Volume 1 Chapter 9: Playing the Scumbag, Undercover Best Friend
Mu Tingyun was a chauvinist. Seeing the delicate young woman crying with pearly tears, his heart softened instantly.
"Shen He, I'm not blaming you. I just think today's incident is quite…" quite bizarre, giving him a feeling of being set up.
But he knew Shen He.
Shen He wasn't the type of woman who liked to stir up trouble. She was crying so pitifully, which showed he had truly misunderstood her.
It was probably just a coincidence.
He rarely saw Shen He cry. Her tears stirred a sense of pity in Mu Tingyun. He apologized gently, "I was wrong. I apologize. I shouldn't have lashed out at you like that."
A skilled green tea girl knew how to stir up trouble but also when to stop.
Since Mu Tingyun had already lowered his pride and apologized for love, continuing to make a fuss would be immature.
Shen He knew when to quit. She wiped her tears with a tissue and muttered resentfully, "It's all your fault. My makeup is ruined from crying."
Mu Tingyun raised an eyebrow and clicked his tongue, saying, "So delicate."
His tone sounded quite affectionate.
Shen He cursed inwardly: What a jerk!
I'm just playing you, and you're getting all affectionate.
Mu Tingyun really is a piece of trash!
Shen He turned around, tidied up the tear stains on her face, and also took the initiative to apologize: "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have hidden my family situation from you."
Mu Tingyun frowned and asked her, "You mean the fact that your father isn't Grandma Zhong's biological son? Why did you hide that?"
Shen He quickly pinched a piece of flesh at her waist, the pain making her eyes redden again.
With her emotions in place, Shen He revealed a pitiful and insecure side, stammering as she explained: "Mu Tingyun, you are the third son of the Mu family, and your maternal grandmother's family is the powerful Song family."
"Your family background is superior, and you yourself are outstanding and dazzling, but I…"
At this point, Shen He lowered her head, radiating a sense of inferiority.
She gently bit her lip and whispered timidly, "As for me, I was abandoned by my parents since childhood and lived in the countryside with my grandmother. I'm just a wild girl from the countryside who struggled desperately to get into the architecture department at A University."
"Being a top student in A University's architecture department is the most dazzling label I have."
"You also know that the Shen family rose to prominence with the help of Madam Zhong's family. The Shen family's wealth and status have nothing to do with me."
"Knowing I'm the eldest daughter of the Shen family, outsiders all say I'm not good enough for you, that I'm a wild chicken trying to become a phoenix."
"If they found out my father isn't Madam Zhong's biological son at all, that his birth mother was just an old peasant woman from the countryside, how would they see me? How would your father and family see me?"
After saying all this, the main point Shen He wanted to convey was only one.
"Mu Tingyun, I just want to be with you."
Shen He's tear-filled eyes looked at Mu Tingyun with infatuated love. What man wouldn't be confused by such a gaze?
Mu Tingyun inwardly mocked Shen He for loving him like a shameless simp, while at the same time feeling his vanity swell at receiving such love from her.
Gently wiping the tears from Shen He's face with his thumb, Mu Tingyun told her, "Shen He, don't worry. No matter what your family background is, it won't affect my feelings for you."
"No matter what others say, I will never easily let you go. Because you are my life."
Hah!
I'm the life-extending elixir for your childhood sweetheart!
Of course I'm your life!
Shen He cursed Mu Tingyun as an idiot in her heart while pretending to lean on his shoulder.
She whispered, "Mu Tingyun, I only knew my grandfather had an affair, but I didn’t know it was with Teacher Zhang Jingyu."
"Do you believe me?"
"I believe you." Of course, Mu Tingyun believed Shen He.
Shen He loved him without dignity or boundaries—how could she possibly lie to him?
The car stopped at the apartment building.
Mu Tingyun followed Shen He out of the car and saw her turn to go upstairs alone.
He suddenly grabbed Shen He’s hand and hinted, "Aren’t you going to invite me up for a visit?"
In her previous life, it was also at this time that Mu Tingyun began frequently expressing his desire to sleep with her.
Because his beloved’s health report showed concerning data, he urgently wanted to gain her complete trust.
Most women are naive and emotional creatures.
They tend to develop special feelings for their first man.
So Mu Tingyun was eager to sleep with her, to become her first man, and secure her unwavering devotion.
Shen He sneered inwardly but said aloud, "I forgot to tell you, Qin Yi has returned to Qingshi. You’ve met her, right? She’s staying at my place these days. Would you like to come up and join us?"
Shen He and Qin Yi had known each other since middle school. In high school, they were classmates and roommates, as close as sisters.
Qin Yi came from a family of police officers.
Mu Tingyun, with a guilty conscience, had always avoided meeting Qin Yi. Hearing this, he shook his head and said considerately, "You two haven’t caught up in a long time. I won’t disturb your reunion."
"Go on up. Should I order takeout for you two to enjoy while you chat?"
"Sure!" Shen He said, "Spicy crayfish!" Spicy crayfish were already in season, but they were mostly shell with little meat.
"Okay."
Watching Shen He enter the building, Mu Tingyun looked up at the lit apartment window, feeling a bit suspicious.
Why had Qin Yi suddenly returned to Qingshi?
Stepping out of the elevator, in a place without surveillance or outsiders, Shen He finally dropped her facade of strength, leaning against the wall and gasping for breath.
The day had felt like a battle—dealing with Shen Guanghui’s family and Mu Tingyun, that beast—and she was utterly exhausted.
After catching her breath, Shen He unlocked the door.
Seeing the light spilling from inside, she paused in surprise.
"Miaomiao!" Qin Yi, wrapped only in a towel, walked out of the bathroom while drying her hair.
"Qin Yi…" Staring at the lively Qin Yi standing before her, Shen He felt dazed.
In her mind, she saw the scene of Qin Yi falling from the 26th floor.
Since then, Shen He had been afraid of seeing watermelons, especially those not fully ripe, with pale flesh, shattered into pieces on the ground.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Qin Yi walked over and snapped her fingers. "Did you miss me so much you’ve gone silly?"
Shen He hugged Qin Yi in a daze, murmuring inexplicably, "Yibao, is it really you?"
A strange feeling flickered in Qin Yi’s heart—what was wrong with this girl?
"Miaomiao, you seem exhausted. Go take a shower, and we’ll chat in bed." Qin Yi pushed Shen He into the bathroom. "I’ll find you some clothes. You shower first."
Shen He mechanically let herself be ushered into the bathroom.
As warm water washed over her face, Shen He finally regained some clarity.
Qin Yi, born into a family of police officers, somehow ended up delving into underground music and later even fell in love with a street thug.
Shen He tried to talk her out of it, but Qin Yi wouldn’t listen, hopelessly infatuated with that thug.
One day, Shen He suddenly received a farewell call from Qin Yi.
When she drove to the scene, she witnessed Qin Yi falling from the 26th floor to her death.
Not long after, Qin Yi’s police badge number was announced alongside her father’s, both to be preserved permanently.
It was only then that Shen He learned Qin Yi was an undercover narcotics officer. She had joined undercover work even before graduating from university.
Her undercover mission was solely to fulfill her father’s dying wish—to capture the drug trafficking gangs hidden in Qingshi and nearby cities.
Qin Yi used her death to buy time, helping the police successfully arrest the leader of the drug trafficking organization.
Due to the sensitive nature of their work, undercover officers are never publicly identified after their deaths unless all their family members have passed away.
Qin Yi died in the line of duty at the age of 24. She was unmarried and had no children.
With her death, the Qin Family line came to an end.
That is why her police badge number and her father’s were made public…