The younger sister mistakenly identified her brother when visiting relatives and was kissed by the c

Qiao Xinxin nodded reluctantly, and continued making up a story with no intention of letting go: "Yes, my friend! She... she used to have a boyfriend, but that guy was no good, she was deceived... and some bad things even happened."

"That's what happened. She broke up with that guy afterward. Now, she's met a really nice guy, and they get along really well. But she still has a big knot in her heart, feeling guilty towards him, and she just doesn't know... whether she should tell her current boyfriend about what happened in the past."

Lu Baizhou stood there quietly listening, his deep black eyes fixed on her face, his expression unchanged, like a bottomless lake.

Qiao Xinxin finished speaking in one breath, wishing she could bite her tongue off. This excuse for "making a friend out of thin air" was so crude and clumsy! But there was no turning back now, so she could only grit her teeth and continue: "She's just worried... if she tells him, her current boyfriend will look down on her and care about her. But if she doesn't tell him, she feels like she's deliberately hiding something dirty from him, and she feels uneasy, like she's lying..."

After she finished speaking, she secretly raised her eyelids to glance at Lu Baizhou's expression.

But she unexpectedly bumped into Lu Baizhou's eyes, which were staring at her intently.

There was a complex look in his eyes that was hard to describe, a look that seemed to contain indulgence, helplessness, and even a hint of... suppressed laughter and mockery.

Qiao Xinxin felt a sudden pang of guilt under his gaze and quickly looked down, finally settling her eyes on his newly bandaged forearm, pretending to examine whether the bandage looked good.

Lu Baizhou stood there, looking down at the girl in front of him who had almost buried her head in her chest. A feeling of amusement, exasperation, and a touch of heartache welled up inside him uncontrollably.

What friend is facing a problem? What friend is unsure whether to tell their current partner?

She was so nervous that she could barely speak and her fingers were almost twisting the hem of her clothes. If she were really asking on behalf of a "friend," that would be truly unbelievable!

He gazed at her quietly for a few seconds, and a question that had been swirling in his mind suddenly cleared up. The tension in his heart, the bewilderment he felt about her aloof attitude, suddenly eased.

He had always been unsure of Qiao Xinxin's feelings for him. She had clearly agreed to give him a chance and was willing to go for walks and chats with him, but he always felt that there was an invisible barrier between them. She was close to him, yet seemed to be afraid of something, always maintaining a certain distance. When she smiled, it was clearly genuine, but sometimes her eyes would suddenly dim, as if trapped by something heavy.

Now he finally understands!

So that's why!

He, as the person directly involved, knew all too well what had happened. He would never forget the madness and twists of fate that night. But he never expected that this silly girl not only still wouldn't recognize him as the man from that night, but also would have such a terrible memory at such a crucial moment, secretly carrying this whole affair as a huge burden on her shoulders, afraid he would find fault with her!

Seeing her pitiful and nervous appearance, Lu Baizhou suddenly felt a bit mischievous and decided not to reveal the truth for the time being, but to find another opportunity to "scare" her properly later.

So he deliberately suppressed the smile in his eyes, pretended to be thinking seriously, and said in a very deliberate and slightly heavy tone, "The kind of thing you're talking about... is indeed not easy to handle."

Qiao Xinxin was already on tenterhooks, and upon hearing his tone, her heart sank. Suddenly, she became anxious: "Why...why is it so difficult to handle?"

Looking at her anxious eyes, Lu Baizhou said slowly, "After all, everyone's thoughts and bottom lines are different. Some people may care a lot and feel that this is a matter of a woman's principles and conduct, and absolutely cannot accept it. But some people may be more open-minded and feel that as long as you truly like someone, you shouldn't care about her past that she had no control over."

After saying that, he paused deliberately, looking at Qiao Xinxin's increasingly pale face, and slowly added, "So, whether your 'friend's' partner will mind or not depends on what kind of person he is. I'm not him, how can I say for sure?"

Upon hearing this ambiguous answer, Qiao Xinxin's resentment and anxiety instantly overwhelmed her rational defenses.

She went to all this trouble to ask this question, not because she really wanted to hear some nonsense about "it varies from person to person"! She just wanted to hear Lu Baizhou's thoughts and know what his attitude was on this matter!

She bit her lower lip hard, almost blurting out, "Then... what if it were you? Brother Lu, if you were in this situation, would you mind?!"

The moment those words were uttered, the air in the corridor seemed to freeze for a moment.

Qiao Xinxin was stunned for a moment, her mind going blank. Only then did she belatedly realize how blunt and devastating her words had been!

One second she was using "I have a friend" as a fig leaf, and the next second she couldn't wait to ask, "What if it were you?"

This was practically a blatant accusation, grabbing Lu Baizhou by the collar and telling him: The friend I was talking about who lost his innocence is myself!

Qiao Xinxin's face flushed crimson from the base of her neck all the way to the tips of her ears, her whole body burning like a boiled shrimp. She wished the ground would split open and she could disappear into it; she wanted to take back what she had just said, but how could spilled water be taken back!

She could only stand there stiffly, listening to her own heart pounding so hard it felt like it was about to burst out of her chest.

Seeing her on the verge of tears and filled with shame and indignation, Lu Baizhou felt an even stronger mix of amusement and exasperation. But he knew that everything in excess was bad, and he couldn't really push the little rabbit too far.

He abandoned his joking thoughts, composed himself, and gazed at her with focused and affectionate eyes, his tone more serious and solemn than ever before:

"If it were me... I wouldn't mind."

Upon hearing this, Qiao Xinxin felt as if she had been caught by a strong hand while falling off a cliff. She jerked her head up, looking at him in disbelief, her voice trembling slightly: "Really...really?"

Looking into her glistening eyes, Lu Baizhou chuckled softly, his tone incredibly gentle: "Of course it's true. What's past is past, it's over."