Chapter 34: Bindings

Tan Mo is slightly reticent, especially when it comes to speaking up about things she can't anticipate.

Even though he was nervous and confused he wanted to ask why.

Qiao Lan smiled, "I just quit my job at the western restaurant today."

Tan Mo gave an expressionless startled look before speaking, "... Why."

"I told you that I don't need you to help me, I didn't lie to you, you have helped me a lot, so much that I don't need to work part-time to go to school and live a good life. But finally decided to quit, or because of other reasons, you should also guess, is my family reasons, I'm not ready to go home, this morning also with the class teacher submitted the application for residence, probably another day or two will be able to complete."

Qiao Lan speaks slower than usual and is very specific and detailed.

"This card is my first half of the money saved, a total of 20,000 yuan a little more, if not unexpected, this will be my high school after two and a half years of reserve," said this smile, "do not think that little, every month five hundred dollars of living expenses, for the average high school student is completely enough, but there may be emergencies It's not enough, and if it isn't, I'll come to you."

Qiao Lan finally figured it out. Tan Mo is stubborn, and she's stubborn too.

Twenty thousand dollars, for her, is completely enough, so Qiao Lan doesn't think she'll really ask Tan Mo for money someday, but if she changes her words a little bit, so that Tan Mo is more willing to listen to it and accept it, just like now, saying that she is really in need of Tan Mo's help, then the deadlock before will be solved.

She looked up at the teenager seriously, "Tan Mo, you'll lend it to me, won't you."

Tan Mo's fingers clasped on the wheelchair tightened unconsciously little by little, and without thinking, he answered, "Of course."

"I knew you were the best", Qiao Lan's eyes curved in a smile, the teenager did not quarrel or make trouble, simple and sincere appearance, Qiao Lan always felt that the teenager in front of her was like a small child who was clueless but totally dependent on her, so she became even more patient, and her voice could not help but be softer.

"Now then, I'm going to give you this card, so you can regularly check if the balance on it is really enough to know if I'm really short of money, the password is ******, you're so good at memorizing numbers, you must be able to remember it in a flash."

In such a short time, Qiao Lan had said so much, and the amount of information in her words was so great that Tan Mo felt that she suddenly could not understand it all in a moment.

After hearing Qiao Lan say that he had resigned, Tan Mo felt that he was no longer angry at that time. Qiao Lan said that he didn't need his help but didn't need anyone's help, and this logical thinking made Tan Mo finally recede from the hurdle that he had been unable to get through in his heart.

Who would have thought that Qiao Lan would say those things after that.

She gave him a card, which she said was all her savings for the next two years.

Qiao Lan gave him all his savings for safekeeping.

Tan Mo looked down at the tiny card Qiao Lan had placed in his hand, his mind a jumbled mess of so many thoughts and indefensible emotions that he didn't know what to say.

In the midst of all those mixed emotions, what finally came to mind was an indescribable peace of mind.

Before, he thought that Qiao Lan didn't care about him deceiving him, but now that he thinks about it again, it's possible that there's really something wrong with his logic.

It was as if there was suddenly some substantial additional bond between them, and for a moment, it was as if they weren't afraid of anything.

He truly felt that he was needed.

Required by Qiao Lan.

Qiao Lan looked up and scrutinized the teenager's face, pale, still expressionless, but there was something different about those beautiful eyes, she raised her lips and smiled, but her mouth said, "The card was given to you why don't you say anything, are you still angry, or do you not want to help me keep it, if not then I'll take it..."

He said reaching out and pretending to take the card back.

The teenager gripped the card in his hand, "Mine," he said, looking steadily at Qiao Lan, "given to me, it's mine."

"Your your your," Qiao Lan stopped teasing him, "Then you must keep it safe for me and never lose it."

The teenager's eyes lit up with assurance, "No."

Qiao Lan couldn't help but smile again, suddenly wanting to reach out and touch Tan Mo's hair, but Tan Mo definitely didn't like it, so she stopped.

A while later Qiao Lan went out to help Aunt Chen clean up the kitchen, and Uncle Chen cautiously glanced into Tan Mo's room.

After all, from Tan Mo was born to take care of him, other people can not see how he can not see, although there is still no expression, but before the body of all the gloomy brain all gone, that pair of eyes bright as anything.

Uncle Chen was surprised.

He brought Qiao Lan to his home in order to let Qiao Lan think of ways to repair the relationship between the two, but also thought that if it was too difficult, he would have to find ways to push a little, after all, Qiao Lan is just a half a big doll.

As a result, not even ten minutes later, Tan Mo's whole body was like a blossom.

What did Qiao Lan say to Tan Mo?

Uncle Chen is curious.

Qiao Lan coaxed Tan Mo to come out and try to give Auntie Chen a hand, but Auntie Chen, being a person who can't be bothered, didn't ask Qiao Lan to do anything, but was busy asking around.

Inquire how Qiao Lan and Tan Mo met, ask Tan Mo how she is doing in school, and so on.

After Qiao Lan told her all, Auntie Chen didn't know that Tan Mo actually had other sides in school, and hearing Qiao Lan say that Tan Mo was especially smart and couldn't be bothered to ask him anything, she laughed even more happily.

Uncle Chen simply speechless, "You let the other two children talk, you a wife pulling the other little girl have what to say."

Qiao Lan laughed and said no such thing, but went to talk to Tan Mo anyway.

Tan Mo was reading a book, again in English, and when he heard Qiao Lan come in, Tan Mo got a little nervous.

Qiao Lan did not notice, she looked around Tan Mo's room, this is the largest bedroom in the room, a lot of space, including a balcony and an independent bathroom. In addition to the bed in the bedroom, a desk, and then next to the wall part of the bookcase was customized, no door, is a small grid, from the wall into the room until the balcony, all books.

Regardless of how many books Tan Mo has actually read, the collection is impressive enough.

Qiao Lan had just been too busy talking to Tan Mo to take a look at it, and only now did she marvel at it as an afterthought, and only after marveling at it did she go to the book Tan Mo was reading now.

"What is this", Qiao Lan asked.

"the Silk Roads", Tan Mo closed the book and handed it to Qiao Lan, and then added after a moment's thought, "It's a brand new history of the world by Peter Frankopan, a professor of history at the University of Oxford, which goes from Zhang Qian's passage through the Western Regions, Alexander's Eastern Expedition, the rise of the Roman Empire, the splendor of the Persian Empire, the Crusades to the Cold War, the war in the Middle East, and the war in Iraq. The Crusades have been written to the U.S.S.R. Cold War, the war in the Middle East, the war in Iraq, because it is a brand new general history of the Silk Road extended from China so the book is called the Silk Road, you want to read it."

Qiao Lan is quite interested in history, but even though she can pass the sixth grade in English, it's still too difficult for her to read this kind of book unimpeded.

Qiao Lan had the good sense to back off after a while, especially since there were so many unfamiliar words in it.

"Can't read it," Qiao Lan replied honestly, "when I speak better English..."

Before he could say anything, Tan Mo suddenly turned his wheelchair toward the bookshelf behind him. Qiao Lan was about to ask him what was wrong when Tan Mo pulled a book from the shelf and handed it to her.

The cover drawing is identical to the one Tan Mo is holding, except for the extra Chinese characters she is familiar with.

English translation.

Qiao Lan froze, thinking could Tan Mo also have to read against the places he could not understand, but no, Tan Mo stayed longer in the United States, English is better than Chinese, can read English and why deliberately buy the Chinese version?

Tan Mo hands her the books, "This set is for you."

Give... I ah.

Qiao Lan hugged the heavy book, "Aren't you going to read it?"

It was supposed to be for you.

Tan Mo heart.

At first, I thought the book was good, so I wanted Qiao Lan to read it, so I bought the English translation, but I didn't realize that so many things happened in the middle of the book, and the book was never sent out.

Now it's time to show Qiao Lan.

Uncle Chen came in and saw Tan Mo sitting in front of the table, Qiao Lan sitting on the side of the bed lying on the side of the table reading a book, the light is very suitable, not too bright and not too dark, although the two children did not say anything, but sitting together and quietly reading a book, but let the living almost sixty years of Uncle Chen's eyes a sour.

Only they know how heartbreaking it is to know that Tan Mo will always be alone once.

Qiao Lan doesn't have to work in a Western-style restaurant anymore. The pace of life suddenly slows down, and she suddenly has more time than she'd like.

The homeroom teacher said that the dormitory could be officially moved the day after tomorrow, so Qiao Lan stayed at Tan Mo's house for another night.

In the evening, Auntie Chen cooks, the old man is very good at it, Qiao Lan listens to the old man while eating, Tan Mo does not eat much, holding chopsticks in the bowl to draw a circle. Aunt Chen suddenly glanced at Tan Mo and smiled cheerfully, turning her head and Qiao Lan said, "Lanlan, I'll tell you a little secret about Momo."

"What," Qiao Lan wondered.

"Our Momo, when she gets nervous, she draws circles at the bottom of the bowl with her chopsticks."

Tan Mo, who was drawing circles in a daze, froze and immediately put down her chopsticks, and Qiao Lan and Auntie Chan, who happened to be witnessing the whole thing, laughed at the sight.

After reading world history for half the night, Qiao Lan's dreams at night were filled with maps, and when she went to school the next day, Tan Mo later brought breakfast that Auntie Chen had specially made for Qiao Lan.

Nutritious porridge, small fried dumplings and milk, plus a box of fruit.

Qiao Lan: ......

Still eating her breakfast with mixed emotions, she asked Tan Mo in a low voice, "Don't you feel heavy for bringing so much."

Tan Mo shook his head honestly, he was resting his book bag on his lap and he couldn't feel the weight as he couldn't feel his own legs.

Qiao Lan was half relaxed after hearing Tan Mo's words, and her mood was suddenly more complicated.

She looked down at Tan Mo's legs.

It was a minimum of courtesy to speak without revealing one's shortcomings. Tan Mo did not like people saying that he had mental problems, and he surely did not like people talking about his legs, so Qiao Lan would never take the initiative to mention these problems.

But now that Tan Mo himself has taken the initiative to mention it, Qiao Lan hesitates for a moment and asks him carefully, "Tan Mo, your leg, it's been almost a year since you were injured, right?"

Tan Mo was half offended and thought about it quite seriously, "One year, two months and fourteen days."

"Did the doctor say anything."

"I don't know", Tan Mo said, he didn't want to say anything about this aspect and would actually digress, "Is it good to eat, it's good to let Auntie Chen make some more tomorrow."

Qiao Lan : "... No need."

Pei Ning squeezed through again, having saved up a bunch of multiple choice questions to ask Qiao Lan, and saw Qiao Lan and Tan Mo talking as he walked over.

Pei Ning is clearly an introvert, an introvert who is only introverted to people he doesn't know well. To his dormitory mates, to his old classmate Qiao Lan, Pei Ning is not introverted at all, and even jokes about it.

Laughing, Qiao Lan and Tan Mo joked, "Are you two back to your honeymoon phase after the cold war?"

Qiao Lan: "......"

Tan Mo, who wasn't too happy about Pei Ning coming back, said, "!

Pei Ning was joking, but Tan Mo, who didn't understand the joke, was a bit dizzy by the too-close word, and her ears even started to burn again.

He wanted to say that was the wrong word to use, but didn't.

Looking up at Pei Ning, he suddenly felt that Pei Ning wasn't that unpleasant to look at anymore.

How did Pei Ning know that his words had caused Tan Mo to think so much? After he finished his question, he saw that the chair behind Qiao Lan was empty, so he casually sat down and talked to Qiao Lan.

"I heard you're going to live in school."

"Uh-huh."

"Why the sudden residency?"

Qiao Lan didn't need to be so clear with Pei Ning, so she dismissed Pei Ning with the words she used to dismiss her homeroom teacher, "It's convenient to study."

Pei Ning nodded approvingly, "It's much more convenient to live in the school, and I can still sleep a little more every day, I sleep until 6:20 every day."

Tan Mo, who was sitting on the sidelines without saying a word but heard everything, then remembered that Pei Ning was also living in the school.

Pei Ning was quite happy, "You should be assigned to Girls' Apartment 1, our Boys' Apartment 1 is right next to it, it's quite close..."

Tan Mo's just-relaxed body stiffened again.

Just now, I thought Pei Ning was finally looking better, but now that I look at her again, I feel that Pei Ning is even more annoying than before.

After Pei Ning finally left, Tan Mo sat in his seat for a long time, then suddenly turned his head and said to Qiao Lan, "You don't have to live in the school."

"Ah," Qiao Lan didn't react to why she suddenly said that, "What?"

"You can always stay at my house."

Qiao Lan snorted a laugh, "I'm not your family, what's the matter with staying at your house all the time, besides I'm staying at your house where Auntie Chen is staying, in the past two days Auntie Chen hasn't been able to sleep well at night, and you know it too."

Tan Mo subconsciously wanted to say that we could change to a bigger house, Qiao Lan added, "Accommodation isn't bitter, I've heard that our school's accommodation is very good, and living in school has its conveniences, like Pei Ning said, you can sleep a little bit more every day."

Tan Mo closes his mouth and doesn't speak.

He remembered eating at a table with Qiao Lan yesterday and reading at a table.

He also wants to continue to eat and read with Qiao Lan.

But he couldn't think of any way to convince Qiao Lan.

Before Tan Mo could think of a way to convince Qiao Lan, Qiao Lan, on her side, had already moved into the dormitory.

Because half of the first year of high school had already passed, Qiao Lan could not live with her classmates at this time, so her roommates all came from different classes and lived in the dormitory for two or three months, and then she had to move back to the dormitory again in the second year of high school when she was divided into different classes.

There were eight people in a dormitory, but the dormitory where Qiao Lan moved in had only three people in it, and it was still very empty, so when Qiao Lan went in, there were four people there.

Qiao Lan didn't go back to Qiao's family to get anything, she wouldn't leave anything of value at home, just a little bit of clothes and a few books.

It doesn't cost anything to dress a high school student, and now that it's getting warmer you don't have to wear thick clothes, buy a couple shirts online with short sleeves, etc., and you're all set.

The day we moved in was a weekend, and several girls from the dorm were there.

They are all first year students, even if some of them haven't seen Qiao Lan in person, but they have heard of Qiao Lan's name, after all, every exam is hung in the front of the grade ranking, the three girls in the same dormitory heard that the new roommate is Qiao Lan, and they are looking forward to it for a little while.

People will always have the first inertia thinking about students with good grades, for example, they will think that they may be nerds and may not be good at communicating with each other, not realizing that the girl with the best grades in the whole grade is actually exceptionally good at getting along with each other.

Qiao Lan is repulsed by many of her classmates, but she is fine with her new roommates, all of whom are fifteen or sixteen years old. After getting to know them for a few days, she feels that several of the girls are quite nice, and Qiao Lan is more and more satisfied with her stay at the school.

The only thing that was more troublesome was that the three girls asked her about Chen Yaoyang whenever they had time.

Is Chen Yaoyang very handsome, is he really just studying casually to do so well in the exams, is Chen Yaoyang in love with Song Yao...

"It is quite handsome."

"No, quite seriously."

"I don't know."

It was true that Qiao Lan didn't know anything about Chen Yaoyang, especially since both Chen Yaoyang and Song Yao had been seated far away from her lately.

A few girls asked almost everything they could, and seeing that Qiao Lan really didn't know, they were a little disappointed but didn't feel anything.

It is said that the most talked about in the boys' dormitory is the girls, the girls also like to discuss the boys, are love gossip love handsome age, gossip Chen Yaoyang can not, turn the head gossip to Tan Mo's body.

Everyone is interested in genius, especially when that genius is also surprisingly good looking.

One girl said, "Tan Mo is really good looking, I ran into him once and couldn't help staring at him for a long time, but he didn't seem to be happy, so I didn't dare to look at him again."

"Yeah yeah yeah, I'm kind of scared of him too."

"Qiao Lan, isn't Tan Mo really bad to get along with? I've heard so many people say that he's too smart so he can't even look at talking to other people..."

Qiao Lan this back to the spirit of a change in the previous gossip Chen Yaoyang look, quickly rebutted, "He is smart but actually very good to get along with, is a bit of recognition and do not like to talk, in fact, the character of super soft. He is not accustomed to someone too close, not hate the meaning, as long as a little patience and talk to him, is not too love to smile, so it will look a little fierce."

"Qiao Lan you're like a different person when you talk about Tan Mo", a girl laughed, "how do you know him so well."

"We're at the same table," Qiao Lan said, "of course I know."

People don't say that Tan Mo is crazy and Tan Mo is stupid anymore, but there are still very few people who dare to talk to Tan Mo and take the initiative to contact Tan Mo. As the girl just said, they are still a bit afraid of Tan Mo.

The word genius is something to look up to and something to stop.

Not to mention the fact that Tan Mo is naturally expressionless, so he always looks like a stranger.

Qiao Lan doesn't want people to always have misunderstanding about Tan Mo, he is a kind and simple boy, she wants other people to know Tan Mo's goodness and get close to him and like him.

I want Tan Mo to be able to talk, laugh and make friends like a normal person.

It was hard, but a little bit of work was a little bit of work, and seeing how the girls' impression of Tan Mo had changed, Qiao Lan was in a much better mood.

It's been a week since Qiao Lan stayed at school, and Qiao's father and Qiao's mother couldn't wait for Qiao Lan to come back, but before they could care where Qiao Lan went, something suddenly happened.

One afternoon, a student came to the restaurant, and Qiao's mother was quite happy to see that she knew these children, who were in Qiao Yuan's class and often came here, and Qiao's mother even gave them less money.

The kids came over often and had no qualms about talking to Qiao's mother. As they talked, Qiao's mother heard that something was wrong.

One of the children said that he envied Qiao Yuan because Qiao's father and Qiao's mother often gave Qiao Yuan pocket money, and gave him a lot of it. Qiao's father and Qiao's mother didn't think anything of it and were quite proud of themselves.

Then I heard the kid say they went to eat kebabs a while ago, and Qiao Yuan paid the bill with great bravado, and ended up spending nearly six hundred dollars.

A few children said face full of envy, are junior high school students, the hand can have a dozen dollars is quite good, Qiao Yuan directly can treat them to eat 600 yuan kebabs, that would be how cool ah.

But after all, he felt that he and Qiao Yuan were friends, so he didn't dare to say some things, such as Qiao Yuan invited them to eat kebabs, mainly because he wanted to treat a girl in his class, who was quite pretty.

This kind of thing, all children consciously keep secret, will never tell their parents, but boast Qiao's father Qiao's mother pain Qiao Yuan give him pocket money, which does not need to be kept secret.

Some of the children were envious, but Qiao's mother was dumbfounded.

He loved Qiao Yuan, and often gave him pocket money, but usually in small amounts, sometimes 20-30, sometimes 50, and at most 100 yuan, so where did Qiao Yuan get so much money to treat his classmates to dinner?

Saved?

How can it be? Qiao Yuan is not the kind of person who can save money at all. She even asked her for money a few days ago, so how can it be saved.

Qiao's mother finally sensed something was wrong, and Qiao's father looked at each other, frowned and asked the children, who had the heart of Qiao's mother, and Qiao Yuan boasted to them that the money was given by his second sister, whose family was very rich.

Now that Qiao's mother asked, she told me everything.

Qiao's mother just felt a buzzing in her head and her hand went numb as the shovel fell to the floor.