201.1 - I Don’t Want to Be Turned Into the Female Protagonist by the System
# I Don't Want the System to Turn Me into the Protagonist - Chapter 201: Easing Relationships (2/2) Under normal circumstances, if anything happened, she would be the first to rush to the kitchen to check if Su Qi had hurt herself. But not today. If she went out now, the play she had planned would fall apart! Last night, she called Su Lu Jun to inquire about Yang Da Ming's situation. During their casual conversation, she discovered that her husband, who had always been stubborn, had surprisingly admitted his mistake and even sought her help in devising a plan to ask for Su Qi's forgiveness. Thus, she conceived the idea of staging a little act to bring the two closer! After all, Su Qi and Su Lu Jun's relationship was too strained right now. They couldn't just keep ignoring each other forever! So, she set a mental alarm to wake up early, preparing dumpling filling by mincing ingredients. She placed a small mirror in the kitchen so she could use its reflection to see into the living room and confirm if Su Qi was awake. As for the phone call, it was already connected. Watching Su Qi tiptoe like a cautious little cat, Lu Ran found it amusing. Speaking into the phone, she said: “How's Yang Da Ming's business being handled?” On the other end, Su Lu Jun responded with some excitement, finally receiving Lu Ran's signal after half an hour. "Well, all of Yang Da Ming's hired men have been captured.” Su Lu Jun went on and on. As Su Qi listened intently from her spot in the corner, she initially wondered who this Yang Da Ming was. But gradually, she pieced it together—it was Yang Ming's relative. When she heard that Yang Da Ming had sent gangsters after her, Su Qi was genuinely a bit frightened. She had once seen those thugs flaunt their wickedness on the street. However, upon hearing that Su Lu Jun had caught them all, Su Qi patted her chest reassuringly. She felt warmth in her heart, and listening to her father’s robust voice as he talked about bringing the bad guys to justice, her fear of Su Lu Jun subsided significantly. Through the small mirror, Lu Ran observed her daughter crouching at the wall, no longer tense as at the start. She thought her plan was brilliant. Hearing Su Lu Jun begin to repeat himself, Lu Ran interrupted, worried that Su Qi might catch on: "When are you going to apologize to your daughter?" Hearing this, Su Qi's eyes widened in disbelief—he was planning to apologize to her? Her father was such a proud person. She had never seen him apologize to anyone! This revelation shocked her, causing her to lose her balance, and she plopped down on the floor. Oops! She instinctively let out a small sound and quickly covered her mouth with her hands, eyes wide open! Lu Ran found Su Qi's little expression as reflected in the mirror to be just too adorable! However, that little "oops" was quite obvious, and Lu Ran felt that pretending not to hear it would be a bit too unnatural. Just then, Su Lu Jun spoke from the phone: "Did the yellow oriole from old Zhao’s next door fly over again?” Hearing this, Lu Ran couldn't help but marvel at her husband's efforts to win their daughter's forgiveness. Even his rusty old brain had started working! She opened the window and waved at the imaginary sparrows outside, saying, "Shoo shoo, there's nothing for you here!” before closing the window again. Looking through the small mirror, she saw her daughter’s relief as she resumed her position at the wall, seriously eavesdropping again. However, her white slippers were already poking out, visible as ever. What a careless little girl! But she wouldn’t foolishly expose her daughter. Instead, she returned to the previous topic. "When are you planning to apologize to little Qi?" It was happening, and Su Qi felt a bit nervous. Unbeknownst to her, Su Lu Jun on the other end was also quite anxious. He cleared his throat and said, "After Yang Ming's son, who hurt little Qi, is sent to prison, I’ll come back to apologize." “Tsk tsk, as if my little Qi cares for your apology. In the future, I'll be the one spoiling her. You just deal with Yang Da Ming’s business. Hanging up now!” Lu Ran feigned disdain and hung up, placing the phone into her apron pocket. In reality, the call wasn’t ended, and Su Lu Jun was still on the line, listening intently. After hearing the call end, Su Qi slowly made her way to the bathroom. She needed to splash some cold water on her face to clear her head, which felt a bit dizzy. Five minutes later, with her expression composed, Su Qi confidently walked to the kitchen and said, "Mom, I’m here to help with the dumplings." Lu Ran smiled warmly, not exposing Su Qi's little act. Though Su Qi didn’t know how to make the filling or roll the dough, she was quite adept at wrapping dumplings. After making a dozen dumplings, Lu Ran, wielding her excellent conversational skills, soon steered the topic in the right direction. “Little Qi, if your father sincerely repented and apologized to you, would you forgive him?” Hearing Lu Ran’s words, Su Qi paused in her dumpling-making, recalling her father’s words from the call. After finishing one more dumpling, she slowly nodded and softly replied, "Yes." On the other end, Su Lu Jun heard this soft ‘yes’, feeling as though the entire world had become much brighter. If Su Qi checked the task progress now, she would find her Daughter-Control Metric had reached 110/120.