Qi ihui picked up her small leather bag and hurried out of the office after giving her assistant so instructions, then drove away.
When she arrived ho, Mu Hewen was not there. Qi ihui went straight to the second floor and entered their bedroom.
She began to rummage through the clothes he had in the dressing room—one piece, two pieces, three pieces—throwing all the clothes that she hadn’t bought onto the floor. Mu Hewen’s attire had always been handpicked and purchased by her, always seasonal styles from boutique stores.
She didn’t know when he had learned to shop for clothes on his own. Seeing these clothes made her realize that he had recently taken a special interest in dressing up. Every ti before going out, he would groom himself ticulously, exuding an exuberant enthusiasm.
She was so preoccupied with the company’s affairs and moreover focused her attention on their daughter that she hadn’t noticed these changes.
This discovery made her heart pound like the drumbeats before a battle, each beat so rapid it seed about to burst from her belly.
Qi ihui’s fingertips trembled as she pulled her hand out from the pocket of a pair of trousers, clutching several boutique store receipts. The sight of the transaction records made her hands shake even more violently, barely able to grasp the thin paper.
It was a receipt from a luxury store in Aus City; he had spent over a hundred thousand on a skirt.
And that skirt was not for her.
Qi ihui frenziedly searched through the dressing room, but Mu Hewen seed to have been very careful. Apart from these two pieces of evidence, she could not find any other clues. But these two were enough, enough to prove that Mu Hewen had another woman outside, and that woman was very likely to be Hu Jiaojiao.
She put these two items in a paper bag and carefully stored it in her walk-in closet.
Suppressing the urge to confront Mu Hewen right away, Qi ihui, with trembling fingers, dialed a number and arranged a eting ti. She then retrieved Mu Hewen’s ID card from the bedroom, which he used to leave at ho after losing his wallet when drunk outside. He had gotten into the habit of not carrying his ID card, resorting to having his secretary fetch it if there was a special need.
Qi ihui placed the ID card in the compartnt of her small leather bag and hurriedly left ho after glancing at the ti.
Arriving at the mobile service center, she went straight to the VIP room and with the help of the staff, used Mu Hewen’s ID card to report his phone number lost, getting a new card for a different phone.
After leaving the service center, Qi ihui got into her parked car. She didn’t rush to leave but took out the new phone and sent a ssage with Mu Hewen’s number to the one she knew very well.
"Where are you?"
Qi ihui’s eyes suddenly felt intensely sore, her fingertips wouldn’t stop trembling, and she nearly dropped the phone in her hands several tis.
"Buy it if you like it," she replied, imitating Mu Hewen’s tone.
"I want to see you now."
"Uh..." Hu Jiaojiao hesitated for a mont. She disliked Mu Hewen and hated doing that kind of thing with him even more, but considering the new bag he bought for her, she decided to put up with it one more ti.
Qi ihui typed out the na of a hotel and sent it: "I’m waiting for you here, don’t stand up."
About half an hour later, a girl with long hair and a white dress ca out of the elevator. For a fleeting mont, Qi ihui thought she saw Gu Qili—this woman’s every move and even her fashion style were sowhat similar to Gu Qili’s.
But she was certain it was not Gu Qili because they did not look alike; it was only their gestures that made her feel they were similar.
Hu Jiaojiao arrived at the door of the room, but didn’t rush to knock. Instead, she took out a mirror from her bag to check her reflection, touched up her eyebrows with a pencil, and finally sprayed a fine perfu into the air, gracefully walking through the mist of fragrance that lightly clung to her.
Qi ihui was standing by the adjacent door, pretending to look for her room card, head bowed down. When the whiff of perfu floated by, vague but distinct enough, she instantly recognized it: it was the sa scent that lingered on Mu Hewen’s shirts.
Just as Hu Jiaojiao was about to knock on the door, she suddenly received a text from ’Mu Hewen’: "Sorry, sothing urgent ca up, I had to leave, let’s et another day."
"Damn it, what’s going on? He calls all the way here just to stand up. This Mu Hewen is really too much," Hu Jiaojiao muttered to herself, turning around to head for the elevators. As for her, it felt like yet another narrow escape—light and relieved.
It was only when the elevator began descending that Qi ihui finally lifted her head to look, as she received Hu Jiaojiao’s reply on her phone: "No worries, dear."
She could now confirm that this woman nad Hu Jiaojiao was indeed Mu Hewen’s new love, and she was almost two months pregnant. If she gave birth to Mu Hewen’s child, especially if it were a son, her status would surely rise with the backing of her son, and she might even gain the approval of Mu Haotian, who had always longed for a grandson. By then, her position as the eldest daughter-in-law would be at great risk.
With this thought, a sinister look flashed in Qi ihui’s eyes, and through gritted teeth, she said, "This naive little girl wants to compete with ? She’s still green."
~
Gu Qili went back to school to collect her diploma on the day she had arranged to et Mickey. Perhaps because she had been away for so long, she suddenly felt a nostalgic attachnt to the familiar greenery of the campus.
"I was scared to death, thought I wouldn’t make it. How’s Uncle doing these days? Has he found any work?" He’s the pillar of the family; he can’t just sit at ho doing nothing all the ti.
Mickey shook her head, a look of distress on her face: "He’s so old now, who would hire him? He doesn’t want to go to the casinos anymore, he’s thinking of using so money to start a small business, but you know what his temperant is like, he’ll probably end up losing everything. Now he argues with my mom every day, it’s incredibly annoying."
Gu Qili remarked, "He’s most familiar with working in the casinos, it would be best if he could return to that kind of job."
"Yeah, I think so too, but after he made a scene in soone else’s casino last ti, no casino has dared to hire him again."
Gu Qili’s eyelids fluttered twice, as if she thought of sothing, but she didn’t say it out loud.
It was lunchti, the campus roads were bustling with people, and so recognized Gu Qili and waved to greet her.
"Why do I have to see her everywhere?" Mickey suddenly stopped walking and jutted her chin forward slightly, "Just seeing her makes sick. How could soone like her deserve an eighth-level certificate?"
Gu Qili also saw Hu Jiaojiao, still in a white dress, looking pure and charming, drawing frequent sideways glances as she walked by.
Hu Jiaojiao was about to head towards Gu Qili when suddenly, a woman charged up from behind her, clearly with ill intent.
Gu Qili and Mickey both saw it but said nothing to warn her, instead standing there ready to watch the drama unfold.
The woman grabbed Hu Jiaojiao’s long hair from behind, slapping her face like raindrops, cursing non-stop, "Ho-wrecker, trying to steal soone’s husband, you shaless mistress, today I will rip off your fox skin and let everyone sll your stench."
Caught off-guard, Hu Jiaojiao instinctively tried to grab the woman’s hand, but pain shot through her head as her hair seed to detach from her scalp.
The woman was strong and sturdy, and Hu Jiaojiao was no match for her. In just a few monts, she was slapped to the ground, and the woman, still unsatisfied, squatted down and continued to slap Hu Jiaojiao’s face.
Hu Jiaojiao had been holding onto the woman’s hand but now could do nothing but try desperately to protect her face, screaming, "Help, help!"
At this point, the bystanders finally intervened, with two boys stepping forward to pull the woman away.
The cries, the wails, chaos erupted on the scene.
Hu Jiaojiao, with the help of others, finally freed herself from the crazed woman. Her pretty face distorted, color drained, she was trembling all over from the pain.
And from the relaxed grip of the woman’s hand fell a clump of Hu Jiaojiao’s hair, so strands still flecked with blood.
"Wuwu." Hu Jiaojiao cried with tears pouring down her cheeks, definitely not faking it this ti as her face started to swell and her scalp felt as if it were being roasted over coals. "What do you want, grabbing a shaless mistress like you?" The woman pointed at her while continuing her verbal assault: "Let these students see how a poor student like you can afford clothes worth over a hundred thousand, carrying tens of thousands worth of designer bags, not to ntion this necklace, this bracelet, each one worth a five-figure sum. How could you be living in such luxury if not for being a mistress and wrecking soone’s family?" "I didn’t." Hu Jiaojiao sobbed louder, one hand covering her head as tears stread down.
She didn’t know where this crazed woman had sprung from, but she was clearly aware that she had nothing to do with this woman’s husband.
"Fellow students, wouldn’t you agree that such a despicable mistress deserves to be denounced by everyone?"
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