Chapter 106 A Fortuitous Encounter

Because of the two recent commissions, Qin Miaoyu and the others had grown more cautious about Miss Jin’s project.

There was no helping it. The first two commissions had, at the very least, involved issues still within their control. But if something went wrong with Miss Jin’s, the trouble would be far greater.

So when Miss Jin came to the studio again, Qin Miaoyu specifically asked about her relationship with her fiancé, as well as some supplementary clauses to the contract.

Seeing a trace of surprise on Miss Jin’s face, Qin Miaoyu explained why such clauses were necessary, though she mentioned only the matter of the earlier commission that had already fallen through completely.

After hearing that, Miss Jin was indignant as well.

“Then it’s just as well. This lets the bride see what kind of people the groom’s family really are. If she had married into it, she would have been jumping into a fire pit.”

Qin Miaoyu agreed wholeheartedly. So when Miss Zhou decided to break things off with the man, her first reaction was not that the commission would be ruined, but that it was excellent that Miss Zhou could be so decisive.

“Come to think of it, I once heard of something similar. It was a distant relative of Zhou Zhaolin’s. Since Zhou Zhaolin has a bit of money now, that relative even came to him, wanting to borrow his vacant house to use as a bridal home for the wedding.”

Qin Miaoyu was speechless. All she could say was that the world was vast and full of strange things; some people simply could not be understood with ordinary reasoning.

“Zhou Zhaolin may be useless in other respects, but he is a dutiful son. When he heard that distant relative say his mother had agreed, he actually intended to lend the house out as a bridal home. I thought it was inappropriate and insisted firmly, and only then did Zhou Zhaolin give up the idea.”

Qin Miaoyu was somewhat surprised. “If he was willing to lend out a house as a bridal home, their relationship can’t have been all that distant, right?”

“By blood they’re already quite far apart, but the two families live close to each other, so they’ve always been on good terms.”

“Zhou Zhaolin’s hometown is far from Jing City, isn’t it? Then why would his relative come all the way to Jing City to get married? And even borrow a bridal home?” Qin Miaoyu could not make sense of it.

Miss Jin said with open disdain, “Isn’t it because the bride’s family is in Jing City and their conditions are quite good, so they wanted to climb higher? I heard the bride’s father is the principal of a well-known school, and her mother is also a famous dancer. They count as a family of refinement.”

“Wait, wait. What is the bride’s parents’ status?” Xu Xiaoqi asked at once.

“Her father is a principal, her mother a dancer. Why?”

Xu Xiaoqi looked at Qin Miaoyu. “Miss Zhou’s father is also a principal, and her mother is a dancer…”

Qin Miaoyu seized the thought flashing through her mind.

“So you’re saying this distant relative of Zhou Zhaolin’s is Miss Zhou’s ex-fiancé’s family?”

Qin Miaoyu and the others immediately took Miss Zhou’s information and that bizarre family’s details and compared them with Miss Jin’s.

Although Miss Jin could not remember everything clearly, the surnames and general circumstances all matched.

After discovering this, Miss Jin could not help murmuring, “Could it be that Zhou Zhaolin is behind this?”

Before this, Zhou Zhaolin had already sent people to cause trouble and keep the studio’s phones tied up, making the front desk busy for quite a while, all of it ultimately wasted effort.

Even without Miss Jin saying it, Qin Miaoyu now felt certain it was Zhou Zhaolin’s doing.

So the direction had actually been wrong before. She had thought it was Chen Xuanyu playing some trick, which was why she had asked Xu Xiaoqi to investigate the connection between Chen Xuanyu and that family. Naturally, nothing was found in the end.

If that family’s behavior had something to do with Zhou Zhaolin, then everything would make much more sense.

Qin Miaoyu exchanged a glance with Xu Xiaoqi. Xu Xiaoqi found an excuse to step out, while Qin Miaoyu and Pei Yixue continued to entertain Miss Jin.

Originally, Miss Jin’s wedding date was still nearly two months away. If she had chosen their studio, they could have taken their time refining the wedding plan.

But now that the groom had changed, Miss Jin naturally did not want to keep the old date, since to her it was downright inauspicious.

They had someone check an auspicious day, but the nearest good date was only half a month earlier; otherwise, the next suitable day would be a full month after the unlucky one. In the end, they chose the earlier date, which shortened the time to the wedding by more than half a month.

After Miss Jin left, Qin Miaoyu and Pei Yixue looked at one another. Neither of them had expected that the matter troubling them for so long would be resolved so unexpectedly, by such a coincidence.

“Then could that wedding company also have some connection with Zhou Zhaolin?” Pei Yixue asked.

Qin Miaoyu shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe yes, maybe no. We’ll have to see whether Xiaoqi can uncover anything.”

Xu Xiaoqi was the first to confirm one thing: Zhou Zhaolin really did have ties to that family.

“Probably Zhou Zhaolin gave them money to cause trouble. Miss Zhou said that family suddenly increased the betrothal gift by several tens of thousands.”

Now that they knew what was really going on, Qin Miaoyu found it much easier to deal with.

“What about the other commission? Is it related to Zhou Zhaolin?”

Xu Xiaoqi pressed her lips together and shook her head. “Not for now. I haven’t found anything, and I haven’t heard any useful gossip either.”

“Then leave that aside for now. First see whether this so-called wedding company has also used any of our other designs. If it has, then we’ll terminate cooperation with that commission’s client directly.”

The next day, the cooperation was terminated.

They had the client come to the studio so they could speak face-to-face.

At first, the client still refused to admit it, saying it had all been accidental.

But once the evidence was laid out one by one before him, he finally yielded and admitted it, agreeing to end the contract without making much of a scene.

Just after the client left, Chen Xuanyu happened to pass by the office door and asked curiously what had happened.

Qin Miaoyu looked at him warily and told him to mind his own business.

Although nothing had yet been discovered regarding what Chen Xuanyu had done, merely on account of how he had kept pestering Pei Yixue before in an attempt to control her, and then loitering outside the office to eavesdrop, Qin Miaoyu’s impression of him had already plummeted to the bottom.

Chen Xuanyu could also tell that Qin Miaoyu disliked him. He left tactfully, and before going, he smiled at Pei Yixue.

But at that moment, Pei Yixue showed no reaction at all.

She herself understood that Miaoyu and Xiaoqi had deliberately or inadvertently kept her and Chen Xuanyu apart. Yet she knew these two friends would never harm her, so she did not react.

As contact with Chen Xuanyu grew less and less, Pei Yixue thought back on what had happened before and gradually came to her senses; that faint, hazy feeling she had once had for him vanished without a trace.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Pei Yixue said with amusement at the expressions on the two opposite her.

“You really don’t have any thoughts about him anymore?” Qin Miaoyu asked.

Pei Yixue nodded firmly.

Seeing this, Qin Miaoyu told her about discovering Chen Xuanyu eavesdropping earlier.

After hearing it, Pei Yixue could not help but feel a little regretful. She should never have let Chen Xuanyu into the studio. If he harbored ill intentions, who knew what trouble might arise in the future!