Chapter 508

So the Marshal is... Zhang Zuolin?

Fengtian warlord, King of the Northeast, Tiger of Fengtian, the world's first Honkai: Star Rail player... if you call him the Marshal, Song Shen can't deny it.

Remember, watch out for the Fengtian clique between the carriage and the platform.

Song Shen: "Then the Young Marshal is——"

Lin Li, Chen Yuying: "Zhang Xueliang."

Song Shen maintained an awkward but polite smile at the corner of his mouth.

Then he reacted to something, blinked, turned his head to look at the daughter beside him who had answered his question straightforwardly along with Lin Li, a playful smile still in her eyes at this moment, and for a time he felt a myriad of mixed feelings.

It was still suffering from being too cultured; if Wu Min, who was already unfamiliar with this father-son Zhang duo, were here, Lin Li would have to ruin the joke by explaining it.

Wu Min, win!

After a moment, Song Shen shook his head with amusement and helplessness: "Yingying always said Lin Li you're interesting, today I finally got to witness it."

Facing this remark that perhaps counted as praise, Lin Li merely smiled slightly bashfully at the rearview mirror.

Song Shen was ultimately a very unconventional elder.

If it were Uncle Yan, Uncle Yang, Brother Sun, or even Wu Min sitting in front right now, faced with such praise, Lin Li would have said without a shred of modesty, "That's right, after all I am Letexi."

Everyone, as for if someone asks what Letexi means.

Remember, Xite Le is the pronounym of fun.

Then Letexi is naturally the pronounym of interesting, bro!

But saying this kind of thing to an elder met formally for the first time, moreover the girlfriend's parent, is absolutely inappropriate, at least not appropriate right now.

Say appropriate words on appropriate occasions, but so what if love is in your heart but hard to voice, anyway you can send a message.

"Pfft——"

Chen Yuying's sudden laughter attracted Song Shen's attention; after confirming the road ahead was safe, she glanced at her daughter with her peripheral vision, discovering she was currently looking at her phone, the corners of her mouth unable to stop curving upward.

But after laughing, strangely she couldn't help but feel vexed, as if while rejoicing she had also lost something she didn't want to lose, choosing to knock on her own head.

"Yingying, what are you laughing at?"

"Nothing~" Chen Yuying subconsciously hid her phone against her chest, her voice carrying irrepressible delight.

Unable to resist glancing back, discovering Lin Li was also holding his phone, Song Shen narrowed her eyes with slight suspicion:

"What you two are secretly chatting about now, wouldn't be badmouthing Mom, would it?"

"Of course not."

"As expected, you two were just secretly chatting on your phones, this kind of behavior that isolates elders really doesn't score points." Song Shen wore a "gotcha, I probed it out" shallow smile, saying lightly.

"Mom sets traps when talking to me, pumping me for information, that doesn't score points either!"

Chen Yuying froze for a moment at those words, then responded discontentedly in a coquettish tone.

"It's fine, Mom isn't Dad, your score in Yingying's book is definitely high, deducting a little isn't a problem."

"Then deduct my points too."

"Lin Li and you are one entity, if points are deducted, his will be deducted together, really want to deduct?" Song Shen seemed to have anticipated Chen Yuying's 'mimicry' response, immediately countering with a smile.

"... No way." Chen Yuying paused, cheeks puffing slightly.

"So what did you two say on your phones that made you this happy, say it and Mom's original good impression here can become an even better good impression." Song Shen smiled, pressing the advantage.

Chen Yuying didn't think so.

After saying it... would it really be an even better good impression?

What about Lin Li? What is Lin Li doing?

Chen Yuying, deciding to seek help, turned her head, casting her gaze toward the 'Letexi' himself in the back row.

Oh, Miracle Lin Li is still playing dumb!

Sensing the gaze, Lin Li smiled, opening his mouth to diffuse the situation: "Auntie, actually we're chatting about a very interesting piece of gossip I just found out."

"Nothing that can't be said, it's about a classmate of ours, for his privacy let's use the pseudonym Chen Mingtian, or rather now called Fan Rou, he..."

As everyone knows, when internal contradictions are hard to handle, an extremely effective method is to provoke external contradictions, divert the contradiction!

Secret Technique: Gossip Diversion Art!

Tianming, your sacrifice has value!

Song Shen listened with quite some interest, didn't pursue it further.

Because if it's this direction of gossip, only chatting privately on phones would be normal.

Successfully muddled through!

The sedan had already exited the highway, officially entering Pingjiang City's jurisdiction, steadily approaching Pingjiang Academy.

The whole way was just chatting, the atmosphere still quite harmonious.

Lin Li was originally a talkative person too, plus he knew Song Shen's purpose was actually to understand him a bit more, let her be more at ease; after sacrificing Chen Tianming, Lin Li called out to the Hall of Gods, and the only response was his childhood self.

Responded, then sacrifice.

So for most of the remaining time, it was Lin Li talking about his past, occasionally Song Shen would also 'return the favor', laughing and saying a few things about Chen Yuying's similar past events.

Chen Yuying was also busy, from time to time glaring discontentedly at Lin Li——"How come the childhood version you tell me is different", "How come you never told me", from time to time glaring discontentedly at her own mother——"Why do you have to tell this too", "How come I didn't know about this".

Then when Song Shen asked something hard to answer, an embarrassing question, a single "Mom" with rising intonation to stop it.

"Anyway, that scam call chirped a whole bunch at me, I finally got a bit impatient, simply said 'Forget it, I won the lottery today, you just say how much you want to scam me, I'll transfer it directly, limit within 2 million'."

Result didn't expect the other side to freeze for a while then ask me "Really, bro"?

Directly cracked me up, laughed and replied "You're this gullible and still have the nerve to be a scammer".

The call continued for twenty seconds after that, but during that period neither of us spoke, finally he actively hung up, but still not a word."

"Heh——" Song Shen couldn't help laughing, "Lin Li, your mom said you're a headache of a kid, but I think, you're actually quite interesting."

"Min... it's normal for my mom to say that," Lin Li waved his hand, "the closer people are, the less they can give an objective evaluation; for a mom, having a filter for her son is perfectly normal."

"Generally speaking, shouldn't this kind of filter be positive? I just feel my Yingying is the best in the world." Song Shen asked with a smile.

Lin Li: "Yeah, my mom has already started beautifying me."

Song Shen: "o. o Eh?"

"Actually, it's not just that I'm 'very' troublesome, I'm actually 'extremely' troublesome for her; Auntie, you just find it interesting to listen to, after all, it's a bystander's perspective; if you were to participate, you'd most likely sincerely say, 'Child, this isn't funny.'"

Lin Li had also long since lost that initial bit of subconscious awkwardness, and said with a smile.

"Is that so," Song Shen nodded noncommittally, then, with meaningful intent, met Lin Li's gaze through the rearview mirror,

"But it seems Auntie also has the opportunity to participate in this; after all, who knows, one day you might call me 'Auntie' again, and I'd be very displeased about it; what do you think, Lin Li."

"I understand this hint," Lin Li nodded seriously, then sincerely met Song Shen's gaze: "Jiejie."

Lin Li paused, his tone even more sincere: "Actually, I've wanted to call you that for a long time; you really look very young."

Song Shen: "?"

"Cut it out," faced with this feigned serious flattery, Song Shen found it amusing while immediately steering the topic back:

"Lin Li, Auntie is asking you: dating Yingying, have you thought about the future and the even further future?"

"Mom——" Chen Yuying's displeased voice and gaze came over together.

"I have thought about it," Lin Li's left hand lightly propped his right elbow, fingers unconsciously stroking the hair by his ear, his voice softened a few degrees, "just feel that saying these things now is still too distant, and too... embarrassing, so I want to properly grasp today and tomorrow even more."

Song Shen nodded, offering no evaluation of this answer, but instead asked more directly: "Lin Li, do you like Yingying?"

"I like her, of course I like her."

Hesitating for even a second would be disrespect to the Class Monitor.

"Sometimes answering too crisply and neatly isn't a good thing either; it makes people feel you're just saying it casually, seeming not sincere enough," Song Shen ignored the protesting gaze of the daughter beside her, and continued pressing, "Could it be that you've actually said this to many people?"

Contrary to Song Shen and Chen Yuying's expectations, Lin Li still didn't hesitate, but nodded, a smile surfacing on his face, and his spoken answer was also—— "Yes."

"Hm?" Song Shen raised an eyebrow; she felt Lin Li definitely still had words left unsaid.

"I've said it to many people, that I like Yuying very much."

Halfway through his words, Lin Li turned his face, looking at the receding scenery outside the car window; even the volume of his voice unconsciously lowered a bit.

The car interior fell into a brief silence.

They were already approaching Pingjiang Academy; what broke the brief silence and stillness in the car was still Song Shen's light laughter.

While turning her head to look for a parking spot, she looked at her daughter in the passenger seat.

Her movements mirroring Lin Li's exactly, she had absolutely no intention of making eye contact, turning her face to the side, looking out the window, not saying a word.