Xu Ye didn’t give Qingqing a chance to answer. He stood up, took her hand, and walked her toward the escalator.

Qingqing had the distinct feeling she’d been played again.

And then she noticed something else — something more unsettling.

Every single time Xu Ye had taken her hand before, her first instinct had been to pull away immediately. But just now, when he’d pressed her hand against his chest, she hadn’t had even a flicker of that impulse.

That was bad.

Did that mean she was—

She bit down lightly on her lip, her face warm.

Once they were on the escalator, she made a show of glancing back the way they’d come — half expecting it to be one of his setups — and instead actually spotted a girl trailing along behind them, trying not to be noticed.

He still had girls from high school carrying a torch for him after graduation?

She studied the side of his face. A menace like this probably has half the school after him, she thought.

Xu Ye led her off the escalator and headed straight into the supermarket on the ground floor. Liu Qian, seeing this, hurried in after them.

“How about picking up some snacks to take home?”

“I barely eat snacks.”

“Then I’ll grab some for Yuxin tomorrow.”

“How long are we going to keep holding hands?”

“Honestly, I don’t really want to let go.”

“We said we were putting on a show.”

“Holding hands doesn’t hurt anyone. Do you really hate it that much?”

“Yes. Very much.”

“When a girl says she hates something, it usually means she likes it.”

“And if I said I liked it?”

“Then it means you’re an honest person.”

“I knew you’d say that.”

While they whispered to each other, about five meters back, Liu Qian had flattened herself against a shelving unit and was quietly snapping photo after photo.

Xu Ye picked up a few snacks, then steered them over to the fruit section. He checked the prices, found they weren’t much cheaper than his own shop, and only bought some oranges.

By the time he reached the checkout, Liu Qian had slipped away somewhere.

He didn’t mention it to Qingqing. He paid, and then kept hold of her soft, small hand all the way down to the mall’s underground car park.

“You can let go now.”

“I can, yes.”

“Then why aren’t you?”

“It feels too nice. Not ready yet.”

Qingqing pulled her hand back herself, then turned to him with the most threatening look she could manage. “Don’t message me tonight. I won’t reply.”

“Your chariot awaits, your highness.”

She gave him a withering look and got in the passenger seat.

…

Elsewhere in the mall.

Liu Qian had found a bench and sat down. She went through the photos she’d taken, selected a few, and sent them to Gu Mengyao.

Liu Qian: Mengyao, you there?

Liu Qian: I just ran into Xu Ye at the mall.

Liu Qian: Looks like he really did find a girlfriend.

Liu Qian: These are the photos I just got.

Gu Mengyao had only just gotten home that noon and was resting on her bed. When Liu Qian’s messages came in, she languidly reached for her phone.

She’d largely been ignoring Liu Qian lately, but when she opened the pictures, she went still.

Xu Ye and a girl — smiling, close, their fingers laced together. They looked completely natural. They looked like a couple.

She wasn’t exactly surprised that Xu Ye had found someone. His prospects had never been the issue.

What she hadn’t expected was for her to be this… good-looking.

The girl in the photos inspired something in Gu Mengyao that she didn’t often feel toward other women — envy. She, who had been called her school’s campus belle, found herself envying another girl’s appearance.

Which said a great deal about the girl’s appearance.

She found it hard to sit with.

She’d spent months imagining she’d find someone better than Xu Ye. But here she was, still without anyone, while Xu Ye had found a girlfriend who was better-looking than her. The gap between where she’d expected to be and where she actually was sat heavy in her chest.

She had the ridiculous urge to cry.

And then, absurdly, the thought crept in: If I’d said yes back in high school, would the girl standing next to him in those pictures be me?

She sat with that for a long time, struggling to let it go. Then she opened her chat with Xu Ye and, knowing the answer already, typed anyway:

“Xu Ye, who’s that girl you were holding hands with in the supermarket? The one buying oranges?”

Xu Ye was driving. He didn’t see it.

It was only after he’d safely dropped Qingqing at home, said goodbye to Jiang Meilin, and was heading back himself that he picked up his phone and read the message.

Xu Ye: You’ve got the wrong idea.

Gu Mengyao: Wrong idea? I saw you!

Xu Ye: Hold on, let me explain.

Gu Mengyao: Fine. Explain.

Xu Ye: We weren’t buying oranges. They were navel oranges. Completely different thing.

She’d felt a small, foolish flicker of hope when he said he wanted to explain. The actual explanation left her feeling worse than before.

Gu Mengyao: Who is she?

Xu Ye: My girlfriend.

Gu Mengyao: Since when?

Xu Ye: What does that have to do with you? How is this your business?

Xu Ye: Let’s remove each other.

He sent it, then deleted her contact.

Gu Mengyao felt something drop out from under her.

She sent a question mark, testing the water. Message failed to send. Her eyes stung, and then, despite everything, the tears came.

Right then, a chubby boy shoved open her bedroom door without knocking. “Hey sis, lend me some cash, I’m going to the internet café with some friends.”

She looked at him for a second, then said, voice cracking, “Get out. Get out of my room.”

“Sis? What happened? Did someone do something to you?”

…

Back home, Xu Ye sprawled across the sofa, completely at ease. Old Xu came out of the kitchen with a couple of peeled oranges, sat down beside his son, and popped a segment into Xu Ye’s mouth.

“Son, where’d you go this afternoon?”

“Dad, some things aren’t worth asking about.”

“What do you mean, not worth asking about? You’re my son, I’m your father. What can’t be said between us?”

“Went to see a movie with a girl.”

Old Xu grinned. “Pretty?”

“Very nice.”

“What does her family do?”

“Her dad’s a bank branch president. Her mom’s VP of a multinational company.”

Old Xu slapped him on the thigh. “Don’t spin me stories. If you actually found a bank president’s daughter, you can stop calling me dad — I’ll call you dad.”

Xu Ye sat up looking genuinely alarmed. “Dad, you shouldn’t joke about things like that.”

Old Xu paused and turned serious. “Wait. You’re not joking?”

“I’m not.”

“But what on earth would a girl with connections like that want with you?”

“Dad, are you sure I’m actually your son?”

(End of Chapter 89)