A Twisted Love Affair-Chapter 185: Our second young master, are you returning as a hero to save the beauty?_1

For two consecutive days, Shen Jing was busy at Xinyue Company, handing over her work. Every time she encountered Grandpa Shen, she pretended not to see him and would take off running.

Grandfather must be wildly speculating again. In just a few days, her situation had escalated from involving Zhou Xiangqun to Zhou Luchen.

"Xiaosi, stop right there! Have you eaten breakfast yet?"

Shen Jing, timid in front of her elders, said, "I’m going to be late; the manager will be angry."

Grandpa Shen, seated at the dining table, puffed out his beard and glared. "Scared of what? I’m asking if you’ve had breakfast."

"No, I’m not eating. Goodbye, Grandfather." She skirted around the topic, unwilling to explain, as she found it impossible to clarify.

「In the afternoon.」

Taking advantage of a lull at work, Shen Jing sneaked out for a lake tour and afternoon tea at the Summer Palace with Xie Qinyang. A small table was set with fruits and desserts. Xie Qinyang, dressed in a dark floral shirt and Chanel sunglasses, lounged with his legs crossed, basking in the warm spring sun.

Xie Qinyang said, "Cheng Jinchuan is quite resentful. He’s been frequently visiting the Zhou Family, snitching about your and Achen’s time in Shanghai. Because of this, Achen was locked in the study by his grandfather last night for a ’lesson.’"

"Have their young masters’ games ended? Are they still using me as a wager?" Shen Jing asked.

Xie Qinyang raised his hand to peel longans for her, placing them one by one onto a jade dish. "Play what?" he replied. "Who would dare court you now? Satisfied? I’ve gotten rid of all those troublesome suitors for you."

Shen Jing stirred her fruit juice. "I’m so embarrassed."

Xie Qinyang looked up at the girl before him, who rarely wore makeup when they met. "Seriously, do you look down on me that much? Can’t you put on some makeup when you see me? You’re always barefaced, not even a smudge of lipstick."

Without blushing or skipping a beat, Shen Jing joked, "I’m afraid you’ll fall for me."

Xie Qinyang burst out laughing.

So narcissistic.

Xie Qinyang recalled the incident with the pregnancy test. "You two certainly had your fun, tricking Achen into coming back to the country."

Shen Jing crooked two fingers, gesturing for Xie Qinyang to lean in. "That incident the other night... it won’t cause a rift between the Cheng and Zhou Families, will it?"

Xie Qinyang spoke softly, "Right now, it looks like a drama about fighting over a girlfriend. The elders are getting annoyed. We’ll have to see how Achen handles it."

「...」

It was supposed to be a warning. Cheng Jinchuan refused to concede defeat. Zhou Luchen, on the other hand, was vengeful; he wouldn’t hesitate to repay any grievance, nor would he tolerate any eyesore, feud or no feud.

Zhou Luchen was finally allowed out of the study. Under a crabapple tree, two cages of canaries hung, and Zhou Xiangqun was leisurely feeding them.

"Weren’t you abroad?" Zhou Xiangqun asked casually. "Has our Second Young Master returned to be a hero saving a damsel in distress?"

Leaning against a pillar, Zhou Luchen glanced at him. "You misled me into coming back, and now you’re playing innocent after getting what you wanted."

"I certainly didn’t kidnap our Second Young Master and force him to return, did I?" Zhou Xiangqun said with a smile, teasing the bird in the cage. "I’m just wondering how you plan to handle the Cheng Family’s matter."

"Child’s play," Zhou Luchen said lightly.

Listening to this self-assessment, Zhou Xiangqun spoke to the bird in the cage, "Hear that, Queque? Our Second Young Master knows it’s just child’s play. He’s utterly unimpressed by the Cheng Family’s antics, yet he felt no shame at all when embracing that beauty."

Zhou Luchen let out a stifled laugh, not taking his elder brother’s words to heart. "Stay out of my business. It has nothing to do with you."

"Don’t try to drag me into this. When did I ever say I would meddle?" Zhou Xiangqun said, his hands clasped behind his back. "Xiaozhang, let’s go to the office."

If Zhou Luchen hadn’t returned, the situation would have continued to escalate, making it very difficult to resolve. The Cheng Family was accustomed to being ostentatious, playing at being powerful young masters who could ruin families on a whim and using their family background to bully girls. Such behavior was a truly deplorable trend.

The driver finally couldn’t resist asking, "It’s the weekend today. Where are we going to the office?"

"Is that so?" Zhou Xiangqun mused. "Then let’s go play chess."