61. Does it hurt?
“What do you mean?”
Jiang Zhi squinted her eyes, looking at Su Yan in confusion, while the front wheel of the electric scooter bumped forward symbolically.
Su Yan swallowed: “I haven’t eaten yet.”
“So?”
“Normally, there would be a celebratory banquet after our match, but I skipped it.” Su Yan scratched the back of his head.
“Mm-hmm?”
Jiang Zhi raised an eyebrow: “So what does that have to do with me?”
“What I’m trying to say is I skipped it for you and Qian Qian!” Su Yan declared: “What’s wrong with wanting to have a meal with my daughter?”
Actually, it was mainly for Qian Qian.
Jiang Zhi was a bit speechless: “Do you have to make such a big deal out of it? I didn’t say you were wrong…”
What kind of acting is this?
If he wants to have a meal with Qian Qian, he should just say he wants to have a meal with Qian Qian. There’s no need to drag in all this unnecessary stuff; she wouldn’t disagree.
After all, what reason does she have to stop them from having a meal?
Jiang Zhi suddenly thought of something and asked: “Wait, didn’t you say you’ve been very busy lately?”
“I still have time to eat.”
Or rather, that was the only time he had left to eat.
This year’s competition schedule was arranged by some genius, either so tight that it was suffocating or so loose that it led to boredom.
Recently, he belonged to the suffocating category.
After finishing up this competition period, there will be a long, long break, long enough that without the sudden appearance of a daughter, Su Yan had originally planned to travel around most of Huaguo.
But now that he had Qian Qian, it would definitely be different.
Although Su Yan didn’t quite know what he and Qian Qian could do together… maybe eat and play some games? It seemed like it didn’t need a reason for a father and daughter to be together.
Just like why Su Yan wanted to have a meal with Qian Qian.
Because he wanted to have a meal with Qian Qian, that was all.
Why did he want to have a meal with Qian Qian tonight?
Because he only had tonight, having skipped the celebratory banquet to finally have some time, and again, that was all.
Besides that, Su Yan wanted to make up for the regret of not having interacted much with Qian Qian last time at Jiang Zhi’s house. He felt like as her father, he should talk to Qian Qian about something, as for what to say…
Alright, he still didn’t know.
Sigh, why think so much about it?
He wasn’t being a father for the sake of being a father; just go with the flow.
First, let’s have the meal; he was really quite hungry right now, having subsisted only on bananas until the end of the matches.
“… Fine.”
Jiang Zhi hadn’t forgotten to ask the little girl for her opinion first: “So, what do you say? Do you want to go eat with your dad?”
“Yes!”
Su Ziqian readily agreed without a second thought.
She had long wanted her dad to take her to eat delicious food, because only her dad would take her to eat hamburgers, pizza, and steak—things she liked.
Not like Mom.
Mom always yelled that these were junk food and shouldn’t be eaten in excess, but Qian Qian hadn’t eaten too much at all!
Now, Jiang Zhi had no objections, reminding Su Yan: “Remember to let her drink more water, don’t let her eat those junk foods, and you must bring her back home before eleven. Are you listening to me, Su Yan?”
She sounded like a kindergarten teacher reprimanding a child.
Su Yan’s expression turned complicated: “No, sister, you may not have understood my meaning.”
“Our club has a rule that we can’t casually go to restaurants to eat during the competition; otherwise, there’ll be fines.”
Jiang Zhi suddenly had a bad premonition.
“So…”
Su Yan grinned: “How about I come over to your place for a meal?”
“…”
“Oh right, there’s another thing,” Su Yan added: “I sent my car for a wash, is it okay if I add one more to your car?”
Jiang Zhi: “Huh?”
————
“Can you move forward a bit?”
“Can you ride slower? I’m a little cold.”
“The moonlight is really beautiful tonight…”
Jiang Zhi abruptly slammed the brakes by the roadside, supporting her daughter who was squatting in front of her and wobbling, turning back to glare furiously at Su Yan.
“Can you be quiet for a moment?!”
“Aren’t I trying to ease the mood?”
Su Yan felt incredibly wronged: “Otherwise, wouldn’t it be awkward for a lone man and woman to sit in one vehicle under the dark sky?”
“You m…”
Jiang Zhi was at a loss for words.
She felt that Su Yan had a unique understanding of the world, just like his unique understanding of games.
Actually, she would have been grateful if he had just kept quiet.
Looking down at the dispirited Su Ziqian, Jiang Zhi asked doubtfully: “What’s wrong with you now?”
“Sitting like this is so tiring,” Qian Qian mumbled sweetly.
And also, her wish to eat shoe leather completely fell through; although having a meal with Dad was nice, she’d still rather have a hamburger than Mom’s cooking.
Mom used to make all sorts of delicious food for her.
Now all that was left was fried rice with eggs.
And it wasn’t even cooked well!
Jiang Zhi sighed in exasperation, not wanting to deal with this troublesome father-daughter duo, and turned the handle to move forward.
Su Yan kept complaining: “You really need to move forward; I’m almost squished to death here.”
Jiang Zhi pressed her lips together, scooted her butt forward a couple of inches.
“How about I ride?”
“No way!”
Jiang Zhi refused decisively.
Not for any other reason, she simply didn’t want Su Yan to experience the feeling she’d felt before when riding with Lin Shuwan—her back pressed against someone’s chest, and her heart pounding.
She didn’t want him to have that experience.
And she definitely didn’t want to be the one having that experience.
So there!
“But…” Su Yan wanted to say something.
“If you keep nagging, believe it or not, I’ll kick you out of the car?” Jiang Zhi cut him off angrily, not caring if Qian Qian was present.
Hearing that, Su Yan obediently zipped his mouth shut.
The cool wind generated by the speeding electric scooter felt particularly refreshing, even a little chilly. Su Yan instinctively tightened his jacket. Inside, he still wore the team uniform he hadn’t had time to change, which was still damp with sweat.
He didn’t dare to open his mouth.
Afraid of swallowing the wind.
Most importantly, he feared Jiang Zhi’s lively ponytail, swaying in the wind and sharply slapping against his face.
It hurt.
But together with the ponytail came the floral scent of jasmine shampoo, dissipating in the breeze and gathering at his nose.
Su Yan momentarily lost his focus.
“Daddy and Mommy.”
At this moment, Qian Qian curiously turned her head back, lifting her little face to ask: “Why doesn’t Daddy hold Mommy?”
She remembered that when their family would ride the electric scooter together, it was always Daddy riding, and Mommy sitting in the back, tightly holding Daddy around the waist, her face pressed closely against Daddy’s back.
And she would talk about things that Qian Qian couldn’t understand!
So mushy…
Jiang Zhi clicked her tongue internally; how could she ever do that?!
However, at that moment, two long fingers suddenly slipped around her waist.
“Hey, hey, what are you doing?!” Jiang Zhi immediately exploded.
The imagined embrace didn’t come; Su Yan’s hands precisely bypassed her and directly pinched Qian Qian’s chubby little face, as if kneading dough, left and right:
“Stop talking; if you say any more, your mom’s going to get angry.”
“Mm, I fell over…” the little girl protested indistinctly.
Jiang Zhi: …
“What were you just thinking about?” Su Yan’s voice, tinged with mischief, came from behind.
Jiang Zhi spoke sullenly: “I wasn’t thinking about anything.”
“So can you move forward a bit more?”
Su Yan withdrew his hand and flicked the wild ponytail to the left: “My face hurts; you might not believe me, but actually, quite a few fans are fans of my looks.”
“I’m just here to bother you!”
“What?!”
Suddenly, Jiang Zhi gave her head a flip, her high ponytail swinging straight into Su Yan’s face. The dark strands brushed his eyes, nose, and mouth, and she smiled: “Does it hurt?”
