There’re Always Paranoid Thoughts to Monopolize Me - Chapter 61.1

Qin Ke felt as if she had become a large doll, being manipulated back and forth in the hands of the stylists, who were fixing her hairstyle, touching up her makeup, and coordinating her outfit…

After an hour and a half, when she walked out of the makeup room, Qin Ke truly had a feeling of “seeing the light of day again.”

There was a dedicated servant in the villa to guide her.

Passing by the snow-white ceramic tiles on the walls of the long corridor that were so shiny they could reflect one’s image, Qin Ke felt a bit dazed as she looked at the girl in the antique-style red knee-length dress.

This version of herself was indeed somewhat unfamiliar.

It wasn’t that she had never seen it before. After all, in her previous life in the Huo family, as the only wife of the Huo family, she held a respected position. In the beginning of her marriage, Huo Shengfeng had even arranged special etiquette teachers to provide her with various training.

During that period, things like makeup and outfit coordination had almost become her mandatory work. When even her smile had to be determined by others as to how many degrees the curve should be, the words “individual” and “freedom” had been completely stripped from her life… Living like that was truly chilling.

So when she got the chance to start over again, Qin Ke vowed not to repeat the same mistakes and didn’t want to experience such a hopeless life again. What she hadn’t expected was that she would end up falling in love with Huo Jun, who was destined to be tied to this kind of life in this lifetime…

It must have been that she owed him too much love and affection in her previous life, so she was destined to repay this “debt” with the same love and affection.

“We’ve arrived, Miss Qin. Please enter.”

“…”

The servant’s voice in front interrupted Qin Ke’s thoughts.

Looking up, she realized that during her absentmindedness, the servant had already led her to the side entrance of the banquet hall.

As the words fell, the side door of the banquet hall in front of her had already been pulled open by the servant for Qin Ke. The slight noise from inside the banquet hall came towards her.

Familiar yet strange.

Qin Ke took a light breath and stepped into the banquet hall.

She had originally planned to go find Huo Jun, but before Qin Ke’s gaze could sweep around once, her attention was suddenly caught by a familiar face not far in front of her.

The other person was also looking at Qin Ke with a slightly surprised expression.

“How come you’re… here?”

There were only a few steps between the two of them. The young woman was standing by a long table, having just taken a glass of champagne, and now walked over with the glass in hand—her expression had slightly returned to normal, but her gaze still couldn’t hide her astonishment.

In fact, Qin Ke was equally surprised at this moment—the person walking over was none other than Qi Tian, who had recorded a show with her in the same program group before.

Not having seen each other for a year, Qin Ke really hadn’t expected to see her in this setting.

From Qi Tian’s words, Qin Ke quickly realized—during that lunch before, the other party had left early and didn’t know about the later episode. It seemed that the other people from the program group hadn’t informed her of the specific situation afterwards, so Qi Tian didn’t know about her relationship with the Huo family.

But why was she here?

Qin Ke was puzzled.

Although Qi Tian had been slowly making a name for herself in the entertainment industry over the past year or two, she was still far from being a big shot who could connect with the Huo family. On her own, she shouldn’t have had the background to attend Huo Jingyan and Yan’an’s wedding…

As Qin Ke was pondering this, a middle-aged man suddenly walked over. Without any hesitation, he put his arm around Qi Tian’s slender waist, and smilingly turned his head to kiss Qi Tian’s cheek, asking, “Honey, who are you chatting with?”

“…”

Qin Ke was stunned.

She knew that the unspoken rules in the industry were nothing new, but seeing two people with such an age difference right before her eyes, displaying such intimacy, was truly shocking—so shocking that Qin Ke was dazed for quite a while.

Qi Tian’s expression wasn’t very natural either, but she quickly adjusted, smiling as she hooked her arm through the middle-aged man’s, nestling close to him with sweet breath.

“She’s from a program group I was in before. Back then, she was a top student from a provincial key high school… but not in the capital.”

As she spoke, Qi Tian turned her head to give Qin Ke a meaningful look, “By my calculation, you should still be in high school now, right? How did you come here? Don’t tell me you’re not worried about your studies and have entered the entertainment circle instead?”

Qi Tian’s tone didn’t hide her hostility at all.

In fact, at this moment, she felt quite pleased—even back in the program group, she had disliked Qin Ke the most. Ultimately, it was jealousy of Qin Ke’s clean background and bright future, and she also couldn’t stand her haughty attitude towards Song Qingzhuo, whom she herself had been trying to curry favor with.

Although Qin Ke had left the program group after recording only two episodes, after the show aired, she became the one most noticed and liked by the few audience members. This made Qi Tian even more insanely jealous…

Now, learning that the once proud girl had also taken the path of the unspoken rules like herself, and didn’t seem to have made a name for herself yet, Qi Tian naturally felt very comfortable and pleased.

Qin Ke was helpless.

She hadn’t expected that after all this time, Qi Tian would still be so hostile towards her.

“You’ve misunderstood,” Qin Ke spoke, “I just transferred to A University Affiliated High School.”

Qi Tian’s smile froze.

A University Affiliated High School wasn’t just a provincial key high school, it was one of the 27 famous key high schools in the country. And without a certain background, how could she possibly have come from a small place like Qian City to the capital and seemed to have found her footing?

This leap was so great that Qi Tian couldn’t believe it. She instinctively smiled and said, “That sounds really impressive… I’ve long admired A University Affiliated High School. Since you’re there, and we’re somewhat acquainted—why don’t I come visit you sometime next week?”

“…”

Hearing the deliberate probe in these words, Qin Ke smiled faintly.

“That might not be very convenient.”

The smile in Qi Tian’s eyes turned cold, thinking to herself that it was indeed a lie. But before she could find words to mock, she heard the girl in front of her quietly say, “As it happens, I just received an early admission offer from the school this week, so I probably won’t be going back to school after this—if Miss Qi really wants to go, why don’t you wait until early September, and I’ll give you a tour of A University?”

“…!”

Qi Tian’s expression changed abruptly, and she instinctively retorted, “How is that possible? Shouldn’t you only be in your second year of high school?!”

Qin Ke’s expression remained unchanged, her eyes as calm and composed as before.

“I was lucky. I won an award in this year’s competition and got the only early admission spot for second-year students.”

As she finished speaking, her gaze swept lightly over the other’s face.

“…”

Qi Tian’s expression immediately became even more unpleasant.

Meanwhile, the middle-aged man that Qi Tian was clinging to had also caught the flavor of the exchange between the two.

He smiled, his arm around Qi Tian’s slender waist, his gaze falling on Qin Ke, sweeping her up and down appraisingly before turning to Qi Tian.

“From the same program group as you, and able to get early admission to A University? Your circle of friends is quite full of hidden talents, isn’t it, honey?”

“Yes…”

Qi Tian smiled stiffly.

“But you look a bit unfamiliar,” the middle-aged man turned back, his gaze hiding a hint of desire as he looked Qin Ke over, smiling as he asked, “You don’t seem like someone who could get an invitation on your own — who did you come with?”

Qin Ke’s eyes turned slightly cold.

The other’s almost flirtatious attitude and tone clearly showed that he thought of her as a kept woman like Qi Tian. He was almost blatantly asking who her “sugar daddy” was.

Qin Ke gave him a cold look, turning to leave.

Just then, a figure stopped beside her.

“Why did it take so long?”

The deep, slightly husky voice of a young man carried a hint of undisguised complaint.

“…” Qin Ke turned her head in surprise to look at Huo Jun, who had come up behind her. “Have you been waiting long?”

“Mm,” Huo Jun frowned, “At least twenty minutes — I knew I shouldn’t have left you with those unreliable people Huo Jingyan found.”

“…”

Qin Ke was helpless.

This had nothing to do with Huo Jingyan, it was clearly this person in front of her being unreasonable…

But Qin Ke still indulged him, pretending she hadn’t heard.

However, the middle-aged man who had been smiling just now changed his expression.

He looked at Huo Jun in shock, examining him carefully several times, his eyes full of disbelief.

—