Inside the living room, everyone else in the villa looked as though they were completely unaffected by what was happening. Those who should be cooking were cooking, those who should be cleaning were cleaning, all putting on the appearance of being very busy.
Yet their peripheral vision swept in that direction again and again, their ears practically pricked up to listen.
Yan Luqing stood right in the center of everyone’s line of sight, her toes clawing into the ground as if she wished she could dig out an underground imperial mausoleum for herself to hide in—she was taking the blame again, and this was the biggest blame she had taken since crossing over.
After she said, “Listen to my explanation,” no matter how one heard it, it sounded like, “Listen to my sophistry.” And to make it even more awkward, her arm had even been raised, nearly making the unwitting gesture of Er Kang’s hand.
“Explain what?” Gu Ci looked at her, his tone playful. “Explain why, besides me, there’s also another person here who needs to treat his eyes?”
Bamboo shoot attack launched again.
Yan Luqing: “……”
“Who needs to treat their eyes?” The substitute surnamed Zhang opened his mouth as though unable to read expressions at all. “Young Master Gu, could it be you don’t want to admit that you look like me?”
He was that ordinary, yet that confident.
Yan Luqing wished she could roll her eyes straight back.
When she wasn’t confident, she had once evaluated this person as reaching Dou-some level of handsome guy. Now it seemed simply an insult to Dou-some handsome guys.
She slightly calmed her emotions, acted as if she hadn’t heard Gu Ci’s words, and also acted as if she hadn’t heard Zhang-some’s desperate self-praise. She looked at this substitute surnamed Zhang and said: “This Mr. Zhang… what matter have you come for, just say it directly.”
“Oh, Mr. Zhang?” Zhang-some suddenly laughed. “Why are you calling me that, I thought…” The substitute surnamed Zhang looked at her rather resentfully. “I thought at least we once had the relationship of boyfriend and girlfriend.”
That glance, half resentment, half complaint, that feigned tone, nearly sent Yan Luqing directly off.
She forcefully endured the tingling at her scalp, just about to continue dealing with him, when Gu Ci’s voice came from beside her—
“Once had the relationship of boyfriend and girlfriend…”
Gu Ci slowly repeated those words. His gaze toward her did not change, but his smile deepened, and he uttered completely unrelated words: “Fake shoes, white cloth?”
“……??” Yan Luqing was stunned for a moment: “What fake shoes?”
From beginning to end, Gu Ci’s expression was the calmest among everyone present, as if he truly had just come out to drink some water and happened to watch a play. He hadn’t even reacted to Zhang-some’s sour-lemon words just now, only watching Yan Luqing the whole time.
Seeing the person before him completely confused, his cold voice lifted a keyword: “—Talk about your ex.”
Yan Luqing thought for a long time before recalling that she seemed to have once commented on a video, its title being “Talk about your ex.”
And she had written two sentences… one was, “Don’t quite remember, only remember he wore fake shoes.” The other was, “Last time I went to see him in fake shoes, covered with a white cloth, seemed not very willing to see me.”
Those two sentences had earned her countless likes, innumerable replies, all either “hahahaha” or “awesome.”
But the problem was—
“How do you know?!” Yan Luqing recalled the scene of her posting that comment. It really was in a tree hole [online anonymous posting space], right beside this person. She looked at Gu Ci in shock. “At that time… at that time, you saw my comment?”
Gu Ci nodded: “Mm, by chance.”
The moment he opened his eyes, he also had no choice but to see.
Yan Luqing instantly felt a fierce suffocation—
Help!!!
Why the hell did this fucking flying pot of blame actually match up with her nonsense heat-chasing remarks???
The two of them went back and forth, but in the eyes of outsiders, at this very moment Yan Luqing and Gu Ci seemed to be playing charades, speaking of little secrets only the two of them knew. Especially Little Black, who had always been intent on eating melons, was practically dying of anxiety now, wishing he could speak on behalf of everyone: what the fuck are you two even saying?
Fortunately, he didn’t have to be anxious for long, because the Zhang substitute couldn’t hold back and asked: “Miss Yan and Young Master Gu, what kind of riddle are you two speaking of? Why can’t you tell us?”
Yan Luqing: “……” You really dare to ask.
Because of this sentence, Gu Ci finally turned his head, and for the first time directly responded to the Zhang substitute.
He shook his water cup: “Are you sure you want to hear it?”
As an insider, the Zhang substitute had already learned all sorts of little bits of gossip before coming, and naturally knew just how awkward Gu Ci’s current situation was. No matter how glorious the once proud son of heaven had been, now he was nothing more than a ruined-prestige kept pretty face.
He had originally felt that this person posed no threat at all. Even as an illegitimate son, he considered himself much stronger than Gu Ci.
But when he saw him in person, the instant his eyes met Gu Ci’s, he unexpectedly and involuntarily gave rise to a feeling of inferiority.
The Zhang substitute quickly tucked away that emotion, leaving only sour lemon in his tone, raising his chin slightly toward Gu Ci: “What could there possibly be that can’t be heard? Say it.”
“Indeed nothing much, merely some words Miss Yan once spoke when she was offering sacrifice to her deceased ex-boyfriend.” Gu Ci curved his eyes, his smile appearing very leisurely. “Since you have assumed the identity of Miss Yan’s ex, then the dead person she was remembering must certainly be you, right?”
The Zhang substitute was stunned on the spot.
Gu Ci had only brought out an empty water cup, and now that it was filled he was leaving. Just before going, he smiled and said to the crowd: “Have fun.”
Yan Luqing: “……”
The Zhang substitute: “!!!”
Although no one knew which person those words were insinuating, everyone present felt that they themselves had been insinuated.
This must be the highest realm of yin-yang speech.
As for why the Zhang substitute had come, Yan Luqing wasn’t sure if it was because he wanted money, or because he truly remembered that the original owner had once eaten meals and watched movies with him. In the end, muddleheaded, Yan Luqing ordered Big Black to send him away, and with her head spinning returned to her room.
Lying on the bed again, her phone still stayed on the previous interface from when she was looking at Little Black.
And then she discovered—that silly child’s head was once again bubbling out… tender pink color?
Yan Luqing tapped casually—
Little Black Pink Bubble: Too exciting! Too exciting! I’ve discovered that Young Master Gu Ci really has… really has the bearing of the main wife!!!
Yan Luqing: “…………”
Fucking idiot.
Yan Luqing flopped on the bed like a salted fish for a while, tossed and turned for a while, and in the end, in endless entanglement, still tapped open the chat box with Gu Ci.
Having just gone through that kind of scene, she was far too embarrassed to see him in person.
WeChat would have to do.
[Runaway Saintess]: I really don’t know why he came, I don’t even know what Zhang-something he’s called.
[Runaway Saintess]: We never dated as boyfriend and girlfriend, at most I was just a “money-scattering boy” in the past… I’ve never been in love, I’m way too pure, I really couldn’t do something so flashy.
The “so flashy” here referred to finding a substitute—Gu Ci should be able to understand that, right?
Yan Luqing buried her head and continued typing.
[Runaway Saintess]: And don’t listen to his nonsense, you two don’t look alike at all! My eyes are fine, my vision is 5.0.
[Runaway Saintess]: (Tears, sliding down.jpg)
After sending it all out in one breath, she lay on the bed, tossing and turning, waiting for Princess Ci’s reply. The remark 【Runaway Princess】—she was about to stare a hole right through it.
She was so bored she started poking at the transparent bubbles above Gu Ci’s head, one poke after another.
Didn’t this also count as showing he didn’t really take it to heart?
Just then, the phone buzzed—Yan Luqing’s gaze dropped instantly, she held her breath and fixed her eyes on it.
Only two words.
[Runaway Princess]: Mm, okay.
Yan Luqing: ………… Fuck, truly has the bearing of the main wife.
Yan Luqing had originally planned to devote her entire day to hypnosis study. But in the morning she had been forced to receive a substitute big gift package, and in the afternoon she was summoned by a phone call to go to the Yan family’s main house to talk with Father Yan and Mother Yan. She had no choice but to apologize repeatedly to that old grandpa, and directly transfer him the tuition fee, stating she would not run away.
At the main house, when Yan Luqing spoke with Father Yan and Mother Yan, they sat face-to-face, while she the whole time held her phone in her hand, glancing down from time to time.
—This behavior looked almost identical to the way young people nowadays acted when speaking with parents.
But Yan Luqing was not an ordinary young person.
She was a young person who could be intimately familiar with her parents’ hearts.
Yan Luqing had the family group chat open, and just like that she watched as Father Yan and Mother Yan’s heads continuously bubbled.
Father Yan said: “Earlier I heard your bodyguard talk about you and Gu Ci falling down the mountain at Dieye Mountain, but what he said was very general. Could you tell us in more detail?”
In his heart, blue bubbles floated up: Sigh… It is very rare for adults to have accidental falls at Dieye Mountain. This accident must have been man-made. So was it done by the Gu family’s enemies, or was it done by my daughter?
Yan Luqing: “……”
You really do know her.
Yan Luqing gave Father Yan a simple recount, but left out many details she didn’t want to mention. It was about as detailed as when she told her classmates.
Father Yan nodded, even chuckled twice: “Good, as long as you’re both fine, didn’t expect you and Gu Ci to already be so familiar, that’s good, haha.”
In his heart, more blue bubbles continued: I keep feeling she’s hiding something.
Then Mother Yan used almost the same lines as Father Yan—first expressing concern, then probing as she asked her: “Have all the classmates you were hanging out with already started school?”
Yan Luqing nodded: “Yes.”
Yan Mother seemed as if she wanted to say something, but stopped. At the same time, blue bubbles began to rise in her heart:
This child, although she looks to have recovered fairly steadily now, I don’t know if she’s truly well or not…
She doesn’t mention it—because she doesn’t want to go? Sigh, how can I possibly make her continue her studies…
Before crossing over, Yan Luqing had just finished the college entrance exam. Now she had no interest at all in studying, but Yan Mother’s words reminded her of something—
“That’s right,” she raised her head to look at the couple, “I wanted to ask about Gu Ci’s university matter.”
In her mind, Yan Luqing asked Makka Pakka about the specific information on Gu Ci’s student record being destroyed, gave a simple explanation, and then said: “Gu Ci’s situation counts as a sudden accident, right? His parents suddenly passed away, and he himself… at that time didn’t even have the ability to move freely. On top of that, his student record was maliciously destroyed. His grades were so outstanding—would there be a chance to help him apply for restoration?”
