CH 23.1

“Okay.” Ning Qingqing understood that she and Gu Youchen were married, so naturally they shouldn’t live apart.

However, it was one thing to understand the principle, but how you really felt inside was another matter altogether.

She was already getting nervous.

Fortunately, however, Gu Youchen’s phone rang next to him. It seemed to be a business call, and he talked to the other party about the follow-up plan.

Ning Qingqing felt a little better, and her eyes fell on the scene of the street outside.

This was the road from her apartment to Gu Youchen’s residence.

And this man would accompany her for decades…

Gu Youchen talked on the phone for seven or eight minutes, and after hanging up, he naturally spoke about the project from that day.

This topic happened to be what Ning Qingqing wanted to ask about a few days ago, so the two chatted about the bidding project, and the atmosphere became natural and relaxed along the way.

Just at this time, the driver drove into a high-end residential area, which was full of large river-view apartments.

Gu Youchen explained, “I usually live over here because it’s closer to the company; the other houses are further away. Since I don’t get to stay in those houses often enough, they lack daily necessities.”

Ning Qingqing nodded, thinking that there were only large apartments here, all of which had more than three rooms, and, at the very least, they should have two bedrooms, right?

Calculating quietly in her heart, the car had already driven into the underground garage.

The driver stopped the car. The elevators here connected directly to the apartments, so Gu Youchen could bring Ning Qingqing directly to the entrance near the living room.

Gu Yuchen took a pair of slippers from the shoe cabinet and unpacked them, “Qingqing, these are shoes that I prepared for my cousin, you can wear them for now, and we will go buy the things you need together this weekend.”

Ning Qingqing nodded and changed out of her pair of high heels.

Only then did she realize that Gu Youchen was much taller than her, and wearing the slippers she only reached his chin.

“Qingqing, would you like a glass of milk?” Gu Youchen asked.

Ning Qingqing nodded, “Okay.”

She wanted to say thank you subconsciously but restrained herself.

Gu Youchen went to the kitchen to heat the milk, while Ning Qingqing sat on the sofa and checked out his home.

Due to the business trip, Gu Youchen hadn’t been back for a few days, and the day they received the certificate was completely impulsive, so the appearance of his home Ning Qingqing could ascertain some aspects of his character.

The overall decoration of the house was modern and stylish, using black and white as the main colors, but because a lot of gold and champagne colors were added, the room didn’t appear depressing and monotonous.

Except for a few random pens placed on the coffee table, the other places were very tidy, which shattered Ning Qingqing’s impression of single men.

At this time, Gu Youchen warmed up the milk, handed it to Ning Qingqing, and asked in a natural tone, “Qingqing, what do you want to eat tomorrow morning?”

Ning Qingqing took the milk, and the temperature was just right.

She said, “I’m more casual about breakfast. Both Chinese and Western styles are fine, as well as southern and northern flavors.”

When Gu Youchen heard this, the corners of his lips rose, “This easy to raise?”

Ning Qingqing’s breath trembled, she just felt that this sentence was inexplicably ambiguous. She quickly drank the milk to cover up her embarrassment.

Because of this, she didn’t notice that after blurting out those words just now, Gu Yuchen turned around and walked to the bathroom to see if his ears were red.

Two minutes later, when Gu Youchen came back, Ning Qingqing had also finished her milk.

She wanted to take the initiative to wash the cup, but Gu Youchen had already picked it up, and led her inside, “Qingqing, both bedrooms have separate bathrooms. This is the master bedroom where I usually stay. The other guest room has always been vacant. You can stay there after I prepare the bedsheets. The ensuite bathroom also has daily necessities, though they aren’t fully stocked, so I hope you don’t mind compromising just for today.”

When Ning Qingqing heard that she would have her own bedroom, the strings that had been tense along the way finally relaxed.

Although she planned to manage this marriage well, that didn’t mean that she was willing to fulfill the husband-and-wife obligations right away.

She looked at Gu Youchen’s back as he took the sheets from the closet and was very grateful for his respect and consideration.

The impression Gu Youchen gave her was different from how Shen Zhiqian had described him before, and she wanted to get to know him properly.

“Qingqing, it’s late tonight, rest early.” After introducing all the things in the bathroom, Gu Yuchen said, “Also, about the other day when we were in the sports field stands of Shen Zhiyu school, send me a copy of the video you recorded. “

Ning Qingqing thought of what Gu Youchen said to Shen Zhiqian tonight, so she asked, “Are you going to send it to him?”

Gu Youchen nodded.

Ning Qingqing turned on the sharing function of her phone, only to notice that the email Shen Group had given her hadn’t been removed yet.

So, she said, “I’ll send it to him directly using the company email, and ask the personnel over there to cancel the account while I’m at it.”

“Okay.” Gu Youchen nodded, “I’m right next door, call me if you need anything.”

Ning Qingqing replied, “Okay.”

Gu Youchen softened his voice, “Qingqing, good night.”

“Good night.”

As Gu Youchen turned to leave, he closed the door for her.

Ning Qingqing was alone in this unfamiliar room. First, she stood for a while to calm down, then opened the company inbox, and sent the video recording from that day as an attachment to Shen Zhiqian’s inbox.

Subsequently, she sent an email to HR, asking them to contact the IT department to delete all her accesses.

That night, Ning Qingqing tossed and turned for a while before falling asleep, but fortunately, she fell asleep easier than she expected.

At the same time, Shen Zhiqian was sitting by the flower terrace downstairs of her apartment, replaying that video over and over again as if possessed——

“Zhiqian is just playing around. If he was serious, why didn’t he introduce her to his parents?”

“After being played by Zhiqian for 9 years, is there any man in the upper class of Beijing who’s willing to marry her?”

…

Shen Zhiqian squeezed the phone, his fingers trembling.

He didn’t know whether his reaction was from shock or anger.

Or was it more so because he blamed himself?

He never thought that Ning Qingqing would be talked about like this when he wasn’t around to see it, with a disdainful tone, a mocking smile, and such ugly words!

And all of these were from the mouths of his mother and sister!

Shen Zhiqian had always known that his mother was born into a common family, but all these years Xue Wenlan acted like a noble lady in front of him, so he thought that Xue Wenlan had gradually gotten rid of her previous attitude problems.

As for Shen Zhiyu, although she acted spoiled in front of him sometimes, Shen Zhiyu never showed any disrespect when he was with Ning Qingqing.

Sometimes when she mentioned her she would even call her ‘sister-in-law’.

He thought that they all liked Ning Qingqing, so he thought that his marriage avoidance was just a matter between him and Ning Qingqing.

However, he didn’t know that Ning Qingqing would suffer so much grievance because of this!

Speaking about her like this now was Xue Wenlan and Shen Zhiyu, so what about the others? Those people in the company, would they discuss similarly in private, or would they ridicule Ning Qingqing when he was not around?

Shen Zhiqian felt that he couldn’t wait for another moment.

He thought of Wang Qian, the colleague who had the best relationship with Ning Qingqing, so he immediately called the personnel to ask for the other party’s number and called Wang Qian.

Wang Qian had already fallen asleep, but was suddenly woken up by a phone call, and was about to curse, when Shen Zhiqian’s voice came from the receiver.

She instantly woke up, “CEO Shen?”

Shen Zhiqian went straight to the point, “Wang Qian, has Qingqing been gossiped about at the company, or has anyone ridiculed her?”

Wang Qian was startled, not knowing what to say for a while.

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Shen Zhiqian seemed to have guessed her concerns, and said, “Qingqing wants to break up with me. I have learned about the situation from one perspective, but I want to know if she has been wronged in the company.”

Hearing this, Wang Qian breathed a sigh of relief, “CEO Shen, then I’ll tell you, but keep it a secret for me.”

Shen Zhiqian frowned, so he guessed that it was true.

He said, “Okay, I need the whole truth.”

Wang Qi then explained, “Actually, there is a small group chat for ordinary employees of the company. In the past, this group always shipped you and Qingqing, but ever since Si Luoqing came and someone revealed that she was your ex-girlfriend, all kinds of speculation started to circulate in the group.”

“Some people thought that you and Qingqing could go on, and some people said that you actually used Qingqing as a stand-in. Overall, the opinions were divided half and half!”

“Also, whenever there was a slight disturbance from your side, everyone would look at Qingqing differently at lunch. She said she doesn’t care on the surface, but we are both girls, how could she really not care?”

“Actually, the worst thing you did…” Wang Qian realized that she almost blurted out something she shouldn’t, and she stopped herself immediately.

Shen Zhiqian said, “Go on, I won’t make things difficult for you at work.”