Chapter 15

Qi Shaobai halted his footsteps and slowly turned around.

Liu Zhenzhen was secretly delighted in her heart. She steadied her breathing and ran up to stand in front of him.

"This afternoon, I saw your stepmother going into a hotel with another man. That wasn't Qi uncle."

In order to prove what she was saying, Liu Zhenzhen took out her phone and opened up the photo album. She held it out in front of Qi Shaobai.

Whether it was heaven helping her or not, Liu Zhenzhen had been worrying recently about how to find opportunities to chat with Qi Shaobai. By chance this afternoon, she had stumbled upon that scene.

In front of a five-star hotel entrance.

She saw Sheng Mumu get out of a car with a strange man, chatting and laughing as they walked into the hotel together.

She was extremely shocked.

Amidst her astonishment, she did not forget to use her phone to take some photos.

This was a good chance to find an excuse to talk to Qi Shaobai.

Qi Shaobai lowered his eyes and swept a glance across the phone screen.

His brow furrowed slightly.

Seeing Qi Shaobai's change in expression, Liu Zhenzhen thought to herself: Success!

She had imagined that if Qi Shaobai's stepmother really was having an affair like she guessed, that would be perfect.

Then, she could take the initiative to offer to keep the secret for Qi Shaobai.

Having a shared secret often brings two people closer together.

Then, if she tried a little harder, perhaps she could become Qi Shaobai's girlfriend.

This had been her dream and wish ever since she first saw Qi Shaobai in 10th grade.

Qi Shaobai gazed coldly at the screen, lips pressed tightly together. The man in the photo looked around the same age as Sheng Mumu.

That meant he was younger than his dad.

No matter how shocked he was inside, he did not want to show even a hint of it on his face in front of others.

Qi Shaobai's gaze moved away from the phone. He continued walking forward.

After taking a few steps, as if remembering something, he finally turned back and said to Liu Zhenzhen:

"Send those photos to me."

...

Qi Shaobai was no longer in the mood to play basketball. He sent Wei Zhaonan a message saying he wouldn't go anymore. Then he directly got in the car.

He told the driver: "Go home."

Qi Shaobai gazed out the car window.

The flickering light of the streetlamps shone on his face, alternating between light and shadow.

In the stubborn, deep gaze of the youth, it was hard to tell whether it was disappointment or anger.

When Qi Shaobai returned home, Sheng Mumu was sitting on the living room sofa talking to someone on the phone.

Just as Qi Shaobai was bending down to change his shoes, Sheng Mumu happened to end her call and put her phone back in her pocket.

This coincidence made Qi Shaobai feel heavy inside.

He couldn't help but sensitively suspect that Sheng Mumu deliberately hung up so quickly so he wouldn't hear the content of the phone call.

Seeing Qi Shaobai return, Sheng Mumu casually asked:

"You're back. Have you eaten?"

After interacting these past days, Sheng Mumu's attitude toward Qi Shaobai had gradually become less awkward.

She was increasingly able to naturally accept the role of stepmother.

During their infrequent encounters, she would occasionally chat some superficial, meaningless words.

Qi Shaobai's face was expressionless as he put on his slippers and walked in.

"I ate a little for dinner."

Sheng Mumu: "Oh."

Just as she was about to turn around and go upstairs, Qi Shaobai called out to stop her.

"Wait a moment—"

Sheng Mumu looked back.

Qi Shaobai appeared hesitant. He seemed to take a deep breath, then took out his phone from his pocket.

Sheng Mumu couldn't discern any clues from his expression. She looked puzzled: "?"

Qi Shaobai handed his phone over.

"Someone showed me some photos. Take a look."

Qi Shaobai spoke very calmly. He was simply objectively recounting what he had heard, without adding any emotion.

Before figuring out the truth of the matter, he would not rashly make judgments.

However, a tiny spark had been lit in his suspicions.

In fact, when his dad had told him he was bringing a woman home to marry, Qi Shaobai had wickedly wondered:

Sheng Mumu was 28 and his dad was 38. There was a 10 year age gap between them. Wouldn't that become a problem in the future?

Why would a 28 year old Sheng Mumu choose someone so much older than her as a marriage partner?

Now, Qi Shaobai and Sheng Mumu stood facing each other.

He wanted to get to the bottom of the photos, and also resolve the questions that had been buried in his heart all this time.

Sheng Mumu took the phone with a completely bewildered look. She swiped through each photo one by one. Her mental process gradually shifted from "That's not me!" shock, to "I should have put on a more flattering lip color since I knew I might get photographed" regret.

In the last photo, the wind had just blown, messing up her hair in a very unflattering way.

Who took these? Would they get in trouble for sneaky shots?

Feeling a bit angry, she swiped the screen with too much force, directly exiting the photo album and going back to the messaging screen.

Unintentionally, she caught sight of the profile pic of the person who had sent these photos to Qi Shaobai.

Long straight black hair, posing with faux innocence.

She immediately recognized who it was.

Oh, wasn't this that little green tea girl who had come to their house as a guest the other day?

Sheng Mumu's eyes were sharp. In just a few seconds, she noticed the last message Liu Zhenzhen had sent to Qi Shaobai:

[Qi gege, let's meet up and chat this weekend if you're free. I want to help you resolve this matter together. Don't worry, I will definitely keep it secret for you. [Cute Cat Emoji.JPG]]

Ding ding—

Sheng Mumu's green tea radar went off again.

So Liu Zhenzhen wanted to use the secretly photographed pictures of her to get close to Qi Shaobai?

Sheng Mumu thought it was funny. When she gave the phone back to Qi Shaobai, she candidly said:

"Sorry, I accidentally scrolled out just now."

It was impolite to exit out of someone's photo album into their private messages, but she really hadn't done it on purpose and felt the need to clarify that to Qi Shaobai.

Qi Shaobai didn't care about such things. On the contrary, he was surprised that Sheng Mumu's reaction seemed so calm after seeing the photos.

He gazed straight at Sheng Mumu, eyes opened a bit wider, as if waiting for her to say something.

Sheng Mumu frowned. Her expression suddenly turned gloomy:

"She took such unflattering pictures of me. To be fair, I should look better in person, right?"

Qi Shaobai: "......"

???

Is that the point?

Sheng Mumu was still annoyed.

"I shouldn't have believed the sales lady. The nude lip color looks like it's almost gone. What do you think?"

Qi Shaobai was suddenly at a loss for how to respond.

After a long pause of several seconds, he replied somewhat helplessly: "It's fine, not ugly."

Sheng Mumu had just casually asked on a whim. She never expected the aloof, prickly Qi Shaobai to actually give a serious answer.

She suddenly felt comforted.

Fine. I'll believe your aesthetic discernment since you're the future male lead.

Sheng Mumu brought the conversation back on track. She slowly said:

"Liu Zhenzhen wants to meet up with you. Bring me along too?"