64: Chapter 64 Accidentally Entering the Imperial Family: The True Noble Male Supporting Character 25

Wrapping the suit jacket tightly around herself, Qiao Chuxia rushed back into the banquet hall as if fleeing.

Her heart was still drumming uncontrollably, her thoughts were a chaotic mess, and the burning sensation on her cheeks showed no signs of fading.

How embarrassing!

Her eyes were filled with bashful smiles, yet she tried hard to keep her expression tense.

At this moment, she only wanted to find Chu Yunting quickly and leave this place immediately.

As she was now, she dared not face Meng Zhu again.

When she entered the banquet hall, many guests cast glances her way.

Although her long hair covered the iris pattern on the suit's lapel, some guests still knew that the man had gone to the terrace.

These people exchanged glances, understanding each other without words.

Qiao Chuxia was immersed in her own emotions and didn't notice any of it.

She walked straight to the corner of the banquet hall and finally found the restless Chu Yunting.

"Chu Yunting."

She spoke, her voice still slightly drifting.

Hearing her voice, Chu Yunting looked up and froze the moment he saw Qiao Chuxia.

His gaze locked onto the suit jacket she was wearing, his lips moving as if he wanted to say something, but he stopped.

With her long hair blocking the iris pattern, Chu Yunting didn't recognize whose suit it was, but it didn't matter whose it was—it wasn't acceptable.

He finally realized something, and a certain emotion surged in the depths of his heart.

"Chuxia."

Chu Yunting's voice was somewhat dry.

"You're back?"

"Mm."

Qiao Chuxia nodded and said impatiently.

"It's getting late, shall we go back?"

Chu Yunting opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to ask something, but in the end, he swallowed his words.

This was still the banquet hall, so it wasn't appropriate.

So he just nodded.

"My mother left early because she had things to attend to, and I was just about to look for you. Let's go then."

"That's great." Qiao Chuxia felt as if she had been granted amnesty.

Realizing that the man would soon be coming out from the terrace, she didn't want to stay for another second.

The two of them then headed towards the exit.

Not long after leaving the hall that made him feel so suffocated, Chu Yunting looked at Qiao Chuxia's back and finally couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Chuxia, actually, I've been looking for you just now."

"What?"

Qiao Chuxia was instinctively startled.

Chu Yunting clenched his fists.

"Who were you with just now? And the jacket you're wearing."

The atmosphere between the two of them changed abruptly.

Qiao Chuxia was taken aback by Chu Yunting's sudden, interrogative tone.

She subconsciously wrapped the suit tighter around herself and frowned, saying: "A friend, what about it?"

"A friend?"

Chu Yunting's volume raised involuntarily.

"Where would you have friends here? Don't tell me you just met."

Well, strictly speaking, it was indeed the first time they met today.

"What exactly are you trying to say?"

Qiao Chuxia furrowed her brows.

Chu Yunting stepped forward, an inexplicable anger rising in his heart.

"What am I trying to say? Perhaps that princess just thought you looked pretty and chatted with you casually. Don't lose yourself."

"Precisely because of that, no matter who strikes up a conversation with you, they aren't sincere, do you understand?"

There was anxiety and heartache on his face.

Qiao Chuxia, however, realized what he was getting at.

"So you think I used the fact that I was having a pleasant conversation with the princess to seduce a man?"

"No... I... I didn't mean that."

"Then what do you mean?"

Disappointment flashed in Qiao Chuxia's eyes.

Seeing her like this, Chu Yunting also felt an incomparable tightness in his chest.

"Chuxia, I want you to wake up. No one here is someone you can afford to provoke. They only approach you because they want to use you. But you know deep down that you don't have anything they want. In the end, you will only get hurt. Why don't you understand?"

Qiao Chuxia's expression turned completely cold.

She finally understood what Chu Yunting meant.

But she was even more disappointed; indeed, after so long, Chu Yunting had never changed at all.

She understood "social investment" better than Chu Yunting. Not only did she understand it, but she even found human nature quite interesting.

Yet in Chu Yunting's words, she had become a fool blinded by superficial prosperity, unable to see reality clearly.

Seeing that she didn't speak, Chu Yunting thought she had taken his words to heart, and his tone became even more earnest.

"Even I have to be extremely careful in this kind of setting, why are you so bold? You're even wearing another man's jacket."

"Don't blame me for speaking harshly; I'm doing this for your own good. At the end of the day, you and they are simply not from the same world. I don't want to see you get caught up in this and end up covered in wounds!"

Silence.

Every word of this sounded like it was "for your own good," but when put together, it became a sharp sword that hurt.

Qiao Chuxia suddenly laughed, but the smile was cold and bone-chilling.

She finally understood that what separated her and Chu Yunting was far more than just family background.

It was an ingrained, insurmountable cognitive gap.

When Meng Zhu looked at Qiao Chuxia, he saw her as a person.

But in Chu Yunting's eyes, what he always saw first was wealth, class, family lineage, and background; only then did he see Qiao Chuxia.

Based solely on these things he assumed, Chu Yunting could say she was lucky, say she was lost, say she was foolish.

Only today did she see clearly that, in essence, Chu Yunting and Qiao Zhenghong were no different.

Just because she was adopted by the Lin couple and lived in the countryside since she was young.

The Qiao Family naturally looked down on her.

Just like Chu Yunting, relying on some groundless things.

They could just say she was promiscuous, say she was being kept.

They were simply the same kind of people.

Qiao Chuxia's eyes held coldness, disappointment, and then turned into endless indifference.

"Are you finished?"

Qiao Chuxia spoke indifferently.

"Chuxia, you..."

"You want to say you're doing this for my own good?"

Qiao Chuxia interrupted him, took a step forward, looked straight into his eyes, and asked word by word.

"Chu Yunting, in your eyes, am I, Qiao Chuxia, actually a vain, money-grubbing, overestimating fool, right?"

"I didn't mean that! I just..."

"That is exactly what you mean!"

Qiao Chuxia's voice suddenly became sharp.

"You equally look down on everyone whose family background is inferior to yours. You divide people into different ranks, label me, and you have never truly seen me, Qiao Chuxia!"

She took a deep breath, the disappointment in her heart overflowing.

"You keep saying you're doing this for my own good, but to do this for my own good, you want to mold my values, plan my life, and bind my hands and feet, right?"

"Chu Yunting, you have really disappointed me so much. You are right; I am not from the same world as them, and I am not from the same world as you."

Having said that, she stopped looking at Chu Yunting's shocked and hurt expression and strode forward, no longer wanting to take his car down the mountain.

But at that moment, a man in a black suit hurried over.

"Miss, what happened?"

Qiao Chuxia was stunned, only then realizing that the person who came was her own security captain, Wang Peng.

Before she could ask why the security team appeared on the mountaintop, she saw her own car in the distance.

Taking a deep breath, Qiao Chuxia pursed her lips and walked straight toward the Maybach.

"Wait, Chuxia, I didn't mean that, I'm sorry, I..."

After being stunned for a long time, Chu Yunting hurriedly ran to catch up, but was stopped by Wang Peng with one hand.

"Miss, who is this guy? Should I break his legs?"

Qiao Chuxia looked back.

"Not this time, don't bother with him."

Having said that, she strode away.

Wang Peng nodded, turned back, and gave a push, and Chu Yunting was actually pushed to the ground just like that.

He looked serious and pointed at Chu Yunting, saying: "Did you hear that just now? Miss said, if I see you again next time, I will break your legs!"

...

[Darlings, no need to send gifts. Two chapters a day is truly my limit; I have to work 12 hours a day, sob sob sob. Plus, I want to find time to update my old book, "Player Invasion." That one is a brain-teaser novel, and it's the most mentally draining to write, so please don't send gifts; I'll really have writer's block.]