Chapter 41: Do You Really Like That Guy?

"Zhaoqiao, where are you going?"

Seeing that Xu Zhaoqiao was not heading back to her room, Chen Sisi immediately grabbed her.

Xu Zhaoqiao replied, "I'm going to Auntie Fu's house."

"What are you going to Auntie Fu's house for?" Chen Sisi continued to question.

Chen Sisi said, "Everyone whose pairing was successful has gone out on dates, leaving the rest of us staring at each other in boredom."

"I'm going to see if there's anything I can help with at Auntie Fu's place, so I can trade for some food. After all, I don't have much money left on me!"

Hearing that Xu Zhaoqiao was going over to do manual labor for someone, Chen Sisi let go of her hand.

Xu Zhaoqiao then walked away without looking back.

Halfway there, an abrupt figure suddenly blocked her path.

"You, why didn't you reply to my text message?"

"Huh?"

Xu Zhaoqiao looked at Shen Mu in confusion. "When did you follow me here?"

She hadn't noticed a single thing along her entire walk.

How dangerous was that!

What if she were being stalked one day? With such poor alertness, something terrible would happen!

"Answer my question," Shen Mu forced Chen Sisi into a corner, his eyes red at the corners as he demanded, "Why didn't you reply to my text message?"

[Is this still that indifferent Shen Mu? Is he angry?]

[Seeing an angry Shen Mu for the first time!]

[Oh my goodness, I'm suddenly so hooked!]

[At this moment, Shen Mu transforms into an overbearing CEO questioning Cinderella.]

[Screaming, ahhhhh...]

[It's useless for us to get excited, though. It looks like Shen Mu has genuinely fallen for her, while Xu Zhaoqiao is still diligently executing Chen Sisi's persona script. There's no way she'll give Shen Mu any response.]

[Some people don't care for sweet moments; they just love the angst. Like me.]

[Above, you are literally me.]

[Dear heavens, is this the Zhao-Zhao Mu-Mu ship that I've been rooting for?]

Faced with Shen Mu's interrogation, Xu Zhaoqiao felt a momentary suffocation, unsure of how to answer him.

However, she quickly adjusted her emotions and answered righteously, "Everyone only gets one chance to send a text invitation. Of course I sent mine to the Best Actor!"

"Do you really... like that guy?"

This sentence had been bottled up in Shen Mu's heart for a long time.

When they first met on the dating reality show, he thought she still had lingering feelings for him and had gone to all sorts of lengths to chase after him onto the show.

Later on, he realized that was impossible; he was merely a last-minute replacement for his nephew, while Xu Zhaoqiao had clearly come prepared.

After that, driven by some inexplicable impulse, he repeatedly sabotaged Xu Zhaoqiao's pairings with others, wanting to figure out what her true motive was.

The result, however, was that no matter the process, her gaze always seemed to be fixed solely on Ke Hao.

Especially yesterday, when Ke Hao finally couldn't help himself and sent her a pairing invitation, the look of smug triumph that appeared on Xu Zhaoqiao's face.

And the completely uncharacteristic vulnerability she displayed while digging potatoes.

Now, having it confirmed by Xu Zhaoqiao's own lips, his expression shifted unpredictably.

At the same time, a surge of anger rose from the depths of his heart.

-------------------------------------

Shen Family Villa, Living Room.

The elderly Shen Feifan sat quietly on the sofa, his gaze fixed intently on the large screen before him.

On the screen was a casting of the reality show *Love in the Wilderness*.

Today, his son Shen Guangming, daughter-in-law Wang Jiaojia, eldest granddaughter Shen Ying, and youngest granddaughter Shen瑜 were all attending a business banquet.

Taking advantage of the fact that the entire family was away, he grandly began watching the livestream right in the living room.

Nearby, Su Chengyu, who was recovering from an appendectomy, was also focusing on the screen alongside his great-grandfather.

Seeing Shen Mu's ruffled feathers, he couldn't help but chuckle.

"Great-grandfather, did you see Little Uncle's expression?"

"This is the first time I've ever seen Little Uncle look so exasperated!"

Little Uncle always presented a cold and ruthless face to the world, but ever since he entered the dating show, his facial expressions had become so much richer.

Shen Feifan nodded with emotion. "Indeed, I've never seen Shen Mu look like this before."

His mind was flooded with a thousand thoughts as memories rushed back like a tide.

That year, Zhao Mengzhu had brought the child to their doorstep for the very first time.

Shen Mu, only five or six years old at the time, surveyed everything in the Shen household with innocent, bewildered eyes, his brow bearing a distinct resemblance to Shen Mu's own childhood appearance.

He had fallen in love with this little grandson almost instantly and wanted to officially acknowledge him into the Shen family.

However, what his mother Zhao Mengzhu wanted was not simply to have the child recognized by the ancestors; she wanted to elevate her own status through her son and replace Wang Jiaojia.

Setting aside the fact that Wang Jiaojia had already given birth to two daughters and a son for the Shen family, the Wang family standing behind her was not someone to be easily offended.

At that time, Feifan Construction was at a massive turning point, and the Shen family had sought assistance from the Wang family.

The two families were already deeply intertwined.

No matter how much he liked Shen Mu, he could not afford to offend the Wang family.

If he lost the support of the Wang family, Feifan Construction would inevitably enter a downward spiral, and all his life's hard work would be washed away.

Therefore, he held back his confused son who was stubbornly demanding a divorce, and resolutely sent Zhao Mengzhu and her son abroad.

He knew deep down that this little grandson, Shen Mu, harbored resentment toward him.

If he hadn't forcefully packed up the mother and son and sent them overseas back then, Zhao Mengzhu wouldn't have died of melancholy in a foreign land.

Although he never stopped sending Shen Mu's living expenses during all those years, Shen Mu stubbornly refused to accept a single penny of his money.

Years later, he stubbornly and forcibly brought Shen Mu back to the country, training him to take over the Shen Corporation.

Back then, Shen Mu's eyes held nothing but coldness, alongside a deep-seated anger.

That coldness was like a sharp blade, piercing Shen Feifan's heart.

Countless times, Shen Feifan had wanted to break through this estrangement, but every attempt ended in failure.

Yet at this moment, seeing a different side of Shen Mu on the screen, Shen Feifan couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Through the screen, he caught a glimpse of that innocent, bewildered little grandson from the past.

Watching his great-grandfather, who hadn't smiled like this in a very long time, Su Chengyu's expression turned complicated.

His great-grandfather's health was steadily declining, and he knew his mother's purpose in urging him to visit more often was to have him carve out a share of the family inheritance as well.

However, Su Chengyu was already working at the Shen Corporation in a high-ranking position.

He was not someone covetous of family wealth; he genuinely wished for his great-grandfather to enjoy his twilight years in peace.

He still remembered the scenes from his childhood when his great-grandfather would hold him and play with him. That warm embrace and affectionate smile formed some of the fondest memories of his youth.

He could also tell that his great-grandfather's feelings toward his little uncle were laden with guilt and lingering attachment.

That was why he was willing to work hard for his great-grandfather's sake to dissolve the resentment in his little uncle's heart, even if it meant falling out of favor with his grandmother.

The family's conflicts had lasted far too long. The past was in the past; if they failed to untie their knots and pull together as a family, the company would sooner or later face total disintegration.

His great-grandfather had continually made agonizing choices for the sake of the family enterprise's development.

His grandmother, mother, and little uncle were all suffering different kinds of pain under the cruel twists of fate, alongside a shared resentment toward his great-grandfather.

Caught in the middle of numerous relatives, Su Chengyu strived to become the reconciling bridge.

Yet when he saw the delicate and pretty face of Xu Zhaoqiao on the screen, he suddenly felt that perhaps he was not the one meant to be that bridge.