"I'll give you the money after the college entrance exams. Whether I live or die in the future, it has nothing to do with you."

Mother Qiao was stunned. Her first reaction was: Where did Qiao Lan get so much money from?

Could it be that her son was right? Was there really a rich boy in school who was chasing after Qiao Lan?

He was so rich that he could fork out hundreds of thousands of yuan at once.

But if there was such a classmate, why did he have to wait until after the college entrance exams?

Mother Qiao couldn't figure it out. "Who knows if you're lying? If you go to another university after the college entrance exams, I won't be able to find you in the blink of an eye. How am I going to find you then?"

"It's fine if you don't agree. If you push me too hard, I might just leave in a few days and you won't be able to find me for the rest of your life."

Mother Qiao was instantly terrified.

If Qiao Lan really ran away in a hurry, who could she cry to?

Mother Qiao also thought of another possibility.

She couldn't have imagined that Qiao Lan had received the college entrance exams reward. Mother Qiao felt that Qiao Lan must have hooked up with some other rich student who might even be richer than Luo Nian's family!

Mother Qiao suddenly felt that it wasn't that Luo Nian couldn't find a better Qiao Lan in the future. She could wait and see.

The matter was finally settled. Mother Qiao returned home satisfied. That night, she specially went to Qiao Yuan to find out who was chasing after Qiao Lan.

Qiao Yuan didn't know much about Hao Ying's family background, but since Hao Ying was a celebrity in school, Qiao Yuan had heard a lot about her.

"Anyway, he's extremely handsome and comes from a rich family. I heard that his family is in the real estate business."

Real estate!

That was many times better than opening a hotpot restaurant!

Mother Qiao thought it through and immediately called Second Sister Qiao. She asked Second Sister Qiao to tell Luo Nian not to disturb Qiao Lan again.

Second Sister Qiao was dumbfounded. How did things turn out like this in the blink of an eye?

"Third Brother has a short temper. What if he runs away one day when he's anxious?"

Madam Qiao said, "Besides, I don't think that Luo Nian is that great. His parents are just restaurant owners, and your sister is so pretty. Maybe she'll meet someone better in the future."

Second Sister Qiao was almost angered to death by Madam Qiao.

Mother Qiao casually rejected this matter, but the one who had to report back to the Luo Nian was her, not Mother Qiao!

Mother Qiao didn't dare to say this to Luo Nian. After much consideration, Second Sister Qiao decided to push all the blame onto Qiao Lan.

Second Sister Qiao looked as if she felt very sorry for Luo Nian. She angrily scolded Qiao Lan, saying that Qiao Lan wouldn't agree no matter how many times they tried. She said that if they pushed her too hard, she would run away and they wouldn't be able to find her.

Luo Nian had been waiting for good news for several days. In the end, this was the outcome. No matter how much he liked Qiao Lan, he was only left with a belly full of anger.

He was so angry that he scolded Qiao Lan that he couldn't vent his anger. He immediately sent a message to the classmate who asked for Qiao Lan's phone number.

Qiao Lan changed the phone number. Luo Nian couldn't get through to the number that Luo Nian asked for. He could only ask someone to ask for it again.

In the end, he waited and waited, but there was still no news.

Other than Tan Mo and Uncle Chen, no one else knew Qiao Lan's phone number. Luo Nian was already angry, but now he was even more furious.

"Fine, fine, fine. You want to piss me off?" Luo Nian was furious. She couldn't afford to piss Qiao Lan off!

Outsiders couldn't enter the affiliated high school from Monday to Friday. Even if Luo Nian had money, it wouldn't work. Luo Nian could only continue to wait outside the school on weekends.

He didn't believe that Qiao Lan would stay in the school forever.

Qiao Lan really didn't come out.

Ever since he decided to take the money, Qiao Lan resumed his high-intensity studies in the first year of high school. He studied every day. Moreover, Tan Mo didn't come to school anymore. Qiao Lan suddenly felt that the number of people talking to him had decreased by more than half.

Luo Nian waited outside the school for two days without finding anyone. He was so angry that his teeth itched, but he couldn't think of a solution.

In the end, before he could think of a solution, Luo Nian's family suddenly got into trouble.

The Food and Drug Administration, which usually wouldn't make a move at this time, suddenly conducted an inspection and found that the ingredients in the kitchen were not up to standard.

Every year, many restaurants were found to be not up to standard. Usually, as long as the case wasn't too serious, the fine would be a few thousand yuan. In the end, the fine would be tens of thousands.

Therefore, Luo Nian didn't take it to heart at first. However, when the final decision was made, Luo Nian and Luo Nian's parents were dumbfounded.

The fine wasn't much, but the whole restaurant was forced to close down.

They couldn't leave.

This was like a bolt from the blue for the Luo family.

At the same time, Luo Nian's father and Second Sister Qiao were running a branch of the restaurant together. Second Sister Qiao had never run a restaurant before. She had been following Father and Mother Qiao for a long time. She was used to seeing Father and Mother Qiao use bad ingredients on purpose. Not long after the new restaurant opened, she learned from Father and Mother Qiao and was directly caught red-handed.

Luo Nian's restaurant had the Food and Drug Administration go through a lot of trouble to find ingredients that didn't meet the requirements. However, Second Sister Qiao's restaurant had the same ingredients everywhere.

The branch that had been open for less than a month was directly closed down, and its permit and business license were revoked.

However, Luo Nian's father was even more unlucky. The owner of this restaurant was his name.

Luo Nian's father had managed to escape a disaster with his original restaurant. However, Second Sister Qiao's crafty actions directly dragged Luo Nian's father into hell.

The two restaurants were directly suspended from production. They were directly criticized on the provincial news. Within a few days, everyone knew that the two hot pot restaurants were not hygienic and used expired ingredients.

The restaurant's reputation was damaged, and there was only one outcome left: bankruptcy.

Luo Nian, who drove a small luxury car every day, didn't even have time to clean up the Qiao Lan when his family suddenly fell into a financial crisis. He couldn't care less about the Qiao Lan anymore.

Luo Nian had a feeling that this matter wasn't as simple as it seemed.

Luo Nian's father seemed to have aged a few years recently. Every day, he would ask Luo Nian's mother if Luo Nian had offended someone outside.

The sudden inspection, the strict punishment, and the media publicity that followed, the series of operations seemed to have been premeditated.

Luo Nian broke out in a cold sweat. Although he didn't want to believe it, he couldn't help but think of the Qiao Lan.

The only person he hated the most was the Qiao Lan.

However, he couldn't figure out how the Qiao Lan could be so powerful.

Luo Nian's family was gloomy, and Second Sister Qiao was so scared that she didn't even dare to breathe.

To put it bluntly, Second Sister Qiao had directly dragged Luo Nian's father into the water. If it weren't for Second Sister Qiao, the business license wouldn't have been revoked.

Second Sister Qiao had single-handedly ruined the new restaurants that Second Son-in-law had invested in. Not only had she caused her husband to lose millions, but she had also become enemies with the Luo Nian's family.

Second Sister Qiao's husband angrily pointed at Second Sister Qiao and scolded her for being a hero when she didn't even know how to read. He said that she had learned the bad habits of stealing from the Second Sister Qiao and caused him to lose millions.

The more he said, the angrier he got. In the end, he hit her.

His son, who was less than two years old, cried and screamed. However, Second Son-in-law didn't want to look at Second Sister Qiao anymore. That night, he went out and didn't return home. It was like this for many days.

Qiao Lan had no idea what had happened. Only when Uncle Chen came to pick her up did she know that something had happened to the Luo Nian's family.

Qiao Lan subconsciously looked at Tan Mo's face. Tan Mo said faintly, "The hygiene of the Luo Nian's restaurant is not up to standard. It was already reported on the news a while ago."

"I see." Qiao Lan didn't want to think about it anymore. Anyway, the Luo Nian's family deserved it.

Tan Mo finally took care of everything for Qiao Lan. He even arranged for someone to look after Qiao Lan. After everything was done, he and Qiao Lan sat on the sofa and watched a movie together.

When the movie was about to end, Tan Mo suddenly said, "I'm going to leave for a while."

Qiao Lan's eyes froze as she watched the TV.

Tan Mo hadn't been going to school recently. It had been almost twenty days. She was sensitive enough to feel that something was going to happen.

For example, Tan Mo's words just now.

When Tan Mo said that he was going to leave for a while, others would think that he had something to do. However, Qiao Lan faintly felt that this wasn't the case.

She paused for a long time before saying, "How long?"

"It could be very soon," Tan Mo said. After a moment of silence, he said, "It could also be very long."

If even the best hospital couldn't cure his leg and he still couldn't stand up, then he would be back very soon.

If there was still a chance to save his leg, then it would be a long rehabilitation. Therefore, it would take a long time.

Tan Mo didn't want to tell Qiao Lan that he was going to treat his leg because even he didn't know what he would face.

Maybe it was hope, maybe it was despair.

This was an unknown and cruel trial.

Therefore, he didn't want to tell Qiao Lan. If he didn't let her know, then she would be less worried, and perhaps less disappointed.

He didn't want to tell Qiao Lan that if he couldn't be treated, he would be back very soon after going. To Qiao Lan, it was just a small farewell.

However, if he could be treated, if he could really stand up …

Tan Mo's heartbeat suddenly quickened.

If he could stand up, then it would be the biggest surprise he gave Qiao Lan.

Tan Mo didn't say anything, and Qiao Lan didn't ask either. Even she herself didn't realize that her voice was mixed with a bit of disappointment.

"Where are you going?"

"America."

"When are you leaving?"

"After the New Year."

After the New Year with you.

Qiao Lan didn't have a home or family anymore. She had already treated this place as her home. Tan Mo didn't want to leave Qiao Lan alone on the day when everyone reunited.

On the day of the New Year, the New Year, which was supposed to be joyous and lively, became slightly depressing.

The New Year's bell rang. Qiao Lan rubbed her sore eyes. She couldn't stop herself from feeling sleepy, and she didn't know when she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

The girl curled up and leaned against the sofa. Her breathing was steady, but she still didn't go back to her room.

She wanted to stay with Tan Mo for one more night before he left.

The sound of the TV faded. Tan Mo muted it with the remote control. He looked sideways at the girl who was sleeping soundly. His eyes fell on her long eyelashes and red lips. After a while, his eyes slowly fell on her right hand that was casually placed on the pillow.

If he could stand up, he could carry her in, but he couldn't do it now.

Tan Mo took a deep breath. His hand that was turning the wheelchair trembled, but he couldn't help but move closer.

The wheelchair made a slight noise on the floor. Tan Mo seemed to be frightened by the noise and stopped stiffly.

Qiao Lan didn't wake up. She was still sleeping soundly.

Tan Mo looked at her quietly. He was so close that he could hear Qiao Lan's breathing. His throat tightened as he stared at Qiao Lan's sleeping face. As if he had used up all the strength and courage in his life, he slowly bent down.

His trembling lips were less than two fingers away from Qiao Lan's lips. He finally stopped. After a while, he carefully held Qiao Lan's hand, lowered his head, and pressed his lips on her cold fingers sincerely.