After Failing To Tame The Scumbag - Chapter 23

“If that’s all it is…”

Then there really was no other way.

Lin Xing felt stifled. She remembered the sparkling eyes Yun Chuxiu had whenever she spoke about those proposal plans. For some reason, rather than the happiness of “seeing her get her wish,” what arrived first was a pang of sourness in her heart, the source of which she couldn’t quite identify.

“I really hope she rejects you ruthlessly,” Lin Xing bit her lip, forcing herself to maintain eye contact with Ji Jin for half a minute before finally surrendering in frustration. “…I’m not doing this for you.”

“Of course,” Ji Jin said with a beaming smile, looking like an examinee who had already secured the answer key. She even showed a bit of grace toward someone she usually couldn’t stand, offering a sincere word of thanks: “Much appreciated. With your help, things will go much more smoothly.”

“Can you stop being so disgusting?” Lin Xing returned to her original state of mind, crossing her arms in a ‘X’ gesture. “Just thinking about Sister Xiu being tied to you for the rest of her life…”

She pulled a malicious face, unable to hide the complexity of her feelings. “It truly feels like a nightmare.”

“You’re the one living in a dream right now.” The superficial peace didn’t last two seconds before the corner of Ji Jin’s mouth twitched, ruthlessly puncturing Lin Xing’s hidden delusions. “A-Xiu and I have been tied together for a long time.”

“Nothing can pull us apart.”

Really?

“Did I ever agree to such a thing?” Yun Chuxiu calmly stared at the hand blocking her path, a half-smile playing on her lips. “Chu Qian, your intentions seem a bit too obvious.”

The perfumer, who had only walked a few steps before being forced to turn back: “…”

“Actually, I didn’t want to either,” Chu Qian sighed, pulling a long leaf and holding it between two fingers like a cigarette, attempting to cosplay a melancholic goddess. She let out a long breath. “I originally thought that since I’m finally back, I’d wander around a bit more,” she flicked the leaf. “But that person Ji Jin latched onto me like a ghost.”

“I wanted to ask you, too,” the perfumer leaned against the wall, unable to hold it in any longer. She muttered, “Since when did Ji Jin become a golden retriever who has to find her person the second they’re apart? How on earth did she know we were meeting today?!”

Yun Chuxiu: “.”

Without a word, Yun Chuxiu looked down and pulled up a post on her Friend Circle, it was from Chu Qian herself.

“You really need to be more careful with your habit of sharing every detail of your life.”

One glance revealed a scroll that felt bottomless.

Chu Qian was incredulous. “…In that photo, only one of your hands is visible! How did she confirm it was you?”

Yun Chuxiu answered calmly, “Cross referencing nearly identical locations with very distinct hand features, it’s not a hard guess.”

Chu Qian: “…”

Chu Qian rubbed the goosebumps on her arms. “Is this what you call a ‘bond’? You can actually see through that? Isn’t that a little…”

“Because I would do the same,” Yun Chuxiu interrupted her before she could say something potentially offensive, steering the topic back on track. “What exactly did she ask of you?”

“Don’t use the word ‘request’,” Chu Qian massaged her temples, correcting her quietly. “It was more of a demand. To prevent harassment from a love rival, she demanded that a stranger who was only a classmate for a few years….uh, I actually didn’t say anything.”

Realizing she had accidentally let the cat out of the bag, Chu Qian’s eyes wandered. She cleared her throat and tried to pivot. “She and I are on pretty good terms, really. I’m doing this voluntarily.”

“What love rival?” It was hard for Yun Chuxiu to ignore such poor acting. She frowned, identifying the most likely person Ji Jin would worry about. “Jiang Fanyin? She shouldn’t have enough free time to run into me right now.”

Chu Qian: “…”

Chu Qian rubbed her nose, feeling helpless. “Probably because of the Friend Circle post again?”

“Actually, I did make a post earlier that was hidden from Ji Jin…”

But she only remembered they had mutual friends after seeing other people like the post.

But you can’t entirely blame her, right?

Coming back to the country to see a friend that’s a milestone worth documenting!

Who would have thought there were two people this obsessed with “prying into others’ private lives”?

Chu Qian felt drained. “What have they even been through all these years…”

Yun Chuxiu sharply caught the point: “So, you told Jiang Fanyin.”

“It’s not like it’s a secret…” Chu Qian grew hesitant under that cold gaze. Even knowing Yun Chuxiu was naturally like this, she couldn’t help but straighten her back, whispering her defense: “She asked if I was meeting you, I said yes. She asked why, I said it was for work… there’s nothing shameful about that, right?”

Nothing… shameful, right?

Chu Qian was silent for a moment. Unable to figure it out, she decided to just give up and “let it rot.” She said bluntly, “Anyway, it is what it is. If you go back to your original hotel now, there’s a high probability you’ll run into her.”

“Jiang Fanyin seemed quite anxious,” Chu Qian had always known those two didn’t get along, but she didn’t expect that after all these years, there wasn’t a single sign of improvement. It was bad enough they liked to compete, their tastes were terrifyingly similar.

“She said she has a reason she must see you and asked me to mention it.”

Yun Chuxiu: “…But you never intended to say anything.”

“Well, I didn’t promise her anything either,” Chu Qian looked away awkwardly, not wanting to admit she had taken Ji Jin’s side. She talked around the subject. “When that message popped up, I didn’t even click on it.”

It wasn’t even “Read and Ignored.”

If asked, she simply had no obligation to sabotage someone else’s romance.

Chu Qian quietly observed Yun Chuxiu’s pensive expression. One was chasing, the other was blocking, they were desperate to lay all their selfish desires on the table, yet the person herself seemed entirely unbothered.

Yun Chuxiu habitually checked her phone’s signal to ensure it was working. Then, she suddenly asked: “What were Ji Jin’s exact words when she asked you to keep me here?”

Chu Qian: “She transferred me a sum of money first, then told me to arrange a new place for you to stay. I had to find a plausible reason so you wouldn’t get suspicious.”

Yun Chuxiu: “.”

Chu Qian, suddenly realizing: “!”

Chu Qian froze for half a second. Remembering the request she had been given, she felt a bit guilty but as soon as she thought about the woman on the other end of the screen, that guilt slipped away effortlessly.

“Actually, you aren’t suspicious, are you?” The perfumer blinked, looking sincere. “You know, I’ve been out of the country for a long time. I’m a bit unaccustomed to the local way of speaking.”

Yun Chuxiu: “You don’t need to explain to me.”

“That’s good then.” Automatically interpreting this as acceptance of her suggestion, Chu Qian handed over a room card. Since everything was already ruined, she dropped the act. “Ji Jin prepared this. Who knows… maybe there’s a surprise waiting inside.”

Yun Chuxiu didn’t think so, but she wasn’t the type to argue over details. She simply nodded quietly.

Then, she turned and walked into a blind spot in the hallway.

Night had fallen. Her phone remained as clean as it had been after the morning call. Work related messages were piled up on the screen, but Ji Jin remained silent, doing nothing.

When a lover is quiet, they must be up to no good.

Yun Chuxiu instinctively sensed something was wrong. She wanted to ignore it, but her racing heartbeat was as obvious as sunlight at night.

“Beep… beep… beep…”

After thinking for a long time, she finally pulled that person’s number out of her blacklist.

“Yun Chuxiu?” Jiang Fanyin answered quickly. She seemed to be standing somewhere windy, her voice was distorted and blurred. “Did you hear something from Chu Qian?”

Yun Chuxiu gave a hum of affirmation. The person on the other end had a good attitude, offering an apologetic laugh before using a forceful tone wrapped in a gentle exterior to explain: “I couldn’t get in touch with you, Senior, so I had to resort to this… Last time I was too presumptuous. It’s only natural that you blocked me.”

“You aren’t angry?” Yun Chuxiu was genuinely curious.

Jiang Fanyin was stunned for a moment. Stripped of the overly soft filter, her tone finally became real. “Of course I’m angry. But Senior isn’t the type of person to do that without a reason.”

“If I want to pursue you, I have to show some sincerity.”

Yun Chuxiu: “I have a girlfriend.”

Jiang Fanyin: “She’s only a girlfriend for now. I can wait for you to dump her.”

“What is so urgent that you have to find me now?” Yun Chuxiu hadn’t seen such a blunt declaration in a long time. She faltered for a second before sternly pulling the conversation back. “Don’t try to fool me.”

“You really don’t know?” Jiang Fanyin’s surprise was unconcealed. She didn’t keep her in suspense, explaining kindly. “There’s no point in hiding it from you. Ji Jin suddenly ordered a massive amount of roses. So many that it’s sparked a lot of rumors.”

“If you go online now, you’ll probably see it.”

Yun Chuxiu fell into an uncharacteristic silence. She didn’t have a habit of surfing the web often, but with the keywords, it was easy to find.

Jiang Fanyin’s voice continued, “I have no choice. I’ve already fallen behind several times. If I don’t fight for this last chance, I’ll find it very hard to accept the outcome.”

After all, there really would be no room for maneuver then. Ji Jin was closing the final gap between them. It would be a completely different situation from “just being a girlfriend.” By then, even she would have to give up.

Another stretch of silence.

Jiang Fanyin wanted to say more, but the heavy breathing in her ear suddenly vanished.

Yun Chuxiu hung up.

Two seconds later, she called the person closest to the “scene.”

“Sister Xiu,” Lin Xing sounded flustered and extremely guilty. “Is there something wrong? Why are you calling so suddenly?”

“You know what Ji Jin is planning, don’t you?” Yun Chuxiu was calm, so calm she sounded devoid of emotion. “I want you to stop her.”

Lin Xing’s heart skipped a beat. “But… everything is already prepared…”

Yun Chuxiu: “?”

Yun Chuxiu looked at the time in disbelief. “It’s only been one day.”

“She was very anxious when she came to see me today, like she’d been triggered by something,” Lin Xing didn’t dare hide anything now and scrambled to recall the details. “I heard her on a call saying ‘move the plan up’… everything else was basically handled by throwing money at it.”

Yun Chuxiu: “.”

Yun Chuxiu remembered the call Ji Jin had made to her. She didn’t know exactly what had happened, but that idiot, who always lost her IQ when faced with certain things, had probably treated some desperate measure as a life-saving straw.

She remembered the look in Ji Jin’s eyes that day when she spoke about getting married. It was so fervent, so sincere, it looked as if it would burn her to ashes.

If that was the case.

If it really was like that…

Yun Chuxiu closed her eyes. Facing a student who was determined to turn in a blank paper, her heart finally turned cold. “Then let her be.”

Lin Xing sensed the softening of her attitude and asked hesitantly, “Does Sister Xiu not want to agree to her anymore?”

“That’s not it,” Yun Chuxiu looked at the white mist of her own breath, feeling a bit dazed. She leaned instinctively against a nearby streetlight and said, “Don’t tell her I already know.”

She hung up once more.

Yun Chuxiu touched her chest, confirming that the intense thumping she felt the moment she guessed the result was not an illusion.

But that was all it was.

She stood there for a long time. Perhaps because the spot was secluded enough, the only thing illuminated by the streetlight was a single, solitary shadow.