Quite awkward

Chapter 146 Blind date game

Across the river, there is a high-end restaurant famous for its riverside scenery and light flavors.

As night falls, a cruise ship with colorful lights slowly passes across the river.

Mu Chenan knew that he was now only across the river from the residential area where Qi Yu lived. The screen of the mobile phone placed on the dining table lit up and displayed a photo of her holding snow in her hands and smiling at the camera.

The person in the picture is in the center, and this is his favorite one.

While waiting for his blind date, he looked at Qi Yu's photos over and over again, feeling like he was hiding behind the camera and taking pictures of her.

The blind date partner Duan Xining showed up on time as agreed, walked past the dining table and sat down opposite him.

Although she was not late, she still felt a little embarrassed.

"Mr. Mu, I just came from the company. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for so long."

Mu Chenan turned off the screen of his mobile phone and nodded slightly at her.

"No, I'm early. Let's order first."

The waiter handed each of the two guests a menu. Duan Xining flipped through the menu and explained softly, "Although I'm a local from Linjiang, I can't eat spicy food, so I chose to meet you at this light-food restaurant. Mr. Mu, do you mind?"

Mu Chenan shook his head and didn't care which restaurant they met at. He came here just to complete the blind date mission.

"Whatever you like."

He did not tell the other party that he was also from Linjiang and could not eat spicy food. There was no need for him to explain to someone he would only meet once.

After the two of them ordered the dishes, Duan Xining took the initiative to find topics to chat with him.

"Mr. Mu, were you looking at Qi Yu's photo just now?"

When Mu Chenan heard Qi Yu's name mentioned from the other side, he was slightly surprised.

Duan Xining then explained, "Every store in our company has Qi Yu's advertising posters. Excuse me, I just happened to see her photo on your phone when I passed by, so I wanted to ask, is Mr. Mu a fan?"

Hearing this, Mu Chenan found it interesting and a hint of tenderness was hidden in his smile.

“No, I know her.”

He didn't explain too much and stopped the other party from daydreaming.

Duan Xining pushed the loose hair behind her ears and laughed in agreement.

She is confident and not shy when communicating with others. If she accidentally behaves impolitely, she will apologize in time. She is a graceful girl.

She has a round oval face, long black curly hair, nude lipstick, two pearl earrings on her ears, and a very simple beige women's business suit with her work badge still on her chest. She looks like an urban beauty.

Muchan had no intention of appreciating her beauty. He had worked a full day and just wanted to go home and rest after dinner.

During the blind date, he always maintained a good gentlemanly demeanor and a polite and friendly attitude.

Generally, women are more curious about him. When they talk about life and work, he usually answers all the questions, but he is not that talkative and will never take the initiative to start a topic.

Sometimes after Duan Xining asked him, she would take the initiative to introduce herself, because she completely regarded this dinner as a blind date. The man was the most outstanding young talent in Linjiang, and she also wanted to seize the opportunity to let him know her and leave him with a comfortable impression.

Duan Xining is one year younger than Muchenan, making them just the right match for each other in terms of love or marriage. By the end of the meal, she had a strong liking for this man and even began to look forward to their next meeting.

Mu Chenan stood up, picked up the coat that was draped over the armrest of the chair, put it on his arm, and said goodbye to Duan Xining directly.

"Miss Duan, let's stop here today."

After saying this, Duan Xining hesitated for a moment, lowered his eyelashes slightly, and said bravely: "Mr. Mu, let's exchange contact information."

-

Greentown Peony Garden.

After returning home, Mu Chenan took a shower and then went into the study to work.

It was late at night and just dawn in the United States when he received a call from Shen Shuang.

"Chen An, how was the blind date? Did you get along well? What's your impression of Xining?"

Mu Chenan reported the blind date in a flat voice.

"Mom, those girls are all good, but I just don't like them."

Shen Shuang insisted, "You just don't like her for now. Go out with Xining a few more times and get to know her better. There's always a chance you'll be attracted to her."

"Mom, I'm busy. The group is very busy at the end of the year." Mu Chenan refused subconsciously.

This kind of blind date only needs to be attended once. To put it bluntly, he was on pins and needles throughout dinner today. It wasn't because the woman was annoying, but because he felt that blind dates were a waste of time.

"I don't want you to go on blind dates all the time. I think Xining is an excellent girl in every way. She has a gentle and charming personality, outstanding looks, excellent academic background, and a good family background. She is perfect in every way. Don't rush to reject her. Take some time to meet her again this weekend."

"Mom, please be considerate of me." Mu Chenan sighed, took out a cigarette from the cigarette box, bit it on his lips and lit it.

"Chen An, I just asked you to meet each other. I didn't force you to date her, let alone marry her, so what's the dilemma for you?" Shen Shuang said earnestly.

She considered herself an open-minded parent and had never pushed Muchenan too hard. He had been in charge of his own life for the first twenty years or so. But when he reached the marriageable age, she had to intervene and help him find a good match to ensure a happy marriage for the rest of his life, so that he wouldn't get divorced shortly after getting married like his elder brother.

Mu Chenan finished the cigarette in his hand and put it out in the ashtray. He had no choice but to agree again.

"Mom, let me be frank. I'm willing to cooperate with you in meeting Miss Duan, but whether I fall in love with her is my business. Please don't force it."

Shen Shuang also took a step back and said, "Don't worry, I want you to cultivate a long-term partner first. If both parties are attracted to each other, then we can be together. If not, I won't force it."

Mu Chenan did not respond.

He suddenly realized that at least this Miss Duan was not annoying, so it made no difference whether he had one meal with her or several meals with her. There was no possibility of any development between the two of them anyway.

-

In mid-January, major universities begin their winter vacation.

Mu Yanqing received a temporary work assignment. He needed to take a team of students to Beicheng to participate in a professional-related competition.

The previous team leader had something to do at home, so the superiors entrusted this task to him.

After landing in North City, Mu Yanqing took his students to stay in a hotel contracted by the competition organizer, and then started a week-long competition.

On the fifth day of the competition, a male student in the team went missing and could not be contacted by any means. He had not returned to the hotel by midnight.

According to his roommate, the boy's girlfriend broke up with him last night. He cried bitterly in the middle of the night and did not sleep the whole night, which directly affected today's game.

These students were all young men in their early twenties, full of youthful energy and irresponsible. If it weren't for the great team member who turned the tide, the entire team would have been ruined in the end.

The male classmate suddenly disappeared. As the team leader, Mu Yanqing had an important responsibility. The preparations of the other students could not be interrupted, so he chose the simplest and most brutal way - calling the police.

At three o'clock in the morning, Mu Yanqing rushed to the nearby police station. The hall was noisy and full of disputes. He sat on a stainless steel chair, waiting for the police to bring back the missing male student from ten kilometers away.

A moment later, two women came and sat on the chair next to him. The victim, somewhat collapsed, recounted the entire process of her being defrauded to the policewoman.

This is a new type of fraud, with sophisticated rhetoric and a very meticulous process, which makes people fall into the trap of the fraudster step by step. When she suddenly comes to her senses, the money has been transferred to the other party's card and cannot be intercepted in the middle.

The victim calmed down and said, "Luckily, I was only defrauded of 3,000 yuan this time. I have a good friend who was defrauded of millions of yuan. It took her a long time to get over it."

The policewoman consoled him, "Nowadays, all kinds of scams are emerging one after another, leaving ordinary people with nowhere to hide. These scammers are really despicable..."

The two people beside him talked for a while, and then the policewoman was called away by her colleagues. The victim sat in his seat without moving, sighed several times, and finally looked at the handsome man beside him.

She squinted her eyes and looked carefully, then greeted him uncertainly: "Brother Mu? Qi Yu's elder brother?"

Mu Yanqing turned around and quickly recognized that the other person was Qi Yu's best friend Xiang Wei, whom he had met several times before.

"Hello, Xiang Wei."

Xiang Wei's expression suddenly became surprised: "Brother Mu, why are you here?"

"One of my students had some problems, so I came to take care of it, but you'll have to wait a while." Mu Yanqing didn't specify the situation to protect the student's privacy.

"That's such a coincidence! I was suddenly scammed out of 3,000 yuan in the middle of the night. I immediately called the police, but it should be difficult to recover it."

Mu Yanqing had just heard the entire conversation between her and the policewoman and expressed deep sympathy.

"A loss of three thousand yuan isn't that big. You still have to look forward to it. You can make it back. But your friend was scammed out of millions. This is definitely a terrible lesson."

Xiang Wei raised his head, looking at him with a puzzled look, frowning and saying cautiously, "Brother Mu, don't you know... that my friend who was deceived is... Qi Yu?"

After listening to her stammering and finishing the sentence, and hearing Qi Yu's name at the end, Mu Yanqing's pupils trembled slightly, and his expression gradually became heavy.

"Xiang Wei, are you saying that Ayu was defrauded of millions?"

Xiang Wei had no habit of leaving her words half-finished. She had always known that Brother Mu loved Qi Yu very much. Since she had just said it unintentionally, there was no room for redemption. She simply told her brother the whole process of her good friend being defrauded, and then she went to apologize to Qi Yu afterwards.

"Qi Yu wasn't scammed by a stranger like me. The person who scammed her was Jiang Yuhuai, who participated in a dating show with her last year. Because Jiang Yuhuai's parents owed money and refused to pay it back, he was removed from the show, and Qi Yu lost her job filming the dating show because of him. Later, Jiang Yuhuai discovered that Qi Yu was deliberately avoiding him. This man is morally corrupt and has a very small heart. He tricked Qi Yu into clicking on a scam link, and all her savings were swindled away overnight."

Mu Yanqing clenched his fists, feeling uncomfortable in his heart and a fierce look on his face. He wished he could press Jiang Yuhuai's head to the ground and rub it.

Xiang Wei sensed something was wrong and quickly calmed his anger.

"Brother Mu, don't be angry. Jiang Yuhuai was quickly caught by the police. He is now in prison and will have to serve many years. It's a pity that he lost all of Qi Yu's money in gambling, so he can't get it back at all."

Mu Yanqing loosened his fists and remained silent, but he still couldn't help feeling sorry for his Qi Yu.

How much he suffered when he was not with her.

Why did she hide such a big thing from him? Didn’t she regard him as a support in her heart?

Xiang Wei said to himself, "I'm sure Qi Yu has walked out of this shadow. Her career is going well now, and she has earned back the money she was defrauded of. She is very positive and optimistic, so Brother Mu, you have to believe in her. She is really brave and hardworking, and she is always growing."

Mu Yanqing dares to say that she is the person who knows Qi Yu best in the world. She has always been a tough and brave girl. After being defrauded, she definitely did not want to trouble him, or did not want to make him worry in the United States, so she chose to bear such a big thing alone.

Moisture welled up in his eyes and he lowered his head. He felt extremely complicated and wanted to go back to Linjiang to see her right now.

After a while, the missing male classmate was sent to the police station by the police. Mu Yanqing paused for a moment, left the male student aside, and chatted with Xiang Wei for a few more words.

"Xiang Wei, thank you for telling me this. It's not easy for a girl like you to make money. I will give you back the money you just got scammed out of. Thank you for helping me take care of Qi Yu in Beicheng."

"Brother Mu, no need. I was foolish enough to get cheated this time. Let me learn a lesson from it."

Xiang Wei was somewhat shocked by the way he did things. She said those words purely out of sympathy for Qi Yuming and had no other intention at all.

Mu Yanqing had added Xiang Wei on WeChat a few years ago. He found her and transferred money to her directly.

"Keep it. It will make me feel better."

Xiang Wei looked embarrassed, but finally accepted the transfer at Mu Yanqing's insistence. He planned to choose a gift and give it to Qi Yu later, so that he would not owe her anything.

She and Qi Yuzhen are a pair of sisters in trouble. In modern society, they cannot escape the endless scams and have been cheated of their money many times.

……

The boy who had played the disappearing trick had the misfortune of running into Mu Yanqing's wrath and was severely reprimanded. Dejected, he returned to his hotel room and chose to escape again, hiding and crying bitterly.

The competition continued, and the last day was the day to announce the results. In the end, their team won second place.

After Mu Yanqing sent every student away, he rushed back to Linjiang without stopping. After a brief rest at home, he called Qi Yu in advance to ask about her current location, and then drove directly to pick her up.