“Are you saying that you represent the whole team?” Wei Zhiqian raised his eyebrows skeptically and challenged him.
“I…” Cheng Xiuze didn’t know how to respond.
“Uncle? Why have you come back?” Tan Mo exclaimed.
“Didn’t someone say she was going to watch as I left? How come she hasn’t noticed that I’ve come back?” Wei Zhiqian questioned her.
‘You little brat. I wonder if she even watched me leave last time. Or did she just go back in once I turned around?’
“I was watching you. But Senior Cheng here suddenly said hi, and I had to greet him back.” Tan Mo pouted.
There was no way she could ignore Cheng Xiuze when he had come to talk to her. It would be very impolite.
Wei Zhiqian was completely on alert and in jealous mode now, all because of Cheng Xiuze.
He began to wonder if Cheng Xiuze was more important to Tan Mo than he was.
However, after hearing Tan Mo’s explanation, he finally calmed down a little as what she had said made sense.
There was no way she could ignore Cheng Xiuze when he greeted her.
He hadn’t even done anything wrong.
Wei Zhiqian would be the one in the wrong if he didn’t allow Tan Mo to greet him back.
Tan Mo was a person who took her manners very seriously.
That was why, after a few seconds of arguing with himself, Wei Zhiqian realized he shouldn’t have blamed Tan Mo.
Instead, he should’ve blamed Cheng Xiuze, who had interrupted Tan Mo.
“How about we ask Professor Yue about this?” Wei Zhiqian suggested, not planning to let Cheng Xiuze off the hook just like that.
“No, of course I don’t represent the whole research team.” Cheng Xiuze laughed awkwardly. He was about to crumble under the pressure from Wei Zhiqian. “I just wanted to thank her as a fellow teammate.”
“Only you? How about the rest of the team?” Wei Zhiqian continued. “Now I have to ask, are all your fellow teammates so ungrateful to such a cute girl for helping you guys out? How come you’re the only one who knows that you need to thank her? Where are the rest of the students? They should’ve come with you and said thank you.”
“…” Cheng Xiuze was completely speechless now. He wasn’t really acquainted with Wei Zhiqian and had only heard about him from other people. He didn’t even know that Wei Zhiqian was such a nitpicking person.
Also, he had another reason to treat Tan Mo to a meal. Showing his gratitude for her help to the research team was nothing more than an excuse.
However, there was no way he could tell Tan Mo that.
“Naturally, our team will have to thank Tan Mo,” Cheng Xiuze said.
“Then, why are you the only one treating her to a meal?” Wei Zhiqian asked. “If you are going to do that, aren’t you supposed to invite the whole team? If you leave them behind, won’t they think you’re alienating them?”
Cheng Xiuze could only look at Wei Zhiqian in awe.
Alienating them? Are you even listening to yourself?
“I think the others will thank her in their own way,” Cheng Xiuze had no choice but to make up another excuse.
“As a man who deals with numbers every day, isn’t accuracy something super important to you? How can you use uncertain words like I think in your conversation?” Wei Zhiqian continued to nitpick.
Cheng Xiuze was now on the verge of having a mental breakdown.
What the heck? Did he complete his minor in English or what?
“Or else, how are you going to convince others when you become part of our country’s aeronautic engineering program? People will be dubious when they realize you use such uncertain words,” Wei Zhiqian added, bringing the conversation to a whole new level.
Seeing how desperate Cheng Xiuze was, Tan Mo began to take pity on him.
She quickly cut Wei Zhiqian short and turned to Cheng Xiuze, “Senior Cheng, I understand what you’re trying to say. Thank you.”
As for how Cheng Xiuze understood her words, it all depended on him.
If Cheng Xiuze were serious about treating Tan Mo to a meal as a way of showing his gratitude for her assistance in the research, then that would be what Tan Mo was thanking him for.
Yet, even Tan Mo knew that the possibility of that was very low.
Just as Wei Zhiqian had mentioned, Cheng Xiuze wasn’t the only researcher in the team.
Even if he really wanted to express his gratitude, there was no need for him to pay for it.
Another reason was that Tan Mo had already shown how valuable she was to the research team as soon as she joined them.
The moment she was added to the team, the research speed had increased significantly.
But Cheng Xiuze had not even mentioned he wanted to treat her to a meal as a form of gratitude back then.
If Cheng Xiuze was using the meal as an excuse to try and date her, then she was thanking him for liking her.
That she understood his feeling, but she wouldn’t be going out with him.
It was her way of rejecting him politely.
“Senior Cheng, thank you for the invitation.” Tan Mo smiled. “But there’s no need for you to spend your own money. I didn’t do much anyway. Why don’t we just ask Yeqing to host a small party for the whole team instead?”
She meant that she would not be dining with him alone.
“But…” Cheng Xiuze still wanted to persuade her, but when he saw Tan Mo’s smiling eyes, he paused.
He realized that Tan Mo had understood his intention, and, through her smile, she was rejecting him.
“I see…” Cheng Xiuze said disappointedly.
Of course, it was still too early for him to decide whether he should give up or not, but since Wei Zhiqian was present, there was nothing more that he could do.
At the very least, he had learned of Tan Mo’s feelings toward him.
Just as Ming Yeqing had said, he wasn’t in love with Tan Mo to the point that she was the only one he would ever want to marry.
That was most of the relationships nowadays.
One would have feelings for another person, but not to the point where he or she was the only choice.
If their feelings weren’t reciprocated, then all they had to do was find another person to fall in love with.
Only a few people were very persistent. And these people believed that their feelings would be understood eventually if they persisted.
Perhaps that kind of love would lead to a good ending, but it might also cause the other party a lot of problems.
In the end, it was obvious that Cheng Xiuze belonged to the first group.
However, in his head, he knew that he didn’t have to give up just yet as they would still have to spend time together while doing research.
He could take his time and see where that would lead him.
If Tan Mo still had no feelings for him, then he would just give up on her.
“I’ll head back now,” Cheng Xiuze said.
“Okay, thank you anyway.” Tan Mo smiled.
It was the best ending that Tan Mo could ever ask for out of such a situation.
Cheng Xiuze showed the spirit of a gentleman and respected the lady’s choices, which put him a few leagues above people like Jiang Siyong.
After Cheng Xiuze had left, Wei Zhiqian suddenly said, “That guy is kind of unreliable.”
“Really?” Tan Mo raised her brows. Even though she did not have any special feelings for Cheng Xiuze, she couldn’t think of anything bad about him. “He’s actually a good person.”
“But he’s not an honest person,” Wei Zhiqian pointed out.
Tan Mo turned to look at Wei Zhiqian. Not honest? Which part of him isn’t? Why didn’t I notice it?
“At first, he used his gratitude as an excuse to ask you out for a meal, but then quickly said that it was his personal decision after I confronted him. It’s even worse after that. Who knows what is his real intention in the end?” Wei Zhiqian frowned. “Unreliable!”
Even if it was Wei Zhiqian, Tan Mo wasn’t going to belittle her senior because of what had just happened.
At the end of the day, Cheng Xiuze was a decent person and a good friend of Ming Yeqing.
“Also, how can he give up so easily? It’s clear that he’s not completely into you,” Wei Zhiqian added.
