Chapter 54: Chapter 54: The Duo’s Secret Plot

"Sister Qing, hurry up and wash your hands. Come eat the durian mille-crepe cake."

Hearing Lin Wanyu’s call, Li Mengqing quickly went to wash up and sat down at the dining table.

On the table sat a six-inch durian mille-crepe cake.

She couldn’t help but lean in and take a sniff.

The rich aroma of durian instantly dissipated much of her fatigue.

They each cut a slice, put it on a small plate, and dug in.

Before eating, Li Mengqing even took a picture to post on her Moments with the caption, "This is bliss" (visible only to herself).

The flavor of durian filled her mouth. She snuck a glance at Gao Yuan, still busy cooking in the kitchen, and a feeling of contentment washed over her.

As Gao Yuan brought the dishes to the table one by one, the trio’s dinner officially began.

The chicken soup Gao Yuan had made was exceptionally savory, and both women couldn’t resist having a second bowl.

After a pleasant dinner and some conversation, Gao Yuan went to work out.

Just then, Li Mengqing’s phone rang. She glanced at the caller ID, frowned, and hurried out to the balcony to take the call.

About ten minutes later, she returned to the sofa looking deeply troubled. She took Lin Wanyu’s hand and said hesitantly,

"Wanyu, my parents are trying to set me up on a blind date again!"

After she spoke, Li Mengqing lowered her head and fell silent, but Lin Wanyu shot to her feet.

Pacing around the sofa, Lin Wanyu’s face was filled with anger. "They’re trying to arrange your life again? Which family’s son is it this time?"

"I don’t know. They just told me to come home next Saturday."

Li Mengqing sighed.

"Sighing is all you ever do! Where’s that fire you have at work?"

Seeing her best friend’s expression, Lin Wanyu became absolutely furious and launched into a lecture.

But after a few sentences, she saw Li Mengqing sitting with her head bowed in silence and couldn’t bear to scold her any further.

She sat down next to Li Mengqing, grabbed her by the shoulders, and said in a serious voice, "Qingqing, have you ever thought about giving the apartment back to your family and cutting ties with them completely?"

Li Mengqing’s head snapped up, her eyes filled with surprise and a hint of confusion.

"Give the apartment back to my family?"

Seeing her best friend’s expression, Lin Wanyu’s gaze only grew more determined.

"Yes, give it back. It’s just a 20-million-yuan apartment. Are you going to let it trap you for the rest of your life?"

"But..."

Just as Li Mengqing started to speak, Lin Wanyu cut her off.

"There are no buts. You can make your own money. And if worse comes to worst, I’ll support you!"

Lin Wanyu knew her best friend’s personality inside and out. She might seem like a decisive powerhouse with an unapproachable air, but that was just a protective shell she’d built around herself.

When it came to matters of the heart, however, she became indecisive and incredibly soft-hearted.

When Li Mengqing said her family wanted her to come home for a blind date, it almost certainly meant they were trying to use her in a marriage alliance again. And in all likelihood, her mother had coaxed her with pleading words.

To pull her best friend out of that hellhole for good, she had to convince her to cut ties with her family completely.

The 20-million-yuan apartment her family had bought for her might have seemed like a gesture of parental love, but wasn’t it really just a leash to keep her tied to them for life?

Whenever they needed her for something, they would launch another offensive of tearful appeals and guilt-tripping to make Li Mengqing bend to their will.

"They won’t agree."

Li Mengqing knew her family all too well. In their eyes, the only things that mattered were profits and the family business.

"Sigh!"

Lin Wanyu frowned and let out a deep sigh of her own.

As Li Mengqing’s best friend, she knew this well. They had grown up together, and their families had even been business partners in the past.

She knew exactly what kind of people the Li Family were. The whole lot of them were obsessed with money.

The Li Family had indeed made a big name for themselves in Hang City’s construction sector, but when it came to their character, even Lin Hongnian found them contemptible.

Even a vicious tiger doesn’t eat its cubs. What kind of parents would force their child like this?

According to Lin Hongnian, people and businesses like that would eventually be weeded out by society.

And yet, the Li Family had been charging full steam ahead for years, their business nearly doubling in size.

It’s true that the good die young, while a scourge can last for a thousand years.

"CLICK."

Just as they were talking, the door suddenly opened.

When Lin Wanyu saw Gao Yuan returning from his workout, a sudden idea struck her. She grabbed Li Mengqing and pulled her toward the bedroom.

Gao Yuan had just walked in the door. Seeing that Li Mengqing was still there, he was about to say hello, but to his surprise, they both ignored him and marched straight into the bedroom.

’Did I do something to offend them?’

Completely confused, Gao Yuan walked to the bedroom door, only to find it locked from the inside.

"What’s going on?"

He knocked on the door and asked.

The door opened, and Lin Wanyu handed out his loungewear. "Go get washed up. We’re having a little girl talk."

Gao Yuan had just taken the clothes, but before he could even ask a question, the door was shut again. He clearly heard the lock click from the other side.

’They’re actually locking me out!’

Gao Yuan gave a wry smile, shook his head, and went to wash up.

’He just figured they had some secrets to discuss and that he’d interrupted them by coming back from his workout.’

Not thinking much more of it, he headed to the bathroom and started singing in the shower.

「Inside the bedroom.」

Lin Wanyu and Li Mengqing were lying on their stomachs on the bed, their heads huddled together.

"Do you like Gao Yuan?"

Li Mengqing looked at her best friend, a little confused as to why Lin Wanyu was asking this.

"Gao Yuan is yours. He doesn’t know about what happened that night, and I have no intention of fighting you for him."

Lin Wanyu pouted. She knew Li Mengqing all too well. The girl bottled everything up. Unless you forced it out of her, she would never say a thing.

"I’m not asking if you’re going to fight me for him. Spit it out."

Li Mengqing stared at Lin Wanyu for a moment, pursed her lips, and nodded.

"If you had to choose between your blind date and Gao Yuan, who would you pick?"

Lin Wanyu’s question made Li Mengqing fall silent.

After a long moment, Li Mengqing said in a low voice, "Gao Yuan."

"Then you’ll do as I say!"

Then, Lin Wanyu leaned in and whispered her plan into Li Mengqing’s ear. Li Mengqing’s face grew beet-red as she listened.

Lin Wanyu’s plan was actually quite simple.

The first step was for Li Mengqing to return her apartment at No.1 Courtyard to her family the very next day, and then move in here with Gao Yuan.

When her family tried to force her to go on the blind date again, she would bring Gao Yuan along.

She would just say she was pregnant with Gao Yuan’s child. If her family still tried to force her to marry someone else, well, it would be a buy one, get one free deal.

In the end, after a barrage of pleading, cajoling, and threatening from Lin Wanyu, Li Mengqing finally nodded in agreement.

The two women, holding hands and beaming, opened the bedroom door just as Gao Yuan happened to be walking out of the bathroom.

He had a white bath towel wrapped around his waist, his upper body bare, and he was humming a song.

When he saw them suddenly open the door and come out, he quickly clutched the hand towel he was holding to his chest.

"Tch!"

Lin Wanyu snatched the towel from Gao Yuan’s hands.

"Oh?"

Lin Wanyu suddenly noticed that Gao Yuan’s stomach seemed a bit smaller, and there was some new definition in his arms and chest.

"Big Bro, your workouts are really paying off!"

As she spoke, Lin Wanyu reached out and started poking and prodding him, even giving his waist a few pinches.

"You look great, but you’re not as fun to pinch anymore."

"Big Bro, hurry and get dressed. We have something to tell you."

With that, the two of them went straight to the living room.

’Fun to pinch?’

Gao Yuan was the only one who understood what Lin Wanyu meant by that.

When she had pinched his waist, Gao Yuan understood. The little minx was checking if there was still enough there for her to grab.

But Lin Wanyu saying they had something to tell him immediately brought to mind their secret plotting in the bedroom.

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