When Lu Xiaoxiao finished dinner and returned to the Lu family home, the clock was pointing to eight.
Song Zhilan was in the living room watching a farming reality show, looking perfectly relaxed.
Lu Xiaoxiao glanced around and saw no one else, so she called out while changing her shoes, "Mom, is Jiaoyue in her room? I need to talk to her about something."
"Hmm? No, she's still at her lesson. Her piano teacher had something come up today, so her afternoon lesson got moved to the evening. She probably won't be home for another hour or so." Song Zhilan gave her a concerned look. "What is it, Xiaoxiao? Is it urgent?"
Lu Xiaoxiao hesitated before answering, "Oh... not really. I'll wait until she's free to talk to her, then."
"Oh, all right." Song Zhilan smiled and nodded. "You must be tired after being busy outside all day. Go get some rest! When your sister comes home, I'll tell her to go upstairs and find you."
"Okay, thanks, Mom!"
With the pleasantries out of the way, Lu Xiaoxiao went upstairs to her room.
She had planned to find Lu Jiaoyue as soon as she got home and sound her out about the things that seemed off, but since she wasn't here, she could only wait.
After her conversation with Gu Sipei that day, Lu Xiaoxiao had begun to harbor plenty of suspicions about Lu Jiaoyue. Once she calmed down, however, she felt there might still be some misunderstanding.
Whether emotionally or rationally, she found it hard to believe Lu Jiaoyue would deliberately hide anything from her. Given that girl's innocent, kind nature, she felt a mix-up was more likely, so even if she probed, she ought to do it gently.
With that in mind, Lu Xiaoxiao began working out how