“Forget it. I shall stop pestering you since you don’t want to talk about it.” Ye Linhan placed another dumpling into her bowl. “I just think that you are too thin, so you need to eat more.”
“Mm-hmm. Thank you, Linhan.” Shen Qi thanked him before she ate the dumpling.
Shen Qi had her breakfast distractedly, but Ye Linhan was worried about her even after she bade him goodbye. Hence, he lectured her to be careful before allowing her to leave.
Finally, Shen Qi boarded the public bus alone, and she was lost in her thoughts once again after she took a seat on the bus.
How should I clear things up with Han Xueyou about this?
Shen Qi was preoccupied throughout the journey, and she didn’t even realize when the bus arrived at her stop. It wasn’t until much later when she realized that she had missed her stop, and so she cried out in surprise before she got off the bus in a hurry.
Shen Qi was rather depressed the moment she got out of the bus. She pinched her brows between her fingers because she was developing a throbbing headache.
Her mobile phone vibrated, and she realized that Han Xueyou sent her a text asking why she wasn’t there yet.
Shen Qi had no choice but to reply to her, “I’ve missed my stop. I will be arriving soon.”
Just when she was about to cross the road to take the public bus, a car stopped in front of her, and the window lowered slowly.
“Hop on.” Ye Linhan had on a gentle expression while observing her helplessly.
Shen Qi was surprised when she saw Ye Linhan, and she stared at him in shock. “Linhan, why are you here? Shouldn’t you be…”
Gone? I’ve missed several stops, so he shouldn’t be showing up here.
“You silly girl, I noticed that you were preoccupied the entire morning. So how could I possibly let you take the bus alone? However, you wouldn’t let me send you, so I had no choice but to follow you in secret.”
With that, Ye Linhan smiled at her and spoke in a tender voice. “Come on. Get in the car.”
Han Xueyou was already waiting for her, and it would most probably take another ten minutes to arrive there via bus. Shen Qi didn’t want Han Xueyou to wait too long, and so she got into the car in a hurry.
Once she got into the car, Ye Linhan reminded her to fasten her seatbelt before driving her to her destination.
“Go on, now. Be careful of your surroundings.”
Ye Linhan patted her head before she left, and Shen Qi looked up at him in slight astonishment before nodding and leaving the car.
There was a two-minute walking distance from that spot to the scheduled venue, and so Shen Qi walked hurriedly toward their scheduled location.
Although the milk tea shop wasn’t too far away from the school, it had many customers. In fact, their customers were mostly the students nearby, and so Shen Qi, who was dressed up, stood out from the crowd. She attracted lots of attention the moment she entered the shop, and several slick-looking boys even started catcalling her.
Shen Qi acted as if she didn’t hear them when she walked past everyone before finally catching sight of Han Xueyou, who was seated at a table in the corner of the shop.
Today, Han Xueyou was once again wearing a pink dress with a puffy hemline, which gave her an air of a fairytale princess in a pink dress.
Han Xueyou was stirring the bobas in her tea, looking rather annoyed. One of the guys approached her in an attempt to get her phone number when she smirked unkindly at him. “Get lost, you ugly piece of trash. Why don’t you look at yourself in the mirror? Do you think that you are able to match my looks?”
The guy blushed in embarrassment at her scolding. “I-It’s fine that you don’t want to give me your number. What are you scolding me for?”
Han Xueyou glared at him arrogantly. “Do you know who I am? How dare you ask for my phone number? If you go on with your nonsense, I will not be just scolding you!”
The guy was feeling rather helpless, but he was quite timid, so he turned around immediately to leave. However, he bumped straight into Shen Qi while he was leaving, making her almost lose her balance while she stumbled backward by that impact.
“Ah, I’m sorry!” The guy apologized hastily when he realized that he had knocked into another person. However, his eyes bulged in shock while he stood rooted to the ground when he caught sight of Shen Qi. He stared at her in awe and shock.
Who would have thought I’d be so lucky today? I got rejected by a beautiful girl just now, but here I am, bumping into another.
“Hi, beautiful lady, good day to you. I am—” The guy approached her, wanting to introduce himself to Shen Qi. However, Han Xueyou got up from her seat and dragged him away roughly before speaking in an annoyed tone. “You had better get out of the way. Qi, why are you so late? Do you know that I’ve been waiting for—”
However, Han Xueyou’s words were caught in her throat in that instant because she was staring unblinkingly at Shen Qi, who was wearing a long gown. “W-Why are you…”
Shen Qi smiled faintly at her before turning to the guy beside them. “I’m fine. You should leave,” she advised him in a quiet tone.
With that, Shen Qi went ahead and took a seat across Han Xueyou, whereas Han Xueyou was still in shock while frozen on the same spot. The guy was still stunned silly by Shen Qi’s earlier smile, and he continued staring at her in awe.
Oh, my god. She’s a goddess!
She is so gentle, and her smile is so pretty!
It took a few seconds before Han Xueyou regained her composure, and something inexplicable flashed across her eyes while she regarded Shen Qi. I’ve never noticed Shen Qi’s beauty since she has never dressed up in the past. However, now that she has put in some effort in dressing up, she is exuding a completely different temperament, which is almost blinding and captivating despite having only light makeup on.
But that gentle smile and cool eyes accentuated her temperament and elegance more prominently. She really is… exactly the same as the woman in the picture.
Her gestures and demeanor… Could this be the power of blood ties?
Han Xueyou was shocked when she thought of that. No way! Currently, Shen Qi looks almost identical to Madam Han, and something bad is bound to happen if Han Qing were to see her in this state.
However, Han Xueyou had no choice but to suppress her panic while smiling dryly at Shen Qi. “Qi… why are you in such a good mood to dress up today? And you’re dressed up so beautifully!”
Shen Qi stared at her strangely when she heard that. “Weren’t you the one who kept telling me to dress up in the past? I’ve finally understood now that it really is important for women to pamper themselves.”
With that, Shen Qi grinned at Han Xueyou. “Xueyou, do you think that I don’t look good like this?”
Han Xueyou’s expression stiffened unnaturally while she nodded mechanically in agreement. “Well, you look good; you look really good.”
But once she’s pretty, she will become a threat to me.
Suddenly, Han Xueyou realized that the demon in her heart was struggling to break free again.
Shen Qi had no idea what was on Han Xueyou’s mind, but she could tell something was up with her. Hence, Shen Qi pretended to utter innocently, “But you don’t look too happy, though.”
Han Xueyou’s expression changed drastically when she heard that, and she tried explaining herself hastily. “What? How is that possible? Why wouldn’t I be happy for you? I’m so glad that you are so pretty now.”
“Is that so? In that case… now that I’m pretty, do you think Ye Moxuan will fall for me?”
Han Xueyou stopped faking her smile, and she stared at Shen Qi while looking astounded. “Qi, a-are you truly in love with him?”
Shen Qi smiled faintly while answering, “That’s right. I am quite in love with him.”
“But…”
“But what?”
Han Xueyou couldn’t seem to get the right words out. The scene where Shen Qi saved her kept replaying in her mind on loop, and she realized that everything she wanted to say had disappeared from the tip of her tongue.
Since Han Xueyou remained silent for such a long time, Shen Qi’s smile disappeared gradually before she cut to the chase abruptly. “But you are in love with him as well. So we are now love rivals, aren’t we?”
