Chapter 168 - Misunderstanding

Chu Qianqian, unaware of Ellie’s thought process, was startled by her words, and her originally angry expression faded like receding tides, along with her agitated emotions. After a moment, she quivered her lips slightly, her voice cautious as she asked, “Why would you ask that? What have you found out?”

Chu Qianqian knew that Ellie was well-informed, so her intention was to ask if Ellie had heard something somewhere. However, in Ellie’s ears, it sounded like an admission of her assumptions.

In an instant, Ellie’s complexion turned as pale as Chu Qianqian’s, but not from fear-rather from anger.

For someone like Ellie, whose job it was to investigate the entertainment industry’s various pieces of information, the dirty dealings of the industry were nothing new. But Ellie never expected that one day such a thing would happen to her good friend.

If a person’s anger level had a limit, Ellie’s would certainly have surpassed it by now. Her lips tightened, eyes darkening, resembling a stormy sea, filled with a dangerous aura that drew attention.

Unlike her usual drama-queen demeanor, Ellie was expressionless when truly angry. Chu Qianqian, having known Ellie for many years, recognized this expression and realized that Ellie was genuinely furious.

Ellie usually seemed carefree, but now, showing such an expression because of her, Chu Qianqian’s expression changed multiple times-her brows knitted and relaxed repeatedly, finally settling into a smile.

There was no denying the warmth she felt in her heart from this concern.

Chu Qianqian had long buried the incident of losing herself after drinking deep within and was neither forgiving nor troubled by it now, able to face it calmly. So at this moment, her mind was entirely on Ellie. Lowering her gaze to notice the tension in Ellie’s hand, she gently pried open Ellie’s clenched fist, looking very calm.

“Those things are in the past. There’s no meaning in pursuing it. At the time, both he and I were at fault.”

Because their thoughts were never in sync, Chu Qianqian’s calm words to Ellie sounded like she was choosing to let things go and forgive the scumbag who wronged her. Ellie’s natural disdain for men, due to her orientation, made the situation even more vexing upon learning about this incident. Now, she was solely intent on digging it up and bringing the scumbag who dared to hurt her friend to disgrace!

“If you still consider me your friend, you need to explain this to me clearly!”

“Ellie~”

“Sweet-talking won’t work.” Ellie crossed her arms with a stern face, looking as if she could overturn a boat full of scumbags if she had a knife.

Pressured by Ellie’s intense gaze, Chu Qianqian stumbled through recounting the incident. Embarrassed and worried that Ellie might take real action, she omitted Mu Han’s name, only referring to him as “that man.”

As Chu Qianqian told her story, Ellie’s emotions swung like a roller coaster, rising and falling. By the end, her anger faded, leaving only speechlessness.

“From the way you describe it, that man must be quite handsome, right?”

Recalling Mu Han’s perpetually cool face, Chu Qianqian had to admit that even from an unbiased bystander’s perspective, it was quite handsome. Under Ellie’s scrutinizing gaze, her earlobes reddened slightly, and she nodded, “Pretty handsome.”

“He’s your boss, so I assume he’s financially well-off?”

That’s an understatement, considering the entire Kunhuang Group belongs to his family. With this thought, Chu Qianqian felt her earlobes heat up again, nodded, and whispered, “His circumstances are quite good.”

“How’s his reputation? Any gossip?”

Thinking about the female colleagues at work mentioning “President Mu is the aloof type” and Qingyi occasionally complaining, “Mu Han is a workaholic,” Chu Qianqian felt not only her earlobes but also her face warm. She lowered her gaze, barely audible, “No.”

Understanding the “no” to mean there were no gossip scandals, Ellie looked at Chu Qianqian’s crown and blushing earlobes, momentarily at a loss for words.

She opened her mouth again, “And how does he treat you? When he didn’t know about that night between you two?”

Although Mu Han was quite strict with her in a work setting, and they recently had a disagreement that wasn’t quite a fight, Chu Qianqian hadn’t forgotten the month they spent at the hillside villa in City B. She remembered the small gestures of kindness from him. Her eyelashes fluttered, and she answered a bit guiltily, “He’s… okay.”

Ellie automatically interpreted this “okay” as “pretty good” and rolled her eyes dramatically, feeling as though all her worry had been for nothing.

“A man who is quite handsome, financially well-off, although it’s unclear if there are any messy family issues-”

Chu Qianqian instinctively interrupted, “His family is quite nice. His mother and younger brother are both very good people…”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Chu Qianqian realized what she’d said, and she became dumbstruck, her brain stalling like an old broken machine.

Perhaps a long time passed, or maybe just a few seconds, before Chu Qianqian’s sluggish mind finally processed, leaving her with only one desperate thought: “Oh my God, someone find me a hole to crawl into!”

Fortunately, Ellie seemed equally shocked, and it took her a while before her language processors were back online. “So, a guy who’s handsome, financially stable, with a good family, decent character, is pursuing you, and you’ve had a past together. Most importantly, you seem to have some feelings for him, yet you seem to want to reject him!”

“Chu Qianqian, are your standards so high that no ordinary mortal matches up, or do you plan on becoming a lone celestial maiden forever?”

With each word Ellie said, Chu Qianqian’s head lowered further, until Ellie’s final words had her burying her head into her chest.

Seeing Chu Qianqian in this ostrich-like posture left Ellie exasperated. Just as she was about to say more, she heard Chu Qianqian sigh softly, “I’ve considered everything you said.”