Chapter 107 - The Truth

On the other side, watching Tang Huaijin and Lin Ruoxi’s departing figures, Bai Yuerou pursed her lips and sighed softly. She didn’t really want to argue with Lin Ruoxi, but in front of others, she had to exhibit the reactions expected of a legitimate girlfriend.

Xia Xinya pouted with some dissatisfaction and asked, “Rou, why did you agree? Lin Ruoxi is clearly trying to steal that rascal away.”

Bai Yuerou shook her head and comforted, “I trust Jin; he won’t.”

Hearing this, Xia Xinya slightly relaxed and asked again, “Rou, is that rascal really coming to your house for dinner tomorrow? Will your father and mother agree?”

Bai Yuerou’s lips curved slightly into a gentle smile, “Yes, they will agree. My mother likes Jin very much.”

“Oh…” Xia Xinya wasn’t foolish; she understood that this meant Yuerou’s father and mother approved of their relationship. Her heart felt a bit sour, and she lowered her head sadly, muttering, “You promised to take me along for everything…”

“This kind of thing is different…” Bringing Xia Xinya to such a family meeting would be inappropriate. Bai Yuerou smiled helplessly and said, “But we can still hang out together normally.”

Seeing Xia Xinya still looking gloomy, Bai Yuerou chuckled lightly, “Although we can’t accompany you on Saturday, I’m free on Sunday. You can also ask Jin if he wants to go out; we can all go together.”

“Right.” Xia Xinya’s eyes lit up, and she huffed softly, saying coquettishly, “Then I will invite him again. If he dares to refuse me, he’s dead.”

Bai Yuerou nodded with a smile, glanced at the car by the roadside, and said, “Then I’ll be off now. Goodbye, Xinya.”

“Goodbye, Rou.” Xia Xinya’s bad mood dissipated quickly. Thinking about going out with Tang Huaijin on Sunday, she felt a vague sense of anticipation and got into her car.

After watching her best friend’s car disappear into the distance, Bai Yuerou didn’t get into her own Maybach. Instead, she turned back and waited near the school gate for Tang Huaijin.

The temperature in the autumn evening was already quite low. After waiting for a while, a chilly autumn wind blew through, making Bai Yuerou shiver. She sniffed and tightened her clothes, pursing her lips as she continued to wait.

Finally, in the distance, the familiar figure of Tang Huaijin slowly approached. Bai Yuerou calculated the time in her mind and silently breathed a sigh of relief.

Tang Huaijin walked silently with his head down, his figure appearing somewhat desolate, not noticing Bai Yuerou standing nearby, his gaze wandering as he headed out of the school.

Bai Yuerou furrowed her brows and quickly stepped forward, calling softly, “Jin?”

Tang Huaijin snapped back to reality, surprised, “Yuerou? You haven’t left yet?”

“No.” Bai Yuerou smiled a bit awkwardly and said, “I was waiting for you. As your girlfriend, I naturally have to wait for you here.”

Tang Huaijin’s mood was complicated. He forced a smile at her words but wasn’t in the mood for conversation.

Seeing his mood was not good, a hint of melancholy between his brows, Bai Yuerou didn’t ask about Lin Ruoxi. She simply held his hand gently, giving him a warm smile, “It’s okay, Jin. I’ll always be by your side.”

Bai Yuerou’s hand was cold, and Tang Huaijin realized she must have been waiting for a long time, knowing she was frail. He scolded slightly, “It’s so cold outside. If you have to wait, at least wait in the car.”

Saying this, he hurriedly led Bai Yuerou into the Bai Family’s Maybach.

Bai Yuerou let him lead her, feeling the warmth of his palm, a satisfied smile appearing on her face.

Once inside the car, Bai Yuerou’s female bodyguard merely glanced at them briefly before respectfully saying, “Young master.”

Compared to Xia Xinya’s bodyguard, Bai Yuerou’s bodyguard seemed more rigid. Hearing her address him like this, Tang Huaijin was slightly taken aback but said nothing, essentially accepting it.

The female bodyguard nodded at Bai Yuerou, and once the two were seated, she slowly started the vehicle, heading towards Tang Huaijin’s home.

Along the way, the two in the back seat remained silent, simply holding hands quietly.

The vehicle stopped steadily at the entrance of Tang Huaijin’s residential area. As he was about to let go and say goodbye to Bai Yuerou, she held onto his hand, leaving him puzzled, “What’s wrong?”

“…I’ll come to pick you up on Saturday, Jin.” Bai Yuerou’s tone seemed somewhat complex. After hesitating for a moment, she said, “My sister might be a bit strange. If she asks you anything, just ignore her.”

“You have a sister?” Tang Huaijin was genuinely curious this time, surprised, “Why have you never mentioned her?”

“You never asked, and my sister is always away, so I never told you.” Bai Yuerou smiled and said, “She’s coming back from Jingdu specifically this time.”

“Oh, okay, I understand. I’ll be off then.” Tang Huaijin didn’t think too much about it, nodded, said goodbye to Bai Yuerou, and got out of the car with his backpack.

…

In a barbecue joint, several girls were comforting Lin Ruoxi. These were friends from her original high school class, who had once helped her with Tang Huaijin.

Lin Ruoxi didn’t say much, simply sitting quietly and eating.

Seeing her like this, her friends understood it must be related to Tang Huaijin and began criticizing him.

Listening to her friends speak ill of Tang Huaijin, Lin Ruoxi felt uncomfortable, her gaze dimming.

Sitting beside her, Li Xiaoran glanced at her and tried to smooth things over, “Alright, we haven’t seen Xi for so long. Let’s not talk about unhappy things.”

Lin Ruoxi looked at her gratefully, her mood easing a bit, chatting with her friends while eating.

“Xi, do you want a drink?” Li Xiaoran asked, opening a bottle of beer.

Lin Ruoxi instinctively refused, “No, Jin he…”

Halfway through her sentence, she realized and sighed silently, still refusing, “Never mind, I won’t drink. You guys go ahead.”

After dinner, everyone went home separately. Since this place was close to home, Lin Ruoxi decided not to take a taxi, opting to walk home and enjoy the cool breeze.

The area had good security, and even though it was late, there were still many people on the streets, so there was no need to worry about safety.

The autumn wind made Lin Ruoxi’s small hands feel a bit chilly. She tucked them into her pockets and instinctively glanced at the street lamp nearby.

She and Tang Huaijin had walked this road many times. Every time they had dinner outside, Tang Huaijin would take her for a stroll here, warming her small hands, kissing her under the street lamp, and then sending her home with a flushed face.

Lin Ruoxi’s vision gradually blurred, and she laughed self-deprecatingly. The most painful part of a breakup isn’t the moment you part ways, but rather the moments when you inadvertently find memories of him in your life. These traces make you clearly understand a fact: the person you once loved no longer belongs to you.

Not far away, a woman walked over, dressed flamboyantly despite it being winter, with her white thighs exposed. She was angrily yelling into her phone, “What the hell kind of person did you arrange for me? I got to the hotel and they said there’s no such room.”

The voice was somewhat piercing, yet strangely familiar, causing Lin Ruoxi to frown slightly and step aside to walk past the woman.

“Trying to mess with me? Get lost!”

Back then, the woman Tang Huaijin cheated with seemed to have slapped him and cursed in exactly this tone and manner…

Thinking of this, Lin Ruoxi’s eyes widened, and she immediately turned around and ran back.

The woman had already hung up the phone but was still muttering angrily. She was startled by Lin Ruoxi suddenly appearing in front of her, and seeing it was a young girl, she said irritably, “Do you have a problem, little girl?”

Lin Ruoxi carefully examined the woman’s face. Although she looked much older than in her memory, the general face shape, features, and voice were very similar. Hesitantly, she asked, “Do you… know Tang Huaijin?”

“Tang Huaijin? Who’s that?” The woman frowned and thought for a moment, then glanced at Lin Ruoxi’s face. Her eyebrows suddenly relaxed, and she exclaimed, “You’re that…”

Halfway through her sentence, she suddenly shut her mouth, quickly waving her hand, “Don’t know, don’t know, go away.”

But how could this reaction fool Lin Ruoxi?

Lin Ruoxi immediately became excited, grabbing the woman’s arm and asking, “You know him, don’t you? You’re the one who slapped him, I recognize you.”

“Hey, you girl.” The woman seemed a bit impatient with being pestered, shook off Lin Ruoxi’s hand, and said, “What do you want?”

Tears welled up in Lin Ruoxi’s eyes, and she pleaded, “Please, tell me, what really happened?”

The woman looked at her pitiful appearance, feeling a bit sympathetic, and said with a frown, “We have professional ethics.”

“Professional ethics…?” Lin Ruoxi was stunned, then quickly reacted, hurriedly taking out her phone, showing the woman her WeChat wallet, and said, “I, I have money. If you tell me, I’ll give you all these two thousand yuan.”

The woman’s eyes were instantly attracted to the numbers in the WeChat wallet, showing a hint of joy. She said, “How can I accept this?” but her hands were honest, taking out her payment code.

As soon as the payment notification sounded, the woman beamed with joy, “Oh, little handsome guy, it’s not that I lack professional ethics, it’s just that she offered too much.”

Glancing at Lin Ruoxi, who was eagerly watching her, the woman sighed, pulled her to a nearby stone bench, and sat down, saying, “What do you want to ask?”

Lin Ruoxi bit her lip, a glimmer of hope in her eyes, and softly said, “Everything, tell me everything about you and Tang Huaijin.”

“Heh.” The woman chuckled, took out a cigarette from her bag, lit it, took a deep breath, and exhaled a smoke ring, slowly saying, “Don’t laugh at me, sister, I’m an escort.”

Lin Ruoxi’s eyes lit up but she didn’t speak, continuing to wait for her to continue.

“One day, a middleman contacted me, saying there was a job here, asking me to come over.”

“I walked into the agreed room, and the guest turned out to be a handsome young man. I was feeling quite pleased, but he suddenly took out two thousand yuan from his wallet and asked me to do him a favor, promising another thousand after it was done.”

The woman laughed and said, “It’s the first time I’ve encountered such a thing.”

“He asked me to pretend to be his girlfriend, to go to your school after class, and to dress younger.”

“I laughed after hearing it, and he asked if I could do it? Of course, I could, this was much easier than serving men.”

“The rest you should already know, it’s all what he asked me to act.”

After listening to her, Lin Ruoxi was silent for a while, then asked, “Did he tell you why he wanted to do this?”

The woman rolled her eyes and said, “Of course I asked, but he said it was none of my business, his face was dark and scary.”

“After the job was done, he gave me another thousand, told me not to say anything, and advised me to be careful when going out, to wear sunglasses.”

“Tsk, seeing the slap mark on that handsome face, I really felt sorry for him.” The woman smacked her lips, somewhat regretfully saying, “That handsome guy with a cold face, really quite attractive, I asked if he wanted a free session, but he refused, quite a pity.”

Seeing Lin Ruoxi’s expression turn ugly, the woman laughed again and said, “Even in our line of work, there’s professional ethics. If you hadn’t given so much, I wouldn’t have said anything.”

The woman had a strong addiction to smoking, lighting another cigarette after finishing one, watching the smoke she exhaled being blown away by the wind. She smiled slightly, gently patted Lin Ruoxi’s shoulder, and said, “Men are hypocrites, they value face more than life. A man who can think of such a way to defile himself, sister has never seen in her life.”

“Alright, I’ve told you everything I should and shouldn’t.”

“If you two reconcile, you don’t need to send me a red envelope, just make sure he doesn’t come to trouble me.”

“I’m leaving.” The woman chuckled, stood up, wrapped her short jacket tighter, and complained angrily, “This damn weather, it’s so damn cold.”

Lin Ruoxi stood silently for a while, suddenly shouting at the woman’s back, “What’s your name?”

The woman paused her steps, waved the hand holding the cigarette, and said, “Sister’s name is Shang Yueyue.”