Chapter 578: Guilty Conscience – Daily Life of the Delicate Aunt in the Courtyard

Chapter 578: Guilty Conscience – The Sickly Young Aunt’s Juicy Gossip Life in the Compound

"What are you grumbling about over there? Hurry up and make dinner!" Mother Su poked her head out from inside the house.

Qin Xianglian, still grumbling under her breath, quickly walked back.

"What were you just muttering about?" Mother Su asked again.

"Mom, didn’t you see? That Auntie Zhou just looked at me like I made her sick. Is she insulting me?"

"What do you mean, made her sick?" Mother Su hadn’t paid attention to the second half of her words.

"Yes!" Qin Xianglian nodded angrily.

Mother Su’s mind immediately jumped to the wildest conclusion. She slapped her knee in glee, a sly grin spreading across her face.

"Mom, mom! What is it?"

"You said Auntie Zhou was sickened—could she be knocked up?"

Qin Xianglian was shocked by this guess. "Mom! No way, right?"

"Why not? I think it’s very possible!" Mother Su was convinced it must be true.

Qin Xianglian also recalled what had just happened. "Mom! You’re right. Auntie Zhou looked sick in front of me, and when I was about to say something, she ran away. Could it be because she felt guilty?" The more she thought about it, the more plausible it seemed!

Mother Su clapped her hands again, thrilled. "Exactly, that must be it. Hahaha!"

Qin Xianglian got excited too. "Now we’ve got leverage on them, hahaha!"

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were thrilled for the same reason. If Auntie Zhou was pregnant, it definitely couldn’t be Eldest Master Zhou’s—after all, everyone knew he was infertile now. That meant it had to be someone else’s—this was a surefire scandal!

They had to think carefully about how to milk this for all it’s worth. Hehehe!

The two exchanged glances, seeing the greedy glint of scheming in each other’s eyes.

……

Auntie Zhou had no idea that her pure disgust at the sight of Qin Xianglian would lead to such wild speculations from the mother-daughter pair.

Right now, she just wanted to get away as quickly as possible. She couldn’t stomach another word of Zhou Qin’s pompous rants—if she did, she might actually hurl right then and there.

She thought, with Zhou Qin’s personality, finding a second wife would be way harder than his first marriage.

Auntie Zhou wasn’t worried at all about Zhou Qin getting married quickly and dragging home another high-maintenance princess.

Because that was not a snowball’s chance in hell!

……

Ever since Lin Qing learned from Fu Huihui that Zhou Qin was pursuing Liu Qingqing, she had been paying more attention to him.

One morning, as Lin Qing followed the crowd to work, she suddenly noticed that Zhou Qin was already out the door early today—he was walking not too far ahead of her.

Lin Qing took a closer look, and what she saw was holy crap!

Everyone was wearing standard-issue work gear, so there wasn’t much difference there. The biggest change was that Zhou Qin had actually gelled his hair back, sweeping it all upward.

Lin Qing couldn’t see the front, but she guessed he must have been showing off a shiny, bare forehead.

How did she find out later?

Well, let’s talk about the hair oil Zhou Qin used—wait, something seems off. Do they even sell hair oil here? Could it be lard?

Lin Qing suddenly wasn’t so sure anymore.

"Zhou Qin, you’re all dressed up today!"

"Just alright!" Zhou Qin said modestly, but he lifted his chin proudly.

"Are you going on a blind date or something?" Otherwise, why dress like this?

"You could say that!" Zhou Qin planned to ask Liu Qingqing out.

He felt he had been after her for a while now—if he asked her out now, she would surely agree.

Lin Qing’s curiosity was shared by others. "What’s in your hair? It looks so greasy—is it lard?"

"What’s the big deal about lard? I dressed up specially."

"..." Wait, it actually *is* lard?!

Lin Qing and the others who had asked were speechless. Who even uses *lard* as hair grease? Such a waste!

Zhou Qin thought they were just jealous of him, probably because he was so handsome and well-dressed.

Good thing Zhou Qin kept *that* to himself, or else they would’ve puked up their breakfasts right then and there.

At first, Lin Qing really thought Zhou Qin was getting dolled up for a date. But during lunch, she realized things might not be so simple.

Lin Qing carefully helped Fu Huihui walk to the cafeteria when she noticed a crowd blocking the way.

Lin Qing and Fu Huihui’s eyes gleamed with excitement—there must be something interesting happening ahead.

Fu Huihui was already moving forward, but Lin Qing quickly pulled her back. "Sweetheart, come on, think about your condition! Don’t push forward." There were too many people up ahead—it wasn’t safe to squeeze in.

Fu Huihui was dying to check it out—being told no only made her want to more. "Really can’t?"

As much as Lin Qing wanted to see, Fu Huihui’s condition made it too risky. She stood firm. "No!"

"Ugh, fine!" Fu Huihui knew there was no chance when Lin Qing wouldn’t budge.

Still fidgeting, Fu Huihui thought—if she couldn’t go, maybe Lin Qing could?

"Why don’t *you* go see? I’ll wait here!"

Lin Qing hesitated, tempted, but she shook her head firmly.

"No. Without me watching, who knows if you’ll resist the urge to go forward?"

Fu Huihui blinked innocently. "..." Can’t you trust me just this once?

Lin Qing shook her head. My answer’s final.

"Let’s go eat first. Word’ll get around this afternoon—we’ll find out then. No hurry."

Fu Huihui sulked. That’s not the *same*!

Seeing the drama live is totally different from hearing the gossip afterward—nothing beats the excitement of seeing it happen right in front of you!

"Come on, let's go eat already!"

Despite Fu Huihui's reluctance, Lin Qing dragged her away.

Since there were too many people blocking the way, Lin Qing and Fu Huihui took a detour. When they arrived at the cafeteria, they noticed it was practically empty—clearly, everyone had gone to watch the drama.

Today, they got through the line super fast!

After eating, Lin Qing walked Fu Huihui back to the office via another route.

"Let’s just wait in the office. Pretty soon, someone will come back and share the gossip with us."

Fu Huihui nodded. "Definitely! With so many people gathered earlier, it must've been huge!" Someone was bound to talk about it.

Fu Huihui was getting excited just thinking about it!

Sure enough, when their colleagues returned to the office, they immediately started dishing about the earlier commotion.

Before Lin Qing could even return to the finance department, she overheard a colleague from HR begin the story and quickly found a seat to listen.

Turns out the drama was about someone they knew—Zhou Qin. Again, Zhou Qin.

Him... Lin Qing was at a complete loss for words...