Free Web NovelChapter 35: Chapter 35: Thank You, Dad
After evening study ended, Jiang Xia, in a bid to play matchmaker for those two goofballs, "coincidentally" ran into Lin Yanwan in the hallway.
After all, whenever he and Lin Yanwan were together, Shen Ying and Wang Ming would find an excuse to slip away. Whether they kept in touch after disappearing was anyone’s guess.
The two followed the stream of students leaving the school. Just as they were about to say goodbye and go their separate ways, a taxi parked by the roadside suddenly honked its horn.
Jiang Wende rolled down the window. ’I’ve been secretly watching them for a little while now,’ he thought. ’They walked out of the school gate side-by-side without saying a word. If you say they’re in a relationship, it doesn’t really look like it. Are they still in that shy, early stage of having a crush on each other? Or did the little lovebirds have a fight?’
’Nope, I have to grill him about this later.’
"Jiang Xia! Over here!"
Jiang Xia looked toward the voice and immediately spotted his old man.
"Dad, what are you doing here?"
"I just got off work and was in the neighborhood, so I swung by. Get in."
He froze for a second. He remembered how in his past life, back in high school, Jiang Wende would often drive him home just like this.
Jiang Xia glanced back at his wife. She stood there all alone, looking as if she’d been left out. ’But we’re supposed to be a family,’ he thought.
"Your dad’s here to pick you up, so I’ll head home now." Lin Yanwan forced a smile, an unexpected pang of disappointment striking her heart.
Jiang Wende glanced in the rearview mirror. ’The girl’s smile seems a little forced,’ he noted. ’And isn’t it a bit dangerous for her to go home alone this late at night?’
"Hey, what are you spacing out for, you brat? Hurry up and tell your classmate to get in."
Jiang Xia grinned at her. "You heard him. Dad wants to take you home."
Jiang Wende found this phrasing a little strange. ’Why does it sound like I’m this girl’s father, too?’ he wondered. ’Shouldn’t a normal person add the word "my" before "Dad"?’
"Huh?!"
Lin Yanwan blinked, her mood suddenly brightening.
"Thanks, Dad!" she blurted out.
Jiang Wende: "?"
Jiang Xia: "??"
The air fell silent. Lin Yanwan instantly realized what she’d said. Her face flushed beet red as she scrambled to explain, "No, I meant, thank you, sir."
’My face is burning up,’ she thought, feeling as if ants were crawling all over her skin. ’It’s over. I’m completely done for. I can never show my face in public again.’ freēwēbnovel.com
Jiang Wende’s expression was complex. ’Even though I know it was a slip of the tongue, for it to come out so naturally... she must practice saying that in private a lot, huh?’
’Does this mean these two kids have actually been secretly dating for a long time? Maybe they’re even at the stage of discussing marriage?’
Jiang Xia’s eyelid twitched. ’Useless, absolutely useless, wifey. My dad was just making a polite gesture, and you sold us out without any prompting? You’re really just going to throw me under the bus, huh?’
He pulled open the car door, slid into the passenger seat, and with a single casual sentence, managed to turn the tables and break the awkward tension. Killing two birds with one stone.
"Dad, didn’t you say this door was broken?"
Jiang Wende’s breath hitched. ’This little brat actually remembered that?’
’I should’ve just kept the door locked and made him get his butt in the back to sit with his girlfriend.’
"I had it fixed this afternoon," he said, fabricating an excuse.
Jiang Xia couldn’t help but pout. ’What a blatant lie.’
After buckling his seatbelt, he casually glanced in the rearview mirror. Lin Yanwan was huddled shyly behind his seat with her head down, as if trying to hide.
’This is just too embarrassing,’ she thought. The idea of having to face Mr. Jiang again in the future made her want to find a hole to crawl into and disappear.
Jiang Wende spoke up. "Young lady, you live in Jinxiu Hua City East Garden, is that right?"
"That’s right," Jiang Xia said.
Jiang Wende shot him a glare. "I wasn’t asking you."
"Yes, the East Garden," Lin Yanwan replied softly, her face still red.
The rest of the drive passed in silence. The taxi soon pulled up at Jinxiu Hua City East Garden. Lin Yanwan murmured a "Thank you, sir," and bolted from the car as if she were escaping.
Watching her flustered retreat, Jiang Xia was cackling internally. ’It’s a good thing they took my phone, or I’d be teasing her mercilessly on QQ right now.’
Finally, only the father and son remained in the car. The air was heavy with silence. Jiang Xia secretly clenched his fists, bracing himself for the impending interrogation from his dear old dad.
"Alright, fess up. What’s your relationship with that girl?" Jiang Wende turned onto a street with fewer traffic lights and started to cruise along slowly in first gear.
"Classmates," Jiang Xia stated firmly.
Jiang Wende slammed on the brakes and glared at him. "She called me ’Dad,’ and you’re still trying to sell me the ’classmates’ line? Do you really think you can fool your old man with such an obvious lie?"
"And the ’the door was broken but now it’s fixed’ lie didn’t fool your son, either," Jiang Xia muttered.
Jiang Wende was at a loss for words. ’Yep, that’s my son, all right,’ he thought. ’He even has the same smart mouth.’
The car started moving again, and his tone softened considerably.
"She’s the girl you walked home last night, isn’t she?"
"Yeah."
"What’s her name?"
"Lin Yanwan."
"Which class is she in?"
"Class 1."
"Are her grades any good?"
"She’s first in our year."
"Tsk. Just classmates? You’re five classes apart. Your school rankings are worlds apart. And you’re still ’just classmates’ who happen to walk to and from school together?"
Jiang Xia: "..."
"Dad, if you have something to say, just say it. Stop being so passive-aggressive and throwing shade at me."
Jiang Wende sat up straight and cleared his throat twice. "So, you two are dating, aren’t you." fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
"No," Jiang Xia denied emphatically.
"Not dating? Then why would she call me ’Dad’? And so affectionately, too! I bet it’s more than just dating. You’ve probably already planned on meeting the parents right after the college entrance exams."
Then, Jiang Wende’s tone shifted. "I just don’t get it. She’s pretty, polite, and her grades are fantastic. How on earth did she end up falling for *you*?"
Jiang Xia immediately took offense to that. What was that supposed to mean, "end up falling for *him*?"
’Doesn’t that just prove that in Lin Yanwan’s eyes, I’m the most outstanding man there is?’
"Dad, stick to the topic. Personal attacks are a crime, you know. Besides, you can’t get away with commenting on my looks. I got half my genes from Mom, and the other half from you."
"Why, you little..."
Jiang Wende exhaled heavily twice. "Come on, spit it out. You’re a grown man, don’t make me squeeze the information out of you bit by bit like toothpaste. If you don’t want your mother finding out about this, you’ll tell me everything, right now."
Jiang Xia sounded deeply wronged. "I already told you! We’re classmates and good friends."
"You’re really not dating?" Jiang Wende was still skeptical.
"No."
"Then why would she call me ’Dad’? Why haven’t you called her mother ’Mom’ yet?"
"..."
Jiang Xia was speechless. ’Because I actually have,’ he thought.
They kept talking in circles but could never get past that one point. Mainly, Jiang Xia couldn’t offer a reasonable explanation, so Jiang Wende remained firmly convinced that there was something special going on between the two of them.
"Son, I’m not trying to lecture you, but you’re old enough to understand. A crush at this age is just temporary. She’s first in your year; she can get into Tsinghua and Peking University. But can you? Long-distance relationships are the absolute worst. There’s no guarantee you two wouldn’t break up within the first year."
"Instead of putting in all this effort just to raise a wife for some other guy, you’d be better off studying hard now so you can find someone in college to spend the rest of your life with."
"Doesn’t that make sense?"
