Testing and Tugging

After dinner.

Zheng Yuan looked at Ning Qingcheng, who volunteered to help wash the dishes. The more she looked at her, the more her heart ached for the girl, and she hurriedly pushed her out of the kitchen.

"How can I let you do this? You're a guest. Hurry out and rest."

Lin Mo, however, wasn't having it. He grabbed Ning Qingcheng, pulled her back, and shoved her right next to the sink.

"Auntie Zheng, don't be so polite. She needs to learn how to be self-reliant. At my place, I also make her do chores. It's not about enslaving her; it's about teaching her basic life skills."

As Lin Mo spoke, he pulled Ning Qingcheng over to the sink.

Ning Qingcheng also chimed in, "Auntie Zheng, let me learn. I can learn to take care of myself too. No matter what, it will be useful for the future."

Hearing this, Zheng Yuan felt it made sense and stopped declining. She simply started a one-on-one teaching session, explaining everything in detail, from how to use dish soap to how to rinse the dishes clean.

Seeing this, Lin Mo quietly took credit in his heart, turned around, slipped back into the living room, and sank heavily into the sofa.

Xie Yuling hugged a throw pillow, shifted her position to quietly inch closer to him, and stared at him with a meaningful gaze.

"Whenever you come to my house, I've never made you wash the dishes. It's Qingcheng's first time here, and you've already dragged her to wash dishes."

"How is that the same?"

"How is it different?"

"When I come over to eat, I'm a guest. When she washes dishes, it's called family education. We have to mold her into a useful person for society," Lin Mo argued plausibly.

Xie Yuling was amused by his demeanor. She rolled her eyes at him and didn't press the topic further.

She adjusted her grip on the pillow and asked, seemingly casually, "By the way, your birthday is coming up, right? How do you plan to celebrate it?"

The topic shifted so quickly that Lin Mo almost failed to react.

"I'm not doing anything," he leaned back lazily. "I haven't celebrated it in years."

What was the point of a birthday alone? Even at his grandmother's house, he didn't celebrate it. There was no need to make his grandmother and cousin spend money on a birthday party.

Besides, buying a small cake and singing the birthday song to himself? That was just too pathetic.

Xie Yuling looked at him quietly. From his calm, rippleless eyes, she seemed to see a desolate past.

Finally, she just nodded and let out a soft "Oh."

Lin Mo truly didn't care about birthdays anymore. He now treated every day as if it were his birthday.

If he wanted cake, he could go buy the biggest one anytime; if he wanted to be happy, he would just do things that made him happy.

Did he really have to wait for a specific day to indulge in happiness? That was too boring.

He had it all figured out, but Xie Yuling didn't think the same way.

In the afternoon, the sunlight was just right. Lin Mo took Ning Qingcheng and bade farewell to head home.

After seeing them off, Xie Yuling returned to her room and sat on the edge of her bed for a long time.

Her mind was filled with Lin Mo's nonchalant yet faintly lonely expression when he said he wasn't doing anything for his birthday.

She pursed her lips, picked up her phone, and opened the long-silent three-person group chat.

Her fingertips hovered over the screen for a long time before she finally typed out a line of text.

"Lin Mo's birthday is coming up. He said he's not celebrating."

The message was sent out, sinking like a stone in the ocean.

The group was frighteningly quiet, as if the other two people didn't even exist.

Following that, Xie Yuling typed a few more words on the screen.

"If you guys don't care, then I'll just take him to my house to celebrate."

This message was like a pebble thrown into a calm lake, instantly stirring up ripples.

Chu Miaomiao: "Shocked Cat.jpg"

Jiang Yunlu replied almost instantly: "I don't think that's okay!"

Xie Yuling seemed to have expected this and unhurriedly typed her next line.

"Then how about this? Don't say I'm being unreasonable. Let's all go to Lin Mo's house together to celebrate his birthday. How does that sound?"

Chu Miaomiao: "Cat Biting Fingers.jpg"

Seeing this message, Jiang Yunlu's tense nerves relaxed slightly. Going to Lin Mo's house—she could accept this proposal.

Jiang Yunlu: "To that rented apartment? Sure, no problem."

She typed very fast, afraid that if she was a second late, Xie Yuling would change her mind.

However, Xie Yuling's next words made Jiang Yunlu's heart skip a beat.

Xie Yuling: "Not the rented apartment. It's Lin Mo's own house."

His own house?

On the other end, the light from Jiang Yunlu's phone screen reflected on her face, making her expression look dark and unreadable.

Her hand gripping the phone tightened unconsciously, her fingertips turning slightly white from the force.

Smart as she was, she almost immediately understood the hidden meaning behind Xie Yuling's words.

It was a show-off, a silent declaration of war.

She took a deep breath, her fingertips hovering over the keyboard, just about to press for details, when Chu Miaomiao beat her to it.

Smart as she was, she had already guessed what Xie Yuling wanted to say, but as she took a deep breath and was about to ask, Chu Miaomiao voluntarily sent a message.

Chu Miaomiao: "Ah? Where is Lin Mo's house? I don't know."

Jiang Yunlu breathed a sigh of relief. At least someone was asking this question in her place.

Right, she didn't know, and Chu Miaomiao didn't know either. That was normal!

But Xie Yuling clearly didn't plan on giving Jiang Yunlu any room to breathe.

"I know. I'll just take you guys there when the time comes."

Just as expected.

Jiang Yunlu felt as if her heart had been seized by an invisible hand, making it difficult to even breathe.

The fact that Xie Yuling could freely enter and exit Lin Mo's place had already made her uncomfortable enough, but now she even knew exactly where his real house was.

This feeling of being kept completely in the dark made her chest feel tight.

But she couldn't admit defeat.

Jiang Yunlu tried her best to keep her fingertips steady as she replied on her phone.

"Alright, then we'll go together. I'll prepare a gift and bring it over."

A gift!

This was her, Jiang Yunlu's, advantage! The resources she could mobilize and the surprises she could prepare were definitely not something an ordinary student could match.

This was her only way to claw back a victory!

On the other side, Xie Yuling looked at the word "gift" on her phone screen, the corners of her lips curling up soundlessly.

She casually locked her phone screen and tossed it aside.

A gift? For this day, she had been preparing for an entire summer vacation.

In this round, she would not lose.

Meanwhile.

At the same time, in another cozy room.

Chu Miaomiao was sitting cross-legged on a soft carpet, holding a little orange cat in her arms, gently rubbing its furry head stroke by stroke.

"Hajimi, oh Hajimi, your daddy's birthday is coming up. Mommy has prepared a super awesome gift for him, and he will definitely be super happy!"

As she spoke, she rubbed her cheek against the kitten's warm body, her eyes full of anticipation.

Three people, three different mindsets, all filled with absolute certainty of victory for the upcoming birthday.