I Helped My Best Friend with Her Romance—and Fell for the Enemy’s Strategist - Chapter 62

Fu’s mother jolted awake from her sleep.

She sat up in bed and reached to turn on the bedside lamp.

The room was suddenly flooded with light, and her eyes struggled to adjust.

After a moment of acclimation, she got out of bed and poured herself a glass of warm water.

Her phone still contained evidence of Zhong Xiao’s infidelity, along with voice recordings of that man.

She didn’t know how she had managed to endure all these years.

Originally, she had wanted to abort Fu Yanxi, but no doctor, regardless of skill, was willing to perform such a risky procedure. Not long after, she learned that Zhong Xiao and his boyfriend had been in a fatal car accident.

Perhaps Heaven had taken pity on her.

Giving those two such an ending.

Actually, after Fu Yanxi was born, she had considered smothering the child.

She didn’t want to raise a child connected to homosexuality.

Every time she saw Fu Yanxi, she was reminded of her years of being trapped in a fraudulent marriage. In this matter,

She knew Fu Yanxi had done nothing wrong, the child was innocent.

Perhaps it was her maternal instinct that made her keep the child and refuse to let her take Zhong’s surname.

Instead, she gave the child her own family name.

Over the years, Fu Yanxi had always excelled academically.

Bright, clever, beautiful, and highly intelligent.

To prevent her from potentially becoming a homosexual like Zhong Xiao, she controlled every aspect of Fu Yanxi’s social life.

She forbade Fu Yanxi from having close female friends or even chatting with them.

She tried to encourage her to play with boys instead.

Gradually, the child seemed to develop tendencies toward autism, unwilling to communicate with anyone.

She closed herself off, even when spoken to.

She would rarely respond.

Later, fearing that prolonged isolation might lead to depression,

She found among many girls the daughter of a business partner, Yu Qiuli, to be her friend.

As the two girls spent more time together, she gradually noticed changes in her daughter.

She wanted her daughter to live well and be happy.

But she herself struggled to accept the possibility that her daughter might be a homosexual, like that disgusting man.

She wasn’t sure exactly what to do.

Since that incident, she had developed strong, even somewhat extreme, views against homosexuality, disgusted by it.

She never imagined that, despite constantly criticizing homosexuality since her daughter was young, her precious daughter would still turn out to be a homosexual, the very thing she despised and hated most.

Her daughter had sent her the recording of the last blind date, which she had listened to repeatedly.

When had she become like Zhong Xiao’s mother? Forcing her daughter to like men, turning a normal man into a “tongfu”? Was that supposed to be normal?

She didn’t know.

So even after learning that her daughter was in a relationship with Lin Ruocheng, she didn’t intervene, scold, or engage in any of the frantic behaviors she might have before. She didn’t want to be that person in her daughter’s eyes.

But she still couldn’t fully accept it.

…

“Why do we have to have another meeting?”

Lin Ruocheng tightened her blanket, completely unwilling to get out of bed.

She wriggled on the bed like a caterpillar.

If species weren’t a consideration, she would gladly marry her bed.

To drown forever in the warmth it provided.

Especially now that it’s much colder than before, Lancheng, being a typical northern city, starts cooling down after October.

It’s quite chilly outside, if there’s nothing important to do.

She really doesn’t want to go out; she just wants to wrap herself up in bed.

There are no classes this afternoon, so why is there another meeting?

She doesn’t want to attend meetings, especially after preparing for the school anniversary, the student council seems to have all kinds of meetings almost every day.

She’s so annoyed and doesn’t want to stay in the student council anymore.

Turning her back to Song Wanqing, who had just lifted the curtain, she joked:

Outside, it’s only a little over ten degrees Celsius, but the dorm has underfloor heating.

Who would want to go out?

She doesn’t want to go to the meeting, and she has no intention of going.

“Alright, Chengzi, we should get going. If we don’t leave now, we’ll be late. Your partner said to gather at the office at 3 p.m., and it’s already 2:40. It’ll take just the right amount of time to walk there. If we delay any longer, we’ll have to run.”

Lin Ruocheng was feeling particularly irritable.

She was on her period.

Her mood was terrible, and on top of that, her body felt unusually tired.

Her stomach hurt, and aside from having a bit of energy for classes, she really didn’t want to do anything.

She especially didn’t want to go out.

“Take this with you and help me check in for the meeting.”

Lin Ruocheng grabbed an orange plush toy from her bed and handed it to Song Wanqing.

Isn’t this also an “orange”?

Wouldn’t bringing this thing work just as well?

“This is a fake orange. I’m looking for a real, breathing orange.”

Lin Ruocheng held her breath, her voice changing slightly.

“Right now, even the real orange isn’t breathing.”

Song Wanqing hugged the orange plush toy and climbed up the ladder.

She pulled back the blanket and poked the real “orange” hiding underneath.

“Chengzi, we really need to go… Don’t you want to see your girlfriend?”

“I do want to see her, but I don’t want to move.”

Lin Ruocheng was being honest.

Every time she had her period, she didn’t feel like moving and wished she could just stay in bed all day.

Compared to her girlfriend, the bed felt more important at the moment.

“Fine, I’m getting up. You go down first.”

Lin Ruocheng lay on the bed for a moment longer, squirming like a caterpillar, before finally changing her clothes.

She climbed down from the bed, still feeling extremely annoyed.

Her brown wool coat offered some protection against the wind.

It wasn’t that cold yet, so she felt okay, but she just didn’t want to move.

“Here’s a heat pack. We’ll be back soon. You can be a caterpillar or any other kind of bug you want.”

Lin Ruocheng shot her a glance.

“Why would I want to be a bug? Why can’t I just be an orange?”

“Right, right, you’re an orange, not a bug. Wait, no… you could be a fruit fly.”

“Get lost! Or I won’t help you come up with ideas anymore.”

Song Wanqing quickly straightened up.

“But don’t worry, even if you’re a fruit fly, I’ll still be your best friend. I won’t look down on you.”

“Thanks a lot.”

“You’re welcome.”

Song Wanqing actually felt a little flattered by the “praise,” which made Lin Ruocheng laugh in exasperation.

“Was I praising you? If both of us become fruit flies, what about the other two?”

“Oh, right. Well, if it comes to that, we might as well all be fruit flies.”

Lin Ruocheng: “…”

What kind of bizarre logic was that?

Lin Ruocheng walked ahead, making it clear she didn’t want to acknowledge the person behind her.

Once they reached the ground floor and stood at the entrance of the lobby, they could feel the cold wind seeping in.

Lin Ruocheng discreetly wrapped her coat tighter around herself.

She had been clever enough to stick several heat packs inside her coat ahead of time.

Her coat was made of cashmere, so she wasn’t cold.

It was just that her stomach felt quite uncomfortable.

There seemed to be an extra person outside the glass door.

It looked like Fu Yanxi. Was she waiting for me at the door?

She quickly hurried over with small, quick steps.

It really was Fu Yanxi, dressed in a black coat.

It made her figure appear even more slender and upright.

Her glasses were slightly fogged up.

She stood there, gently wiping the fog off with a glasses cloth.

Her eyes were lowered, looking very focused.

Just moments ago, she had felt a bit resentful toward her, but as soon as she saw her face, all that resentment vanished.

Such is the era of judging by appearances~