Chapter 444 - 319: Lin Ruoxi, You’re Too Cunning

Inside the private room.

Gu Muxue and Lin Ruoxi sat side-by-side, neither speaking for a long while.

"Hello, is there anything you need?" another waiter asked, walking in and glancing at the two of them.

"No, we’re fine," Lin Ruoxi replied.

Lin Ruoxi found it very strange. They had come in several times in just half an hour.

Gu Muxue chuckled. "You don’t understand how boys think. They don’t come in here to actually ask if we need anything. It’s because you’re so beautiful they want an excuse to get a look at you..."

She had noticed it was a different person every time, and she could just imagine what the waiters were saying behind their backs.

A: There are some pretty girls over there.

B: I don’t believe it. I have to go see for myself.

C: I don’t believe it either.

And that’s why they kept coming in to ask if they needed anything. Their intentions had little to do with providing service...

Lin Ruoxi was curious. She didn’t know if Gu Muxue was right, so she decided to get up and check for herself.

She walked over to the heavy door and pulled it open just a crack. Sure enough, she heard voices in the hallway.

"I think the one on the left is prettier."

"What’s wrong with your eyes? Didn’t you see the one on the right is bigger?"

"Did they get into a fight? It looks to me like there are broken glasses and bottles all over the floor."

"No, they’re holding hands and chatting. Go tell Old Li to come take a look."

...

Gu Muxue saw that Lin Ruoxi was about to stick her whole head out the door. She rushed over and pulled her back. It wouldn’t be good if an acquaintance wandering by happened to see them.

"I... I think you’re prettier," Lin Ruoxi said softly.

’Gu Muxue is like a prophet, always able to predict what’s going to happen.’

’No wonder Xue Rui is always so afraid of Gu Muxue. Is it because she can read his mind?’

Gu Muxue shook her head. She didn’t want to waste time on such pointless topics with Lin Ruoxi. There were many questions she had for her.

Xue Rui and his friends would be out late, so she and Lin Ruoxi had plenty of time.

"When did you and Xue Rui become an official couple?" Gu Muxue asked.

"On the Qixi Festival this year. He gave me a necklace." Lin Ruoxi recalled the events of that day. She had been so sad and heartbroken then, because that was when she learned that Xue Rui liked two girls.

But looking back on it now, it was filled with beautiful memories. That day, Xue Rui had taken her to the beach.

Lin Ruoxi reached down to pull the necklace out from under her shirt, only to find that Gu Muxue’s face was already streaked with tears, though a smile played on her lips.

Gu Muxue was crying, but she was also smiling.

’I was here first,’ Gu Muxue thought, biting her lip.

She wanted so badly to end it all, but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. It was clearly Xue Rui’s fault, yet she couldn’t let go of a relationship that had lasted more than a decade.

Xue Rui had "bullied" her for nearly ten years, and she had always dreamed of the day she would get her revenge.

As a child, she had thought her focus on Xue Rui was born from resentment, from an unwillingness to be outdone.

But every time she faced a major decision, she would still side with Xue Rui without hesitation. She couldn’t accept a life without him.

Xue Rui had become a fundamental part of her life.

She hated the man Xue Rui was now, and yet she loved him so much...

She could allow Xue Rui to make one mistake, but this mistake couldn’t be allowed to continue. Everything had to get back on track.

’As long as I can get rid of Lin Ruoxi, I can settle the score with Xue Rui alone. Once this is all over, things can go back to how they were...’

’But... can things really go back to how they were?’

For the past few days, she had kept asking Xue Rui, "Who came first?" She just wanted an answer for herself, a reason to make a choice.

’If I came first, I would pressure him to get rid of Lin Ruoxi, and then I’d give Xue Rui a good thrashing.’

’If Lin Ruoxi came first, I would turn and walk away without a second thought.’

And now, she had learned from Lin Ruoxi’s own lips that she was, in fact, the one who came first...

"Lin Ruoxi, you’re so gentle. Xiaorui really likes you," Gu Muxue said, her voice trembling.

She couldn’t bring herself to do it. ’Where would Lin Ruoxi go without Xue Rui?’

’If something really happened to Lin Ruoxi, I would never be able to live with myself. It would create an indelible rift between me and Xue Rui, and that’s not the future I want.’

’So, it doesn’t matter who came first. The only outcome is for me to leave.’

She tried to wipe away her tears, but when she thought of a future without Xue Rui, they just wouldn’t stop falling.

Lin Ruoxi clutched a pack of tissues, frantically pulling them out one by one. She could understand how Gu Muxue felt. "Rui likes you more... more than me," she said hurriedly.

She had never considered which of them was more important to him; she just wanted to be by Xue Rui’s side.

Lin Ruoxi was, in fact, a little curious about who Xue Rui liked more, but she would never ask. It wasn’t that she was afraid of the answer; she just didn’t want to put him in a difficult position.

She believed the best outcome would be for her and Gu Muxue to be equally important to him. But seeing Gu Muxue crying so heartbrokenly, she would rather her own importance be a little less.

Even though saying it made her feel inexplicably unhappy, someone had to be the one to give in. As long as she was the one to lose a little, everyone else could be happy.

Gu Muxue was stunned. ’Aren’t you unhappy saying something like that?’

’The person you love loves someone else more. How can you possibly accept that?’

"Lin Ruoxi, you’re really..." Gu Muxue was at a loss for words. Lin Ruoxi truly left her feeling powerless, like she had all this fight in her with nowhere to direct it.

’Is this part of Xue Rui’s plan, too?’

Gu Muxue looked up, met Lin Ruoxi’s eyes, and asked, "When he made things official with you, did you know I was his girlfriend?"