"If... If one day, someone from the Mu family came looking for me, would you let me go home?"
Sheng Xiao straightened at the question and pulled Mu Qiqi closer to his handsome face. "That's why I'm having you choose right now! I've said it: The Sheng family never takes in ungrateful people."
Still, for her part, Mu Qiqi would stay with Sheng Xiaowhether others would see her as young and naïve or pure and easily fooled.
Because he was ever so captivating, especially his maroon eyes that were as beautiful as ambers.
It was as if she had nothing to fear for when she was with him.
"By the way, you should learn to improve yourself when you're with me. No one could help you otherwise!"
Mu Qiqi nodded somberly at that.
"Change my bandages then."
Sheng Xiao appeared nonchalant the entire time Mu Qiqi was changing his bandages. In fact, she could tell that he was deliberately keeping his eyes away from her so that she would not feel awkward and blush.
It was after she was finished when he asked her, "You're already eighteen, yes?"
"Not yet, actually... but I will be on Christmas eve."
Sheng Xiao lifted her chin with a hooked finger at that. "Just seventeen, and you already have the gall to take off a man's pants... You're really rotten, Mu Qiqi."
"I... I didn't do that on purpose," she quickly explained.
And since it was her blood that had saved him in the end, Sheng Xiao did not keep teasing her.
"Your aunt's not going to believe that I'm innocent if you keep blushing."
Mu Qiqi quickly held her own face and chewed her lip, revealing a pretty mole beside her nose as she entered the bathroom to calm herself. However, she found that Sheng Xiao had already left when she returned.
A curious dejection arose in her, and she thought that the man was as elusive as a shadow.
Such a free spirit.
"What happened, Qiqi? Did he do anything to you?" Su Zipei asked after her, having entered the room after seeing Sheng Xiao left.
"No."
Mu Qiqi shook her head before adding, "He's letting me resume my studies."
"Of course you should. I've just looked around, there's a nice school nearby... I'll just have to work a little harder..
."
"He said that he's arranged for me to go to Eaton." Mu Qiqi cut her short.
"Huh? Well... Isn't that school better than the one your sister is studying in now?" Su Zipei did not actually know much about prestigious schools, but she was still aware of the top academies within the country.
"Yeah!"
"Even if I don't think that's right, I still feel delighted to hear that you're going to a better school than your sister." Su Zipei said self-deprecatingly. "To think that it's an enemy who gives you a better life than your own family... You have my support!"
Mu Qiqi reached out to hug her, feeling a wave of gratitude. "Thank you, Aunt Zipei... for siding with me this time."
"Oh, Qiqi. You must work hard, and have the Mu family regret leaving you!"
***
At night, Jing Yun arrived bringing Mu Qiqi's school uniform, a school bag, and a gold card.
"There's no need for a housekeeper with your aunt here, but you would still require a chauffeur. He would report in tomorrow and take you to school."
"Since you are appearing in public again, it would be hard to avoid suspicion if you suddenly attend a better school, not to mention that you're a daughter abandoned by the Mu family. That is why Young Master has arranged a patron for you."
"He's thought of everything." Mu Qiqi murmured, slightly awed.
"He is a fine person in many ways, as much as he can be rotten."
"How is he rotten?"
Mu Qiqi had only found Sheng Xiao dangerous, but not a bad person.
However, Jing Yun smiled but did not answer. "Please rest early."
Diamonds.
***
Mu Qiqi tried on her new uniform at night and went through her books.
She never expected that she would be going to school again after all she went through with the Mu familyand the best school at that.
At the moment, her father's eldest brother was being interviewed by a financial magazine on television, and was apologizing for having delayed his interview session before.
He even mentioned that a tragedy had befallen his family: his mother had passed away.
"One of my twin nieces is no longer a part of the Mu family. She was disowned because of that matter."
The program simply made light of the matter, with the hosts having a laugh over itleaving Mu Qiqi completely miserable.
Su Zupei turned the television off. "Don't watch it, Qiqi. Rest, you have school tomorrow."
"Okay." She nodded, rising and returning to her bedroom.
She felt insecure because it was not her own room.
However, she did not find herself so helpless when she remembered Sheng Xiao, sitting on the edge of the bed.
It turned out that becoming dependent was ever so easy.
***
The next morning, Mu Qiqi woke early and found Old Lin, her chauffeur once she stepped outside the door.
"Good morning, Miss Mu. You can call me Uncle Lin, this way please."
In her school uniform, Mu Qiqi got in the car, which droved past the Van Gogh Royal Academy on the way.
She saw the young mistress of the Mu family at the school gates, while she herself was going to another, better school!
Time would tell who was truly stronger!
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