Sharing Dreams with My Bestie's Cousin

Wen Zhi came out of the washroom and noticed two more people in the private room.

One was Wei You, and the other was Zhou Qin.

Wen Zhi knew Wei You and had encountered him several times. As for Zhou Qin, she had only seen her once at Old Zhou’s birthday banquet, and the two had no relationship.

At that time, Wen Zhi slowly walked over, her gaze resting on Zhou Qin, evaluating her, while Zhou Qin seemed to sense someone looking at her and turned her head to look over.

As their eyes met, Zhou Qin gave Wen Zhi a kind and friendly smile.

Wen Zhi paused, taken aback.

"Wen Zhi, it’s been too long since I last saw you, do you still remember me?" Wei You politely stood up and extended his hand to Wen Zhi.

Wen Zhi withdrew her gaze from Zhou Qin, smiled, and reached out her hand to give Wei You a light handshake, politely greeting, "Wei You."

At this moment, the crisp sound of a celadon cup clinking was heard.

Wei You’s scalp tingled for a moment, and he quickly released Wen Zhi’s hand.

Wen Zhi walked to Shang Hexing’s side, her gaze unintentionally falling upon the celadon cup he was fiddling with in his hand. She found this amusing, and two words popped into her mind—childish.

Shang Hexing set the porcelain cup aside and turned to look at Wen Zhi’s face. His eyes slowly moved to her lips, and he said, "The color is different from before." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Wen Zhi was surprised, "You noticed that, huh? The color is very similar."

Shang Hexing replied, "It’s not by color that I differentiate."

Wen Zhi: "Oh?"

Shang Hexing, paying no regard to the other two people present, leaned in a bit closer to Wen Zhi: "It smells different, this color doesn’t smell as sweet as the previous one."

Wen Zhi blushed and pushed him away slightly, "There are people here."

"It doesn’t matter." He didn’t care.

Although Shang Hexing didn’t care, Wen Zhi did. Wei You could only be considered an acquaintance, and Zhou Qin next to her was practically a stranger.

Shang Hexing reached out and placed his hand on the tense back of Wen Zhi’s hand, "Let me introduce you. This is Zhou Qin, you saw her at Old Zhou’s birthday banquet."

As Wen Zhi looked toward Zhou Qin, Zhou Qin was also looking at her. Not knowing what would be appropriate to say, Wen Zhi simply nodded symbolically at Zhou Qin.

Zhou Qin returned the gesture with a polite smile.

Shang Hexing continued introducing to Zhou Qin: "This is Wen Zhi, my fiancée."

Wen Zhi sitting nearby was stunned for a couple of seconds.

Zhou Qin’s response was very calm; she said with a smile, "Last time you both attended my father’s birthday banquet, I heard everyone praising how well-matched you two are."

These words found their way to Shang Hexing’s heart.

The words "well-matched" always sounded pleasing to the ear, no matter how they were heard.

Zhou Qin also knew she had said the right thing.

The atmosphere during the meal was good, with Shang Hexing occasionally using the serving chopsticks to place food on Wen Zhi’s plate, although a person like him wasn’t used to serving others, and he wouldn’t personally handle shrimp or crab since he wasn’t good at peeling them, leaving the task to the waitstaff.

Latter, Shang Hexing, without avoiding Wen Zhi, openly discussed the matter of Shang Mingshu with the other two people.

Wei You was responding, Zhou Qin had a serious expression, only Wen Zhi was listening without joining in.

By the end, Wen Zhi came to understand the situation; it turned out that Shang Mingshu’s arrest was orchestrated by Shang Hexing.

This Zhou Qin... she seemed to be on Shang Hexing’s side?

However, Wen Zhi was somewhat puzzled; was Zhou Qin really Old Zhou’s biological daughter?

Could it be that Old Zhou’s acknowledgment of Zhou Qin was also part of a script arranged by Shang Hexing?

After the meal, Shang Hexing and Wei You continued to talk about business in the smoking area, leaving only Wen Zhi and Zhou Qin on this side.

Wen Zhi wondered whether to initiate conversation with Zhou Qin when, unexpectedly, Zhou Qin was more proactive and walked over to her, calling out, "Wen Zhi."

Wen Zhi was momentarily startled.

Zhou Qin said, "I feel that addressing each other by full names is more intimate, so you can also call me Zhou Qin."

Wen Zhi nodded and agreed.

The two had only recently become acquainted with each other and their conversations barely went beyond superficial topics until Wen Zhi inadvertently asked, "Zhou Qin, was that a name you chose later?"

Zhou Qin offered a faint smile, then shook her head and said, "No."

Zhou Qin only said it wasn’t, without any further explanation.

Wen Zhi, perhaps reminded of something, purposely mentioned, "You and Shang Jing were university classmates."

"You know about that?" Zhou Qin’s response was clearly very surprised.

Wen Zhi said, "I heard it from Shang Jing before."

Not long before, Shang Jing had tried to glean from her whether Zhou Qin was the daughter of the Zhou Family.

That day, Shang Jing had said quite a bit to her, but she didn’t engage with him.

"Shang Jing even talked to you about these things?" After her initial surprise, Zhou Qin’s tone became unexpectedly serene, "Indeed, we were university classmates, and not only that, I am also a key figure in the case involving Shang Mingshu."

Wen Zhi raised an eyebrow.

Some questions she had on the tip of her tongue suddenly felt difficult to ask.

Zhou Qin noticed her subtle expressions, "I know you’re curious about the complications involved in this case, but I suggest you ask Mr. Shang directly if you want to know something."

Wen Zhi curled her lips slightly, "I’m not actually that curious."

"But why do I feel that you are extremely curious?" Zhou Qin teased with a laugh, "Although the topics we discussed were superficial, I could still feel that you were trying to fish for information from me."

Wen Zhi: "..."

She was internally shocked by Zhou Qin’s keen perception.

However, since Zhou Qin had seen through and called out her attempt, Wen Zhi didn’t shy away and forthrightly admitted to her earlier intentions.

Zhou Qin said, "See, my intuition is really accurate."

Wen Zhi picked up where she left off, "It’s more about reading expressions and understanding words, isn’t it?"

Zhou Qin chuckled softly, "My background isn’t really a secret, it’s just my pride that prevents me from wanting to recall those past events, but..."

While speaking, Zhou Qin’s gaze suddenly fixed intently on Wen Zhi, "You could be a friend worth having."

Wen Zhi was about to say — then let’s start by being friends from now on.

Her mouth opened, but before the words could come out, Zhou Qin added, "If I’m fortunate enough, I will try to become one of your friends."

At Zhou Qin’s words, Wen Zhi felt a lump in her throat.

She stared at Zhou Qin somewhat puzzled.

But before she could clear her confusion, Shang Hexing came over, followed by Wei You, still smiling.

Shang Hexing casually picked up Wen Zhi’s bag and walked over, saying to her, "Time to go home."

Wen Zhi responded, "Okay."

Shang Hexing naturally took Wen Zhi’s hand and looked back to say to Wei You, "We’ll be going now."

Wei You nodded and didn’t forget to ask, "When will you treat me to a meal next time?"

Shang Hexing gave him a glance, "You’re always putting tabs on my account; are you worried I won’t invite you?"

Wei You laughed carelessly, "Eating your food is one thing, but eating with you is definitely different."

Shang Hexing ignored him, leading Wen Zhi away, while Zhou Qin behind them said, "Mr. Shang, take care. Miss Wen, take care as well."

Shang Hexing did not glance back and didn’t respond, only Wen Zhi turned her head to look at Zhou Qin.

She didn’t understand, moments ago during their chat Zhou Qin had been fine with them calling each other by their names, yet once they turned to leave, it was back to formal titles.

On the way out from Jiuqu Villa, Wen Zhi remained silent.

It was only after getting into the car that she could no longer restrain herself and immediately asked Shang Hexing, "Why does Zhou Qin show such respect to you even after returning to the Zhou Family? Could she possibly be an imposter that the Zhou Family brought back?"