Chapter 136: Guilt

Xiao Jing: “… Fu*k you! Does that make any difference? Does it make any difference?!”

Tang Xi couldn’t help laughing when she heard Xiao Jing’s growl. Qiao Liang was just teasing him.

However, Qiao Liang didn’t feel guilty at all. He glanced at Tang Xi, intimately touched the tip of her nose and then replied to Xiao Jing, “There is a difference.” If Xiao Rou was not Tang Xi, he would not even look at Xiao Rou, no matter how beautiful she was.

Tang Xi held her chin in one hand, while her other hand was held by Qiao Liang. With a satisfied smile on her face, she said, “Stop it. I’m hungry. I’ll have to go home after the meal.”

Upon hearing that she was going home after the meal, Qiao Liang frowned. Tang Xi was going to explain to him why when her cell phone rang. She looked at the caller ID, showed her cell phone to Qiao Liang and then answered the phone. “Mom.”

Hearing Tang Xi’s voice, Yang Jingxian sounded relieved as she asked, “Rourou, where are you now? Why didn’t I see you at the school gate?”

Tang Xi curled her lip as she winked at Qiao Liang, grabbed her schoolbag and walked towards the outside. “I took a taxi and forgot to tell you. Please go home, Mom.”

Qiao Liang hung up the call with Xiao Jing unhappily, grabbed the hat and mask on the table to wear them, and then followed Tang Xi out to send her back. Looking at his unhappy face, Tang Xi couldn’t help saying, “I didn’t know that you would come to pick me up, and neither did I know that Mom would go over to do the same.”

Listening to Tang Xi’s explanation, Qiao Liang still drew a long face and continued to drive sullenly. Tang Xi looked at him and could not help recalling how he was when he was in Long Beach. She reached out to hold his hand and then said softly, “Don’t be angry, okay? I really didn’t know my mom went to pick me up.”

Qiao Liang took a look at Tang Xi and he didn’t wave away her hand, but he still looked angry as if saying: I’m in a bad mood. Don’t mess with me. Tang Xi sighed and asked tenderly, “Then what do you want me to do?”

“After you go back, find an excuse to sneak out and have dinner with me,” replied Qiao Liang, glancing at her. “You promised me.”

Tang Xi was afraid that she couldn’t do as he asked her, but when she looked into his eyes, she could not help nodding and saying, “Okay, then don’t be angry.”

Qiao Liang smiled secretly, looked at Tang Xi from the side and raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Yes, trust me!” Tang Xi looked at Qiao Liang with a smile, only to find that his face had changed so fast that she almost thought he had just been acting. It was a pity that he didn’t become an actor.

Qiao Liang gripped Tang Xi’s hand as he pulled over the car at the traffic light intersection, gazed at her and said in a low voice, “If you hadn’t become Xiao Rou, I would never have let you leave me. So Xixi, please understand me, okay?”

When he heard the news of her death, he thought that if he saw her again, he would never, ever let her leave him. He was not stealing her out of the Xiao Family because he was trying his best to control himself as he continued warning himself that if he did that, it would hurt her, so he didn’t impulsively confine her around him.

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Qiao Liang’s words stunned Tang Xi. She put his hand to her lips and kissed it softly through the mask, and her voice was slightly hoarse as she said, “I know. I know it has been really hard for you recently.”

At the time when her soul became weak, she returned to the place where she died and saw how sad he was, and then she saw how he was desperate in Long Beach, so how could she not understand him? Even she felt that she should be by his side all the time, but she could not do that now because she was not just Tang Xi; she was also Xiao Rou. She had to bear the responsibilities of both identities.

Besides, she owned 008. She could avenge herself with the help of 008, so she had to return to the capital and let those who murdered her get their due. Only after that could she stay with him without any burden.

When the green light came on, Qiao Liang started his car and sent Tang Xi back to the Xiao Family’s villa. Tang Xi took a look at the villa before kissing Qiao Liang’s cheek and saying softly, “Wait a minute. Remember to grab a bite, okay?”

Qiao Liang helped her unfasten the seat belt and Tang Xi got off to walk into the Xiao Family’s villa.

As soon as Tang Xi entered the villa, she met Xiao Yao at the entrance. His eyes were slightly sad as he looked at Qiao Liang’s car parked outside. A hint of embarrassment flashed through Tang Xi’s face, but she soon concealed it. She came over and greeted Xiao Yao with a smile. “Yao, why are you standing at the door?”

Xiao Yao withdrew his gaze and blinked to conceal the dimness in his eyes, then rubbed Tang Xi’s hair and said gently, “Grandpa called us this afternoon and asked us to visit the Yang Family. Mom went to pick you up but hasn’t come back yet, even though it’s almost been an hour. I was a bit worried, so I came out to have a look.”

Tang Xi’s heart sank when she heard that the whole family was going to the Yang Family. She blinked and looked at Xiao Yao, asking, “Grandpa’s home?”

Xiao Yao nodded and said emotionlessly, “When we were still in the hospital, Uncle asked us to visit Grandpa after we were discharged from the hospital. It’s been two days since we left the hospital, and Grandpa called us and said it was Friday and he wanted to invite us to visit his home.”

Tang Xi gaped. She had just promised Qiao Liang to have dinner with him, but now she had to go to Grandpa’s home. What should she do?!

From what she knew of him, he would certainly be angry. Once he was angry, he wouldn’t eat his meals, and then his health… Tang Xi thought it should be alright if he missed a meal?

But maybe he hadn’t eaten all day.

Tang Xi looked up at Xiao Yao, who smiled and returned into his room. “It’s been over two months since you went home, and Grandpa and Uncle want to meet you, so Mom agreed. We’ll all be going to the Yang Family for dinner tonight.”

Tang Xi was going to ask if she could stay at home, but she swallowed those words back at Xiao Yao’s explanation and nodded with a smile. “Okay, I understand. I’ll go upstairs to prepare. It’ll be my first time visiting Grandpa’s home, so I have to make a perfect impression on him.”

Xiao Yao nodded with a smile and watched Tang Xi go upstairs before glancing sideways through the floor-to-ceiling window. He could see a black car parking outside the villa. A dim gleam flickered in his eyes. You wanted to go out with him, didn’t you? He couldn’t help despising himself. Xiao Yao, when did you become so despicable?

After Tang Xi went upstairs, she called Qiao Liang, apologized to him and promised that she would never do this again. Qiao Liang coldly snorted in response and hung up the phone.

Tang Xi looked at the phone and then at the car that just drove away, feeling guilty…