Yuan Keqing was willing to sacrifice this much for him.
And she even went the extra mile to hide the fact that he called Tan Mo’s name after barging into her villa.
As it happened, her readiness to keep his actions a secret to that extent was beyond his expectations.
“But how did brother Keli get the access card to your villa, anyway?” Tan Mo queried after hearing Yuan Keqing’s narration.
Upon hearing that, everyone turned their heads in the voice’s direction and saw Wei Zhiqian and Tan Mo in the room.
“Mo Mo!” Wei Keli exclaimed. “Mo Mo, I . . . ”
Tan Mo turned her gaze away from him and ignored him utterly.
However, this time, Li Xiangrong and Wei Zhijian did not feel anything wrong with Tan Mo’s behavior.
In fact, her reaction was natural and authentic.
She was Wei Keli’s childhood friend since young. So by rights, she should have a close relationship with him.
Yet, she discovered that Wei Keli hugged her cousin sister in her birthday suit in the hot spring.
Hence, it would be natural for her to get furious. Nothing was out of place.
After disregarding Wei Keli, Tan Mo asked, “You were the one who passed the access card in my mother’s possession to her, right? Then, what about the one brother Keli’s holding? How in the world did he even get his hand on your card?”
At that, Yuan Keqing gaped her mouth open. She was stupefied and could not answer the question.
Then she turned to look at Wei Keli.
“I . . . ” Yuan Keqing paused, at a loss for words. She lowered her head while her clasped hands that were pressed against her knees clenched tighter.
“Did you give it to him?” Xu Mingzhen questioned.
“No!” Yuan Keqing denied instantly. She would not allow herself to be blamed unjustly.
Her narrative earlier was spoken as a cover-up for Wei Keli. It was as clear as daylight to everyone in the room.
Besides, she could seize the chance to express her feelings toward Wei Keli publicly. It was killing two birds with one stone.
But it was not the case for Tan Mo and Xu Mingzhen’s question.
If she admitted that she was the one who passed her access card to Wei Keli, it would be the same as saying that she intended to seduce the latter.
Nevertheless, she did not do such a thing.
Thus, she would never take the blame for him.
She would be looked down upon should she admit it—a target of scorn. Others would reckon her as a ditzy and vampish woman.
Her initial purpose was to move Wei Keli’s heart. She did not plan to be made a scapegoat. After all, she was never such a selfless person, to begin with.
“The access card . . . I . . . ” Yuan Keqing was at her wits’ end as to what to do. Yet, she dared not shift the responsibility onto Wei Keli.
Otherwise, her previous effort to touch Wei Keli would be wasted.
Therefore, Yuan Keqing chose to remain silent and wailed.
At that, Xu Mingzhen cocked her brows and retorted, “I’m just asking why Keli is holding your access card. You only need to answer yes or no to the question—whether you passed him your villa’s card or not? So why have you started crying?
“How about this?” Xu Mingzhen continued, “Nod once if you were the one who gave it to him.
“Was it you?” Xu Mingzhen reiterated.
“Boohoo . . . ” Yuan Keqing wept but did not bow her head.
Upon seeing that, Li Xiangrong’s face turned pale in aghast.
If Yuan Keqing was not the one who passed Wei Keli the card, where did he get it from?
The story would be different if he had gotten the access card by illegal means and barged into a woman’s accommodation.
“Keqing.” Although Li Xiangrong disliked Yuan Keqing, the former had to keep her shirt on and acted friendly with the latter. “Did you hear your aunt’s question earlier?”
“Boohoo . . . ” Yuan Keqing sobbed continuously.
She even ignored Li Xiangrong’s inquiry.
Truth be told, there were things that Xu Mingzhen found hard to speak of as Li Xiangrong’s friend.
After chuckling, Tan Wenci remarked, “It looks like this topic is getting nowhere. Keqing remained taciturn while bawling non-stop. So now it doesn’t matter anymore if she was the one who gave it to him or perhaps he . . . ”
Things would get ugly if he were to finish his sentence.
As he spoke, Wei Zhijian and Li Xiangrong’s expressions became overcast.
With Wei Zhijian and Li Xiangrong glaring at him in displeasure, he laughed nonchalantly and continued evasively, “We shouldn’t interfere too much with the kids’ affairs. After all, Keqing is our niece. As her uncle and aunt, it wouldn’t be nice if we got too involved with her love life.
“We’re not living in a feudal society anymore. People are more open-minded nowadays. Being their elders, we can understand where they’re coming from.” Tan Wenci’s words set up the story setting. “When young people are infatuated with one another and get into a serious relationship, it’s completely understandable that the two may have powerful urges to be intimate with each other.”
Needless to say, those words were directed at Wei Keli and Yuan Keqing.
But that tolerance could not be applied to Tan Mo.
“Just make sure to practice safe s*x. You don’t wanna have a child out of wedlock. Otherwise, it’d be troublesome,” Tan Wenci stated sternly.
Wei Zhijian was dumbfounded upon hearing that,
Naturally, Li Xiangrong had the same reaction.
How could he come to the conclusion that Wei Keli and Yuan Keqing had feelings for each other?
“There must be some kind of mistake!” Li Xiangrong refuted. “Didn’t she say that Keli was just trying to save her—”
“Xiangrong.” Xu Mingzhen interrupted while standing up. “Can I have a word with you?”
At that, the air around Li Xiangrong turned gloomy. Then, after exhaling deeply, she stood up.
They could not talk outside as there was a likelihood of their conversation being overheard by others.
Li Xiangrong would not consider Yuan Keqing’s room as the image of the latter’s physical intimacy with her son gave her goosebumps.
Therefore, she deemed Yuan Keqing’s room to be filthy.
Fortunately, Yuan Keqing was the only resident in that villa.
So, there was still an empty room.
Although the villa looked spacious from the outside, there were only two rooms inside.
The owner of this country villa was indeed a bloodsucker. As the saying goes, businesspeople are evils.
The villa owner must have intended to let the guests book more suites with lesser rooms to accommodate them.
Xu Mingzhen walked in front with Li Xiangrong behind the former.
Upon reaching the second floor, they headed toward the empty room and closed the door.
“Mingzhen, speaking about Keli . . . ” Li Xiangrong explained after catching up to Xu Mingzhen.
Then the latter grabbed the former’s hands and declared, “This is the end of the line for Mo Mo and Keli.
“Xiangrong, we’re friends. Could you please stand in my shoes and consider? Let’s pretend that you have a daughter. Would you agree to their engagement if the boy that you’ve acknowledged did something like that with her cousin sister? Things like hugging and stuff?”
Xu Mingzhen deliberately left out the fact that she had always disliked Wei Keli.
It would not be nice to say that in front of the person’s biological mother.
As it stood, Wei Keli had always been a target of disdain in the Tan family.
If he thought of marrying Tan Mo, he should keep the idea only to himself!
At most, he could only do it in his dreams!
However, it would not hurt to say a few nice words in front of Li Xiangrong.
“Even though there aren’t outsiders here, the villa’s staffs are all around us. If word got out, the relationship between Keli and Keqing would become complicated. This situation is getting out of hand. How can Mo Mo handle such circumstances when she’s still young and innocent? I certainly don’t want her to get involved in this mess and become a topic of other people’s gossips for no reason.
“Even if we just got the wrong idea, society wouldn’t care whether it was a misunderstanding or not.” Xu Mingzhen heaved a deep sigh. “Furthermore, you weren’t there to see how obscene they were.”
“Still, we’re not living in medieval times whereby men had to take responsibility for seeing a woman’s unclothed body. I know that I might be condemned by those who heard what I said. But I’m gonna make no bones about it, considering our relationship.” Li Xiangrong added unhesitatingly, “Why should my son take responsibility for her after seeing her in the buff once?”
