Chapter 423: Chapter 423: Did You Have Someone Do This?
 

Outside of the clothing store.

A slender figure skulks about.

Unaware of Qin Youxuan inside the store, Meng Ziqi carefully surveys her surroundings, ensuring there are no reporters before slipping into the boutique.

She’s wearing a face mask that conceals her identity.

Paired with large sunglasses, nearly all her facial features are obscured, but Qin Youxuan recognizes her immediately.

Not for anything else, but once upon a time they were good friends.

But that was the past.

The once proud heiress of the Meng family is now so humble, even a simple stroll through the streets requires careful avoidance of the media.

The leaked photos are enough to bury her social reputation for the rest of her life.

Surely, this punishment is enough.

Qin Youxuan even feels that it’s crueler than killing her.

“This dress suits you. Do you want to try it on?” Jin Chenye picks out a slim-fitting princess dress from a line of new clothes and walks over to Qin Youxuan.

Noticing that she is fixated in a certain direction, he follows her gaze.

Upon seeing Meng Ziqi who has just entered the store, he stands momentarily stunned.

Then, as if seeing nothing, he nonchalantly shifts his gaze away, “Do you like this color or do you want to change it?”

“It’s Meng Ziqi.”

Thinking he hasn’t recognized her, Qin Youxuan whispers a reminder, her attention no longer on the clothes.

The clothing store is large and broken up into several display areas.

Their location is rather inside, so Meng Ziqi has not walked over yet, but their gaze has already met in mid-air.

Upon noticing the two of them standing together like a pair of jade, Meng Ziqi’s steps noticeably falter.

After seeing the princess dress in Jin Chenye’s hand, her body stiffens to the point of statuesque.

After a silent mutual stare for a dozen seconds, Meng Ziqi suddenly turns around. Not even bothering to pick up her fallen glasses, her eyes wide as bell, she dashes out of the shop as if mad.

“Her condition doesn’t seem right, I’m going to check on her…” Qin Youxuan suggests, ready to chase after her, but her arm is firmly grabbed.

Turning back to look at Jin Chenye’s cold face, she blinks in confusion.

“She brought it upon herself. She doesn’t deserve sympathy.”

Jin Chenye utters each word, enunciating every syllable with particular force.

Handing the dress to a sales assistant, he pulls a stunned Qin Youxuan and walks out.

They only stop at the street corner, Jin Chenye finally releasing his grip.

Experiencing a long silence, neither of them say a word.

The bustling street is in front of them.

The two face each other, each steeped in their own thoughts.

“Did you orchestrate what happened to Meng Ziqi?”

Qin Youxuan twiddles the hem of her clothing and looks up.

When Dan Hanjie accused Jin Chenye, she didn’t believe it because she thought that Jin Chenye would never do something so extreme.

He’s always self-controlled, indifferent to people, but he’s never been ruthless.

Therefore, instinctively, she refuted Dan Hanjie.

But just now…

She saw a hint of resentment in Jin Chenye’s cold eyes.

It was so clear.

“Yes.”

The light in Jin Chenye’s eyes flickers as he admits without denial.

“Why?”

“Why? Don’t you know? She used my mother to try to kill you. You both were lucky enough to survive, but my mother is still in treatment, barely able to speak…”

Jin Chenye moves in closer, his normally gentle eyes blazing crimson.

“What I hate more is that if it weren’t for her, there wouldn’t have been so many misunderstandings between us. Dan Hanjie wouldn’t have had the chance to exploit the situation. You probably don’t know that the mail you received revealing us as siblings was sent by her. Tell me, doesn’t she deserve to die?”