An Unexpected Nosebleed While Video Calling Her Archrival

The ten minutes Lu Xiaoxiao spent on the video call were the most embarrassing of her life.

After the call ended, she buried her face in her soft pillow and curled up there for a long while before rolling over. Staring at the ceiling, she muttered to herself, "Lu Xiaoxiao, can you get a grip? All you did was watch an eighteen-year-old college guy take a shower. How could you end up with a nosebleed..."

Her voice grew quieter as she spoke, and she buried her face in the pillow again, mortified.

Before long, footsteps sounded at the door.

Meng Yuan walked in wearing a haute couture French-style white mermaid gown studded with diamonds. Its hem brushed the doorframe, and she looked like a runaway princess surrounded by her own soft glow.

But the moment she opened her mouth, her eyes reddened. "Xiaoxiao, you've had a change of heart. You won't answer my calls or reply to my messages."

Lu Xiaoxiao rolled over and sat up. Seeing the redness around her eyes, she paused. "Yuanyuan, what brought you here?"

She got out of bed, went over to Meng Yuan, and took her hand, leading her to sit on the edge of the bed.

As Meng Yuan sat down, her skirt spread out over the sheets. Her nose prickled, and her voice was thick with tears. "My family is forcing me to break up with He Xi. They insist I get together with Qiu Boye."

She sniffled, her eyelashes damp. "I don't know what kind of love potion Qiu Boye fed my grandpa, but he's charmed him so thoroughly that Grandpa is very pleased with him. He even wants me to get engaged to him on Monday, May twentieth, the week after next.

"Xiaoxiao, I don't like Qiu Boye. I really don't want to get engaged to him."

Lu Xiaoxiao listened, her heart heavy.

She remembered that none of this had happened in her previous life. Qiu Boye had been reborn, and he had changed the course of events. If he could change things, the killer might set their sights on her at any moment.

Lu Xiaoxiao's breath caught. Then she squeezed Meng Yuan's hand and said gently, "Don't cry. We can ask Qiu Boye out and have a proper talk with him. Tell him clearly to his face that you don't like him."

"I did. These past few days, I've tried saying it nicely and saying it harshly, but he doesn't take it seriously at all." Meng Yuan's eyes were red, and her voice was muffled in her throat.

Without hesitation, Lu Xiaoxiao opened her phone, pulled up the chat history and the recording of her call with him that day, and held it out to Meng Yuan. "This is what I talked about with him that day. There's a recording of the call too. Have a listen."

Meng Yuan took the phone and lowered her eyes to read through the messages. Although she had known for a while that they had both been reborn, she still couldn't help looking a couple of seconds longer when she saw it with her own eyes.

Lu Xiaoxiao played the recording, and Qiu Boye's voice came through the speaker with its characteristic ease. "You were reborn too? Really? When were you reborn?"

"I went back from twenty-one to eighteen. It's been over ten days now. What about you?"

"I went back from twenty-five to nineteen. Three days."

"How did you die at twenty-five? Was it an accident, or did someone kill you?"

When Meng Yuan heard that, she couldn't help wondering how Qiu Boye had died.

Over the past few days, he had often said that they had married and become husband and wife in their previous lives, but she hadn't believed him. Now, listening to the recording, she thought she might have been unhappy in their marriage and murdered her own husband.

Instead, Qiu Boye said to Lu Xiaoxiao on the phone, "He Xi killed me. A year after Yuanyuan and I got married, he got jealous. He couldn't stand seeing us happy, so he tricked me into going up to the thirty-sixth floor and pushed me off."

Meng Yuan's fingers tightened slightly around the phone. After listening to that, her brows knitted, and her tone held obvious disbelief. "He Xi is such a gentle person. How could he possibly have pushed him off...? He probably fell by himself."

(Qiu Boye: That's my wife for you. She knows me so well.)

(He Xi: Two sisters are having a private conversation. Stray dogs, don't interrupt.)

(Qiu Boye: Are you asking for a beating?)

Lu Xiaoxiao didn't respond to that. After a moment's thought, she said, "Yuanyuan, ask him out. We'll talk to him face-to-face. What century are we living in? I don't believe he can force you to marry him if you don't want to."

An hour later, inside a private room at an upscale café.

Qiu Boye sat across from them with his legs crossed. He wore a simple white jacket with striped panels and gray wide-leg trousers. His hair hung casually over his forehead, giving him a lazy, roguish air.

He looked up at them and said casually, "You came to see me just for this?"

Lu Xiaoxiao, dressed in a simple light-blue dress, sat beside Meng Yuan and fixed him with a cold gaze. "Qiu Boye, if you really like Yuanyuan, you should respect her."

Meng Yuan leaned against her shoulder and nodded in agreement.

A smile flickered in Qiu Boye's light-brown eyes as he gazed intently at Meng Yuan, his eyes never leaving her face. His lips curved. "I already am respecting her. So far, I haven't done anything improper to her."

His voice took on a teasing note as he continued, "In the past, Yuanyuan would already be lying in my bed by now."

Heat rushed to Meng Yuan's cheeks. She glared at him. "Qiu Boye, Xiaoxiao is still here. Can you talk properly?"

Qiu Boye raised an eyebrow and reached under the table to lightly tap the toe of Meng Yuan's high heel with his own. A rakish smile played on his lips. "Your best friend is mentally twenty-one. She won't mind."

Lu Xiaoxiao: "..."

She held the cup beside her without drinking, narrowing her starry eyes as she studied him. She silently grumbled to herself that people who grew up abroad really were open-minded.

Meng Yuan couldn't take it anymore. She lifted her foot and brought her heel down on the top of his foot.

Qiu Boye let out a muffled grunt and frowned, but he didn't pull away. Instead, a doting smile appeared in his eyes, as though he were looking at a cat with its fur standing on end.

"Yuanyuan," he said, parting his thin lips, his voice languid. "If there's something you want to discuss, you can talk to me alone. There's no need to bring your friend along. This is a matter between us, husband and wife."

Meng Yuan really wanted to throw the coffee in her hand in his smug face. He was handsome, but his mouth was asking for a beating.

"I've already said it many times." She looked at him, her expression turning cold. "The person I like is He Xi, not you. I won't get engaged to you. What will it take for you to call off the engagement?"

When Qiu Boye heard the name "He Xi," he remained leaning back in his chair, but his jaw shifted slightly.

What kind of spell had that He Xi cast on his wife to make her so dead set on being with him?

Qiu Boye lifted his eyes and curved his lips. "Let's talk alone."

Meng Yuan was about to say something else, but Lu Xiaoxiao pressed her hand and said quietly, "This is a matter between the two of you, after all. I'll move to another room. Call me if you need anything."

She got up and left the private room, then found an empty seat outside and sat down.

She had just taken her seat when a shadow fell over her.

Lu Xiaoxiao looked up as Shao Enci pulled out the chair opposite her and sat down. His posture was languid, and his handsome, aloof face came into view.

Lu Xiaoxiao paused and stared at his long, narrow phoenix eyes. "Why are you here?" she asked, puzzled.

Shao Enci didn't answer her question. Instead, he raised an eyebrow slightly and drawled, a teasing note in his voice, "Have you been eating something that causes too much internal heat lately? How did you end up with a nosebleed just from watching me shower on a video call?"