Su Qingluan initially felt she was the one being kept in the dark, so she was quite angry. However, even if she was extremely angry, as long as she found a reason to talk herself out of it, it would quickly subside. As the saying goes, "She doesn't get angry easily."

What's more, after Su Qingluan thought about it carefully, she realized that with Mu Xingzhi's cautious personality, he would naturally do such a thing, and there was nothing wrong with doing so just to be on the safe side.

She was just a little depressed. After all, she was a member of this "team" and should naturally be trusted accordingly. Therefore, this level of "communication" seemed almost natural to Su Qingluan.

Mu Xingzhi's behavior of treating her as an outsider and keeping her secret made her very unhappy.

However, Su Qingluan had lived two lives after all, so she would not suddenly quarrel over everything. She quickly prepared herself: in a sense, all the other people had gone through layers of selection, and Su Qingluan believed that this "selection" not only screened for ability, but also for quality.

In this case, objectively speaking, some of them are more trustworthy and reliable than oneself.

Although Su Qingluan felt a little frustrated by this, she could also understand the reason rationally. And because of this incident, Su Qingluan's mind, which had been a little heated due to her feelings for Mu Xingzhi, also calmed down.

Mu Xingzhi had been secretly observing Su Qingluan's expression since just now. He expected her to be angry - after all, when he decided to let her bargain without naming the store owner, Mu Xingzhi had already foreseen this happening.

Of course, objectively speaking, he did not "lie", he just chose not to reveal too much about himself. As for what the other party thought, that was the other party's own imagination, and it did not count as him "cheating". So Mu Xingzhi was even prepared. When the other party questioned him, he would ask back "Where did I lie to you?"

Of course, according to Mu Xingzhi's own emotional intelligence, there was no need for him to deliberately use such provocative remarks to anger Su Qingluan, he just did it on purpose.

It is said that "love comes from nowhere but grows deeper and deeper", but in fact, as the saying goes, "a bystander sees more clearly". Even before Su Qingluan herself realized her feelings for Mu Xingzhi, Mu Xingzhi, as the object of her love, had already vaguely sensed this.

At the beginning, he also noticed that Su Qingluan was probably unconsciously feeling close to him, but she did not realize the change in her feelings, so Mu Xingzhi was happy to pretend to be confused - after all, Su Qingluan's behavior was very appropriate, and she did not cross the line and did not offend anyone.

But recently, Mu Xingzhi realized that Su Qingluan must have noticed something, or decided to change something, because his expression had changed slightly compared to before.

This is not a good sign - for either person.

Mu Xingzhi deeply understood what kind of path he would take in the future, but he also understood that even if Su Qingluan had love for him in her heart, she would not become a bird in a cage because of him. She was a woman who truly belonged to the vast world.

He thought to himself, at least since she helped him wholeheartedly, he should at least ensure that he could give her a bright and free future.

Of course, he didn't say this to anyone, otherwise Song Bo, who had always served him, would have been shocked: "Boss, when did you always promise conditions for doing someone a favor? When did you become such a trustworthy and conscientious person?"

However, it was precisely because of this very subtle thought that Mu Xingzhi wanted to interrupt Su Qingluan's feelings for him without leaving any trace, otherwise he always felt a little...unsure how to deal with it.

So even though he knew he might be disliked, Mu Xingzhi still decided that when Su Qingluan questioned him, he would ask her back until she was speechless.

However, what Mu Xingzhi did not expect was that although Su Qingluan was still angry at first, later on, she seemed to have figured it out, and began to talk and laugh with Song Bo and Yaoguang who were sitting outside, and her attitude towards him returned to normal.

This surprised Mu Xingzhi very much.

They stopped to stay in the hotel again at night. Since they had left the more prosperous Qingzhou City, guest rooms were not so scarce. When everyone could finally move into single rooms, Su Qingluan privately suggested that Yaoguang stay in a single room, the remaining three people stay in a triple room, and she and Mu Xingzhi stay in a double room.

This way, it will be more "in line with the character".

Only at this time was Mu Xingzhi 100% certain that Su Qingluan was really not angry at all and had truly regained her composure.

Because Su Qingluan's plan was the optimal solution, no one had any objections. However, Mu Xingzhi was curious about how Su Qingluan had regained her composure so quickly. After all, in his opinion, given Su Qingluan's personality, she wouldn't have recovered so quickly if she hadn't found a very reasonable reason that could convince her.

"I thought you were very angry." Mu Xingzhi was a little surprised.

"I'm really angry, but I also know I'm just taking my anger out on others," Su Qingluan said frankly. "I'm just being overly stubborn. But it's simply unrealistic for me to expect the same treatment as your trusted aides—I haven't been through any rigorous selection process."

Mu Xingzhi was stunned when he heard this: he originally thought that Su Qingluan was broad-minded, but he didn't expect that she had completely misunderstood - of course, she was able to quickly persuade herself to get rid of the excitement, so from this point of view, Su Qingluan could be considered "broad-minded".

Seeing Mu Xingzhi's teasing smile, Su Qingluan rolled her eyes in annoyance: "What are you laughing at? I admit that my thoughts are very childish, but aren't you laughing a little too much?"

She knew that the idea that "the new and unconvinced boss treats the old employees who have worked with him better than before" was childish and ridiculous, but was it necessary to smile so provocatively?

Mu Xingzhi only realized he had a smile on his face after Su Qingluan reminded him. He didn't know why he laughed unconsciously, but he just felt that Su Qingluan, so angry and embarrassed, was a little... amusing.

Seeing Su Qingluan's glare becoming increasingly sharp, Mu Xingzhi stopped smiling and looked at her: "Who said you didn't go through the 'selection'? Could it be that Qingluan thinks that just anyone can become 'Mu Xingzhi's wife'?"

When Su Qingluan heard Mu Xingzhi's words, although she understood rationally that what he meant was that as "Mu Xingzhi's bedside companion", she also needed to be trustworthy enough to allow Mu Xingzhi to take care of both identities at the same time, but even though she knew this was the case, she still couldn't help but feel happy.