His Beloved Treasure

Chapter 16: 16 Mutual Warming_1

”Miss, are you back to settle down or just staying temporarily?”

——

The wind in Rongcheng was still cool. The driver helped her with her luggage and departed, and she stood on the side, looking at the luxurious residential area.

She hadn’t expected to come back again.

She was unable to answer the driver’s question. So far, everything had been done to her passively.

She didn’t press the doorbell; she heard a deep voice fade away into the living room as the door opened.

He was standing next to the sofa, holding a glass of wine and talking on the phone. At the sound of the door, he turned his eyes instinctively.

She turned on the light, dragged her suitcase in, closed the door, and then positioned herself perfectly behind the door panel.

”I’m here to take care of some things.”

She tried to smile, but it didn’t elicit any response from him.

”I guess you wouldn’t want me to stay elsewhere, so...”

”No need to say more!”

She looked up at him, and at that moment, she wasn’t even sure if he wanted her to stay or to leave.

After all, on the day he left for Paris, she hadn’t even gotten out of bed.

She felt a bit like a wanderer, or maybe a lost soul?

Especially when she looked into his dark eyes and couldn’t understand what he was thinking.

That night, he’d held her and made love until the sky was almost light. She had gotten up early in the morning while he was still asleep and left the house in plain clothes.

Helian Hao had been waiting for her outside. Once she got into the car, he took her away.

”I overheard my parents talking by chance. Are you saying your father is really planning to move your mother from the Qin Family cemetery?”

”I won’t let him succeed.”

”Appearances are deceiving. I never realized Uncle Qin could be so ruthless.”

Qin Mu didn’t speak and arrived at the Qin Family cemetery.

She had thought about her mother leaving the Qin Family cemetery, but not in the way these people wanted.

There weren’t the overgrown weeds she had expected in front of her mother’s tombstone; instead, it was very clean.

Helian Hao waited for her below while she stood alone above.

Looking at the face on the tombstone, so similar to her own, she suddenly remembered that her mother had also been in her early thirties when she left.

In that car accident, the one who deserved to die hadn’t, and her mother had lost her life instead.

Sometimes, Qin Mu felt it really wasn’t worth it. With such good years ahead of her, she could have done anything else. Why did it have to end in utter ruination?

Perhaps, it was because the woman had loved too deeply back then that led to such profound hatred.

So foolish!

She bowed her head in melancholy, hoping she would not follow in her mother’s footsteps.

She had learned to forget the times when her parents were in love.

She had learned to remember, to remember how her father let that woman move into their house after her mother’s death, to remember he wanted to move her mother from the Qin Family cemetery.

From then on, Qin Mu and Qin Minghai had been at odds.

On the way back to the city, Helian Hao asked her, ”You’re back to settle down, right? Since they all don’t like you being here, why don’t you stay and live better than any of them, just to spite them?”

”That sounds pretty good.”

Qin Mu smiled, turned to look at Helian Hao, feeling the care Helian Hao had for her as if they were twin sisters, so genuine that it ran through her blood, so much that she dared not believe it.

Whenever she met with Mu Yichen before, she would always be mentioned. At the time, Qin Mu had a resistance to the people of Rongcheng and had never allowed Mu Yichen to tell anyone. This time coming back...

Actually, it was pretty good.

Qin Mu looked at Helian Hao and suddenly felt quite fortunate.

At noon, Qin Mu treated Helian Hao to lunch at Mu Yichen’s hotel. When Helian Hao sat down, she sighed, ”Eating here and you’re paying? Who would dare take your money?”

Qin Mu pursed her lips and smiled without speaking. As Helian Hao looked down, she noticed the plain ring on her finger: ”Do you know what it means to wear a ring on that finger?”

Curious, Qin Mu looked at her and then lowered her gaze to the ring on her own finger.

”Married!”

Helian Hao emphatically uttered two words, and Qin Mu smiled helplessly, ”I’m just wearing it for fun.”

His tone was light and casual, so Helian Hao naturally believed him.

Who would think such a young girl was already married, and after she had been abroad for years, receiving a Western education; she probably wouldn’t be keen on marrying early.

”But is that ring from Mu Yichen?”

Qin Mu...

”I saw him here the night before last; he was wearing one similar to yours. I was too far away to see clearly, but it felt like they were alike.”

Qin Mu...

With Helian Hao’s keen observation, Qin Mu was so frightened she dared not make any expression.

”Be honest, how long have you secretly been dating?”

”Ah?”

”I picked you up at his apartment this morning,” Helian Hao reminded her not to lie.

”Can you call it dating?”

Qin Mu didn’t know how to describe their relationship, she obviously couldn’t tell Helian Hao that they were already married. But in her heart, she didn’t think of it as a big deal; she wondered if what they had from the first time they had been intimate until now was dating or just a mutual need for each other’s bodies.

”What do you think? If it’s not dating, then what is sleeping together? Are you supporting him or is he supporting you?”

”Of course, he’s supporting me.”

Helian Hao didn’t say anything but kept looking at her with a sharp gaze.

Qin Mu smiled awkwardly, ”Just kidding.”

”I must warn you, Jing Qing’s really got her eye on him. If you don’t cherish him and he gets stolen away, it’ll be your own fault.”

”Yes, yes, yes!”

Qin Mu nodded continuously, truly not wanting Helian Hao to worry about this matter.

”The Jing Family has intentions to become in-laws with the Mu Family. With Mu Qingxin not returning from Africa, naturally the marriage falls to Mu Yichen and Jing Qing. Jing Qing truly loves him, so think about it, unless Mu Yichen is resolute, Jing Qing capturing him is only a matter of time.”

Qin Mu nodded subconsciously, which irritated Helian Hao, frowning, ”Do you even understand what I’m saying?”

”I do understand.”

”What’s with your attitude then? I get it, you don’t see me as a friend, do you? That’s why you don’t want to have a genuine conversation with me?”

”How could you think that? Of course, I trust you, I just think what you’re saying makes a lot of sense.”

Helian Hao...

”Me and you... It’s like the emperor isn’t in a hurry, but his eunuch is!”

”You’re not a eunuch, you’re the beloved consort.”

Helian Hao...

Qin Mu suddenly smiled mischievously; it had been a long time since she had teased someone like this.

When she took Helian Hao’s hand, Helian Hao became slightly calmer, but still glared at her angrily.

”I understand what you mean, but is marriage really that important?”

”You don’t love Mu Yichen?”

Thud!

It was as if something had fallen from a great height onto the floor, the loud crash made her heart ache.

Love?

Qin Mu dared not speak of love, even though he made her feel very secure.

”We’re just keeping each other warm, at most.”

”You——”

Helian Hao was about to lecture her, but then he thought of her parents’ issue and swallowed back the words that had reached his lips.

Some people, once they witness some dark events, might live with shadows from those events for a lifetime.