Chapter 460 Her heart is ruthless.
As the water splashed, most of a glass of cold water was poured onto his shirt cuffs. The icy touch instantly seeped into his skin through the fabric, causing Zhou Mubin to shiver involuntarily.
What caught him off guard was that the light red marks he had carefully painted and deliberately rendered as "dirty disease" immediately blurred when they came into contact with water, turning into a blotchy pink stain, revealing the normal skin underneath with an even skin tone.
Zhou Mubin suddenly stood up, the hem of his suit jacket sweeping across the table, causing the empty milk tea cup and pineapple bun plate to wobble, and a few drops of milk tea splashed onto the tablecloth.
His face darkened, his dark eyes filled with anger. "Who are you? What do you want?"
The commotion attracted the attention of several other customers, who cast curious glances their way, and some even took out their phones to secretly take pictures.
The waiter rushed over from the cashier, holding a clean rag in his hand, but was stopped in his tracks by the woman's cold gaze. He stood three meters away, not daring to go forward.
The woman slowly put down her empty water glass, took out her ID card from the inside pocket of her leather jacket, and slammed it on the corner of the table in front of Zhou Mubin.
The plastic casing made a crisp sound as it struck the tabletop, and the three black printed characters "Chen Yuwei" were clearly visible on it.
She pointed in the direction the woman had gone through the glass door, her tone becoming even more mocking, "That was my friend who just left. I asked her to come and scout things out for me, to see what kind of person this blind date my mom went to so much trouble to put on me really is."
She paused, her gaze falling on the still-dripping cuff of his sleeve, where a pale pink stain was slowly fading. She couldn't help but raise an eyebrow and scoff, "I didn't expect Second Young Master Shen to resort to such clumsy methods to refuse marriage. He even made up a lie about his health collapsing and went to the trouble of drawing these red dots. He's really going all out to avoid blind dates."
A hint of embarrassed annoyance involuntarily crept onto Zhou Mubin's face. In his thirty years of life, this was the first time his little trick had been exposed in public like this.
Zhou Mubin's expression softened slightly. As he sat down again, he grabbed a tissue and hastily wiped the water stains off his arm. He could still feel the residual coolness of the tissue as it touched his skin.
He crumpled the used tissue into a ball and threw it in the trash can, still wary, his dark eyes fixed on the woman opposite him. "Since you know it's a blind date, you should know that I have no interest in relationships, let alone marriage plans."
"Coincidentally, I wasn't in the mood either."
Chen Yuwei put away her ID card, leaned forward, rested her elbows on the table, and lowered her voice deliberately, with a hint of mystery, "My mother has been forcing me to go on blind dates for the past six months, and she's almost driven me crazy. Last week at the family gathering, she even said that if I don't settle down by the end of the year, she'll kick me out of the family tree and disown me as her daughter."
As he spoke, he leaned back lazily in his chair. "I can see you're under a lot of pressure from your family, even resorting to this kind of tactic. How about we make a deal?"
She stretched out her hand, her fingertips painted with dark black nail polish. "First, a fake engagement for two years. To the outside world, we'll be a handsome and beautiful, deeply in love, engaged couple. During holidays, we'll attend family dinners and banquets together, and if necessary, take some photos together to post on social media. But in private, we'll be completely separate, our social circles and private lives will not interfere with each other, and neither of us can cross any boundaries."
She paused, then added, "Two years from now, either my mom will give in and stop pressuring me to get married, or you'll find someone you want to marry, then we'll amicably terminate our contract and publicly declare 'incompatibility, peaceful breakup'."
After she finished speaking, she leaned back comfortably into the chair cushion, picked up her iced lemon tea and took a big gulp, the ice cubes clinking together.
She looked directly at Zhou Mubin, her voice firm and confident, "This way, you can escape your mother's pressure to get married and stop dealing with these boring blind dates. I can also do what I love and love the person I love. It's a win-win situation, what do you think, Young Master Zhou?"
Zhou Mubin's hand, which was holding a tissue, suddenly stopped. His fingertips unconsciously rubbed the crystal glass jar containing mints on the corner of the table. The cool touch of the jar gradually cleared his chaotic thoughts.
He pondered for a moment, scrutinizing the woman in front of him.
The real Chen Yuwei in front of him was straightforward, insightful, and had a bit of a江湖 (jianghu, a term referring to the world of martial arts and chivalry) spirit. She was clearly not the kind of person who would get entangled in complicated matters. This fake engagement could indeed save him a lot of trouble.
However, Zhou Mubin was more afraid that there might be some trap involved. "You have someone you like? Why don't you try to marry him instead of dealing with your family's arranged marriages?"
Upholding the spirit of cooperation, Chen Yuwei beckoned Zhou Mubin closer, saying, "I want to marry her, but my parents disagree. I have no choice but to do this."
Zhou Mubin raised an eyebrow, "Marry her?"
Chen Yuwei readily admitted, smiling as she said, "Young Master Zhou, we have one thing in common: we both like women."
Zhou Mubin was stunned.
I really didn't expect Chen Yuwei to be in this situation.
Chen Yuwei smiled faintly, "That girl just now, she's my girlfriend. We've been together for eight years."
Zhou Mubin was stunned again. So that woman was Chen Yuwei's girlfriend?
He looked up at Chen Yuwei, his dark eyes finally losing most of their wariness and becoming more serious. "I can agree, but I have one condition."
Tell me about it.
"During the engagement, you cannot interfere with my private life, including people I don't want to see and places I don't want to go to. Also, the extent to which we disclose our relationship to others needs to be discussed in advance, and you cannot make decisions on your own."
Chen Yuwei almost immediately reached out her hand, "Deal."
Her palms were still cool from the iced lemon tea, and her fingertips were slightly white from holding the ice cup. She smiled and said, "It's a pleasure working with you, fiancé."
Zhou Mubin hesitated for half a second, but still reached out and shook hands with her. As soon as his fingertips touched her slightly cool palm, he quickly withdrew them, as if he had touched something hot.
"It's a pleasure doing business with you, Ms. Chen. But then again, Ms. Chen has good taste; your friend is very beautiful."
Mentioning women, Chen Yuwei's face unconsciously lit up with pride. She looked at Zhou Mubin with a half-smile, "Young Master Zhou has good taste. I met Miss Cui once before. She's beautiful, capable, and has a great figure..."
Before he could finish speaking, Zhou Mubin's face darkened.
Chen Yuwei realized something and hurriedly explained, "Don't overthink it. I just admire Miss Cui and have no improper thoughts about her. I'm a very focused person."
Zhou Mubin's face looked a little better, but his tightly furrowed brows remained furrowed.
Five years have passed.
For the past five years, he has never inquired about her and has even been trying to forget her.
The more you try to forget, the more you can't forget.
Sunlight streamed through the glass of the tea restaurant, casting dappled shadows on the table.
Zhou Mubin scoffed lightly, "She's not that good. Her heart is ruthless."
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