After Failing To Tame The Scumbag - Chapter 39

“You are causing me trouble.”

Yun Chuxiu was a woman of her word.

She patiently stayed with Ji Jin at the hospital all afternoon, waiting until the two IV bags were finished before taking her out for a meal.

Ji Jin’s face remained unnervingly pale. She followed closely behind in small steps, asking neither where they were going nor what they were eating. Her gaze remained hooked on Yun Chuxiu, even after they were seated, it didn’t waver, feeling even more scalding and clingy than the bubbling cream of mushroom soup.

Yun Chuxiu was utterly defeated by her.

“I hope this bout of illness didn’t take your brain with it,” Yun Chuxiu said, slowly snapping a giant crab leg. Considering the person sitting opposite her was a patient who had just been discharged, she was destined to monopolize most of the delicious seafood on the table.

Ji Jin said nothing, focusing entirely on peeling shrimp and placing them in the other’s bowl.

She used to do this often in the past, but it had never felt this awkward. They were no longer intimate lovers, yet they didn’t quite feel like old friends either.

Ji Jin’s heart was overflowing with bitterness, and she intensely loathed her past self for being so troublesome. On the surface, however, she remained well-behaved, even when handing things over, she didn’t dare let their fingers touch.

The meal was eaten in extreme silence.

Yun Chuxiu ignored her throughout. After calling a waiter to pack the leftovers, she finally asked Ji Jin leisurely, “Which hotel did you book?”

Ji Jin stammered, “I… I came straight to find you the moment I got off the plane…”

“So you didn’t book one at all.” Yun Chuxiu spoke expressionlessly, pointing to the phone lying on the table, quiet as if it were dead. “And your assistant? Did she exile you too?”

She remembered that young girl was quite sharp, especially when it came to earning a little “extra” in situations like this.

“She probably isn’t free right now.” Ji Jin silently picked up her phone. The moment she pressed the power button, it displayed a low battery warning, offering only a fleeting glimpse of the lock screen wallpaper she hadn’t yet changed.

Yun Chuxiu: “…” Well, isn’t that just great.

“Follow me,” she said, not expecting Ji Jin to be capable of any actual business right now. “I’ll have Chu Cheng open an extra room for you now.”

Ji Jin quickly reached out to help carry the bags and grabbed her other phone to settle the bill.

Yun Chuxiu stood with her arms crossed, watching her.

“It’s not like that, I actually… if I said I truly forgot, would you believe me?” Realizing what was happening, Ji Jin pleaded pitifully, her eyes twinkling like stars as she blinked hard at her.

“Is that all the backbone you have?” Yun Chuxiu raised an eyebrow, neither believing nor disbelieving her. “I know you have Chu Cheng’s contact information. She’s already booked the room, remember to pay her back.”

Was she being let off just like that…?

Ji Jin nodded, skillfully switching to a well-disguised alt account to transfer the money to Chu Cheng. After taking the initiative to claim the title of “the one brought back by Yun Chuxiu,” she even added a smiley face at the end.

“Chu Cheng seems very happy,” Ji Jin said, showing the phone to Yun Chuxiu. The conversation on the screen had progressed from stranger to familiar incredibly fast, the other girl had even started subtly prying into other questions.

Yun Chuxiu knew exactly what was going on. It was partly her fault for being vague, to prevent Chu Cheng from just booking the worst room in the hotel, she had been a bit ambiguous in her wording.

However.

“You really don’t know?” Yun Chuxiu asked her.

Ji Jin played dumb, just smiling as she walked beside her. “I didn’t lie to her about anything. Maybe we just hit it off, maybe she can’t wait to meet me in person?”

Even though there was a 99% chance that meeting would be disastrous.

Yun Chuxiu massaged her forehead. She didn’t have high hopes for the upcoming scene being peaceful, so she offered a haunting reminder: “The stalker you hired was caught by her. She works out regularly and takes extra classes… but with your current weak physique…”

Ji Jin was stubborn. “I still have my abs! And the muscle lines you like!”

“I’ll pass,” Yun Chuxiu said, swatting away the hand that was about to lift her shirt. She remained cold and expressionless. “I was young and foolish back then. Now, I prefer three hundred pounds fluff balls.”

Ji Jin pouted. “That’s not even the same species.”

Yun Chuxiu kept walking without looking at her. “It just means I don’t like you.”

Ji Jin instantly deflated.

Despite the “poisonous” remark, which Yun Chuxiu thought would keep her quiet for at least half an hour, Ji Jin sidled back up to her just a few minutes later with a calm expression.

“Then that means you won’t like anyone else either, right?” Ji Jin emphasized every word heavily. Then, fearing she might make Yun Chuxiu angry, she softened her tone to smooth things over. “Our Chuxiu must have the very best, you definitely can’t let yourself be easily tricked away by someone else.”

She moved closer out of habit. Summer was always hot, after walking on the street for just a short while, a thin layer of sweat had formed on Ji Jin’s face. This made her intentionally softened eyes look watery, giving an illusion of innocence and harmlessness.

Slap! Yun Chuxiu knocked away the hand reaching for her sleeve.

She was quite unromantic: “We’re here. Instead of focusing on this nonsense, you should think about how to face your ‘online friend’ who is currently full of anticipation.”

Ji Jin followed Yun Chuxiu’s gaze.

Chu Cheng, dressed in light sportswear, was leaning against the hotel door playing with her phone. One didn’t need to guess to know she was waiting here to meet someone.

Ji Jin was half-helpless and half-complaining: “Isn’t she a bit too enthusiastic about the position next to you?”

Yun Chuxiu coldly bypassed her and stepped forward first. Her words were light, as if weightless: “She doesn’t care about the position next to me.”

It didn’t matter who it was, as long as it wasn’t Ji Jin.

“That’s good then,” the inexplicable hostility on Ji Jin’s face dissipated slightly, replaced by a smile. “As long as she’s good to you, we’ll definitely be ‘friends’.”

With that, she brazenly bared her highly recognizable face and stepped into the hotel lobby, remaining exactly an arm’s length away from Yun Chuxiu.

Startled, Chu Cheng looked back.

She practically bounced off the ground. Before she could even get words out, she frantically grabbed Yun Chuxiu and pulled her aside, as if she had just seen a self-replicating virus. She was so blindsided that her game, which was going well, followed up with a tragic cry of defeat.

Chu Cheng: Curse it! I had just finished 99% of that limited time puzzle! That was a full thousand pieces!

“Who are you?” Chu Cheng’s eyes were bloodshot from the shock. She never expected a “Big Boss” to spawn here. She rambled while pulling on Yun Chuxiu: “Can body doubles look this much like the real thing now?”

“I was wondering why people saw you near the hospital… haha, turns out it’s a plastic surgery clinic…”

“Long time no see.” Ji Jin cruelly shattered her fantasy, smiling politely. “Could I have my room card? Chuxiu is all sweaty, if she’s stuck here, she’ll be uncomfortable.”

“Hotels are better suited for… cleaning up.”

Cleaning what… what cleaning… cleaning what?

Chu Cheng’s brain nearly short-circuited. Her hand trembled as she pointed at Ji Jin. “You bastard!”

“I’m calling the police!” Her language center completely broke down. She could only clutch Yun Chuxiu tightly, dragging her three meters away. She muttered, “No, this is too much. I need a lawyer…”

“We just went out for a meal,” Yun Chuxiu broke free from her frantic grip and took a breath. “Don’t listen to her nonsense. We went to the hospital because she fainted, and I couldn’t handle it alone.”

“Didn’t I say you shouldn’t just pick up things off the ground?” Chu Cheng finally reacted. After her brain cooled down, she felt that Ji Jin was being malicious. Frowning, she said, “Fainting right in front of you… isn’t that just a scam?”

Yun Chuxiu was helpless: “She paid for it.”

Chu Cheng slapped her forehead in realization: “Then that’s a textbook case of ‘playing hard to get.’ Look, isn’t she sticking to you now? Boss, you really can’t keep this person…”

Yun Chuxiu felt guilty. When she spoke, she avoided Chu Cheng’s disappointed eyes. “It’s a long story. Anyway, it was my idea for her to come over.”

Chu Cheng: “…”

Chu Cheng: “…………”

“You’re hurting her.” Her expression unchanged, Ji Jin stepped forward and pulled Chu Cheng’s stunned hand away. Lowering her eyes, she gently held Yun Chuxiu’s wrist, which had been squeezed red. She said submissively, “I can explain everything. It’s my fault for being a step late and not realizing she would get so emotional.”

Chu Cheng: “???”

Chu Cheng rubbed her eyes in disbelief.

“If I had known she hated me this much, I wouldn’t have troubled her for help… Actually, it would have been fine for me to sleep on the floor in Chuxiu’s room.”

“No, it would not be fine,” Yun Chuxiu pulled her hand back and reached out to Chu Cheng. “Give me the room card first. I’ll explain later.”

Chu Cheng handed over the card without a word. Wanting to respect Yun Chuxiu’s choice, she didn’t speak even though she was fuming. She simply turned around and ran upstairs, not even waiting for the elevator.

“Satisfied?” Yun Chuxiu tapped the still-warm room card against Ji Jin’s face. Her voice was faint; despite the heat of the day, it felt like it was covered in a layer of snow. “You are causing me trouble.”

“I know,” Ji Jin quirked the corner of her mouth. She stood still after being tapped, looking at her quietly. Her eyes seemed to hide something obscure that could never be spoken.

“…I know,” she simply repeated, futilely.

“Get some rest. You know what I’m talking about.”

Another silence followed. Yun Chuxiu had no intention of diving into the other’s thought process. She handed over the card and left.

Ji Jin knew that Chuxiu didn’t want her to follow right now, so she just stood there, calmly watching that retreating figure.

Just like in those brief, agonizing dreams.

Yun Chuxiu wasn’t wrong.

She had intentionally provoked Chu Cheng. She had purposefully thrown a sharp stone into a meeting that could have ended gracefully, forcing a glaring wound to be cut.

It didn’t matter if that wound was on herself or on Chu Cheng.

She just wanted this feeling. She wanted to be constantly watched by Chuxiu. She wanted the other person’s mundane life to be completely stuffed with her shadow.

She was being driven insane by this deliberate cold treatment.

“As expected, I can’t keep doing this,” Ji Jin clenched her palm, gripping the room card tightly, as if trying to use the blunt pain to drag herself out of this seductive sinking.

If I continue like this, she’ll hate me.

Thinking of Yun Chuxiu, Ji Jin’s trembling muscles miraculously steadied.

A moment later, she walked toward the front desk with the room card, even wearing a smile.