Chapter 34: Bonding

Tan Mo has a mild form of mutism and generally does not speak up, especially in the presence of things he cannot anticipate.

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

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

Tan Mo's face was expressionlessly stunned before he spoke, "...why."

"I wasn't lying when I told you earlier that I didn't need your help, you've helped me a lot, so much so that I can now go to school and live well without having to go to work. But in the end I decided to quit for other reasons, as you would have guessed, it was my family, I'm not going to go home, I also submitted my application for residency with my class teacher this morning, I'll probably have it done in another day or two."

Qiao Lan spoke a little slower than usual and was very specific and detailed.

"This card is the money I saved in the first half of the year, a total of a little over twenty thousand dollars, if nothing else this will be my reserve for the next two and a half years of high school", smiling at this, "Don't think it's little, five hundred dollars a month is perfectly adequate for the average high school student, but maybe there will be an emergency Not quite enough, and if it's really not enough, I'll come to you."

Qiao Lan finally figured out that Tan Mo had a brain, and how she had followed it.

The 20,000 yuan was more than enough for her, so Qiao Lan didn't think she would really ask Tan Mo for money one day, but if she changed her words a little bit to make Tan Mo more willing to listen and accept it, as she did now, she could say that she really needed Tan Mo's help, and the deadlock would be solved.

She looked up at the teenager seriously, " Tan Mo , you will lend it to me, right?"

Tan Mo's fingers clasped in the wheelchair tightened involuntarily, and without thinking, he replied, "Of course."

"Qiao Lan's smiling eyes are curved, the boy is not quarrelsome, simple and sincere, Qiao Lan always feels that the boy in front of her is like a young child who is ignorant but totally dependent on her, so he becomes more patient and his voice is also softer.

"Now then, I'll give you this card so you can periodically 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 remembering numbers, you must be able to remember it at once."

In just a few moments, Qiao Lan said so much, with so much information that Tan Mo felt she suddenly couldn't understand it all in a moment.

After hearing Qiao Lan say that he had resigned, Tan Mo felt as if he was no longer angry at that time.

But who would have thought that Qiao Lan would say the things she did afterwards.

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 jumble of thoughts and indefensible emotions that left him at a loss as to what to say.

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

He had previously felt that Qiao Lan did not care that he was cheating on him, but now that he thought about it again, it was possible that something had really gone wrong with his own logic.

It was as if something substantial had suddenly been added to the bond between them, and for a moment, it was as if nothing was afraid.

He truly felt that he was needed.

Required by Qiao Lan.

Qiao Lan looked up and examined the teenager's face, pale and still expressionless, but those beautiful eyes had something different about them, she raised her lips and smiled, but her mouth said, "Why don't you say anything when you've given the card to you, are you still angry, or do you not want to hold it for me, if not then I'll take it... "

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

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

"Yours, yours," Qiao Lan said, not teasing him anymore, "then you must keep it safe for me and not lose it."

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

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

A little later Qiao Lan went out to help Aunt Chan clean up the kitchen and Uncle Chan took a cautious glance into Tan Mo's room.

After all, Tan Mo had been looking after him since he was born, so how could he not see that others did not?

Uncle Chan was amazed.

He brought Qiao Lan home so that Qiao Lan could find a way to fix their relationship, and thought that if it was too difficult, he would have to find a way to push the envelope, after all, Qiao Lan was just a wayward doll.

In the end, Tan Mo's whole body looked as if it had blossomed in less than 10 minutes.

What exactly did Qiao Lan say to Tan Mo?

Uncle Chan is curious.

Qiao Lan had coaxed Tan Mo to come out and try to give Aunt Chan a hand, but Aunt Chan, being an idle person, didn't ask Qiao Lan to do anything, but was busy asking around.

Asking how Qiao Lan and Tan Mo know each other, how Tan Mo is doing at school, etc.

When Qiao Lan told them all, Aunt Chan didn't know that Tan Mo had another side to him at school, and she laughed heartily when she heard Qiao Lan say that Tan Mo was so clever that he couldn't be asked anything.

Uncle Chan was speechless, "Let the two children talk, you're a wife dragging a young girl around with you."

Qiao Lan smiled and said no, but went to talk to Tan Mo.

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

Qiao Lan didn't notice, she looked around at Tan Mo's room, the largest bedroom in the room, with plenty of space, including a balcony and a separate bathroom. In the bedroom, apart from the bed, there is a desk, and then next to the wall is a custom-made bookcase, with no doors, just small compartments, and the wall from the entrance to the balcony is full of books.

Regardless of how much Tan Mo has read, the collection is impressive enough.

Qiao Lan was so busy talking to Tan Mo that she didn't have time to look at it, and only now did she marvel at it as an afterthought, and only after she had done so did she go and look at the book Tan Mo is now reading.

"What is this," Qiao Lan asks.

"The Silk Roads", Tan Mo closed the book and handed it to Qiao Lan, adding after a moment's thought, "is a new history of the world by Peter Frankopan, Professor of History at Oxford University, from Zhang Qian's passage to the West, Alexander's Eastern Expedition, the rise of the Roman Empire, the glory of the Persian Empire, the Crusades to the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union and the Iraq War in the Middle East. It's a brand new history of the world, from Zhang Qian's passage to the West, Alexander's conquest, the rise of the Roman Empire, the glory of the Persian Empire, the Crusades to the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union, the Middle East War and the Iraq War.

Qiao Lan is quite interested in history, but even though she can pass Grade 6 in English naked, it is still too difficult for her to read such books unhindered.

Qiao Lan had the good sense to back off after one paragraph, especially as there were so many unfamiliar words in it.

"I can't read it", Qiao Lan replied honestly, "when my English is a bit better..."

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 exactly the same as the one Tan Mo is holding, except that it has more of her familiar Chinese characters on it.

English translation.

Qiao Lan was stunned and wondered if Tan Mo might not be able to understand something, so he cross-referenced it, but no, Tan Mo had been in the US longer and had better English than Chinese, so why would he buy a Chinese version if he could read English?

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

Give it to...me.

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

It was supposed to be bought for you.

Tan Mo said to himself.

When I first thought it was a good book, I wanted Qiao Lan to read it, so I bought the English translation, but to my surprise, so many things happened in the middle of it that the book was never delivered.

Now it's time to show it to Qiao Lan.

The lighting was perfect, not too bright and not too dark. Although the two children did not speak, the way they sat together quietly reading a book made Uncle Chan's eyes sore after almost sixty years of life.

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

Qiao Lan's life has suddenly slowed down as she no longer has to work in a Western restaurant, and she suddenly has more time than she would have liked.

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

In the evening, Aunt Chan cooked the meal and the old man was very good at it. Qiao Lan was listening to the old man while eating. Aunt Chan suddenly looked at Tan Mo and smiled happily, turning to Qiao Lan and saying, "Lan Lan, let me tell you a little secret about Mo Mo."

"What", Qiao Lan wondered.

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

Tan Mo, who was drawing circles in bewilderment, immediately put down her chopsticks, and Qiao Lan and Aunt Chan, who had witnessed the whole thing, laughed at the sight.

After half a night of reading world history, Qiao Lan's dreams were filled with maps at night, and when she went to school the next day, Tan Mo brought Qiao Lan a breakfast specially made by Aunt Chan.

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

Qiao Lan: ......

Still eating his breakfast with mixed feelings, he asked Tan Mo in a small voice, "Don't you feel heavy bringing so much?"

Tan Mo shook his head honestly, he was putting the bag on his lap and his own legs were unconscious and he couldn't feel the weight.

After hearing Tan Mo's words, Qiao Lan was half-heartedly relaxed and her feelings became even more complicated.

She looked down at Tan Mo's legs.

It's the minimum of courtesy not to reveal anything. Tan Mo doesn't like being told he has mental problems and he certainly doesn't like being told about his legs, so Qiao Lan would never mention them.

But now that Tan Mo had brought it up himself, Qiao Lan hesitated for a moment and asked him carefully, "Tan Mo, it's been nearly a year since you injured your leg."

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

"Did the doctor say anything about that."

"I don't know," Tan Mo said, not wanting to say anything about that and actually digressing, "if it's good, it's good enough for Aunt Chan to make some more tomorrow."

Qiao Lan: "...no need."

Pei Ning squeezed in again, having saved up a pile of individual choices and was about to ask Qiao Lan, when she came over and saw Qiao Lan and Tan Mo talking.

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

Laughing, he teased Qiao Lan and Tan Mo, "You two are back to your honeymoon period 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 couldn't understand the joke, was a little dizzy from the overly intimate word, and her ears even started to burn again.

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

When I looked up at Pei Ning, I suddenly felt that Pei Ning wasn't so unpleasant anymore.

Pei Ning had no idea 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 and sat down to talk to Qiao Lan.

"I heard you're staying at school."

"Hmm."

"Why are you suddenly living in school?"

Qiao Lan didn't need to make it so clear to Pei Ning, and dismissed him with the words of his class teacher, "It's convenient to study."

Pei Ning nodded approvingly, "It's much more convenient to live at school, and I get to sleep in a little more every day.

Tan Mo, who was sitting on the sidelines not saying a word but hearing everything, remembered that Pei Ning was also in residence.

Pei Ning was quite happy, "You should be assigned to the girls' first flat, our boys' first flat is next to it, so it's quite close..."

Tan Mo's body, which had just been relaxed, stiffened up again.

Just now I thought Pei Ning had finally become more pleasant to look at, but now when I look at it again, I find Pei Ning even more annoying than before.

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

"Ah," Qiao Lan didn't react to why he suddenly said this, "What?"

"You can always stay at my house."

Qiao Lan snorted, "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 Aunt Chan lives, these two days Aunt Chan hasn't been sleeping well at night, you know that too."

Tan Mo subconsciously wanted to say that we could get a bigger house, but Qiao Lan added, "Accommodation is not hard, I've heard that our school has good accommodation and there are conveniences to living on campus, like Pei Ning said, you can sleep in a little more every day."

Tan Mo closes his mouth and doesn't say anything.

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

He also wants to continue eating and reading with Qiao Lan.

But I couldn't think of any way to convince Qiao Lan for a while.

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

Qiao Lan's roommates were all from different classes, so they lived together for two or three months until the second year when they had to move to a new dormitory.

There were only three people in the dormitory when Qiao Lan moved in, and it was still very empty, so when Qiao Lan moved in there were four people.

Qiao Lan didn't go back to the Qiao Family to get her things, she didn't keep anything of value in her house, she only had a few clothes and a few books.

It's not expensive to dress for high school, and now that it's getting warmer you don't have to wear heavy clothes, so buy a few shirts online with broken sleeves and so on, and you're all set.

The day we moved in was a weekend and several girls were in the hostel.

The three girls in the same dorm were excited to hear that their new roommate was Qiao Lan, even though some of them had never met her in person.

People always have the first usual thought about students with good grades, for example, they may think that they may be nerdy and may not communicate well, but they don't realize that the girl with the best grades in the whole year is actually particularly good at getting along.

Qiao Lan was not happy with many of her classmates, but she was fine with her new roommates, all of whom were 15 or 16 years old.

The only problem is that the three girls ask her about Chen Yaoyang whenever they have time.

Is Chen Yaoyang very handsome, is he really good at his exams just by studying casually, is Chen Yaoyang in love with Song Yao...

"It's quite handsome."

"No, it's quite serious."

"I don't know."

Qiao Lan really didn't know anything about Chen Yaoyang, especially since both Chen Yaoyang and Song Yao had recently been seated far away from her.

The girls asked almost everything they could and were a little disappointed to see that Qiao Lan really didn't know, but they didn't feel bad about it either.

It is said that the girls are the ones who talk most in the boys' dormitory, but the girls also like to talk about the boys, and they are at the age where they love to gossip about handsome guys.

Everyone is intrigued by genius, especially as this genius is also surprisingly good looking.

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

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

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

Qiao Lan is back in the mood, changing his gossip about Chen Yaoyang and quickly retorting, "He's smart but he's actually very easy to get along with, he's just a little bit skittish and doesn't like to talk, but he's actually super soft. He's just not used to people getting too close, he doesn't mean to be annoying, just be patient and talk to him, he just doesn't like to smile too much, so he looks a bit mean."

"Qiao Lan, you're a different person when it comes to Tan Mo," laughed a girl, "how do you know him so well?"

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

People don't say 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 dare to approach Tan Mo, as the girl just said, they are still afraid of Tan Mo.

The word genius is something to look up to and to stop people in their tracks.

Not to mention the fact that Tan Mo is naturally expressionless and therefore always looks like a stranger to the world.

Qiao Lan doesn't want people to always have the wrong idea about Tan Mo, a kind and simple boy, and she wants others to know how good Tan Mo is and to be close to him and like him.

I want Tan Mo to slowly become like a normal person, who can talk, laugh and make friends.

It was hard, but it was a little bit of work, and Qiao Lan felt better when she saw how much the girls had changed their impression of Tan Mo.

Qiao's father, Qiao's mother, hadn't been able to wait for Qiao Lan to return, but before he could care where Qiao Lan had gone, something happened.

One afternoon, a group of students arrived at the restaurant and Qiao's mother was delighted to see them.

The children often came over and had no qualms about talking to Qiao's mother, and as they talked, Qiao's mother sensed that something was wrong.

One of the children said that he was envious of Qiao Yuan because Qiao's father Qiao's mother always gave Qiao Yuan pocket money and gave him a lot of it. Qiao's father Qiao's mother did not feel anything after hearing this, she was quite proud.

Qiao Yuan was very generous in settling the bill, which ended up costing nearly six hundred yuan.

A few kids were full of envy, they were all junior high school students, it was good to have a dozen dollars in their hands, but Qiao Yuan could directly treat them to a six hundred dollar skewer, how good it must be.

But after all, they felt that they were friends with Qiao Yuan, so they didn't dare to say anything. For example, Qiao Yuan invited them to have kebabs, mainly because she wanted to invite a girl in her class, who was quite pretty.

This is the kind of thing that all children consciously keep to themselves and would never tell their parents about, but there is no need to keep it a secret when Qiao's father Qiao's mother loves Qiao Yuan and gives him pocket money.

The children were full of envy, but Qiao's mother was dumbfounded.

He loved Qiao Yuan and often gave him pocket money, but he usually gave it in small portions, sometimes 20 to 30, sometimes 50, and at most 100 yuan.

Saved?

Qiao Yuan is not a person who can save money at all. She was asked for money the other day, so how could she have saved it?

Qiao's mother finally sensed that something was wrong and looked at each other with Qiao's father, frowning and asking the children about it.

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

Qiao's mother just felt a buzz in her head and the shovel fell to the floor.