Chapter 189: Tongtong Grew a "Mustache

She thought Jiang Liu’s feelings for her were just so-so.

"Silly girl, you’ve always been more than ’just okay’ in my heart, you know? I really like you too. I care a great deal about both you and Tongtong."

Jiang Liu said seriously.

If at first, it was just pity and a bit of attraction.

By now, Jiang Liu had started to truly like Jun Qingmeng.

He felt it was necessary to make things clear with her.

So she wouldn’t keep being so awkwardly cautious all the time.

Tongtong covered her little mouth. ’Waaaah, Daddy, I care about you a super-duper lot, too!’

Jun Qingmeng’s mind went blank with a BUZZ, as if a string had snapped.

Her heart began to beat even faster.

’He likes me, too?!’

’It wasn’t a one-sided love after all...’

Jun Qingmeng felt that her love-addled brain was getting even more severe.

The two fell silent for a few seconds, both too embarrassed to continue the previous topic.

Jiang Liu turned and called out, "Tongtong, time to get up. We’re going home."

Tongtong pretended not to hear, a guilty conscience written all over her face.

Jiang Liu pressed the ignition button, and the engine shut off.

"Qingmeng, come on. Let’s not worry about her. We can take the mooncakes and go home to eat them ourselves."

"Okay. If a certain little sleepyhead loves to sleep, then we’ll just let her sleep."

Jun Qingmeng teased with a smile.

"Hmm? Are we home?"

Tongtong immediately rubbed her eyes and sat up, looking around.

Her acting was so natural; anyone else would have been completely fooled.

"You little rascal."

Jiang Liu went to the trunk, took out a pile of things, and loaded them onto a small trolley.

Jun Qingmeng offered to pull the trolley for Jiang Liu.

As someone who doted on her boyfriend,

she couldn’t let her boyfriend pull it all by himself. She had to take the initiative to share the load.

Tongtong insisted on hugging the mooncakes she’d been dreaming about.

After they got out of the elevator.

Jun Qingmeng said reluctantly, "You two go on ahead and wait for me. I have to go feed the little piggy at my place, then I’ll come right over."

She didn’t want to be separated from Jiang Liu, not even for a minute.

"Alright. You have your keys, right?"

"Yep! Right here!" Jun Qingmeng held up her keychain. Besides a few keys, it was adorned with a whole bunch of cartoon charms.

Jiang Liu’s gaze instantly locked onto one of the charms.

"Huh, that’s weird. I had a wolf charm just like that back in school, but I lost it running on the track."

"If you like it, you can... you can have it."

Jun Qingmeng bit her lip. She had picked it up after trailing behind Jiang Liu back then; it had been with her for several years.

"It’s okay." Jiang Liu shook his head, a faint smile playing on his lips. "If you like it, you should keep it. By the same token, if there’s anything of mine you like, just tell me, and I’ll give it to you."

In truth, Jiang Liu could tell at a glance that this was the very same charm he had lost all those years ago.

He clearly remembered using a drawing compass to poke two little holes in the hat of his wolf charm.

And Jun Qingmeng’s had them too.

Coupled with the fact that they went to the same school, there was no doubt it was his.

Jun Qingmeng nodded happily. "Okay! So if I ask you for something, you can’t say no, okay? I’m heading home now."

When Jun Qingmeng got home, she closed the door and took a deep, shuddering breath.

Her heart was still pounding from when he’d turned the tables and kissed her in the car.

It was all so exciting.

Hearing the noise, Guo Jia immediately took off her headphones. "My feeder’s back," she announced to her online teammates. "You guys play on without me."

With that, she ran out of her room, full of energy.

She came out just in time to see Jun Qingmeng clutching her chest, taking deep breaths.

Guo Jia walked over in concern, taking the bag from her. "What’s wrong, Mengmeng? Does your chest hurt?"

As she spoke, she glanced at the beef, potato, and mushroom soup in the bag and secretly gulped.

Jun Qingmeng’s heart was still trying to beat its way out of her chest. "Just now... I kissed Jiang Liu, and he didn’t reject me!"

"WHAT?!" Guo Jia looked up in shock. "For real? You kissed Jiang Liu? You made the first move?"

"Mhm!"

Jun Qingmeng nodded emphatically, trying to hide her lack of confidence. "I was the one who initiated it! Who else could it be, that blockhead kissing me?"

Guo Jia gave her a suspicious look, eyeing her from head to toe.

She even leaned in for a sniff.

"Hmm? What’s this? I smell lies. Don’t tell me you went in for a kiss and he turned the tables on you, huh?"

Jun Qingmeng reacted like a rabbit whose tail had just been stepped on.

She immediately clenched her fists and explained nervously, "Of course not! I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him. I was totally domineering! I was so forward he even blushed!"

If her best friend found out that Jiang Liu had turned the tables on her, she’d be teased about it for the rest of her life.

Guo Jia continued to eye Jun Qingmeng with suspicion.

"From the looks of it, I’m not buying it. Tsk, tsk. Just look at you—hair a mess, short of breath, ears as red as a baboon’s ass. You’re telling me *you* were the one putting the moves on Jiang Liu? Tsk, tsk. Unconvincing. Not a single bit of it is convincing."

She had already seen right through her wimpy, love-addled friend.

"Just give me the beef back! I don’t want you to have any now!"

Jun Qingmeng pouted like a grade-schooler, holding out her hand for the beef.

"Alright, alright, alright! You put the moves on Jiang Liu, okay? I believe you!"

"Hey, don’t snatch it, big sis! It was my mistake, I saw it all wrong. I was wrong, okay?"

A wise woman knows not to pick a losing battle. For the sake of the beef Jiang Liu had made, Guo Jia graciously admitted her mistake.

Only then did Jun Qingmeng huffily relent.

She went back to freshen up, changing into a matching parent-child outfit before heading over to Jiang Liu’s place.

The gift box on the table was open, revealing mooncakes of various colors inside.

"Qingmeng’s Mother, hurry and come eat mooncakes!"

Tongtong held up a rose-flavored mooncake, licking it excitedly.

Jun Qingmeng smiled. "Tongtong, you’re drooling all over it. Why aren’t you eating it?"

"Daddy said mooncakes are for the whole family to eat together. Since you weren’t here yet, I couldn’t eat it."

Jun Qingmeng walked over, dotingly scooped Tongtong into her arms, and booped her little nose. "Then let’s eat them with your daddy together!"

"Hehe, okay! After we eat, we’ll be a family, and we’ll never be apart!"

In the kitchen, Jiang Liu washed two bunches of grapes and a few figs.

The fridge was stuffed with fruit; if they didn’t eat it soon, it would go bad.

"Come on, let’s all have some fruit."

No sooner had he sat down

than Jun Qingmeng and Tongtong sat down on either side of him.

They both smelled wonderfully fragrant.

Jiang Liu put his left arm around Tongtong, and Jun Qingmeng leaned against him as well.

"Mooncake. Daddy, you have a bite."

Tongtong held up the mooncake she had bitten into a semicircle.

Jiang Liu took a bite and said in a deliberately dramatic tone, "Mmmm, why is this mooncake so delicious?"

"Hehe, that’s because Tongtong already ate some. That’s why it’s so yummy, right?"

"That’s right!"

Jun Qingmeng also offered Jiang Liu the five-kernel mooncake she had taken a bite from.

"I’ve already taken a bite. You don’t mind, do you?"

"I don’t mind. It’s delicious."

Jiang Liu took a bite.

He wasn’t a big fan of the candied orange peel in the five-kernel filling—the taste was a bit strange—but his mother loved it.

Jun Qingmeng was so happy her eyes curved into crescents.

It was adorable.

The three of them sat together, eating mooncakes and watching SpongeBob SquarePants.

Jiang Liu brought out some iced juice and a plate of salt-baked peanuts.

Tongtong was playing around, pressing the mouth of the juice bottle to her lips and sucking hard.

Jiang Liu glanced over and noticed a red ring around his daughter’s lips, making her look like a cartoon bear.

He instantly burst out laughing. "PFFT-HAHA, Tongtong, when did you grow a mustache?"

"Really?"

Tongtong was pleasantly surprised. ’Was she becoming a grown-up?’

"It’s real! It’s so cute! GIGGLE GIGGLE..." Jun Qingmeng covered her mouth, her shoulders shaking with laughter.

Without even putting on her shoes, Tongtong excitedly ran to the bathroom.