Chapter 320 - 272: Lin Ruoxi’s Boss’s Wife

"It’s been so long since you submitted your college application. Why are you only telling me now?" Gu Muxue asked.

"Because we hadn’t made our relationship official back then, and I was afraid you’d get jealous..." Xue Rui said shamelessly.

"Get up!" Gu Muxue said, puffing her cheeks in anger.

"Yes, Teacher Muxue."

Xue Rui scrambled to his feet, not forgetting to strike a pose standing on one leg.

Hearing the word "teacher," Gu Muxue couldn’t help but remember the time she used to tutor Xue Rui.

She looked at Xue Rui’s injured foot, sighed helplessly, and pushed him back down into his chair. "Sit down, student."

"Jerk. Don’t you dare hide things from me again," Gu Muxue muttered under her breath.

’Am I being too sensitive?’

Xue Rui had clearly told her everything and was even teasing her about being "jealous." It was as if they were casually talking about a third party, like a husband and wife before bed, discussing the outsider Lin Ruoxi from a united front...

But a girl as beautiful and outstanding as Lin Ruoxi might even be secretly in love with Xue Rui.

’I don’t know if Xue Rui has noticed...’

’I don’t think so. Xue Rui is pretty dense. It took him forever to notice the feelings I used to hide from him.’

And she certainly wasn’t going to tell Xue Rui her suspicions, or he would only become more brazen.

’But with Lin Ruoxi always by his side, isn’t that too dangerous?’

She recalled her first conversation with Lin Ruoxi, when she had said, "If I get too close to Xue Rui, he’ll scold me..."

Xue Rui was very conscious of boundaries, and it seemed like he didn’t like Lin Ruoxi. Gu Muxue breathed a sigh of relief, but she still felt uneasy.

After a moment’s hesitation, Gu Muxue gave a sly smile. "Between me and Lin Ruoxi, who do you think is..."

Xue Rui instantly felt as if a knife were at his back. A strong survival instinct compelled him to say, "You’re the most beautiful, of course. Why else would I have confessed my feelings to you so many times in the past?"

"No matter who you compare her to, Muxue is the best."

After saying this, Xue Rui didn’t forget to add ’one of’ in his head.

Gu Muxue frowned. ’Why did Xue Rui answer so quickly?’

She just wanted to be coaxed by him, but his reaction seemed a little... guilty.

"Who else have you said that to?" Gu Muxue walked up to Xue Rui and stared intently into his eyes.

Xue Rui paused for a moment before saying, "Actually, two people..."

"Hn?" Gu Muxue instantly tensed up.

Xue Rui said, "You and my mom."

Those were the only two women he needed to coax. Lin Ruoxi didn’t need coaxing at all. In fact, the little lass might not even like hearing such compliments; instead, she often complimented him.

Seeing Gu Muxue relax, Xue Rui decided to turn the tables. "Why are you so concerned about..."

Gu Muxue could guess what he was going to say next—he was definitely going to tease her about being jealous. She quickly reached out, covered his mouth, and threatened, "Don’t say it!"

Just then, Xue Yao came up with three bowls of beef meatballs.

"Late-night snack! We’ll play games after we eat." Xue Yao placed two bowls on the small table, set one in front of her own computer desk, put on her headphones, and plopped down comfortably in front of her computer.

Xue Rui was speechless. "Yaoyao, do you know what time it is? Why aren’t you in bed?"

Gu Muxue also glanced at the time and said, "It’s getting late. We should go to bed after we eat."

After they finished eating, Gu Muxue thought that Aunt Ren was far too careless, letting an injured Xue Rui go up and down the stairs by himself.

However, it never crossed her mind that Xue Rui might be faking it...

Xue Rui was also a little surprised. Gu Muxue actually had a meticulous side. Although she wasn’t as doting as the little lass, who attended to every single detail, she had her own kind of gentleness.

Gu Muxue put him in a chair with wheels and pushed him around the house. After making him brush his teeth and wash his face on his own, she continued to play for a while, wheeling him around the room like she was pulling cargo.

"Alright, you’re all washed up. Time for bed." Gu Muxue said with a beaming smile, giving Xue Rui a hard shove back into his own room.

"Muxue, I’m injured. It’s not convenient for me to take off my clothes. Actually, my bed might be hard, but sleeping on it once in a while is good for the spine..."

Xue Rui sat in the chair with his back to Gu Muxue, shamelessly listing the various benefits of sleeping on a hard bed.

However, he received no response from Gu Muxue. Instead, the room light was switched off, and the door was slammed shut.

Xue Rui sighed. ’If the little lass were here, she would have obediently helped me undress, and might even have been eager to sleep with me.’

’As for this girl... maybe someday in the future?’

’Yep, that’s what I’ll be dreaming about tonight.’

He took a deep breath, shot up from the chair, and stretched, rolling his neck.

’This girl is certainly perceptive, not as easy to fool as the little lass. Getting Gu Muxue to accept me two-timing... it’s going to be a long and arduous journey...’

’Good thing I gave Gu Muxue a heads-up about Lin Ruoxi’s whereabouts today. It’s some groundwork, so she doesn’t have a total meltdown when she sees Lin Ruoxi show up in Chang’an.’

Suddenly, Gu Muxue’s voice rang out right next to his ear, impossibly close:

"Xiaorui, you can stand?"

Xue Rui jumped back in fright and scrambled onto his bed. "Muxue, don’t scare me like that! I have a weak heart."

"I told you before I was fine, you’re the one who didn’t believe me."

"Hmph!" Gu Muxue snorted. She had thought he was just saying he was fine to reassure her.

’So he was really okay?’

Furious, she stormed out and slammed the door, throwing a cold threat over her shoulder before she left: "Don’t you dare follow me!"

Xue Rui’s heart pounded in his chest. He secretly congratulated himself for not having the stupid habit of talking to himself. If he had muttered his earlier thoughts aloud, it would have been an absolute disaster.

Just a moment ago, his back was to Gu Muxue, and he thought she had turned off the light, slammed the door, and left.

’So... just now, Gu Muxue turned off the light and came *in*?’

’Does that mean, a minute ago, Gu Muxue was really planning to help me undress?’

’She just turned off the lights first because she was shy?’

’The prim and proper young lady was going to condescend to undress me?’

’And I went and exposed the fact that I wasn’t injured at all?’

’What have I missed out on?!’

...

Now that Gu Muxue knew Xue Rui was physically fine, she immediately recalled all his previous actions. Without the "patient" status to shield him, she suddenly found him incredibly infuriating!

She made a secret vow to ignore Xue Rui for two days as revenge. As for the "Qixi Festival gift" she had promised him?

Not a chance in hell!

She walked into Xue Yao’s room, where Xue Yao was already lying in bed.

Xue Yao made room for Gu Muxue, fluffing the covers with her left hand while gently patting the soft mattress with her right. "Sister Muxue, hurry up and get in! I’m all settled!"

Gu Muxue laughed in spite of herself. ’Between these two siblings, who is the bad influence on whom?’

’Why are... neither of them ever serious?’

"Coming." Gu Muxue took off her shoes and hopped onto the bed, her small feet patting against the mattress.

"Sister Muxue, are you and my brother dating?" Xue Yao asked.

Gu Muxue’s face flushed, and she stammered, "Yes..."

It was only then that she realized her earlier outburst had basically announced her relationship with Xue Rui to both their families.

’Thankfully... no one seemed to find it strange, and no one objected.’

"Do you have someone you like?" Gu Muxue asked, launching a preemptive strike.

"I do," Xue Yao answered decisively.

Gu Muxue was surprised. "How come you’ve never mentioned it? What’s his name? Does he go to your school?"

"His name is Faker."

"Huh? Is that a nickname?"

"Worlds is in a few months. I think he can win the championship again."

Gu Muxue listened intently for a while before realizing Xue Yao was talking about a video game, not romance at all...

"Has anyone been pursuing you?" Gu Muxue asked in a low voice.

She found this feeling quite wonderful—having a sleepover with another girl and sharing secrets. It was something she had only ever heard other people at school talk about. She never thought she’d have a friend like this...

"There used to be a lot," Xue Yao said.

Gu Muxue asked curiously, "And then? You rejected them?"

With Xue Yao’s tall stature and beautiful face, boys must have pursued her. But what did she mean by "there *used* to be a lot"?

Xue Yao said nonchalantly, "I collected all the little notes they gave me, sorted them, and handed them all over to the dean of students and their homeroom teachers, saying they were distracting me from my studies..."

"They were punished by being made to line up and stand outside the office. You have no idea how spectacular that was. There were dozens of them..."

"Oh, right, I also made photocopies to give to their parents..."

"Now they’re all my lackeys. They call me Boss."

"After that, no one ever pursued me again."

"..." Gu Muxue was utterly speechless.

Sometimes, she even felt like Xue Yao had been born into the wrong gender.

...

After Xue Yao fell asleep, Gu Muxue took out her phone and scrolled through the various messages she had sent Xue Rui. ’So embarrassing!’ she thought.

’If Xue Rui were to bring these up in the future, would this count as my embarrassing past?’

Unfortunately, too much time had passed, and she couldn’t unsend them anymore.

She then found Lin Ruoxi’s number. She knew why Lin Ruoxi hadn’t replied to her message—it was because Xue Rui was right there...

What puzzled her was that she and Lin Ruoxi had been classmates at the same school for several years. Why hadn’t she accepted her friend request?

She looked at the three words she had sent—"I’m begging you"—and suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of shame.

’What was I even thinking back then?’

’I actually sent "I’m begging you" to someone I barely know.’

She had been thinking about contacting Lin Ruoxi, but then she remembered the messages she had sent her before...

Some of them, looking back, had an accusatory tone;

While others sounded desperate, as if she were pleading for Lin Ruoxi to give Xue Rui back to her.

Looking at these message logs, she couldn’t help but feel that she was becoming less and less like herself.

’Why do I become so irrational whenever things involve Xue Rui?’

’Lin Ruoxi and Xue Rui just have a superior-subordinate relationship...’

’Strictly speaking, I’m her lady boss!’

She was glad Lin Ruoxi hadn’t replied. Those messages were just too humiliating!

She deleted the messages one by one, as if what she couldn’t see had never happened.

Still, she thought Lin Ruoxi was a very gentle girl. She hadn’t questioned her back at all.

Otherwise, she would have wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into...

She used to think that after starting college, many people would disappear from her social circle. But now that she thought about it, most of her close friends seemed to be in the same city—some by arrangement, some by sheer coincidence...

In any case, she would definitely meet Lin Ruoxi again in the future.

But now, with the status of Xue Rui’s girlfriend, she could befriend Lin Ruoxi openly, without any worries.

As long as Lin Ruoxi wasn’t so withdrawn, she would be more than happy to be her friend.

She could actually sense it—that girl was very timid. She just didn’t know how Lin Ruoxi saw Xue Rui...