Young Master Yu Qing just smiled lightly and said nothing. Just then, a waiter brought two dishes and introduced them: “These are two new dishes from Zhu Qingyue. One is called ‘Lovers in the World’, and the other is ‘Mutual Cultivation’.”
Gu Qingtong looked at the dishes, wondering why they were given such “meaningful” names and why Young Master Yu Qing had invited her to eat together.
“Tong’er,” Young Master Yu Qing suddenly looked at her steadily, his expression slightly flustered, “You didn’t actually fall for Hua Jianwei, did you?”
“Ah?”
Seeing her reaction, he smiled again: “Right, my Tong’er has such high standards. How could you fancy Hua Jianwei?”
Gu Qingtong was confused but shook her head: “I’m just a lowly maid. No matter how good Young Master Hua is, I wouldn’t dare to have such thoughts.”
“Lowly?” Young Master Yu Qing suddenly grabbed her hand, “Tong’er, how can you think like that? You’re different from others. Even if your family has fallen, you’ll always be that noble young lady. If there’s a chance to turn things around, you’ll definitely be able to return to the Gu family.”
“Return to the Gu family?”
Young Master Yu Qing seemed to think he’d said too much and sighed silently: “You haven’t had dinner; you must be hungry. Eat.”
Here’s the edited version of the article with irrelevant content removed:
Gu Qingtong knew there was definitely more to the story, but she couldn’t ask. She barely ate a few bites, though his gaze was intense.
Young Master Yu Qing thought she was remembering past events and pulled out a hairpin from his pocket: “I’ve redeemed your mother’s hairpin. Keep it.”
Gu Qingtong took it in surprise, looking carefully. The hairpin was of excellent quality, with a white magnolia flower at the end, supported by openwork silver at the base – elegant and understated. “You were young, so you probably don’t remember much, but this was your mother’s favorite hairpin. You should have some memory of it.”
“Mm.” Gu Qingtong responded nervously.
