Chapter 747 - 258: My Wife Offended You (2)

The silver needles were already at her fingertips, but a tiny shred of compassion stopped Qin Mei from plunging them into Qiao Wei’s neck. Qin Mei put the needles away and repeatedly told herself what to do.

’Forget it. Qiao Wei’s heartbroken. I should be helping her, not kicking her while she’s down.’

Qiao Wei hugged Qin Mei and cried for a long time, smearing her exquisite makeup and leaving her eyes swollen. She cried her heart out, but Qin Mei didn’t offer a single word of comfort. Qiao Wei was on the verge of a breakdown, starting to question her existence. ’Didn’t Qin Mei come to comfort me?’

Sobbing, Qiao Wei let go of Qin Mei and stared at her through blurry, tear-filled eyes. "Mei, aren’t you here to comfort me?"

Finally free, Qin Mei stretched her sore back. Her nose was uncomfortably stuffy, so she pulled a tissue from her pocket to blow it.

Qiao Wei’s nose was running too. Too embarrassed to wipe it on Qin Mei and having no tissues of her own, she rummaged through Qin Mei’s pocket. She didn’t find any tissues, but she did find a handkerchief, which she promptly used to blow her nose.

Qin Mei started to reach for the handkerchief to snatch it back, but she quickly pulled her hand away. Now that Qiao Wei had blown her nose in it, there was no way she was taking it back.

Her nose clear and feeling much better, Qiao Wei offered the used handkerchief back to Qin Mei.

"You can have it," Qin Mei said magnanimously.

Qiao Wei froze for a second, her face falling. "Mei, do you find me disgusting?"

Qin Mei wanted to ask, ’Isn’t my disgust obvious enough?’ But what she said was, "You need it."

"I’m done with it," Qiao Wei said.

"Then throw it away," Qin Mei said.

"You can still use it if you wash it," Qiao Wei argued.

"I am disgusted with you," Qin Mei said bluntly.

"See? I knew you were disgusted with me, and you wouldn’t even admit it." Qiao Wei tossed the handkerchief aside and leaned her head on Qin Mei’s shoulder, whining pitifully, "Mei, I’m heartbroken."

"Were you even in a relationship?" Qin Mei asked, twisting the knife.

Qiao Wei glared and retorted, "What do you mean I wasn’t? We spent every day together for a while! We could talk about anything, we had so much in common, and every day was filled with joy."

’You silly girl,’ Qin Mei thought. ’He was just using you. Of course you had things in common—he was just telling you what you wanted to hear.’

’And Jie Jingchen is even more ruthless. He knew what Jiang Yuan was up to but still gave him a helping hand. Talk about sacrificing family for the ’greater good’! That man has a bright future ahead of him.’

"Did you sleep with him?" Qin Mei asked bluntly.

Qiao Wei froze. Even for a ’veteran’ like her, Qin Mei’s blunt question made her feel embarrassed.

"N-no..." Qiao Wei stammered, completely tongue-tied.

Qin Mei was surprised. ’Qiao Wei is always so alluring and seductive. Usually, when she finds someone she likes, she gets right to it. She was clearly lusting after Jiang Yuan, so why didn’t she tempt him into getting... intimate? Is Jiang Yuan’s willpower really that unshakable, or did Qiao Wei not use her full arsenal of tricks?’

"You really didn’t?" Qin Mei pressed.

"Mei, what kind of person do you take me for? My feelings for him were genuine," Qiao Wei said, unhappy.

"Who haven’t you been genuine with?" Qin Mei had heard from Jie Jingchen that Qiao Wei was always ’genuine’ with anyone she set her sights on.

Thinking of her own track record made Qiao Wei feel a bit guilty. ’Do I regret my past escapades? No. But who would have thought I’d fall for Jiang Yuan at first sight? And I don’t mean my usual, casual ’love at first sight’—this was the real, from-the-bottom-of-my-heart kind.’

"He’s different from all the others," Qiao Wei said, a shy blush coloring her tear-stained cheeks.

"He is different," Qin Mei agreed.

Qiao Wei excitedly grabbed Qin Mei’s arm. "Mei, you see it too! You have such a good eye! All those other guys were after my looks, my family background, my... well, they were all after *something*. But Jiang Yuan is the exception. He doesn’t want anything from me."

Qin Mei looked at Qiao Wei with a complicated expression. ’Oh, but what Jiang Yuan is after...’

’If Qiao Wei ever found out what he was really after, I wonder if her love would turn to hate.’

"A man who wants something from you doesn’t genuinely like you. But a man who wants *nothing* from you is guaranteed to not genuinely like you at all." Qin Mei cut the thread of emotion cleanly, trying to stop Qiao Wei from sinking any deeper.

Defeated, Qiao Wei mumbled, "He likes you."

"I don’t like him." Qin Mei’s head began to ache. ’Why does Qiao Wei always have to drag me into things? So what if Jiang Yuan likes me? Did she really have to say that out loud?’

"Mei, tell me honestly, have you two known each other for a long time?" Qiao Wei asked. She had noticed the way Jiang Yuan looked at Qin Mei—it was a look of restraint. Qin Mei, on the other hand, looked at him like he was a stranger, and it didn’t seem like she was faking it.

Qin Mei hesitated for a moment before deciding not to hide it. "We’re from the same village..."

"Childhood sweethearts!" Qiao Wei exclaimed, no longer calm.

Qin Mei raised a hand to rub her temples. "Could you not make it sound so romantic? Just because we’re from the same village doesn’t make us childhood sweethearts. For all you know, we couldn’t stand each other back then. We might have been like oil and water."

"Impossible. The look in his eyes when he’s watching you is clearly filled with intense love," Qiao Wei insisted. ’A person’s eyes can’t lie,’ she thought.