After Failing To Tame The Scumbag - Chapter 15

“Surely, Senior wouldn’t want me to mess things up, right?”

“?”

The moment Yun Chuxiu saw Ji Jin’s secretive and guarded expression, she instantly guessed the identity of the visitor.

“You’ve already opened the door once,” Yun Chuxiu noted. “Closing it again is useless.”

Ji Jin leaned her back against the front door, her reluctance to open it written all over her face. “…There’s really no one outside. Really.”

Knock, knock, knock.

As if answering her lie, a polite series of knocks rang out again.

Ji Jin: “.”

Ji Jin hissed through gritted teeth, “Seriously, how can she be so rude?” She then began muttering to herself, “Clearly knowing she’s not welcome by the homeowner…”

“The ‘homeowner’ hasn’t even spoken yet,” Yun Chuxiu said, unable to watch the display any longer. She tapped the tabletop and said calmly, “Go back to your room now.”

Ji Jin bit her lower lip. Her feigned resistance, which had been at a seven, instantly spiked to a ten. “What do you mean?” She pressed down on the door handle, staring straight at Yun Chuxiu with eyes full of grievance. “Are you going to cast me aside to see that woman?”

“…You’re making it sound like I’m being caught in an affair,” Yun Chuxiu massaged her forehead. Finally unable to stand the self-generating melodrama in Ji Jin’s head, she stood up and walked to the door.

Ji Jin stubbornly blocked the handle, refusing to let go.

Left with no choice, Yun Chuxiu reached out and touched Ji Jin’s still-swollen cheek. She sighed softly. “Do you plan on seeing Jiang Fanyin looking like this? Aren’t you afraid she’ll mock you?”

In front of her arch-rival Jiang Fanyin, Ji Jin was at her most competitive. She hated falling behind in anything, so how could she bear to look pathetic in front of her?

Parading around with a slap mark on her face… she’d lose every ounce of dignity she had.

“Be good,” Yun Chuxiu said, her expression softening as she remembered how tense Ji Jin had been over the past two days. She coaxed her gently, “We don’t have a suitable mask in the house. Go to the room and wait for me. I’ll send her away quickly.”

Hearing this guarantee, Ji Jin visibly relaxed. She asked suspiciously, “Really?”

Yun Chuxiu placed a hand on Ji Jin’s shoulder, applying a slight, steady pressure to guide her away. “Really,” she said. Her other hand reached behind and patted the hand Ji Jin had on the door handle with a gentle touch. “The sooner we start, the sooner it’s over.”

“Okay.”

Dazed by this rare display of tenderness, Ji Jin’s mind was still protesting the idea of Yun Chuxiu meeting Jiang Fanyin alone, but her body instinctively followed the instructions.

By the time she snapped out of it, she was already hiding in a secluded corner of the second-floor landing. Below her, the front door opened.

Yun Chuxiu blocked the gap in the door, showing no intention of inviting the visitor in. She spoke politely, “President Jiang, is there a reason you’re looking for me so early in the morning?”

“It seems I didn’t come at the right time,” Jiang Fanyin peered through the narrow crack, observing the interior. She wasn’t annoyed by Yun Chuxiu’s resistance; instead, she replied with a light chuckle, “Is there no one else inside? The person who opened the door for me just now didn’t seem to be you, Senior Yun.”

“No comment,” Yun Chuxiu met her gaze calmly. “I’ve just moved in and haven’t had time to tidy up. It’s not a suitable environment for guests.”

“I don’t mind,” Jiang Fanyin fiddled with her phone, clearly prepared. “Better early than never. I happen to have a cleaning crew I use regularly; I’ll call them over right now.”

Yun Chuxiu: “.”

Yun Chuxiu refused coldly, “I’m not used to letting outsiders into my home. President Jiang should head back.”

“So, I’m considered an ‘outsider’ now?” Jiang Fanyin feigned surprise, blinking playfully and smiling as she tried to bridge the distance. “I thought I was at least Senior’s beloved ‘Little Junior.’ After all, we were at the same school for three years. I graduated listening to stories about you.”

Yun Chuxiu lowered her gaze, not bothering to look at the provocative glint in Jiang Fanyin’s eyes. Her annoyance was palpable. “I don’t recall having a ‘Little Junior’ who gossips about me behind my back.”

“That is exactly why I’m here,” Jiang Fanyin finally turned serious. She forced her hand into the door gap, arguing earnestly, “There seems to be a misunderstanding between us. I only hope that Senior makes a better choice. Clearly…”

“Get lost!”

Ji Jin strode down from the second floor. In the sudden silence, she reached out and forcefully shoved Jiang Fanyin back.

She glared at the woman outside, her face ashen. “She told you to go back. Are you deaf?”

Jiang Fanyin let out a small “ah.” Her gaze landed on the obvious bruise on Ji Jin’s face. For a moment, she was stunned, asking blankly, “Is that…”

Ji Jin touched her swollen cheek, maintaining her foul mood and snorting coldly, “It’s a special little ‘kink’ between lovers. What’s there to be so shocked about?”

Jiang Fanyin’s expression became complicated. She coughed, looking as if she wanted to laugh. “Well… as long as President Ji can convince herself.”

Ji Jin: “…”

Ji Jin cast a resentful glance at the silent Yun Chuxiu.

Yun Chuxiu: “.”

Whose fault is this? Knowing Jiang Fanyin did it on purpose, yet you still let yourself be lured out so easily…

“She’s not lying.”

Yun Chuxiu tilted her head. Her long, unstyled hair slid off her shoulder, and Ji Jin instinctively reached out to catch it, a soft itch blooming at her fingertips.

Jiang Fanyin raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Oh?”

“Last night, things got a bit out of hand while we were playing around,” Yun Chuxiu lied calmly. Her expression didn’t flicker, speaking with the flat tone of someone discussing the weather.

The moment those words left her mouth, not only was Jiang Fanyin stunned, but even Ji Jin who had prepared herself to be mocked, was dazed.

This… wait, this…

Ji Jin gripped the hair in her palm. Even though she knew this lie wouldn’t fool Jiang Fanyin, she couldn’t stop the corners of her mouth from curling up. She was ecstatic.

“Then she certainly has good luck,” Jiang Fanyin said, feeling stifled. She had originally intended to enjoy Ji Jin’s humiliation, but now that she was seeing this, she felt even more unsettled.

To tell such a flimsy lie just to save Ji Jin’s face…

Jiang Fanyin let go of the door frame, her smile no longer reaching her eyes. “It seems Senior truly doesn’t welcome me today. It’s my fault. I was so focused on clearing up our misunderstanding that I chose an unlucky time.”

“Every other word is ‘Senior’… we were only at the same school for three years. Does President Jiang plan on reminiscing about it for a lifetime?” Now that Ji Jin had backup, her mood improved, and she sneered, “I never realized President Jiang was so fond of claiming connections.”

“We aren’t close, so it’s normal that President Ji wouldn’t know about our history,” Jiang Fanyin shot back. “After all, until now, I didn’t know President Ji enjoyed such ‘kinks’ either.”

“President Jiang…”

“President Ji…”

Clap! Yun Chuxiu slapped the door frame, cutting off their biting sarcasm.

“If you two have ‘old flames’ to recount, there’s no need to do it at my doorstep,” Yun Chuxiu said, her gaze sweeping over both of them with equal coldness. She took a step back, yielding the central spot between them. “You’re being very noisy.”

Forced to face each other, one looked disgusted while the other obediently shut her mouth.

A minute later, the look of disgust was copied and pasted onto both their faces.

Yun Chuxiu went inside, and with the audience gone, Ji Jin stopped holding back. She pierced through the paper thin facade between them, sneering, “Jiang Fanyin, do you have some secret fetish for destroying other people’s families?”

“Is this a ‘family’ for me to destroy?” Jiang Fanyin looked away in distaste, also scoffing. “Yun Chuxiu has already moved out, yet you’re still trying to whitewash the situation. I’m not like you. I wouldn’t let people come to the door and cause such unpleasantness.”

Ji Jin’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Was it you who sent my mother here?”

“I don’t have that kind of power,” Jiang Fanyin replied, her lips curling into a cold arc, refusing to take the blame. “Her Ladyship has eyes everywhere. It’s been that way from the start. Did you really think she knew nothing?”

“Ji Jin, looking at you like this, I truly feel it’s not worth it for Yun Chuxiu.”

“Forget it. You don’t have the right to say that,” Ji Jin felt the implication in those words, and her gaze turned completely frigid.

Suddenly, there was a shatter. Something fragile hit the floor, breaking into pieces.

Ji Jin instinctively looked back. Pulled away from the intense sunlight outside, her vision blurred for a moment, and she felt a wave of dizziness.

Yun Chuxiu bent down to pick up the shards. Her fair finger was sliced open, the red blood startlingly bright.

Ji Jin immediately abandoned her rival and ran over. She held Yun Chuxiu by the waist to pull her away from the debris. Seeing the blood on her finger, she was filled with both heartache and regret.

“I’ll take care of it for you,” she said, discarding the blood-stained shard and hurriedly finding the first-aid kit in the corner. She treated the wound, which was barely a centimeter long, with extreme gravity.

“Done arguing with her?” Yun Chuxiu’s voice was calm, devoid of accusation, as if she were just making casual conversation. “I even made space for you both. Why didn’t you stay and reminisce a bit longer?”

“…Axxiu,” Ji Jin said helplessly, pressing her lips together. No matter what she was thinking, the first thing she did was apologize. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

“You did it on purpose,” Yun Chuxiu interrupted her, looking down at the now-bandaged wound with an expressionless face. “Knowing you can’t win a war of words, yet you keep trying. Should I praise you for being undaunted by failure?”

Ji Jin pouted. She half-knelt on the floor and hugged Yun Chuxiu’s waist, slowly burying her head against her. She grumbled a rebuttal, “It’s because her presence is too strong. She’s always trying to fight and grab… she’s just annoying to look at.”

With internal troubles and external threats mounting, Ji Jin felt like she had to sleep with one eye open. How could she stand by while a rival hovered around?

At that thought, Ji Jin felt a bit aggrieved. She tilted her head up and complained softly, “It’s all because my Axxiu is too charming.”

Yun Chuxiu: “.”

Amused by the expression, the corners of Yun Chuxiu’s mouth twitched upward by a few pixels. “Fine, blame me. So, can you go to work now?”

Ji Jin drew out her words, “You’re in such a hurry to kick me out?”

Yun Chuxiu replied calmly, “I’m free today. I can bring lunch to your office.”

Ji Jin was instantly mollified. Although she still felt a lingering unease, she obediently headed for the door without further delay.

As soon as the door closed, the smile on Yun Chuxiu’s face vanished.

She picked up her phone, which had vibrated several times. Jiang Fanyin’s name was flashing on the screen before the display went dark.

[I kept that secret for you just as you wished, Senior. Don’t you think you should do me the honor of having a meal together?]

[I’m looking forward to it. What do you think, Senior?]

[Surely, Senior wouldn’t want me to accidentally mess things up, right?]

Three questions in a row, followed by a smiley face and a familiar restaurant address.

Yun Chuxiu fell silent for a moment. Her long eyelashes cast a faint shadow over her eyes. After a long pause, she raised her finger and typed a single word on the screen: “Okay.”