TFS | Chapter 47

“Sorry, I don’t have any water here.”

“Then drinks or coffee are fine too. I’m not picky.” Jiang Rang hugged a sofa cushion and looked at her, her tone very casual, the smile at the corner of her mouth a little seductive.

Xu Linruan did not respond. She thought this woman was strange. There was no malice in her, yet from the way she spoke, she seemed to know Qi Yue very well. But who was she? Xu Linruan really had no impression of her.

There also didn’t seem to be any description in the original plot of a woman named Jiang Rang. After a moment of silence, and not wanting to tangle with her any further, she simply took out her phone and called her boyfriend.

Since this woman knew Qi Yue, he should know.

Jiang Rang frowned when she saw her movement, seeming a little unhappy. Even a beauty’s frown had its own charm. She walked over and fixed those lovely eyes on her. “Are you calling Qi Xiaoyue?”

When Xu Linruan still did not respond, she changed the subject. “Your phone is really pretty. Give me your contact info too, okay? Once I’m settled, I’ll treat you to a meal. How about it?”

“Don’t worry, I really am not a bad person.” She smiled at her, then moved very quickly, snatched Xu Linruan’s phone away, and turned off the screen.

Xu Linruan narrowed her eyes. Jiang Rang had moved too fast for her to see clearly, and when she had just squeezed her palm, the thin calluses in her hand seemed to suggest that this woman’s background was a little suspicious.

She leaned against the doorframe with her arms crossed, her gaze faint and cool. “Who exactly are you?”

Jiang Rang pouted and handed the phone back. “Didn’t I already tell you? I’m the person who slept with Qi Xiaoyue. You just don’t believe me.” She sounded a little wronged, and her lovely eyes blinked once.

Xu Linruan somehow felt that something about this was very strange, enough to make her hair stand on end. “Then why are you here looking for me?”

“I’m here to complain. Qi Yue is very bad. When we were abroad, he kept bullying me. He did a lot of bastard things, and I think you absolutely need to know his true nature.”

Jiang Rang walked over and rested a hand on her shoulder, looking at her with pitiful, pleading eyes. It was hard to resist when she acted spoiled like that. “Besides, I don’t have a place to stay right now. Can you let me stay here for a few days?”

“No.” Xu Linruan narrowed her eyes. She felt like this was the real purpose of this person. And, “Big Younger Sister… why do you think I’d believe you? I know that guy’s nature better than you do. He really did plenty of bad things before. If he bullied you, you should go find him, not come here to complain to me.”

Jiang Rang couldn’t help laughing at that. This woman actually had quite a personality.

She walked closer, her laughter lowered, her voice a little hoarse. “Fine, actually I was lying to you. I only came to ask him for something. You don’t have to be so serious.”

When she still wore a suspicious expression, Jiang Rang bent slightly at the waist and leaned in toward Xu Linruan. Taking advantage of the moment when Xu Linruan wasn’t paying attention, she lowered her head and kissed her on the forehead. “I actually… quite like you.” Her low, cool voice sounded especially sexy.

When she leaned in, Xu Linruan caught a faint scent of tobacco on her body.

After the kiss, Jiang Rang stepped back, leaving Xu Linruan staring strangely as she touched the spot she’d been kissed. What kind of development was this? If she was a woman who liked Qi Yue, shouldn’t she hate Xu Linruan very much? What was the point of kissing her?

Trying to make a move on her and make Qi Yue regret it too late?

“Mm, did I scare you? Sorry about that, it was just normal Western etiquette, a way of showing my fondness for you. No need to take it so seriously.”

Jiang Rang lifted her head and looked around before walking over to the sofa on her own. “…If I can’t stay here, can I borrow a few pieces of clothing? I came back in too much of a hurry, and I don’t even have anything to change into.”

The more Xu Linruan looked at her, the more inexplicable she found this whole thing. She opened the door and refused directly. “Sorry, I don’t have the habit of lending clothes to a stranger. Could you please leave immediately? Otherwise, I’m going to call the police.”

“You might have misunderstood. I’m not here to borrow from you, I’m here to borrow from Qi Xiaoyue.” Seeing the neatly folded set of men’s shirts on the sofa, she took them without the slightest politeness. “Mm, this style is fine too. After all, I’ve worn that guy’s clothes plenty of times…”

Xu Linruan didn’t go over to stop her. She felt that she was more important than the clothes. This woman gave her an oddly dissonant feeling, and that was a little strange.

After taking the clothes, Jiang Rang looked at her watch. “Alright, it’s getting late. I should leave.” She walked toward Xu Linruan, her tone sounding a little reluctant. “…If there’s a chance next time, I’ll come find you to play again. Besides, I still have a lot of that guy’s secrets that I haven’t told you yet.”

Only then did Xu Linruan react. “I don’t need you to tell me his secrets. Could you please leave?”

Jiang Rang lowered her head, finding it a little funny. It was rare to see a woman so calm and rational, and even after being provoked like this she still showed no sign of anger. She couldn’t help walking over. Seeing that Xu Linruan was still in a guarded stance, her mischievous streak rose, and she reached out to hug her as well.

Her strength was great. Xu Linruan tried to dodge but couldn’t get away. Instead, Jiang Rang caught her wrist. Jiang Rang smiled brightly. “Fine, but when Qi Yue comes back, you can tell him that someone called Jiang Rang hugged you, and also kissed you. He’ll definitely be very angry. I like seeing him angry.”

“Mm. Bye-bye.”

Only after saying that did she let go, smiling as she waved at her, then turned and left.

It was like some brat with bad taste had come deliberately to show off. She said a whole lot of useless nonsense, hooked someone’s curiosity, then patted her butt and walked away.

…………

Xu Linruan found it baffling. Holding her phone, she dialed Qi Xiaoyue’s number. After one ring, the call connected immediately, and his absurdly confident voice came through. “Ruanruan, why do you have time to call me? Do you miss me?”

Xu Linruan wasn’t especially angry. She knew most of what that woman, Jiang Rang, had said was probably fake, so her tone stayed very calm. “The one missing you isn’t me, it’s another woman, Qi Yue.”

Another woman?

Qi Yue paused, then asked in confusion, “What another woman? Aside from you, do I even have any women I’m close to? How would I not know about that myself?”

“I see…” Xu Linruan sat on the sofa, relaxed in posture. “Just now a woman named Jiang Rang came looking for you, and she said the two of you had slept together.”

“So, surnamed Qi, were you secretly messing around behind my back?”

There was a loud snap from the other end, and the phone hit the floor.

He’d probably been startled.

Xu Linruan tilted her head, eyes narrowed as she looked at the phone screen after the call disconnected. When she tried calling again, the phone was actually switched off. That was strange. Had he really broken the phone from dropping it? Was it really that coincidental?

She tried once more, and still couldn’t get through.

At that point, Xu Linruan put down the phone and waited for that brat to show up. She kept working on her report on the computer, and just as she was about done, she indeed heard the sound of a key opening the door.

She looked up, and sure enough, that guy rushed in out of breath. The moment he entered, he lunged toward her. “Ruanruan, did you just say Jiang Rang came looking for you?”

Xu Linruan gave a quiet “Mm” and looked up at him. “What, is there a problem?”

“What did that guy say to you?” Qi Yue was still anxious, half of his body pressed against the sofa, a thin layer of sweat on his forehead.

Xu Linruan glanced at him. This guy didn’t look guilty, just anxious. After a brief pause, she continued, “She said you did some bastard things, and that you always bullied her, and that you two slept together. Is that true?”

“Nonsense!” Maybe he was really angered by it. He put his hand on Ruanruan’s knee, pressing down hard. “Don’t listen to that guy spouting nonsense. It’s not what you think.”

Xu Linruan shot him a sidelong glance. “Really? Then what is it?”

“We just knew each other.” He answered. “He was an exchange student I met overseas.”

Xu Linruan asked again, “Then what did she mean by slept together?”

Qi Yue awkwardly explained, “We didn’t sleep together at all… It’s not what you’re thinking. He slept on the bottom bunk, and I slept on the top bunk, that’s all. Don’t believe that guy’s words. He’s a pervert.”

Oh, a pervert?

Xu Linruan raised a brow. If they were talking about perverts, this guy in front of her had plenty of weird hobbies too. She let out a soft laugh and brushed her fingers against his ear. “…A guy obsessed with uniforms and stockings has no right calling someone else a pervert, right?”

Qi Yue’s ears reddened uncontrollably, and he caught her finger to give it a light squeeze. “How can that be the same? You can’t compare me to him, Ruanruan.” His was a bit of lifestyle fun, a private hobby.

He kept pressing, “What else did that guy say to you?”

Xu Linruan paused, thinking of what the woman had said before leaving, then answered casually, “Nothing much. She just hugged me before she left…”

“He hugged you!” Qi Yue’s voice rose instinctively.

Xu Linruan nodded. Her tone remained calm. “Mm, and he kissed me too.”

Fuck, I’m going to kill him!

Those words successfully darkened the man’s face. Qi Yue sat down on the sofa and grabbed Xu Linruan’s wrist tightly with both hands. “You’re not allowed to contact that guy again from now on. If he comes looking for you again, you have to call me first, got it?”

Xu Linruan narrowed her eyes, growing more suspicious. “Why are you so nervous? What can a woman like her do to me?”

“Who said he was a woman? That guy is a man, a real, bona fide dog of a man!” Qi Yue was truly furious. That bastard had lived in the same dorm as him overseas, and that was bad enough, but after causing him to take a bullet, he had actually come to the country to take advantage of his girlfriend.

He would definitely kill him!

A man?

Xu Linruan paused. A cross-dresser?

Then she remembered what that subtle sense of dissonance had been when she saw him earlier. He didn’t have the delicacy of a woman, and there was something weird about him. When she leaned in, she had also smelled tobacco on that guy’s body.

It was just that he hid it very well, and she hadn’t seen any obvious traces of male features on his neck, so she had been fooled.