After Flirting with the God-Tier Beautiful Tycoon - Chapter 28

Lin Qianqian’s eyes widened, likely not expecting Shen Xiaojiang to speak like that.

Throughout high school, she was used to being spoiled by Shen Xiaojiang. Although the other girl always seemed indifferent, she consistently indulged her.

What was going on today? She was confused.

Could it really be because two years had passed, and everyone had changed?

With outsiders present, Lin Qianqian didn’t dare to act out and obediently sat down.

She and Sun Jiabao were always at odds, sitting far apart from each other.

In contrast, Shen Xiaojiang and Chen Yi were sitting quite close and getting along famously.

Shen Xiaojiang refilled Chen Yi’s drink, and Chen Yi handed Shen Xiaojiang a tissue.

“Auntie, this fish is too spicy. I really don’t recommend you eat it.” Shen Xiaojiang wasn’t a complete spice lover but could certainly handle a lot of heat. If she found it spicy, Chen Yi definitely wouldn’t be able to eat it.

“Huh?” Sun Jiabao swallowed the food in her mouth, looked up with a surprised expression, and said, “Auntie, you don’t eat spicy food?”

Her confusion was quite normal.

Few people knew Chen Yi’s preferences, after all, not everyone had the chance to sit at the same table and eat with her.

Chen Yi was meticulous. To prevent ill-intentioned people from finding her weaknesses, she would deliberately hide her preferences and habits.

Shen Xiaojiang knew she didn’t eat spicy food from the last time they had small wontons together.

It was such a tiny incident, yet she could still remember it. How rare.

This fully demonstrated that Shen Xiaojiang was a person who paid attention to detail.

At the same time, she was also someone who cared about her deeply.

Chen Yi felt a warmth in her heart and gave a tiny “Mhm.”

Lin Qianqian found the atmosphere strange and frowned. “A’Jiang, I don’t want to eat the green vegetables.” She looked at Shen Xiaojiang.

Shen Xiaojiang didn’t look back: “Then don’t eat them.”

Lin Qianqian: “I want to eat the fish.”

The fish was in front of Shen Xiaojiang, and Lin Qianqian meant for the other girl to help her.

A few seconds later, Shen Xiaojiang’s tone was flat and unemotional, with no intention of picking up her chopsticks to help: “Oh.”

This attitude was vastly different from the one she had just shown Chen Yi.

Lin Qianqian bit her chopsticks in anger, eyes wide as if someone owed her five million.

It turned out she was the clown all along.

She knew that any further insistence now would be pointless, only inviting humiliation. So, she stopped talking, lowered her head, and ate her meal listlessly.

Chen Yi elegantly brought a piece of non-spicy vegetable to her mouth, a hidden smile in her eyes.

In this moment, she felt that she was being treated specially by Shen Xiaojiang.

She habitually crossed her legs, but now, she uncrossed them.

Her feet naturally rested on the floor, and the distance between her legs and Shen Xiaojiang’s was not far; it felt like a slight movement would make them touch.

After the meal, He Zhong drove the three students back to school and took Chen Yi back to “Venus.”

On the way, she stared out the window the whole time, not saying a word.

He Zhong thought her silence was due to work matters and dared not disturb her.

However, the truth was far from it.

Just as she was walking out of the Huaiyang restaurant, Chen Yi received a text message from an unsaved number.

Even without a contact name, Chen Yi knew who it was.

[7630879: If you want to save your father’s life, quickly transfer two hundred thousand to this card.]

If it were anyone else, they would assume it was a scam. Only Chen Yi knew that it wasn’t a scam message but from her biological father, Chen Heping.

He always used his own life as leverage to extort money from his own daughter. He had used the same trick countless times, without any novelty.

Chen Yi raised her hand, shielding the flickering light from her eyes.

After separating from Shen Xiaojiang, her world plunged into darkness again.

She remembered that rainy night thirteen years ago.

Chen Yi, just sixteen, cooked, washed clothes, and cleaned all by herself. She had finally sat down to do her homework when Chen Heping returned.

As a father, he never cared about Chen Yi’s life, much less her studies.

As soon as he got home, he would prop his legs up on the sofa and watch TV.

The sound from the TV program was loud and noisy, making it impossible for Chen Yi to concentrate.

She was about to get up and close the bedroom door when she heard Chen Heping raise his voice: “I just called you, are you deaf?”

“Go, buy me liquor!” Chen Heping’s tone was still somewhat polite at this point.

Chen Yi reluctantly put down her pen.

Chen Heping once claimed that if Chen Yi didn’t spend money on him, he wouldn’t allow her to go out and work part-time.

It was baffling what benefit he derived from preventing his daughter from earning money.

Chen Heping was just… a scoundrel.

Chen Yi complied and got up to walk toward the door.

Chen Heping’s voice squeaked out from the TV program, like a rusted wheel rut, grating and harsh as the chain dragged over it.

“And buy a pack of cigarettes, hard pack Huazi.” He said it casually.

His subtext was that a girl, a sixteen-year-old high school sophomore, should know what a “hard pack Huazi” was and also have the money to buy liquor and cigarettes.

At the time, Chen Yi’s part time wage for a day was sixty yuan.

Two bottles of liquor and a pack of cigarettes would just be enough.

But if she bought these, she would have worked for nothing that day.

She needed to pay the school uniform fee next week and buy reference books.

Chen Yi turned around and summoned the courage to say, “Dad, I don’t have that much money on me. Can we skip the cigarettes?”

Chen Heping paused the remote control, not turning his head, his eyes still glued to the TV screen: “What did you say?”

The room wasn’t large; even with the TV on, spoken words could be heard.

Chen Yi thought for a moment and organized her words: “Or, could you buy a cheaper kind? I have to pay…”

Chen Heping didn’t wait for Chen Yi to finish, stood up, and walked over to her.

The air around them seemed to solidify, as if the Grim Reaper was approaching step by step.

Chen Heping pointed the remote control at Chen Yi.

Chen Yi’s slender shoulders trembled slightly.

“Dad, I…”

Chen Heping sneered, and before Chen Yi could finish, he raised his hand high and slapped her across the face.

In an instant, Chen Yi’s vision went black, and her ears rang.

She fell to the ground, and the taste of blood slowly seeped into her mouth.

“Can’t understand human words? Both the cigarettes and the liquor are essential, otherwise, I’ll make sure you can’t go to school next Monday!” Chen Heping said harshly.

Chen Yi sat stunned on the floor, the slapped area on her face burning hot.

She knew how hard Chen Heping hit.

If he said she couldn’t go to school, she truly wouldn’t be able to; he definitely wasn’t just threatening her.

Taking two deep breaths, Chen Yi fought back her tears, climbed to her feet, and stumbled out the door.

On her way back, she sat on the curb, her eyes swollen from crying, her voice hoarse from shouting.

What was she, a girl in the prime of her youth, going through?

She was desperate and wanted to end it all right there.

Just as she was about to walk into the middle of the road, a little girl handed her a lollipop, strawberry-flavored.

She remembered it for many years after strawberry-flavored candy was truly sweet.

“Seventh Master, we’ve arrived.” He Zhong’s voice pulled Chen Yi back to reality.

“If you’re too tired, you should return to the hotel and rest early. I’ll go drink with CEO Fu,” He Zhong added.

Chen Yi shook her head. “No, go do something for me.”

He Zhong: “What is it?”

Chen Yi looked into the distance, her expression forlorn: “Transfer one hundred thousand yuan to Chen Heping.”

Back at school, Lin Qianqian insisted on sticking close to Shen Xiaojiang, claiming she had nowhere else to go besides here.

Consequently, Sun Jiabao, who was already irritated, didn’t hold back in her sarcastic remarks.

The three girls wandered around the campus, and the afternoon quickly passed.

At Lin Qianqian’s repeated insistence, she ended up in Shen Xiaojiang’s dorm room.

“A’Jiang, your school’s dorm room is much smaller than mine,” she said, gesturing with her hands.

“You think it’s small?” Sun Jiabao retorted sharply. “Then go back to your own school.”

“You…” Lin Qianqian couldn’t argue with Sun Jiabao and pouted again, frowning as she looked at Shen Xiaojiang, “A’Jiang, I just said it casually. I didn’t mean anything by it. I don’t know why it gets twisted in some people’s mouths.”

“Lin Qianqian, I really can’t stand your saccharine sweet talk. Could you please stop beating around the bush?” Sun Jiabao stood with one hand on her hip and used the other to comb her bangs.

“A’Jiang…” Lin Qianqian’s tear ducts were truly developed. After just a few sentences, her eyes were already moist again.

It seemed as if she would burst into tears if Sun Jiabao said one more word.

“Ginger, you have to stand up for me! What did I even say?” Faced with someone who cried at the drop of a hat, Sun Jiabao was helpless.

Shen Xiaojiang used to fall for this, but now she only felt that Lin Qianqian was suffocating.

“Qianqian, don’t cry. Jiabao just has that temper.” The moment Shen Xiaojiang finished speaking, Lin Qianqian cried even harder.

From the tone, she knew this wasn’t comfort at all but rather Shen Xiaojiang siding with Sun Jiabao, implying that she, Lin Qianqian, was being unreasonable.

Shen Xiaojiang didn’t want to say more, only hoping Lin Qianqian would leave soon.

Sun Jiabao blinked rapidly: “Wait, is Lin Qianqian sleeping in our dorm tonight?”

Shen Xiaojiang said calmly: “Mhm.”

Sun Jiabao put down her comb, her expression more agitated: “Oh my, oh my goodness! Why isn’t she staying in a hotel?”

Lin Qianqian sniffled hard, her expression pitiful, “I forgot my ID card.”

Shen Xiaojiang shrugged. “Forget it.”

They were classmates, after all, and it wasn’t right to kick someone out late at night.

Shen Xiaojiang found a pair of spare slippers and handed them to her, saying coldly, “Here, put these on.”

Lin Qianqian felt like she had won a small victory, but not entirely.

The current Shen Xiaojiang maintained a distance, like a stone that couldn’t be warmed.

“Then where will she sleep?” Sun Jiabao asked again.

The dorm was at full capacity tonight.

This meant two people would have to share a bed.

Shen Xiaojiang was a bit of a germaphobe and didn’t like others sleeping in her bed. However, there was no other choice besides hers.

“In my bed,” she said.

Sun Jiabao raised an eyebrow sharply. “Huh?”

A sudden light flashed in Lin Qianqian’s eyes. “A’Jiang, are… are you serious? You’re going to share a bed with me?”

Hearing this, Sun Jiabao felt uncomfortable all over. “Ginger, why don’t you sleep with me instead.”

Lin Qianqian glared at Sun Jiabao. “What did you say?”

Sun Jiabao pouted. “Can’t you understand human words?”

At that moment, Chen Xingnan came out of the restroom, towel drying her hair, and walked over to Sun Jiabao with a damp aura. “Xiao Jiang, you sleep in my bed. I’ll squeeze with Baobao.”

Sun Jiabao was hit with a cloud of steam and was slightly annoyed, lightly punching Chen Xingnan: “Go away! Who wants to squeeze with you? Get lost!”