Chapter 221: You Think It’s a Bad Deal?
“Does it taste good?”
“Mm-hmm, it’s delicious.”
“Then try this one too.”
“Sure!”
Their conversation was simple, and so was their interaction. Ye Ziming had a smile on his face the whole time, looking very natural.
He had his own little plan for attending today’s party. He wanted to show through his actions that Lin Muqing was his. And from how things were going, it seemed to be working. Even though some men looked at Lin Muqing from time to time, none of them came up to talk to her.
Time passed quickly. After a while, Meng Yue suddenly came to the food area and found the two of them, then led them upstairs. There were two things to do today. First was to announce and introduce Lin Muqing’s return. Second was the proposed family alliance (marriage) brought up by Li Muning.
When it was time for the first thing, Lin Muqing felt okay. Just a little nervous being watched by so many people.
But when the second thing came up, she was suddenly confused. It felt like they were announcing to everyone that she and her “good bro” were in a relationship.
“…Big Bro, isn’t this getting a bit out of hand?”
After everything ended, Lin Muqing tugged at her bro’s sleeve and quietly asked him.
Originally, they were only pretending to be a couple. The plan was to help his parents stop pressuring him. Outside of that, they were just good buddys. But now with this happening, it was basically telling everyone that Lin Muqing would marry Ye Ziming in the future.
Thinking of that, Lin Muqing just wanted to grab her head and shout to the sky, ‘This is getting serious!’
“Is there a problem?”
Ye Ziming took Lin Muqing to a quieter corner and squinted slightly, pretending not to understand. He had already heard something about this in advance, so when the parents made the announcement, he wasn’t surprised at all. In fact, he thought it was very reasonable and even gave a mental thumbs-up to the parents.
“There are lots of problems! Don’t you get it? We’ve messed up the whole plan…”
Seeing her buddy so calm, Lin Muqing felt he didn’t understand how serious this was. So she wanted to explain they weren’t a real couple. If their parents found out, it could become a big mess.
If only the parents found out, maybe they could explain. But now they had already told everyone about this “family alliance”, they couldn’t take it back easily. That’s why Lin Muqing was panicking. She even felt like running over to the parents right away to explain everything.
“It’s not messed up.”
Ye Ziming gently placed his hand on Lin Muqing’s head and said softly.
Everything was going just as he planned, so how could it be messed up? In fact, things were going perfectly well.
“This isn’t messed up?”
Lin Muqing opened her eyes wide, shocked by how calm he was.
“Of course not. As long as I’m here, nothing will go wrong.”
While gently patting his little “kitten,” Ye Ziming gave his explanation, though honestly, he was just making things up.
He had only one goal, to keep Lin Muqing playing this role with him, to act so well that no one would see through them.
They stood next to the swimming pool of the villa, talking about their fake relationship.
Coincidentally, while they were talking, Meng Wenwu passed by the pool while looking for a girl who had just run off.
And he happened to overhear their secret.
“A fake couple?”
After listening to a few words, Meng Wenwu mumbled to himself in his heart.
In that moment, the sky cleared, the rain stopped, and someone felt like he still had a chance.
PS: Every time Meng Wenwu meets Lin Muqing, he ends up losing face, but he never seems to learn his lesson.
They talked for quite a while. Because Lin Muqing trusted her good buddy, she thought, “If he says there’s no problem, then it should be fine.”
What really made her feel relaxed was when he said, “No matter what happens in the future, I’ll handle it, and I’ve already made plans.”
Since he said that much, she had nothing more to say. "Alright then, let’s just go with it," she thought to herself.
“Do you feel like it’s a loss… being my girlfriend?”
After helping Lin Muqing calm down, now it was Ye Ziming’s turn to ask a question.
She had just complained so much and seemed unhappy, which made him feel a bit annoyed too, so he asked this question.
“Huh?”
This sudden question left Lin Muqing a little confused.
“Am I good to you normally?”
“Uhh… yes, very good.”
“Have I ever bullied you?”
“Umm… I think you have. Quite a few times actually.”
When he asked that, Lin Muqing thought for a moment, then blinked and answered honestly.
“…Huh?”
Ye Ziming’s expression changed, he suddenly frowned and made a displeased sound.
“No no no! I was just joking!” Lin Muqing quickly waved her hands and explained with an awkward smile. “You’ve always been so good to me. How could you bully me? Haha…”
She even wiped away some imaginary sweat from her forehead as she spoke.
“Mm. Since I treat you so well, it makes sense for you to be my girlfriend as a way to thank me, right?”
His unhappy face disappeared in an instant, replaced by a charming but slightly mischievous smile, a classic “devilish grin.”
As he spoke, he reached out and pulled Lin Muqing into his arms, making her face him directly.
“B-but we’re good bros…”
Lin Muqing pressed her hands to her chest and shrank back a little, looking up at her “good bro.” Her face was burning red, and her heart was all soft and fluttery.
She really wanted to say, “This isn’t right!” But she didn’t dare, his eyes and his presence were too intense. He almost scared her into tears.
“…A good bro can also be a part-time girlfriend.”
Hearing Lin Muqing’s tiny voice and seeing her cute reaction, Ye Ziming’s smile grew even wider.
For some strange reason, the more shy and helpless the little cutie in his arms looked, the happier he felt, and maybe even a bit excited.
Right now, he kind of wanted to “bully” her a bit more, the more the better.
“M-m-m-m-me…”
In this situation, Lin Muqing could no longer speak properly. Her brain was overheating, and she couldn’t think straight.
To put it another way, Lin Muqing had basically turned into a “steaming robot girl” with steam rising from her head.
In the end, she didn’t even know how that conversation finished. All she knew was her face felt burning hot.
And somehow, without fully realizing what was happening, she actually agreed to be her good bro’s “part-time girlfriend.”
According to Ye Ziming, when she was a guy, they were good bros. So now that she was a girl, it made total sense to become a couple.
With the way he explained it, it really did sound reasonable, so reasonable that Lin Muqing didn’t even know how to argue against it.
“…Oh no, did my good bro fall for my looks and turn gay?”
As her good buddy held her hand and led her back toward the food area, Lin Muqing looked at his back and couldn’t help thinking that in her heart.