After all, waiting for the bus didn't take too long.
Mu Jinyu turned back to follow the path Lin Qiaoxia had taken, and soon saw the solitary figure ahead.
As he intended to make sure she got home safely, Mu Jinyu didn't call out to Lin Qiaoxia.
But as Mu Jinyu followed her, ten minutes turned into fifteen, Lin Qiaoxia kept walking all alone, showing no sign of stopping.
"Does she really live nearby? How many streets have we walked now?"
Mu Jinyu, trailing behind Lin Qiaoxia, couldn't help but want to complain.
However, although he was a bit annoyed, Mu Jinyu had no intention of abandoning the effort and heading home, leaving Lin Qiaoxia to her own devices.
How could he feel at ease leaving her, when along the way, he had encountered many drunken men stumbling about? In such circumstances, how could he just walk away?
Although Lin Qiaoxia's attire wouldn't reveal her beauty unless someone looked closely, the drunkards hadn't noticed her. But who could guarantee that nothing unexpected would happen on the street?
And since he had been secretly protecting her all this time, Mu Jinyu didn't mind wasting more time to follow Lin Qiaoxia and ensure she got home safely.
He followed Lin Qiaoxia for another twenty minutes.
Finally, Lin Qiaoxia stopped in an old shantytown area.
"So, she lives here. Is that why she didn't want me to escort her home?"
Mu Jinyu hid behind and watched Lin Qiaoxia enter the shantytown, greeting the neighbors as she went, and thought to himself.
As for why she chose to walk home silently instead of taking a taxi after parting with him, it was probably to save money.
Mu Jinyu thought silently.
Then, he quietly left the shantytown, waited for a while by the road, and finally hailed a taxi to return to his own residential area.
Back home.
It was already past nine, almost ten o'clock.
Gu Xiyan and Wen Rou were sitting on the living room sofa, distractedly watching television while occasionally looking back at the door to see when Mu Jinyu would return.
"Click!"
As Mu Jinyu opened the door and entered, they immediately turned their heads in unison to look toward the doorway.
Seeing Mu Jinyu come in, both women breathed a sigh of relief. Wen Rou got up from the sofa and approached Mu Jinyu, while Gu Xiyan's gaze flickered before she turned back to watch the TV show indifferently.
"Little Mu, you're back. Are you hungry?"
Wen Rou approached Mu Jinyu and asked.
"I'm fine, not hungry," Mu Jinyu said as he changed into slippers and shook his head.
"How was your day at the company?" Gu Xiyan suddenly interjected.
Mu Jinyu turned his head to look at Gu Xiyan sitting on the sofa, displeased, and said, "I wasn't playing. I was empathizing with the people, getting down to the grassroots, diving into the masses' lives, identifying difficulties, solving problems..."
With interest, Gu Xiyan looked at Mu Jinyu and asked, "So, did you identify any difficulties and solve them?"
"Sure," Mu Jinyu said with a chuckle, "I found a treasure of a girl. Even without makeup, she's prettier than you. If she were to get dolled up, tsk tsk, it would be something else. A beauty that brings trouble, I'm planning to take her in as my secretary, hehe..."
"You?!" Gu Xiyan spat out those words, enraged to the point of almost coughing up blood, "What do you mean by looking prettier than me without makeup?"
She then stared at Mu Jinyu with wary eyes and shouted, "I won't let you cause any trouble and bring harm to her."
"Enough, I'm not joking with you anymore," Mu Jinyu's sleazy expression faded, and he shook his head disinterestedly as he turned to Wen Rou, "Do you remember that cousin who came to our house a few days ago to get something done?"
"I remember, what about him?" Wen Rou felt an inexplicable sense of foreboding upon hearing Mu Jinyu ask like this.
Gu Xiyan also perked up her ears upon hearing that.
"Ah..." Mu Jinyu sighed as if he had a lot to say and then proceeded to tell them about all he had seen that day.
It started with Wen Yan joining the company, loafing around all day, and deceiving others by claiming he was related to Wen Rou. He even told the new colleagues that his word had gotten her into the company and that the new "General Gu" had also joined because of his influence...
Hearing this, Gu Xiyan's face turned livid with anger, found the whole situation utterly ridiculous.
Her admission to Jinyu Group was clearly thanks to Mu Jinyu, so what did it have to do with that man? Yet he had the audacity to fool people with such a claim.
Mu Jinyu was not done yet. He went on to describe the conflict at the bar that night. When someone came looking for trouble, Wen Yan actually asked him to kneel and kowtow to apologize and even mentioned the girl he considered a treasure, planning to divert the calamity toward her to save himself...
After Gu Xiyan heard the whole story, she was incensed. She smacked the armrest of the sofa and exclaimed, "Wen Rou, how can you have such a malicious cousin? To ensure his own safety he would drag an unrelated person down with him!"
Wen Rou pursed her red lips, her face also looking somewhat unsightly, a mix of shame and helplessness.
Wen Yan was able to join Jinyu Company solely because Mu Jinyu considered her, allowing him in just to be a freeloader.
Yet, here he was, not content with just being a freeloader, stirring up so much trouble, which made her feel extremely apologetic to Mu Jinyu.
Pursing her red lips, Wen Rou bowed her head and said regretfully, "I'm sorry. I will notify him tomorrow that he no longer needs to come to the office."
Mu Jinyu waved his hand and said, "You don't need to be the bad guy, lest they get entangled with you again. I will handle it myself."
Since he had come to see Wen Yan as such a malicious person, there was no way Mu Jinyu would keep him in the company, regardless of him being Wen Rou's cousin.
Wen Rou was about to say more, but Mu Jinyu shook his head, "Alright, it's getting late, you both should rest."
After Mu Jinyu finished speaking, he yawned and went back to his own room.
Once Mu Jinyu was inside his room, Gu Xiyan remained seated on the sofa, mulling over what he had said about the girl Wen Yan had tried to redirect the trouble toward, the one described as a treasure. Could she possibly be as beautiful as he claimed, even more beautiful than herself?
She didn't believe it.
But recalling Mu Jinyu's actions that evening gave her a baffling sense of irritation and wariness, as if he was willing to fight for a beautiful dame.
"Sister Yan, let's go back to our room to sleep as well."
Wen Rou's gaze was complex as she watched the firmly closed door of Mu Jinyu's room. Afterward, she drew her gaze away, picked up the remote from the coffee table, turned off the television, and said to Gu Xiyan.
"Yeah…" Gu Xiyan pondered for a moment, then suddenly said, "Wen Rou, aren't you curious about that treasure girl Mu Jinyu mentioned? I feel like he's quite concerned about her, and she poses a big threat to you."
Upon hearing this, Wen Rou turned to look at her and smiled wryly, "What kind of threat could there be? It's Little Mu's freedom to like whoever he wants. I'm just his nanny, how could I have a say in that?!"
"That sounds insincere," Gu Xiyan said.
"What about you, then?" Wen Rou asked with a smile.
Gu Xiyan's expression stiffened, and then, in an even tone, she said, "I don't like him, just curious and nosy, that's all. Don't keep dragging the topic to me. Forget it, if you're not going to be honest, I'm off to sleep."
Having said that, Gu Xiyan stood up and walked towards the Gentle Room.