Chapter 518:
Chapter 518 The Punishment
Yulin Xiao came to Anna Xie and kissed her on the forehead, “Why are you so serious? What’s wrong?”
Anna looked at Yulin and frowned. Finally she said her worries, “There’s something wrong with Qiqi. She’s quite strange today.”
“Let me talk to her.”
“I already have. But she wouldn’t tell me what happened. Maybe she doesn’t want to make me worried, I guess. But it will only make me worry more.”
Yulin thought about it and said, “Call Chuxue. She may know something.”
“You are right.”
Anna took out her phone right away and dialed Chuxue Ye’s number.
She did not ask directly what had happened to Qiqi because she’s not sure whether something really had happened. So she asked Chuxue how Qiqi was doing these days.
“Oh, Qiqi is fine. She’s hardworking. But…”
“But what?”
“She called to ask for a leave a while ago, saying that she had to focus on her school work these days.”
Hearing this, Anna was basically sure that something had happened to Qiqi.
Anna frowned and asked Chuxue, “She has been acting weirdly lately, did you notice that? I mean, maybe she’s too stressed out reviewing her schoolwork.”
Chuxue thought for a while then shook her head, “Eh, no. She’s fine. She’ll be even better without Yuqi Mu disturbing her.”
Anna was puzzled, “How come Yuqi is involved?”
Chuxue got angry when speaking of it. She instantly became talkative, “I am telling you, this playboy is hitting on Qiqi! I tried hard to protect Qiqi from being his prey!”
What?
Anna and Yulin looked at each other, guessing that Yuqi was the reason why Qiqi behaved so strangely.
“Okay, I see. Glad she’s fine. Let’s chat some other time.”
“Okay, take care of yourselves.”
Anna hang up the phone and stared at Yulin.
Yulin was disturbed by the way she’s staring at him.
“Why…why are you staring at me like this? Did Chuxue say something?”
Anna nodded slowly.
“Come on, tell me! What did she say? You are making me nervous!”
Anna bit her lips lightly then said slowly, “Do you think Yuqi is a playboy?
“Of course.”
Yuqi admitted it without thinking.
No one know his twin brother better than he does.
“But Yuqi only loves one at a time. He’s just a loving man.”
Yulin’s words made Anna even more worried. She frowned and said, “I am worried that Yuqi will keep bothering Qiqi.”
“Impossible! Yuqi has a better taste! Eh…I mean, she’s not his type. He prefers someone sexier.”
Yulin had to change his way of talking because he’s intimidated by Anna’s stare.
But he expressed his opinion, that Yuqi wouldn’t fall for Qiqi.
But Anna was still worried, “We are not with them so we don’t know about them. Should we call Yuqi to remind him to stay away from Qiqi?”
“You wanna call Yuqi?”
“Yes.”
Yulin passed his phone to Anna without thinking.
“Call him if you want. Make things clear so that you won’t have any regrets.”
Anna smiled at Yulin and took over the phone.
Yuqi was having a meeting. When the phone got through, Anna heard Yuqi was still saying something to his partner. Finally he said, “Hi! I thought you are dead!”
“Yuqi Mu, it’s me, Anna Xie.”
Hearing Anna’s voice, Yuqi was a bit stunned. Then he asked nervously, “Why are you calling? What happened?”
“Nothing. We are fine. Don’t worry.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Then Yuqi sighed in relief, “Whew, good.”
Now it’s Anna’s turn to get angry,”Eh…there’s something I wanna ask you.”
Yuqi smiled and said, “Anna, just tell me directly what it is. Don’t talk like this. You are making me nervous.”
Hmm, brothers! They gave the same reactions!
“Do you…do you know Qiqi?”
Hearing Qiqi’s name, Yuqi paused, then he said lightly, “Yes, isn’t she your classmate?”
“Okay, what are you now? I mean, are you close?”
“No! I’ve only met her a few times. We are not even friends!”
Indeed, they had only met a few times, had lunch a few times and spent several nights together.
“That’s it?”
“Yes,”Yuqi suddenly thought of something, “Did Chuxue say something to you?”
Anna quit pretending and said, “She did tell me something, so I want to confirm it with you.”
Yuqi sounded helpless, “She’s being too nervous. I can’t even talk to Qiqi because Chuxue might think I am seducing her! Am I really that bad in your heart? I am picky!”
Anna hurried explained, “Don’t get me wrong, it’s not personal. I just called Qiqi and sensed there’s something wrong with her. I thought it’s because of you. But what really happened to her?”
“Maybe she’s sick? She didn’t feel comfortable in her stomach the other day.”
Then Anna started to get suspicious, “How do you know it?”
Yuqi went silent for a while then he said, “Chuxue told me. I went to her store last time and heard her talking about it.”
Yuqi’s explanation sounded so reasonable that Anna couldn’t say anything about it, however strange she felt in her heart.
Anna lowered her head and sighed, “Qiqi would tell me directly if she’s really sick. But I did feel something strange about her. She’s trying to hide something. She’s a strong girl but she just cried over the phone. I am really worried about her.”
Hearing Anna’s words, Yuqi’s heart ached.
Why did Qiqi cry? Who made her cry?
Yuqi loves Qiqi’s smile. He couldn’t bear to see that happy girl cry. He wants to guard Qiqi and that beautiful smile forever.
So, after hearing Anna’s words, Yuqi said firmly, “I will go to check on Qiqi for you. I will take care of her for you. Don’t worry.”
Anna blinked, feeling confused.
She didn’t remember asking Yuqi to take care of Qiqi for her.
“I have to go. I’ll take care of everything here. You and Yulin have fun. Don’t worry.”
Then Yuqi hurriedly hang up the phone, leaving Anna no chance to fight back at all.
Yulin had heard their conversation.
He seemed not so relaxed as before.
“Yuqi is lying.”
Hearing this, Anna’s heart skipped a beat. She hurriedly asked, “What do you mean by he’s lying?”
“He and Qiqi, they are not simply friends.”
“Oh, did he bully Qiqi? Damn! I’ll go to confront him! How dare he make Qiqi cry! Unforgivable!”
Anna said angrily and was about to book a flight to go back.
But Yulin stopped her, “Calm down! That’s not what I mean!”
“Then what do you mean? Tell me! You are making me worried!”
Yulin showed a serious look and said, “I take back what I said. Maybe Yuqi cares about Qiqi more than he seems.”
It was a bit hard for Anna to take in his words. She asked, “Yuqi cares about Qiqi a lot?”
“Yes, more than I could imagine.”
However, that did not make Anna feel better.
“According to what you said, his care might mislead Qiqi to fall in love with him. Then Qiqi will end up having a broken heart! Oh no! Qiqi must be suffering a lot now!”
Yulin had to calm her down, “Do not think too much. How do you know Yuqi will hurt Qiqi? As beholders, we should never jump to conclusions too fast. Think about us! No one believed we would get together, but look at us now, we are in love with each other!”
Anna looked up and said, “But you are different from Yuqi! You said he’s a playboy!”
Yulin really wanted to slap himself on the face for calling his brother a playboy. Now he had to make up for it.
He rubbed his chin on Anna’s hair and said, “We are twins. With such an excellent brother, how bad can he be? Yuqi played around just because he did not meet the right girl. Trust be, he’s man of strong sense of responsibility. He won’t play with the one he really loves.”
Anna pouted her red lips, “He’s your elder brother, of course you would defend him.”
Yulin hugged Anna tighter and said gently, “I am telling the truth. I won’t take any side. If you still feel worried, I will warn him not to do anything before we go back.”
That’s the only way.
Leaning on Yulin’s shoulder, Anna sighed lightly. She still felt worried.
After Yulin finally calmed Anna down, he found a chance to call Yuqi alone, trying to ask what was going on.
But Yuqi seemed quite busy, saying that he’s in a meeting and then hang up the phone.
Yulin had to give up. He had to find another chance to talk about it with Yuqi.
…
Yuqi planned to to go see Qiqi, but he had promised Qiqi that he wouldn’t show and and disturb her life. He just couldn’t go to find her for no reasons. Wouldn’t it be too shameless of him?
If Chuxue should find out about it, she would definitely laugh at him.
So Yuqi had to find a right excuse.
But what excuse should he find?
While Yuqi was trying hard to figure it out, his assistant brought in a pile of file for him to sign.
He took over the files and signed his name on them. Then he stopped.
He noticed a donation agreement, which would donate money to a university to buy precision instruments.
This school was right the one in which Qiqi was studying.
Yuqi seemed to have got a good idea. He smiled then signed his name on it.
Ever since the incident in the ceremony hall happened, Qiqi became so frustrated and even her smiles had disappeared.
Unlike before when she forced herself to smile to remind herself that she did not care about those rumors, this time, she’s really tired of pretending. It just didn’t matter to her any more what others were thinking of her.
What she did everyday was eating, having classes and sleeping. She could remain silent the whole day.
She used to be a noisy girl. She would rather die than stay silent.
But it seemed quite alright to her now. At least she could shut herself from all those dirty rumors.
All she wanted at the moment was to study alone in peace.
But it was only a good wish.
One day, Qiqi went to the dinning hall for lunch. It’s a noisy place but all those chats and laughter had nothing to with her. She just wanted to enjoy her lunch in peace.
In front of the bulletin board, there stood so many people reading something and talking.
Someone noticed Qiqi and exclaimed, “Look who’s here!”
Hearing this, everyone turned to Qiqi, waiting to see a good show.Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g
The class monitor and the guy wearing glasses were there, too. The monitor leaned herself into the arms of the guy and looked at Qiqi with smug smile.
Qiq ignored them and passed by directly.
“Hey, Qiqi!”
The monitor called her, not intending to let her leave without humiliating her.
Qiqi stopped and looked at the monitor with no emotion on her face.
The monitor was a bit startled when seeing Qiqi’s eyes, because those eyes were full of darkness and emptiness.
But soon the monitor came back to herself. She showed a tricky smile, “Hey, it’s about you. Don’t you want to check it out?”
Qiqi took a glace at the bulletin board and was about to go.
But she just couldn’t get her eyes off it.
Seeing Qiqi’s reaction, the monitor crossed her arms and started to taunt, “You have been removed from the list of winners. You deserve it! A shameless person like you should be expelled from the school!”
Qiqi did not pay attention to what the monitor said at all. She just stared at the announcement and froze there.
The announcement said that Qiqi had lost the qualification of being granted the award because of her dirty personal life, and that she shall be warned as punishments.
This punishment finally took away all her hope and strength. She broke down totally.