Yoda asked, "Do you have any high-tech methods? Like putting a chip in his shoe to track him at any time?"
Xie Yiyi shook her head: "We're doing a family drama now, not a police thriller, okay? But we do have the most primitive methods."
Yoda asked curiously, "What methods?"
Xie Yiyi took out her phone: "Share navigation!"
Should I say it or not, Li Mi seemed to be on guard, but not entirely so. She remembered to delete her chat messages and even persuaded her parents to cover for her. But the most crucial thing—the navigation app—she shared an account with Xie Yiyi without a second thought. So cunning, yet she didn't quite understand.
Without any effort, even if they set off slowly, they were able to find Li Mi's location easily. The navigation clearly showed that his car had entered a residential area.
Yoda sat with the baby in the coffee shop across from the residential area. Yoda took out the binoculars from Xie Yiyi's equipment bag and watched as Xie Yiyi and Ying Jing, who were confident in their demeanor but timid in their actions, crept into the residential area.
Watching the two go inside, Yoda couldn't help but feel a chill, looking at the innocent baby in his arms. Holding the baby's chubby little hand and receiving an innocent, carefree smile, Yoda's heart melted.
"Baby, do you know what will happen when they go in? Auntie is a little worried."
What did they go in there for?
Yoda replied, "Well, this is catching someone in the act."
Only after saying that did she realize something was wrong. She turned around and saw Shi Xing. "Hey, you, why are you back?"
Yoda, holding the baby, subconsciously shrank back into the seat, looking somewhat guilty.
Shi Xing, who had subconsciously wanted to walk over, turned his toes to the side after seeing the baby and sat down opposite the two of them.
Yoda looked at Shi Xing without speaking, pretending that he hadn't said those words, and pressed on, "Hey, why are you back so soon?"
Shi Xing said, "The project over there doesn't require me to be on-site for the time being, so I came back first. You still haven't told me what they went in there for?"
Yoda glanced at Shi Xing's expectant expression, her eyes darting around. This was, after all, Xie Yiyi's private matter, and it seemed inconvenient to discuss it. Looking left and right, she saw Shi Xing still watching her, waiting for her reply. Yoda could only pick up the baby in her arms and abruptly interrupt the conversation: "Look how cute the baby is! If you hold out your hand, he'll even shake your hand!"
Shi Xing understood that whenever Yoda didn't want to talk and couldn't find a reason, he would use these little actions to cover it up.
However, Yoda's delaying tactics weren't entirely ineffective. The next second, Shi Xing's phone rang. He answered the call, glancing at Yura as he listened, and even nodded slightly.
Yoda felt uneasy under his gaze. After Shixing hung up the phone, Yoda couldn't help but ask, "Why were you staring at me like that?"
Shi Xing smiled and said, "I know why you're here. Come on, let's go inside together."
"Huh? Go in? Where to?" Yoda felt that he was more confused than he had been in the previous year.
Seeing Yoda's bewildered expression, Shi Xing didn't explain much, but simply said to Yoda, "Let's go, you'll find out what you want to know once we go inside."
Unable to get an answer, Yoda could only follow Shi Xing's lead, picking up the bewildered baby and following him. The two walked towards the residential area, one in front of the other. Once inside, Shi Xing seemed very familiar with the place. Yoda followed behind him, not having time to ask any questions, and watched as he turned left and right until they arrived at the outside of a house.
As soon as the door opened, Yoda saw Xie Yiyi and Ying Jing sitting on the sofa in the living room, surrounded by a group of people. Yoda had no idea what was going on and could only follow them in, completely bewildered.
Upon closer inspection, Yoda discovered the blind spot and couldn't help but laugh: "I know everyone here, hahaha."
Clearly, this discovery was not funny. Xie Yiyi's expression was serious as she said to Li Mi, "Alright, now that everyone's here, I'll give you a chance to explain."
In front of everyone, Li Mi took a deep breath and continued her earlier protest: "I didn't cheat on you at all. The reason I come out every Thursday is to walk the dog."
"Hahaha." Xie Yiyi laughed.
This statement was clearly not funny, because Yoda, who was about to join Xie Yiyi in an awkward laugh, noticed that everyone else remained silent and looked at Xie Yiyi and Li Mi.
Yoda withdrew the corners of his mouth that were about to turn up, and in a second switched to the same serious expression as the person next to him.
Only Shi Xing noticed Yoda's change, revealing a barely perceptible smile, before, just like Yoda, he continued watching the battle with a solemn expression.
Xie Yiyi's tone remained stiff: "Walking the dog? Do you take me for a child? You've never owned a dog before, and you're deleting messages, secretly contacting people, and even having someone cover for you." As she spoke, she looked around the room. "You really go all out."
Li Mi closed her eyes, as if making a difficult decision. She steeled herself and confessed to Xie Yiyi, "I'm sorry, I kept this from you, but it's really the only thing I've ever hidden. Actually, I was already raising a dog when I met you. But back then you said you were afraid of dogs. I was worried that if I told you I had a dog, you would distance yourself from me, so..."
Xie Yiyi sneered, "Oh, you've been keeping this a secret all these years. Li Mi, you're really something, making excuses and then fabricating stories out of thin air."
Xie Yiyi's tone clearly showed disbelief, but Li Mi took the first half of her sarcastic remark as an affirmation of him. Thinking about his years of concealment, he said with a bitter face, "Sigh, it's all thanks to the care of my parents and friends."
At first, he left the dog with his parents, but after Xie Yiyi became pregnant and gave birth, his parents had to come and take care of her, so they didn't have time to look after the dog anymore. Qu Xingye was his college roommate, and coincidentally, Qu Xingye owned a grassy field, which was perfect for walking the dog, so he had been asking Qu Xingye to take care of the dog.
However, Li Mi glanced at Qu Xingye, who gave her a helpless look, so Li Mi could only bite the bullet and continue explaining, "But, he can't raise him now."
Xie Yiyi watched Li Mi struggle to fabricate his story, but she wasn't in a hurry. Since the truth was already out in the open, she was just waiting to see how he would cover it up. Therefore, her tone was still skeptical, full of disbelief: "But what happened now?"
Li Mi: "His wife is also pregnant."
Lin Xiu, who had been sitting silently to the side, smiled slightly, her expression gentle. Yoda looked at Lin Xiu and smiled as well.
Yoda recognized the other person as soon as he entered, but the occasion just now was really inappropriate for a greeting. Now, hearing what Li Mi said, Yoda instantly realized that Lin Xiu and Qu Xingye were family. No wonder Qu Xingye always said that his wife was sleeping when they were decorating.
At this point, Yoda already believed Li Mi. After all, Lin Xiu himself was right there, and even if it was a lie, arranging all these people in such a short time wouldn't be easy. Yoda excitedly stepped forward: "They're all people I know. What Li Mi said must be true."
Xie Yiyi glanced at Yoda, then at Li Mi, still not quite believing it. After all, it's perfectly normal for men to cover for each other.
If it weren't for holding the baby, Yoda would have loved to whisper in Xie Yiyi's ear and recount how he met each of them. He would have used this to prove how accidental it was that these people came together, and that it couldn't possibly have been arranged by Li Mi with some kind of precognitive plan.
Yoda switched hands, trying to get Xie Yiyi's attention, but she had already turned her head away.
Shi Xing appeared beside Li Mi without him noticing and nudged him. Li Mi didn't react immediately, but his body instinctively went to Yoda and took the baby from him.
He earnestly explained, echoing Yoda's words, "That's right, that's right. Believe me, why would I lie to you? I only go out to walk the dog. They can't keep it now, so I had no choice but to ask Shi Xing for help."
After saying this, Qu Xingye and Li Mi both looked at Shi Xing. Shi Xing had no choice but to step forward and say, "Yes, I just got back, and they were in such a hurry to get me here, saying they wanted to give me a gift." At this point, Shi Xing rolled his eyes at Li Mi and Qu Xingye. If he had known it was about getting a dog, Shi Xing wouldn't have come.
After all, he's so busy every day that he can barely breathe, where would he find the energy to help someone take care of a dog?
Li Mi lowered his head to hide his guilt; he knew that if he directly asked Shi Xing to raise him, Shi Xing would definitely disagree. Qu Xingye pretended to be nonchalant and looked up because he knew Shi Xing would refuse, so the idea of calling him over first and then trying to persuade him was his.
After all, among his friends, only Shi Xing remained single and unmarried. In any case, he was more convenient than those of them who were married. But saying that now was pointless. Li Mi tried to widen his eyes, making his gaze and expression persuasive.
"Then why do you always delete WeChat messages right after you send them?" Looking at the baby Li Mi was holding, Xie Yiyi suppressed her emotions and softened her tone slightly.
Li Mi said with lingering fear, "Because I always felt like there was someone watching me from behind, but every time I turned around I couldn't see anything. It always gave me the creeps, so subconsciously I would delete the WeChat history every time I made an appointment with Qu Xingye."
Xie Yiyi: "Fine, you can delete the records. Now you can say whatever you want, since I can't check it anymore. Right?"
The back-and-forth questioning caused fine beads of sweat to appear on Li Mi's face. He couldn't explain himself anymore; if he didn't have something to hide, why would he delete the chat history? A cool breeze blew by, and Li Mi suddenly regained his composure.
Suddenly it occurred to me: "Sigh, I deleted mine, but Qu Xingye still has it."
Qu Xingye reluctantly took out his phone. Sure enough, Li Mi's messages to him were always the same, but each time they were only a few words long.
Qu Xingye: Come here.
Li Mi: Come here.
Qu Xingye: Come
Li Mi: Come
Qu Xingye:.
Li Mi:
Xie Yiyi frowned as she looked at the string of "come, come, come," which eventually turned into just some symbols and spaces. "What kind of Morse code are you sending? It doesn't look like you're trying to walk your dog."
The two had gotten into the habit of arranging a time to walk the dog every time they met, so the messages between them became increasingly brief, and looking at it now, it is indeed a bit hard to explain.
The two looked at Shi Xing, who had no choice but to take out his phone. It was filled with messages from Li Mi and Qu Xingye.
Li Mi: Come on, come on, I have a gift for you, you definitely won't regret it.
Qu Xingye: Yeah, come on.
Li Mi: Please, come on, come on.
Xie Yiyi keenly sensed something was wrong: "This only explains why Shi Xing is here, but it still doesn't mention the dog."
Li Mi, who was confident that she had solid evidence, was dumbfounded. "Huh?" She stared blankly at Shi Xing, who was helpless. He had only just found out himself and was powerless to help.
The scene fell silent for a moment. Ying Jing, who had been quietly observing the whole thing, spoke up calmly: "Since you say you've been sneaking around all this time just to keep a dog, then where is your dog?"
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