Chapter 70: Why Aren’t You Smiling?

Gou Yu was carrying a backpack on both his front and back, and still had a suitcase in his hand, leading the way ahead like that.

Zhu Niao followed silently behind him, wearing that pale cyan long dress, holding the little cat obediently in her arms.

“Not there yet?” she asked.

“Still a bit further,” Gou Yu replied, struggling to move forward.

Although he didn’t know how his sister had managed to find out where he lived, his parents were still in the dark.

He absolutely couldn’t let whoever came to pick him up easily find his address. At least the search area had to be bigger.

That said, he reckoned if his parents really wanted to find him, they wouldn’t fail.

Finally, the two stopped at a secluded intersection.

“To be honest, I’m really starting to suspect you’re trying to kidnap me to become some mountain bandit’s wife,” Zhu Niao said, looking at the road stretching endlessly into the distance, flanked by emptiness and desolation.

Honestly, it was impressive Gou Yu managed to find such a place.

“Wait a bit. The agreed time is ten minutes from now; they should be here soon,” Gou Yu said, sitting down on the curb without caring about his image.

Carrying all this stuff had worn him out.

But Zhu Niao wouldn’t dare sit down—she didn’t want the carefully chosen long dress she was wearing to get a patch of dirt on the backside by the time she stood up.

So she crouched down and took the backpack hanging on Gou Yu’s back.

Gou Yu seemed about to grab the bag back to sling it over himself, but Zhu Niao gave him a sharp look that made his hand retreat.

He always seemed reluctant to let Zhu Niao get tired.

“I can’t exactly get on the car empty-handed with only a cat. What if the driver sees me? What would he think of me as a woman of bad character?” Zhu Niao poked Gou Yu’s head. “What if he gets the wrong idea?”

“He definitely wouldn’t think that,” Gou Yu said with certainty.

After all, today the driver sent by the family was coming; his father definitely wouldn’t show up.

The little cat was still curled up in Zhu Niao’s arms, nuzzling against her half-exposed, fair chest, drawing attention.

“By the way, where did you get that dress? I don’t remember ever seeing it before,” Gou Yu’s eyes slipped down Zhu Niao’s body again despite himself. “It looks pretty nice.”

“It was in the big employee gift box the store manager gave out. But the dress looks expensive and isn’t very stain-resistant. Who would wear something like this out on a daily basis?” Zhu Niao glanced down at her pale cyan long dress.

She had secretly worn it before, but this was the first time she wore it out to be seen.

Judging by Gou Yu’s reaction, she was quite pleased.

Pinching the comfortable fabric of her dress, Zhu Niao poked the cat’s belly in her arms.

Then, as if remembering something, she pulled out her phone.

“I saw myself on the Forum last night.”

She flipped through and found the post, moving closer to Gou Yu’s side.

Their heads pressed together as they squeezed in to look at the same phone screen.

Gou Yu’s hair wasn’t as soft as Zhu Niao’s; when he leaned in, it pricked her head a little.

Their eyes focused on the photo on the phone.

It showed Zhu Niao sitting by the inner side of the track, a sun hat shading her gaze as she looked repeatedly into the distance, seemingly waiting for someone.

The post was titled “The Beautiful Waiting Statue of the Campus Sports Meet.”

Not bad—it was actually quite fitting.

“This must be when you were running the hundred meters. I was watching from the side, and someone secretly took this photo.”

“I don’t think it’s a secret photo,” Gou Yu scrolled down, “Look at all these angles. It doesn’t look like sneaky shots. It looks like they were openly taking pictures of you.”

“Such ruthless candid shots,” Zhu Niao scrolled down further. “The most important part isn’t this. The original title of the post by the journalism department was [Shocking: A Girl Waiting Patiently at the Campus Sports Meet? Verified as the Top Campus Belle].”

A title more befitting of the poster’s professionalism.

But later, the title was changed through a bidding war in the comments.

It was changed by a user named [Xiao Yang What’s for Dinner Tonight]: suggesting to rename it as “The Campus Sports Meet’s Unique Waiting Statue.”

Yang Shuli’s phone, but the reply should be from Ye Qingchang.

“Looks like your roommate browses the Forum more diligently than you do.”

Zhu Niao was just annoyed.

Before she could complain further, Gou Yu suddenly raised his head.

A somewhat unfamiliar vehicle pulled up in front of them.

Zhu Niao was still dazed, but Gou Yu had already stood up.

A well-dressed driver in a suit stepped out hurriedly, taking Gou Yu’s suitcase and the backpack on his back.

Before Zhu Niao could react, those two items were already stuffed into the trunk.

Then the driver reached for the backpack Zhu Niao was carrying.

“No need, Uncle. I’ll do it myself,” the little bird tossed the cat in her arms onto Gou Yu and moved to put the bag in the trunk.

She shot Gou Yu a fierce glare.

Really, her own father was here helping carry things, and his son didn’t even lend a hand—just stood there watching.

Even an outsider knew to help out.

She’d have to find a chance to give Gou Yu a good scolding.

The unfamiliar car’s trunk and that raised emblem weren’t things Zhu Niao understood well.

Just like the license plates on the cars that usually picked her up—she barely recognized them.

When it came to cars, all she knew was: the flatter, the more expensive; the longer, the more expensive. Everything else was a mystery.

But the suited uncle firmly took the bag from Zhu Niao’s hands and securely placed it in the trunk.

“Let me do it, or else I might be out of a job,” he joked.

Zhu Niao blinked.

Was it really that serious to not help her daughter-in-law with the luggage? Was Gou Yu’s father just being too polite?

Come to think of it, who shows up to pick up their son and daughter-in-law in a suit? The last time she saw formal wear like this was at her second brother’s school opening banquet.

That meant the Gou family really cared about their son’s partner, huh?

Zhu Niao looked at Gou Yu again—this was the countless time since the car arrived that she looked at him.

The young man’s expression was calm, his head slightly raised as he looked at the branches of the trees across the street.

He wasn’t confident or scheming; he just felt screwed and couldn’t figure out how to explain the family situation.

The trunk closed automatically, catching Zhu Niao’s attention.

“Master and Miss, please get in the car,” the driver said, opening the rear door and bowing slightly to Gou Yu and Zhu Niao.

Inside, it was clean and neat—almost luxurious.

It really did seem like Gou Yu’s family was very attentive toward his partner.

“Haha, Uncle’s so funny,” Zhu Niao laughed, looking at Gou Yu beside her.

Gou Yu still wore the same deadpan expression.

“Why aren’t you smiling?”