When Huo Rou returned, Qin Ningyi brought An An over. She didn't mention her suspicions about Huo Rou's identity, merely glanced at Shen Feng and advised Huo Rou to take care of herself.
As soon as Qin Ningyi left, Xia Qingxue arrived.
"Shen Feng!" Xia Qingxue rushed towards Shen Feng the moment she entered.
Shen Feng allowed her to nuzzle against him, patiently cooperating.
"Shen Feng is so good," Xia Qingxue said enviously, sitting next to Huo Rou after a while of dog-petting. "I wish I had a dog like Shen Feng."
"Not giving him to you," An An hugged Shen Feng and stuck her tongue out at Xia Qingxue.
"So stingy," Xia Qingxue linked arms with Huo Rou, smiling ingratiatingly. "A'Rou, can you train a dog as obedient and sensible as Shen Feng for me too?"
"Don't have the time. You teach it yourself," Huo Rou narrowed her eyes, looking at Xia Qingxue meaningfully.
"If you don't have time, you don't have time, why are you looking at me like that?" Xia Qingxue pushed Huo Rou. "Yikes, you're giving me the creeps."
"You seem to have plenty of time, you're even into online dating?" Huo Rou began to tally the accounts.
Hearing Huo Rou's words, Xia Qingxue's first reaction was to look at An An, her voice tinged with annoyed embarrassment, "Good for you, selling me out?!"
"I didn't!" An An shook her head quickly, facing Xia Qingxue's accusation.
"You knew too?" Huo Rou narrowed her eyes. An An chuckled, called Shen Feng, and the two of them scurried away.
"You better explain yourself," Huo Rou adopted the posture of interrogating a criminal as she questioned Xia Qingxue.
"It's just that when I was bored, I played games, and then I met a little brother," Xia Qingxue said shyly.
"And then," Huo Rou was not about to be fooled. "Meeting someone and online dating are two different things, my lady."
The moment Huo Rou uttered "my lady," Xia Qingxue's face instantly flushed crimson. She pointed at Huo Rou, stuttering and unable to form a complete sentence: "You... you, you you..."
"Silly girl, your game auto-starts on my computer, isn't that obviously letting me see?" Huo Rou rolled her eyes. "You're so generous."
Was this generosity? Xia Qingxue was so embarrassed. She had completely forgotten about that, only thinking that since they both had WeChat, they could still contact each other even when not playing the game.
"What did you see?" Xia Qingxue asked, her face red.
"Nothing much, just that he complained you were avoiding him and refused to meet," Huo Rou pouted. "What are you thinking? Just stringing him along like this?"
"I..." Xia Qingxue stammered. "I heard that people with nice voices are usually quite... ugly."
"So, you just like his voice?" Huo Rou knew her best friend was an audiophile, but she hadn't expected her to be this much of a player.
"If I went to meet an online friend, you'd be even more worried, wouldn't you? This is me protecting myself!" Xia Qingxue argued logically. "I have a strong sense of self-protection. I used your computer to play, so no one can trace me."
"Your IP address was already traced, and you still claim to have self-protection?" Huo Rou said, exasperated, thinking of the information she had seen.
Xia Qingxue hadn't expected Huo Rou to know all this. "Oh, that was just because I wasn't paying attention. Who knew he was so capable? I just said a few more things to him on WeChat, and he found out."
"He was certainly capable enough to deal with your little tricks," Huo Rou recalled her computer nearly being compromised, and shook her head helplessly. "You."
"Oh, later I switched back to that ugly phone you gave me," Xia Qingxue whined charmingly. "Good A'Rou, I wasn't putting myself in danger, don't be angry, okay?"
"Just playing around? Not planning on being together?" Huo Rou asked, remembering her poor brother.
"No!" Xia Qingxue nodded vigorously. "I was afraid he was ugly..."
"He's not ugly," Huo Rou stated fairly. "If you're going to date, do it properly."
"You checked him out?" Xia Qingxue's eyes sparkled instantly. "Is he handsome? How does he compare to your Qin Ningyi? Are you allowing me to date online?"
Xia Qingxue bombarded her with questions.
"You silly girl," Huo Rou helplessly poked her forehead. "You almost sold my computer to him, and you're still asking me these things."
"How is that possible?" Xia Qingxue expressed disbelief.
"Then I took the opportunity to turn on his webcam."
"I knew it, you're so capable."
"So, what exactly are you thinking?" Huo Rou, unable to stand her evasiveness, asked directly.
Xia Qingxue finally answered seriously, "I just haven't made up my mind yet."
"A'Rou, I never thought about dating, but he's actually quite nice. How about you help me, and keep this a secret for a while longer?" Xia Qingxue resorted to delaying tactics.
Then, to Xia Qingxue's look of admiration, Huo Rou helped her reconfigure her phone, allowing her to continue her sweet online romance.
Huo Rou couldn't understand the point of such a secretive game, but the thought of the eligible bachelor, Ren Zhen, filled her with a sense of guilt.
He was her brother for so many years, and now that he was pursuing someone, she had to be a hindrance.
Before going to bed, Huo Rou had a pang of conscience and sent Ren Zhen a message saying, "Take care."
Ren Zhen, completely unaware of everything, stared at the two words on the screen, utterly perplexed.
He admitted that his boss was smart, but he wasn't stupid. How could he not understand these two words?
【Ren: Boss, what do you mean by that?】
【A'Rou: My blessings to you.】
He sent several more messages, but Huo Rou didn't reply.
When he returned to the game, still baffled, he found that his world had collapsed. His wife, who hadn't logged in for nearly a month, had logged in but had since logged off.
He only saw a few short lines of conversation.
【Qingmo: Mage, I'm here!】
【Qingmo: Who is she?】
【Qingmo: Why is she in our room?】
【Qingmo: Mage, where are you?】
【Teng Jiao Qi Feng: He's taking a shower, he goes to wash up at this time.】
【Teng Jiao Qi Feng: Who are you?】
【Teng Jiao Qi Feng: Are you Brother Zhen's in-game lover?】
【Teng Jiao Qi Feng: I'm sorry, although I don't mind him finding a partner in the game, Brother Zhen belongs to me tonight.】
After this sentence, his wife never replied. He checked her status and found she was already offline.
"Zhong Li!" Ren Zhen narrowed his long, narrow eyes, his voice laced with chilling coldness.
Ren Zhen tried to contact Xia Qingxue via WeChat, but all his calls went unanswered. When he sent another message, he found he had been blacklisted.
Now it was trouble.
He had always known his wife was delicate, but how was he supposed to find her now? Other than the IP address he had tracked once, he had found nothing else.
He had even had the hotel thoroughly searched. He had the information of every woman who had checked in that day, and he had checked them all, but to no avail.
It was too unfair that the person he had finally taken a liking to was ruined by Zhong Li.
Ren Zhen scratched his hair in frustration, then suddenly remembered something and sent out a message.
【Bi Fang: Brothers, help me find someone.】