Unveil Her Secret Identities-Chapter 40: Question from Yao Meishu No. 1

The next day, Lu Qingyi received a call from Yao Meishu.

Sitting in the classroom, she idly toyed with her phone. A slight smirk played across her face as she stared at the illuminated screen, her expression somewhat mocking.

It was surprising that Yao Meishu would call her.

Even without a saved contact, she recognized the number.

Once, she made a note of it, eagerly hoping time and again for this number to call.

But it never did.

"Not picking up?"

The phone rang again and again, and finally, Lu Qingyi answered on the fifth ring. The female voice on the other end was cold.

A simple question had somehow turned into a statement in Yao Meishu’s mouth.

"You’re right."

Lu Qingyi’s finger tapped thoughtlessly on the table. She smirked, exuding irony.

If she knew, why did she call?

"Are you being kept?"

Yao Meishu got straight to the point.

The normally indifferent Yao Meishu sounded angry this time.

Lu Qingyi laughed lightly, "Said by Lu Jiayue?"

Ha, what a joke.

"Don’t do things that would hurt me."

Yao Meishu paused, then said.

"Ms. Yao, it seems that we don’t have any ties, except the barely visible blood connection."

With a slight laugh, Lu Qingyi’s tone was mocking.

"I am your mother."

Yao Meishu sounded annoyed over the phone. Her voice was high-pitched.

"Biologically, yes."

But apart from biology, did they have a mother-daughter relationship to speak of?

The answer was no.

"I’m at the school gate."

Sounds of a door opening then shutting came from the other end of the line.

The hustle and bustle of traffic gradually became audible; Yao Meishu had probably gotten out of the car.

"Come out."

When Lu Qingyi arrived at the school entrance, Yao Meishu paced restlessly, clutching her bag.

This was the first time Lu Qingyi had seen such a frantic side of Yao Meishu.

Lu Qingyi laughed coldly, her face showing an element of mockery.

"Lu Qingyi, don’t I give you living expenses?"

Yao Meishu looked somewhat angry when she saw Lu Qingyi. This was the first time she had spoken to Lu Qingyi with such harshness.

Lu Qingyi stood without a word, merely whispering, "Eighteen years."

Yes, for those eighteen years, Yao Meishu had never taken care of her. Did she want to start now?

She hadn’t used a single penny of Yao Meishu’s money for those first eighteen years, so what right did Yao Meishu have to bring up living expenses now?

"Lu Qingyi, cut it out."

Yao Meishu paused, her voice was soft and seemed tinged with concern.

A first.

Quietly, she just looked at Lu Qingyi, and the indifference in her eyes seemed to dissipate.

Lu Qingyi raised her eyes, a faint smile in her eyes and asked, "Cut what?"

Standing slightly taller than Yao Meishu, she met the gaze directly.

"You really want me to spell it out?"

Yao Meishu frowned.

"You believe everything Lu Jiayue says?" Lu Qingyi laughed again, a scornful smirk appearing at the corners of her mouth.

"If I say I’m not, would you believe me?"

After a long silence, Lu Qingyi finally opened her mouth. It seemed like she was explaining, but also mocking Yao Meishu.

In contrast, in front of Lu Jiayue, Yao Meishu’s trust was always with Lu Jiayue. Even if Lu Jiayue was wrong, Yao Meishu would still undoubtedly stand by Lu Jiayue.

To Yao Meishu, she was nothing.

She is disliked, even if she didn’t do anything, in Yao Meishu’s eyes, she was still wrong.

"How did you obtain your things?"

Yao Meishu didn’t believe that a nineteen-year-old girl could be so capable.

Her mother, Yao Huijuan, would never deceive her; if Yao Huijuan said Lu Qingyi didn’t go to high school, then she didn’t go.

Education is a shortcut in this world, only through it can one have good prospects.

She definitely wouldn’t believe that young Lu Qingyi could achieve that much.

"You didn’t get involved with my life before, why do you care now?"

Lu Qingyi countered, her eyes void of any familial affection or attachment to Yao Meishu. When she looked at Yao Meishu, it was as if she was looking at a stranger.

Yes, a stranger.

An utterly irrelevant stranger.

"Whatever you do is fine, but not this whole being a kept woman thing."

Yao Meishu didn’t seem bothered by the awkwardness; gripping her bag tightly in her hand, she said with intense determination.

She wasn’t involved with what Lu Qingyi did and didn’t want to be either.

But she would not stand by and watch Lu Qingyi make a mess of things.

Lu Qingyi didn’t offer any explanation; she just silently glared at Yao Meishu, a cold smirk in her eyes.

Being kept?

Ha.

A laughable notion.

Just because she had visited Kyoto many times and was able to receive custom-made candies that some could only dream about?

What did this have to do with being kept?

Funny.

So this was how she was perceived in Yao Meishu’s eyes.

Right, in Yao Meishu’s eyes, she was always just a country bumpkin, an uneducated, distasteful child who would embarrass everyone if brought out in public.

But, Yao Meishu seemed to forget that she herself had grown up in the countryside.

Yao Meishu questioned again, "Did you hear me?"

"I’ve said there isn’t. Believe it or not, that’s up to you."

Lu Qingyi met Yao Meishu’s eyes, her tone serious.

She just looked at Yao Meishu, the ice in her eyes cold to the extreme.

She slowly stepped back, then turned around and walked away without looking back.

Leaving Yao Meishu alone and stunned at the school gate.

Yao Meishu looked dazed. She held her bag tightly, her mouth opening as if to call out to Lu Qingyi, but in the end, she didn’t say a word.

She watched Lu Qingyi’s figure move further away, her expression a tangle of confusion and complexity.

"Are you okay?"

Lu Qingyi walked fast, and immediately after turning a corner she collided with a wall of flesh. It was hard; her forehead ached from the impact.

She looked up and met the deep eyes of Xu Boyan.

He extended his hand, gently soothing her forehead. His voice was soft, attractive, and sounded oddly gentle.

"Does it hurt?"

His hand moved, gently stroking Lu Qingyi’s forehead; he asked in a soft voice.

His inflection rose slightly, bringing a hint of joy.

"I’m fine, it doesn’t hurt."

Lu Qingyi’s mind went blank for a moment; her ears turned slightly red.

She backed away a few steps, putting some distance between her and Xu Boyan.

Her ears were still red, and her face also felt slightly hot.

"Little lady, are you blushing?"

Xu Boyan was chuckling, not missing the way Lu Qingyi’s ears reddened.

With his eyes smiling, his voice carried a hint of glee.

Lu Qingyi: "..."

Lu Qingyi gently bit her lower lip as she looked up at Xu Boyan, her gaze complex.

Her heart seemed to beat faster than ever before.