Chapter 175: Past Affairs

Julia’s words instantly reminded Qin Miaoyu of what Lu Qi'an had told her in the past.

Lu Qi'an had said that he had known her for a long time, and had loved her for a long time. However, he had only mentioned going to Nancheng to see her.

Then, was the time Julia mentioned when Lu Qi'an flew back to Jingcheng and went to Jingcheng University also to see her?

Yet, she had never noticed such a person appearing around her.

She asked slowly, "Did Lu Qi'an come back often?"

"Considering the distance, and how busy Lu Qi'an's work is, it was impossible for him to come often. But whenever he had a slightly longer break, he would fly back to the country..." Seeing Qin Miaoyu looking dazed, Julia’s voice gradually trailed off.

"Don't be sad. Isn't it a good thing to see his true colors clearly? It's not worth being sad over such a person. Since he has someone he has never been able to forget, he shouldn't have married you!"

Qin Miaoyu couldn't help laughing. Was she sad? She had just suddenly discovered some things about Lu Qi'an, and they were related to her. This feeling was rather wondrous.

"Don't worry, I'm not sad for that reason. It's because of other matters, but I can't explain it all clearly right now."

Julia looked somewhat skeptical, but noticing that the expression on Qin Miaoyu's face was genuinely calm, she gave up trying to persuade her.

After all, not everyone was as sensible as she was! The moment she realized she could never win Lu Qi'an's love, she had decisively let go!

Therefore, as long as she ran fast enough, the knife of romance could never strike her!

The two chatted in the office for a long time, and Qin Miaoyu even managed to fish out quite a few stories about Lu Qi'an from back then out of Julia's mouth.

Only at the very end did Julia snap out of it. She looked at Qin Miaoyu with a complicated expression: "Miss Qin, everything I said is true. Don't just brush it off!"

Qin Miaoyu nodded: "Don't worry, I've kept it all in mind! I know what to make of what you said!"

How could she not keep it in mind? She still intended to question Lu Qi'an about it later!

After Julia left the studio, Xu Xiaoqi arrived at Qin Miaoyu's workspace.

Xu Xiaoqi had been worried the whole time. She hadn't expected Julia to show up, and even less expected that Julia would take Qin Miaoyu aside to talk alone.

However, seeing the quite cheerful mood Qin Miaoyu was in inside the office, her heart finally settled.

"Did the contract get closed? You're this happy?"

Qin Miaoyu retorted, "If the contract had been closed, wouldn't I have let you come over long ago?"

"Then what was she here for? I just got back from the restroom and was startled when the receptionist told me Julia was here. Why did she want to talk to you alone?"

"She knows Lu Qi'an, and from him, she learned that the whole business about me stealing someone else's boyfriend, as told by her friend, was completely off the mark. So she came to apologize to me."

Xu Xiaoqi raised an eyebrow, recalling the thing Julia had mentioned twice—that a friend's boyfriend had been stolen away.

She couldn't help feeling curious: "Who on earth is Julia's friend? When Julia was taking jabs at you alone earlier, that person must have mentioned your name, right?"

Qin Miaoyu said, "Remember Gao Qingqing, the one I mentioned before?"

"It was her?"

Xu Xiaoqi actually didn't know much about Gao Qingqing as a person. Her understanding of Gao Qingqing came entirely from what she heard through Qin Miaoyu or Pei Yixue, but just hearing those things was enough to leave her jaw dropping.

"What is this Gao Qingqing trying to pull? Did she deliberately target you because of Lu Qi'an?"

That was the only reason Xu Xiaoqi could think of. After all, besides that, Qin Miaoyu and Gao Qingqing didn't really have any other conflicts.

Qin Miaoyu confirmed her guess.

"Just keep this in your head and don't spread it outside. Lu Qi'an probably has some kind of plan going on over his side; don't mess up his arrangements."

Xu Xiaoqi immediately made a zipping motion across her lips with her hand to indicate she wouldn't say a word.

Julia didn't drive away immediately this time because she had just asked Qin Miaoyu and learned that the commercial street ahead was a great place for shopping.

She carried a conspicuous designer bag, and people on the street who knew their luxury brands would occasionally spare her a few extra glances.

Julia was enjoying her shopping quite a bit, except for one thing that left her slightly dissatisfied: she lacked someone to carry her things. She always bought items in piles, and she knew neither the address of her hotel nor the address over at Lu Qi'an's place!

Just as she was about to make a phone call, she caught sight of a familiar back.

Julia instantly put away her phone, headed towards the front right, and tapped the man on the shoulder.

"Lu Qi'an, quick, help me get a few people over here to carry these things, otherwise I won't be able to manage them all, and then tell me the address of my hotel! Never mind, just tell me your home address instead; I don't want to go back to that hotel!"

The person slowly turned around, and Julia realized it was a face completely different from Lu Qi'an's.

She immediately said, "I'm sorry, I mistook you for someone else!"

The person who had been mistaken didn't get angry at all and gracefully accepted Julia's apology: "It's fine."

Julia carried her bag as she walked back. After taking quite a few steps, she couldn't resist looking back, only to see that the man from just now was still standing in the exact same spot, smiling as he watched in her direction.

Julia turned away in disappointment. She had wanted to take another look at that back because it really looked so much like Lu Qi'an!

When it was time to get off work in the afternoon, Lu Qi'an arrived to pick up Qin Miaoyu as usual.

Before the car even started, Qin Miaoyu suddenly remarked, "Julia came to see me again today."

Lu Qi'an immediately looked at her: "Did she come to give you trouble again?"

"Not at all. She came to apologize to me, and incidentally told me some stories about a certain someone from the past. As it happened, I was feeling a bit curious myself, so I asked a few more questions."

A trace of unperceivable tension flickered in Lu Qi'an's eyes: "What did she say to you?"

Qin Miaoyu didn't answer directly, but instead asked, "You said before that you occasionally went to Nancheng No. 1 High School to see me?"

Hearing Qin Miaoyu bring this up, Lu Qi'an breathed a sigh of relief: "Yes, but I would just go take a look whenever I had free time."

"Then besides that, when else did you go to see me?"

Lu Qi'an racked his brains, thinking of a time that was forever etched in his memory.

"I went on your eighteenth birthday, too."

"My eighteenth birthday?" Qin Miaoyu's voice rose in pitch.

She remembered that her eighteenth birthday was the exact day she became engaged to Jiang Anqi.

Back then, the two families had only recently finalized the engagement between the juniors, and Jiang Anqi hadn't yet exposed his true nature. Putting on a pretense, he had looked like a decent enough person, so at that time she hadn't been particularly resistant to the engagement with Jiang Anqi.

Based on everything Lu Qi'an had told her before, seeing her get engaged to Jiang Anqi definitely wouldn't have felt good in his heart. If he were being considerate, it would be best for the topic to stop right there and not delve any deeper.

When dealing with people she was close to, Qin Miaoyu mostly presented a gentle and understanding demeanor.

Yet at this moment, a slightly mischievous thought popped into Qin Miaoyu's mind.

"Lu Qi'an, how did it feel when you saw me getting engaged back then?"