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Silence—
Liu Qingqing looked at Wei Qingyu, and Wei Qingyu looked back at Liu Qingqing. Neither of them spoke again for a long time.
Finally, Liu Qingqing's eyes curved into a gentle smile. She took the initiative to speak softly and sweetly.
"Qingyu, why don't you ask your question first?"
Wei Qingyu nodded with a serious expression.
"Okay."
Liu Qingqing: ???
'Wait.'
According to standard social etiquette, shouldn't Wei Qingyu have politely declined a few times?
Big sister, you just accepted the offer without any hesitation?
Liu Qingqing's mental gears briefly jammed.
Wei Qingyu turned around. Her waist length hair was like a flowing black waterfall, hanging smoothly behind her.
She looked up, her dark eyes staring directly at the senior sister who stood two meters away. Her voice was devoid of any inflection as she asked:
"Senior sister, may I ask if you and Lu Xing are a couple?"
Buzz.
Liu Qingqing's mind went completely blank.
To be honest, she never expected that this girl could deliver such an impactful question in such a robotic, AI like tone!
Liu Qingqing's smile faded, replaced by a very serious expression.
"I am currently pursuing him."
"Oh."
Wei Qingyu's reply was incredibly brief, leaving Liu Qingqing utterly baffled.
Liu Qingqing suspected her brain was malfunctioning because she had been shivering so much from the cold water. How could she not understand what Wei Qingyu meant by that single word?
"I see."
Wei Qingyu seemed to feel that her previous response was too curt. Out of a sense of politeness, she added those two words.
Liu Qingqing: ...
Thank you!
That actually made me even more confused.
Whatever.
If she could not figure it out, she would just stop trying!
Liu Qingqing pushed the matter to the back of her mind and asked her own question.
"Then may I ask what I wanted to know?"
Wei Qingyu nodded calmly.
Liu Qingqing sighed. It was truly difficult to get this little beauty to open up.
"Do you know Xia Yeshuang?"
A ripple appeared in Wei Qingyu's otherwise calm eyes.
Liu Qingqing knew instantly that she had asked the right person.
"I was out with Lu Xing the other day and we ran into Xia Yeshuang. She was quite emotional at the time."
"I want to ask you, what exactly is the relationship between Xia Yeshuang and Lu Xing back at school?"
After speaking, she carefully watched Wei Qingyu's expression.
In reality, she did not care much about Xia Yeshuang herself.
What she truly wanted to know was...
Does Wei Qingyu like Lu Xing?
Usually, only when you like someone do you meticulously observe all the boring events and people surrounding them.
Wei Qingyu thought for a moment, her dark eyes falling on Liu Qingqing's cute dimples. After a moment of silence, she spoke faintly.
"Lu Xing liked her before, but he did not succeed."
What?
Liu Qingqing's eyes widened, filled with genuine astonishment.
When she had seen Xia Yeshuang that day, she had assumed Xia Yeshuang was the one suffering from unrequited love for Lu Xing.
But the truth was...
Lu Xing was the one who liked Xia Yeshuang?
Huh?
How could that be?
Liu Qingqing thought it over and reached a logical conclusion.
So Xia Yeshuang was so emotional that day because she regretted her choice after Lu Xing stopped chasing her?
Liu Qingqing felt a sudden wave of enlightenment!
She felt thankful toward Xia Yeshuang.
Thank goodness Xia Yeshuang had not agreed to be with Lu Xing back then!
"Thank you, Qingyu." Liu Qingqing's eyes sparkled. "Now I am relieved!"
Wei Qingyu turned her back to the room to meticulously wash her hands at the sink. Her long hair slipped over her shoulder, partially hiding her face.
Wei Qingyu spoke again.
"Senior sister, Lu Xing could like Xia Yeshuang yesterday, he can like you today, and he can like another person tomorrow."
The smile on Liu Qingqing's lips vanished instantly. "What?"
Wei Qingyu continued washing her hands with a focused intensity, her eyes lowered as she lathered the soap in her palms.
"Did you not hear me clearly?"
Liu Qingqing frowned. She felt that her initial judgment might have been wrong.
Could it be that Wei Qingyu did not like Lu Xing at all...
But actually hated him?
Even as the thought flashed through her mind, her first instinct was still to defend Lu Xing.
Liu Qingqing could not stand hearing others speak ill of him, so she retorted:
"Does a person who was rejected once have to spend the rest of their life pretending to be deeply in love? He is just being clear headed about his emotions!"
Wei Qingyu let out a light, cold laugh.
"Then what if he abandons you the moment he sees a prettier or better girl?"
Liu Qingqing thought about it for a second.
"Love is not a life or death contract. Pursuing a better person is simply part of human nature. You cannot blame him for that."
Wei Qingyu smiled again.
"Lu Xing is very poor. He will covet your wealth."
Liu Qingqing's brow smoothed out completely.
"It does not matter. I am very rich. My biggest fear is that he doesn't like anything at all."
Plop.
Perhaps it was just a stray drop of water from the faucet, or perhaps it was a tear falling from Wei Qingyu's eye.
It was impossible to tell.
After a moment of silence, Wei Qingyu took a tissue to dry her hands.
She raised her head, her eyes showing no visible emotion. She met Liu Qingqing's gaze in the mirror and said faintly:
"You are hopeless."
Liu Qingqing felt quite proud. She let out a cute hum and replied with great indulgence:
"I am willing!"
Wei Qingyu's lips curved into a nearly invisible smile. She could not be certain that she would be the final victor in her own family's power struggle.
But thankfully.
'Lu Xing, even if I am crushed to pieces, there will still be someone to love you for me.'
Wei Qingyu could not give an accurate date for when she would finally take control of the Wei family.
Therefore, it was better not to speak of it, and not to talk about those feelings.
She even worried that...
These feelings might only drag Lu Xing down into her mess.
Wei Qingyu lowered her eyes.
During this transitional period, it was actually good for someone else to be by Lu Xing's side.
"Um, can I ask you another question?" Liu Qingqing was still trying to puzzle out Wei Qingyu's true thoughts about Lu Xing.
It felt contradictory.
Wei Qingyu's words were attacking Lu Xing, yet her actions seemed to be pulling her closer to him.
"Just ask."
Wei Qingyu stood perfectly straight in front of the mirror, her features calm as she looked at Liu Qingqing.
Liu Qingqing cleared her throat. "Do you not like Lu Xing?"
Her way of asking was very specific.
During her time at the Wei family dealing with the rival Wei Wei, Wei Qingyu had learned many skills.
One of them was "playing Tai Chi."
(TL: A very common Chinese idiom used in social and business contexts. It refers to the act of dodging a direct question or pushing responsibility back and forth without ever giving a straight answer.)
Wei Qingyu said softly:
"If you stay in this changing room for fifteen minutes, I will go ask Lu Xing a few things. After fifteen minutes, I will tell you the answer."
She could not tell anyone else about her struggles within the Wei family.
The only person she felt she could confide in was Lu Xing, but he did not often reply to her messages.
So she had eventually stopped sending them.
Feelings kept at a distance could still be suppressed.
But after seeing Lu Xing in person, Wei Qingyu realized that she probably should not have come on this trip at all.
Originally, she had only intended to catch a glimpse of him from a distance.
But from the moment his face appeared on the big screen, all the rules she had set for herself had completely collapsed.
Longing is silent, yet it can be deafening.
Just as the senior sister had said, she was willing.
Liu Qingqing thought for a moment. She truly felt that this long haired girl's mind worked in strange ways.
"Do not worry, there are no romantic feelings to discuss between me and Lu Xing, only business," Wei Qingyu gave Liu Qingqing a heads up.
"Okay, you go then."
Liu Qingqing actually agreed and obediently sat back down on her stool.
If this had been that runaway locomotive Xia Yeshuang, she definitely would not have agreed.
But Wei Qingyu seemed like a proper, reliable person.
Besides, Liu Qingqing really wanted to know the answer to her question.
"Thank you."
Wei Qingyu nodded slightly and opened the changing room door.
...
"Why is it you? Where is the senior sister?"
Lu Xing sat on a bench in the corridor, looking bored. The curly haired Fugui had already left to buy tickets with the two hundred yuan.
Wei Qingyu walked over to Lu Xing's side.
"Is anyone sitting here?"
Lu Xing said with a grin, "There's a ghost sitting right next to me."
Wei Qingyu smiled faintly and sat down beside him.
Her sitting posture had been strictly corrected by an etiquette teacher, making her look completely different from Lu Xing's sprawling, lazy posture.
"Where is the senior sister?"
Lu Xing asked again.
Wei Qingyu's smile faded slightly, but she still replied.
"I told her to wait in the changing room for fifteen minutes. I have something I need to tell you alone."
"She agreed."
Lu Xing turned his head to look at her, lightly tapping the armrest. "Is it about your family?"
Wei Qingyu nodded.
"My father has handed over some of the company's business to me. I now own one tenth of the company. My brother has three tenths, and my father holds six tenths. My development time has been too short. If you give me just a little more time, I can surpass my brother."
Lu Xing listened to Wei Qingyu's narration for a full eight minutes.
He had never heard her speak so much at once before.
"Wei Qingyu."
Lu Xing subconsciously reached up to rub his eyes, but his arm was gently caught by her.
Wei Qingyu handed him a tissue.
"There are bacteria on your hands. You will get an infection if you rub your eyes like that."
...
...