The second watch has arrived.
In an instant, Chuxia’s eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at Yang Xiaoli.
"There’s no need to be so surprised..." Yang Xiaoli’s lips curled into a mocking smile, "If you don’t want people to know, you shouldn’t have done it."
The moment these words reached her ears, Chuxia felt her heart "thump thump" jump to her throat. The secret she had tried so hard to conceal, had it already been spreading? Or was she the only fool who naively believed that no one else knew?
Then there was Luo Xiaoqiong... She had always wanted to tell her, but she never found the right opportunity. The longer she withheld, the harder it became to disclose, and these past days, Zhou Mikang hadn’t been looking for her nor sent any messages, so she was even less inclined to talk about it.
As far as her only friend in this era went, she cared a great deal about what she thought. Besides Lin Baohe and Zhao Yulan, Luo Xiaoqiong was the person she cared about the most, even more than her grandparents.
Considering Luo Xiaoqiong’s stubborn personality, Chuxia felt overwhelmed. "How... How did you find out?" Her voice trembled severely, sounding foreign even to her own ears.
Yang Xiaoli scoffed, "Lin Chuxia, shouldn’t you be thrilled that everyone knows about you climbing the social ladder? Why are you acting like an innocent little bunny?"
"I’m asking you how you knew!" Chuxia almost shouted the question, her mood extremely agitated. Or perhaps, subconsciously, she always felt that as long as the news didn’t spread, there was still a chance for her and Zhou Mikang’s relationship. If it really did spread, with Zhou’s character, her marrying him would be a sure thing.
Yang Xiaoli was startled by her sudden outburst. She patted her chest and rolled her eyes, "You’re getting fierce now, huh? Why should I tell you how I found out?"
Chuxia quickly stepped forward and grabbed Yang Xiaoli by the collar, "Are you going to say it... or not?"
Yang Xiaoli was 172 cm tall, and Chuxia was 165 cm, so in terms of height, Yang Xiaoli had a definite advantage!
She looked down at Chuxia with disdain: "Trying to be tough with me? Heh... do you think you can take advantage by being tough with me? Fine, I just won’t tell you how I knew. What can you do about it? Come on, hit me, hit me hard, like your twig arms and mung bean punches could hurt, as if I’d be afraid of you! Psh!"
Even a mute person has a temper, let alone Chuxia whose own temperament wasn’t all that great. She immediately started throwing punches at Yang Xiaoli.
Yang Xiaoli didn’t dodge, leaning half her body towards Chuxia on purpose: "Good, you’ve got spirit. Hit me, hit me hard, I promise not to fight back..."
Chuxia quickly stopped her fists and looked dumbfoundedly at Yang Xiaoli, who was nearly tumbling into her arms, taking a step back to increase the distance between them: "Are you purposely looking to get hit? I don’t want my hands to hurt, hmph! Talk or don’t talk, I’m going back if there’s nothing important!"
"Wait!" Yang Xiaoli hurriedly took a step forward and grabbed her, "I haven’t finished talking, and you’re walking away? Do you really think I asked you out to get beaten up?"
"Is that not why?" Chuxia turned back and glanced at her lightly, "You just want a free massage, huh? Please, can you even afford the service fee?"
Faced with Chuxia’s post-modern sarcasm, Yang Xiaoli found herself somewhat at a loss for words and thus chose to ignore the comment and got straight to the point: "Lin Chuxia, to speak seriously, I have real business with you."
Actually, I was testing you just now. Honestly, I don’t quite understand how Regimental Commander Zhou could fall for you. To my knowledge, the girls who liked him over the years all have better conditions than you, and not just by a little bit, but he didn’t care about any of them.
Oh, you might not know this, but my family and the Zhou family are also prominent, my grandfather and Grandpa Zhou are good friends, and my mother and Aunt Lin are also good friends..."
Chuxia interrupted her, "Are you suggesting that the news of me marrying Zhou Mikang came from his mother?"
"No!" Yang Xiaoli shook her head, "Up to this point, no one from the Zhou family has announced this news. By the way, Jing Zhe’s mother is also quite interested in you..."
Chuxia interrupted her again impatiently, "What are you trying to say? Can you just tell me directly where this rumor started and whether most of the team members know about it? These are the only two things I care about."
"Will you be patient for a moment? If we don’t clarify this relationship, will you understand what I’m trying to say?" Yang Xiaoli snapped back, frustrated.