Chapter 106: Chapter 106: We Don’t Need to Associate Anymore

“Ji Zeqiu…”

Wen Li’s soft, glutinous voice murmured.

Ji Zeqiu snapped back to reality, his expression calm and unemotional. He replied indifferently to his roommate, “We don’t know each other.”

Having said that, he passed by Wen Li and caught up with Lin Xu.

Wen Li clenched her hand by her side, and her cheeks suddenly turned pale.

Ji Zeqiu’s indifferent attitude throughout, as if she were a stranger, reminded her of the previous incident at the school gate.

She was worried that Xiao Yu would misunderstand, and told him that Ji Zeqiu had only asked for directions and that she didn’t know him.

Now, these words had come from Ji Zeqiu himself.

Any small hope she had felt upon seeing Ji Zeqiu was instantly eradicated.

“Don’t know each other?” Her roommate looked at Wen Li in confusion, “Why would he say he doesn’t know you? Didn’t you say you were friends?”

Wen Li bit her lip and remained silent.

Her roommate looked at Wen Li, then glanced in the direction where Ji Zeqiu had disappeared, scratching her head in puzzlement.

After a long moment, as if she couldn’t hold back any longer, she remembered that she had come out to use the restroom and immediately ran to the end of the hallway.

Once her roommate was gone, Wen Li hesitated for a moment and sent Ji Zeqiu a message.

[“Sorry, when I wanted to message you last time, my roommate accidentally saw my WeChat, and that’s how she knew we were acquainted.”]

[“I didn’t expect her to suddenly call out to you just now. Saying you didn’t know me was right, otherwise she might bother me next time to ask for your autograph.”]

Her message this time was not ignored.

After a while, Ji Zeqiu replied to her.

Ji: [“Hmm.”]

Wen Li felt a surge of happiness and was just about to suggest they meet up next time when his next message restrained her.

Ji: [“If there’s nothing important, better not to contact me anymore. You probably don’t want Xiao Yu to misunderstand, and I don’t want Lin Xu to misunderstand either.”]

The smile that Wen Li had just formed froze instantaneously.

His words sounded like a severance of ties.

Her fingers trembled slightly as she typed.

[“If there’s nothing important, can’t we just chat… Aren’t we friends?”]

Ji: [“We hardly ever chatted before.”]

They rarely chatted; Ji Zeqiu used to send Wen Li interesting things, but he seldom received a response from her, more like a one-sided wish.

And whenever Wen Li messaged him, it was always with a request.

Asking him to take her away from the Ji Family, or when Xiao Yu had another girl by his side…

She kept crying to him.

“Then let me take you away from them, okay?” Ji Zeqiu had offered with concern.

“Forget it…”

The response he always received was Wen Li’s rejection.

It was a repeating cycle.

Yet, even so, Ji Zeqiu never tired of it.

Until Lin Xu came into the picture, the frequency of messages Ji Zeqiu sent her decreased. Even if she initiated contact, he rarely replied anymore.

Since they never used to chat much before, there was no need for them to maintain any kind of friendship now.

Was this what Ji Zeqiu meant?

Wen Li’s whole face turned pale and powerless, [“Sorry, I ignored too many of your messages before, I won’t do it again.”]

Ji: [“My point wasn’t to blame your previous actions, but rather that there’s no need for us to keep in touch anymore.”]

As if worried she wouldn’t understand, Ji Zeqiu made himself exceptionally clear this time.

Wen Li bit her lip hard.

[“Why, is it because of Lin Xu?”]

[“But isn’t she with Ji Tingyang? She keeps coming to find you, harassing you, staying near your apartment. Don’t let her deceive you, she doesn’t really like you…”]

Wen Li’s messages were incessant.

Ji Zeqiu picked up his phone and saw the derogatory comments about Lin Xu, his frown deepening.

He was about to reply with a cold face when a pair of chopsticks carrying food reached into his bowl.

“Stop staring at your phone. You haven’t had lunch yet, eat something to fill your stomach,” Lin Xu said as she placed a piece of ribs into his bowl.

Ji Zeqiu looked at Lin Xu, his chilly expression instantly softened.

His mother was concerned about him skipping lunch, how could she not like him.

Ji Zeqiu’s eyes shone with a brilliant starlight, his tone reluctantly coquettish, “I, I want to eat roast duck.”

“Okay.” Lin Xu immediately picked up a piece of roast duck for him.

Ji Zeqiu took a bite of the roast duck, his tail almost wagging with joy.

The dish his mother picked was delicious.

He looked at Lin Xu, his ear tips tinged with a slight blush, “I want some beef too.”

As Lin Xu was about to pick up some beef with her chopsticks, a well-defined palm beat her to it, loading Ji Zeqiu’s bowl with a large piece of greens.

“No need to trouble mother, I’ll do it,” Ji Tingyang said with a hooked corner of his lips, almost putting all the greens from the table into Ji Zeqiu’s bowl, “If you’re hungry, eat more, no rush.”

Ji Zeqiu’s hand holding the chopsticks twitched as he looked at the pile of greens in his bowl, not knowing where to start.

This asshole was doing it on purpose.

Jealous that mother liked him, purposely picking the greens he hated.

He glared fiercely at Ji Tingyang, “Get lost, I’m not eating this.”

“Don’t be picky!”

Lin Xu’s scolding voice rang beside him.

“I’m not being picky,” Ji Zeqiu said guiltily, “I’m just too hungry and want to eat some meat first.”

“Eat the greens first, then I’ll pick some meat for you, be good,” Lin Xu said.

“…” Ji Zeqiu’s hand trembled as he held his chopsticks, and under Lin Xu’s watchful eye, he stuffed the greens into his mouth.

The next second, his face screwed up unpleasantly.

Ji Tingyang’s slightly raised eyebrows carried a schadenfreude expression.

Under the assault of the greens, Ji Zeqiu completely forgot about Wen Li’s messages, his meal was both painful and joyous.

Due to the previous affair about Ji Zeqiu’s withdrawal from the circle, he had canceled many appointments. Now his manager had taken them all back, and work piled up all at once.

After he managed to grab a meal with Lin Xu, he had to rush off to another appointment.

Just as Ji Zeqiu got into the car, his manager threw a folder at him.

“These are the questions for tonight’s interview; take a look yourself and think about how to answer them,” the manager said.

Ji Zeqiu acknowledged.

They arrived at the destination.

Ji Zeqiu did not expect to see Shen Qingtang there and was somewhat surprised.

Shen Qingtang felt the same.

Ever since Ji Zeqiu told her that she didn’t need to be a substitute anymore, they had had no further contact.

She occasionally saw him on the set, but didn’t have the courage to approach him.

All she could do was watch him from afar, as he animatedly engaged with his phone.

She wondered if he was chatting with Lady Wen.

They must be together by now.

That’s why he completely didn’t need her anymore…

Upon meeting, the moment their eyes met, many memories flashed through Shen Qingtang’s mind.

“Aren’t you going to say hello?” the manager asked.

Ji Zeqiu pondered for a moment, just as he took a step towards Shen Qingtang, a man came over and skillfully draped his arm over her shoulders.

After a brief exchange, Shen Qingtang decisively left with the man.

The manager joked, “You didn’t hold on to such a beautiful woman, and now she’s gone. Any regrets?”