CH 71

That evening, Qi Yanbai never got a definite answer from Lu Ye.

But the next morning, when he woke up, he unexpectedly found that the location tracking that was originally installed on Lu Ye’s phone had lit up on his screen at some point and had started running again.

The symbol representing Lu Ye’s location appeared once more on the map. It seemed to have covered a large part of the new district, with scattered traces that looked inconclusive. It meandered around and finally returned to the New District Sub-bureau.

The latest location had been at the sub-bureau office for over an hour. During this time, Lu Ye’s location signal never disappeared, and the location information was being transmitted back to the monitoring phone every ten minutes, filling an entire page of pending messages.

Qi Yanbai sat on the bed, staring at the densely packed real-time location display, almost feeling like he hadn’t woken up.

“What does this mean?” Qi Yanbai wondered, puzzled. Had Lu Ye forgiven him? Or was he trying to provoke him through this tracking?

As this thought crossed his mind, Qi Yanbai’s heart instinctively tightened, but then he felt that something was not right.

Lu Ye was a straightforward person. If he hadn’t forgiven him, he could continue the cold war without the need for sporadic tracking provocations. But even if Lu Ye had forgiven him, he wouldn’t want to be back under “surveillance” and would openly discuss the matter and establish ground rules, resetting all monitoring devices, and starting afresh without such ambiguity.

What was going on? Qi Yanbai wondered, or perhaps there was a malfunction in his phone, and the software had automatically turned on?

Qi Yanbai had known Lu Ye for a long time, and this was the first time he felt completely clueless. His thoughts were conflicted; on one hand, he believed there might be some hidden meaning in all of this, but on the other hand, he couldn’t help but harbor secret hopes that things were as he imagined.

Regardless, the possibility of “Lu Ye being willing to reconcile” was too tempting for Qi Yanbai. He held his phone, feeling like there was a cat scratching inside him, making him both sore and itchy, and he couldn’t sit still.

He subconsciously wanted to call Lu Ye to find out what was going on, but he was worried that the tracking had been unintentionally activated. A call might expose the fact that he was once again “peeking,” so he resisted the urge and locked the screen, lying on the bed and rolling around.

Qi Yanbai tried to control himself, but unfortunately, his self-control never worked with Lu Ye. In less than five minutes, he felt like he was covered in ants, restless and uncomfortable. He couldn’t help but get up from the bed, gritting his teeth as he opened the phone book.

They hadn’t spoken on the phone for half a month. When the call tone of the station’s phone rang for a moment, Qi Yanbai’s heart instinctively tightened, afraid that the next second, the voice on the other end would be one of Lu Ye’s colleagues or their office janitor.

But fortunately, this time, Lu Ye didn’t make him wait too long. After just a couple of rings, there was a soft click on the other end of the phone, followed by Lu Ye’s voice coming through the receiver, a casual “hello.”

It sounded noisy on the sub-bureau side, and Qi Yanbai couldn’t tell what was happening. He couldn’t gauge Lu Ye’s mood with just a casual greeting, so he cleared his throat cautiously and called out, “Lu Ye.”

“It seems like the temperature is dropping today, it might rain.” Qi Yanbai’s fingers tightened as he spoke, unconsciously gripping the phone. He continued in a natural tone, “Your autumn coat is still here, do you want me to bring it to you later?”

Qi Yanbai knew it was a lame excuse. Besides, Lu Ye was a grown man who would dress appropriately when going out. Even in their office, there were all kinds of strategic clothing, from training jackets to overcoats. There was no need for him to go all the way there to deliver it.

But Qi Yanbai also understood that with Lu Ye’s keenness, he probably already guessed that this call was a test. Since both parties were aware of the unspoken truth, the answer itself represented their attitudes.

If Lu Ye agreed, it would mean that his attitude had indeed warmed after last night. But if Lu Ye refused, it would indicate that he still held a grudge and didn’t want too much interaction with Qi Yanbai.

It was a clear-cut choice, but there was a brief silence on the other end of the phone, followed by an unexpected answer.

“Um, it does seem like it’s getting colder,” Lu Ye’s voice wavered, as if he glanced at his phone and then chuckled, “No need, I have to pick up Lu Mingming at noon anyway, I can pick it up from you on the way.”

Lu Ye seemed to have chosen a middle ground between option A and option B. Qi Yanbai was slightly stunned and almost didn’t react.

“Uh…?”

“What’s wrong?” Lu Ye knowingly asked, “Is it inconvenient?”

“Uh, no,” Qi Yanbai quickly regained his composure and forced a smile, saying, “It’s not, you can come by later.”

“Okay,” Lu Ye smiled and said, “see you later.”

…………………………….

Qi Yanbai spent the morning in this uncertain state and then later went to work, At the training center, when it was almost time for school to end, Qi Yanbai suddenly became nervous.

“Lu Mingming—”

The children were packing up their art supplies ready to head home. Lu Mingming heard Qi Yanbai’s voice, she looked up, blinked her eyes, and asked, “What’s wrong, Teacher Qi?”

“It’s nothing,” Qi Yanbai walked over to her and crouched down, helping her put the scattered brushes into her bag. He smiled nervously and said, “It’s just… your uncle is coming to pick you up today. Shall we go down together later?”

Lu Mingming was too young to remember her uncle’s emotional outburst and had long forgotten about it. She happily nodded at the news, reached out to grab Qi Yanbai’s hand, and held it.

As the students in the class started to line up and leave through the back door, Qi Yanbai, holding Lu Mingming’s hand, walked to the back of the line. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Qi Yanbai suddenly noticed that Lu Ye had arrived early and was leaning against the front desk, chatting with the receptionist.

“…It’s been a long time since you last came,” the receptionist chatted.

“Been busy with work, can’t help it,” Lu Ye replied with a smile. When he looked up, he happened to see Qi Yanbai  and Lu Mingming coming down the stairs.

“…Lu Ye, you’re here early,” Qi Yanbai called out.

“There were too many people upstairs,” Lu Ye said nonchalantly. “Ah yes, there were too many parents up there. I didn’t want to join the crowd.”

He casually took Lu Mingming’s school bag from her and then pulled out a pack of tissues from his pocket, handing it to Qi Yanbai.

“Wipe off your sweat,” Lu Ye teased. “I’m not running away, why are you in such a hurry?”

Qi Yanbai took the tissues but didn’t wipe off his sweat. He subconsciously clutched them in his hand, took a step forward, and stared into Lu Ye’s eyes, asking, “You won’t disappear again in the future? Will you?”

He looked genuinely desperate for an answer, and Lu Ye was so close that he could even see the flicker of joy and anticipation in Qi Yanbai’s eyes.

That kind of expectation was truly captivating. Lu Ye gazed at him in silence for a moment, then sighed helplessly, smiled, and reached out to wipe away the sweat from Qi Yanbai’s forehead.

“A few days ago, I was in the wrong,” Lu Ye said, looking away first and bending down to straighten Lu Mingming’s crooked collar.

“As adults, we can just say what’s on our minds. Cold wars are indeed unnecessary—too childish, and it also hurts your pride,” Lu Ye assured him. “You can rest assured, it won’t happen again.”

These words sounded like nothing special, but they also seemed a bit off. Qi Yanbai felt a slight unease rising in his heart and instinctively wanted to clarify things further.

But before he could speak, a hand suddenly reached over from the side and grabbed his hand without hesitation, vigorously shaking it up and down.

“Oh, Teacher Qi! I’ve been looking for you!” A middle-aged man dressed casually enthusiastically pulled Qi Yanbai and inserted himself in front of Lu Ye without any reservations. He eagerly said, “I’ve been asking at the front desk for a long time, but finally found you. I heard that your class is already full this year? Not to brag, but my son has exceptional talent. Would you consider opening up a spot for him?”

Qi Yanbai, who was usually a responsible teacher, although in a hurry, didn’t turn away parents with a cold face. He managed to respond with a forced smile and a couple of polite words. He was just about to turn back and talk to Lu Ye when he realized that Lu Ye had already taken Lu Mingming away, he didn’t know when.

During the after-school hours, training institutions were as chaotic as a vegetable market. Lu Ye slipped away like an eel, mingling in the crowd, and silently left the small courtyard.

Lu Mingming didn’t understand why he left in such a hurry. She was about to express her dissatisfaction that she didn’t have a chance to talk more with Teacher Qi. Suddenly, she felt a familiar presence in her peripheral vision.

“Uncle!” Lu Mingming looked over, excitedly pointing to the intersection. “It seems like my mom is here.”

Lu Ye followed her gaze and indeed saw a familiar car at the intersection. So, he chuckled and, carrying the child, walked to the side of the car, tapping the car window with his knuckles.

The car window was quickly rolled down, revealing Lu Wenyu’s face in the driver’s seat.

“Why did you come today?” Lu Ye asked with a smile.

“Just passing by.” Lu Wenyu took off her sunglasses, glanced at the direction Lu Ye had come from, and teased, “Did you two make up?”

“Half and half.” Lu Ye leaned against the car, raised an eyebrow at her, and for some reason, remembered something. He pursed his lips, chuckled lightly. ”We are close to being on the same page, there’s just one thing I need to do.”

Lu Wenyu could tell from his behavior that the two of them weren’t breaking up anytime soon. Seeing this, she breathed a sigh of relief and quipped, “Then take your time refining it. But remember fishing for confessions is against the rules, you know?”

“I know.” Lu Ye chuckled and said, “I have a plan.”

“Good then.” Lu Wenyu didn’t ask further and simply gestured, “Heading home? Want me to give you a ride?”

“No, thanks.” Lu Ye declined. “I’m going to the sub-bureau. I have some work to do this afternoon.”