Chapter 112

"Qiao Li, where are you? Want to grab dinner? My treat," Sheng Mumu said cheerfully over the phone to Qiao Li.

On the other end of the line, there was silence for a few seconds before a hesitant response came. "Uh...I'm sorry sister-in-law, but Cheng Zhuo and I happened to be out eating together today..."

"Ok ok, we'll make plans another time," Sheng Mumu initially didn't notice anything strange about the response. After getting home and flopping down on the couch, she suddenly sat up straight as if a thought had occurred to her.

Something wasn't right.

Mother-in-law had already left the city to travel.

Qiao Li didn't need to keep pretending to date Cheng Zhuo anymore.

Why were they still planning to eat together?

A gossipful smile spread across her fair and radiant face.

Could it be...

"Madam, the young master's school called for a parent to go over immediately," the voice of Zhang Housekeeper suddenly rang out, interrupting her train of thought.

Looking towards the source of the voice, Zhang Housekeeper's face was filled with anxiety.

"What happened?" Seeing his expression, Sheng Mumu suddenly had a bad feeling.

"The school didn't say much over the phone..." Zhang Housekeeper hesitated before continuing, "They just mentioned...they just mentioned..."

"Mentioned what?" Sheng Mumu's brows furrowed slightly.

"They vaguely brought up, puppy love," Zhang Housekeeper finally got the words out, clasping his hands in front of him with a pained expression as he looked to the lady of the house.

In the past, the young master had caused quite a bit of trouble, but it was nothing more than conflicts with classmates or teachers.

None of it was ever too serious.

Recently the young master had been studying hard and turned over a new leaf.

It had been so long since Zhang Housekeeper had received a call from the school asking for a parent that he had almost forgotten that the young master used to be an unruly brat.

"What?" Sheng Mumu couldn't believe her ears. "Puppy love? How is that possible?"

In the original book, Qi Shaobai didn't start his naive schoolyard romance until university.

And now, he hadn't even finished 12th grade yet.

Who was he in love with? And with whom?

Sheng Mumu hurried upstairs to change into a sensible and appropriate outfit, then drove to Beijing No. 1 High School.

On the way over.

She considered calling Qi Mo to give him a heads up.

But on second thought.

Blindly making a call without knowing the full story would not only worry the busy man away on business, but the little one at home probably wouldn't be thrilled either. So she decided against it.

Better to get clear on what exactly happened first.

Sheng Mumu parked her car familiarly and entered the classroom building.

After knocking twice on the office door and hearing a "Come in," she pushed the door open.

As soon as the door opened, she saw Qi Shaobai with a look of disdain on his face, arms crossed and gaze aloof as he leaned against the wall.

On the other side, a girl with her hair in a high ponytail was bowed over with quiet sobs.

Next to her stood a middle-aged couple, likely the girl's parents.

Qi Shaobai turned his head when he saw Sheng Mumu come in, a fleeting look of relief flashing across his face.

It was as if he was saying: Thank goodness you're here.

Just then, a teacher wearing thick glasses came over. Seeing how young the new arrival was, he pushed his glasses up on his nose and politely asked:

"You are Qi Shaobai's...?"

Sheng Mumu smiled. "I'm his mother."

Calling herself his stepmother wasn't too inaccurate.

Sheng Mumu took this chance to observe the situation in the office.

The teacher in front of her clearly wasn't Qi Shaobai's homeroom teacher.

From the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of the class written on the workbook sitting on the desk behind the teacher.

The grade column read: Senior Year Class 9.

If she remembered correctly.

At the college entrance exam rally last time, the head teacher had introduced that Senior Year Classes 1-8 were science classes, while 9-17 were arts classes.

She guessed that the teacher before her must be the homeroom teacher for Senior Year Class 9, an arts class.

"Ms. Qi Shaobai's mother, hello. The reason we called you in today is mainly because we discovered that your son Qi Shaobai and Pan Jia from our class seem to be engaging in puppy love," the homeroom teacher said.

As he spoke, he pulled open a drawer and took out a stack of envelopes, handing them to Sheng Mumu.

Sheng Mumu was taken aback for a moment.

She reflexively glanced at Qi Shaobai.

Qi Shaobai's expression was extremely calm as he shook his head back, "I'm not in any puppy love relationship."

Just as he finished speaking, the middle-aged father among the girl's parents cut in:

"Young man, you've been caught red-handed, your excuses are useless."

Sheng Mumu looked towards the source of the voice and saw the ponytailed girl looking at Qi Shaobai tearfully, her lips moving as if wanting to say something but then glancing at her parents and forcing back her tears, bowing her head once more.

Qi Shaobai's gaze indifferently swept over the father, who immediately flared up, voice rising, "What are you looking at? Did I say anything wrong?"

Sheng Mumu's tone abruptly became stern: "Sir, please watch your temper. This isn't your home. Until we get clear on what exactly happened, it isn't your place to be lecturing my son."

"You--" The man wanted to continue but was pulled back by his wife next to him.

"Okay, Old Pan, let the mother understand the situation first."

Sheng Mumu withdrew her gaze and frowned, starting to carefully go through the envelopes in her hand.

Opening the envelopes, they were all love letters. Around seven or eight in total.

She didn't read the contents in detail, just skimmed through them briefly.

The signature at the end of each letter was: Pan Jia.

That sobbing girl.

The homeroom teacher came to stand in the middle of the office, as if to mediate the disagreement. He said:

"Ms. Qi Shaobai's mother, as you can see, this is evidence of Qi Shaobai and Pan Jia's puppy love. Our school strictly prohibits students from puppy love, especially since they are 12th graders in the most important year of school..."

"Wait, teacher." Sheng Mumu looked through the names on the envelopes one more time to confirm, then asked, "Isn't this a bit rash as evidence of puppy love?"

These were just love letters written by a girl to Qi Shaobai.

If it was really a romantic relationship, there would be more than just one love letter.

The teacher explained:

"These letters were found in Pan Jia's possession by me."

"At first, I thought the same as you, that it was just kids, confused feelings."

"But after calling Pan Jia in to ask, I found out they've been in a relationship for a long time."

"...???" Sheng Mumu was more and more confused as she listened.

She slowly turned her head to look at Qi Shaobai.

Qi Shaobai shook his head calmly.

Sheng Mumu's gaze moved to the other side.

Seeing her glance over, the girl called Pan Jia averted her eyes nervously, twisting her fingers together anxiously.

Seeing this, Pan Jia's mother shifted sideways to shield her daughter behind her, stepping forward.

"Ms. Qi's mother, our Jiajia has always been so good and sensible. If not for someone else's bad influence, she would never engage in puppy love."

"Earlier we discovered Jiajia was frequently sneaking off to lock herself in her room to talk on the phone for one or two hours at a time."

"Her dad noticed something fishy and forced her to admit that she was actually dating your son."

After hearing the other side's story, Sheng Mumu felt like something wasn't right.

Just then, the homeroom teacher spoke up:

"According to school rules, puppy love results in a warning demerit for both parties."

Upon hearing this, Pan Jia's father's expression suddenly darkened as he got agitated.

"Teacher, Jiajia was led astray by this brat. She shouldn't be punished along with him. If someone should be punished, it should only be this brat."

As he finished speaking, Pan Jia who had stayed silent until now wiped her tears and timidly tugged at her father's sleeve.

"Dad, I--"

"Keep your mouth shut, stand aside. Disgraceful child."

Pan Jia didn't even get a full sentence out before being cut off by her father. She shuddered in fright.

Her mother quickly pulled her into an embrace, tugging her back.

"Don't talk anymore, you'll upset your father."