Chapter 2573 — Lies Are Hard to Make Round

"So that's how it was!" Chen Xi nodded, and found herself believing Ying Ziyu's story—after all, Foreman Zhu often scavenged around the school, and Chen Xi knew that well. "Then I must go and thank Grandpa Zhu in person."

With that, Chen Xi made to get out of bed and go find Foreman Zhu. She was a very polite girl; if Foreman Zhu had helped carry her back, she certainly wasn't going to pretend she knew nothing about it.

"Ah? No—don't go!" Ying Ziyu nearly jumped out of her skin. Foreman Zhu was downstairs talking with Wei Zhao—where on earth would Chen Xi go looking for him?

"What is it, Ziyu-jie?" Chen Xi was startled by Ying Ziyu's alarm.

"Well… Grandpa Zhu has guests at his place…" Ying Ziyu said.

"Guests?" Chen Xi was all the more puzzled. She had known Foreman Zhu for years—how had she never heard that he had any friends at all? The only guests he ever seemed to have were herself and her mother. So Chen Xi assumed at once that it was her mother visiting Foreman Zhu's home, and said, "That's all right—guests or no guests, it won't stop me from thanking him! Ziyu-jie, I'll be back in a moment!"

Seeing Chen Xi about to leave, Ying Ziyu hurried to catch hold of her. "Don't go, don't go—Grandpa Zhu isn't home, he's downstairs talking to Wei Zhao… gah?"

In her fluster, Ying Ziyu let her tongue slip, and Wei Zhao's name came tumbling out…

"Wei Zhao-gege is here? Downstairs?" Chen Xi blinked and turned to look at Ying Ziyu.

"No, no, what I meant was—Grandpa Zhu is downstairs in the little grove, scavenging!" Ying Ziyu hastily corrected herself. Her hastily patched-together version even sounded rather similar.

"Grandpa Zhu is scavenging in the little grove downstairs?" Chen Xi's eyes went wide. "Downstairs… there's a little grove? There isn't even a grove in our compound, is there?"

"Ha, that was my mistake—I meant the little garden in the compound," Ying Ziyu explained.

"The little garden?" Chen Xi was more baffled than ever. "The property management company sends people to sweep the little garden every day—what would there be to scavenge?"

Chen Xi often went scavenging with Foreman Zhu, and she knew perfectly well whether anything could be picked up in the compound's little garden, so Ying Ziyu's words struck her as utterly absurd.

"That… I don't know either!" Ying Ziyu's head was spinning. She hadn't expected Chen Xi to be so hard to fool; had she known, she would have hidden nothing and simply said that Wei Zhao had come too and helped chase off Chen Xiaoba and his lot—that would have been the end of it. But it hadn't occurred to her before; she had been bent on simplifying matters, on covering up the violence. Now the lie grew harder and harder to make round—one lie told, and ten more needed to patch it up. What a nuisance! And in the end Ying Ziyu could no longer patch it up herself, and had no choice but to fall silent.

"Ziyu-jie, are you hiding something from me?" Doubt was creeping into Chen Xi's heart. She rose to her feet and started for the door. "I'll go out to the balcony and see for myself what Grandpa Zhu is up to."

"All right, all right, Xiao Xi! Don't go—I'll tell you the truth!" Seeing Chen Xi head for the balcony, Ying Ziyu knew the game was up. Wei Zhao's Grand Cherokee was parked right downstairs; Chen Xi would surely recognize it. Better to come out with it than let her see it for herself.

"Ziyu-jie? So you really were hiding something from me?" Chen Xi was astonished—she hadn't expected Ying Ziyu to actually lie to her.

"Ah—well, the truth is this: it was Wei Zhao-gege who saved us, who drove off Chen Xiaoba and his thugs. Otherwise, no matter how well I fight, I couldn't have taken on that many on my own!" Ying Ziyu explained. "Only, Wei Zhao-gege seemed to have some business with Grandpa Zhu, so Grandpa Zhu went to talk with him in his car. I was afraid that if Wei Zhao-gege came and you didn't get to see him, you'd be disappointed, so I didn't tell you…"

"Ah, so that's it…" Chen Xi's eyes dropped, and she did look a little disappointed. "He… doesn't like talking to me, then…"

"No, no, Xiao Xi, what are you thinking?" Ying Ziyu was caught somewhere between laughter and tears. "See? This is exactly why I said I wouldn't tell you—tell you, and you get disappointed! Actually, Wei Zhao-gege deliberately told me not to wake you. He saw that you've been short on sleep lately, and he especially instructed me to let you sleep a while longer—sleep until you woke up on your own! Now that's how much he cares about you!"

"Really?" Chen Xi had indeed been going out scavenging with Foreman Zhu most nights lately, and when she came back she still had homework to do, so she really was short on sleep—and Wei Zhao was a doctor, so it wasn't hard for him to see that.

"Of course it's true!" Ying Ziyu nodded. "And all the way here—you have no idea—it was Wei Zhao-gege who carried you so carefully. He was afraid of waking you, so he wouldn't even let us touch you. Being held in Wei Zhao-gege's arms—I'm green with envy!"

"Ah??" Chen Xi's little face went red at once; her earlier disappointment was swept clean away, and she was happy again. "Then why didn't you tell me, Ziyu-jie? I… I'm actually quite happy about it…"

"Heh heh heh, Xiao Xi's heart is all aflutter!" Ying Ziyu teased at the sight of Chen Xi's shyness. "But since you're awake and Wei Zhao-gege hasn't left, why don't you give him a call and have him come up?"

"Ah? Have Wei Zhao-gege come up? Me, call him?" Chen Xi was tempted, but she still said, "Isn't that a bit much? Wei Zhao-gege has already gone, and now I'd be calling him back…"

"He hasn't gone yet, has he? He left earlier because you weren't awake and he didn't know how long you'd sleep, so he went on ahead—but it's different now. You're awake!" Ying Ziyu said.

"That… still doesn't seem quite right, does it?" Chen Xi squirmed. "I… I'd be too embarrassed…"

"What's there to be embarrassed about?" Ying Ziyu frowned. "Xiao Xi, let me tell you—Wei Zhao-gege has beauties around him like clouds. If you don't make an effort and seize your chance, you'll be eliminated, and you'll regret it for the rest of your life! To put it bluntly—do you want to end up like Auntie, alone for a lifetime?"

"I… that…" Hearing Ying Ziyu's words, Chen Xi was suddenly at a loss, and full of worry. Yes—her mother had been lonely and wretched all her life, and she herself liked Wei Zhao. If in the end she couldn't be with Wei Zhao, would she end up just like her mother?