Chapter 1409: Their Little Secret
Jin Ling’er’s eyes sparkled. “Wah, what is it? Show me!”
She led Xia Yingluo to the living room as she asked.
Xia Yingluo sat cross-legged on the tatami mat and took the hair clip out of her bag. She handed it to Jin Ling’er and said, “I b.u.mped into Brother Du Zheng the other day and he got me to hand this to you. He said he was sorry for damaging your hair clip at the filming location.”
Jin Ling’er’s crystal clear eyes darkened a little. “Du Zheng?”
Xia Yingluo sensed something wrong. “What’s going on with the two of you? His expression was also strange when he talked about you. Ling’er, what exactly happened? If he bullied you, I’ll definitely fight for you.”
Jin Ling’er smiled and pushed the hairpin back to her. “Nothing much. Yingluo, I don’t want anything of his. Help me return it to him.”
This didn’t look like “nothing much”. Xia Yingluo was worried about her. “The both of you are too much, fancy ordering me around like I’m a lackey? Return this to him? Do you know what hair clip this is? It’s a limited edition for ‘Lost’, it takes a lot of effort to get one! I actually wanted to get one for myself. I got Second Bro to help me with it, but he was so slow and didn’t manage to s.n.a.t.c.h it in time.”
Jin Ling’er was a little taken aback. She did not know how this little hair clip came about.
But she snapped back to her senses and shook her head resolutely. “I don’t want it. If he really wished to apologize, he should’ve come personally.”
“So, something really happened?” Xia Yingluo eyed her. “Ling’er, I know this is a private affair and I shouldn’t be too nosy, but you are my good friend and I really want to help you.”
Jin Ling’er kept quiet for a while, then quietly said, “Yingluo, am I very useless?”
Xia Yingluo held her hand. “That’s not true. You’re a very, very good girl.”
“Then why is he avoiding me all the time?” Jin Ling’er was a little agitated now as she looked up at her. “He’s been avoiding me! At the film set, and in the company! I-I just said that I liked him, he could’ve just told me he didn’t like me! Why does he have to be so awkward about it! Yingluo, I…”
Jin Ling’er got upset and her eyes went red.
Xia Yingluo’s heart sank a little. This seemed to be more serious than she’d expected. Jin Ling’er actually sank deep enough to confess to Du Zheng first? With her family background, how could the Du family ever accept her?
“Yingluo, help me…” Jin Ling’er had no qualms about asking for advice now that she’d poured her heart out. “They’re all mocking me and saying that I’m eyeing Du Zheng’s money, but I really really like him. I’ve never seen a man so good… Yingluo, do you think that he’s avoiding me because he thinks the same way?”
Xia Yingluo thought about it, Given how Du Zheng acted that day, it was unlikely.
“Does he like you?” she asked. From the looks of Du Zheng the other day, she’d guess that he liked her too. Fate really worked in strange ways.
When Xia Yingluo asked her this way, Jin Ling’er seemed a little uncertain.
“H-he is pretty nice to me, but…” She bit her lip. “I don’t know if he likes me or not. But if he doesn’t, why didn’t he reject me right away? If he does, why would he avoid me?”
“Would you be willing to marry him?” Xia Yingluo asked.
“Of course I would be!” Jin Ling’er blushed a little, but she responded without hesitation.
Xia Yingluo looked at her seriously. “You need to think this through carefully. Sometimes love is just a momentary surge of emotions, and that’s alright if the person you fell for was just an ordinary guy. But this person is Du Zheng, an important figure in the Du firm, the pillar of the next generation. Have you thought about the consequences? All else aside, just the disapproval from his family is enough to drive one crazy.”
Xia Yingluo had not been through such obstacles before, but she’d asked and been told a lot about her mother’s love story with Pei Ziheng when they were younger. She knew just how difficult it was for an ordinary girl to survive in a rich family.
Jin Ling’er said, “I haven’t thought this far yet, but I can’t just give him up because of these setbacks. Yingluo, it’s just like you and Wei Lingnan. You knew how much pain you’d have to be put through loving him, but you love him anyway, even till today. How can we control our feelings? When you like someone, you just do, you can’t resist such emotions.”
Xia Yingluo smiled sadly upon hearing Wei Lingnan’s name.
She lowered her head and subconsciously fiddled with the cup in her hands. “Yeah, even though he betrayed me and hurt me…”
When it came to matters of the heart, n.o.body could control their emotions.
“I’ll help you,” she looked up and said to Jin Ling’er. “Isn’t he avoiding you, I can ask him out on your behalf, and both of you can have a good talk. If he loves you the way you love him, I’ll help both of you get married.”
“Yingluo, thank you!” Jin Ling’er was elated. She reached out over the tatami mat and wrapped her in a big embrace. “I knew you’re the best!”
Jin Ling’er’s force left Xia Yingluo on the floor now, and they laughed at themselves. Xia Yingluo looked up at the ceiling and unconsciously gave a sad smile. She hadn’t even settled her own problems and she was already offering someone else help for theirs. But perhaps it was also because she couldn’t be with the person she loved, that she wanted to see her best friend live in bliss, free of such problems…
Jin Ling’er nudged her. “Yingluo, aren’t you worried that I’m eyeing Du Zheng’s money?”
Xia Yingluo stifled a laugh and poked her on the forehead. “Just look at you, if you wanted someone for their money, you already have me. If you stay by me, you could do even better than marrying into the Du family. Any Mrs. Du would even be jealous of you!”
Jin Ling’er smiled goofily. “Hehe, I want to stay by Du Zheng.”
“You’re forsaking your friend for love.” Xia Yingluo poked her again.
The two girls began plotting. Xia Yingluo was excited, this was the one good thing that had happened to her recently. It was nothing about Wei Lingnan, Gu Jinxiu, or love and hatred anymore. It was as if she’d gone back to the ordinary little girl she was before she met him, hanging out with her best friend and scheming something that’d only be known as their little secret.