Chapter 15

“Huh?” Shen Yinyin looked confused. “What do you mean by ‘got married but not together’?”

She didn’t believe it. “Chuchu, are you joking with me?”

Qiao Chuchu kept checking the details about Shen Yinyin’s story, but no matter how many times she looked, the result was the same.

Her best friend, Shen Yinyin, after marrying the senior she liked, Zhang Wenhao, had a major incident shortly after.

Zhang Wenhao had injured someone in an accident and was facing jail time. However, he didn’t want to go to prison, so he thought of finding someone to take his place—and that person was Shen Yinyin.

“I’m not joking. I’m serious.”

“Yinyin, Zhang Wenhao isn’t right for you. There’s a side of him you don’t understand, and one day, you’ll get hurt because of him.”

She spoke with conviction. Shen Yinyin on the video paused for a moment and asked, “But didn’t you support us at first? You even said we were a perfect match.”

That’s true. Qiao Chuchu had said that before, but back then, she didn’t know Zhang Wenhao well. She had been deceived by his appearance and good public reputation, thinking he was a decent guy.

Now, with the gossip system in hand, Qiao Chuchu had thoroughly seen Zhang Wenhao for who he really was—from the inside out—and realized that he was just a pretty face, his inner self was rotten to the core.

Qiao Chuchu replied, “That was before. Now, I don’t think you two are a good match.”

“Chuchu, tell me the truth.” Shen Yinyin looked at her and said, “Did you see something Zhang Wenhao did to hurt me? Just tell me, I can handle it.”

She didn’t believe Qiao Chuchu’s system explanation, thinking this kind of thing only happened in novels. She thought Qiao Chuchu was trying to set up a foundation for something between her and Zhang Wenhao.

Qiao Chuchu hadn’t seen it in real life, but the system provided a lot of information—scenes where Zhang Wenhao was secretly playing around with other girls behind Shen Yinyin’s back. He was pretty carefree about it.

She never expected Zhang Wenhao, who seemed so perfect on the outside, to be this terrible behind closed doors. It instantly made her lose all feelings for him. She just hoped Shen Yinyin would stay as far away from him as possible.

“I saw him being very intimate with other girls.”

Shen Yinyin seemed to believe her. “I understand now. Thank you for telling me. I’ll handle it myself. You don’t need to worry.”

“Mm.” Qiao Chuchu felt slightly relieved. “When will you come back to school?”

“In a couple of days.” Shen Yinyin sounded relaxed. “I’ll bring you some treats when I get back.”

Three days ago, she had gone with her boyfriend Zhang Wenhao’s music team to B City for a music event. The venue was at the Shangya Mall Plaza.

Shangya Mall was a new shopping center, and on opening day, they invited celebrities, as well as several music groups, to perform and help promote the mall.

They had arrived early to familiarize themselves with the venue, and the rest of the time was spent rehearsing.

There were five members in the team, and with Shen Yinyin, a total of six people. Because Zhang Wenhao was the lead singer and team leader, they asked her to be the team’s housekeeper, which in simple terms, was an assistant. She was responsible for their food, drink, and other personal needs, as well as some work-related tasks. Since becoming the housekeeper, she had become very busy, and her personal time had become scarce.

While video chatting with Qiao Chuchu, she was squeezing out some time during their rehearsal.

“Yinyin, you finally made it. Please get me an American coffee. I’m so tired, I need to wake up.”

“I just danced for an hour, I’m so tired, thirsty, and hungry. Yinyin, I want some desserts and milk tea from Fuji’s, please order some for me.”

“I want some hot water, Yinyin. Can you bring me a bottle?”

—

Shen Yinyin had just entered the rehearsal room. During the break, the team members who were slumped on the floor called for her to do something, and their tone was so familiar, it was clear this sort of thing happened often.

However, this time Shen Yinyin ignored them and walked directly over to where Zhang Wenhao was, sitting by himself while playing with his phone and wiping his hair.

“What are you looking at?”

“Nothing.” Zhang Wenhao quickly turned off his phone when she approached. “By the way, could you order me a cheese roll and a glass of lemon juice? Thanks, my dear.”

Zhang Wenhao was handsome and very good at talking, especially skilled at making girls happy.

After Shen Yinyin and Zhang Wenhao started dating, she really enjoyed listening to him talk and chatting with him, because spending time with him made her feel good.

But today, Shen Yinyin couldn’t help but think about what her best friend Qiao Chuchu had said. Was Zhang Wenhao secretly chatting with other girls behind her back?

She had no doubts that what Qiao Chuchu said was true, because she knew her best friend never lied.

There was another point.

Before she started pursuing Zhang Wenhao, Shen Yinyin already knew he was a great guy, and he was particularly popular with women. He had lots of female and male friends, all of whom spoke highly of him. Many girls pursued him, but he had always remained single.

His friends always told her how impressive it was that she had won over such an outstanding man, and every time she heard it, she felt happy.

Shen Yinyin held her phone, which had run out of battery. “My phone is dead. Can I borrow yours to place an order?”

When she said this, Zhang Wenhao’s expression slightly changed. His smile froze, and his gaze became a little cold, but it was just for a moment. His expression soon returned to normal, and if you weren’t paying close attention, you wouldn’t notice.

Shen Yinyin had always been wrapped up in his sweet talk, never questioning or borrowing his phone, so she had never seen him act this way.

A slight chill ran through her. He didn’t want to give her his phone. Was he chatting about something he didn’t want her to see?

“Is it inconvenient?” Shen Yinyin smiled. “Is there something I can’t see?”

Zhang Wenhao put his arm around her shoulder. “What are you thinking? You can look at my phone whenever you want.”

Out of sight from Shen Yinyin, Zhang Wenhao made a subtle hand gesture to his teammates. Not long after, his phone rang.

The caller ID displayed “Good Brother,” and his expression was a little helpless. “I’ll take this call.”

A few seconds later, he told Shen Yinyin, “He forgot to grab some toilet paper in the restroom. I need to bring it to him. I’ll be right back.”

Shen Yinyin smiled. “Let’s go together then. I’m not busy right now.”

Zhang Wenhao’s behavior seemed off. There had been many times before when she hadn’t noticed.

Perhaps it was because she liked him too much, and everything he did seemed normal to her.

Zhang Wenhao froze for a moment but then smiled. “Okay, let’s go together.”

“Then can I use your phone now?” Shen Yinyin’s voice was soft. “I want to order quickly. I can’t let my dear Ah Hao go hungry. If Ah Hao gets hungry, I’ll feel bad.”

She was still smiling, her affection for him obvious as always, but Zhang Wenhao felt something was different about her today.

Had she noticed something?

Zhang Wenhao’s mind was racing, trying to juggle the current situation.

“Of course, you can use it. My phone is yours to use, Yinyin. Here.”

He handed his phone to Shen Yinyin, his handsome face carrying a light smile, his bright eyes looking at her with love that was almost overflowing.

Shen Yinyin smiled and reached to take the phone. But just as her fingers brushed against it, a sudden force from the side pushed her over. The phone fell to the ground with a crash, the screen shattering into pieces, turning black.

“Ah! Sorry, sorry! I didn’t mean to! Captain, your phone broke, what should we do?”

The teammates who had been resting and joking around had accidentally bumped into Shen Yinyin and Zhang Wenhao.

“What’s wrong with you? Can’t you be more careful while playing around?” Zhang Wenhao scolded a bit, then immediately turned to check on Shen Yinyin. “Yinyin, are you okay? Didn’t get hurt, did you?”

Shen Yinyin looked at his concerned face and shook her head. “I’m fine.”

But inside, her heart felt cold.

What a coincidence. The people who had just been tired and slumped over now started messing around, and they just happened to knock into her and break the phone. Was it that they didn’t want her to see something?

“Glad you’re okay. If you had gotten hurt, I’d be upset,” Zhang Wenhao said gently, then looked at the phone with sadness. “I’m sorry, Yinyin, I broke the phone you gave me.”

“Breaking a phone is normal,” Shen Yinyin responded, “It’s just the screen, it can be repaired and used again.”

The phone was the latest model from a well-known brand, worth thousands of yuan. She had worked part-time for three months to afford it.

He had only had the phone for about a month, and it was brand new. It could definitely be repaired, though the cost of fixing it was quite high.

Zhang Wenhao’s smile faded a bit. It was clear that Shen Yinyin’s response wasn’t what he had hoped for. Shouldn’t she have offered to get him a new phone instead? Repairing it didn’t look great.

Zhang Wenhao took the phone back. “Alright, I’ll handle the repairs myself. I don’t want to trouble you.”

“But, I recently bought a new guitar, so I’m a bit tight on money, so…”

Shen Yinyin quickly responded, “Then just wait until you have more money to fix it. In the meantime, you can use my phone. It’s still the one you gave me, after all. I really treasure it and rarely use it, only letting you borrow it.”

Zhang Wenhao was silent.

Indeed, this phone was one that he had given her, but he had told her that it was the most precious thing he had and that it was the first gift he had given her after they started dating.

“Still, you can use it,” he said. “I’ll borrow a phone from someone else so I can contact you easily.”

Shen Yinyin nodded. “Okay, but remember to message me tonight.”

“I won’t forget,” Zhang Wenhao’s expression wasn’t the best, but he still agreed.

—

When Qiao Chuchu had some free time, she revisited Shen Yinyin’s storyline. The plot about Zhang Wenhao being replaced in prison was gone, now replaced by an unknown path.

It seemed that Yinyin had taken her words to heart.

That was for the best.

School was much less fun without Shen Yinyin around. Qiao Chuchu always ran out first after school, and when her parents, or her brother Qiao Cen, weren’t busy, they would take turns picking her up.

Today, it was Qiao Cen who came. As soon as she got in the car, her hands were filled with delicious treats, the fragrant smell wafting up.

“Sis, I know you’ve been working hard in class, so I specially brought you some desserts.”

“Thank you.” Qiao Chuchu took the food. “How come you came? Aren’t you busy today?”

Qiao Cen excitedly said, “I’ve finished with my work already, and I can take half a day off tomorrow. Sis, what do you want to eat tonight? I’ll take you out.”

Qiao Chuchu replied, “Anything is fine, I’m not picky.”

Qiao Cen quickly added, “There’s a new steakhouse in the Chengdong District. How about we go have steak?”

“I’m good with that.” Qiao Chuchu nodded, “What about you?”

Qiao Cen, “I’m fine with it too!”

The two of them were on the same page and happily enjoyed a luxurious steak dinner. On the way back, Qiao Cen couldn’t resist gossiping.

“Sis, Tong Zhichen’s new drama just started airing. Do you want to watch it?”

Qiao Chuchu, “Tong Zhichen’s new drama?”

【Had I forgotten to check on Tong Zhichen’s recent situation? Since I have some free time, I’ll see how he’s getting along with his fake wife.】