Chapter 571 - 366: A Small Trick to Two-Timing (Part 2)

"Why don’t you go on ahead? I’ll finish cleaning up the kitchen," Xue Rui said as he ushered Lin Ruoxi out.

’If I put enough pressure on Gu Muxue, I could even force her to apologize to me,’ he thought.

Xue Rui was confident Gu Muxue would apologize.

’But that girl holds a grudge and would definitely get her revenge later. It’s better to just keep her happy. Besides, she’s generous enough; it’s no big deal for me to take a small loss.’

Gu Muxue "watched" Lin Ruoxi leave the kitchen. The instant Ruoxi’s figure vanished, she yanked Xue Rui back, her small hand landing on his waist for a vicious pinch. "You jerk," she hissed, "you did that on purpose. If there’s no drama, you’ll just create some..."

Xue Rui gritted his teeth and said nothing. ’Just bear with it and it’ll be over soon,’ he thought. He had, in fact, been testing her on purpose, trying to see where her boundaries lay.

’As for Lin Ruoxi... she probably wouldn’t hesitate for a second even if I told her to kneel for no reason at all.’

’Hm? Is that it?’ Xue Rui realized Gu Muxue’s hand had suddenly loosened its grip.

He glanced down and saw Gu Muxue staring nervously at the kitchen door.

Xue Rui followed her gaze and saw Lin Ruoxi peeking around the doorframe, her head half-visible as she monitored every move inside the kitchen. Her almond-shaped eyes blazed with fury.

His heart sank. He hadn’t expected Lin Ruoxi to pull a surprise return.

Lin Ruoxi was never one to start a conflict. If anything could make her truly angry, it was seeing him get hurt.

He hadn’t forgotten that Lin Ruoxi had started her "feud" with Gu Muxue back in high school, all because of the mysterious pinch marks that kept appearing on his arm.

Now, from the way the girl’s cheeks were puffed out in anger, it looked like she was about to settle both new and old scores at once.

’Oh, crap. They’re not going to actually fight, are they?’

Lin Ruoxi stomped toward Gu Muxue, her cheeks puffed in anger. Xue Rui quickly put a hand out to stop her. "Xixi, I’m tough. A little pinch is nothing."

Lin Ruoxi’s breathing grew ragged, her mind a complete blank. She mumbled, "Rui, can we just go home? I don’t want to see you get bullied."

A wave of panic hit Gu Muxue. She’d thought she had suffered more than enough grievances to justify bullying Xue Rui with a clear conscience from now on. But the reality was that Lin Ruoxi would "protect" him, even threatening to take him away.

"We were just playing," Xue Rui explained.

Lin Ruoxi’s voice trembled. "I know... but I don’t understand. If you like someone, why hurt them?"

’If Xue Rui and Gu Muxue are just going to fight when they’re together, then I might as well take him away. We could go back to how things were before. I’d spend the day with Muxue, and then go home to be with Rui at night.’

It was the first time Xue Rui had ever seen the girl this angry. She was so furious she had worked herself into tears, which now streamed endlessly down her face.

"I’m sorry, I promise it won’t happen again," Gu Muxue hurriedly bowed her head and apologized.

Lin Ruoxi wiped her tears. "Then... then how will you prove it?"

Gu Muxue turned to look at Xue Rui and sighed helplessly to herself. She closed her eyes, rose onto her tiptoes, and kissed him.

’I can’t prove I won’t hit him again, but I can prove, right now, that I like him.’

’Kissing in front of someone else... This is so embarrassing.’ She could feel her cheeks burning.

’Lin Ruoxi has kissed him in front of me before. How can she be so casual about it?’

And that jerk Xue Rui... he was taking and taking, endlessly. Her mind went blank, and she stumbled back against the cabinet with a THUD.

For some reason, seeing Xue Rui kiss another girl made Lin Ruoxi feel deeply uncomfortable. She quickly said, "Uh... I get it."

But they didn’t stop.

Lin Ruoxi’s hands clenched into tight fists. She had a sudden urge to stop Gu Muxue, but then she saw the look of pure enjoyment on Xue Rui’s face.

The corners of Lin Ruoxi’s eyes slowly turned up into a smile. If Xue Rui was happy, she was happy.

Before leaving, she gently closed the kitchen’s sliding door.

Hearing the kitchen door slide shut, Gu Muxue bit down hard, forcing the foreign object from her mouth.

"Muxue, you’d better be careful she doesn’t come back in," Xue Rui threatened.

Gu Muxue pouted, lightly pecking Xue Rui on the cheek. "Is that enough?"

"It’ll have to do, I guess. But you’d better tone it down in the future. I’ve got backup now, you know."

Xue Rui hugged the petite figure in his arms tightly, thinking that a subdued Gu Muxue was especially adorable.

"To her, you can do no wrong," Gu Muxue sighed.

Lin Ruoxi had a clear double standard. The same words, the same actions—they were wrong when Gu Muxue did them, but perfectly fine when Xue Rui did.

Take how Lin Ruoxi had just questioned her: "If you like someone, why hurt them?"

’As if I’d forget,’ Gu Muxue thought, ’that just a few days ago, Xue Rui spanked Lin Ruoxi’s bottom until it was swollen. I suppose that doesn’t count as hurting someone?’

Lin Ruoxi had always been completely devoted; in her heart, there was only room for Xue Rui.

"What, are you jealous?" Xue Rui said with a smile.

Leaning against his chest, Gu Muxue whispered, "Just a teensy bit."

"Well, that won’t do. She’s my girlfriend," Xue Rui said shamelessly.

Gu Muxue asked in a low, dangerous tone, "Oh? She’s your girlfriend. Then what am I?"

"You are too," Xue Rui said without hesitation.

"You lucky bastard," Gu Muxue muttered, but there was nothing she could do about it. She was the one who’d decided to come back to him.

But how could Gu Muxue let Xue Rui have his cake and eat it too?

She couldn’t hit him anymore, but she had other methods.

A cunning glint flashed in Gu Muxue’s eyes. She poked his chest and asked, "Xiaorui, in your heart, who comes first?"

"Of course it’s you."

Xue Rui answered without a moment’s hesitation—a classic case of male survival instinct.

In truth, he thought about it for a moment. He really did prioritize Gu Muxue’s feelings, but only because Lin Ruoxi was easier to appease...

"Oh? And when Ruoxi asks you, is that what you tell her, too?" As she spoke, Gu Muxue placed her small hand on Xue Rui’s throat.

Xue Rui’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He answered honestly, "Xixi would never ask me that question."

"Hmph! So you’re saying I’m the one being unreasonable?" Gu Muxue snorted.

’Her words made his brow twitch. When did this girl get so passive-aggressive?’

So, he shot back with a classic line of his own: "Muxue, that’s not what I meant. If that’s what you want to think, there’s nothing I can do about it."

The smile at the corners of Gu Muxue’s eyes deepened. She heaved a dramatic sigh. "Alas, the childhood friend is no match for the girl who falls from the sky. Poor Muxue has worked her fingers to the bone, but even that can’t compare to a simple breakfast from the Lin Family’s little sister. How pitiful..."

The hair on Xue Rui’s arms stood on end. ’Is she bringing up old history now?’

He quickly clamped a hand over her mouth. "Muxue, why don’t you just hit me instead?"

Gu Muxue snorted, pried his hand away, and repeated his earlier words back to him. "You have Ruoxi as your backup. How would poor Muxue dare do anything? Right?"

The corner of Xue Rui’s mouth twitched. ’So she’s not going to hit me anymore, she’s just switched to being passive-aggressive.’

He figured he had some leverage over her too. Mimicking her tone, he asked, "Muxue, what number am I in your heart?"

Gu Muxue pouted. He was subtly hinting that she had two people in her heart.

She smiled and asked, "Xiaorui, what number do you want to be? First or second?"

"What do you mean, what number do I want to be?" Xue Rui retorted.

"Didn’t you call her over to test me? Whatever number you want to be, you can be. If you want to be first, you’re first," Gu Muxue said with a smile.

"Muxue, you can take the surveillance camera out of my head now," Xue Rui said, clearing his throat in embarrassment. The girl was too sharp; she had seen right through his motives.

"Hurry up and say it, what number do you want to be?" Gu Muxue poked Xue Rui’s nose.

"I don’t care, as long as you’re happy," Xue Rui whispered.

Gu Muxue froze for a moment. His words were a form of indulgence. She hugged him tightly. "Xiaorui, thank you."

"It’s not that I’m being magnanimous," Xue Rui admitted, knowing he couldn’t fool her. "It’s that being number one comes with a price. I don’t want to lose either of you."

In reality, Gu Muxue was still hesitating. If he had said he wanted to be number one in her heart, she would have granted his wish. She would have ruthlessly excised that forbidden emotion from her heart once and for all.

The consequence of that would be that he could only have one girlfriend.

But if he just let things be, then many possibilities remained open...

Gu Muxue’s feelings for Lin Ruoxi were complicated, which was one of the reasons he could safely two-time them.

Leaving aside the cultural implications of "having a foot in two boats," from a purely physical standpoint, it’s obviously unsafe. With one foot on each boat, it’s very easy to fall into the water.

If the "two boats" drifted apart, he would be forced into a painful split.

But as long as the two boats stayed close enough together, he could stand securely on both.

That was the secret to successfully having a foot in two boats.