In a parking lot of an ordinary residential complex, Qin's Father, Qin's Mom, Qin Xian who had rushed back temporarily, and Ji Fei who wanted to witness the drama firsthand, were all sitting in a car together.
They could see Qin Rong's silhouette standing behind the entrance of a nearby building, seemingly waiting for someone.
"Is she here to find Cheng Yue again?" Qin's Father and Qin's Mom couldn't hide the disappointment in their eyes.
Seeing this, Qin Xian slowly said, "Perhaps she's here to confront him, or to make a final break."
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Indeed, Qin Rong's expression no longer seemed to be one of longing for love, but rather one of cold determination.
Between the parking lot and the residential area, a group of elderly men and women were gathered, gossiping with increasingly loud voices. True to their reputation as the neighborhood's strongest intelligence network, no family's affairs could escape their eyes.
Bored with waiting, Ji Fei started listening to their casual chatter.
But in the next moment, the atmosphere in the car became tense, as the topic of their gossip turned to Qin Rong.
Qin Rong seemed to sense something and looked up towards the gossip center.
"What? Cheng Yue's Mother really said that?"
"Of course! She said earlier that marriage wasn't certain yet, and living together wasn't a big deal. Her precious son needed to find a woman to entertain himself before getting married, and she didn't care what kind of woman he brought home."
"What arrogance! Any girl who ends up with her son would be truly unfortunate."
"If you ask me, a girl who casually cohabits with a man is degrading herself, shameless. If she doesn't respect herself, why should others respect her?"
"Oh my, what times we're living in..."
These words caused the faces of the Qin family in the car to darken. Although they knew such rumors were inevitable, actually hearing them was still deeply painful.
Ji Fei narrowed her eyes as she looked at Qin Rong, thinking that her expression now must be completely different from when she had spoken similar words to her family before.
"But didn't Cheng Yue's Mother seem quite close with the girl when she visited last time? She treated her like a precious daughter."
"Ah, that was all an act. As soon as the girl left, she started boasting to us." The speaker then imitated Cheng Yue's Mother in a mocking tone.
"She's a young lady from a wealthy family, so smitten with my Cheng Yue that she chased after him and insisted on living with us. I say, so what if she's a young lady? In the future, she'll still have to serve our family. Otherwise, I wouldn't even let her through our door."
The others burst into laughter, unclear whether they were mocking the foolish young lady or the boastful Cheng Yue's Mother.
"Cheng Yue's Mother even bragged to us that they would be married soon, because the girl couldn't wait and was afraid her boyfriend might be snatched away. Why else would she come to live with them and keep an eye on him?"
"Her son can't tell grains apart and is lazy in all respects. Apart from his good looks, he's idle all day, with unrealistic ambitions. Who would be interested in him?"
"Exactly! She even boasted that her son has abilities, and that when they marry that girl, they won't need to pay a single penny in bride price. She claimed the girl is the one pursuing her son, and to ensure her son treats the girl well, the girl's family might even give a substantial dowry."
"Oh, I know about this. I heard from Cheng Yue's sister last time that the girl's family not only has to support his sister's studies abroad but also buy Cheng Yue a car, a house, and find him a job!"
"They must be dreaming. Do they think other families are fools?"
"It's hard to say. After all, they're already living together before marriage. She's not worth much anymore. If word gets out, it would be like a second marriage for her if she tries to find someone else. If she accidentally gets pregnant, her family might have to grit their teeth and accept this marriage."
Unexpectedly, after just three weeks of cohabitation, so many rumors had spread, actively propagated by Cheng Yue's Mother and Cheng Miao.
They probably wanted to ruin Qin Rong's reputation. If she were to elope as well, and if Qin Rong were any more confused, she would truly find herself in an inescapable situation.
Ji Fei turned her head to see Qin's Mom already holding back tears, with Qin's Father embracing her for comfort. "It's all my fault for not strictly disciplining Qin Rong, allowing her to grow up so naive and innocent," he said.
"No, it's my fault. I protected her too much. It's all my mistake," Qin's Mom said, her voice choked with emotion.
Qin Xian frowned slightly, "This isn't your fault. People need to experience things to grow."
The Qin family had provided them with abundant material conditions. They hadn't experienced the hardships of life, had always been coddled by the outside world, and their family was internally harmonious. Naturally, they were prone to being taken advantage of in interpersonal relationships.
Ji Fei didn't know what to say either, so she just said, "Fortunately, Qin Rong seems to have woken up."
Although in Ji Fei's view, the condition for Qin Rong's awakening was merely that the other party refused to stoop to cooking a meal at the Qin family home, or perhaps she had discovered the secret of that meal? She probably hadn't suspected anything else.
As soon as Ji Fei finished speaking, three pairs of eyes turned to look at her, their expressions noticeably softening.
"What's wrong?" Ji Fei asked, puzzled.
Suddenly, Qin Xian said, "Rong Rong has left."
Ji Fei turned to look, and indeed saw Qin Rong answering a phone call and then running off in a hurry.
The driver quickly followed, and they soon arrived back at the school.
[Oh, so the scumbag's family is all at the school. They're accompanying Cheng Miao to handle the paperwork for her exchange student program. But they need to pay in advance, and the Cheng couple, with their ordinary jobs, can't afford it unless they sell their house. So Cheng Miao was counting on Qin Rong to swipe her card. They just didn't expect it would take until today to contact Qin Rong. Are they in a rush to get Qin Rong to pay now?]
The Qin family's faces darkened, and they silently vowed that if Qin Rong continued to be confused, they would break their daughter's legs on the spot.
Soon, Qin Rong rushed into the office, only to find a family of three.
She had personally hosted the Cheng couple before.
"Rong Rong, you're here!" Cheng Yue's Mother was the first to greet her.
But as Qin Rong thought about how Cheng Yue's Mother had spoken about her behind her back while pretending to be close, she felt nauseous.
She avoided Cheng Yue's Mother's attempt to hold her hand and walked towards Cheng Miao.
"Rong Rong, I was worried you wouldn't be able to come," Cheng Miao said, acting as if the events of that day had never happened, and quickly tried to manipulate Qin Rong: "Rong Rong, it's urgent. Can you help me? I've got everything ready, I just need a bit of money. Can you cover it for me first, and I'll pay you back later."
The staff members handling the paperwork couldn't help but exchange glances when they heard this.
After all, Qin Rong had given up her spot for love, passing it on to her boyfriend's sister, and now she was even being asked to pay the fees. They couldn't help but think this girl must be out of her mind.
That kind of look had never registered with Qin Rong before, but this time she caught it clearly, seeing the disdain and mockery in others' eyes.
Qin Rong felt like she could barely breathe.
"Where's Cheng Yue?" Qin Rong asked, suppressing her nausea.
Cheng Miao thought Qin Rong was acting strange, not even calling Cheng Yue 'brother' as usual.
But she still replied, "He just heard you were coming and realized you probably haven't had lunch at this hour, so he went home to cook for you. He'll bring it over later. After all, it takes quite some time here, and brother said he couldn't let you go hungry."
She then lowered her voice and whispered in Qin Rong's ear, "See? My brother is willing to cook for you anytime, but you can't be foolish and think of making him cook for your family. That would be too disrespectful to my brother."
As soon as Cheng Miao finished speaking, she saw Qin Rong glaring at her fiercely, with an expression that looked like she wanted to pounce and bite her to death, causing Cheng Miao to take a step back involuntarily.
Meanwhile, the Qin family group of four was walking towards the office building when they suddenly saw a man carrying something quickly enter the corridor.
Upon closer inspection, he had a decent appearance.
"Oh?" Ji Fei exclaimed.
"What's wrong?" Qin Xian asked.
[Ah, it really is Cheng Yue! The scumbag has finally shown his face.]