After A Secret Marriage With The Trending Queen - Chapter 29

Chapter 29

In the blink of an eye, the person vanished from her sight. Tan Xueying stood frozen for a while before deciding to look for her. But after scanning the surroundings, she couldn’t find a single trace. The first name that flashed in her mind was: Ye Qin.

The square was noisy and bustling, filled with the smiling faces and laughter of various people.

…

Shen Lu was pulled far away, until they left the square and reached a corridor leading to the beach. It was a viewing promenade made of wood, also hung with colorful lanterns, setting a festive scene.

At this point, the masked person finally released Shen Lu’s hand and asked, full of confusion, “Why didn’t you resist?”

Shen Lu shrugged, like someone who had already figured out the truth. “Because I know who you are.”

…

Modern cyber cafes have a no-smoking rule. Shen Jing remembered many years ago, when he was just a teenager addicted to the internet, it wasn’t called a cyber cafe but an internet bar. Back in the days when you could get online with just a parent’s ID card, the place was filled with smoke, and almost everyone had a cigarette between their fingers.

Shen Jing, who had always hated the smell of smoke, would almost be nauseated. However, he recently met a girl with a very nice voice in his game. Today was the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the system announcement said there would be login rewards and Mid-Autumn activities after 8 PM, which required the cooperation of male and female player accounts to complete, and would yield generous grand prizes.

As for contact information, Shen Jing had already gotten the other party’s WeChat ID. He verified it through voice chat; it was indeed a female voice. But the problem seemed to be right there…

“Zhizhi” was the nickname provided by the other party, and Shen Jing didn’t know the person’s real name.

Shen Jing: Little Zhizhi, it’s almost eight o’clock, aren’t you online yet?

Zhizhi: Soon, just finished showering. It was the Mid-Autumn Festival today, so my family ate dinner late. You won’t blame me, right?

Shen Jing: How could I? You’re my little sweetheart.

Zhizhi: shy.jpg

…

Wang Lin, Yang Li, and Lin’er sat around the table, which was laden with chicken, duck, fish, and various other dishes. Lin’er excitedly picked up his chopsticks and exclaimed with childlike innocence, “The food is so rich today!”

Yang Li looked at Wang Lin with embarrassment, then back at her son, feeling a deep sense of guilt inside. Wang Lin was right: she shouldn’t let her son suffer even if she herself had to endure hardship.

Wang Lin reached out and stroked the back of Lin’er’s head. “Lin’er, you’ll have food like this every day from now on. If you want to eat something, ask your mom to buy it for you. If your mom doesn’t buy it, you come to me, and I’ll buy it for you.”

Lin’er looked up at Wang Lin seriously. “Thank you, Auntie Wang.”

“You’re welcome,” Wang Lin smiled. Because this is what I should do. I will protect you and your mother from now on, never letting you be hurt or live a bitter life again.

Yang Li raised her wine glass to toast her. “Thank you for everything you’ve done, and Happy Mid-Autumn Festival.”

Wang Lin nodded and curved her lips, also raising her glass. “You’re welcome. Cheers to mutual happiness.”

“I want to clink cups too! I want to clink cups too!” Lin’er fluttered his little hands, trying to imitate the adults, which instantly amused the two adults in the room. Everyone burst into laughter.

…

“Alright,” the masked person took off her mask, revealing a delicate and refined face. Ye Qin shrugged, shaking the mask in her hand. “It’s no fun being recognized by you.”

Shen Lu stood in front of her, exasperated, putting her hands on her hips. “Sister, didn’t you say… you weren’t interested in the lantern festival and didn’t want to come?”

“Well, now I want to come. What, you won’t allow it?” Ye Qin dropped her smile.

“N-no, of course, it’s fine if you want to come, it’s just…” Shen Lu touched the back of her head, clearly troubled.

“Just what?”

“What about Sister Xueying? I left her behind there,” Shen Lu replied cautiously, observing Ye Qin’s expression.

Ye Qin lowered her gaze and answered expressionlessly, “She is an adult, she knows the way.” She looked at Shen Lu. “Take me for a walk.”

Shen Lu was taken aback. “Huh?”

Ye Qin patiently repeated herself. “I said, I want you to take me for a walk around this lantern festival and see what’s fun.”

Shen Lu had no choice. She was her boss, and the nature of her job meant she was on call almost 24 hours a day, let alone accompanying her for a walk at the lantern festival. Forget it, I’ll just apologize to Sister Xueying in person later.

“But, I have one condition,” Shen Lu paused. “Can you promise me?”

Ye Qin found this extremely interesting. She looked her up and down with amusement. This girl actually dared to bargain with her. “Speak.”

After much deliberation, Shen Lu finally spoke cautiously. “Sister, could you please keep the mask on? That way, we can avoid a lot of unnecessary trouble. No matter what, you’re a public figure.” Shen Lu didn’t want to cause any unwanted incidents by drawing attention, or she wouldn’t be able to report back to Sister Wang.

Ye Qin shrugged and agreed readily. “Fine, no problem.” She then put the mask back on. Shen Lu finally showed a relieved smile. “Now no one should be able to recognize you, Sister.”

“Wrong, there’s still one person who slipped the net—you!” Perhaps it was a subconscious, unthinking gesture, but Ye Qin actually tapped Shen Lu on the nose, causing Shen Lu to freeze instantly.

Ye Qin didn’t pay it any mind and walked along the promenade toward the seaside. Seeing Shen Lu still standing rooted, she called out, “What are you waiting for? Hurry up and come!”

“I’m coming!” Shen Lu moved her feet and hurried after her.

…

The beach was crowded, with everyone enjoying themselves. There were also vendors setting up stalls to do business: some were dancing while swinging colorful lanterns, others were building sandcastles, and couples were nestled together, whispering intimately on the sand.

Ye Qin was walking and skipping, looking very much like a child. Shen Lu, following behind her, was seeing this side of her for the very first time. Could this be Ye Qin 2.0?

“Hurry up, hurry up, keep up!” If Shen Lu slowed down even a little, Ye Qin would rush her.

Shen Lu came up beside her and commented, “Aren’t you tired from running like this? I can barely keep up with you.”

Ye Qin turned her head. All Shen Lu could see was the painted face on the mask. “I like this state. I’m free, no one recognizes me, no one follows me, and no one chases me with a camera to take my picture.”

Shen Lu couldn’t guess her expression at the moment, but from her words, she could tell that Ye Qin was very happy and it was a rare chance for her to relax. In the past, she had kept that string too tightly wound; over time, it would only backfire.

Just then, a cruise ship on the sea sounded its whistle, instantly grabbing Ye Qin’s attention. Her masked eyes stared intently in that direction. Shen Lu immediately understood her thought and tentatively asked, “Sister, do you want to go on that?”

Ye Qin countered, “Can we?” She seemed to be asking for her opinion.

Shen Lu was briefly stunned, rarely seeing her so “considerate and approachable.” She replied, “Of course we can. Sister, wait here for me, I’ll go buy the tickets first.” With that, she ran off in one direction.

…

The battle began.

Shen Jing, in close cooperation with his partner, successfully completed the Mid-Autumn mission and won the system’s grand prize.

Just then, he received a WeChat message from Zhizhi.

Zhizhi: I heard you are in H City now?

Shen Jing: Yeah, are you here too?

Zhizhi: I didn’t tell you before, but I’m actually from H City.

Upon reading this, Shen Jing’s heart began to pound.

Shen Jing: Then…

Zhizhi: So, should we meet? I want to develop our relationship further.

Shen Jing: Great! Great!

The silly Shen Jing arranged a meeting spot with the person, at the coffee shop next door to the cyber cafe. He ordered his coffee early and sat there waiting. After a short while, a clean-cut, somewhat thin, fair-skinned boy walked in and sat down at the table next to Shen Jing.

A moment later, Shen Jing received a message on his phone.

Zhizhi: I’m here. I think I see you.

Shen Jing was utterly confused. He looked around with his phone in hand, while typing, “I didn’t see any girl come in?” Then his eyes met the face of the boy next door.

The boy shook the phone in his hand, his eyes revealing everything. Shen Jing was dumbfounded. He panicked and ran away, leaving only a retreating figure.

…

Shen Jing was terrified. He was panting as he ran, dialing Shen Lu’s number.

Shen Lu was waiting in line for tickets when she answered Shen Jing’s call.

“What is it? I’m busy. Hurry up and talk.”

“Sister, let me tell you, I went to meet an online game friend today, and she was actually a guy! Oh my god, I was scared to death!”

“You arranged the meet-up yourself, you gotta finish the deed even if you have to crawl,” Shen Lu mocked her mercilessly.

“Sister, you’re gloating!”

“Alright, I’m hanging up.” Shen Lu decisively ended the call. The line had reached her. She took out her wallet and bought two VIP cruise tickets.

When she returned after buying the tickets, Shen Lu couldn’t find Ye Qin. She froze, her heart instantly in a panic. In that moment, her mind imagined a series of terrible consequences—she must have exposed her identity!

Just then, she heard that soft, childlike voice nearby.

“Boss, how much is this?”

“Five dollars a cone!”

“Then I’ll take two.”

Shen Lu followed the sound and finally found her on the beach, where the view and light weren’t particularly good. She quickly hurried over and grabbed her wrist. “I thought you disappeared. You scared me to death.”

Ye Qin burst out laughing and handed her an ice cream cone. “Look how nice I am, I even remembered to get one for you.”

Shen Lu pouted, her anger inexplicably melting away. She reached out to take the cone, took a bite, and grumbled to herself, She clearly wanted to eat it herself and just happened to bribe me so I wouldn’t report her secret snacking to Sister Wang.

Sure enough, Ye Qin, who was walking ahead, suddenly turned around and instructed, “Don’t rat on me when we get back.”

Shen Lu: …

No one knows her better than me.