“Xiao Qiu, you’re back? Perfect timing, Qinqin is here visiting us today.”
As soon as Mrs. Mu saw her daughter return, the smile on her face faded quite a bit. She had originally wanted to pull Mu Nanqiu down for a chat, but unexpectedly, her daughter immediately dragged her aside and said something.
“I have something I want to ask.”
Seeing her daughter act so unfriendly to the guest, Mrs. Mu frowned.
“Xiao Qiu, the guest is still here. What can’t you say right now?”
“Oh, then I’ll just say it here.”
Mu Nanqiu’s steps came to a halt, and she looked indifferently at Gu Qin, who was sitting on the sofa as nervous as a quail. The moment her gaze fell on Gu Qin, Gu Qin seemed to flinch, but quickly forced herself to calm down and squeezed out a stiff smile as she said to Mrs. Mu,
“Auntie, if you have something to discuss, I’ll excuse myself.”
Since the host wouldn’t leave, then as a guest, she would. But Mrs. Mu’s frown deepened even further.
After saying this, Gu Qin intended to get up and find a cool spot to wait by herself.
But Mrs. Mu called out to her, offering some comfort.
“Qinqin, just sit here for a bit. Xiao Qiu and I will talk and be right back, okay?”
This immediately halted Gu Qin’s movement, and before she was even a centimeter off the sofa, she sat right back down. After stopping Gu Qin, Mrs. Mu turned to Mu Nanqiu at her side, her brow slightly furrowed and a hint of displeasure showing on her face.
“You’d better have a good reason.”
“Oh.”
Mu Nanqiu looked completely unfazed, which made Mrs. Mu even more annoyed. The tension between the two also affected Gu Qin. She sat on the sofa, unable to leave. The words she just said were a test to see if she could leave the Mu family right now, but the outcome was that Mrs. Mu forced her to stay.
If she tried to sneak away now, she’d probably fall out of favor with Mrs. Mu. But the pressure from Mu Nanqiu made her feel like she was sitting on pins and needles—caught in the middle, she was truly suffering.
Mu Nanqiu led the way, with Mrs. Mu following behind. Staring at her daughter’s back, Mrs. Mu found it odd—what could have happened today to bring her to her?
When the two of them entered the study, the room was well soundproofed, and opening the curtain to the floor-to-ceiling window revealed a sunlit balcony with an excellent view. On it sat a wooden table—back when Mu Nanqiu was little, she’d done all her homework at that table.
Mu Nanqiu reached out and gently stroked the surface; there was hardly any dust, clean as new.
Naturally, Mrs. Mu hadn’t cleaned it herself. Aside from a few private rooms, all other areas were cleaned by a housekeeper. It wasn’t that Mrs. Mu was lazy as a housewife, it’s just that the house was so big that it would be impossible for her to keep it tidy alone in a single day.
The mother and daughter sat down, both avoiding each other’s gaze. One stared at the bookshelf in the study, the other at the view outside. Although the snow had stopped, the scenery was still clad in silver; it looked fresh the first few times, but after a while, it just felt empty.
Mu Nanqiu gazed outside, while Mrs. Mu shifted her gaze from the bookshelf to her daughter, her tone growing more serious.
“What exactly is it?”
Mrs. Mu deliberately tried to make herself look a little angry, but Mu Nanqiu, who knew her mother inside and out, could tell the woman was just acting and teased her with interest.
“Mom, why are you in such a hurry? It’s not like you’re going out to play cards. All you do at home is watch dramas and videos. I’m just taking a little of your time and you’re already mad?”
“Xiao Qiu, if Mom gets really mad—”
Mrs. Mu’s temper wasn’t mild. If not for facing her eldest daughter, and the fact that the child was grown and not so easy to scold anymore, she’d have done more. Mu Nanqiu used to be so obedient and well-behaved—only in recent years did she start rebelling.
How could a daughter tease her own mother like this, saying she was idle all day!
Mu Nanqiu didn’t answer, but instead turned her head away and gave a light laugh.
“It’s nothing major, really. Just a question I wanted to ask.”
“What?”
Hearing that her daughter had a question for her, Mrs. Mu was both confused and a little happy. How long had it been since her eldest daughter asked her anything? She had to trace back to when Mu Nanqiu was in junior high. Back then, Mrs. Mu had just been laid off and still remembered a lot, able to help with homework. Later, she hired a tutor, and from then on, Mu Nanqiu never came to her with questions again.
Thinking about it now, Mrs. Mu felt nostalgic. Just as she was about to slip into sentimental memories, Mu Nanqiu interrupted her train of thought with a light cough, unlocked her phone, and pulled up a photo.
Mrs. Mu thought Mu Nanqiu was going to ask about something, but didn’t expect her to produce a photo—a photo of a woman that instantly froze Mrs. Mu’s expression.
Seeing her mother’s reaction, Mu Nanqiu knew she must recognize the woman, so she asked,
“Mom, do you know this person?”
Mrs. Mu stared at Mu Nanqiu with a strange look, then replied disdainfully,
“Of course I do.”
“So, what kind of person is she?”
Mu Nanqiu ignored Mrs. Mu’s look of contempt toward the woman in the photo and instead put on a curious expression.
Such a show of emotion was obviously out of the ordinary, especially here. Mrs. Mu shot Mu Nanqiu a glare, then glanced down at the phone on the table—on it, the photo showed an alluring woman. Mrs. Mu snorted and said,
“Back then, she was a homewrecker!”
In the photo, the woman wasn’t dressed provocatively, but her clothes highlighted her figure, the graceful curves enough to make most women envious. Her face had a kind of captivating charm, yet her expression was one of innocent vulnerability.
Mrs. Mu said the woman’s name was Jiang Yun, married to a man in Real Estate. He was on his second marriage—he’d divorced his first wife and married Jiang Yun, and it was the type where he got divorced one day and registered the marriage the next.
Moreover, Mrs. Mu had heard that Jiang Yun had already been living with the man while he was still married.
“That woman is scheming, with the look of a vixen, and acts the part too. She’s especially good at seducing people!”
Mrs. Mu finally finished. At first, her tone had been impartial and factual, but later it was pure emotion and subjective speculation. Mu Nanqiu showed no reaction, and after her mother finished, she simply said two words.
“Really?”
With those two words, the study fell silent. Both mother and daughter fell into their own thoughts.
After all, what Mrs. Mu knew was all hearsay, bits and pieces picked up from the occasional gathering with peers. It wasn’t that they never talked about anything else, but among familiar company, chatting about pets and hobbies felt flat. People are born gossipers, so talk naturally drifted in that direction.
She’d heard these things a few years ago. What impressed Mrs. Mu most was that she’d seen Jiang Yun in person—truly a beauty anyone would envy.
Adding her own thoughts to what she’d heard, she shaped an image in her mind and then passed it on to her daughter. She knew what she was doing—this was just rumor and wild talk—but she still did it, because she had her reasons.
“Now that you know, you’d better stay away from that Su Yao.”
“She said you were pretty nice—traveled all that way just to bring her here, and even cooked a meal for her yourself. She felt like she was bothering you.”
Mu Nanqiu still didn’t directly answer Mrs. Mu’s words, instead speaking slowly of something else.
Mrs. Mu paused, quickly caught on, and said,
“She’s just trying to please you.”
“Mom, since you’ve checked her background, you should know—she lives alone now. Before me, she really didn’t have any social circle.”
At this point, Mrs. Mu remained stubborn but said nothing more.
Mu Nanqiu gave a light laugh, stood up and left the study. She walked downstairs to the living room, but didn’t see Gu Qin on the sofa. As she reached the door, she saw Gu Qin just finishing putting on her shoes.
“Are you afraid to see me now?”
“I… I didn’t mean to, it’s… it’s, it’s Auntie who asked me, that’s why I told her!”
When Gu Qin saw Mu Nanqiu approach, that cold but faintly smiling expression threw her into a panic. She tried to explain, but whatever she said now felt weak and powerless. She knew she was no longer merely disliked but resented. Gu Qin hoped Mu Nanqiu would forgive her for acting on her own, for the sake of their many years as friends.
“Are you mad at me?”
“What do you think?”
“Don’t be mad at me, please, it’s not good for your health…”
Before she could finish, Gu Qin felt a light smack on her head. Tears sprang to her eyes as she crouched down, clutching her head, not daring to cry aloud for fear of alerting Auntie, which would only make things worse.
Mu Nanqiu clenched her fist, gave a light snort, and said,
“Don’t bother me again in the future!”
Gu Qin glanced at Mu Nanqiu, sobbing as she pushed open the front door and left. At that moment, Mrs. Mu came over, having seen everything, and glared at her daughter in disapproval.
“Xiao Qiu, how can you just use violence? Qinqin came here to visit, and you even hit her.”
“What’s wrong with hitting her? She deserved it!”
Mu Nanqiu lifted her chin in disdain and, after speaking, turned and went upstairs to her room without a backward glance.
Mrs. Mu was left fuming, holding her anger in all day, unable to say a single word.