Chapter 4
GU FEI BROUGHT the motorcycle around outside the store, and Gu Miao deftly climbed onto the backseat with her skateboard in tow. She grabbed onto Gu Fei’s sides and pressed her face against his back.
Gu Fei turned around. “Let me see your face.” Gu Miao tilted her face up at him. “There’s still tears. Give it a wipe.”
Gu Miao rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, then rubbed her nose with her sleeve.
“Ay…” Gu Fei sighed. “Even if you were a boy, you’d be the most rough-and-tumble kind.”
Gu Miao smiled and pressed her face against his back again.
Rolling out on the motorcycle, they headed straight for downtown. For Gu Miao, “something good” could only mean the all-you-can-eat barbecue joint in the shopping mall. The little girl had a remarkable stubbornness when it came to certain things, one of which was that she refused to eat at any other restaurant whenever they went out.
One of the benefits of a small city was that there was only one downtown; no matter which neighborhood he set out from, it didn’t take very long for Gu Fei to get there. By the time they arrived, it was the height of the lunch rush and there were hardly any free tables left in the restaurant.
“Do you have any specials today?” Gu Fei asked the server as he pulled out his phone to check for digital coupons. He flicked Gu Miao’s head with his finger. “Hey you, go find a table.”
Gu Miao set the skateboard on the floor and put her foot on it, but Gu Fei quickly stopped her with his own foot. “Walk.”
“Do you need to keep the skateboard at the front counter?” the server asked with a smile.
Gu Miao shook her head, then swiftly bent down, grabbed her board, and held it tightly in her arms.
“She’ll hold onto it herself,” Gu Fei said as Gu Miao ran inside with the skateboard.