My System Forces Me to Live off Women-Chapter 177 - 166: Pit Ahead (Part 2)

Li Xin’s suspicion was easy to dispel, but how to dispel Zhao Qingge’s suspicion? The latter is just too clever...

Li Peifeng followed Zhao Qingge to the venue. Walking along, he still couldn’t think of a good way.

Old Zhao only knew that the three of them started a business together, but what if he knew that they not only started a business together but also lived together?

"Oh no, Yun Xin Yue Xing might just blacklist me!"

The more Li Peifeng thought about it, the scarier it became. The more he thought, the more afraid he felt, so he decided not to think about it.

"When faced with difficulties, just sleep it off. Avoidance is shameful but useful!"

...

"Is everyone here? Please quiet down. Let’s start with me, then to my left, in this order, everyone make a self-introduction."

This was the first group meeting after the new project was approved. The content of the meeting was nothing more than getting to know each other in the group, with the project leader confirming the significance of the research and redistributing research tasks.

Professors took turns on stage to share their thoughts, informing the students about what literature to read recently, how to look up data, and the right mindset for scientific research, and so on.

Nothing substantial was discussed, but the meeting lasted the entire morning simply because there were a lot of speakers.

Including Zhao Qingge, the project group had three professors, five Ph.D. students, and fourteen master’s students, totaling twenty-two people. Anyone who had a question required a discussion.

Li Peifeng slacked off the whole time, typing on his phone out of sight.

Li Peifeng actually felt that what Wu Wenyue and Xu Manning said made sense. He couldn’t waste too much effort on this insignificant project, or else he wouldn’t graduate, but his hairline would.

Besides, if he wrote his novel well, it could spread online literature internationally. That would be the best practical application of the project, wouldn’t it? 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

When the meeting ended, some students were still discussing with teachers. Li Peifeng said a word to Zhao Qingge and left the venue.

"Let’s go too."

"Alright."

Zhao Qingge watched Li Peifeng’s figure fade into the distance, then got up to leave with her disciples Lin Zhihui and Lu Jing. As she stepped out of the meeting room, she casually asked, "Do you know your senior is doing a self-media startup with others?"

"Yes, with Wu Wenyue. I even saw her shooting on campus once!"

"I follow her on Douyin!"

Lu Jing said enthusiastically: "Super cool and super beautiful. It’s irresistibly watchable. You probably know her too, Director. Wu Wenyue is his good friend and used to be the power forward on the school’s women’s basketball team."

Zhao Qingge nodded: "I know, but it’s not just them doing this project. I heard from Peifeng that Wu Wenyue’s girlfriend, Xu Manning, also invested in it."

"Is that so?" Lu Jing tilted her head and said: "Manning’s family is so wealthy; it’s normal that she would fund her."

Lin Zhihui murmured quietly: "But it’s a bit odd for our senior this way."

"What’s the odd part?" Zhao Qingge asked calmly: "What’s strange about it?"

"The three of them together just feels odd..."

Lin Zhihui hesitated, shrugged: "I don’t know, maybe they really have a good relationship, or perhaps our senior has an open and generous personality and doesn’t mind it."

"It’s not as complicated as you think."

Lu Jing, understanding what her friend meant, gossiping with a smile: "Initially, Wu Wenyue had the best relationship with our senior. Xu Manning was a later addition. She pursued him actively after breaking up with Wu and even got our senior drunk; he couldn’t resist, and they spent a period together. So even if Xu Manning is the only girlfriend our senior has publicly acknowledged, he might not necessarily like her that much, so he wouldn’t care too much. Got it?"

"Got it!"

Lin Zhihui rolled her eyes: "Did you forget it was me who told you all this in the first place?"

"Haha, you guys really know a lot."

Zhao Qingge said kindly, with a hint of mischievousness: "Are you so interested in your senior because you like him?"

"No!" Lu Jing denied quickly: "Even though our senior is handsome, and growing more handsome by the day, I just have the admiration a junior would have for him!"

Lin Zhihui did not deny her own feelings for Li Peifeng but straightforwardly said: "Like is like, but our senior is too popular. Director, you may not know this, but many female students have secretly formed a club called the Chasing Wind Scumbag Girl Group."

Zhao Qingge frowned: "What kind of organization is that?"

Lin Zhihui looked around and, after confirming no one was nearby, whispered: "The club’s predecessor was the famous Love Study Society on campus, which frequently held love and relationship seminars with the goal of promoting correct views on love and fostering healthy romantic relationships. They had successfully helped over 200 single students become couples, gaining much popularity. But last week, the president, He Yimeng, secretly established a subgroup, which is actually just a WeChat group, named the Chasing Wind Scumbag Girl Group. Most of the members are girls who have interacted with our senior."

Knowing so much, you’re a member too, right?!!

Zhao Qingge’s mouth twitched, and her eyes darkened with anger: "What are they trying to do?"

"Just monitoring our senior’s activities on campus, occasionally discussing the novels he writes, trying to identify which characters are based on themselves, and then cursing our senior as a scumbag..."

Lin Zhihui, realizing only then how inappropriate it was to mention this to her mentor, felt a bit guilty and cleared her throat awkwardly: "I haven’t joined, so I don’t really know the specifics."

Zhao Qingge took a deep breath, her expression softening, and her tone gentle: "Joining is no problem. I just noticed your senior seems somewhat distracted from studies recently, so I wanted to find out more. Do you have any news about him? Anything you can share, about his life, emotions..."

She subconsciously gritted her teeth on the last three words, speaking heavily.

"Maybe it’s because he’s busy both with the startup and writing novels..."

As Lin Zhihui was pondering, Lu Jing hesitated: "I heard from people in the Chasing Wind group that our senior might be co-renting with Wu Wenyue and Xu Manning, though I’m not sure if it’s true."

"Really?"

Zhao Qingge’s gaze instantly turned cold.

Lu Jing was startled and quickly said: "It might just be a rumor, and even if the three of them are co-renting, it doesn’t mean anything. It absolutely can’t be like they say, about having a three-way relationship, living together romantically... Rental prices in the Capital are so high, co-renting between three people who get along well is normal. It should be just a rumor."

"Whoosh~"

A sudden autumn breeze swept a few fallen leaves along, bringing a chill, just like Zhao Qingge’s expression.

"It’s so cold."

The two girls whispered subconsciously, tightening their clothing...

"A rumor."

Zhao Qingge took a deep breath: "It’s a rumor, so don’t spread it around. I’ll find time to have a good talk with him!"

Lu Jing looked puzzled but, under the mysterious atmospherical tension, did not dare to ask. As they reached a fork in the road, she weakly said: "Director, we’ll be heading out now for some food."

"Go ahead."

Zhao Qingge waved a hand dismissively, no longer turning back as she walked towards the office building. Her high-heel strikes echoed on the ground, and the hem of her black blazer waved briskly at her sides.

After getting some distance away, Lu Jing shivered as though she had just escaped from death: "Did I say something wrong? What will the mentor talk to our senior about? She seemed particularly angry just now; I’ve never seen her like that."

"No idea."

Lin Zhihui also expressed fear: "Caring about with whom the student co-rents? Is that necessary?!"

Lu Jing wasn’t sure: "Maybe this reflects responsibility?"

"Should we inform our senior..."

Lu Jing’s eyes widened: "Did you forget the rules of the group? The first rule is we can’t disclose any information about the group to outsiders, especially not our senior. I should have stopped you when you were reporting to the mentor!"

Lin Zhihui exclaimed: "I meant telling our senior that the mentor wants to talk to him."

"Don’t say it!" Lu Jing was even more frightened: "If those three aren’t co-renting, our senior will definitely scold me for spreading rumors. If they are, he’d blame me for being too talkative... and you’re involved too!!"

Lin Zhihui decisively: "Let’s pretend I never said anything just now!"

"I didn’t say anything either!"

"What did you say earlier?"

The two girls exchanged a knowing look, sharing a silent smile. Unwittingly, they had dug a big pit for Li Peifeng, the kind that could cause serious trouble...