Chapter 17: Rolling Thunder

Lu Qiaoge glanced at Qin Hengzhi, whose expression remained unreadable.

Her impression of him was that he was a man of few words.

The type who would nod without even letting out an "mm."

She never expected that he would use her words as an excuse to go and complain about the waitress.

Using a soft, negotiating tone, Lu Qiaoge said, "You are so busy; there is no need for you to go personally for such a small matter. I will go find the manager to explain. Regardless, this situation started because of me."

Just then, a telephone rang inside the room. Lu Qiaoge took the opportunity to say, "Then it's a deal. I wish you success with your blind date."

With that, she hurried out of the Qingsong Private Room.

Qin Hengzhi went to answer the call. When he looked back, there was no sign of her at the door.

By this time, Lu Qiaoge had reached the ground floor. Not seeing her sister, she estimated that she had only stayed with Qin Hengzhi for two or three minutes.

Had Qiao Ling not returned from the restroom yet?

Turning her head, she met the gossipy gaze of the waitress. She quickly pulled the woman toward a corner of the stairs and lowered her voice: "Ma'am, I entered the wrong room just now. That guest wasn't waiting for me... I'm telling you, that man is very stubborn; he might actually complain about you to your supervisor..."

Lu Qiaoge stopped mid-sentence.

She saw the waitress's strange gaze shifting toward something above her head.

As Lu Qiaoge turned around, she saw Qin Hengzhi standing behind her.

A blue coat was draped over his arm, and he wore a half-smile.

Wasn't he supposed to be waiting for his blind date? Why was he out here?

The waitress looked at the two well-matched individuals with a beaming smile. As for the complaint, she didn't take it to heart at all, because the restaurant manager was her older brother.

Caught red-handed gossiping about Qin Hengzhi, Lu Qiaoge's eyes flickered. She said with total seriousness, "Oh dear, I wonder where my sister has gone. I must go out and look for her."

Lu Qiaoge didn't look at Qin Hengzhi's face; she simply walked briskly toward the exit.

At that moment, the restaurant's main doors were pushed open, and a voice filled with grief and indignation rang out: "Liu Feng, you heartless man! How dare you come on a blind date behind my back?"

A woman then rushed in from the entrance.

The first floor of the Chunfeng Restaurant featured over a dozen large round dining tables. At this moment, only two tables had customers. The rest were the private rooms on the second floor.

Lu Qiaoge noticed that the woman rushing in had a slightly protruding abdomen, so she nimbly ducked to the side.

Was this someone coming to catch a cheater?

Chen Yan's gaze swept the room, recalling the description her neighbor had given her.

*Looks like a vixen, fair skin, and wearing a plaid skirt today.*

She figured the girl in front of her must be this beautiful, enchanting woman with those soul-stealing eyes. Because she was the only one who fit the description. It had to be her!

Consumed by jealousy, Chen Yan blocked the restaurant entrance and pointed at Lu Qiaoge: "Which family do you come from? How can you be so shameless? Even though Liu Feng and I haven't registered our marriage, we held a wedding banquet in our hometown! You actually have the audacity to seduce my man. I'll fight you to the death!"

Lu Qiaoge felt as if thunder had struck.

She certainly didn't dare to fight a pregnant woman.

Lu Qiaoge took several steps back: "Hey, hey, hey! You've got the wrong person! I don't know any 'Feng' or 'Yu.' Also, calm down. As long as your man is here, what are you afraid of? You'll find him."

Chen Yan stopped and looked at Lu Qiaoge suspiciously.

Just then, a man hurried down the stairs.

He wore glasses and looked quite scholarly. Lu Qiaoge felt he looked somewhat familiar.

She then remembered—he worked in the same unit as her eldest brother; his name was Liu Feng.

At this moment, Liu Feng truly hadn't expected Chen Yan to show up here. He had brought Qiqi to eat because Qiqi wanted steamed meat with radish, and he had gone through a lot of trouble to get a voucher.

He couldn't let Qiqi be discovered.

Qiqi was the daughter of Deputy Director Wang from Workshop Four. If she were found out, his life would be miserable.

His eyes immediately landed on Lu Qiaoge.

She was Lu Zhiguo's sister—recently dumped, unemployed, and reportedly very timid in personality.

A thought struck Liu Feng: *Does Chen Yan think Lu Qiaoge is Qiqi?*

In that case, he might as well go along with it to get through this.

Seeing Liu Feng approach, Chen Yan's tears flowed uncontrollably. She tried to lung forward to scuffle with the girl, but Liu Feng held her back.

Then, Liu Feng turned to Lu Qiaoge and said, "Qiaoge, you should head home first."

As soon as these words were spoken, the restaurant fell silent.

Lu Qiaoge narrowed her eyes dangerously. Was Liu Feng trying to divert the trouble and frame her?

That girl must be someone important.

She glanced at the tabby cat crouching on the windowsill and the swallows on the eaves.

In her mind, she spoke to them: *[Go to the second floor. Find the woman Liu Feng brought for dinner.]*

Lu Qiaoge wasn't sure if the waitress knew who Liu Feng had brought. But seeing her silence, she either didn't know or didn't want to get involved in other people's business.

Furthermore, there was only one person at the counter.

Liu Feng even gave Lu Qiaoge a meaningful look, signaling her to take the blame, thinking to himself that he would at least buy her something as compensation later.

The waitress had wanted to step in, but remembering Lu Qiaoge's claim that she had entered the wrong room, and seeing how intimately Liu Feng was speaking to Lu Qiaoge, she hesitated.

Qin Hengzhi, however, walked slowly toward Lu Qiaoge.

It wasn't just his trust in Master Lu's family character, but an intuition: Liu Feng wanted to pin the blame on Lu Qiaoge.

Such a tactic was too despicable.

One must realize that public opinion can be a powerful weapon; if she were truly framed, it would be difficult to explain herself later.

However, the young girl seemed quite sharp-tongued; she would likely defend herself.

Meanwhile, Liu Feng went to comfort Chen Yan, saying helplessly to Lu Qiaoge, "Qiaoge, your brother asked me to wait for someone at the restaurant, but I didn't realize he was introducing you to me for a blind date. If I had known, I wouldn't have come. Even though your engagement was broken, you shouldn't be so desperate to find someone. Your brother is so muddled—I already have a wife, why is he still introducing you to me..."

With this, everyone in the restaurant believed it.

Chen Yan believed it completely, her gaze toward Lu Qiaoge filled with contempt.

In a corner to the west, two people were sitting at a table: Zhao Jinbao, who was there for a blind date with Lu Qiao Ling, and his elder sister.

The elder sister, Zhao, had a dark expression. She whispered, "I don't disagree because of backward thinking or because I dislike Lu Qiaoge for being dumped. It's because she has no self-respect. How shameless, to actually seduce a married man. That Lu eldest son isn't a good person either. Tell me, how could her sister, Lu Qiaoling, be any better?"

She then looked warningly at the grim-faced Zhao Jinbao: "Forget today's blind date. Sister will find you a girl from a clean and good family another day."

Subsequently, the dozen or so people in the restaurant—whether they were diners or the waitress—all turned their eyes toward Lu Qiaoge, who seemed to be accepting the blame.

Many wore expressions of disdain.

They also harbored a sense of curiosity, waiting to see how Lu Qiaoge would defend herself.

No one expected that the cold-faced Lu Qiaoge would suddenly launch a kick toward Liu Feng's solar plexus.

Even more unexpected was that Lu Qiaoge's strength was so immense that a single kick sent him flying into a pillar in the restaurant lobby.

One must note, the pillar was still over ten meters away from Lu Qiaoge...