My System Forces Me to Live off Women-Chapter 164 - 158: Old Enough to Suffer

"What am I supposed to explain?"

Zhao Qingge stood inside the door, deliberately blocking Li Xin's view, and secretively glanced at the gap between the door and the corner of the wall, her expression remaining calm.

"Explain what?"

Li Xin retorted, her expression even described as cold, suppressing her anger, "Are you pretending to be confused with me? What did your dad and I say when our family sat together for dinner this weekend? How did you agree with us? It's been less than a day, and you've forgotten everything? Just had your meal?"

"I remember not promising you anything."

Zhao Qingge frowned slightly, stepped forward, stood right on the doorstep blocking the entrance completely, and then took Li Xin's hand, "Come to the living room and talk with me."

"Not going!!"

Li Xin was truly furious, almost like a barrel full of gunpowder about to explode, her daughter's touch was like a spark, instantly igniting her.

She slapped Zhao Qingge's hand away, then pounded the door with her fist, and said angrily, "Talk right here, stand right here and explain clearly!"

"Boom~"

The half-opened wooden door was affected by the force and swung towards the wall, but strangely, it didn't touch the wall bumper, just stopped midway, made a dull sound and stopped moving.

It hurts!!

Behind the door, Li Peifeng felt a sting in his nose, tears welled up, the pain almost made him cry out. But he could only bear it, didn't dare breathe heavily, quickly grasped the doorknob, curled his body, letting the door adhere to the wall at the largest angle, so the door and wall squeezed him, so thin as possible, better to squeeze into a paper figure.

To avoid Li Xin's suspicion... Someone was behind the door!

There was really no other way, the study had no place to hide, Li Peifeng could only hide behind the door, using the trick of hiding in plain sight, provided Zhao Qingge covered well, definitely couldn't let Li Xin in, or the truth will come out sooner or later!

"Mom, don't be angry, it's not worth it, let me get you a glass of water, let's sit and talk."

"Not worth it? Very worth it!!"

"Do you know how long Xiaofan waited for you at the restaurant? More than an hour!"

"He couldn't get hold of you, had to call me, ask where you were. At that time, I thought you were both finishing dinner already, turns out you never went? Then I called you, and you turned off your phone to play missing?!"

Li Xin grew angrier the more she thought about it, tightly holding her fists, couldn't help but transform her fist into a palm and hit the door once more...

"Slap!"

"..."

Li Peifeng although had already grasped the doorknob at this point, avoided being hurt again by this depressing attack, still felt fear, thoughts surging in his mind, past memories flashing.

Death, just a door away from me!

"Why are you pounding the door, doesn't your hand hurt?"

Zhao Qingge feigned calmness, "Come on, go to the living room with me, let's sit and chat leisurely..."

Li Xin stood at the door motionless, staring at her daughter with cold eyes, "Do you know how embarrassed your actions made me? How disgraceful? If you had even a hint of politeness, even a sliver of upbringing, you shouldn't have done such a thing! Even if you just went to make an appearance, casually chatted a few words would count as you respecting me! Even if you really didn't want to go, let me know in advance, I could find an excuse for your illness to cancel the meeting. Instead, you made people wait foolishly for more than an hour!"

"Listen to me—"

"Speak! I'm listening to you!" Li Xin yelled furiously, "Why did you break the appointment?"

Zhao Qingge sighed, "You asked me yesterday to have dinner with that person at six, but I remember I didn't agree, I completely remained silent..."

"You remained silent? Didn't agree? Zhao Duoduo you are arguing with me, right?"

Seeing Li Xin enraged, raising her hand again, seemed about to vent on the door, Zhao Qingge hurriedly pulled her, "Mom, calm down, I made a mistake, come, sit down and let me talk to you seriously..."

"Let go of me! I'm not your mom, I don't have a daughter like you!"

Li Xin shook off her daughter's hand again, but couldn't resist Zhao Qingge's holding her towards the living room, and before leaving, Old Zhao even gently closed the room door.

Details matter, my lead made many gentle moments for me!

"Click~"

Listening to their footsteps leaving the doorway, heading towards the sofa, Li Peifeng exhaled deeply, then rested against the door, eavesdropping on the mother-daughter conversation outside.

As for finding a chance to escape, that's completely unrealistic.

Once the study door opens, directly facing the living room, as soon as he goes out, Li Xin will definitely notice.

Jumping out the window? Seems like an option.

But this is the ninth floor, if I flip over and jump, it's a restart in life, and the soft rice system definitely won't cover the burial!

"I can only leave once Old Zhao gets her mother to leave."

As Li Peifeng's thoughts shifted, the mother and daughter in the living room were also conversing...

"Actually, since you mentioned this meeting yesterday, I had no plans to attend. Because I already had a dinner planned with my research group at the same time, which couldn't be changed. But I was afraid if I mentioned this at the dinner table, you'd definitely get angry and make me cancel it to go on a blind date. So I thought I'd tell you tomorrow just before the agreed time that I didn't want to go, and you'd cancel it for me. But I ended up enjoying the conversation with my students too much and forgot about it..."

"Enjoying yourself? You were really enjoying yourself."

Li Xin sneered: "Enjoying it so much that you hung up when you saw my call. What you're saying is complete nonsense, even if you really forgot the blind date, you should've remembered when you saw my call. Besides, this morning I sent you the time and place on WeChat!"

After she finished speaking, Li Xin frowned, leaned closer to Zhao Qingge's hair for a sniff, and looked even more displeased: "Have you been drinking?"

"One project was almost finished, so I had a little drink..."

Li Xin interrupted: "Then how did you get back?"

Zhao Qingge pursed her lips: "I took a cab back, left the car at school."

"Drink less in the future!"

Li Xin scolded, followed by a complaint: "I was about to call the police, you hung up and then turned off your phone, even though you agreed yesterday. How am I supposed to deal with the Fan family in the future? Can we still meet? It'd be fortunate if we don't become enemies!"

"Yes, yes, yes."

Zhao Qingge intentionally or unintentionally glanced at the closed study door, and casually said: "I was wrong, it won't happen next time..."

"Then meet Xiaofan again tomorrow."

Li Xin's face slightly softened: "By then, I'll cover it up with a little lie, saying you had a little fender bender on the road, got delayed, and your phone died, so you couldn't be reached. Apologize sincerely to them, and it'll be over!"

"Can I not meet him?"

"..."

The living room fell into silence. Li Xin looked back coldly, seeing her daughter fiddling with her fingers. After a moment, she also said helplessly: "Duoduo, what do you really want? We talked so well as a family over the weekend, and you even said you wouldn't stay single for long, and that you'd marry when you meet the right person. But we find someone suitable for you, and you don't even want to meet them, at least meet them once."

"I can find someone myself." Zhao Qingge said softly, "No need for you to introduce anyone."

"Find someone yourself?"

Li Xin laughed out of exasperation: "You finding someone yourself would just be the students or colleagues around you, some of whom already have kids in middle school, and some who might've already divorced twice. Your colleagues are also on the older side, and you don't have many friends of the opposite sex, your social circle is limited, when will you find someone suitable on your own?"

"..."

Li Xin, puzzled, asked: "Are you really planning on online dating?"

Zhao Qingge's eyes lightly glanced at the study again: "No, no online dating, keep your voice down."

"Duoduo!"

But Li Xin spoke earnestly: "You're not young anymore, you can't waste time, it's time to date and get married."

Zhao Qingge laughed indifferently: "Sounds like I'm not young anymore, and I should suffer a bit, experience hardships, and I can't live as carefree and unrestrained as before."

"Regardless of how you put it, it's an experience!"

Li Xin emphasized: "Whether it's bitter or sweet, you'll only know after you try it. The greatest regrets in life often come from not doing something, rather than doing something wrong."

Maybe her rational speech was too much like chicken soup for the soul, Zhao Qingge said nothing, just nodded.

"And having children is the same, it's a rare experience in life. If you wait any longer, you'll truly miss the chance."

Suddenly, Zhao Qingge recalled a saying and her mind unintentionally floated away, and she spoke lightly: "I didn't come to this world to reproduce, but to see how flowers bloom, how water flows, how the sun rises, and how the sunset falls. My existence in this world is simply to understand some truths, encounter interesting things, life is an accident, and I'm here to seek cause and effect..."

"Are you thinking of quitting your job again?"

Li Xin interrupted out of the blue: "We discussed this over the weekend, both your father and I agree, you can resign, but first you have to get married. After you're married, as long as your partner agrees, you can do whatever you want. But now you haven't even started a family, you want to quit your job too, are you crazy? We absolutely disagree!"

Zhao Qingge pursed her lips and said: "There are too many things you two disagree with."

"Zhao Duoduo, if you want to anger me to death, just say it!!!"

"Keep your voice down..."