TFS | Chapter 16

The young master had gotten into another… argument with someone.

When the butler told her about it, Xu Linruan thought it was perfectly normal. That guy had always had a bad temper, and Jiang Mian was pretty direct too. If those two crossed paths, it would have been strange if they had not started arguing.

She glanced at Xu Zhou standing beside her. He looked just as baffled, clearly still not knowing what had happened.

But since they had come to her, Xu Linruan could not just ignore it. She put down what she was holding and asked, “What happened this time?”

The butler looked a little troubled. “To be honest, we really cannot blame the young master for this…” He had worked in the Qi family for many years, and his words still carried a hint of defense. “…That girl surnamed Jiang was walking in the garden and accidentally broke a precious orchid. The two of them had a little friction, and the young master is now shouting at her to pay for it…”

Xu Linruan figured that this little friction was probably not that little. If the young master had been holding on to her tiny mistake so tightly, the orchid must have been very expensive.

She was just about to go take a look when she had not even reached the spot before a burst of arguing came from ahead. The girl’s voice sounded aggrieved, with a touch of irritation. “Is it so great to have money? I did not do it on purpose. It was just a pot of flowers. At worst, I’ll pay for it. Why are you being so fierce?”

Xu Linruan paused slightly. She thought this girl was actually pretty impressive, at least in terms of momentum.

Jiang Mian felt terribly unlucky. She had already been avoiding him, but she had not expected to run into this young master even while walking in the garden. She had just been startled and accidentally bumped into that orchid. Who knew the flower would be so fragile? With only the lightest touch, it had snapped off at the roots, pot and all.

Qi Yue’s eyes looked ready to burst into flames. “Fierce? So what if I’m fierce? Do you even know how expensive this orchid is? You’re just a broke high school student. I’m guessing even selling you would not be enough to cover it!”

The more Qi Yue spoke, the angrier he got. Who had he offended to end up dragged into this mess? He had been lying nicely in the garden, sunbathing, and still disaster had found him. The moment he opened his eyes, he saw this girl smash the orchid he had been raising, and it had broken clean at the base, the kind that could not be glued back together.

He had been caring for that thing for a long time. He had even been waiting to give it to the old man in the family for his birthday. Who knew this idiot would be so blind, always going out of her way to make trouble for him.

He looked at her with a sneer, his gaze icy. When he did not speak, he really did have a somewhat frightening air.

After that string of words, Jiang Mian’s eyes turned red.

Luckily, Xu Zhou walked over at that moment and smoothly tried to mediate with a smile. “What’s going on now? Why do the two of you act like sworn enemies? You can’t even exchange a few words before you start arguing?”

Xu Linruan’s expression was also a little subtle. She thought, Isn’t this exactly what sworn enemies are? They had only met a few times, and already they had quarreled this many times. She was almost beginning to suspect that their birth charts were incompatible.

Jiang Mian looked at Qi Yue’s face again with red-rimmed eyes. The other party disdainfully rolled his eyes, looking as if he would not let it go once he had the upper hand.

“Who’s sworn enemies with her?” Qi Yue was already in a bad mood. Turning around and seeing Xu Linruan standing beside him, he immediately grabbed her hand and pulled her over. “Why did you two come together?”

When Xu Linruan saw that suspicious look in his eyes, she knew this guy was imagining something ridiculous again. She pinched his palm in resignation. “What are you thinking? The butler said you got into an argument with someone, and he was a little worried, so he sent us to take a look.”

Qi Yue’s palm tingled where she had pinched it, and he even felt a little pleased. “Then it’s fine. I’ve always been sharp-tongued since I was little. I won’t lose in an argument, and I’m pretty good at fighting too. Don’t worry.” He was quite smug, looking very pleased with himself.

But who was worried about that? Xu Linruan could not make him understand, and she could not be bothered to deal with him, so she turned her face away in disgust.

Jiang Mian, standing to the side, hesitated for a moment, then bit her lip and interrupted their conversation. “Qi Yue, how much is this pot of flowers? I’ll pay you back.”

Qi Yue raised a brow. “Fine, so you’re paying, huh? Don’t say I’m ripping you off. I bought this orchid for 110,000 yuan, and I’ve been raising it for almost a year. I won’t ask you to pay extra. Just pay me back at the original price.”

He let out a scoff. When he looked at her, he lifted his eyelids slightly, his gaze lazy and careless. That little habit had actually been learned from Xu Linruan. Every time she looked at him like that, he felt like this woman was flirting with him.

Jiang Mian looked up in shock. She thought this guy was deliberately messing with her again. What kind of flower cost that much? It did not even have a single bud, looking more like a pot of weeds, and he still wanted over a hundred thousand for it?

How was that not a scam?

Her family was a very ordinary working-class family. They were not short on money, but if she suddenly had to pull out more than 100,000 yuan to compensate someone for a plant, her parents would definitely beat her to death.

The girl grew anxious and her face turned red. She thought Qi Yue was deliberately bullying her. “Qi Yue, don’t be like this. I already said I did not do it on purpose. Can you stop being so petty?” Her words carried a hint of compromise, but they sounded oddly intimate, as if the two of them had some very unusual relationship.

Qi Yue only felt baffled. What had he done now? Was telling the truth somehow bullying her on purpose? This girl’s brain was probably not normal, was it?

When Jiang Mian saw that he was ignoring her, she turned tearfully to Xu Zhou, who was standing nearby. The girl looked at him with watery eyes and a face full of grievance, and to be fair, it was quite a pitiful sight.

If it were usual, Xu Zhou would have helped without a second thought.

But now he also felt troubled. He had brought her here, so of course the problem had to be found with him. He just had not expected Jiang Mian to be so good at causing trouble.

He got along fairly well with Qi Yue, so he naturally could not slap his face in public. Besides, he had helped choose that orchid too, and the price was real. Qi Yue not making her pay extra was already very merciful.

And he was not even that familiar with Jiang Mian, okay? At most, they were just students from the same school.

Then he shifted his gaze to Xu Linruan.

The situation was very subtle now. Jiang Mian was looking at Xu Zhou, Xu Zhou was looking at Xu Linruan, and Qi Yue was ignoring everyone, sitting in the chair and impatiently staring at the two of them.

He was still pretty fierce, but his features were genuinely beautiful. His skin was fair, his face delicate, and even with such a foul expression, he still had an indescribable kind of handsomeness. Maybe because he was still young, he was missing a bit of the aura adults had.

Xu Linruan was being stared at so strangely that she could not help wondering why everyone was looking at her.

She did not think she had the ability to make Qi Yue let it go. Even if she did, why should she help? Did she really look like that silly, kindhearted female lead from a TV drama who loved sticking her nose into other people’s business?

Xu Linruan raised a brow.

She was not helping, and Xu Zhou could not say anything about it.

Still, he was not completely out of options. Although Jiang Mian could not afford to pay this amount of money, she could work part-time to pay it back. The Qi family did not lack extra handymen, and he thought this was a pretty good solution. Jiang Mian could totally work part-time while studying, and that way she could gradually pay off the money.

Most importantly, this would also increase the amount of time the two of them spent together. He thought Xu Linruan was too scheming, completely unsuitable for a guy like Qi Yue. On the contrary, Jiang Mian was quite suitable. The two of them were more like a pair of sworn enemies, and if they kept arguing like this, maybe feelings would develop before long?