After Flirting with the God-Tier Beautiful Tycoon - Chapter 63

Inside the Venus Bar, Chen Yi and Bai Shuhua sat side by side at the counter, with a gap of half a meter between them.

Bai Shuhua was five years older than Bai Jie and called herself the “older sister,” which was accurate enough.

When Chen Yi was nineteen, she had taken a blade for Old Man Bai. Because of the ambition in her eyes and her determination to risk everything, she had earned the old man’s appreciation and cultivation.

She and Bai Shuhua had known each other for nearly ten years.

They had a history, but they weren’t particularly close.

“This drink is mediocre.” Bai Shuhua swirled her glass and shot a playful glance at Chen Yi.

Chen Yi’s face, however, was icy devoid of the tenderness she showed Shen Xiaojiang and free of the hypocrisy she reserved for business partners.

She was as bland as a glass of cooled, boiled water.

“If you don’t like it, you don’t have to drink it,” she said.

Bai Shuhua set down her glass, took a puff from an electronic cigarette, and smiled. “I paid for this. Shouldn’t I enjoy better service?”

Chen Yi sighed helplessly. “Someone come over and mix her a new one.”

“I don’t want them. Why won’t you mix it yourself?” Bai Shuhua’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Don’t you have a signature move? ‘Love Rubik’s Cube’ or ‘Love Magic’ the one where people supposedly fall into a sweet romance after one sip?”

Chen Yi didn’t look at her, but out of politeness, she eventually met Bai Shuhua’s gaze. “You don’t need it.”

Bai Shuhua was a wanderer at heart, openly out, and had dated countless beautiful girls. Usually, she was only in it for the novelty; once that faded, she changed girlfriends as fast as she changed clothes.

Chen Yi felt Bai Shuhua lacked character and moral grounding.

Bai Shuhua felt Chen Yi was hypocritical, worldly, and a sycophant.

It wasn’t that they had disliked each other from the start, but this friction had persisted for years.

After Bai Shuhua’s parents died in an accident, she should have been the apple of the old man’s eye, the rightful heir to the entire family estate. But then Chen “Little Seven” Yi appeared out of nowhere. The old man taught Chen Yi everything he knew, intending to prop her up as the president of the Chamber of Commerce.

Rumors circulated that Chen Yi was the old man’s illegitimate daughter or his mistress, and that he would leave the entire inheritance to her.

Old Man Bai didn’t ignore Bai Shuhua entirely, but he was certainly more indulgent with her. However, Chen Yi knew the truth having lost his son and daughter in law, the old man didn’t want to lose Bai Shuhua too. So, he didn’t try to control her, he just wanted her to be happy.

Chen Yi didn’t mind. After all, her ambition was far greater than Bai Shuhua’s. She truly did want to use the old man’s power to climb to the position she dreamed of.

“Why wouldn’t I need it?” Bai Shuhua winked at a female bartender. “I think I might have found true love.”

“You?” Chen Yi looked skeptical.

“Yeah, me.” Bai Shuhua spread her hands. “Well, nothing is official yet, but I really like this girl. She’s a student, exceptionally brilliant, tall and slender, with an air of indifference. The kind of girl who looks like she’d be hard to win over.”

With just those few descriptive words, a young face appeared in Chen Yi’s mind.

“Where did you go today?” she asked.

Bai Shuhua was habitually sluggish. Unlike Chen Yi, who sat upright in her qipao, she had one leg stretched out and the other casually bent, tapping her fingers on the table and poking a square ice cube in her glass with a stirrer. “Nancheng University.”

Chen Yi’s heart skipped a beat.

More than anything, she hoped she had guessed wrong.

“I see. So, what were you doing at Nancheng University today?” Chen Yi squeezed her glass tightly. The coldness seeped from her palm into her flesh, creeping relentlessly toward her heart.

Bai Shuhua gave a crooked, wicked grin. “What’s this? We haven’t seen each other in a while, and suddenly you’re so concerned about me?”

Chen Yi blinked rapidly, forcing a smile. “Hmph, do I look like I have that much free time?”

“Who knows?” Bai Shuhua took a sip of her drink. “I know your preference. Come on, tell your big sister, after all this time, how have you been dealing with the loneliness?”

Chen Yi glared at Bai Shuhua with disdain. “It seems that in your eyes, I really am quite bored.”

“Tsk!” Bai Shuhua crunched on an ice cube.

Chen Yi was still the same impenetrable and guarded. You couldn’t get a word out of her.

“I bet you have a very impressive little toy,” Bai Shuhua teased.

“Young Boss Bai, watch your tongue,” Chen Yi replied coldly.

The melted ice water in her palm had been warmed by her touch but quickly grew cold again, sliding through the deep lines of her palm and forming a lonely shape on the table.

A little toy?

Shen Xiaojiang?

If only she really were a little toy. Then Chen Yi could carry her everywhere, keep her by her side always.

“Who caught your eye at Nancheng University? What year is she in?” Chen Yi asked impatiently. Before Bai Shuhua could answer, she suddenly changed her mind. “Forget it, don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.”

Bai Shuhua looked at her with total confusion. “You want to know, but I don’t even want to tell you now.”

With that, she downed the rest of her drink and hopped off the barstool. “Sit here by yourself. I’m going to dance.”

Soon, Bai Shuhua’s figure was swallowed by the crowd of men and women dancing wildly and flaunting their hormones.

In those few seconds, Chen Yi’s curiosity reached its peak, while the fear and unease in her heart rose to unprecedented heights.

Why had she become so cowardly? Not just cowardly, but filled with a sense of impending loss. Not just that, but consumed by trepidation.

Chen Yi glanced at Bai Shuhua’s retreating back, then looked back at her own glass. She picked it up and drained the remaining liquor, hoping the alcohol would numb her increasingly sensitive heart.

However, as the ice was crushed and the mint leaves ground down, the burning sensation in her throat only intensified. Chen Yi didn’t get the numbness she craved.

There was only endless disappointment and loneliness.

This drink tastes like shit.

Bai Shuhua got dead drunk. Chen Yi arranged for someone to take her home while she sat in her own car, staring blankly out the window.

The car stopped at a crosswalk for a red light. Suddenly, a cream colored electric scooter pulled up beside Chen Yi’s window.

Two girls were on it, both wearing helmets one pink, one gray.

Chen Yi’s eyes froze; her heart skipped a beat. She felt as if she were seeing that night in Haishi again Shen Xiaojiang and her, sitting on a little scooter, weaving through the streets and alleys, watching the lights of ten thousand homes.

“Seventh Mistress, heading back to the hotel?” He Zhong asked.

“No…” Chen Yi instinctively started to say “to Nancheng University.”

However, the words got stuck in her throat. “Yes… back to the hotel.”

“Not going to Nancheng University today?” He Zhong ventured to ask.

The light turned green, and the cream-colored scooter zipped away. The figures of the two girls vanished from Chen Yi’s sight.

She wasn’t angry; she just replied softly, “No. Not today.”

What would she do there? What reason did she have to go?

A flash of loneliness crossed Chen Yi’s eyes. She tried her best to suppress her sour, unbearable emotions as she looked at the flowing neon lights outside. Her heart, however, was like a pool of stagnant water.

A week passed quickly. As promised, Bai Shuhua’s car pulled up in front of the teaching building.

Her car was a convertible. She had been waiting for nearly half an hour, leaning her chin on her arms draped over the door, looking bored. From behind her sunglasses, she sized up everyone passing by with a mix of playfulness and disdain.

Born into a prestigious family, she possessed an innate arrogance and elegance.

Inside the building, the final morning class was ending, and many students were already eager to rush out.

“Hey, Ginger,” Sun Jiabao slumped on the desk, looking at Shen Xiaojiang. “What are we eating later?”

Shen Xiaojiang rested her cheek on one hand, taking notes diligently. “Whatever.”

Sun Jiabao leaned in and pouted. “I don’t want ‘whatever.’ I want a Magnum.”

Shen Xiaojiang rolled her eyes. “This is a major course. Can you at least pay a little attention?”

Sun Jiabao giggled. “I have you, don’t I? It’s just a major. What’s there to fear?”

Shen Xiaojiang shook her head and finished noting down a few key points.

As soon as the bell rang, many students rushed out of the lecture hall. Shen Xiaojiang stared at her notebook, calculating something in her mind. She was always this serious when she studied, she could truly settle down. To her, eating was just a necessity she wasn’t picky. Besides, three meals a day felt like a waste of time.

“Ginger, let’s go!” Sun Jiabao pulled her up.

Shen Xiaojiang slowly put away her pen, slowly closed her book, and then slowly stood up. “What’s the rush?”

The two walked ahead, leaving Chen Xingnan and Liu Wei behind.

“Why aren’t we waiting for them?” Shen Xiaojiang asked, puzzled.

Sun Jiabao replied lazily, “I don’t want to walk with Chen Xingnan.”

The tables had turned this time it was Shen Xiaojiang’s turn to look like she was craving gossip. “What happened between you two?”

Sun Jiabao stole a glance back at Chen Xingnan, who was discussing a manga with Liu Wei, looking animated and happy.

“Pfft, her? She’s been neglecting her duties lately. She knows it’s finals week, but she’s not studying. She’s just following Liu Wei around reading GL manga the ‘spicy’ kind, too.” After saying this, Sun Jiabao linked her arm even tighter with Shen Xiaojiang’s.

“Didn’t you say that if she scored better than you, you wouldn’t take her to play games?” Shen Xiaojiang teased.

Sun Jiabao pouted. “I did say that, but she shouldn’t…”

“Shouldn’t what?”

“Ugh, she shouldn’t be reading that kind of manga in broad daylight. It’s so weird.” As Sun Jiabao spoke, the tips of her ears turned red.

Shen Xiaojiang looked at Sun Jiabao, then at Chen Xingnan behind them, then back at Sun Jiabao. She felt both of them were acting a bit strange.

Sun Jiabao had terabytes of “spicy” manga and videos on her hard drive, so why was she acting shy now?

Sure enough, she and Chen Yi are family. They’re even similar in this way and just as cute.

Pah!

Shen Xiaojiang cursed herself in her head.

Why was she thinking about that coward, that terrible elder again? Whoever thought about her again was a dog.

“Walk faster.” Shen Xiaojiang quickened her pace.

“Hey? Weren’t you the one who wasn’t in a rush?” Sun Jiabao was dragged along.

Before leaving the teaching building, Shen Xiaojiang took a quick peek back at the manga. The girl on the cover wasn’t even one-tenth as beautiful as Chen Yi.

Coming back to her senses, Shen Xiaojiang slapped Sun Jiabao’s shoulder hard. “It’s all your fault! You’re so annoying!”

Sun Jiabao looked bewildered, her brows knitting together. “Omg, what did I do now?”

Just then, the sound of a car horn startled Sun Jiabao. “Holy crap, who’s so rude?”

Shen Xiaojiang looked toward the fiery red sports car at the entrance.

Bai Shuhua had a slight smirk as she slowly took off her sunglasses.

“We meet again, Student Shen.”

“Who is this?” Sun Jiabao knew nothing of Chen Yi’s private life and naturally didn’t recognize Bai Shuhua.

But as the biological granddaughter of Old Man Bai, she had left a deep impression on Shen Xiaojiang.

However, Shen Xiaojiang hadn’t realized a week had passed so quickly. She still hadn’t decided which company to intern for.

Seeing Shen Xiaojiang’s cold expression, Sun Jiabao jumped to conclusions. “Omg, Ginger, is this that girl”

Before the word “friend” could escape, Shen Xiaojiang clamped her hand over Sun Jiabao’s mouth.

“No, she’s one of the people from the early campus recruitment I told you about,” Shen Xiaojiang said, her voice tinged with irritation.

Sun Jiabao peered through the gaps in Shen Xiaojiang’s fingers, blinked rapidly, and nodded vigorously.

Only then did Shen Xiaojiang let go.

Bai Shuhua opened the car door and stepped out, walking up to Shen Xiaojiang. “Student Shen, it’s been a week. Have you reached a decision?”

Shen Xiaojiang answered truthfully, “I’m sorry, I’ve been busy with exams all week, so I haven’t decided yet.”

Bai Shuhua wasn’t angry, a flash of cunning crossed her eyes. “No matter. That’s why I’m here to pick you up.”

Shen Xiaojiang froze for a moment.

“I’m taking you to visit our headquarters at Wanning Electronics. I won’t force you into anything, but I will certainly fight for what I want to achieve, so I hope you can understand.” Having said that, Bai Shuhua gestured toward her car, making an inviting “after you” motion to Shen Xiaojiang.

Beside them, Sun Jiabao stood dumbfounded. “Omg… omg omg, is it really that big company, Wanning?”

Shen Xiaojiang shot Sun Jiabao a glare and then gave a thin smile.

Bai Shuhua didn’t act like a stranger at all, chiming in to answer: “Yes, it’s exactly the company you all want to get into: Wanning Electronic Technology.”

Shen Xiaojiang: “…”

Could this woman be any more showy?

Unable to decline such a persistent invitation, Shen Xiaojiang bid farewell to Sun Jiabao and got into Bai Shuhua’s car.

Since it was lunchtime, she became the passive recipient of countless curious gazes. She instinctively turned her face toward Bai Shuhua’s side.

“What? Don’t know how to buckle the seatbelt?” Bai Shuhua asked, reaching out as if to help.

“Thank you, I can do it,” Shen Xiaojiang replied, her tone cold and distant.

Bai Shuhua let out a soft chuckle, retracted her hands, and placed them back on the steering wheel.