Chapter 2034: Extra: A Brand New Life 149 Chapter 2034: Extra: A Brand New Life 149 Zhou Ping hadn’t noticed at first, but when he realized the little girl was crying, he immediately panicked and began to apologize profusely, “I was wrong, I was wrong, I was wrong. Please don’t cry. I don’t even know what to do when you cry like this. It’s alright now, don’t cry, okay? Please, stop crying.”

While offering her tissues to wipe her tears, he tried to comfort her.

The little girl cried and shook her head, “It has nothing to do with you, brother. It’s me… it’s all me…”

“Why are you taking the blame for my mistake? Stop crying, will you?” he coaxed gently. “The cafeteria still sells milk tea at this time. Come on, I’ll take you to buy some milk tea. Drinking milk tea always makes you happy. You really like it, don’t you?”

“Mhm,” the little girl replied in a muffled voice, but she began wiping her own tears and stopped crying.

“Let’s go.” Zhou Ping took the light backpack off the little girl, carried it for her, and then led her towards the cafeteria by hand.

It was strange, but while lining up to buy milk tea, Zhou Ping noticed everyone seemed to be in pairs.

Dressed casually for a gathering, Zhou Ping did not stand out in the line of university students.

Even if there were couples in front and behind him, Zhou Ping didn’t mind and continued to queue for the milk tea, asking the little girl, “What did you have for dinner tonight?”

“A rice dish.”

“What kind of rice dish?”

“Pepper and shredded pork.”

“You didn’t eat all the peppers, did you?”

“I only ate a little bit, but I ate all the shredded pork.”

“Right, you should eat fewer spicy foods. They can cause your tonsils to become inflamed.”

“Mhm.”

“Is one cup of milk tea enough, or do you want something else to eat?”

“Just the milk tea is enough, I’m not eating anything else. Are you eating anything, brother?”

“No, I already had something with a client before I went to the gathering. I didn’t even stay long in the club’s private room, and came here right afterwards. I’m not hungry at all.”

After buying the milk tea, Zhou Ping took Mo Yaoyao back to her dormitory building.

Ruffling the little girl’s hair, he said, “Forget about it, just do whatever you want from now on.” He didn’t really ask for much anymore, but cutting off contact like before was not an option either.

“That’ll do, I guess.”

“Brother…” Mo Yaoyao had tears in her eyes.

“Alright, let’s not say anything more. Go on in.”

“Okay…” Mo Yaoyao could only go inside. She felt much better, but not completely relieved; she was still quite distressed.

She really didn’t consider the Zhou family as anything other than her own family, nor did she see herself as an outsider. She knew the Zhou family members genuinely cared for her–how could she possibly hurt them? She was just… really scared, afraid of losing them… she didn’t dare see herself as part of that family…
On the way back, Zhou Ping gave serious thought to that male classmate’s actions, racking his brains for quite a while, still unable to figure out why he had been so irritable.

In the end, he simply decided to put it out of his mind, and stop thinking about it.

He felt like he had been rather irrational that evening.

*
Zhou Ping and Mo Yaoyao had reconciled, and none of the other Zhou family members knew what had happened; they both decided not to mention it to the rest of the family, letting the matter pass.

In a blink, Mo Yaoyao’s winter vacation started.

On the third day of her winter break, she was invited out by her roommate to visit the science museum, coincidentally on the day of a technology exhibition.

Despite the chilly weather, on her way out, Zhou Ping made sure she was wrapped up tight except for her eyes, wearing a down jacket, fur boots, gloves, a scarf, and a hat; even though the cold wind whistled around her, Mo Yaoyao felt rather warm.