Gu Xingmo saw her walking without looking and was about to bump into him. Before she could hit him, he reached out and steadied her.
Su Jiaobai was still lost in her own world. She hadn’t expected Gu Xingmo to be back so early today.
She was walking normally when suddenly her arm was grabbed, startling her.
Su Jiaobai, startled, came back to her senses and saw the handsome face that was now very close, and the tall figure that almost engulfed her entire being.
Because he was already very tall, and standing one step higher, she had to strain her neck to look him in the eye.
“You’re home? Why are you back so early today?” He hadn’t eaten dinner at home for almost a week straight. Su Jiaobai had long grown accustomed to spending her evenings alone with her son.
After steadying her, Gu Xingmo slowly withdrew his hand.
“I can’t stand socializing outside every day, can I?” His tone was leisurely and casual, with a hint of teasing.
In fact, he had a dinner engagement today, but he had turned it down.
Firstly, he had been busy with company matters recently and hadn’t been home for meals for too long, which felt somewhat irresponsible towards his son. Secondly, there was a matter that required him to return home.
“Is the car sorted?” He was blocking her path, and she was blocking his. Neither of them showed any intention of stepping back, so they simply started chatting on the stairs.
Su Jiaobai: “It’s decided. I can get it in two days.” She then asked him, “When did you get home?”
Gu Xingmo: “A while ago.”
After a few perfunctory exchanges, Su Jiaobai decided to seek his advice on something she was unsure about.
After a slight hesitation, she began, “Aunt Wu came to see me today. She wants me to call Dad proactively. What do you think, should I make this call?” Recently, her marital relationship with Gu Xingmo had thawed out from its icy state and was relatively harmonious. Moreover, Gu Xingmo would often give her advice on certain matters.
So, naturally, when she was unsure about something, she instinctively turned to Gu Xingmo for guidance.
Gu Xingmo: “It’s best not to.”
“Why?” Su Jiaobai was surprised.
She thought that with Gu Xingmo’s emotional intelligence, he would either tell her to follow her own heart and make her own decision, or advise her that as a junior, it wouldn’t hurt to be proactive, and to just make the call if she was hesitating. Given his emotional intelligence, he would either stay out of the Lu family’s affairs, or if he intervened, it would be to mediate.
But now, he directly told her not to make the call.
However, Gu Xingmo’s reasoning for saying this was also valid. He continued, “Chairman Lu is currently very angry. If you call him now, you’ll just be walking into the line of fire.”
Su Jiaobai frowned in confusion, while Gu Xingmo looked at her calmly.
Seeing that she was still looking perplexed after thinking for a long time, as if she had completely forgotten about what happened at the restaurant at noon… he then said helplessly, “Around noon today, did you encounter Qi Mingxuan?”
With this reminder, Su Jiaobai finally remembered Qi Mingxuan’s act of smearing her with a video at noon.
“Is it because of that video?” she blurted out instinctively to Gu Xingmo. But soon, she realized that since Gu Xingmo already knew about this, she should explain it to him.
“You don’t think Qi Mingxuan’s video framing me is real, do you?” She looked at the man in front of her with an expectant expression, hoping to see the word “trust” on his face.
But Gu Xingmo didn’t say he trusted her, nor did he say he didn’t. He simply said, “It doesn’t matter what I think. What matters is that Chairman Lu is very angry about this incident.” So angry that he had already called him.
Although he knew that Chairman Lu was afraid he would have some thoughts about the matter after knowing about it. He called first to apologize through scolding his daughter, and secondly, to gauge his reaction.
But his anger at that moment was genuine.
Seeing that both of them didn’t trust her and had fallen for Qi Mingxuan’s trick, Su Jiaobai trembled with anger for the first time since her awakening.
“Scoundrel! I’m going to settle this with him!” With that, she quickly turned and went downstairs.
With no one blocking his path ahead, Gu Xingmo continued to walk downstairs.
Downstairs, after Su Jiaobai rushed down aggressively, she didn’t immediately rush out of the house.
Instead, she paced anxiously in the living room like a spinning top.
Seeing Gu Xingmo also coming downstairs, she immediately demanded Qi Mingxuan’s contact information from him: “You have Qi Mingxuan’s phone number, right? Give it to me!”
Not to mention if he had it, even if he did, he wouldn’t give it in this situation.
Giving it would not be about downplaying the matter, but about fanning the flames.
“I don’t have it,” Gu Xingmo replied truthfully.
She and Qi Mingxuan had only met twice, including today’s encounter at noon. Not only did she have no contact information, but she also didn’t know where he lived.
Seeing that she couldn’t get his phone number, in her anger and frustration, Su Jiaobai directly called Lu Leyao.
And Lu Leyao was currently at the Lu residence, by Lu Ting’s side.
Because of Lu Ting’s thunderous rage, she had directly put down her work and rushed home.
The situation this afternoon was as follows.
At that time, a middle-level executive from Lu’s company was also dining at the restaurant and happened to witness the commotion.
This executive was a relative of another director of the Lu Group, and naturally, he told that director about the incident verbatim. That director then called Lu Ting, first discussing other matters, and then casually mentioned this incident as if it were insignificant.
Upon hearing this, Lu Ting naturally called Qi Mingxuan.
Qi Mingxuan stammered and couldn’t explain clearly. In the end, it was only after Lu Ting got angry that Qi Mingxuan revealed everything.
Then, Lu Ting asked Qi Mingxuan to send him the video.
After Qi Mingxuan sent it to his future father-in-law, he immediately told his fiancée about the matter.
While Lu Ting was calling Gu Xingmo, Lu Leyao was already driving home.
“Did you know about this beforehand too?” Lu Ting’s anger had not subsided. In the study, he unleashed his temper and berated Lu Leyao.
Although his temper was bad, he also knew that this incident was not entirely Lu Leyao’s fault.
Lu Leyao’s actions were entirely to protect Jiaobai.
“It’s precisely because you are too generous and proper that you’ve allowed her to repeatedly disregard you. Leyao, although you are not my biological daughter, I watched you grow up from a young age, and I raised you myself. In my heart, you are even closer than my own child.”
“This house and the company are mine to command. As long as I acknowledge you and treat you as my own, what does blood relation matter? So in the future, in front of your sister, you don’t need to always hide from her or yield to her. You must manage what needs to be managed, and you must discipline her on my behalf.”
Just as Lu Leyao was about to speak, her phone, which she was holding, rang.
Looking at the large characters “Jiaobai” on the phone screen, she was momentarily at a loss.
“Is it her calling?” Lu Ting asked with a dark expression.
Seeing from his daughter’s expression that his guess was correct, Lu Ting commanded again, “Answer it!”
“Yes.” Under her father’s command, Lu Leyao answered the call, “Jiaobai.”
Su Jiaobai considered her to be scheming and despicable.
First, she colluded with Qi Mingxuan to get a fabricated video from who knows where to smear her, accusing her of trying to steal her man. Then, she turned around and sent the video of unknown origin to Lu Ting, the supreme judge of the Lu family.
She wanted to worsen her father-daughter relationship with Lu Ting through this method.
What a despicable and shameless person, resorting to any means necessary.
She had even felt a sliver of pity for her after awakening, thinking that as fellow NPCs, they were both stepping stones for others’ happy endings and shouldn’t be maliciously targeted.
But now, she felt her previous thought was simply ridiculous.
“Lu Leyao, you truly have a way with things.” In her rage, Su Jiaobai unleashed a barrage of criticism at Lu Leyao, her attitude extremely poor, and her words naturally very harsh.
“You must be pretending to be pitiful and innocent in front of Dad right now, aren’t you? After hearing what you said, Dad must be very angry and disappointed with me, right? Congratulations, you won.”
Lu Leyao didn’t say a word. Su Jiaobai’s voice was loud on the phone. Even though Lu Leyao hadn’t turned on the speakerphone, Lu Ting could hear what she was saying.
Lu Ting stood up, walked around the desk with a grim expression, and came to Lu Leyao’s side, signaling her to hand him the phone.
Lu Leyao had no choice but to hand over the phone.
“Have you finished scolding your sister?” A cold voice came from the other end of the phone.
Su Jiaobai was not afraid. She had already lost her composure and no longer wanted to pretend to be harmonious. She retorted fiercely to Lu Ting as well: “What, are you here to seek justice for your precious daughter? I just scolded her, so what do you want to do to seek justice for her? Kill me? Or disown me?” In her anger, her words were very provocative.
No one had ever dared to speak to Lu Ting like this. Even Feng Siyu back then, with her violent temper, had never said such things to him.
However, Lu Ting had already been angered enough today, and now he no longer had the mood to lose his temper with her.
He was angry because he still held hope and wanted her to be well. His lack of anger now meant he had accumulated enough disappointment and had completely given up.
“Take care of yourself.” After a few brief words, Lu Ting decisively hung up the phone.
Su Jiaobai’s breath got stuck in her throat. Before she could exhale the sigh of relief, a deafening sound suddenly echoed in her mind:
[Congratulations to the author~ The supporting character’s persona and the deviated plotline have been successfully corrected. The main storyline is developing in the intended direction.]