Chapter 11: What Should He Say? That Someone Wants to Flirt with Your Nephew?

In the back seat sat a girl, her long hair cascading down to obscure her face. Lin Jie's gaze drifted from the strands of her hair down to her slender, pale legs... and a pair of flip-flops.

He only glanced briefly before pulling his gaze away, sitting by the car window, maintaining a seat's distance from her.

Wu Fei, however, didn't seem to mind. He gestured toward the girl and said, "Lin Jie, this is the lady I mentioned earlier, the one learning to drive with us. You two can practice together later."

Lin Jie gave a casual response, "Oh."

These days, it wasn't uncommon to see high school and college students learning to drive together. It was typical for the instructor to bring several students along, so encountering peers was nothing out of the ordinary.

Hearing Wu Fei's words, the girl turned her head briefly to glance at Lin Jie before quickly looking away, hiding her face once again beneath her veil of hair.

Lin Jie hadn't gotten a good look at her face, and he wasn't particularly interested in finding out what she looked like.

The day's task was simple: familiarize themselves with the steering wheel, start the ignition under Wu Fei's guidance, and slowly coast around the driving school in first gear.

When they swapped seats midway, Lin Jie caught a glimpse of the girl's face… she looked decent.

However, her reaction was strange, as though she had seen something utterly shocking. She kept turning back to glance at him several times.

Lin Jie was perplexed but didn't dare to ask what was going on.

Later, after finishing the day's practice and returning home, Lin Jie asked Wu Fei if he knew the girl. Wu Fei said they didn't.

Well, if they didn't know each other, then it didn't matter. Lin Jie had thought she might have been an old classmate from elementary or middle school, someone he hadn't recognized.

When he got home, Lin Jie subconsciously glanced at Su Jia Mu's house before heading inside.

Su Jia Mu had gone on a trip.

Lin Jie didn't know who she had gone with, but knowing how much she loved socializing, she probably hadn't gone alone.

Let her be.

Lin Jie sat on the sofa, turned on the TV for some background noise, but his thoughts were all tangled up in yesterday... just as Su Jia Mu had said, the trip had been planned for a long time.

At that time, Lin Jie had been worried it was just a joke, afraid to ask for too many details, so he would casually bring it up every now and then, pretending not to care.

He was anxious about whether other people would be going on this trip too.

He wasn't a person burdened with worries—any trouble he had was always because of Su Jia Mu.

Lin Jie had been looking forward to this trip.

But it wasn't the trip itself; it was her—the one he'd be traveling with—that he had been anticipating.

When Su Jia Mu accused him last night of not keeping his word, Lin Jie had thought to himself that he had already set aside money for the trip.

He opened his WeChat and stared at the balance of thirty thousand yuan… they had been talking about this trip for nearly a year.

But alas, it seemed that money would be staying put for now.

The more he thought about it, the more irritated he became. He gulped down the glass of cold water in front of him, tossed his phone aside, and prepared to rest his eyes.

Just then, his phone's message notification chimed. Lin Jie lay there for a moment, then reluctantly picked up his phone again… changing his posture to lie more comfortably on the sofa.

Someone had added him.

It was a girl.

Lin Jie paused for a moment, not sure who it could be... but upon seeing the note attached, he understood.

It was the girl from today's driving lesson, the "masked" one.

Lin Jie hesitated for a moment before deciding to accept.

It wasn't that he had cut off all contact with other girls just because of Su Jia Mu… but even when he added someone, he rarely initiated conversation. He remained silent most of the time.

Her contact had been given to her by his uncle, and Lin Jie understood—this was likely because they were going to practice driving together, so he accepted the request.

After accepting her friend request, Lin Jie sent her his name as a note: Lin Jie.

He didn't have much interest in the girl, and judging by her behavior today, she didn't seem particularly interested in him either. So, after sending the note, Lin Jie planned to set his phone aside and sink back into his melancholy.

But suddenly, his phone began to buzz with message after message. Lin Jie froze for a moment, then opened it… only to see that after her initial note, the girl had flooded him with emojis and a string of odd, eyebrow-raising comments.

She started with a giggling emoji, then introduced herself as Ye Mo, and followed up with a flirtatious "Hey there, handsome," asking how old he was and if he wanted to hang out.

Lin Jie stared at the messages for a long time before finally replying with a single "?"

Ye Mo: Handsome, how old are you? Want to go out for drinks tonight? Big sis will treat you~!

Lin Jie remained silent, unable to fathom what was happening to him right now. He simply replied with another "?"

Ye Mo: Oh, don't just send question marks! Do you have time tonight? Let's go to a bar for drinks—I'll take you!

Lin Jie's expression darkened instantly. His finger hovered over her profile picture, about to check her moments to see what kind of person she was… but after seeing her message, Lin Jie knew he didn't need to.

He deleted her without a second thought.

Without hesitation, Lin Jie removed Ye Mo from his contacts. Though he remained outwardly calm, his emotions were far from settled.

Lin Jie was aware of the stigma surrounding tattoos and bars, and how chaotic some of those places could be… but personally, he held no such biases.

At least, not before.

But now, things were different. The drunken words Su Jia Mu had said still felt like shards of glass lodged in his heart, each one cutting deeper than the last.

Lin Jie knew those words were probably her true feelings, so he couldn't blame the alcohol. In fact, in some twisted way, he should thank it… but he just couldn't help but despise alcohol now.

To hell with bars. And to hell with drinks.

Not long after, his phone buzzed again with a new message. Lin Jie hesitated for a moment before glancing at it.

It was Wu Fei.

He was confused, asking why Lin Jie had deleted the girl.

Lin Jie was speechless. How could he explain it… should he tell him that this frivolous girl was trying to flirt with his nephew?