Chapter 368: Dumbfounded
Mr. Qu shook his head. "Not a teacher, a student. And in the same major as you. I just don’t know what year they’re in."
After he finished speaking, he thought for a moment. "In that case, you should come with us. You can show us the way."
Qu An was stunned. "The owner of Pinjun Clothing is a student? That’s impossible!"
"I thought it was impossible too, but what I heard is that it’s a student." Mr. Qu shook his head. "I met her once before. She’s very young."
"That’s ridiculous... Dad, what’s their name? Are they a guy or a girl? If they’re in the same major, I should have some impression of them, even if they’re an upperclassman."
Mr. Qu shook his head under Qu An’s expectant gaze.
"A girl. I don’t know her name. I only met her once and vaguely remember what she looks like."
Mr. Qu sighed. He had originally thought Yin Cuihua was the owner, but it wasn’t until their partnership ended that he learned she was only one of them.
The primary owner wasn’t her.
Since he couldn’t get anywhere with Yin Cuihua, Mr. Qu decided to find the other two owners.
He had already tried contacting Li Hongqin, but to no avail. As a last resort, Mr. Qu thought to seek out the final and primary owner.
Because their partnership had ended, he was completely cut off from any news about Pinjun. No matter how much he asked around, he couldn’t even learn the owner’s name.
This primary owner rarely made public appearances and was quite mysterious; most people didn’t even know she existed.
After days of effort, all he managed to find out was that this person was a student at his son’s university, in the very same major.
Mr. Qu had only managed to dig up this piece of information today. At first, he couldn’t believe it, but then he recalled the young girl he had met in passing at Pinjun.
When Mr. Qu met her back then, he hadn’t known she was also one of the owners. They exchanged a few words, and he didn’t think anything of it.
But as it turned out...
"Ah, well, let’s get going. We need to find her today. Otherwise, everyone will leave once exams are finished."
Mr. Qu had wanted to go to the campus today, but the university wasn’t allowing visitors due to final exams.
"Let’s go, An. You’d just be bored at home by yourself. Come with your dad and me. You know the campus."
Hearing his mother, Qu An took a deep breath. "Alright."
The entire way there, Qu An kept wondering who it could possibly be.
He still felt it was impossible, thinking his father must have gotten the wrong information.
’A teacher might be believable. But a student? Even a fourth-year senior, how old could she be? A girl, no less. It’s completely impossible.’
’If it’s true, then logically, the owner of Pinjun shouldn’t be so low-profile. Someone would have to know.’
’But there hasn’t been a single whisper about it.’
Qu An glanced down at the Pinjun clothes he was wearing and let out a quiet sigh. ’Even though we’re not partners anymore, we were before. If the owner really is a classmate and heard my family was a supplier, she should have at least said hello.’
’Dad must have gotten it wrong...’
With this thought in mind, Qu An led his parents back to the university.
Meanwhile, the atmosphere at Su Li’s dinner with her friends was in full swing.
After finishing her exams, Su Li was dragged by Chang E to a dinner with some classmates.
Along with her roommate, several other girls from her class were there.
Among them was Li Li.
In the past, these girls had all gossiped about Su Li behind her back to some extent.
But as the old saying goes, time and adversity reveal a person’s true character. After all the recent turmoil, they knew in their hearts that, divorced or not, Su Li was someone worth befriending.
And that was enough.
And so, when they all got together to celebrate, they made sure to include Su Li.
Unlike the guys, they didn’t have any alcohol, but the mood was just as high-spirited with food and conversation alone.
Her face flushed from the meal, Li Li raised her soup bowl heroically. "Come on! Let’s down this soup!"
Everyone immediately burst into laughter. "Alright! Other people toast with wine, we’ll toast with soup!"
They all raised their soup bowls together.
Li Li downed hers first as a sign of respect, silently mouthing a "thank you" to everyone present.
Then, she raised another bowl to Su Li. This time, she didn’t say a word.
It was a gesture that spoke volumes.
Everyone understood the meaning behind that bowl.
Su Li understood, too.
They bonded over soup, and everyone finally relaxed completely.
And it was there, at that dinner table, that everyone heard Su Li address the divorce rumors herself.
"I did get divorced. The paperwork was finalized before the semester started. I’m not going to get into the reasons, but that’s the fact of the matter."
Hearing this, Li Li SLAPPED the table.
"So what if you’re divorced? It’s not a big deal! Who do you think we are? We’re university students! From now on, if anyone dares to say a bad word about you, I won’t let them off the hook!"
"Exactly! Compared to those who just meekly take abuse, you’re doing great."
Chang E also slapped the table in support.
As they all started chiming in, Su Li finally learned about the things Qu An had been saying behind her back, including his claims about all the money he’d supposedly spent pursuing her.
As she listened, Su Li’s fists clenched and unclenched, over and over.
In modern terms, those words would paint her as a kept woman or a gold digger—someone who relies on men to get by.
"I just... I don’t even know what to say."
In her past, Su Li had seen plenty of extreme male chauvinists online and elsewhere—the kind with egos bursting with machismo—and even the worst of the worst among them.
They’d be living lives worse than a dog’s, but the second they saw a successful woman, their immediate conclusion would be that she was being kept by a man.
In their minds, a woman could never succeed or get rich on her own merit.
Then there was the obsession with "purity."
They demanded that women be "pure"; otherwise, they were just sluts.
In the future she came from, society had become more open-minded, and people like that were few and far between.
But in this era, that mindset was still common.
Qu An was clearly one of them.
If he had cursed her out in a moment of anger and disappointment after hearing she was divorced, that would have been somewhat understandable.
But to slander her like this long after the fact? That just meant he had a serious character flaw.
"Let’s not talk about people like him." Su Li waved her hand and shook her head, changing the subject.
Su Li didn’t want to talk about Qu An, but she ended up seeing him just a short while later.
After dinner, Su Li went back to the university with her friends. As the sky began to darken, she grabbed her things to head home.
But before she even made it off campus, she was stopped by a middle-aged man.
"Hello. I wonder if you remember me? We met once in the Pinjun offices."
The man looked vaguely familiar. Su Li searched her memory. "You are...?"
’Why would someone be looking for me?’
"You’re the head of Pinjun, right?" The man grew certain from the look on Su Li’s face. "I’m from the Qu family’s accessories factory. We were a partner of yours..."
The man explained in a shamed tone that they had only stopped the partnership because of threats from the Yang Family and that they now deeply regretted their decision.
Su Li understood immediately. "Sister Cuihua is the one who handles these things. It’s no use coming to me; I don’t manage that side of the business."
Though Su Li’s words were diplomatic, her tone was firm. "Please don’t approach me so suddenly like this in the future."
As she finished speaking and was about to leave, she looked up and saw Qu An a few steps away, staring at her with a face full of utter disbelief.
"Impossible... Impossible..."
Qu An mumbled, his face a mask of disbelief, as if he’d seen a ghost.
His own words, the ones he’d used to slander Su Li by claiming she could only live so well by relying on men, echoed in his mind.
And yet, he had heard the conversation between his father and Su Li with his own ears, clear as day.
"Liar! Su Li, you’re a damn liar!" Qu An roared, as if to drive away the nightmare before him.
"Shut your mouth!" Mr. Qu’s expression changed drastically when he heard his son yelling at Su Li, and he roared back.