"What heart am I getting all worked up about? I’m just a bit anxious because you and your sister-in-law don’t seem to get along too well. As an older sister-in-law, shouldn’t you be more accommodating to your younger sister-in-law?"
Helian Hao thought to himself, having no clue which kid had spilled the beans about their marriage certificate. Now, before even having the wedding, she’s got to endure the elder Mr. Jing’s control.
"Got it!" Helian Hao whispered back.
Jing Qing found joy in seeing Helian Hao unable to assert herself in front of the elder, and although she didn’t show much pleasure on her face, she said to the old man with a smile, "Grandpa, let’s eat. It’ll be bad for your stomach if it gets cold."
Only after the elder picked up his chopsticks did the others dare to follow suit and continue eating.
After leaving the Jing Family’s place, Helian Hao said to Jing Feng, "I don’t care, but your sister can’t come along."
"How could she possibly come along?"
Jing Feng replied while driving, but how could he have imagined that indeed, Jing Qing would show up that weekend, and even dressed in a particularly girlish sporty outfit.
By the time the four of them got to the foot of the mountain and had just parked the car, they heard someone calling them. Turning around, they saw a woman wearing sunglasses and wrapped in a scarf so red it covered her face.
Well, if it weren’t for the sportswear, she really looked like a big star fresh off a red carpet event.
"You don’t mind a few more people, do you?"
Jing Qing said, then turned to call out to the girls in the car, and three girls got out together.
"These are sisters who’ve grown up together, we haven’t been hiking together in a long time, and it just so happens that we’re free today."
The group of girls came out and greeted everyone cheerfully.
The four men exchanged glances, and after a while, they all smiled without saying a word.
Jiang Zhiyuan soon drove over with a few boys, and this time it was Jing Qing who was taken aback.
It turned out Helian Hao had been alerted early on that the situation might change by Qin Mu, who’d mentioned something to Mu Yichen, and who knew that Mu Yichen would stage such a scene.
"Let’s go, the ones in the back, take good care of your sisters."
Before leaving, Yichen wrapped his arm around Qin Mu’s shoulder, instructed those who got out of the car behind him to follow Qin Mu and march on, and Jing Feng and Helian Hao followed suit. Jing Qing was just about to step forward when she was stopped by Zhao Huai: "Miss Jing, watch your step."
Jing Qing’s face turned cold: "Zhao Huai, are you getting bolder by the day?"
"How would I dare block Miss Jing? This is all Yichen’s idea, he said he wanted to enjoy the maple leaves with Miss Qin and insisted on no interruptions. We just saw you and your old friends coming, and we immediately came to protect you, didn’t we?"
Zhao Huai explained with a smile, deliberately presenting himself humbly, elevating her status further, and pushing all the blame for stopping her onto Yichen.
Jing Qing glanced at him, thinking that she wouldn’t believe men could outsmart women, and led the three girls to follow at the back.
The maple leaves on this mountain were indeed red, and since frost had fallen the night before, the fallen leaves underfoot made walking feel difficult.
Helian Hao later walked in front with Qin Mu, stepping on more and more maple leaves, and sighed with pity, looking down: "Don’t they look pitiful?"
"They’ll sprout new leaves next year!"
Qin Mu reminded her with a smile.
The two women, both dressed in long light-colored coats, walked ahead, occasionally looking back at the men a few meters behind them. Beyond them were Jing Qing and her group, who indeed looked like they were out for fun.
Occasionally, water droplets from the leaves fell on their heads. Qin Mu looked up. The maple leaves were stunningly beautiful. She reached out to pick one, deciding to press it in a book when she got back.
The few girls walking close behind whispered to Jing Qing: "Can we still go ahead with our plan? We can’t even get close right now."
"Don’t rush, we’ll see how things are when we get to the top."
Jing Qing, looking at the four people ahead, felt increasingly stifled.
"That’s the only thing we can do now. I didn’t expect Yichen to be so dismissive of you. He used to accompany you to events all the time. We all thought for sure you’d win him over, but who knew a Cheng Yaojin would appear out of nowhere."
Hearing those words and thinking of their marriage, Jing Qing felt a painful hatred in her heart.
She had to make them divorce soon, for she realized if she waited for Mu Yichen to tire of the relationship, she might end up past her prime. She couldn’t just wait around doing nothing.
The last time she had drugged Liu Jingyuan and Qin Mu, she had hoped that Mu Yichen, given his temperament, would definitely break things off with Qin Mu. But not only did they not split up, they quickly...
Mu Yichen’s trust in Qin Mu far exceeded her expectations. After climbing a bit more, she whispered to the two girls beside her, "Proceed with the plan."
The three girls looked at each other, knowing it was time to act, then glanced at the boys walking nearby, and suddenly took off running: "Hey, we sisters are going to talk secrets, you men are not allowed to follow."
Zhao Huai and Jiang Zhiyuan saw the girls running and immediately wanted to chase after them, but Jing Qing turned with a stern look: "Let’s see which of you dares to follow?"
"Miss Jing, you’re making this difficult for us!"
"Yeah, Jing Qing, the young couple came out to see the maple leaves, why should we disturb them?"
One of the young masters who grew up with her said.
"Who said they’re going to disturb those two couples? They just want to take a look at the scenery ahead, that’s all."
Jing Qing said, then gave Zhao Huai a cold look, indicating that he, of all people, was most likely to act on Mu Yichen’s behalf, so she needed to keep a close eye on him.