Mr. Bo, Madam Is Pregnant!
Chapter 342 Loss

Chapter 342: Chapter 342 Loss

Bo Jingshen, though his leg was still lame, bent down right away to catch him.

"Zhao Xiaole!" Su Lu suddenly called out to him.

The child halted abruptly, nearly losing his balance.

Just as a frown was about to crease Bo Jingshen’s brow, he heard Su Lu say, "Don’t be so reckless."

"Oh..." Zhao Xiaole obediently replied, then realized what was going on, staring at Bo Jingshen’s cane and then at his leg, "Ah Shen, does it hurt?"

"It doesn’t hurt, don’t worry." Bo Jingshen smiled. "Still want a hug?"

Zhao Xiaole hesitated for a moment, then shook his head, "I’m afraid of hurting your leg."

It sounded so well-behaved that Bo Jingshen felt his heart soften into a mush.

And then Zhao Xiaole’s next words came out, "And you’ve been smoking, it stinks."

Zhao Xiaole pinched his nose and waved his hand in front of his face.

Bo Jingshen suddenly regretted smoking. He had heard that secondhand smoke was extremely unhealthy for children, and even without inhaling secondhand smoke, thirdhand smoke was risky.

He was already a father, but he had still been so thoughtless.

So Bo Jingshen didn’t speak, simply squashed the pack of cigarettes in his pocket and threw it into the trash can.

"I’ll quit, I won’t ever smoke again," Bo Jingshen declared.

"Then you have to keep your word," said Zhao Xiaole, pausing for a moment. Honestly, Bo Jingshen had almost developed a Pavlovian response, almost expecting Zhao Xiaole to bring up Zhou Xiaolong again, but thankfully, he hadn’t.

Not only that, after pausing, Zhao Xiaole added, "Smoking is bad for your health. Ah Shen should be healthy and strong."

Bo Jingshen let out a soft sigh, his heart warming indescribably, "I know, it’s my fault. I won’t smoke anymore, absolutely not."

Qiao Li had come out by then, and Zhao Ying stood quietly by the side, serene and composed.

Qiao Li’s expression was somewhat somber, hard to describe as either unpredictable or indifferent, but it was certainly less gentle than usual.

Then the atmosphere suddenly became somewhat quiet.

Jing Su stood there, thought for a moment, and felt that the quietness was kind of awkward; after all, he was the one who had stirred up this awkward situation.

So Jing Su took the initiative to break the silence, "Su Lu, aren’t you going to do the introductions?"

He had intended for Su Lu to introduce Qiao Li, but unexpectedly, Su Lu cheerfully called Zhao Xiaole over, "Xiao Le, come here."

"What’s up, Su Xiaolu?" Zhao Xiaole walked over and looked up at her with his little face.

Su Lu pointed at Jing Su and said to Xiaole, "Say hi to your granduncle."

"Hello, granduncle!" Zhao Xiaole called out in a clear voice, sounding crisp and tender.

That left Jing Su dumbfounded, "Hey... hey! Good boy!"

It was rare to see Jing Su so flustered.

Bo Jingshen, smiling, asked, "Do you know what a granduncle is?"

Zhao Xiaole glared at him, "Ah Shen, don’t underestimate me! Grandma has taken me on the rocking cars lots of times! I’ve figured it all out!"

"Pfft." Zhao Ying, who had been silent until then, finally couldn’t hold back a laugh.

Indeed, she had often taken Zhao Xiaole to ride on those rocking cars outside stores, where invariably one of the three would be playing the BGM, "What’s daddy’s daddy called, daddy’s daddy is called grandpa, what’s daddy’s mommy called, daddy’s mommy is called grandma, what’s daddy’s brother called, daddy’s brother is called great uncle, what’s daddy’s little brother called, daddy’s little brother is called uncle."

Zhao Xiaole meant that he had already learned it all while riding on those rocking cars.

Zhao Ying couldn’t help but laugh.

In contrast, Bo Jingshen was stupefied for a moment before he realized what was going on with the kiddie ride, and he too began to laugh.

At this moment, he truly didn’t care. He didn’t care that Su Lu was having dinner with the child and Qiao Li.

Despite feeling uncomfortable inside, the obsessive part of his heart was indeed irritable. He wanted to hide Su Lu away, wanted to find the best place to hide her where no one else could see her.

But he thought that since he had not yet won Su Lu over, she was free. If she wanted to have dinner with Qiao Li, she was free to do so.

If he, Bo Jingshen, were to do something extreme, it wouldn’t be claiming Su Lu back. Instead, he would be pushing this woman even further away.

So now Bo Jingshen truly didn’t care. What does it matter? Tomorrow, or the day after, once his leg was a bit better, when Su Lu was in a good mood, he could just ask her out for a meal.

Bo Jingshen’s thoughts were very clear.

However, sometimes things are like this: if you don’t care anymore, someone else starts to.

This "someone else" of course wasn’t Su Lu.

In Bo Jingshen’s eyes, the "someone else" was naturally Qiao Li.

Qiao Li stood there with a not so good look on his face. He had already been somewhat tired from traveling on business trips in other regions recently, and suddenly there had been a lot of complications at work, causing him to be very busy. He hurried to finish his tasks so he could return and join Su Lu and Xiao Le for a trip to Three Gardens.

He was exhausted and weary, rushing all the way back.

So his current state really wasn’t very good; he looked tired to begin with, and now seeing Bo Jingshen had worsened his mood, naturally making his complexion look even worse.

But compared to seeing Bo Jingshen...

It was seeing the familiar way Bo Jingshen interacted with Xiao Le.

Qiao Li felt rather uncomfortable inside.

What was this about, what was he?

He cared for Xiao Le as if he were his own.

But what had Bo Jingshen ever contributed?

When mother and son were struggling on the brink of life and death, Bo Jingshen wasn’t there.

When they barely made it through and were struggling for recovery, Bo Jingshen was also absent.

He never participated in Xiao Le’s growth, nor did he participate in Su Lu’s parenting.

When Xiao Le was so well-behaved, so sensible, so adorable,

He appeared, assuming a taken-for-granted posture, occupying everything he hadn’t invested in, wishing to gain it all.

Qiao Li’s face grew paler and paler.

It was still Zhao Ying who kept a watchful eye, and thus she asked with some worry in a soft voice, "Qiao Li, are you alright? Your complexion looks really bad."

Qiao Li strained a smile, "It’s nothing, it’s nothing, Aunt Zhao, don’t worry. I’m just... a bit tired."

Su Lu turned and saw Qiao Li’s pale face, also becoming somewhat concerned, "Brother Qiao, you really don’t look well."

"I’m too tired, I’ll go back and rest first, okay? To be honest, the workload has been so heavy recently that I might... be a bit overwhelmed," Qiao Li didn’t ask any further nor said more, just bid his farewell like this.

Su Lu nodded, still with a frown, "Should I take you?"

"No need. No need," Qiao Li gently shook his head, "I can walk on my own."

So in this round, it seemed that the loss wasn’t too embarrassing.