Gu Qili did not immediately realize who "second Mu" was, but soon asked with about seventy to eighty percent certainty, "Is second Mu, Mu Shuoqian?"
Nan Zhan laughed again without giving an answer, casually opening the car door for her to get in: "I’ll take you home."
Gu Qili thanked him again, her expression somewhat fleeting.
When she mentioned the name Mu Shuoqian, she was not surprised at all, as if she had firmly believed that he would come to pick her up, though not in person.
For this certainty, she felt she was being somewhat shameless. Why should she?
The changes in her expressions did not escape Nan Zhan’s eyes as he glanced at the rearview mirror, his enunciation clear and smooth, his Mandarin sounding even more pleasing coming from him.
"Your name is Gu Qili?"
"Yes, you’ve been looking at me, do you recognize me?" He even said ’so that’s how it is’, as if he had seen her before.
Although they had met once before, her appearance hadn’t changed much, but it had been so long, a person as haughty as Nan Zhan likely shouldn’t have remembered her.
Although the Gu Family used to be a prominent household in Aus City, they were still one notch below the six major families.
Nan Zhan squinted while smiling, eyes slightly lifted: "Oh, I was just confirming whether you are a woman." ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ novel-fire.net
Does she look like a man? Where did she look like one?
But in this age where gender can be ambiguous, close scrutiny might be needed.
"So you’ve confirmed I’m a woman now?"
Nan Zhan nodded in affirmation: "If I hadn’t seen you with my own eyes, we would have always thought that second Mu liked men."
"Did you know? The thing second Mu hates the most are women. In his office, it’s an old man who does the cleaning, not an old lady, as he is allergic to women."
Gu Qili was startled, she really didn’t know Mu Shuoqian had such peculiar quirks.
She often flitted about in front of him and didn’t seem to find him repulsed at all.
"Qili, my dear Qili, you really have a way with things. For you, second Mu has opened his mouth three times in these past few days."
Gu Qili became even more bewildered, a puzzled look covering her face as she sought clarification from him.
Nan Zhan slowly said: "First, he had Zhuo Yanbei hack the Australian University website, then he had Bai Chengxi sideline a third-rate little star, and now, he had me catch a night flight from out of town to bail you out. Second Mu is always snobbish and seldom makes requests to us, so whenever he asks, we will comply without question."
Nan Zhan’s words were like a bombshell, causing Gu Qili’s head to buzz, and the persistent drowsiness instantly vanished without a trace. Zhuo Yanbei and Bai Chengxi belong to the six major families, unreachable by common folks.
Connecting everything that recently happened— the website getting hacked, Deng Feifei disappearing from television without reason—these seemingly unrelated incidents all had an internal connection, and it was all Mu Shuoqian’s doing for her.
Gu Qili couldn’t sort out her thoughts for a while, her mind felt as if it were muddled with paste.
It wasn’t until Nan Zhan reminded her that they had arrived at her home that she suddenly came to her senses, meeting his teasing gaze, she squeezed out an awkward smile.
"Um, Mr. Nan, may I boldly ask, why do you call him... second Mu?"
Is it because he is ranked second?
Nan Zhan touched his smooth chin, his narrow eyes gleaming, he said indistinctly: "Because he is ’second’."
Anyone who calls Mu Shuoqian ’second’ must be green with envy, that old fox is nothing if not cunning and scheming.
After thanking Nan Zhan again, Gu Qili finally got out of the car. It was already dawn. She took out her keys to unlock the door, finding it locked from the outside - he wasn’t home.