Chapter 228 - 227: Mouthy and Annoying

Chapter 228: Chapter 227: Mouthy and Annoying


Zhao Meimei turned back towards the direction Zhang Zhao had come from and asked, surprised, "When did you hand in your paper?"


This person was clearly rushing here from the school’s back entrance.


Zhang Zhao clenched his fists with both hands, shivering from the cold, and stomped his feet for warmth, standing in front of Zhao Meimei.


Zhao Meimei was at a loss for words and reached out to pull him, "Alright, look at how cold you are, hurry home!"


Zhang Zhao grabbed Zhao Meimei’s hand in return, "Meimei....."


Zhao Meimei tugged once but didn’t move him, and asked, puzzled, "Going?"


Zhang Zhao squinted his eyes at her, looking inexplicably guilty, "Yeah, I have something to tell you."


Zhao Meimei turned around and looked at Zhang Zhao, "What is it?"


Zhang Zhao didn’t speak, just looked at Zhao Meimei with his eyes.


Zhao Meimei was speechless, "Just say it!"


Zhang Zhao rubbed his hands together, his lips turning a bit white from the cold, "Meimei, your boyfriend is actually your brother, right?"


Zhao Meimei’s face changed drastically, staring at Zhang Zhao in shock and blurting out, "How-how did you know?"


Zhang Zhao sniffed, "Not only do I know, I’ve also told Wang Jiayue about it."


Zhao Meimei was a bit slow to react, "What did you say?"


Zhang Zhao said softly, "I told Wang Jiayue about it."


Zhao Meimei was so angry she jumped, "No, you know about it, fine, but why didn’t you help me keep it a secret? Why did you tell Wang Jiayue?"


Zhang Zhao’s throat was dry from the cold, and his voice was a bit tense, "I was just curious."


Zhao Meimei frowned, "Who let you blurt it out? What were you curious about!"


Zhang Zhao said earnestly, "I just wanted to see what Xu Xu’s reaction would be, and I wanted to know what you think about it?"


Zhao Meimei retorted, "What do you mean? What do you mean by wanting to see Xu Xu’s reaction? Are you saying Wang Jiayue told Xu Xu about this?"


Zhang Zhao hesitated for a moment but still said, "I just heard Xu Xu arranged to go to your building with your brother."


Zhao Meimei was shocked, "What!"


Zhang Zhao said, "Really, I heard Xu Xu called your brother himself."


Zhao Meimei was anxious, "Wh-when did this happen?"


Zhang Zhao’s face, stiff from the cold, had a slightly sickly excitement, "Hey, Meimei, do you think the two of them will fight?"


Zhao Meimei couldn’t bother to curse Zhang Zhao, she rushed out of the school, thinking, what is this mess! Why would Xu Xu look for Shi Yang! What’s it got to do with him? Shi Yang wouldn’t really fight with Xu Xu, would he?


Zhao Meimei ran ahead, with Zhang Zhao following behind with long strides, chasing Zhao Meimei leisurely, with a look as if he was eager for more drama.


Zhang Zhao had once warned Zhao Meimei that Xu Xu had feelings for her, but unfortunately, Zhao Meimei hadn’t taken it seriously, thinking he was just babbling nonsense, casually joking around, and dismissed it after hearing it.


From childhood to adulthood, Xu Xu was obedient to Zhao Meimei, and in his heart, he always cherished that bit of romantic notion, occasionally reminiscing over it. He was inherently not a domineering character, preserving a traditional sense of pure and bashful spirit, always preferring to hide his feelings, being shy to express, actually, if Zhao Meimei had believed it at the time and turned back to have a heart-to-heart talk with Xu Xu, it might have been possible for him to let go of the idea and continue being friends with her like before.


But the two of them, one careless and oblivious, the other shyly hiding thoughts, this layer of window paper which could have simply been torn down was stubbornly pierced through with several holes by Zhang Zhao and Wang Jiayue jointly, letting the chilling wind in, adding several more waves of twists and turns.


That day, under Wang Jiayue’s guidance, Xu Xu peeked at Zhao Meimei and Shi Yang’s intimate scene, then went home and suffered a major illness, not physically ill, but mentally ill.


He couldn’t eat or sleep, with a continuous burning sensation in his chest, feeling like a fiery coal was inside, roasting his insides.


Everyday he didn’t want to do anything, couldn’t think of anything, his mind tormented by the happy moments spent with Zhao Meimei since childhood, and all those happy memories were finally shattered by Zhao Meimei and Shi Yang’s intimate kisses, leaving not even a trace.


Xu Xu felt he needed to do something to escape from this state, he tightly gripped the ruler in his hand, exerting enough force to break it into two halves, the snapping sound not too light or heavy, just enough to suppress the heartbeat for that moment.....


Shi Yang had no idea what kind of storm his relationship with Zhao Meimei had stirred up in school, he was still busy with the preliminary work of changing projects.


The breaking news about selling the Naughty Castle had already gained traction, so now it just needed to be spread as a rumor, he planned to officially hand it over in half a year, time was plentiful, giving him enough opportunity to negotiate with potential buyers.


As soon as the news spread, most people thought it was a false rumor, after all, the current profits of the Naughty Castle were visible to everyone, each month’s sales report for each floor submitted to the mall detailed the income from the Naughty Castle, that glaring turnover wasn’t something that could be concealed, and besides, insiders knew well how much of it was inflated.


All stall owners renting spaces in the mall, while selling goods, would always secretly collect cash when the mall management wasn’t paying attention, the more sales reported to the mall, the more commission the mall would extract, so vendors would always tread on the limit set by the mall to complete their tasks, they naturally tried every means to conceal any excess sales.


Shiyang’s Naughty Castle was relatively straightforward and always reported sales substantially higher than the mall’s requirement, the mall gained more profit, so naturally it favored Shiyang, after all, this was a shining money tree capable of bringing extra income.


Liu Xiue had once asked Shi Yang if they could conceal some sales amounts to save at least five figures a year in profits.


Shi Yang treated Liu Xiue like a mother, patiently analyzing things for her: "Naughty Castle is inherently a high-profile business, with so many customers coming and going daily, outsiders can easily see it, the mall actually has a sense of everyone’s sales figures, as long as you meet the specified amount, generally they would turn a blind eye."


Liu Xiue nodded repeatedly, she had somewhat heard about this from others.


Shi Yang continued, "The mall is a shopping venue, the environment and mood are very important when people are choosing things, Naughty Castle is noisy and chaotic every day, playing children’s songs disturbing the peace, it can be heard from far away, haven’t the nearby brands complained to mall management quite a few times?"


Liu Xiue thought of something and slowly widened her eyes, "So we need to pay more sales money, the mall received our money, they’ll naturally favor us a bit."