She had thought there was something fishy about that mother and son back then. Sure enough!
But Tang Xiao and Fan Tian were clearly lovers, which meant Tang Xiao had been planning to scheme Fan Wei out of his money from the moment they reunited.
Fan Qing looked toward Fan Wei, who was some distance away busily pulling strings to get Fan Tian out, and shook her head.
A police officer came out to ask Tang Xiao and Fan Wei to come back inside. Looking at the people by the police station entrance, he politely told everyone, "You can all leave now."
Everyone answered perfunctorily, "Yes, we're leaving right away."
In reality, no one budged.
Please, this melon was so juicy. Why would they leave? What if they missed part of it?
Inside, the officer taking down their information asked, "What is your relationship to Qin Tian?"
Fan Wei asked blankly, "Who's Qin Tian?"
Tang Xiao, meanwhile, panicked for a moment.
[Hahahaha, didn't see that coming, did you? Fan Tian was just a fake name. One trip to the police station, and it would all come out.]
The officer explained patiently, "Fan Tian. His actual name is Qin Tian."
Fan Wei frowned and looked at Tang Xiao. "A-Xiao, didn't you say you'd loved me all along, and that you named A-Tian Fan Tian as soon as he was born? Why is his name Qin Tian? Were you lying to me?"
After all his years dominating the business world, Fan Wei had a ruthless streak. His gaze made Tang Xiao break out in a cold sweat.
Tang Xiao hurriedly clung to Fan Wei's arm. "How could I lie to you? Let me explain..."
Fan Wei waited for Tang Xiao to explain, only for her to be unable to get a single word out.
[Hahaha, Tang Xiao right now: come on, you useless mouth, say something!]
Everyone around them laughed, and Lin Tingyue glanced around in puzzlement.
[Huh? Is everyone this happy outside a police station?]
Coming to the police station wasn't necessarily fun, but eating melon was absolutely delightful.
Outside the police station, Wu Hai had sensed disaster the instant he saw Fan Wei. He took Qiao Mei's hand and prepared to leave.
But Qiao Mei refused to go. She asked, "Did you attend a wedding a while ago and serve as a groomsman?"
"Meimei, why are you suddenly asking about that..."
Qiao Mei stared into Wu Hai's eyes. "Just tell me. Yes or no?"
Wu Hai clenched
his hand and said, "No."
[Still lying???]
[Wait, when Wu Hai went to Fan Tian's wedding and served as his groomsman, didn't he see Tang Xiao?]
[Oh, so that's what happened. Fan Tian accidentally found out about Wu Hai and Tang Xiao's relationship once, and deliberately sent Wu Hai away before Tang Xiao arrived.]
[If he hadn't sent Wu Hai away, wouldn't that scene have turned into: my lover fell in love with my son?]
Everyone: "!!!"
Wu Hai said quietly, "Meimei, we can go home now..."
Before Wu Hai could finish, Qiao Mei slapped him. Trembling with anger, she said, "Wu Hai, you're still lying to me."
"Meimei, how could I lie to you? I might lie to anyone else, but never you."
Another police officer came out and walked straight toward Wu Hai, who was still at an impasse with Qiao Mei. "Mr. Wu Hai, correct? We have a case involving marital infidelity and need your cooperation."
Wu Hai's face instantly went pale. His lips trembled as he said, "I don't know. I don't know what you're talking about. I'm going home with my wife."
With that, he reached for Qiao Mei's hand.
Qiao Mei dodged him, then folded her arms. "Your male wife or your female wife?"
"Meimei..."
"I'm going to divorce you. My lawyer will contact you later. You should go find your male wife now, though it looks like your male wife has been arrested."
After saying this coldly, Qiao Mei picked up her bag and strode away.
[Aaaaah, so cool!]
Wu Hai tried to chase after Qiao Mei, but Tang Xiao came out and shoved him to the ground. Breaking down, Tang Xiao cried, "What sin did I commit to deserve this? My own son wouldn't even leave his mother's boyfriend alone."
"I'm the one who brought this on myself."
The thought that he had actually treated Tang Xiao's lover as his own son made Fan Wei feel like throwing up.
[Help, can someone go tell Fan Tian that his boyfriend is getting beaten up by his girlfriend?]
"Hahahahaha!"
Fan Qing laughed so hard she could barely straighten up, and Fan Wei finally noticed her.
He walked up to Fan Qing. "Qingqing, I know..."
Fan Qing ignored his hand entirely and linked arms with Bai Yaxin and Lin Tingyue. "Aunt Bai, can I come over and mooch a meal today?"
Bai Yaxin was happy to agree. Fan Wei had caused this mess himself, so he could sort it out himself instead of dragging Fan Qing into it.
Fan Qing followed Bai Yaxin into the car.
Having finished eating their melon, everyone dispersed. Only Wu Hai and Tang Xiao were still fighting.
"Wow, I'm so full."
Lin Tingyue held the fruit platter out to Fan Qing. "Qingqing, want some more fruit?"
Fan Qing speared a piece of fruit with her fork and took the opportunity to nuzzle Lin Tingyue's cheek. "Yueyue, you're so good to me."
Lin Tingyue looked proud. "I know I'm great."
Fan Qing: "..."
"Lin Tingyue, aren't you getting a little full of yourself?"
Fan Qing reached out, and the two began horsing around on the sofa.
Halfway through their tussle, Lin Xiawan came home.
Lin Tingyue pulled Fan Qing upright to sit properly. "Sister Xiawan, you're home so early today?"
"Mm, I had nothing else to do today, so I came home a little early."
"You're back, eldest miss. Have you eaten?" Mama Zhang asked.
"I have. Thank you, Mama Zhang."
Lin Xiawan looked at Lin Tingyue and Fan Qing. "Mom and Dad said you two went to the police station. Are you all right?"
As Lin Tingyue and Lin Xiawan's relationship improved day by day, Fan Qing stopped targeting Lin Xiawan too.
Fan Qing had only disliked Lin Xiawan because of Lin Tingyue in the first place. Now that the two were like real sisters, Fan Qing's relationship with Lin Xiawan naturally improved as well.
Lin Tingyue and Fan Qing answered in unison, "We're fine."
Fan Qing added with a beaming smile, "We even got to eat a huge melon."
Lin Xiawan raised her eyebrows, but just as Fan Qing was about to tell her about it, Fan Qing's mother called.
Fan Qing grabbed a piece of fruit between her teeth and ran off. "Yueyue, Sister Xiawan, see you next time."
"See you next time."
So Lin Tingyue ended up telling Lin Xiawan about the juicy melon instead.
Her vivid account tugged at Lin Xiawan's heart.
Lin Xiawan thought that occasionally eating melon with Lin Tingyue seemed rather nice.
"Oh, right, Tingyue, I bought two movie tickets. Would you like to come?"
Lin Tingyue's gaze gradually turned knowing. Lin Xiawan asked with a smile, "What is it?"
Lin Tingyue hugged Lin Xiawan's arm. "Sister Xiawan, why would you buy two movie tickets out of nowhere? You just wanted to go with me. No need to be embarrassed, Sister Xiawan~"
As she spoke, Lin Tingyue rubbed against the arm she was hugging.
Lin Xiawan's heart was almost softened to mush by all that nuzzling. She stroked Lin Tingyue's hanging hair. "All right, I bought them specifically to take you. Are you coming?"
"Of course I am! When are we leaving?" Lin Tingyue looked at Lin Xiawan expectantly.
"It starts at three this afternoon." Lin Xiawan glanced at her watch. "We need to leave now."
"So you came back especially to pick me up, right?"
Faced with such an adorable Lin Tingyue, Lin Xiawan nodded. "Yes."
Lin Tingyue was thoroughly satisfied.
It was almost six by the time the two came out of the movie, and they decided to get something to eat at the restaurant across from the cinema.
As soon as they entered, someone called Lin Xiawan's name.
"Lin Xiawan, what are you doing here?"
Lin Xiawan first explained to Lin Tingyue, "He's my classmate."
Only then did she tell Xiang Yuan, "I just finished watching a movie with my younger sister."
"Oh." Xiang Yuan looked at Lin Tingyue beside Lin Xiawan. "So this is your sister."
Their classmates knew a little about Lin Xiawan's family situation, and Xiang Yuan did too, but he clearly wasn't interested. He only asked whether Lin Xiawan wanted to sit with him.
Lin Xiawan declined, but their tables weren't far apart, so they could talk now and then.
Seeing Xiang Yuan staring fixedly at his phone, Lin Xiawan casually asked, "Still dating online?"
Xiang Yuan lifted his phone. "We're planning to meet in person tonight."
"Congratulations," Lin Xiawan said.
"Thanks," Xiang Yuan said with a smile. "Actually, my ex-girlfriend introduced me to this online partner. I should thank her. Who says you can't be friends after breaking up? We're doing just fine, aren't we? When I have time, I should invite her out for a meal with Xixi."
Xiang Yuan was confident tonight's meeting would be a success.
[Introduced by his ex-girlfriend? Dating online, and they're meeting in person tonight?]
Lin Tingyue picked up on the key elements.
[That just screams juicy melon. Let me look it up.]
[Oh, please wise up. Still being friends with your ex after breaking up? You won't even know how you died when the time comes.]
Huh? What was going on?
The onlookers grew curious. Was his ex-girlfriend deliberately deceiving him?
[This Xiang Yuan looks perfectly fine, but he's actually got serious overbearing dad energy and loves telling people what to do. His ex-girlfriend couldn't take it anymore and broke up with him. To get back at Xiang Yuan, she casually passed his contact information along to her ex-ex-boyfriend's dad.]
[Yep, that's right. Her ex-ex-boyfriend was great in every way, except his dad was just way too much of a dad, and he had a cross-dressing fetish too. After breaking up, his ex-girlfriend had a flash of inspiration and came up with this brilliant plan... Nothing could stump her. She's a genius. Isn't this just magic blasting against magic?]
[In that case, the person coming later wouldn't happen to be...]