The Scheming Ex-Husband's Courtship-Chapter 557 - 487: Don’t Want to Lose a Good Sister

Chapter 557: Chapter 487: Don’t Want to Lose a Good Sister
Quan Jin realized she had let something slip, so she sighed and said, "To tell you the truth, there’s something off about Qi Hao."
"Something off? But I think he looks handsome and seems honest, and he treats Susu quite well, which is pretty rare," Mu Chenxi blinked.
"Do you remember he used to have a girlfriend?"
"Girlfriend? I think there was one, didn’t Susu say they broke up amicably? She started dating Qi Hao only after they had separated," Chenxi said.
"Yes, they did break up. But I heard they were a couple back in high school, and Qi Hao even got into our school for that girl. They split over some trivial issues, and neither was willing to swallow their pride and apologize first, leaving their relationship in a stalemate. Then Susu came into the picture when Qi Hao was in a vulnerable state after the breakup. That’s when men are at their weakest and could easily accept another relationship. So, under Susu’s aggressive pursuit, he agreed to be her boyfriend." As Quan Jin spoke, she glanced toward the direction Susu had left, "At first, I also thought Qi Hao truly cared for Susu, especially since they have been living together. But last semester, I accidentally saw Qi Hao talking to his ex-girlfriend in the woods behind the main building. They were very close, his ex-girlfriend ended up hugging him. At first, Qi Hao tried to push her away, but in the end, he half-heartedly reciprocated. They were still in each other’s arms when I left."
Chenxi was shocked and couldn’t help but raise her voice, "How could that be?"
This drew disapproving looks from the people around, so she lowered her voice again, "Is Qi Hao really back with his ex-girlfriend?"
"What I saw is true, it can’t be faked. But after that incident, I started to pay extra attention to Qi Hao’s every move, even followed him a few times, but I didn’t find any other signs. So I thought maybe his ex-girlfriend was going through something tough, and he was just comforting her, given their past close relationship," Quan Jin shook her head, "But that incident has always bothered me, I just feel things aren’t that simple."
"Then why didn’t you tell Susu?"
"Are you kidding me? My word alone is not enough, why would Susu believe me? Moreover, you see how she follows Qi Hao’s lead. She wouldn’t just disbelieve me but would think I’m trying to cause trouble. Like tonight, her request was already unreasonable. You’ve worked so hard for this experiment, who could know better than us? Yet she just so easily agreed to Qi Hao’s request. With the way she is now, what I say won’t get through to her, will it?"
Mu Chenxi thought Quan Jin made a lot of sense, but if she kept silent and it turned out to be true, Susu would end up even more heartbroken.
"I’ll go check on her." Chenxi grabbed her backpack, "Susu tends to overthink things and gets paranoid easily. Don’t argue with her. Even if you can’t stand her, just keep it to yourself."
"I can’t be bothered to argue with her." Quan Jin turned away dismissively, but as she saw Chenxi about to leave, she added tepidly, "She usually likes to go to Tongxin Lake."
Chenxi smiled, "You, with your sharp tongue and soft heart, you’re actually quite worried about her, aren’t you?"
"Are you leaving or not? If not, then sit down and study," Quan Jin glared at her.
Laughing, Chenxi left the library and ran into Luo Shangqing right outside. He was dressed in a light blue V-neck sweater and dark blue slim jeans, standing under a streetlight making a phone call.
The streetlight’s gentle glow fell on his face, giving his lively features an even more sculpted look, as if he was a character projected by a projector, ethereally unreal.
Chenxi gazed at him, transfixed, and nearly missed her step, blurting out a subconscious "Ouch," which happened to catch the attention of Luo Shangqing, who turned around just as she awkwardly tried to sneak away with her backpack on.
"Mu Chenxi." Luo Shangqing hung up the phone and walked towards her briskly.
"Pr-Professor Luo, hello." Chenxi scratched her head, having initially hoped to sneak away unnoticed, only to be caught.
Ever since the incident that night, she hadn’t figured out how to face Luo Shangqing.
Compared to her awkwardness, Luo Shangqing acted as if nothing had happened, still the same teacher figure, detached and aloof: "Where are you rushing off to in such a hurry?"
"I’m going to look for our leader," Chenxi answered honestly, "Professor Luo, what are you doing here?"
"I was thinking of going to the library to look up some materials." Luo Shangqing lowered his gaze to her face; she kept her head down, almost as though following a ’see no evil, hear no evil’ mantra, with an ostrich-like timidity.
He couldn’t help but chuckle, offering her the book he’d been holding: "Take this book with you; it’ll be helpful for the next part of your experiment."
"Thank you, Professor Luo." Mu Chenxi joyfully accepted it, her hand inadvertently brushing against Luo Shangqing’s fingers. His skin was somewhat cool, and the contact seemed to send a jolt of electricity through her, startling Mu Chenxi into withdrawing her hand in a panic, as flustered as a thief.
Luo Shangqing’s hand still hovered in midair as Mu Chenxi mustered her courage to grab the book before Luo Shangqing could speak and loudly said: "Professor Luo, goodbye."
After speaking,
Watching her frantically flee, Luo Shangqing shook his head helplessly. This girl articulated her sentiments so eloquently in her diary, not concealing her admiration for him. Yet now, in his presence, she ran off like a deserter, making him truly puzzled about her thoughts.
In fact, even Mu Chenxi herself didn’t understand why, after their relationship had progressed further, her emotions turned to panic instead of joy.
She remembered how, as a child, she particularly loved a toy bear and wished every day that it would come alive to play with her. After dreaming about it so much, she actually dreamt that the bear could talk and move, leaping around. Far from being delighted, she was so terrified that she burst into tears and put the bear away in a box the next day, never to play with it again.
To her, Professor Luo was a deity on a pedestal, someone she could only admire from a distance. Even if she liked him very much, she had never imagined confessing her feelings to him. It wasn’t a fear of rejection, it was the belief that such divine beings wouldn’t deign to glance at commoners like herself.
Therefore, when Professor Luo indeed became closer to her, she immediately started to feel insecure and timid. She believed that such good fortune couldn’t possibly happen to her; there must be some problem, for sure.
Mu Chenxi found Susu by the artificial lake at the school. She was sitting by herself on the edge of the lake, wiping away tears.
"Boss," Mu Chenxi sat down beside her, reaching out to wrap her arm around her shoulders: "Quan Jin didn’t mean any harm, you know her, she may have a sharp tongue but her heart is kind. She didn’t mean anything by her words, she just thinks you listen to Qi Hao too much and is afraid you’ll be at a disadvantage."
Susu sniffled and, while wiping her tears, said: "I know she means well, but couldn’t she have been a bit more tactful? I really like Qi Hao a lot, and plan to stick with him for life. You all are my good friends, I hope you can support me and not always corner him with your words, it’s making things difficult for me."
After finishing, Susu gazed up at Mu Chenxi with tearful eyes: "Number four, I know this might be too much to ask, but could you, for my sake, lend it to him to take a look? He will just look at it, he definitely won’t do anything."
"Alright." Mu Chenxi didn’t want to see her good sister getting into a huge conflict over her issue, "Susu, just this once, I can compromise, but you can’t continue to be so indecisive, listening to everything Qi Hao says. If you two really get married, you won’t have any standing at home."
"I don’t care about status, as long as he treats me well," Susu said, gripping her hand gratefully, "Thank you, number four."
"Why so formal with me, come on, let’s go, or someone will think we’re about to jump into the lake and take our lives." Mu Chenxi pulled her up from the ground, "Go talk properly with Quan Jin, no fighting, I’ve already talked to her. With so many years of friendship, don’t let these trifles hurt our feelings."
"Okay." Susu nodded vigorously and then turned to Mu Chenxi with a smile through her tears, "Number four, we all know you are the youngest among us, always so carefree, but in our group, you are the most righteous. If it wasn’t for you mediating between me and Quan Jin over the years, we would probably have fought irreconcilably by now. We can’t stand each other, yet I really don’t want to lose her as a dear sister."
"I know, I know, let’s go, don’t overthink it."
Returning to the library, Quan Jin removed her backpack and books that she used to save seats with. Although she did not look at Susu, her usual seat had a cup of hot milk tea placed on it.
Susu sat down and held the cup of milk tea, feeling a warmth spreading from her palms to her heart. After a while, she spoke softly, "Number three, do you want to go for late-night snacks tonight?"
Upon hearing this, Mu Chenxi promptly pinched Quan Jin, whose gaze didn’t lift from her book, just humming: "If someone else is treating, I’ll go."
"I’ll treat." Susu hastily said with a laugh: "Later we can invite Qi Hao too. He really isn’t as complicated as you think. You just need to interact with him more."
Quan Jin was about to say she didn’t want to have dinner with Qi Hao when Mu Chenxi shot her a look, and she resignedly sighed, "Fine."
After finishing their late-night snacks and heading toward the dormitory, they didn’t even reach the front gate when they saw the plaza in front of the dormitory was crowded with people.
"There’s a commotion to watch." Mu Chenxi, with a lollipop in her mouth, hurriedly ran over with quick steps.