Chapter 54: Following

On that Saturday, Lin Yun put on some casual clothes and went out alone.

On a day without a commute, he rarely chose to drive, heading by himself to the central business district of Luoming District.

He had previously hinted to Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang about what happened in the apartment elevator, but he did not know if they truly did not know or were just pretending; as a result, they had no reaction to it.

It was just that on that night, when he was explaining schoolwork to Lin Xiaolu in the guise of Cui Que, her distracted expression was something he found hard to forget.

Thinking about it carefully, in accordance with the promise he made on the day he sent Lin Xiaolu to school, he should have a good talk with his daughter; at the very least, he should tell her about Anya, rather than letting her remain in the dark.

Planning this in his heart, Lin Yun silently turned the steering wheel. After turning at an intersection and driving a distance further along the road, his eyebrows suddenly twitched.

Because he could feel that the Flower of the Heart he carried with him was transmitting a magical reaction.

This was a sign that the spell he had set up had been triggered.

Previously, during the time he first met Moke, because its behavior was suspicious and its motives were a mystery, Cui Que had secretly placed a tracking spell on it to monitor its movements.

Later on, although Moke proved with its actions that it was a fool through and through, considering it usually accompanied Lin Xiaolu, Cui Que did not remove the spell, so as to ensure he could lock onto their location at any time should an accident occur.

Lightly touching the Flower of the Heart, azure magic gradually surged from the hand Lin Yun extended; the palm that belonged to an adult male became illusory, and within the phantom, a small hand rested on the fractured-pattern gemstone flower in the same posture.

A sensation suddenly arose in his mind—the spell he had cast was right behind him.

Why would Moke be following him?

Feeling quite strange in his heart, Lin Yun did not show it, but instead let go of the Flower of the Heart, letting everything return to normal. He pretended he had discovered nothing and continued to drive forward.

Before long, when the car encountered a red light at an intersection and was forced to stop, he discovered a pink head stretching out from the side of the car window.

There was no need to look closely; he knew that head must belong to Moke, without even needing to guess.

At this moment, Moke was using its claws to cling firmly to the car window, staring with a pair of cat eyes, its face pressed tightly against the glass, looking quite comical.

For some reason, a mobile phone was hanging around its neck, and the model seemed similar to the one Xia Liang had. It was fortunate that the fairy's cognitive impairment was an integrated effect; otherwise, pedestrians on the road would likely be scared to death by a phone floating in mid-air.

Lin Yun continued to pretend he had not discovered the other party, observing Moke outside the window with his peripheral vision. After carefully identifying it for a long time, he finally confirmed one thing: what was around its neck was likely Xia Liang’s own phone.

In other words, at the very least, this inexplicable behavior of its was inseparable from Xia Liang.

Considering what he saw in the elevator that day—the elevator going straight to his floor—he could not help but form a guess: could it have been Xia Liang that day?

What on earth was she trying to do?

With Xia Liang’s smiling appearance appearing in his mind, Lin Yun could not guess her thoughts for a moment, but what he was doing right now was not something that needed to be hidden, so he did not mind her little actions.

After all, he had said before that as an adult, one should be tolerant of a child’s little whims.

Just like that, Lin Yun continued driving toward his destination. What he did not know was that in a taxi hundreds of meters behind him, two girls were tailing him the whole way.

—"Target tracked."

Staring at her mobile phone screen, Lin Xiaolu furrowed her brows: "Moke has already confirmed through the car window; it is indeed him inside."

"I say... is this really necessary?"

Not only was she dragged along, but Xia Liang, who had her phone forcibly taken, felt a bit helpless: "Even if your father is really going on a date with another woman, that is his freedom, right?"

"I didn't say I wanted to manage that."

Lin Xiaolu muttered softly: "Anyway, he could be so intimate with another woman at Mom's funeral; now it's just a date, what could happen?"

"But you were just saying before that this kind of behavior is an affair..."

"Ah, really! I was just speaking without thinking, don't nitpick at a time like this!"

Pouting and denying it, Lin Xiaolu hurriedly moved past the topic: "In any case, what we are focusing on now is not the act of him going out on a date, but who he intends to meet!"

"Yes, yes, yes." Watching Lin Xiaolu's reaction, Xia Liang smiled teasingly, "In other words, if the target is someone you don't care about, then it doesn't matter if they succeed, right?"

"...It doesn't matter." Lin Xiaolu said stubbornly.

"Then what if it really is Hong Siyu, the sister who came to our house a few days ago?"

"I want to expose her true intentions for approaching us to Cui Que, and let him know that woman... um, um?" Lin Xiaolu raised her head, a bit slow to react, "What did you just say?"

"Hong Siyu sister?"

"I don't care how you address that woman, I'm talking about the previous word!" Lin Xiaolu corrected.

"A few days ago?" Xia Liang blinked innocently.

"Don't try to brush it off, you said 'our house', right?" Lin Xiaolu widened her eyes.

"Mm, I said it."

"That's it, I've corrected you many times; I'm telling you, that's my house, you are being way too pushy!"

"Is it not okay? I really hope we can truly be like a family."

Xia Liang teased softly: "In that case, I can call you sister, how about it, Sister Xiaolu?"

"Don't say it so mushily."

Glaring at her with some disgust, Lin Xiaolu sighed: "In any case, my house is my house, and your house is your house. This concept cannot be mixed together."

Having said that, she continued to stare at her phone, closely monitoring the movements of Moke and her father.

The car fell into silence.

The driver sitting in front could actually hear the conversation behind him, but this kind of obvious family ethics issue was clearly not something he could interject in. He tried hard to tell himself not to mind other people's family business, and so he also remained silent.

"Xiaolu."

Xia Liang followed along beside Lin Xiaolu and watched for a while, but before long, she suddenly opened her mouth and called her name: "Tell me, if the person your father is dating really isn't that sister, but just like you said, is..."

"It won't be."

Cutting off her words directly, Lin Xiaolu stared at her phone without raising her head, making it impossible for Xia Liang to see her expression: "I must believe in Cui Que, it won't be."

"Even though you were doubting it yourself a few days ago?"

Lin Xiaolu did not speak.

Because she did not know how to answer that question.

In fact, until she chased Lin Yun out of the house, that possibility she least hoped for had been lingering in her mind. However, at this very moment, she had instead calmed down a bit.

Cui Que's past words and deeds surfaced in her mind, allowing her to gradually regain her confidence: the magical girl she admired was not the type of person who would wantonly interfere in someone else's family.

Even if, in her heart, there was a tiny bit of longing: if she really were to have a stepmother, perhaps...

Therefore, this act of tailing was less about catching him in the act and more about giving herself an answer.

Looking at the red and blue dots on the phone representing their respective positions, Lin Xiaolu was silent for a long time.

She knew that no matter what thoughts she harbored in her heart, the true answer was already ahead.