Qiao Wanqing didn't give Gu Yanqing a chance to speak and continued, "Most importantly, I don't like you either, so there's no need to try, right? President Gu wouldn't force himself to try with Miss Tan, right?"
"Yes," Gu Yanqing nodded, "It's reasonable, well-founded, and convincing."
Before Qiao Wanqing could catch her breath, Gu Yanqing said again, "So, Miss Qiao, you mean I can pursue Miss Qiao?"
"..." That seems to be correct.
Qiao Wanqing was truly exasperated with Gu Yanqing. With his looks and resources, what kind of woman couldn't he have? Why did he have to come to her and get rejected? Did she really have that much personal charm?
" President Gu, please don't waste your energy on me. There's no way I'll be with you," Qiao Wanqing said earnestly. "Like this, we can still be friends. If you want to visit Koukou, I won't refuse you. I might even entertain you. It's a good exchange of courtesy, isn't it? If you pursue me, I might not even let you into my house to avoid suspicion."
Gu Yanqing: "..."
Gu Yanqing hadn't expected her to refuse so decisively.
Feeling somewhat defeated after his first genuine attempt to be with someone was rejected, Young Master Gu exclaimed, "They won't even give me a chance?"
"Uh-huh."
"Okay." Gu Yanqing said readily, "Go on upstairs, get some rest, we still have to take the train tomorrow."
Gu Yanqing didn't linger and left, and Qiao Wanqing breathed a sigh of relief.
What a thrilling and terrifying night!
She really didn't like Gu Yanqing. Although he was very charming, domineering, and an exceptionally good man, she had no feelings for him.
Moreover, if she gets together with Gu Yanqing, she definitely won't accept Yuan Yuan as her child, trying to take him away from her own son. If that happens, and there's a scenario where the brothers turn against each other, and her own son becomes the villain who gives her experience points, then she'll have come all this way for nothing.
Gu Yanqing clearly likes Yuan Yuan very much. After his parents divorce, he definitely won't abandon him. When they disagree, Yuanyuan has the protagonist's halo, so he can't win.
I can't afford to mess with them, so I'll avoid them.
The next day, Gu Yanqing had arranged for a car to take her home, but Qiao Wanqing took the early bus home and didn't ask him to drive her.
After returning to Dongyang Village, Qiao Wanqing resumed her life of working at sunrise and resting at sunset. Gu Yanqing, after being rejected by her, indeed never came to see her again or contacted her, as if that night's confession was just a dream she had.
So, he really just acted on impulse.
He was drawn to her because she was so unique, unlike any other woman he had ever met. She followed a dramatic, unconventional path, initially praising her but then criticizing her, which sparked his intense interest in exploring her.
Qiao Wanqing didn't take the matter to heart. She had many things to consider, and she let go of everything she could.
As the weather gradually warmed up, the vegetarian restaurant's unfinished building was completed, and Qiao Wanqing began contacting a decoration company to carry out the renovation.
The houses here all have a uniform style of decoration: red brick houses with white tiles on the outside. They are usually three stories high with two windows on each floor, making them look like white, four-eyed monsters squatting there.
If Qiao Wanqing were to hire a local renovation team, given their skill level, they probably wouldn't be able to do anything particularly fancy; it would just be about the same.
Putting everything else aside, it's really ugly.
So after thinking it over, Qiao Wanqing contacted a renovation team from Linshui County to come and renovate her house. Although it was a bit more expensive, at least it wouldn't look so tacky.
Koukou grew very quickly. When he was almost 10 months old, people held his hands and helped him walk. He was already starting to understand how to take steps on his own. Sometimes, when he was in a good mood and people praised him a few times, he could take several more steps.
Unfortunately, the child is still quite clueless about the knack of walking. He usually tries his best to move his feet forward, but his body doesn't seem to know to move forward either, which is adorably silly.
"Mom--Mom." He took another step forward, but his body was still behind him, so he ended up leaning back, grinning foolishly at Qiao Wanqing, and awkwardly calling out "Mom."
He didn't understand what "Mom" meant, but Qiao Wanqing persevered in teaching him, and he learned that his mother would be very happy every time he called her by her accent, and he liked to say those two syllables the most when he saw her.
Qiao Wanqing smiled and lowered her head to kiss his chin.
Suddenly, Koukou raised its head, and Qiao Wanqing couldn't avoid it in time. Koukou's forehead bumped hard against her chin.
Qiao Wanqing winced in pain and quickly rubbed Koukou's forehead. "Did you hurt yourself, baby?"
His Koukou was clearly sore from the bump, and he pouted for a long time before finally bursting into tears after being held in Qiao Wanqing's arms.
"Baby, it doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt." Qiao Wanqing hugged him tenderly, Koukou and nuzzling him, but he wouldn't listen and cried even harder.
A lump also appeared on my forehead.
"What should we do? He's got such a big bump on his forehead." Qiao Wanqing looked at the bump on his forehead, unsure of what to do, and asked Grandma Qiao, "Would a band-aid help?"
But I don't think a band-aid is for this.
Grandma Qiao said, "Why don't you put some lard on it? That will make it stop hurting."
Applying lard? What kind of folk remedy is this?
Whether it will work or not is another matter, but it will definitely make my hair all oily. Qiao Wanqing said with a wry smile, "Never mind, it should go away in a bit, it's okay, right?"
It's not normal for children to bump and scrape themselves.
Koukou was being held by his mother. He had initially forgotten about the injury after being comforted a few times, but then he saw his mother talking to Grandma Qiao instead of comforting him. This made him cry more and more aggrieved, and he became increasingly addicted to crying until he couldn't stop at all.
She was crying and making "baba" sounds, acting like a child who had been wronged by her mother and was looking for her father.
Qiao Wanqing: "..."