Mr. Xiao’s Unconditional Love

While Ye Qiao was still concerned about Lu Xiaogun’s status, her pager, which she had neglected for a long time, suddenly beeped. In the past, she had used the pager to contact Li Yun and Shen Xichuan. However, she brought it along with her as she thought that Xiaogun might be able to contact her with that.

Anyway, it was Shen Xichuan who reached out to her. The jerk sent her a message!

A while ago, she was disgusted as she went through each message to delete them. She even wondered if Xiaogun would help her to delete them all together at once. However, Xiaogun did not bother with her request.

“Are you back, Qiao Qiao? Why have you not answered my calls? I’m worried!”

Gosh! Disgusting! In her seven years of prison life, she passed her days by cursing both Li Yun and Shen Xichuan every day!

She deleted the message immediately, and to her surprise, she finally managed to delete all the messages in the message history!

Ye Qiao was stunned for a moment but then smirked at the realization. “Awww, this arrogant kid!” He was always there! He heard her complaints, and he helped her to remove all the messages in the pager!

“You’re the best, baby boy! Mummy knows that you’re always here! What are you doing, darling?”

Lu Xiaogun remained silent.

However, Ye Qiao was finally relieved. It was fine as long as her child was there with her.

“I think I had better rely on myself for this challenge, but what can be worse than getting more tanned!?” She mumbled and then got up from the floor as she cleaned her pants and walked to the free-throw line on the court.

In fact, she did not need any special skill for this hurdle; the key was the strength of her arms, training, and state of mind.

Fortunately, her arms were quite strong. The ball would often hit the board when she threw it. Unfortunately, it did not drop into the net afterward. Nevertheless, she did not give up and continued to practice patiently.

***

At the borderline, a crew member with his face covered in dust stepped on the last mercenary with a dagger in his hand while blood slowly dripped down from his solid arms.

Lu Beixiao fixed his gaze on the mercenary under his foot. He remembered that Lao Cai mentioned before that soldiers that have been trained in the Hunter School would have excellent performance. However, he has got him defeated anyway, and he was now lying under his foot!

“Please, spare my life! I have money, please!” Xiao En, who was buff and strong, was now handicapped after an intense battle.

Lu Beixiao moved his leg away upon hearing the request.

Terrified, Xiao En fixed his blue eyes on Lu Beixiao as he slowly moved backward. He would have a chance to survive as long as he managed to pass the borderline.

“What are you doing, Lu Beixiao?!” Lao Cai, who was at the control center, questioned him when he saw that.

“Let me go, please! I have a lot of money. I’ll give it to you! I’m sure you would not be able to make that much even if you worked for the rest of your life!” Xiao En’s dusty body was still inching backward. Meanwhile, Lu Beixiao began to move forward in large steps, and an evil grin appeared on his face as if he was the God of Death about to take Xiao En’s life. Perhaps, he also looked like a starved wolf abusing its dying prey.

Xiao En immediately spent every bit of his energy to crawl toward the borderline. However, Lu Beixiao ran forward and stepped on his backbone. Without any delay, he grabbed Xiao En’s head, which had already passed the borderline, and a sharp dagger sliced across his neck!

Blood gushed out from Xiao En’s neck and spilled on the borderline of the motherland.

“The God of Death doesn’t need money; he is only eager for souls like yours… an evil soul!” Xiao En heard Lu Beixiao whisper beside his ear right before he died.

“Wow! Daddy is cool! Daddy is so cool!” Lu Xiaogun cheered for his father, who was clearly his idol. Unfortunately, his father could not see him nor hear him, either…

“Xiao, is your arm, alright?” Ye Cheng asked as he rushed over with a few other agents.

His arm was injured with a bleeding wound that exposed his flesh.

“What’s the big deal?” Lu Beixiao looked completely fine.

The sunset stretched the shadows of the five passionate agents as they quickly boarded the helicopter victoriously.

Meanwhile, Ye Qiao had practiced shooting hoops for the entire afternoon as Lu Beichi and his buddies watched on. They even made fun of her.

Later, she lay on the bed after a shower. Sadly, she could not feel her arms and had to get her revision done!

“Lu Xiaogun, are you not talking to me? Why are you more arrogant than your dad in his previous life?” She flipped herself over and talked to the mobile phone as she laid on her chest.

Gungun remained silent, however. Hence, Ye Qiao decided to get up and walk to the study desk. She grabbed that damn Maths textbook and started her revision.

Unwittingly, it was already midnight. As she yawned, she realized there were more questions to go. Therefore, she went down to get some coffee beans and grind them into powder. She then boiled the coffee and filtered the residue before she brought it into her bedroom.

Suddenly, Gungun’s cool voice was heard when she was about to take a sip of the coffee.

“Stop! Go to bed now. Hurry up!” He was such a bossy child.

“Wuwu… You finally bothered to talk to mummy, Gungun!” Ye Qiao was in tears.

“Go and sleep! You should visit daddy the day after tomorrow. It’s his birthday!” Lu Xiaogun continued in a serious manner.

“Oh, Brother Xiao’s birthday is the day after tomorrow?!”

“That’s right! It is 6th August, the day after tomorrow!” Wow, even Xiaogun knew it!

She would not have remembered if it were not for Xiaogun! That was because she had never celebrated Lu Beixiao’s birthday in her previous life!

“Alright, alright! I’m going to bed now! Mummy will buy a dozen ‘umbrellas’ and bring them along!” Ye Qiao quickly answered as she immediately poured the coffee into the toilet and headed to bed with her mobile phone.

“Is your daddy at the basecamp, Gungun? I’m afraid he won’t be there when I visit.” She asked with her eyes closed.

“He is there.” Lu Xiaogun answered briefly.

“Gungun, mummy is so excited! I can’t fall asleep… would you like to sing me a lullaby?” She was going to have a match with Lu Beichi tomorrow, after all!

Damn! She would have to use Brother Xiao’s name to get what she wanted if she really could not score!

“…” Lu Xiaogun refused to respond as he was annoyed that a mother would get her son to sing her a lullaby; it should be the other way around!

“Hurry up, Gungun… Should I choose a song for you? Could you be my music player?” She remembered that Gungun could imitate Lu Beixiao’s voice… so perhaps, he could imitate other singers too!

Understandably, she was very curious about everything related to Gungun!

Time passed slowly, and Ye Qiao finally heard someone singing.

“Listen to mummy so that she won’t hurt; I wanna grow up faster so that I can protect her…” It was not Xiaogun’s voice, but instead, Jay Chou’s original voice. Nevertheless, Ye Qiao was deeply touched by his message.

He was such a sweet little thoughtful boy!

She wanted to sing along, but the lyrics occupied her mind. Surprisingly, the song was relaxing, and she slowly fell asleep.

***

The next day, Lu Beichi brought a group of his buddies from the residential area to the basketball court. Regardless of whether they were males or females, they were all from the main court.

“Brothers and sisters, today is the day Ye Qiao and I are going to have a competition! As you know, a gentleman shouldn’t have to compete with a lady, but she insists. So, here we are today as she left me with no choice. She is allowed to miss four shots, so as long as she scores six out of ten, she will be the winner! Do you think this is fair?” Lu Beichi remarked arrogantly.

“Of course!” Everyone agreed.

“By the way, where is Ye Qiao? Has she changed her mind?” Lu Beichi asked as he lifted his hand and looked at his newly bought digital watch with an alarm and timer.

“She must be scared! She is just good at tricking people. There is no way she could win in a fair game!” Qiang Zi answered. Zhang Dafei, on the other hand, did not speak a word this time as he still remembered that Master Xiao took her away that night. Even though he did not understand what was going on, he still preferred to stay silent.

“Who is the damn coward, huh?!” A clear voice was heard suddenly.

She was wearing a black T-shirt and short jeans with a high ponytail, exposing her long legs with a pair of sports shoes and a basketball held between her waist and her right forelimb. What a grand arrival!

Everyone shifted their gaze to the direction where the bossy voice came from.

Frozen! Oh f*ck! What a cool pretty girl!

Everyone had naturally seen pretty girls before, but that was their first time to see a cool one!

Just by looking at her facial features, she was way prettier than the goddess at the residence, Ye Zhenzhen! Her unisex apparels were nicer than the girls at the basketball court, who mostly wore a dress and plastic sandals!

Even her hairstyle was so cool! A simple high ponytail without any fringe, exposing her forehead and her perfect oval-shaped face. All the other girls had loose fringes, instead.

Although it was in trend again 20 years later, it certainly looked old-fashioned with the attire they donned.

Even Lu Beichi, who was often the one annoyed with Ye Qiao, was shocked by her beauty. Nonetheless, he was also the first one to regain his focus. “Ye Qiao! Stop boasting!”

Ye Qiao snorted coldly as she smirked. The basketball bounced back to her as she bounced it against the floor. Then, she threw it at Lu Beichi.

Initially, Lu Beichi wanted to catch it to show off. However, the momentum was too strong. He managed to grab hold of it but was unable to stabilize his body after that, which made him look like he was physically weak.

Based on that small action, Ye Qiao had already outperformed young Master Lu.

Although the generation back then would not be attracted to the same gender, the girls were captivated by Ye Qiao’s appearance and body figure. Her cool charisma certainly stood out, too! She was so charming as well, just like the heroine in a martial arts drama.

“Stop talking nonsense, Lu Beichi! Let’s begin!” Ye Qiao said arrogantly as she stepped into the basketball court with large strides.

At this point, everyone managed to see her features even clearer.

“Are you really Ye Qiao?”

“That’s her! She looks so different without her uniform.”

“She is cool! Much better than the boys!”

Lu Beichi made a fancy display of moves with his basketball and then took a leap from the three-point line and shot! Bingo!

After a round of showboating, he managed to bring back some attention to himself.

At that decade, basketball was one of the teenagers’ favorite sports due to the animation – ‘Slam Dunk,’ and of course, the NBA. A boy would often be ridiculed if he did not know how to play basketball. However, it was extremely rare for a girl to know how to play!

Cheng Dafei blew the whistle in his mouth and then walked to the center of the court. “Brothers and sisters, I’ll be the referee today, and let me remind you of the rules of the match!” He said after taking the ball, which Lu Beichi tossed to him.

“Listen, as long as Ye Qiao manages to make six shots, Lu Beichi has to address her as his master!”

With that said, a few people cheered from the audience.

With his chin up, Lu Beichi arrogantly gazed at Ye Qiao as he stood with both of his legs slightly opened outward, and his arms crossed on his chest.

“Hey, Ye Qiao! It’s not too late if you surrender now!”

“Cheng Dafei! Pass me the ball!” Ye Qiao said to Cheng Dafei as she ignored Lu Beichi.

Cheng Dafei gently tossed the ball to Ye Qiao, and she stretched her arms to take it. She did not bring the mobile phone today, not even the pager. It was fine that he did not want to help her. Besides, it was unlikely that she could not even make six shots since she had been practicing the entire afternoon.

‘Ladies first’ was one of the rules those teenagers would comply with… hence, Ye Qiao was standing on the free-throw line.

Everyone fixed their gaze at the cool lady as Cheng Dafei whistled. Ye Qiao bent her knees in the standard position for free-throws, and her skinny body leaped up as the ball flew out from her hand with her right arm stretched out, forming a beautiful parabolic arc.

The basketball dropped into the net and made the net swing a little. Gosh! That was perfect!

“In!”

Lu Beichi was stunned and gazed at Ye Qiao in disbelief. She was still so lousy when he saw her practicing yesterday afternoon. She was so bad that the ball did not even touch the board or the net when she attempted to score.

“Awesome, Qiao Qiao!” Cheng Dafei laughed happily as he looked at Ye Qiao. Damnit! He was thinking about pursuing her again; what did he have to do to get her?

Ye Qiao did not even smile but stood at the corner to watch Lu Beichi make his shot. Did Lu Xiaogun help her just now? She was actually not too sure. The standard shooting position she practiced the entire afternoon yesterday was based on her memory of when she saw Brother Xiao practice in the past.

In her previous life, she was forced to watch him play basketball at the stadium, and that was one of the few memories they shared when they were in a relationship.

He was indeed handsome when he played basketball. Unfortunately, she was dumb at that time and only in love with that jerk, Shen Xichuan!

Lu Beichi began to feel stressed as he saw that Ye Qiao had made a perfect shot! He definitely could score, but he had to make a better shot than Ye Qiao as the ball she tossed did not even touch the frame of the net; that was, indeed, a perfect shot!

Young Master Lu walked to the court and moved to the free-throw line as he carried the ball along. Then, he leaped and tossed the ball! It was a perfect shot too!

Ye Qiao chuckled silently. The second shot was vital, too, so she prayed for the best.

That girl would be too proud and missed the shot after teasing Lu Beichi.

Her strategy today was to attack him psychologically. She just figured it out in the morning. Skills were not the only important factor to win; in fact, her opponent’s psychological state was very important too!

Similar to the first shot, Ye Qiao managed to shoot well for her second attempt. Meanwhile, Lu Beichi challenged himself and managed to make a good shot with just one hand!

Everyone cheered again!

“Watch out, Lu Beichi, stop acting cool! Please be reminded that you gotta make all ten shots!” Ye Qiao shouted when everyone was quiet.

“I’m gonna kneel before you if I miss any!” Lu Beichi said arrogantly.

“Look, Ms. Zhenzhen, that’s Ye Qiao! She is having a match with the young Master Lu!” Ye Zhenzhen quickly hurried here as she heard that Ye Qiao had returned. Chen Ya immediately brought her here as soon as she arrived home.

Ye Zhenzhen fixed her gaze at Ye Qiao, who was at the basketball court.

“Damnit! Since when did Ye Qiao play basketball? She seems to shoot quite well!”

In a blink of an eye, it had come to the fourth shot. Ye Qiao began to feel sore in her arms; hence, she decided to hold the ball with both of her hands. She bent her knees and stretched her arms as she tossed the ball again!

“Gosh, what kind of position is that? Terrible! Lu Beichi laughed as he asked. Was she imitating Sakuragi Hanamichi to shoot with a toilet-squat?

Anyway, she made the basket!

“Just ignore my position, as long as I score!” Ye Qiao counter-argued as she shook her arms. She was certain that Lu Xiaogun did not help her!

“Exactly, Ye Qiao made it again!” Cheng Dafei shouted.

Who cares if it was a white cat or a black cat, it was definitely a good cat as long as it managed to catch the rat! The crowd certainly agreed.

This time, Lu Beichi continued to show off. He dribbled the ball fancily as he moved to the penalty line and stood with his back facing the net as he tossed it backward!

Wow! Was that a blind toss?!

Everyone was stunned!

“Dang”! The next thing that happened was a disappointing ‘boo’ from the audience.

The ball hit the board and bounced away! The ball did not make the basket!

Ye Qiao pinched her lower lip and whistled.

“F*ck! Ye Qiao won the game!”

Everyone knew the rules – Ye Qiao would automatically win if Lu Beichi missed a single shot!

Lu Beichi had yet to recover from the agony of missing his shot. He still could not believe that he would lose to Ye Qiao! At the end of the day, he could only blame himself for boasting so much!

“Hey Chi, you promised that you would address Qiao Qiao as master if you lose!” Cheng Dafei reminded Lu Beichi as he was on Ye Qiao’s side now.

Lu Beichi glared at Cheng Dafei and wondered how he had become his buddy? He was not even on his side and preferred to side with others.

Ye Qiao moved and stood before Lu Beichi with her arms folded below her chest as she waited for him to address her.

The community believed that one should be humble and admit their flaws if they lost a bet, even though Lu Beichi was definitely unwilling to accept it!

Suddenly, Ye Qiao saw a ball rolling that coincidentally stopped beside her leg. No one else saw it, but she finally understood that Lu Xiaogun was there. ‘Come on; mummy had won the game before you came.’

Ye Qiao bent down and picked up the ball.

“Hey, remember that you’re gonna call me master, alright? Lu Beichi?”

“You’ve lost, Lu Beichi! Hurry up and do it! Don’t go against your words!” The one who was speaking was the eldest girl in the community, and she was enrolled in J University. She was Liang Yin. It would appear that Ye Qiao had made the girls proud today!

All the girls cheered except Ye Zhenzhen and Chen Ya, who had just arrived a while ago.

“Master Qiao…” Lu Beichi spoke softly and reluctantly.

“What? What did you say? I can’t hear you!” Ye Qiao purposely said it in a coquettish manner that made her look even more like a man.

“Master Qiao!” Lu Beichi called out again in a louder volume.

“I can’t hear you! Guys, can you hear him?” Ye Qiao asked loudly like a boss.

Everyone shook their heads.

“Master Qiao!” Lu Beichi shouted to the point where everyone heard it this time.

Ye Qiao was the very first and only girl who managed to get the little boss, Lu Beichi, to call her his master.

“Well done! Remember our agreement, though!” Ye Qiao said loudly as she teased Lu Beichi. She walked out of the court with the ball and tossed it backward as she lifted her right arm before she stepped out the basketball court.

In! The ball dropped into the net while everyone was watching!

A blind shot at such a great distance! That was so cool!

“F*ck! How did she do that?” Qiang Zi was shocked.

Lu Beichi was shocked, too, as it reminded him that he had missed one earlier. That made it all the more embarrassing to watch Ye Qiao put one in so gracefully!

Everyone looked at Ye Qiao in admiration.

“That’s so cool!”

“Don’t leave, Master Qiao! Could you teach me, please?” Chen Tao shouted toward Ye Qiao, who had already left.

Ye Qiao lifted her index finger and shook with her back facing the court. She was too busy to entertain the community.

The moment she returned home, Ye Qiao immediately talked to the mobile phone. “Oh gosh, Lu Xiaogun! How could you leave me alone? You didn’t even help me!”

“I did help you to show off!” Lu Xiaogun replied.

“I know! What about before that? Mummy’s hands were sore! Luckily I was smart!” Ye Qiao said with an upset tone.

“Ye Qiao, you have to learn to solve your problems; I am gonna leave sooner or later.” Lu Xiaogun said arrogantly as if he was an adult teaching a kid a lesson.

My goodness! Ye Qiao kissed the mobile phone.

***

After all, Ye Qiao was the one who convinced Qiao Tian to move into the main apartment as they had a computer there. Besides having a computer, she wanted him there so that she could always revise with him.

Ye Qiao gave Qiao Tian a mission that he had to write a useful program in two days as that was supposed to be his profession.

That afternoon, Ye Qiao took Lu Xiaogun out of the apartment as she had to buy a birthday present for Brother Xiao.

“Lu Xiaogun, what should I buy for your dad?” Ye Qiao mumbled to herself as she walked around the shopping street.

“You’re the best gift, though!” Lu Xiaogun said. Ye Qiao heard him even though he was inside her backpack. Nevertheless, no one else heard him.

“Lu Xiaogun, why do you think your dad loved me so much in my previous life? Was he a lunatic?” She asked curiously as she was indeed curious about the answer. In fact, there was another question that Xiaogun had not answered her too.