Chapter 179: Overestimating Each Other

Su Yuqing and Zhao Yuanyuan offered their thanks, took the bottles of water, and after a couple of sips, looked over at Chen Mo.

"If you’re that interested, just go talk to him," Huang Mao said with a smile, leading the way over.

Su Yuqing was a little reserved, while Zhao Yuanyuan’s face was alight with gossip.

Soon, the three of them had made their way over.

"You guys done with your exams?" Chen Mo asked, smiling at Su Yuqing and Zhao Yuanyuan.

"Yeah," Su Yuqing nodded, not saying much more.

Zhao Yuanyuan, however, immediately piped up, "Who’s this beauty? Aren’t you going to introduce us, Brother Mo?"

Hearing how Zhao Yuanyuan addressed Chen Mo, Chu Mengyao gave her a surprised glance.

Because that was what she usually called him.

"This is Chu Mengyao, a good friend I grew up with," Chen Mo said with a smile, before introducing Su Yuqing and Zhao Yuanyuan to her.

"This is Su Yuqing, a good friend of mine, and this is Zhao Yuanyuan, my daughter," Chen Mo said with a laugh.

"Pfft!" Zhao Yuanyuan immediately shot back. "I’m his grandma!"

The two of them seemed to have this same routine every time.

Watching Zhao Yuanyuan’s reaction, Chu Mengyao couldn’t help but laugh.

She could tell at a glance that Chen Mo and Zhao Yuanyuan were the kind of good friends who loved to roast each other.

But it was also clear there were no romantic feelings between them.

This kind of relationship felt incredibly familiar to Chu Mengyao.

Because it was pretty much the same way she and Chen Mo used to interact.

When they were together, there wasn’t any awkwardness between them as a guy and a girl; it was mostly just playful bickering.

This was also one of the reasons it was becoming harder and harder for romantic feelings to develop between them.

Especially when one of them was interested and the other wasn’t.

It made it even harder for that relationship to go any further.

"Yaoyao, you just mentioned that since it’s been a while, I should treat you. If you’re free later, how about we all go for afternoon tea?" Chen Mo said with a smile, looking around at the others.

"Sure. It’s not often I get to freeload off you. I’ll take this as the meal you owe my mom," Chu Mengyao said with a laugh.

"How come you owe her mom a meal?" Zhao Yuanyuan asked curiously.

"Before, Yuqing and I went to her mom’s shop to buy clothes, and her mom gave us a huge discount. So, I ended up owing her one," Chen Mo said nonchalantly.

Hearing this, Su Yuqing suddenly remembered the time she’d gone shopping for clothes with Chen Mo.

She had only gone out to buy clothes with Chen Mo once, and that time, they had gone to a shop run by an older woman he knew well.

Thinking back on it carefully, Su Yuqing now realized that there was indeed a resemblance between Chu Mengyao’s eyes and brows and those of the woman she had seen that day.

’So this girl is that woman’s daughter.’

Su Yuqing instantly felt there was no way she could compare.

That woman had impeccable taste. If she were to personally style Chu Mengyao, the girl would undoubtedly be several times more beautiful than she already was.

As she was now, Chu Mengyao’s style was rather androgynous, concealing some of her feminine appeal.

But Su Yuqing had a good eye, and she could still tell that Chu Mengyao’s natural features were extraordinary.

If Chu Mengyao were to fully embrace her feminine charm, it was hard to say whether she’d be able to capture Chen Mo’s heart.

Instantly, Su Yuqing’s sense of alarm intensified.

As Su Yuqing was thinking this, Chu Mengyao was having the exact same thoughts.

Su Yuqing was already so beautiful in her school uniform with no makeup on; if she were to actually get dolled up, she’d be devastating.

’With her looks and aura, she could easily debut as a celebrity without any issue.’

As the two girls stared at each other, each elevating the other while feeling inadequate themselves, the three bystanders noticed their exchange of looks.

Huang Mao wore an expression that said he was enjoying the drama, while Zhao Yuanyuan looked at Chen Mo with great interest, wondering what he would do.

Chen Mo, however, seemed oblivious to the atmosphere between the two. He stood up and said, "Let’s go. We should tell the teacher we’re leaving first."

Basically, anyone who finished their exam early could leave.

If you needed to take the school bus back, you had to wait for everyone else.

If you didn’t, you just had to let a teacher know beforehand so they wouldn’t have to deliberately wait for you during roll call.

On the way to find a teacher, they ran into Zhou Hao and Lin Yu’an, who had also just finished their exams.

Chen Mo called out to them, "Since today was the P.E. assessment, evening self-study is canceled. Let’s all go grab a bite to eat and relax."

Zhou Hao was about to agree, but then he thought of Qu Danwan and hesitated. Chen Mo immediately caught his drift. "Why don’t you ask your girlfriend if she wants to come? It’d be best if she joins us; the more, the merrier."

Hearing this, he quickly pulled Chen Mo aside and whispered, "It’s not official yet! She’s really shy, so don’t just say things like that in front of everyone. If you scare her off and she starts ignoring me, you’ll be held fully responsible."

Chen Mo laughed and patted his shoulder. "Alright, alright. So, what should I call her?"

"Just call her Danwan or something," Zhou Hao said after a moment’s thought.

"Whatever you say. Now hurry up and go ask her if she wants to come," Chen Mo replied with a smile.

"Alright." Zhou Hao immediately ran off, grinning.

In fact, Zhou Hao considered hanging out with a high-caliber friend like Chen Mo a point in his favor.

It would show Qu Danwan that he didn’t just hang out with a bad crowd; he had normal, decent friends too.

That way, she would have a better impression of him.

That’s why Zhou Hao was more than happy to bring Qu Danwan along to eat with Chen Mo and the others.

Besides, among all his friends, only a rare few, like Chen Mo, knew that he wasn’t a bad person deep down.

Soon, Chen Mo and his friends informed He Xiaoyun that they would be leaving early.

The teacher didn’t stop them, only reminding them to be careful on their way.

Meanwhile, it didn’t take much effort for Zhou Hao to successfully invite Qu Danwan.

Although she was a little shy, she was also curious about Zhou Hao’s social circle and wanted to learn more about it.

After all, this was the first time she had ever liked someone, and deep down, Qu Danwan harbored her own secret fears.

On the surface, from what she knew of Zhou Hao, he didn’t seem like a bad person or an untrustworthy guy.

But it was hard for Qu Danwan to know what he was really like. This was the first time she had ever liked someone, the first time she felt the urge to start a serious, committed relationship.

For a girl like Qu Danwan, to give her heart meant giving her all. If that love was misplaced, the blow would be absolutely unbearable for her.

So, even though she felt her judgment of him was sound, she was still scared. She was afraid of the slight possibility that she had made a terrible mistake.

Furthermore, her father detested punks. When he ran his street stall, he frequently had to deal with them causing trouble.

As a result, he had a bone-deep loathing for anyone who seemed like a punk or a street loafer.

She hoped Zhou Hao had a respectable social circle, one that she could confidently tell her father about.