The others might not have noticed it, but Wei Zhiqian could tell even the subtlest changes about Tan Mo.
He remained silent while leading her to the car.
While Tan Mo was fastening the seatbelt, he asked, “Did something bad happen today?”
A short pause later, she shook her head. “No.”
Looking at her expression, he knew that she was not hiding anything.
“Did anyone bully you?” No, wait a minute. If someone bullied her, then it’d be considered an unhappy incident.
Tan Mo denied it unambiguously.
“No.” Tan Mo declined again. “Why do you ask?”
“Well, um…” Wei Zhiqian frowned slightly and then unfurrowed his brows. “It’s nothing.
“Are you hungry? Shall we get some dinner?” Wei Zhiqian looked up a few restaurants that were famous among the locals during his journey here.
“Okay.” Tan Mo was brought back to reality after she buckled up. “Did you drive all the way here?”
They were sitting in the car Wei Zhiqian used to drive around daily.
Since Tan Mo was used to seeing it almost every day, she did not feel anything out-of-place even after getting in the car.
It was not until that moment that she recalled they were not in B City but Jiaoyuan City.
“Yeah,” Wei Zhiqian replied. “B City isn’t too far from here. Driving all the way here wasn’t a hassle. In fact, it’s only slightly slower than by flight. If I were to come here by airplane, I’d have to travel to the airport extra early, wasting my time as I waited in the terminal. In the end, I thought I should just drive since it’d be easier to move around.
“Why don’t you come back with me to B City tomorrow?” Wei Zhiqian suggested. “That way, you can grab snacks, watch variety shows, drama series, or anything you’d like to do. No matter what, it’d still be more comfortable than traveling by airplane.”
It was a different story if Tan Mo was unaware of how he had gotten there. After learning that Wei Zhiqian had driven all the way here, she couldn’t bring herself to let him travel back alone.
It’d be impossible for her to ditch him while following her team to the airport.
“Okay.” Tan Mo nodded.
The restaurant they went to was reasonably priced and lively. Moreover, the food was pretty palatable.
Knowing Tan Mo, she would not care about having a meal in a luxurious restaurant as long as the food it served was delicious.
Thus, Wei Zhiqian only focused on restaurants highly favored by the locals for their scrumptious food rather than the ambiance.
After Tan Mo finished eating, she noticed that it was better than what she had ordered for her lunch earlier.
“Speaking of which, where are you staying tonight?” Tan Mo asked.
“I booked a room in your hotel.” Wei Zhiqian ordered Zhou Jingan to find it out at Beijing University before his arrival.
Having been informed about where the team was lodging in Jiaoyuan City, he instructed Zhou Jingan to book him a room there.
“You’re staying in the same hotel as me? But that’s a budget hotel.” Tan Mo was taken aback.
“I know.” Wei Zhiqian glanced at her in amusement. “What’s up with that?”
“Well… I reckon that you’ve never stayed in a budget hotel before, right?” Tan Mo took a sip of the barberry juice to help calm herself.
“What about you? Have you ever stayed in one before?” Wei Zhiqian asked in a slight smile.
Tan Mo became inarticulate after hearing the question.
She did not know what to say in response.
A while later, she replied, “No, I’ve never stayed in one either.”
Wei Zhiqian chuckled and said, “Well, that makes the two of us. Since this is your first time, how was the experience?”
Tan Mo answered frankly, “I think it’s fine.”
“Then I’m cool with it too,” Wei Zhiqian remarked nonchalantly. “Aren’t they all the same—a room with a bed inside? It’s just a temporary dwelling for a night. There’s no need to make a fuss over it.”
Tan Mo knew Wei Zhiqian was not a person who was bothered about trivial matters in life.
“What time did you leave campus this morning?” Wei Zhiqian queried.
“I woke up at 5 a.m. and departed at 5:30 a.m. The flight was around 8 a.m., so we had to be at the airport by 6:30 a.m.,” Tan Mo explained.
“I see. No wonder you look so tired.” Although Wei Zhiqian could tell that she was exhausted, he did not think that it was due to her usage of healing magic on the trees in the school.
He assumed that Tan Mo did not have enough rest since she woke up before dawn that morning.
Conscience-stricken, she bit her tongue and acknowledged his assumption in silence.
She thought, ‘Thank goodness he didn’t think of it.’
As a being with healing magic, she did not feel fatigued that easily.
“You should go back and rest earlier after dinner,” Wei Zhiqian said. “You can still sleep in the car tomorrow.”
Tan Mo nodded.
Once they finished their dinner, Wei Zhiqian took Tan Mo back to their hotel.
While escorting her back, he came to a sudden halt before her room door.
He heard Tan Mo ask, “Where’s your room?”
At that, Wei Zhiqian let out a laugh. “What a coincidence.”
He crooked his finger toward the right door of Tan Mo’s room. “It’s right beside yours. I swear I didn’t request the front desk to make any arrangement in advance. It just so happened that I was given this room when I checked in.”
It wasn’t until Tan Mo told him her room number that he noticed their rooms were next to each other.
“What time should we check out tomorrow?” Tan Mo figured that since Wei Zhiqian had to go back to work the next day, it’d be better for them to depart earlier.
“We’re not in a hurry since I brought my laptop with me. I can work here,” Wei Zhiqian responded. “You should sleep tight tonight. You’ve had a long day. You don’t have to wake up early tomorrow. We can have our lunch here and travel back afterward. If we depart around 1 p.m., we should be able to arrive in B City around 5 or 6 p.m.”
“Alright, I’ll inform the instructors later. There’d be penalty charges if they were to get a refund for my airline ticket, right?” Knowing her university was sponsoring her entire trip, Tan Mo was ambivalent about spending its expenses no matter how much it cost.
“I’ll talk to them. Don’t worry about the penalty charges. Let me handle it,” Wei Zhiqian said.
Needless to say, Beijing University would not haggle over such a meager cost with her.
Still, Wei Zhiqian wanted to settle accounts with the airline properly.
“Sure.” Tan Mo nodded. After leaving it to Wei Zhiqian, she felt a weight off her mind. “Well, goodnight, then.”
“Goodnight.” Wei Zhiqian only entered his room after seeing her go into her room.
Wei Zhiqian was satisfied, even though he only spent around three hours with her after traveling all the way there.
Every ounce of weariness accumulated during his journey here receded the moment he saw her.
“Whoa. You’re early.” Upon seeing Tan Mo, Ms. Hu questioned with a light smile, “Why didn’t you spend a longer time with Wei Zhiqian? I thought he traveled all the way here just to meet you.”
There were quite a few people at the university who knew Tan Mo addressed Wei Zhiqian as her uncle.
The two had a familial relationship of an elder relative and a younger relative.
Still, they were two individuals without any blood relation at all.
The fact that Tan Mo came back earlier than Ms. Hu expected put her mind at ease.
Wei Zhiqian and Tan Mo were well-mannered and decent people. Hence, it was easy for people to feel less worried about them.
“I’ve already washed up,” Ms. Hu stated. “You should rest well after showering. It’s been a long day.”
“Okay.” Tan Mo grabbed her nightgown and toiletry bag and went into the bathroom.
After washing her face, she took her shampoo, conditioner, and shower gel out from the bag and placed them on the shower shelf that was screwed to the wall.
