Chapter Twenty-Five: Who Was Wrong?

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My Hot-Blooded Girlfriend
Chapter Twenty-Five: Who Was Wrong?

Genre: Urban
Author: Xinglege Yuan Yile Yuge

The only impression I came away with from that meal was that a grand hotel really was luxurious. Even the complimentary food was exceptionally delicious. I did a rough calculation: the meal before us must have cost at least five hundred yuan.

Li Xiaoya, sitting beside Su Xuefei, seemed somewhat shy. She merely took small bites of whatever dishes were rotated in front of her. Throughout the entire meal, she said nothing except “Thank you” whenever the Goddess Su placed food in her bowl.

To keep dinner from becoming too dull, I occasionally played the part of the “clown,” exposing some of the foolish things I had done in the past and telling jokes I had stored away in my mind. Whenever one of the slightly risqué jokes slipped out, Su Xuefei’s fair, lovely face would flush scarlet. She would then raise her little hand as though to scare me, making her displeasure clear.

All in all, it was a very pleasant dinner. It was so simple, free of desire and schemes. There were only memories of the past and happiness in the present.

As we walked back to their room, I suddenly thought of something I had been curious about. Before we reached our destination, I hurriedly asked, “Goddess Su, how much does your room cost for a full day and night?”

Su Xuefei shot me a puzzled look, so I quickly explained, “I was only asking casually. I didn’t mean anything by it!”

Holding Li Xiaoya’s little hand, Su Xuefei smiled ambiguously. “Is Boss Yang planning to reimburse us?”

“Of course… that’s impossible!”

Joking with each other, we arrived once more at her door.

This time, however, I chose not to go inside. I merely waved at Su Xuefei and Li Xiaoya from outside the room and said softly, “Go to bed early. Good night.”

“You too. Go back and get some rest.” Su Xuefei turned and gave me a faint smile. “Don’t forget to take your medicine!”

I nodded, closed the door, and left. As I walked through the gradually thinning white world outside, my mood became even more troubled.

I did not get into a car right away. Instead, I took out my phone and dialed Zhang Chuang’s number.

The phone rang for a long time before Zhang Chuang finally answered.

“Where are you?” I asked bluntly.

“I… I’m at home. What’s wrong?” Zhang Chuang’s speech was indistinct.

“Stop fooling around with me. At home? I just saw Li Huixin.” My tone held a hint of mockery.

“What did you tell her?” Zhang Chuang’s voice instantly became panicked. At the same time, I heard another woman’s lazy voice beside him over the phone.

“Who’s calling?”

I froze in place.

That voice… it really was Kewen’s.

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“Where are you? I’ll come find you!” Zhang Chuang did not answer Kewen’s question. Instead, he spoke to me hurriedly.

“Fine. Meet me at my cold-drink shop.”

With that, I hung up.

Standing by the roadside waiting for a taxi, my mood sank completely. Just how far had Zhang Chuang and Zhao Kewen gone by now? Was this tangled, ill-fated situation still worth trying to save?

After getting a taxi, I returned to The Search and used my key to unlock the tightly shuttered shop. I took off my coat, casually switched on the lights in the main hall, and sat in a chair by the window to wait for Zhang Chuang.

After coughing several times in succession, I took the cold medicine Su Xuefei had bought for me from my pocket. I poured myself a glass of cold water and swallowed the pills.

About five minutes later, the door of the cold-drink shop was finally pushed open by Zhang Chuang. To my surprise, he had brought Kewen with him.

Before Zhang Chuang could say anything, Kewen ran straight over to me without even taking off her coat. Looking into my eyes, she said with a smile, “In the middle of the night, did you miss your big sister?”

I merely gave a stiff smile and gestured for the two of them to sit down first. Inwardly, I cursed Zhang Chuang. Had he lost his mind? This matter might involve Kewen, so why had he brought her here?

Zhang Chuang seemed to understand the meaning behind my faintly contemptuous gaze. He only gave a bitter smile and shook his head.

“What did she tell you?”

“She cares about you.” I did not repeat Li Huixin’s exact words, only the meaning I had taken from them. At the same time, I watched Zhao Kewen’s expression and movements. She simply took out a nail clipper without hurry.

Zhang Chuang was silent for a moment before asking again, “Then what did you tell her?”

“I told her the truth,” I replied calmly.

Zhao Kewen, sitting beside me, continued carefully trimming her nails, as if the conversation between Zhang Chuang and me held no interest for her at all.

“Then…”

“Don’t ask anything else yet.” I interrupted him directly. “I want to ask you something. What exactly are you thinking? Are you really going to give up on a relationship that lasted four or five years?”

“Give up? When did I ever say I wanted to give up? Has she even given me a choice?” Zhang Chuang seemed deeply troubled as he pressed his fingers against his temples.

“Then go back to her. At the very least, don’t make someone who loves you suffer like this!” I could not understand it. Were we really so different in our beliefs that nothing could be changed?

“Yang Chen, you don’t understand. Things between her and me aren’t as simple as you think. What do you think we are—characters in a movie or television drama? Do you think we can simply go back, hold hands, and walk forward together? The fundamental problem hasn’t been resolved. Meeting again would only lead to even more painful arguments. It might even bring about an ending that should never have happened. Do you understand that?”

Faced with Zhang Chuang’s barrage of questions, I suddenly realized that I seemed far too idealistic in his eyes. Our understanding of love was different as well.

Perhaps this was simply the difference between people’s views on love.

While Zhang Chuang and I sat in silence, Zhao Kewen finished trimming her nails and yawned.

“Two grown men sitting here discussing love… Don’t you find it nauseatingly sentimental?”

“Zhang Chuang… I know you’re a real man. A real man shouldn’t run away from anything. I know you have your own thoughts and plans too. Once you’ve made up your mind, go talk to her, all right?” I had no right to interrogate him. All I could do was advise him as a friend. “Since you still can’t let go of this love, then don’t give up. Keep going and wait for the result. What do you say?”

Zhang Chuang said nothing more. He looked at me with a trace of struggle in his eyes, then sighed and nodded in agreement.

I let out a long breath as well. At least everything had not yet become impossible to salvage, had it?

Right and wrong in matters of love were truly difficult to judge. Who was at fault? Who could really say for certain?

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I had originally wanted to ask Zhang Chuang about his relationship with Zhao Kewen, but when I saw Kewen come over, lightly kiss me on the cheek, and then beam at me playfully, I ultimately could not bring myself to ask.

Forget it. Even if Kewen really had become Zhang Chuang’s girlfriend, what difference would it make? That was their world. In the end, I was merely an outsider. When faced with their entanglement, I was nothing more than a bystander.

It was not until Zhang Chuang stood up to leave that Zhao Kewen leaned close to my ear and whispered, “Silly little brother, do you really think I don’t know what’s on your mind?”

She then gave me a seductive smile, wagged her finger, and followed Zhang Chuang out.

I had never been able to guess what Zhao Kewen meant by her little gestures. I could only take it as her way of telling me not to worry.

Afterward, I braved the cold wind and returned home, but once I lay in bed, I tossed and turned, unable to sleep. Su Xuefei’s arrival had not changed my life in any obvious way, yet for some reason, her figure kept lingering in my mind.

Sweet, elegant, ethereal, yet also adorable, mischievous, and earnest…

Perhaps she was simply an ordinary, good-hearted girl. It was only because of her breathtaking beauty that people either pursued her or rejected her. But was such extreme treatment truly fair to her? What about her dignity? Had I ever really considered that?

A person might have nothing at all—no house, no car, no money—but they could not be without principles or dignity. Since I had recognized a certain kind of love, I could not easily change it or allow myself to waver.

I firmly believed that the bond between Luo Qing and me had not yet reached its end. She still loved me, and I still cared for that strange-tempered girl. How could a love like ours be defeated so easily?

Perhaps, under the pressure we faced, I might never again be able to see the girl I thought of day and night. Even so, love was still love.

Amid the storm of my troubled thoughts—or perhaps because of the medicine I had taken earlier—I finally closed my weary eyes. Overcome by drowsiness, I fell asleep in the cold winter night.

Fate was cruel, always making people suffer beyond endurance.

The next morning, I called Yang Xiaoyu and told her I would arrive a little later than usual. I had previously promised to take Xiaoya to search for her missing family that morning. At first, I had planned to let Goddess Su handle everything herself, but afterward I worried that she might not be able to manage all the complicated human relationships involved, delaying Xiaoya’s efforts to find her parents.

When I took a taxi to the hotel, Su Xuefei and Xiaoya had already washed up. They had even finished breakfast.

At the police station, we carefully explained the entire chain of events. All we could do was wait for Xiaoya’s parents to appear at the expected time.

Although everything went relatively smoothly, the result was shockingly terrible.

Xiaoya’s father did indeed appear—a middle-aged man wearing a somewhat worn leather jacket. After the police verified his identification number and Li Xiaoya herself confirmed his identity, Xiaoya finally returned to her biological father.

Before Su Xuefei and I could slap hands in celebration, Xiaoya’s father suddenly struck her viciously across the face in front of all of us. The blow sent her staggering, nearly making her fall to the ground.

Caught completely off guard by the sudden incident, several helpful officers and I stood frozen in shock. Before any of us could react, Su Xuefei had already rushed to Li Xiaoya’s side and helped the fragile girl up.

“Xiaoya, are you all right?” Su Xuefei gently drew Li Xiaoya into her arms, then angrily addressed her father. “What are you doing?”

“What? How I discipline my own daughter is none of your concern!” Li Xiaoya’s father met the Goddess Su’s angry gaze. A lecherous glint briefly flickered in his eyes.

“There’s nothing wrong with a parent disciplining a child, but your method is completely unacceptable!” Su Xuefei shielded Li Xiaoya in her arms and spoke in a cold, clear voice. “What you’re doing constitutes domestic violence. It’s against the law!”