Chapter 124 - Mike Qian's Lies

You can read the novel fast updates at novelhall.com or NovelTeam.Net

"Grandpa, you finally know to return my phone call," Edith complained as soon as the phone call was connected. She has been trying to reach her grandpa for a few days to tell him that she was coming back to Z Town during the school break, but the old man was out of reach. 

Mike Qian cleared his throat. "Sorry, I just came back from—"

"I know. You went fishing again," Edith said before her grandpa could finish his words. "Where did you go this time? I wasn't able to reach you for days."

"You know how it is when I was on the sea. There is no signal at all," Mike Qian said. "Don't worry too much. I am safe and sound."

"How can I not worry about you. The sea is too unpredictable and dangerous. Grandpa, if something happened to you I will have no one left."

Suddenly, there was a long uncomfortable silence between them. His heart grew soft as Mike was not expecting that his granddaughter would suddenly say something like that.

Of course, Mike understood her granddaughter's worry. After Edith's mother passed away, there were only two of them. Edith relied on him a lot and they were very close. If he was no longer around, then his granddaughter will be truly alone.

"Alright, I know. I'm sorry," Mike tried to coax his granddaughter. "I was wrong. Of course, you can worry about me. I am happy that you are worried about me." Mike Qian coughed a few times and spoke again. "Alright, why did you call me? Is there anything urgent?"

Edith heaved a long sigh when her grandfather tried to change the subject.

Back then, her grandfather was always busy juggling his time between his work as well as looking after her. He did not have enough time to manage himself or do anything that he liked.

Although she would always worry whenever her grandfather went to the sea, Edith knew well that she did not want to stop her grandfather from doing something that he really liked. 

"Grandpa, the school break will start next week. I am coming back to Z Town this weekend."

"You're coming back?" There was a hint of surprise in Mike's voice. "This weekend?"

"Un. Grandpa, I miss you. You will be at home right?" 

The grandfather and granddaughter chatted for a while and Mike finally promised that he will not be going to the sea when Edith came back to Z Town.

The phone call ended and Edith went back to the table where her friend, Lily was waiting for her along with Hazel and Alex. 

After the school session ended, Lily had asked her out for a cup of coffee. After texting her boss that she will be out for a while, Edith took Hazel and the four walked around the mall and finally decided to stop at a cafe.

"Finished with your call?" Lily asked as Edith slid into the seat beside Hazel. "Did your grandpa went fishing again?"

Edith rolled her eyes. "What else? I have to remind him not to go out on the sea every time I was going to return home."

Lily laughed upon seeing her friend's expression. "I really did not expect that Grandpa would be this addicted to fishing after his retirement." She turned to the two children at the table and noted that they both had finished their meal. "Alright. Let's go." She looked at Edith and asked, "Do you need me to send you back to your place?"

"It's alright," Edith declined. "Driver Tang will come over to pick us up." 

Lily stared at her friend as if she was thinking of something. She inched closer to Edith and whispered. "How is it going with your plan? Have you decided when you were going to carry out your plan?"

Edith glanced worriedly at Hazel. A breath of relief escaped her once she saw that the little girl was listening to Alex, chattering about some Gundam model.

"Of course I will say it on the last day of my contract," Edith blinked her eyes innocently. "That way, even if I got rejected in the end, I can avoid that person and not see him again until I was able to calm down."

"When did you became a coward?"

Edith clicked her tongue. "I just want to save myself from being embarrassed!"

The two friends argued for a while before Lily's husband called to say that he was waiting for her at the entrance. After saying their goodbyes, Edith brought Hazel along for a walk around the mall and the little girl continued to hold on to her hands tightly.

Edith halted as they were walking past a store. She stood outside and stared into the window display for a while.

"Teacher Qian, are we going in?" Hazel shook at her teacher's hand when she noticed that they have been standing in front of the store for a while.

Just as Edith was about to answer, the shop attendant appeared at the door with a polite smile. "Miss, come in. You can have a look around first and see if you can find anything you like."

Edith glanced at the fishing equipment in display and decided to walk in and take a look around as she still had a few minutes before Driver Tang was going to pick them up.

"Miss, tell me what you were looking for. I can help you to find it," the shop attendant spoke when he noticed that Edith has been looking around.

"I'm not sure what am I looking for," Edith flashed an apologetic smile to the man. "My grandfather loved fishing and I was thinking of finding something as a present. But I'm not sure what he liked or what type of fishing rod he usually uses."

"Hmm," the shop attendant looked around as if thinking of something. "If you're looking for something as a gift, I would suggest our T-shirts." He pointed at the row of apparel behind him. "Or, you can gift him a tackle box. They are very suitable as a gift."

Edith followed the man's gaze and peered at the box. There were plenty of small compartments and fish lure and hook inside.

"There are over three hundred accessories inside. I'm sure that your grandfather would love this gift."

Edith peeked at the price and thought that they were within her budget. After discussing with the shop attendant for a while, Edith asked the shop attendant to wrap it up.

As they waited, Edith and Hazel sat around at the counter and looked into the glass rack where there were a lot of pictures of fishes and equipment.

Hazel stared at the picture and was excited upon seeing the size of the fishes. They were almost as big as those fishes she had seen in the aquarium! 

They were looking around when a picture of the fishes caught her eyes. Swiftly, Edith took out her phone and browsed through her past messages with her grandfather. Her hand paused upon noticing that the picture was the same.

"Excuse me," Edith called the shop attendant and smiled. "But, where did you get the photo of this fish?" 

The shop attendant craned his neck to look at the photo. "This one?" His lips curled into a smile when he recognized the photo. "I recognized this one. This photo was from that famous fishing blog." He took out his phone, tapped his fingers on the screen, and showed the blog to Edith.

At the banner was a photo of a young man, posing with his biggest fish. The man blogged about his experience in fishing. As Edith browsed through the blog, she started to recognize that there were a few photos of the same fishes that her grandfather had sent to her not too long ago.

She had always known that her grandfather was not good at fishing. But at this moment, Edith could not understand why did her grandfather took some photos from a blog and send it to her, claiming that they were fishes that he had caught.. She could not understand why her grandfather wanted to lie to her.

Read novel fast updates at novelhall.com or NovelTeam.Net