After Being Marked By A Love Rival - Chapter 56

There was a long silence from Zhao Rongrong’s side, she didn’t send any more messages. Xie Rong was in no hurry, sitting there waiting for her reply. Although… at this moment, she no longer needed a reply to confirm.

But, perhaps like adding the final straw, Xie Rong still chose to wait.

More than ten minutes later, Zhao Rongrong replied.

Her phrasing was cautious: [Xiao Rong, did you, notice?]

Xie Rong: [Yes.]

Zhao Rongrong: [That, don’t be angry, and don’t feel that Mu Si liking you is an insult to you. I’m not trying to whitewash her, I’m not! I just think, if there’s anything, the two of you can sit down and talk slowly…]

Upon seeing this sentence, Xie Rong’s heart gave a sudden leap, her fingers tightly pressed the screen, then slowly released.

She exhaled a breath, dropped her phone, and pressed one hand against her forehead.

It was exactly as she thought. It was indeed like this.

Her guess was correct.

No, rather than saying her guess was correct, it was more like Xie Rong had thought of it a long time ago, but had been deceiving herself.

She didn’t dare to face it, so she didn’t dare to confirm it.

And now that she had reached the point of no escape, where she couldn’t even fool herself, she chose to face it directly.

Xie Rong had no idea when Qi Musi started liking her, or what exactly she liked about her; she was completely confused about these things.

After all, Xie Rong’s own feelings and definitions of liking were still blank and vague; her understanding of Qi Musi’s emotions was even more so. She even wondered if Qi Musi was influenced by that marking incident?

Mistaking her for her own omega, and thus allowing this mistaken emotion to spread.

But no matter how much Xie Rong thought or guessed, it was useless, because she wasn’t Qi Musi and couldn’t know the complete truth.

And regarding Qi Musi’s feelings…

The problem returned to the point Xie Rong cared about initially.

Should she reject her, or… something else.

After a while, Xie Rong remembered that she hadn’t replied to Zhao Rongrong. She picked up her phone and looked, and sure enough, Zhao Rongrong had already sent many messages, all urging her to calm down, not to act rashly, and absolutely not to have a “bloodbath on the spot” with Qi Musi.

Xie Rong’s eyebrows moved, and she slightly curled her lips.

A bloodbath on the spot, how could she even say such a thing?

By this time, Xie Rong also understood why Zhao Rongrong had seemed off before leaving school. It turned out it wasn’t because of the fruit, it was because only she and Qi Musi were at school that night, so Zhao Rongrong was worried that some kind of “bloodbath on the spot” might happen.

She certainly thought too much.

Thinking about it now, Qi Musi barely showed anything inappropriate that night, and didn’t do many excessive things one could even say she did nothing.

Xie Rong had initially thought she was a frivolous person, and even now she would still mistakenly believe that Qi Musi might do something that night when the two of them were alone.

But the other party didn’t, maintaining proper distance.

Xie Rong replied to Zhao Rongrong, explaining that she wouldn’t be impulsive.

After all, she hadn’t planned on doing anything anyway, just lifting the final layer of veil, making it impossible for herself to avoid it.

Zhao Rongrong asked again: [Then did Mu Si do something to you? Of course, if you don’t want to say, you don’t have to!]

Xie Rong didn’t read it carefully, only replying: [Mhm.]

However, Zhao Rongrong thought Xie Rong had genuinely encountered something she didn’t want to talk about.

After all, with Xie Rong’s personality, if she thought there was truly nothing wrong, she would say so. So, conversely, if something truly had happened, she wouldn’t hide it but would answer truthfully.

Zhao Rongrong scrolled the screen and found the message Xie Rong had sent earlier to try and trick her into talking.

She had said [something happened].

Zhao Rongrong gasped, and all sorts of guesses, both related and unrelated, flashed through her mind. In that instant, she concocted over a dozen scenarios.

Now, Zhao Rongrong couldn’t sit still anymore. She initially wanted to find Mo Li to analyze and discuss, but after clicking on Mo Li’s profile picture, Zhao Rongrong immediately stopped.

What if Xie Rong didn’t want others to know about these things? Wouldn’t she be selling Xie Rong out?

Thinking of this, Zhao Rongrong stopped and instead clicked on Qi Musi’s profile picture.

She thought she had to ask for clarification, and she absolutely had to stand up for Xie Rong!

She was Xiao Rong’s family!

Just as Zhao Rongrong was righteously messaging Qi Musi, Xie Rong had no idea that the other party had completely sold her out.

The fact that she had secretly observed and concealed her knowledge of Qi Musi’s feelings was spilled completely by Zhao Rongrong.

Qi Musi’s eyes widened in surprise after seeing the string of messages from Zhao Rongrong.

Then, she quickly scrolled the screen and re-read them two or three times, still unable to believe the content she was seeing. She even thought it was her own delusion.

But after repeated confirmation, Qi Musi knew she hadn’t read it wrong: Xie Rong… truly understood her feelings.

This was exactly what Qi Musi had been working toward, and the outcome she wanted to achieve. But when this result was actually presented to her, Qi Musi felt a little frightened.

Because she was afraid Xie Rong would choose the most resolute way. She was afraid Xie Rong would directly cut off contact with her.

Qi Musi frowned, clenching her fingertips. After assuring Zhao Rongrong that she truly hadn’t done anything, she tried to probe Xie Rong’s attitude towards the matter through Zhao Rongrong’s tone and stance.

Upon learning that Xie Rong was relatively calm, Qi Musi didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed.

She lowered her gaze to the phone screen, her eyes stopping on Zhao Rongrong’s sentence.

[In any case, no matter what, you cannot bully Xiao Rong!]

Qi Musi curved her lips and chuckled helplessly. How could she bully Xie Rong? She cherished her too much.

Qi Musi’s heart carried a slight panic; she kept wondering if Xie Rong would talk to her or say something about this matter. But several days passed, and Xie Rong still hadn’t uttered a word.

Time quickly came to the end of the year. Starting from the twenty-third, when the Kitchen God is worshipped, it meant the New Year had begun.

However, that was for ordinary families. In the Qi family, they never engaged in these traditions.

Perhaps when her mother was alive, she might have done these things with the young Qi Musi, but later…

Home was no longer a home, and the New Year had become an occasion and a day for Father Qi to socialize with his business partners. These trivial matters were naturally left undone by anyone and handed over completely to the servants at home.

If nothing unexpected happened this year, Qi Rong would likely still take them back to grandpa’s house, and then… take Zhong Ling and Qi Muyan to their place.

Qi Musi was not interested in these things and didn’t even want to stay long.

New Year and reunion were no longer what she wanted.

She didn’t want to stay here watching Qi Rong entertain and socialize with others, and not to mention Qi Muyan was constantly bothering her.

So, Qi Musi simply killed two birds with one stone, took a car and left directly to do what she wanted to do in her heart and to see the person she wanted to see.

It was already late when she arrived in C City. It started snowing halfway, and the snowflakes seemed to be falling quite heavily it probably wouldn’t take more than a few hours to cover the ground.

A timely snow promises a bumper harvest; that wasn’t bad, either.

Qi Musi wandered aimlessly along the road.

She didn’t know where Xie Rong’s house was, and even if she did, she wouldn’t quite dare to go look for her. After all, she came unannounced, and on a day like this, Qi Musi felt she shouldn’t bother Xie Rong.

Anyway, she had already booked a hotel room and could spend the night, making it easier to go find Xie Rong tomorrow during the day, and she would have an excuse.

Otherwise, showing up directly on New Year’s Eve, what would that look like?

It was now forbidden to set off fireworks and firecrackers, but some small projectiles were still selling quite well, like ground snappers and sparklers.

As Qi Musi walked along the side of the road, a few children next to her were lighting small projectiles, and then immediately tossing them aside after lighting them.

She raised an eyebrow, a fake smile still on her face, and bypassed that road.

A bunch of brats. Undisciplined.

After walking a few steps, Qi Musi turned back.

“Kids,” she called out, raising an eyebrow.

The children walked over, “What do you want?”

Qi Musi asked them where they bought these small firecrackers. The children didn’t hide anything and pointed her in the right direction.

Qi Musi gave a slight laugh and walked towards their direction.

The snow had gotten heavier, but fortunately, her down jacket had a hood.

Qi Musi bought a packet of sparklers and a lighter. On the way, she received a call from Qi Rong. He was furious about her running away without a word during the big New Year and spoke in a stern tone on the phone, telling Qi Musi to hurry up and come back.

Qi Musi smiled, then said to him, “Isn’t it nice for you to have a family reunion?”

Qi Rong paused, his tone softened slightly, “What are you saying? Is this not your home, and are we not a family?”

Qi Musi exhaled a breath of white air, her tone unusually calm as she refused Qi Rong.

“No, Dad, I think both Aunt Zhong and Qi Muyan would be quite satisfied with this arrangement.”

Qi Rong’s breathing sank, and it looked like he was about to get angry again.

Qi Musi cut him off, “Besides, I also want to, for once, spend the New Year with the person I want to spend it with.”

Instead of staying in that home filled with calculations and foulness, looking at the changed Qi Rong, the calculating and hypocritical Zhong Ling, and Qi Muyan, who looked down on her everywhere.

After speaking, Qi Musi hung up the phone.

She walked to the hotel location, her feet crunching in the snow. Normally, Qi Musi wouldn’t walk for so long, but for some reason today, she managed to walk all this way. She only realized it when she found herself already here.

Qi Musi stomped the snow off her feet on the mat outside the hotel.

At this time, her phone vibrated, with some class group chats sending and grabbing red envelopes.

Qi Musi smiled, took out her phone, and looked.

The group was lively, but only online.

Qi Musi lowered her gaze, her expression indifferent, lost in thought.

At this moment, the dorm group chat lit up.

Xie Rong sent a red envelope inside, wishing everyone a Happy New Year’s Eve.

Qi Musi was stunned, looking at Xie Rong’s profile picture. She suddenly realized that even though she had come to C City, it still wasn’t enough; she still missed Xie Rong terribly.

And she wanted to see her right now.

Qi Musi smiled helplessly, leaning against the nearby glass and looking down at her phone.

But she didn’t know where Xie Rong’s house was.

And even if she did, could she just go over? It was almost nine o’clock now; in a little while, she could go straight to sleep. If Xie Rong found her, would she think she was crazy?

Qi Musi curved her lips into a smile, but the smile didn’t last long and quickly faded.

Even if she was considered crazy, she really wanted to see Xie Rong.