After that little interruption, the girl whose “good deed” had been disrupted seemed to lose interest.
She climbed off the man, spat a mouthful of bloody saliva with a sharp hiss, and turned to walk into the small grove.
When she reemerged, she was already the 1.8-meter-tall Ji Yuannian, dressed in men’s clothes.
“Let’s go.” Ji Yuannian’s expression was cold as she casually tossed a band-aid to the man on the ground and turned to leave.
On the return bus, Jiang Chi sat in the front row, Ji Yuannian in the back, and Su Tian beside her. He still hadn’t recovered from the shocking scene earlier, muttering non-stop in her ear in a conspiratorial whisper.
“Ji-ge, you have no idea what I saw when I went to look for you just now?”
“Tsk tsk, I really didn’t expect the aloof campus heartthrob would be that kind of guy behind closed doors.”
“Turns out Mr. Zhou was right, the more reserved someone is, the colder they act, the colder they act, the more perverse they really are.”
As he spoke, he sneaked a careful glance at a certain boy in the front row who was resting with his eyes closed, then deliberately lowered his voice, “Ji-ge, I’m telling you, I just saw the campus hunk and his girlfriend going at it in the wild.”
Pfft!
Ji Yuannian almost sprayed her mouthful of mineral water.
She stared at her little lackey with black lines all over her face, and also lowered her voice, “You better not spread wild rumors, what outdoor romp, you’ll ruin his reputation. Just for this alone you’d get at least a year’s sentence!”
But Su Tian looked serious, “But I really saw, the campus hunk’s girlfriend was on top of…”
“Even if it’s true, you have to treat it like it’s fake. We’re all classmates, no need to spread each other’s private business everywhere.” Ji Yuannian cut him off, “I know Jiang Chi is my sworn enemy and you want to stand up for me.”
“But that was in the past. Now he and I get along fine. Who knows, after graduation we might even work together. So let this matter rot in your stomach, and don’t tell anyone, understood?”
Su Tian hurriedly nodded, making a zipping gesture to show he’d never let it slip.
He scratched his head, then seemed to think of something, and asked, “By the way, Ji-ge, aren’t you and the campus hunk in the same group? How come you weren’t there when I went looking for you?”
“Didn’t his girlfriend come? I just went off to play games, giving them some private space.”
As she spoke, Ji Yuannian absentmindedly touched her canine tooth. That faint, lingering taste of blood still seemed to linger, silently reminding her of what she’d done to Jiang Chi.
“Old Su.”
“Yeah?”
“Tomorrow’s basketball game is all yours. I’m going home to rest for a day.”
“Huh?”
“Can’t do it?”
“I guarantee I’ll get the job done!!”
*****
Ji household. In the spacious living room, a half-man-high arcade machine stood equipped with a 24k HD screen.
“Little bro, why are you spacing out again?” A thick arm waved in front of her a couple times, snapping Ji Yuannian out of her thoughts.
She looked up to see her big brother Ji Haotong staring at her with a strange expression.
Rubbing her brow, Ji Yuannian made a casual excuse, “Just thinking about this month’s exams.”
“What exams? Exams aren’t as important as games right now.” Ji Haotong shook the black game controller in his hand. “I took time off especially to come home and play games with you, not to talk grades.”
“Yeah, right, big bro. It’s not like I haven’t heard from Mom—your latest matchmaking prospect’s been waiting for you at the company every day, scared you so much you haven’t even been able to work normally.” Ji Yuannian mercilessly exposed him. “If it weren’t for that, you wouldn’t have so much free time to play games at home with me.”
Hearing this, Ji Haotong broke out in a cold sweat.
Honestly, it really wasn’t his fault. That Meng Mengtu’s antics were just too much. She clung to his arm every day, sweetly calling him “Haotong gege.”
Now, even some subordinates at the company looked at him with meaningful glances, and gossip forums were flooded with posts speculating whether the little boss’s “sister” was a real or “fake” sister, racking up over 2,000 threads.
But… Ji Haotong rubbed his chin. How was Meng Mengtu able to keep such close tabs on his whereabouts?
Forget about the company side. Even though Huang Qingchuan had stopped pushing him to date, she’d still given Meng Mengtu an internship secretary ID, making her intentions clear.
But how did Meng Mengtu know when he went to the foot massage parlor, golf course, or massage shop, or even exactly where he went fishing? It was as if he had a tracker on him.
“Bro, haven’t you gone fishing at the old spot these days?” Ji Yuannian manipulated the game controller, asking offhandedly.
“That’s right. Wait, little bro, how did you know?” Ji Haotong looked at her in surprise.
“Didn’t have class one afternoon a few days ago, grabbed the fishing rod to look for you, but couldn’t find you or Dad at the old spot.”
“Walk another 300 meters and you’d have found us. I was dodging the matchmaking prospect, you know.”
“Mm-hmm.” Ji Yuannian nodded.
After a round of King of Fighters 1v1, the two fetched iced colas from the fridge and sat in lounge chairs, air conditioning blowing as they sipped and chatted.
Ji Yuannian took a gulp of cola, then glanced at Ji Haotong beside her and asked, “Bro, do you know any places that can help people get closer?”
“What’s wrong? Had a fight with your girl?” Ji Haotong set down his cola and raised an eyebrow.
“A bit.”
“How bad is it?”
“Pretty bad.”
Ji Yuannian thought of how Jiang Chi had blocked her on WeChat and QQ, and how even after she called to apologize, the customer service told her she’d been blacklisted.
She really didn’t get it. Why was Jiang Chi being so childish? So what if she kissed him and bit him once? He’d even done worse to her before, and she hadn’t made a fuss.
Hearing this, Ji Haotong rapped his knuckles on the lounge chair, pondered for a moment, then said, “Luxury bags, name-brand cosmetics, and Balenciaga—girls love that stuff. You’ve got your own stash, it’s time to bleed a little.”
“….” Ji Yuannian fell silent.
Those gifts would be more suitable for herself. Ahh! So annoying, I’m going crazy!
Other couples fight and it’s always the boyfriend coaxing the girlfriend—why is it she has to coax the boy… ptooey! What girlfriend, why did she subconsciously think of herself as the girlfriend?
“She’s rich.” After a long silence, she spoke.
Now it was Ji Haotong’s turn to be silent. His little bro, who’d actually been in a relationship, was asking for advice from him, who’d never dated. He was completely out of his depth.
“Hmm…” Ji Haotong wracked his brain for ages but couldn’t come up with anything. Just as he was about to comfort his soon-to-be-heartbroken little bro, his hand accidentally brushed a card in his pocket.
His eyes lit up and he handed the card to Ji Yuannian.
“Couple’s hot spring?” Ji Yuannian took the card, glanced at it, and her lips twitched.
Couple’s hot springs, as the name implied, were places for couples to soak together. But with a man and woman alone in a room, they called it a hot spring, but in reality, it was a place for a certain kind of activity.
She looked at Ji Haotong with an indescribable expression. “Bro? This thing…”
“Ahem, ahem.” Ji Haotong coughed several times, turning his head aside.
“Just treat it as a last stand. You’re already dying a slow death anyway. If it doesn’t work out, just move on with your lives. If it does, you’ll break out of the cocoon and the relationship will grow.”
Of course, he wasn’t about to say that Meng Mengtu had forced the card on him, and that as a grown man he was helpless before a 1.6-meter cute girl. Who knew what she ate to grow up like that.
Hearing this, Ji Yuannian stared at the discount card in her hand for a moment, then nodded.
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