Green Tea? She's Clearly a Hidden Gem!

In the Courtyard House, Su Muzhi looked at Jiang Linyuan, who had put away his phone:

“Will you need me to show up?”

“Yeah, around four in the afternoon, I’m meeting Zhao Qiulu. You stay nearby and wait for my signal. Ideally, you’ll stage a scene of catching us in the act.”

Jiang Linyuan said.

“Hehe, I can’t wait.”

“Xiao Su, don’t overact.”

“I know what I’m doing.”

What the hell do you know?

At this rate, all our bickering might end up turning into something else entirely.

Jiang Linyuan rolled his eyes.

……

At four in the afternoon, at the milk tea shop.

As soon as Jiang Linyuan walked in, he spotted Zhao Qiulu sitting not far away.

“Get to the point. Say what you need to say.”

He walked over and sat down.

“No rush. Let’s have a milk tea first and talk. I still owe you one from last time, don’t I?”

Zhao Qiulu pointed at the two cups of milk tea on the table, smiling slightly.

“No thanks. I’m short on time.”

Jiang Linyuan glanced at them.

What if you drugged the drinks? I’m playing along with your act, but I’m not about to screw myself over.

“Worried about Su Muzhi finding out?”

“Sneaking out to meet another woman alone behind my girlfriend’s back… I’m the one in the wrong here.”

“Ha. You’re interesting.”

Zhao Qiulu chuckled, lowering her head.

“You don’t actually think she sees you as a real boyfriend, do you? You’ve been with her this long. That domineering personality of hers—can you even stand it?”

Jiang Linyuan didn’t answer. He just said, “Did you ask me here just to waste my time with this nonsense?”

“No. I think you can probably guess what I’m after.”

“You want to use me to get back at Su Muzhi? Sorry, but the risk is way too high.”

“What you’re afraid of is nothing more than Su Muzhi’s family background. I can arrange a way out for you.”

Zhao Qiulu tapped the table, staring at Jiang Linyuan.

“Shen Wanyu?”

Jiang Linyuan said.

Zhao Qiulu was taken aback.

What a clever man. No wonder Su Muzhi was willing to take him as her boyfriend.

“That’s right, Shen Wanyu. You must have noticed, haven’t you? Without her tacit approval, it would actually be very hard for me to get in touch with you.”

No shit. You’re her Department Head, and the punishment came from her—of course she’d go along with it.

“She and Su Muzhi have never gotten along. I’m guessing she’s doing this to get back at Su Muzhi too.”

Zhao Qiulu said with complete confidence.

“I can help you reach out to her.”

“No need.”

Jiang Linyuan shook his head, fell silent for a moment, then let out a bitter laugh.

“It’s just adding another rich girl who sees me as nothing but a toy. I’ve had enough of that feeling.”

Zhao Qiulu looked at him, her tone slowing down.

“That’s true, too.”

Actually, when you thought about it, he was even more pitiful than Xiao Ling.

He understood everything perfectly. And yet he could only watch himself slowly sink deeper into despair.

Su Muzhi, you really are disgusting!

“But if you don’t do this, you’ll never break free from Su Muzhi for the rest of your life.”

Zhao Qiulu said.

“Then so be it.”

Jiang Linyuan let out a long sigh, as if he had resigned himself to his fate. He smiled and said, “If there’s nothing else you want to say, I’ll be going now.”

Why was this man so pathetic?!

Zhao Qiulu stared at him, a vague irritation rising in her heart.

Just moments ago, he had been perfectly composed, handling her advances with ease! But the moment Su Muzhi came up, he fell into this wretched act!

Su Muzhi, you really are disgusting!

“If you’re really that miserable, why don’t you just break up with her?”

Zhao Qiulu called out to stop him.

“Break up?”

Jiang Linyuan let out a self-deprecating laugh.

“I’m from an ordinary family. Before we even started dating, she already knew everything about my family situation. What am I supposed to break up with?”

“One word from her parents, and both of mine could lose their jobs. I also have a younger sister studying medicine. The fate of my entire family rests on my shoulders. Besides pandering to Su Muzhi, what else can I even do?”

Hearing this, Zhao Qiulu felt more and more unsettled.

She understood how Jiang Linyuan felt. The helpless isolation Xiao Ling had faced when she was forced to transfer. The powerlessness Zhao Qiulu had felt when she tried to find help but kept hitting dead ends.

She had witnessed it once before. She didn’t want to see it a second time.

“Then you can humiliate her in a different way.”

“By cheating on her?”

Jiang Linyuan said with a smile.

Zhao Qiulu nodded.

For someone like Su Muzhi, nothing infuriated her more than the thing she most desperately wanted to control betraying her.

“That’s not fair…”

Jiang Linyuan said softly.

“If I’m getting with another girl just to get back at Su Muzhi, then how am I any different from her?”

“We’d both be treating other people as tools, just to satisfy our own selfish desires.”

Zhao Qiulu heard this, opened her mouth as if to say something, wanted to tell him that he could afford to be a little worse, that he didn’t need to overthink it all.

But… she couldn’t bring herself to say it.

Xiao Ling had been the same way back then. In the end, she had just quietly accepted the fact that she was being transferred.

Su Muzhi, why do you always have to go and hurt these gentle people?!

“Then you can be with me. I don’t mind.”

Zhao Qiulu said, her expression unchanging.

“You’ve probably figured it out by now. I’m not a good girl either. Use me as your tool to get back at Su Muzhi. You don’t need to have any guilt about it.”

Jiang Linyuan was stunned for a moment, then shook his head.

“That wouldn’t be fair to you, either. I don’t understand. Why are you so fixated on Su Muzhi? You’re even willing to sacrifice your own love just to get revenge on her.”

“When Su Muzhi finds out, she’ll just throw a huge tantrum. But you—you’d be gambling your entire life away. That’s too cruel for you.”

Zhao Qiulu looked at the boy speaking softly in front of her. The setting sun cast its glow across his face, creating a strangely poignant feeling.

Why are you saying it like that? Why do you talk about it as if you were an outsider?

Aren’t you the one who should be suffering the most? Even I, a mere bystander, can’t tolerate Su Muzhi’s behavior. How can you just accept it?

What right do you have to just accept it?!

“So… all those times you dodged my hints before, was it to discourage me from getting revenge on Su Muzhi?”

No. It was purely because I wanted to watch a monkey show.

That was what Jiang Linyuan thought. But what he said was:

“If that’s how you want to see it, then sure, let’s go with that.”

Zhao Qiulu let out a long breath and took a big gulp of her milk tea.

“I absolutely do not understand. How did you even end up dating Su Muzhi? Can you actually respect a person like her?”

“Actually, she wasn’t always like this. At the very beginning, things between us were quite normal…”

Jiang Linyuan said, a hint of nostalgia in his voice. But his words suddenly came to a halt, finally dissolving into a low chuckle. He didn’t say anything else.

“Alright. I should get going. If I stay any longer, Su Muzhi will start to get suspicious.”

He stood up and walked towards the shop exit.

Zhao Qiulu watched him and asked, her tone unexpectedly sharp, “Then why did you agree to meet me today?”

If you really had resigned yourself to all of this, what was the point of meeting me?

“I wanted to get some things off my chest. Because… it’s been a long time since I’ve had someone to talk to like this. Some things, when you bottle them up inside for too long, they just become unbearable.”

Jiang Linyuan answered with a faint smile.

Zhao Qiulu suddenly felt that this person was so pitiful.

“Tomorrow. Tomorrow, I’ll go ask Shen Wanyu for help. I’ll have her find a way to get Su Muzhi out of the way. If you’re free, will you come have another milk tea?”

“What’s the occasion?”

Jiang Linyuan asked.

“Consider it… letting me be a listener for a little while, too.”

At the very least, I have to do something within my power.

That was what Zhao Qiulu was thinking.

Jiang Linyuan was taken aback, then a smile spread across his face.

“Of course I’m free.”