Chapter 67: The Lu Family Convenes a Family Meeting in Response to Bai Qingxia

“Hey, hey, hey! What are you doing? Are you holding a grudge against your own son? Why are you cursing me?!”
Lu Yuanqiu scolded as he helped Su Xiaoya wipe away her tears, simultaneously patting his own pockets. Damn, he still hadn’t brought any tissues. He turned his head, only to find Bai Qingxia standing right beside him, her hands holding out some tissues.
The boy froze in his movements, stealing a glance at the girl for the first time.
Bai Qingxia’s eyes were rimmed red as she met his gaze. Lu Yuanqiu quickly looked away, his eyebrows furrowed. He continued to wipe Su Xiaoya’s tears in silence.
It took quite a while for Su Xiaoya to stop crying.
She glanced at the shopping bag nearby, hurried over, and struggled to lift it.
“Qingxia, I meant to give this to you from the start. Consider it a little gift for our first meeting—take it home and enjoy.”
Bai Qingxia quickly went to help Su Xiaoya set the bag on the ground, but then she took a few steps back and shook her head. “No, thank you.”
Su Xiaoya frowned, looking troubled. “Why not? I bought these for you, and they’re not expensive at all. Just a small token from me!”
But Bai Qingxia only shook her head, her small face resolute.
Lu Yuanqiu interjected, “Mom, you can barely carry it yourself. Did you really expect her to?”
Then he turned to Bai Qingxia. “Just pick out a few things you like and take them.”
Seeing that Bai Qingxia still didn’t move, Lu Yuanqiu glared at her. “Bai Qingxia, don’t be rude. If we tell you to, just take some.”
At her son’s harsh tone, Su Xiaoya instantly raised her hand and gave him a firm thump on the shoulder. “Why are you yelling? What’s with the shouting?!”
Lu Yuanqiu shrank away in surprise—this was the first time his beloved mother had ever hit him.
Watching Lu Yuanqiu being chased and scolded on the rooftop, Bai Qingxia grew anxious. She quickly crouched beside the shopping bag and randomly picked out two snacks.
“I’ve taken these! Just these two!”
The girl held up the snacks and looked up as she spoke.
Lu Yuanqiu and Su Xiaoya both turned to look at her. Su Xiaoya finally stopped what she was doing, shot her son a glare, and walked over to Bai Qingxia.
“Take a few more, won’t you?”
“No, I don’t really like snacks.”
Bai Qingxia quickly stood up, hugging the two boxes of cookies as she spoke to Su Xiaoya.
The latter sighed, looking conflicted.
Su Xiaoya wanted to talk more with Bai Qingxia, but she didn’t know what to say. She’d meant to offer comfort, yet she’d ended up crying more embarrassingly than the girl herself.
Lu Yuanqiu, sensing his mother’s thoughts, said to Bai Qingxia, “You go to the supermarket on your own today. I’ll take my mom home first.”
“All right.”

Bai Qingxia nodded immediately.
Su Xiaoya patted her son’s shoulder and called to Bai Qingxia, “I’ll give you a ride, so you don’t have to walk.”
...
In the garage.
Su Xiaoya pressed the car key. The black Toyota beeped twice. Lu Yuanqiu hurried to the back seat and opened the door for Bai Qingxia. The girl, looking tense, ducked inside.
When Lu Yuanqiu tried to get in too, she quickly shifted to make room for him, only to bump her head with a “thud” on the car roof.
She sat down, clutching her head.
Lu Yuanqiu was startled and immediately reached out to gently rub the spot where she’d hit herself. “Does it hurt?”
Bai Qingxia shook her head.
Only then did the boy withdraw his hand, giving her a glance before looking out the window, his expression clouded.
Su Xiaoya was silent as well.
The car was completely quiet.
Bai Qingxia sat with her legs pressed tightly together, her small hands resting on her knees. She carefully studied the car’s interior, then glanced at the door.
She didn’t know how to open the door from the inside...
But she was too shy to ask Lu Yuanqiu.
After the black Toyota drove out of the garage, it took less than ten minutes to reach the entrance of Four Seasons Fresh Market. Just as Bai Qingxia was about to reach for the car door, a hand beat her to it.
Lu Yuanqiu leaned over and opened the door for her. Only then did Bai Qingxia realize you had to press the handle first.
She got out, backpack slung over her shoulders, with Lu Yuanqiu following behind. Suddenly, Su Xiaoya’s voice called out from the car, “Tell your dad to get out here, it’s time for a family meeting!”
Lu Yuanqiu nodded. He was thinking the same thing.
Two minutes later, Lu Tian came trotting over, peering through the car window. “What’s up, honey? Why so serious?”
Noticing Su Xiaoya’s gloomy expression, he seemed to understand and turned to kick Lu Yuanqiu. “Failed another exam, huh? Embarrassed your mom again?”
Lu Yuanqiu clutched his backside and retorted angrily, “It’s not my damn fault! This time it’s not about me!”
Lu Tian was taken aback.
Su Xiaoya rarely got angry. If she was truly upset, it meant something serious had happened. At times like this, Lu Tian knew better than to argue with her.
He could only get into the car cautiously.
On the way home, Lu Tian tried to pry some information out of his son but found Lu Yuanqiu equally silent.

Lu Tian swallowed anxiously, then quickly pulled out his phone and deleted his chat history with the neighbor’s wife.
Though it was nothing more than a few brief messages about property management, it was the only contact he’d had with another woman recently.
Better safe than sorry—Su Xiaoya could blow this out of proportion.
When a woman’s angry, reason counts for nothing.
Once home,
Lu Yidong had already returned from school. She opened her bedroom door, clutching her stomach. “Mom, when’s dinner?”
Su Xiaoya pointed at the door. “Back to your room. This doesn’t concern you.”
Lu Yidong spun around and shut the door.
The living room fell silent. Su Xiaoya went to the balcony, grabbed a clothes hanger, and pointed it at her husband. “How much are you paying Qingxia?”
Lu Tian looked bewildered. “Three hundred a month.”
The extra two hundred was something Lu Yuanqiu had given on his own.
“Three hundred?!” Su Xiaoya burst out laughing in anger, smacking her husband hard on the shoulder with the hanger. “Three hundred isn’t even enough for our son to eat out once, and you’re only giving her that for a whole month?!”
“She knows the work isn’t hard, and the hours are short. It wouldn’t make sense to give her more.”
Lu Tian explained, then noticed the cluster of little red flowers pinned to his wife’s chest and asked curiously, “What’s that?”
Su Xiaoya said, “Never mind that for now. You old fool, you pay her so little and still make her do heavy work! Are you even human?”
Lu Tian, exasperated, pointed at Su Xiaoya and looked at his son. “See? This is your mom. As soon as she gets angry, she stops being reasonable.”
Lu Yuanqiu sat in his seat, head lowered, and spoke in a low voice. “Dad, Bai Qingxia doesn’t have a mother.”
“What?”
Lu Tian straightened in surprise.
Su Xiaoya’s nose tingled. She sat down with the clothes hanger, sighing. “I saw her today, all alone on the rooftop doing her homework. Does she always hide up there during parent-teacher meetings?”
“A girl that pretty... When she said her mother was gone, I swear my heart shattered.”
Lu Tian looked from his son to his wife, then stood up. “What exactly happened? Did her mother die recently, or has she been gone for a long time?”