“Fuck…” she muttered under her breath.
Qingqian followed her gaze.
Chen Ge and Mu Zhenzhen.
They walked in arm in arm.
Chen Ge was dressed in a gray suit. His face looked somewhat haggard, but he still maintained his composure.
Mu Zhenzhen, meanwhile, wore a white dress with a beige cashmere coat draped over it. Her face was pale, her eyes slightly red, and she looked utterly pitiful.
They clearly had not noticed the people in the booth and went straight to the bar.
“What rotten luck.” Xiaoxi rolled her eyes. “How do we keep running into this pair of adulterous dogs wherever we go?”
Gu Yu frowned. “Do you want to go somewhere else?”
“No.” Qianqian spoke calmly. “We haven’t done anything wrong, so why should we be the ones hiding?”
Even so, she instinctively shifted to the side, letting the greenery beside her obscure half her figure.
Not because she was afraid—she simply did not want any trouble.
But trouble had always been proactive about finding her.
Chen Ge ordered two drinks at the bar while Mu Zhenzhen leaned against his shoulder and whispered something to him.
Chen Ge nodded from time to time, his expression growing increasingly grim.
Five minutes later, Mu Zhenzhen got up and went to the restroom.
When she passed the booth area, her footsteps suddenly stopped.
Through several lush potted plants, she saw Qianqian.
In that instant, shock and panic flashed across Mu Zhenzhen’s face before settling into grievance and anger.
She bit her lip and hurried toward the restroom.
Three minutes later, Mu Zhenzhen returned. Instead of going back to the bar, she walked straight toward the booth.
“Qingqian…” Her voice was soft and weak, carrying a sobbing undertone. “I never expected to run into you here.”
Qianqian set down her glass and looked up at her. “What do you want?”
“I…” Mu Zhenzhen’s eyes reddened. “I know you hate me, but the child was innocent. Are you really so determined not to tolerate me? Do you have to force me to my death before you’ll be satisfied?”
“Slap!”
Xiaoxi set down her glass with a dark expression. “Mu Zhenzhen, stop putting on an act here. Don’t you know who’s forcing whom? Who are you trying to fool with that pitiful act?”
Mu Zhenzhen seemed startled and took a step back, colliding perfectly with Chen Ge’s arms as he approached.
“Zhenzhen, what happened?” Chen Ge caught hold of her. When he looked up and saw Qianqian in the booth, his expression instantly darkened.
“A-Ge…” Mu Zhenzhen leaned against him, her voice choked with sobs. “I’m fine. I just… just saw Qingqian and thought of the child who never got to be born…”
She covered her face, her shoulders trembling. “I only wanted to explain the misunderstanding to Qingqian and persuade her to apologize to you, but she seems unwilling to listen. She even verbally attacked me.”
Chen Ge’s gaze grew colder. “Qianqian, haven’t you harmed Zhenzhen enough? She just lost her child, yet she put aside her grievances to come explain the misunderstanding to you. Can’t you show a little sense? Why do you have to be so aggressive?”
Qianqian laughed. This green-tea act really did involve nothing but talking to herself. Fortunately, someone was willing to believe her.
She slowly rose to her feet and walked to the edge of the booth, looking at the man and woman before her.
The way Chen Ge protected Mu Zhenzhen was so natural, so utterly unquestioned.
Just like when he had slapped her without the slightest hesitation in the hospital corridor.
“Chen Ge.” She spoke in a voice that was not loud, but clear enough for everyone to hear. “I harmed her? Are you sure?”
“I saw the surveillance footage from the stairwell.” Chen Ge’s voice was cold. “You pushed her.”
He stated it as an absolute fact.
“Oh?” Qianqian arched a brow. “Did you watch the entire recording? The part from when she grabbed my wrist to when she let go and fell down the stairs herself?”
Chen Ge’s expression shifted slightly.
Mu Zhenzhen immediately began to cry. “A-Ge, it’s all my fault. If I hadn’t asked you for help and made Qingqian misunderstand our relationship, she wouldn’t have blocked us at the stairwell. We argued for a couple of sentences, and then, in her anger, she pushed me down the stairs. My baby wouldn’t have been lost.”
As she spoke, she wept so hard that she could barely catch her breath. After a pause, she continued, “Qingqian, how many times do I have to say it before you’ll believe me? A-Ge and I are innocent. His Eldest Brother has only been gone for a month, yet you already can’t tolerate me in the Chen family. You haven’t even married into the family, and you’re already acting so domineering, trying to drive his Eldest Brother’s widow out of the house. You won’t even spare his child. Do I have to die before you’ll finally be satisfied?”
People nearby had already begun looking over.
The bar’s lighting was dim and the music was loud, but the commotion in this corner still drew attention.
“Qianqian.” Chen Ge took a step forward and lowered his voice. “It’s already over. Do you really have to make this so ugly? Zhenzhen just suffered a miscarriage, and her body hasn’t recovered yet. Can’t you just leave her alone?”
“Leave her alone?” Qianqian looked as though she had heard the biggest joke in the world. “Chen Ge, who isn’t leaving whom alone? The two of you got involved, she became pregnant with your child, then deliberately fell down the stairs and framed me. You hit me for her, and now you’re telling me to leave her alone?”
Her voice suddenly stopped. She looked around, then curled her lips in cold mockery. “My friends and I were sitting here. She was the one who came over and suddenly started crying and saying all sorts of ambiguous things. You’re telling me to leave her alone—when in fact, isn’t it Mu Zhenzhen who refuses to leave me alone?”
Her voice was not loud, but every word was clear.
Even more of the people nearby pricked up their ears.
Mu Zhenzhen’s face went deathly pale. She grabbed Chen Ge’s arm. “A-Ge, she’s… she’s talking nonsense. I was only kindly trying to persuade her not to argue with you anymore. If she truly can’t tolerate me, then I’ll leave the Chen family.”
Mu Zhenzhen’s voice faltered. She lowered her head, a flicker passing through her eyes. “It’s just that I pity my unborn child. I failed to protect it. I’m sorry to the Chen family, and I’m sorry to your Eldest Brother. Boo-hoo… Even the person who harmed my baby is turning around and accusing me, saying I staged the whole thing myself… Boo-hoo.”
As Mu Zhenzhen cried, her entire body seemed on the verge of fainting.
Chen Ge held her tightly, gently patting her back.
“That’s enough, Qianqian!” Chen Ge shouted angrily, glaring coldly at her. “Apologize to Zhenzhen right now. She isn’t wrong—it was you who caused her to lose her child. Otherwise, I, Chen Ge, will never look at you again. I will never marry a vicious-hearted woman as my wife.”
“Is that so?” Qianqian took her phone out of her bag. It was one she had just bought. “Then why don’t you take a look at this?”
She opened a document and turned the screen toward Chen Ge.
“This is the traditional Chinese medicine prescription Mu Zhenzhen started taking in the fourth week of her pregnancy. It promotes blood circulation and removes blood stasis, and is used to treat blood stasis caused by stagnant qi. A doctor prescribed it, and the pharmacy has a record of it. Chen Ge, you should know exactly what this is.”
Chen Ge stared at the phone screen, his pupils contracting sharply.
Mu Zhenzhen panicked. “That was… that was medicine to regulate my health. I have irregular periods…”
“Do you need to take abortion medicine for irregular periods?” Qianqian sneered. “Mu Zhenzhen, that child was already unstable. You simply went ahead and threw yourself down the stairs, framing me in the process. Killing two birds with one stone—you got rid of the problem, made Chen Ge feel even more sympathy for you, and forced me out of the picture. What a scheme.”
“You’re talking nonsense!” Mu Zhenzhen shrieked. “A-Ge, she’s framing me! She’s trying to drive a wedge between us!”
Chen Ge’s expression had already turned hideous.
He was not an idiot.