I followed Baiyu out of our City S' South District while keeping a distance.
Seeing Baiyu get on a public bus, I waved down a taxi.
"Driver, please follow the bus ahead."
The middle-aged taxi driver sized me up, and drove away with a slam on the accelerator.
Ugh, just why! I'm not some suspicious person.
Thankfully, there were a lot of cabs at this hour, so I immediately waved down another one. I got on the car successfully, and followed the bus to City S' West District.
As Baiyu got off the bus, I paid quickly and jumped out the car. But I think I saw the driver dialing 911 on his phone. I was in a hurry, so I hoped that it was just a trick of the light.
Baiyu treaded carefully on the street, looking around to see if there was anyone familiar. But my disguise was too good, so she didn't notice at all.
"Mommy, that big brother hiding behind the telephone pole looks so weird." A snot-nosed kid pulled his mother's hand, and pointed at me.
"Ah, little Nan, don't point fingers at people." The kid's mother scooped him up, and walked away from me.
Children these days are so annoying….
Baiyu walked into an apartment complex. When she arrived at the doors, she swept her eyes around one last time, causing me to jump straight into a bush.
The girl finally entered the complex. I followed suit, and pushed open the door.
She walked in the elevator.
Shit.
There weren't a lot of people right now, if I went in with her, she'll definitely notice. But if I don't go in with her, I won't know where she's headed.
I ran to the door, and looked at the tiny screen on the elevator button to see where the elevator stopped. Thankfully there weren't a lot of people that went in with her, so the elevator stopped merely three times.
Three, six, and seven.
I didn't wait for the elevator to come back down, and bolted up the stairs.
At the third floor, I carefully listened to the noise at each of the doors if Baiyu was inside on of them.
The building was all single-room apartments, so each room didn't have much space. One floor held about twenty rooms, and I mustered my strength to check all of them.
If Baiyu wasn't at Floor Three, she must've went to Six….
She wasn't at Six, so I went to Seven….
At last, I heard Baiyu's laughter at the seventh floor.
"Oh, please…. Don't…. Hehe."
The walls were quite soundproof, so I couldn't listen very well even with my ear pressed against the door. I barely heard some words through the wood.
But those few words were enough to make me furious.
Fuck, what kind of filthy man could make my daughter laugh like that. She's never laughed like that to me before.
My heart sank a little with a lonely feeling. I thought that this feeling will only appear on Baiyu's wedding, when I turn Baiyu's hand to a man that would care for her for the rest of his life.
I really…. Can't take this!
I took a deep breath, and knocked on the door.
The room went silent, and I heard Baiyu's slightly fearful voice: "Who is it?"
"Your takeout is here." I lowered my voice so that she wouldn't recognize me.
I heard some skittering inside, and the turning of a doorknob. Baiyu stuck her head out: "You must've got the wrong address; I didn't order any takeout."
At this time, she was hidden behind the door, but I could see faint makeup on her face, and her cute features were now like an angel descended from heaven. And she was wearing clothes that I've never seen before, a black dress with laced edges.
The dress didn't even reach her knees, isn't that ero? The dress design completely bared her shoulders, isn't that ero? I could see the crack of her breasts under the collar, isn't that ero?!!
I slowly took off my hat and mask, then glared at Baiyu.
"You, you, how could you be here?"
Her surprised voice was very cute to listen, but I wasn't in the mood at all.
Baiyu immediately pulled on the door, and I instinctively grabbed the knob.
"Gah~~" Baiyu's face was red from pushing on the door handle, but since she was still a girl, her strength paled compared to mine.
I pulled open the door, and charged into the room.
"Wait, you can't be in here." Baiyu blocked my way in panic, and tried to push me out the best she could.
"Baiyu, I'm mad, I'm really getting mad!"
I yelled out of frustration. Because I was so angry, a vein on my head looked as if it was about to explode. Baiyu's never seen me while I'm angry, so she stepped back on instinct. I rushed past her, and arrived in the room.
It was furnished very cutely, with pink wallpaper and a Western scenic painting on the wall. The floor was strewn with plushies, and there was a bed, sofa, and computer.
"Where's the son of a bitch?"
I felt like a rabid dog, if there really was another man in the room, I probably really would tear a piece of flesh off of him.
But I closely observed the room. Even if someone escaped through the window, no one could possibly be hidden in the room.
Then, I realized that the computer was open, and realized another possibility: "Baiyu, are you…. With other people…."
No, no. Baiyu was still wearing clothes.
But she wasn't wearing the same outfit when she went out, idiot!
I leaped in front of the computer, but there wasn't an old bastard on the screen like I thought. Instead, a ton of scrolling comments were crawling across the video player.
"It's a streamer train wreck, a live train wreck!"
"Is that the stream host's boyfriend? He's a bit handsome!"
"Little boyfriend, this is all a misunderstanding. Are you here to catch some rapist? Wow, so hot-blooded."
"Greetings from City B!"
"Greetings from City M!"
Baiyu hurriedly ran inside, and spoke to the computer: "I'm sorry, guys. The livestream's ending a bit early today."
After that, she immediately shut down the computer. The girl didn't even wait for it to shut down, but just straight up pulled the power plug.
Baiyu stood in silence. The two of us didn't say anything, and let time slip away.
It was a bit awkward.
I glanced at Baiyu, and her face was blushed crimson. She held her hands in front of her stomach, and twirled her thumbs together. Although I didn't know what she was thinking, I couldn't make sense of the situation at all.
Was that a livestream? I've heard of them before, but I've never actually watched one because I was so busy during the day.
So you can earn money just through singing, dancing, and chatting online?
When it finally sunk in that Baiyu was only livestreaming every day, and not what I thought was happening, I took a deep breath. Just a while ago, I felt that I would explode from anger, but now I felt calm and composed.
But a feeling of guilt still lingered in my heart. For a father to think such lowly of his daughter, was completely unforgivable.
"Uh…."
"Uh…."
Baiyu and I opened our mouths at the same time, and caught ourselves. We returned to silence.
"I'll go first." I spoke, and straight up admitted my mistake. "Sorry, I thought wrongly of you."
"Ah, it's fine." Baiyu didn't look like she was listening.
She wrapped blankets around herself, still blushing. It didn't seem like she wanted me to see her clothes.
"I'm not against you livestreaming, but at least on the school's side…."
I started to lecture Baiyu like an old woman, and she made a face.
"You're so nagging, Zong Jun."
"Hey, I'm still your guardian. If you don't call me Dad, at least call me Brother, okay?"
"Zong Jun, Zong Jun, Zong Jun…."
She repeated my name, as if trying to get me angry.
"Say, why did you come here?"
Baiyu's furrowed her brow cutely, and looked at me. "Did you follow me?"
"Oh, it was because the teacher said…. You haven't been to evening studies for a while, and those erotic clothes…" I awkwardly laughed, and tried to explain.
"Erotic clothes?"
Baiyu narrowed her eyes, leaned forward to look at me in the eyes, and started to shout: "How could this be erotic?"
She took off the blankets, and showed the black lace skirt. Because she was hidden behind the door, I wasn't looking closely. Now, I saw that the skirt didn't look to be sold in stores, and it was stitched in a very intricate pattern.
"This is!!" She paused dramatically, and shouted, "My favorite character, Elisha's cosplay. It's not some erotic dress!"
Elisha? That name sounds so familiar.
"This is my favorite character Elisha from my favorite author Qianniao's favorite novel "The Interim Notebook", I can't allow this to slide past, Zong Jun you're so annoying!"
Baiyu used "favorite" three times in a row, plainly showing how much the novel meant to her.
But I didn't say a word, and stood in a daze.
Qianniao…. The Interim Notebook…. Elisha….
Aren't those my pseudonym, my novel, and my female lead?!