Chapter 56: Firmness

Qiao Lan looks at Luo Nian as he walks away with a gloomy look in his eyes.

Both to Luo Nian and to the Qiao Family, whose behaviour, this time as bandits and traffickers, is disgusting to both.

She unconsciously reached out and rubbed her arm, which had just been grabbed by Luo Nian, and it was painful and must have been red.

Qiao Lan was surprised to see Tan Mo suddenly appearing here, but he was a bit worried and turned to ask him why he was suddenly here.

It took Tan Mo a while to control himself and return his eyes to Qiao Lan's body, to see her hand covering her arm, to act faster than he could think, to react and to grab Qiao Lan's wrist.

"Who is he?"

Qiao Lan looked down at Tan Mo's hand, which was restrained tightly and excessively around her wrist, but did not pull it out.

"It's the prospective son-in-law my parents are looking for, I think."

Bai Yu was also shocked, and was happily looking for Qiao Lan to go home, but he didn't expect this to happen.

She really didn't think that someone would dare to rob someone in front of the school in a straightforward manner these days. Qiao Lan does not usually mention her family, and Bai Yu could only tell from her words that Qiao Lan was not close to her family, but she never thought it would come to this.

He said that Qiao Lan's parents and sister were begging him to take Qiao Lan back, and that Qiao Lan's parents were literally selling their daughter for a bride price.

How dare you have any shame? Have you no humanity left?

Are daughters born to grow up to be used for money?

Tan Mo and Qiao Lan must have had something to talk about, and because of Luo Nian, Bai Yu doesn't dare to take Qiao Lan anywhere, as this Luo Nian might come out of nowhere.

The thought of Luo Nian still gives Bai Yu pause for fear, but more than fear, he is worried.

When Luo Nian left just now, he told Qiao Lan to wait.

Qiao Lan is a student, her family would love to sell her and give her away, and that Luo Nian seems to be rich and powerful, so who can help her?

Who can help Qiao Lan if this Luo Nian comes back?

For some reason, she subconsciously turned her head to look towards Tan Mo.

There were many people who liked Qiao Lan, including people like Hao Ying who were also rich and powerful enough to help her, but Bai Yu's first thought was Tan Mo.

Even though Tan Mo can't stand and looks much thinner than Hao Ying, Tan Mo is more reassuring than Hao Ying.

Now that Tan Mo is here, Bai Yu is relieved and doesn't drag Qiao Lan to his own home, leaving Qiao Lan to Tan Mo and turning around to leave.

Halfway down the road, Bai Yu finally realises why she feels Tan Mo is more reassuring, because she feels that Tan Mo's feelings for Qiao Lan are much deeper than Hao Ying's.

Although Hao Ying once said outright that she liked Qiao Lan, Tan Mo never said she did.

But that's how she felt.

It was not until Bai Yu had walked away that Tan Mo saw his hand on Qiao Lan's wrist and froze for a moment before he let go of it.

Slightly overwhelmed with anger, he could only ask her, "Does it hurt?"

"It doesn't hurt," Qiao Lan said, rubbing her wrist, not wanting to be surrounded by people coming and going, and turning to follow Uncle Chan Tan Mo to the car.

It was only after we got into the car that Qiao Lan talked to Uncle Chan and Tan Mo about what was going on today.

Last week, when Tan Mo came to pick up Qiao Lan, she met Qiao Lan's second sister, and Qiao Lan told them about Qiao's second aunt. But he had no idea that she could go so far.

But on second thought, Qiao Lan once said that Qiao's second aunt had settled down as mistress and the family was proud of it instead of ashamed.

Tan Mo, hidden in the darkness, still had a bank card tightly squeezed in his left hand, his fingers so hard that the card trembled as if it could be broken in the next moment.

What would have happened if he and Uncle Chan had come a little later today.

What would have happened if he had made up his mind not to say goodbye to Qiao Lan and had gone straight to America.

In a few weeks, or months, when he finally resists the urge to see how Qiao Lan is doing, he may have been dragged through the mud by her disgusting family.

Maybe she'll be forced out of school, maybe she'll be locked up at home and forced to live with the so-called son-in-law-to-be...

There was a crunching sound and Qiao Lan turned his head in surprise, "What was that?"

The bank card in his hand broke in two.

Tan Mo used all his strength to suppress his emotions, "I don't know, it might have been the sound from outside the car."

Qiao Lan let out an "Oh" before turning to him and asking, " Tan Mo , what brings you to this side of the school all of a sudden, is there something you want to see me about?"

Yes.

He was ready to come and say goodbye to Qiao Lan.

He will be leaving soon and he still wants to meet and say goodbye in person.

But now, go, where to go, how to go?

What will happen to Qiao Lan now that he is gone, and who will be able to protect her and help her now that he is gone?

Perhaps it was because Qiao Lan acted so optimistically, always smiling as if she had no worries, never complaining, as if nothing was too difficult for her, that gave Tan Mo the illusion that Qiao Lan was actually doing well.

But in fact, she was not having a good time at all.

How could such a family like this be good? She was running desperately in front of her, but there were so many people behind her who wanted to see her pulled back.

Tan Mo let go of his hand, and the bank card, folded in half, fell into the crack of the car, and the words he was about to say were put on hold.

Qiao Lan took out her mobile phone and said, "Luo Nian got my phone number from somewhere, calling and texting every day, so I had no choice but to pull the card out."

Tan Mo's eyes sank hard again, "Go get a new card first."

Uncle Chan turned the car around and headed for the nearby mobile business office.

Back at Tan Mo's house with the new card, everyone was a bit quiet, even Qiao Lan was a bit distracted during dinner.

She now had to think about what to do.

She had hoped to get enough money to at least finish her high school years in peace, but the Qiao Family were clearly more bottomless than she had imagined, and they were watching her every minute, ready to sell her out.

There was no point in avoiding it unless she didn't set foot outside the school for the remaining year and a half, and even then Qiao Lan didn't think it was really possible.

This Luo Nian, who dared to arrest someone in front of the school today, might do something else tomorrow.

But what can you do if you don't hide? Run home and have a big fight with the Qiao family and cut them off?

How could she break it off? Her name was still written on the Qiao Family's account book, so how could the Qiao Family agree to break it off if they knew she could pay them back, and Qiao Lan didn't dare to think that if she went back to the Qiao Family, there would be any chance of getting out again.

Call the police? She is the daughter of the Qiao Family and the police will not intervene.

Qiao Lan takes a deep breath and closes her eyes in annoyance.

She really hated that she was an orphan.

In the next room, Uncle Chan carefully knocks on the door of Tan Mo's room, walks in and closes the door.

Tan Mo does not like Tan Father, who cheated on his secretary when he could not remember, and his mother divorced Tan Father and took him to America. Tan Mo had no feelings for his father, but they were too thin to hate him.

Tan Father's mother was the reason why he managed to get into the prosecutor's office. Even today, Tan Father is now the executive deputy prosecutor of the provincial prosecutor's office, a serious provincial-level cadre, Tan Father has never denied that without Tan Mo's mother's help from the beginning, he would not be where he is today. When Tan Father cheated on his secretary, Tan Mo's mother divorced him without thinking, and he did feel guilty about his ex-wife and son, especially after Tan Mo's mother died, which is why he made sure to bring Tan Mo back.

But that was all. Tan Father tried his best to make it up to Tan Mo, but Tan Mo's mother's death left Tan Mo with such a staggering inheritance that Tan Father could not do so even if he wanted to.

Today, I received a call from Uncle Chan and was told that Tan Mo was going back to the United States again.

But in the evening, Tan Mo himself called.

There are some things that can be done with money, and some things that still require a bit of power.

Tan Mo called Tan Father.

It's no trouble to pay to get Luo Nian's situation checked out.

Luo Nian's real family situation was far more pathetic than his arrogant appearance, and in just two hours Tan Mo had all the information on Luo Nian and Luo Nian's parents, and even knew all of Luo Nian's parents' assets.

The seemingly arrogant and domineering Luo Nian, whose father runs a hot pot restaurant of considerable size, has been working together recently as he and Qiao's second aunt's husband are co-investing in another outlet.

Luo Nian's parents were quite old when they had such a son and overindulged him, which led Luo Nian to develop a character that was not afraid of the world.

Tan Father was a little surprised that Tan Mo had actually reached out to him and was very precise about what he wanted to target. Tan Mo didn't say it outright, but just asked him to speak to the FDA to put a little more effort into a certain hot pot restaurant on XX Street.

Tan Mo doesn't have to say it explicitly, but Tan Father understands what he means. It's too easy to get a restaurant into trouble, as many restaurants nowadays are branded as fresh ingredients, but in fact there are not many that are actually fresh, and there are many ingredients and seasonings that are adulterated with futures.

Many times the Food and Drug Administration comes to inspect, the hotel hears the wind in advance can always prepare one or two, if the sudden surprise inspection and strict full inspection, that a large number of restaurants have to close.

To Tan Father, it was just a matter of words, not to mention the fact that Tan Mo had asked for it so easily, and Tan Father had no reason not to say yes.

After hanging up the phone number, Uncle Chan glanced outside and whispered to Tan Mo, "So the whole going abroad thing..."

Tan Mo has made it clear that he wants to help Qiao Lan to the end, so he will definitely not leave the country in the near future, and probably won't leave again in the future either because he is worried about Qiao Lan.

Instead, Tan Mo said, "Wait until everything is done here."

"Or are you leaving?"

Uncle Chan is amazed.

"Go to the New York Hospital for Special Surgery," Tan Mo said, dropping his eyelashes, the best orthopaedic hospital in the world.

Tan Mo realises after today that he is not useless to Qiao Lan and that he can still protect her.

Qiao Lan needs him.

The doctor said there was a 98 per cent chance that he would be in a wheelchair forever, but after that 98 per cent, there was still a 2 per cent chance that he would be able to stand up.

Once you have someone in your heart that you want to protect, it seems that everything becomes less scary.

Even though it was only two per cent, he was willing to fight as hard as he could for that two per cent chance.