"Done reading?" Song Lian saw Su Qinghuai's gaze grow darker and darker. He knew exactly what Su Qinghuai was thinking. His rival's displeasure was his pleasure, and a twisted sense of satisfaction welled up in his heart. In front of Su Qinghuai, Song Lian used his student council authority to delete the post. Those eyesore words and jealousy-inducing photos vanished from their sight.
"I know all this. You don't need to show me again," Su Qinghuai said coldly. "That's also why I came to see you."
Song Lian put away his phone: "What a coincidence. That's also why I endured the disgust to meet you."
Su Qinghuai said, "Then let's skip the nonsense."
"Fine."
"The Su family's information is too tightly sealed. I can't find much," Song Lian cut straight to the chase without wasting words. "I just want to confirm one thing with you: Is Zhiyi clearly disowned by the Su family and no longer a Su family member?"
"Yes." Su Qinghuai nodded. "She's no longer a member of the Su family. Her name is rarely mentioned in the Su family anymore. I know what you're worried about. The guesses in the forum are all wrong. Next month's charity gala is actually a recognition banquet. The Su family will announce at the gala that I am their eldest son and acknowledge my status as the heir." So the Su family's charity gala had nothing to do with the marriage alliance between the Su and Si families that those in the academy had speculated about.
"Understood," Song Lian said. "As for you, what did you come to see me about?"
A faint smile suddenly curved Su Qinghuai's lips. He brought up something completely unrelated to Su Zhiyi and Si Yanjing. "What happened with the Xu family before was my fault. If we keep tearing at each other, we'll both end up losing, and someone else will reap the benefits. Dealing with one enemy is easier than dealing with two. How about we temporarily cooperate? First expel the outsider, and then settle the score between us. What do you say?"
An enemy's enemy is an ally. If both sides are enemies, it's better to ally with the one equally at a disadvantage, eliminate the most threatening enemy, and then find a chance to eliminate the remaining one. Seeing this foolish love rival fall completely into his trap, Song Lian smiled with satisfaction.
"Heh..." His expression and voice softened together, and he put on his mask of gentle humility again. "I was thinking the same thing."
*
After breakfast, Su Zhiyi finished dealing with Si Yanjing and finally had a chance to return to the bedroom to pick up her phone, which had been off all night. Si Yanjing had been called out by friends from his racing club earlier; Su Zhiyi made an excuse not to go, and as a result, Si Yanjing decided not to go either. It took her a long time of coaxing and wheedling to get him out of the house. Now that Si Yanjing had left, Su Zhiyi mentally prepared herself and pressed the power button on her phone, a hint of fatigue in her voice.
"So exhausting."
"I don't want to reply to them. What should I do?"
While the phone was booting up, a bold thought suddenly crossed her mind: "What if I ended things with both of them?"
System 030 sounded the alarm: "Host! Think carefully!"
Su Zhiyi sighed: "Just thinking about it. I still need them."
She couldn't end her relationship with Song Lian and Su Qinghuai. On the surface, she was still the eldest Miss Su, but she was already out of the Su family, with no say there at all. She could only rely on Su Qinghuai, the true Su heir, to keep the Su family in check. As for Song Lian... both she and he were deep schemers; could she really not see through Song Lian's true nature? Song Lian's graceful behavior, gentle appearance, and words were extremely deceptive. In the early days of entering this world, she had almost been deceived by him, truly believing he was a gentle, humble young master of a wealthy family. The gentler a person, the more suppressed madness there is in their bones. If she proposed to cut ties with Song Lian and stop interacting, she dared not imagine what he would do. On the bright side, Song Lian was a half-decision-maker of the Song family, unlike Su Qinghuai and Si Yanjing—one had just been acknowledged by the family and didn't have enough say, the other wasn't the heir and had some say but was still bound by the family head and heir. Song Lian still had his uses to her, didn't he?
The phone booted up, and Su Zhiyi entered the social messaging app. When she saw the messages from Su Qinghuai and Song Lian, her eyes widened slightly in surprise. She had prepared herself to be fiercely interrogated by the two men, and had even drafted in her mind how to deal with them and balance their relationships. What surprised her was that neither of them mentioned last night's restaurant incident. As usual, they sent her the most ordinary messages.
Su Zhiyi knew very well how jealous these men were. This calm was clearly not what she should be facing. Although she found it strange, it was also good that they didn't bring up last night's incident, so she didn't have to find a way to explain it. The taut string in her mind finally relaxed. She first opened Song Lian's chat at the top.
[Song Lian: A friend of mine is holding an art exhibition next month. Would you like to go check it out?]
[Song Lian: He paints quite well, a somewhat famous artist in A City.]
[Song Lian: You might have heard of him—Second Young Master of the Xu family, Xu Yezhou.]
After reading Song Lian's messages, Su Zhiyi noted that he didn't mention last night's incident at all, nor next month's Su family charity gala. Instead, he was inviting her to an art exhibition next month. She read it several times, confirming that there was no hidden implication in his words, that he was genuinely inviting her to the exhibition. Relieved, she typed a reply.
[Su Zhiyi: Sure! What specific day?]
[Song Lian: The 15th of next month.]
[Su Zhiyi: Mm-hmm.]
[Su Zhiyi: I'm already looking forward to that day! Can't wait to see you~]
[Su Zhiyi: [Kitten being cute.jpg]]
[Song Lian: I'm looking forward to that day too. I just hope nothing goes wrong before then [smile]]
As expected, Song Lian couldn't stay normal for even a minute. Su Zhiyi read the last sentence of Song Lian's message carefully, breaking it down and pondering over every character. She felt there was a hidden meaning, but she had no proof. Unable to figure out what Song Lian was implying, she decided not to reply, closed his chat, and opened Su Qinghuai's.
Chatting with Su Qinghuai was much easier. They knew each other's secrets inside out, so she didn't have to weigh her words carefully.
[Su Qinghuai: The day before yesterday, Father told me about the charity gala arrangements. They said they won't mention your name at the gala.]
[Su Qinghuai: But you'd better come to the charity gala in person, at least show your face. I can shut the Su family up, but I can't shut up the other families.]
[Su Qinghuai: Have you figured out how to get into the Su family's charity gala? I need to stay by Father and Mother's side that day, so I won't be able to slip away to bring you in.]
[Su Qinghuai: Do you want me to send you an invitation?]
Song Lian and Su Qinghuai—one liked being jealous, the other liked gossiping behind others' backs—had surprisingly shown rare tacit understanding. Neither of them mentioned Si Yanjing or what happened yesterday. How strange, Su Zhiyi thought.
[Su Zhiyi: I'll go to the charity gala that day. I have my own way in, so I don't need your invitation.]
[Su Zhiyi: You just need to help me keep the Su family steady.]
[Su Qinghuai: Mm.]
Su Qinghuai didn't ask what her method was, only replied with a cold "Mm." Even stranger... Su Zhiyi didn't want to be paranoid and guess what those two men were secretly doing behind her back. Since they didn't bring up yesterday, she would.
[Su Zhiyi: Why were you with Song Lian last night?]
[Su Qinghuai: ...]
[Su Zhiyi: Answer my question. Less acting aloof.]
[Su Zhiyi: Weren't you the one who couldn't stand him? How come you're with him now?]
Su Qinghuai only sent an ellipsis. Faced with Su Zhiyi's sharp, piercing question, he fell silent. After a long silence, Su Zhiyi finally received his reply.
[Su Qinghuai: Recently, the Su family and the Song family have a business cooperation. Father sent me to negotiate with the Song family. It just so happened that the person from the Song family coming to discuss was Song Lian. We were only discussing the cooperation yesterday.]
So he was actually answering her seriously... Wait. Business cooperation between the Su and Song families? Su Zhiyi immediately recalled the information System 030 had reported to her during breakfast: "The Song family and the Su family reached a business cooperation last night." What Su Qinghuai said might be false, but what System 030 said could never be false. Then Song Lian must know that Su Qinghuai is a member of the Su family. Would someone as smart as Song Lian also have figured out her situation with the Su family...?
Thinking of this, Su Zhiyi involuntarily swallowed nervously. Her moist lips tight, her brows furrowed with concern. Song Lian hadn't mentioned her relationship with the Su family just now. She didn't know whether Song Lian knew about her and the Su family or not. Since Song Lian chose to play dumb, she would do the same.
[Su Zhiyi: Oh.]
[Su Zhiyi: Before, I saw you looking at him like he was your mortal enemy, but yesterday I saw you both at the restaurant. I thought you two had made up.]
[Su Qinghuai: Make up? How is that possible?]
[Su Qinghuai: I haven't asked you yet—why were you eating with Si Yanjing?]
[Su Zhiyi: Just a friend. Don't overthink it.]
[Su Qinghuai: ...]
The three of them were in the same class and saw each other every day. Even if Su Qinghuai were an idiot, he could tell Su Zhiyi's relationship with Si Yanjing. Su Zhiyi's words were just perfunctory. In the past, faced with such perfunctory words, the old Su Qinghuai would have been furious. But today's Su Qinghuai was unusually calm, eerily calm.
[Su Qinghuai: Understood.]
[Su Qinghuai: Eldest Miss, you'd better just be friends with Si Yanjing.]
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Author's note: The VIP chapter is released. Thank you, babies, for your support. After the VIP, updates will be stable daily, and the update time is 12 PM.