Chi Xiuchuan's two simple sentences successfully got the tense mother and daughter to follow him.
Chi Xiuchuan led the mother and daughter to a pavilion in a secluded spot.
The surrounding plants and trees were lush.
Greenery flourished everywhere.
The pavilion had an old-world charm.
Even more unusually, it was very quiet.
Faint commotion could be heard in the distance.
In such surroundings, the mother and daughter both calmed down a little.
"...Mom."
The girl dug her fingers into the back of her hand.
"Who..."
"Told you about this?"
The girl couldn't stop thinking about that question.
She was determined to get an answer.
"Does it matter who?"
The girl's mom asked in return.
"Of course it matters—"
"Of course it matters!"
The girl answered with righteous conviction.
It mattered most of all.
She didn't want to hear anything else. She just wanted to know... who had been so tacky as to tell someone else's parent?
That was her secret.
Only she had the right to decide whether to tell anyone... and whom to tell...
It wasn't for some sneaky person she didn't even know to take it upon themselves to do something so unnecessary!
The girl's mom froze.
She pressed her lips together.
"We're not talking about that right now—"
"Then what are we talking about?"
The girl rudely cut her mom off.
"I want to talk about this."
"Tell me, who exactly told you?"
"What are you going to do?"
The girl's mom was getting annoyed by the questions.
"What do you want to do, knowing who told me?"
"They meant well."
"They didn't tell anyone else."
"They came all the way to our house to tell me in person."
"Tell me, what would happen if people found out about your situation?"