"I take back what I said before! You little lunatic, I don't want to wait for you anymore!"

In the hotel room, Gu Qing, with her messy long hair, was lying on the bed, her head buried under the covers as she shouted.

"Enough with the nonsense!" Yan Feng grabbed a corner of the blanket and yanked it up, threatening, "I don't care if you wait for me or not, but everyone at the company is waiting for you to get up! Come on, stop sleeping! Get up now!"

Hearing this, Gu Qing didn't compromise. Instead, she doubled down, seizing the moment to roll over and wrap herself into a long caterpillar shape, leaving only her head exposed. Squinting her eyes, she grumbled:

"Not to be rude, you crazy man, but what on earth happened between you and that young girl? It's been almost a week, and you still don't want to go back home? You're here all the time, not even letting me sleep in..."

Yan Feng frowned, shaking her while scolding, "Don't change the subject. Whether I go back or not, you shouldn't be sleeping in. Get up now! There are contracts at the company waiting for your signature. Get up, get up!"

Just then, a vibration came from his pocket. He let go of the blanket, took out his phone, and saw it was a local unknown number.

A sense of foreboding washed over him. He hesitated for a moment but decided to answer it.

On the other end was a gentle female voice, brimming with barely contained excitement:

"Hello? Is this Chen Xi's parent?"

Hearing the name Chen Xi, Yan Feng's heart skipped a beat, fearing something might have happened to her. He quickly asked:

"Yes, it's me. Are you Teacher Liu? Did something happen to Little Xi at school?"

The voice on the other end paused for a moment, then continued, "No, no, parent, you're overthinking. What happened to Chen Xi isn't bad news. On the contrary... it's something that makes me, as a teacher, very happy..."

Yan Feng felt puzzled, but at least the weight in his heart was lifted, so he patiently listened to her continue.

"We have a small test almost every week, and just yesterday, when I was checking the scores, I found that Chen Xi had jumped from the bottom of the class to the top! She even got full marks in both math and physics!"

Upon hearing this, Yan Feng's eyes widened, and his mouth twitched uncontrollably, almost breaking into a smile.

But then he thought again, something didn't seem right. This improvement was too outrageous. Could it be...

Cheating?

With that thought, his expression darkened, but before he could apologize to the teacher on Chen Xi's behalf, he heard her continue:

"At first, none of the teachers in our office believed it, myself included, because Chen Xi's exam results this time ranked her in the top 10 out of over 2000 students in the whole school, which is just too extraordinary."

The voice on the other end seemed so excited that she was almost incoherent:

"This matter has even spread throughout the university. Our director got angry, came over and scolded me, then supervised Chen Xi, asking her to do a postgraduate entrance exam paper in person, and the result!!"

"What was the result!?"

Yan Feng's palms were already sweaty, his heart in his throat, as if the surprise was right in front of him, just one step away from being easily grasped.

However, at this moment, Chen Xi's homeroom teacher suddenly changed her tone, speaking urgently: "The result was that Chen Xi handed in a blank math paper!"

Yan Feng's mind buzzed, feeling a bit dizzy, almost falling over, barely steadying himself by holding onto the bed: "Sorry... Teacher Liu... Chen Xi is still young, sorry for the trouble, I apologize on her behalf..."

Before he could finish, he was interrupted again.

"No, no, no, parent, you might not have heard me out, sorry, I was just too excited," the other party swallowed hard, took a sip of water, and continued:

"Although the math paper was blank, in all other subjects except Chinese, Chen Xi scored full marks! Even her English essay was recognized by 90% of the English group teachers!"

"But there's one thing..."

The other party hesitated, then seemed to smile wryly as she said, "Despite the excellent results, Chen Xi handed in a blank math paper. When we asked her why... she said..."

At this point, the woman suddenly stopped, lowering her voice a bit, and chuckled over the phone:

"She said because she's my student, she couldn't stand the director's aggressive scolding of me, and since the director also teaches math... she handed in a blank math paper..."

Yan Feng: "..."

Explore the extended edition on pawread.com.

He hung up the phone...

By now, Gu Qing was already dressed, sitting on the bed looking at him, puzzled: "Hey, you little lunatic, what's wrong? You took a call and ended up like this. I've been dressed and waiting for you for ages, and you're just sitting there grinning like an idiot?"

Yan Feng suddenly turned his head, his eyes shining, his mouth twitching uncontrollably like an AK, and he asked eagerly: "Boss, can I discuss something with you?"

Sitting on the bed, Gu Qing was startled by his gaze, stammering:

"W-what is it?"

The man gave a charming smile and said seriously:

"Didn't you say you wanted to sleep in and complained about me staying here disturbing you? I thought about it, and it makes sense, so today I'm planning to take a day off and go back now, so you can continue to sleep in, boss!"

Gu Qing blinked, her not-so-bright little brain processing for a moment, then looked down at her already dressed clothes, glanced at the cold bed behind her, and finally fixed her gaze on Yan Feng:

"You little lunatic, are you really crazy!? I just got out of bed, and now you want me to go back to sleep!?"

…………

On the way home, Yan Feng was practically overjoyed.

He even felt a little like crying.

The surprise came so suddenly, like his daughter had finally made something of herself, and not just anything, but something truly remarkable, bringing a father's genuine joy.

Riding his little electric scooter, he couldn't stop grinning, showing off his white teeth like a fool, wanting the whole world to know there was good news in his family.

When good things happen, the spirit is lifted, and even the air feels fresher. At this moment, he felt more like a teenager, with none of the steadiness a mature man should have.

He even wanted to greet the passing dogs, and he actually did, though the dog ran faster than a rabbit, yelping in fright as it ran.

But Yan Feng was truly happy, very happy.

Until he reached the entrance of the neighborhood.

In that instant, memories flooded back like a tide. Yan Feng recalled the argument with Chen Xi a week ago, and the words she mimicked in Bai Xi's voice.

The smile on his face froze, slowly fading, turning into a sigh.

But to be fair, the young girl had achieved such excellent results, she must have put in a lot of effort. Even if it's just verbal, some reward is due.

Besides, he was genuinely happy.

So in the end... Yan Feng decided to give Chen Xi another chance, to have a good talk with her, because he still believed that the issues between them could be resolved.

At least for now, they could be resolved.