CHAPTER 49: CHAPTER 46 RUINING MY REPUTATION

After dealing with the person who was tracking them, Qiao Yuxian and Shang Chen took a stroll around the pedestrian street.

Shang Chen, expressionless, walked behind her, carrying her things while watching her shop as if nothing else mattered.

By the time they returned to Fenglin Villa, Shang Chen’s already desolate expression seemed to be shrouded with an inescapable gloom.

Coincidentally, Gu Yanjing had just arrived back at Fenglin Villa when they did.

Qiao Yuxian saw him get out of the car and immediately hopped out with the bubble maker she had bought.

Gu Yanjing paused at the steps, waiting for her, watching her approach with a pink something in her hand as she ran toward him.

When she reached him, she beamed and held the pink object up to his eyes, and then... a mass of bubbles suddenly appeared in front of him.

Under the setting sun, the colorful bubbles shimmered and floated gently in the breeze.

A bubble landed on Gu Yanjing’s face, burst, and tiny droplets dotted his skin, making him blink softly.

Shang Chen leaned tiredly against the car for a moment, before starting to unload things from the trunk.

Meng Yan watched too, not making a move. But the man beside him, his brow furrowed deeply, instinctively moved towards Gu Yanjing, but Meng Yan stopped him.

The man looked at Meng Yan in confusion, and Meng Yan returned a calm gaze.

Qiao Yuxian pressed the bubble maker again, gazing up at the bubbles, "Aren’t they pretty?"

Gu Yanjing looked at her smiling eyes through the bubbles, waited a moment, then answered, "Mm."

"See, I told you they’re pretty," Qiao Yuxian stood beside him, playing with the bubble maker, "Shang Chen complained all the way."

"I didn’t," Shang Chen said emotionlessly as he walked past them with two handfuls of items, cutting through the bubbles.

"Your expression clearly showed disdain," Qiao Yuxian called out to his back.

The man next to Meng Yan asked, "Is this the wife of our Mr. Gu?"

Meng Yan replied, "Yes."

The man nodded, then said, "Shang Chen looks a bit worn out."

Meng Yan glanced at the items Shang Chen was carrying, "Maybe he’s just tired from following her shopping?"

"Is it more exhausting than field training?" the man asked.

Meng Yan looked at him, and with the certainty of experience, replied, "It is."

The man: "......"

Gu Yanjing watched Qiao Yuxian playing with the bubble maker, while Meng Yan and the man beside him stood by the car, unmoving.

After a while, Qiao Yuxian put down the bubble maker, intending to head back to the living room, when Gu Yanjing suddenly grabbed her hand.

Qiao Yuxian froze and turned to look at him.

The man next to Meng Yan raised an eyebrow in surprise at the scene.

He knew their Mr. Gu was approachable to women, but witnessing it firsthand was still somewhat shocking.

It was a bit thrilling.

"What’s wrong with your hand?" Gu Yanjing asked, looking at the redness on the back of her hand.

Qiao Yuxian glanced at it; it might have been from punching someone too hard in the alley.

"Got into a fight?" Gu Yanjing asked, looking at her.

Qiao Yuxian met his eyes, blinking, then her expression turned suddenly pitiful and she complained, "Yes! Shang Chen insisted on fighting me."

Shang Chen, coming out from the living room again, rolled his eyes at her as he walked to Gu Yanjing’s side and reported, "Someone was following us, and Miss Qiao confronted the stalker."

Gu Yanjing looked at Qiao Yuxian.

Qiao Yuxian gave him a cheeky grin and then said seriously, "It’s a good thing Shang Chen was there. Otherwise, a delicate girl like me wouldn’t know how to handle it."

"Before I had a chance to act, Miss Qiao took on two people at once, knocked them both down, and even broke one guy’s leg," Shang Chen reported robotically, dismantling her story without emotion.

Qiao Yuxian looked at him: "......"

"Miss Qiao also touched the guy’s leg," Shang Chen added.

Qiao Yuxian’s eyes widened in shock, taking a moment before saying, "Hey? What’s with you? Why are you talking nonsense?"

Gu Yanjing looked down at her.

"I’m not talking nonsense," Shang Chen said.

"You’re not talking nonsense? In broad daylight, with the sun still up, I touched his leg?" Qiao Yuxian said, "And in front of you? Have I lost my mind?"

"You squatted and touched where his bone broke," Shang Chen said with a straight face, "The guy screamed, didn’t he?"

Meng Yan: "......"

The man next to Meng Yan couldn’t help but chuckle, "Still the same Shang Chen."

Clever when he wanted to be, but could light a fire under you when he was in the mood.

Gu Yanjing, however, showed no special reaction.

Qiao Yuxian paused for two seconds after hearing this, then took a deep breath, pulling Gu Yanjing’s hand to hold her wrist.

She then rushed toward Shang Chen, teeth and claws bared, "Shang Chen, I’m going to get you."

Shang Chen saw her coming, instinctively taking a step back.

But Qiao Yuxian, because Gu Yanjing was holding her wrist, couldn’t reach Shang Chen.

"Ah—I’m going to get you! How dare you ruin my reputation, dastardly rogue." Qiao Yuxian kicked out a leg, barely missing Shang Chen.

Shang Chen frowned, wondering how he’d ruined her reputation.

"I, a perfectly well-behaved young woman, being accused of touching a stranger’s leg by you," Qiao Yuxian was wielding the bubble maker in one hand, while the other hand swung through the air.

"But you did touch it," Shang Chen reiterated.

Qiao Yuxian paused for a moment, then her movements grew even more intense, "Can you use a different word! Is that the only word in your head! Let me go, Gu Yanjing! Today I must teach him the difference between touching and pressing.

Gu Yanjing looked down at the wrist she had thrust into his hand.

"Let me go, so he can know the taste of my fists the size of sandbags," Qiao Yuxian said.

Gu Yanjing paused for a moment, then released his grip.

Qiao Yuxian stumbled forward, holding her fist in place, and faced Shang Chen across a two-meter distance.

Shang Chen looked at her fist, which was barely bigger than an egg.

A few seconds later, Qiao Yuxian took a step back, put her wrist into Gu Yanjing’s hand again, and continued her threats, "I’m warning you, if it wasn’t for your Mr. Gu holding me back, I would have floored you already."

Gu Yanjing: "......"

Shang Chen said nothing.

"You still don’t believe," Qiao Yuxian’s fierce little expression, "Let me go, I’ll show him the might of my Qiao Family’s iron clay pot fists."

The man next to Meng Yan had been watching their Mr. Gu.

After observing for a while, he summed it up in two words: indulgence.

The mind of their Mr. Gu was extremely hard to read and he preferred quietness, yet he could tolerate someone so noisy; one could say it was extreme indulgence.

This time, Gu Yanjing picked up the right signal, wrapped an arm around her waist, and whisked her into the living room.

Suddenly airborne, Qiao Yuxian kicked her feet a couple of times, then took the bubble maker in her hand and sprayed Shang Chen with bubbles, not forgetting to throw one last threat before entering the living room, "Just you wait."

Shang Chen closed his eyes briefly: "......"