If You Are a Dodder Flower

Part 61

"Why is he here?" Cao Yang questioned her once they were in the car.

Xia Rou responded, "His little sister lives in the dorm too."

It seemed like a very normal reason. Cao Yang couldn't speak further.

But he also remembered when Xia Rou and Liang Ziheng had looked at one another in the sunset... And later, when he had asked if there was something between them, she had shaken her head and even dragged him away. It was obvious that she didn't want him to have any contact with Liang Ziheng.

Cao Yang recalled the piece of paper he had shredded. His hands tightened on the steering wheel.

He didn't want to bring up Liang Ziheng again.

It was good. Xia Rou also did not want to mention him.

So neither party spoke of it. Translated by The Novelst

At a red light, he turned his head to look at her. Her arm was along the door, supporting her chin as she looked out the car window...

That same night, Lu Jialan had a stormy face.

Her mother had only one daughter and her father had passed early. Her mother cherished her deeply and though she later found a new, younger husband who wanted another child, her mother had refused for the sake of her only child.

"What happened? Who made our Jia Jia angry!" she smiled. "Did you fight with your roommates? Then don't stay in the dorms and come home instead. It's not too far."

"No, my roommates are good," Lu Jialan answered, the tips of her mouth still downturned.

Her mother asked, "Then what happened? Tell me!"

Lu Jialan poked at the rice in her bowl, thinking about how her cousin wanted to say a few things to Xia Rou so he let her go home by herself... her heart wasn't comfortable.

The things he had told her were all things she could understand. But still... it was hard to take all at once, so the uncomfortable feeling was still there.

She used her chopsticks to push her food around. She was still young, only eighteen to nineteen, so she couldn't hold back and began to complain, putting her chopsticks to the side. "It's all brother Liang Ziheng's fault..."

Then she spilled everything about Liang Ziheng taking a fancy to Xia Rou.

Regarding these matters, an adult could see more clearly, especially about members of their own family. Her mother said, "If that's the case, then you should get along with that Xia girl. Don't spoil your brother's plans."

Those things that her cousin brother told her, she could understand. But still...... in her heart, it was hard to digest all at once. Somehow the uncomfortable feeling was still there.

Between her nephew's plans and her daughter's temper, this woman was able to see the goal clearly.

Lu Jialan actually knew it already in her heart. It was just that she felt a little less uncomfortable after speaking it aloud. So she nodded. "I know, I'm not that silly."

Her mother used the chopsticks to nudge the bowl. "What's that girl called again?"

"Xia Rou!" Lu Jialan answered. She shared the surname with her stepfather.

"Xia... Rou...?" Her mother was puzzled. "Why does that name sound so familiar? Where have I heard it before?"

She thought about it for a moment but couldn't recall clearly.

Soon, November had arrived. The weather grew chilly.

The drama club began to rehearse for New Year's performance. Xia Rou was a newbie, so by all rights she should be doing miscellaneous chores during her first year: acting as a tree, or a mountain in the background.