After Being Taken by the Eldest Young Lady - Chapter 9

Jiang Xule asked, “So you’re saying that the reason you followed me that day was because you wanted to say thank you?” Then what was the point of me falling into a ditch just to dodge you?

Fang Yize froze at the words, her hands tightening on the steering wheel. She had thought she’d kept a significant distance from Jiang Xule back then; she shouldn’t have been discovered…

She pursed her lips, feeling a bit embarrassed, and said, “Well, if not that, then what else could it have been for?”

“Weren’t you warning me that day? You even cursed at me, saying something like ‘Screw you’…” Jiang Xule felt like her brain was currently a pile of mush.

“Warning? Cursing you?” Fang Yize didn’t quite understand what she meant. “I remember what I said that day was, ‘I beg you, please don’t tell the teacher’…”

Hearing Jiang Xule say this made Fang Yize start to doubt herself.

Taking advantage of a red light, Fang Yize turned her head to observe Jiang Xule’s expression. She saw the other woman deep in thought, her eyes shifting as she processed the information, before she slightly furrowed her brows as if she still couldn’t wrap her head around it. In short, throughout the duration of the red light turning green, she didn’t say another word to Fang Yize.

What kind of god-awful misunderstanding caused by a mishearing… to think I’ve been brooding over this for so many years… embarrassing, how incredibly embarrassing!

Consequently, both of them were somewhat preoccupied after that conversation. It wasn’t until the car drove into the campus that Fang Yize spoke up, saying, “You hold the umbrella for me, I’ll do the carrying.”

Jiang Xule stared at her for a moment before finally handing the umbrella over and saying, “I took the money, I won’t take advantage of you.”

Jiang Xule was the first to get out of the car, and Fang Yize quickly followed. The bike shed had a corrugated iron roof; it was a bit noisy, but at least it kept the rain off.

Ultimately, she had underestimated those forty-seven portions of food that didn’t look very large. Jiang Xule couldn’t lift them in one go. She bent over, sticking her rear out, and exerted strength for a long time while hugging the box, but she only managed to move it half an inch.

Should I ask her to lend a hand? That would be too awkward and make her look weak.

Just as Jiang Xule was agonizing over it, the box suddenly felt lighter. Exactly as Jiang Xule gave a sudden, forceful lift, her head slammed directly into the top of the trunk.

With a loud “thud,” Jiang Xule lost control of her strength and dropped the box onto the ground. Fortunately, the drop height wasn’t high and it landed vertically, so the contents inside weren’t overturned.

Fang Yize was startled by the sound of her head hitting the car. She covered her mouth and said, “Are you okay?”

“Next time you’re going to help, can you give me a heads-up first?” Jiang Xule rubbed the back of her head a few times and bent down again to carry the box.

“…Alright.”

Fang Yize held the umbrella with one hand and helped lift the handle on the right side of the box with the other, warning her: “I’m going to use strength now.”

A bit foolish, Jiang Xule thought, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Carrying this incredibly heavy box up to the sixth floor, Jiang Xule felt like her arms no longer belonged to her. Originally, she thought the ten yuan was a profit for her, but as it turned out…

Fang Yize, you’d better be sensible and not make me ask for more money!

Some students were leaning against the windowsill looking out. As soon as they saw Fang Yize, they and a few male students immediately ran out of the classroom to help carry the large box inside.

Jiang Xule twisted her wrists and followed them into the classroom. Before she could react, she was startled by a loud voice beside her.

“Everyone back to your seats! Come up one by one to get yours!” Fang Yize shouted at the top of her lungs.

With just one shout, she silenced the boisterous students, as if pouring a bucket of cold water onto a bonfire.

Jiang Xule leaned against the side of the podium with her arms crossed, watching the students sitting obediently in the classroom. She suddenly felt a sense of trance; it was the first time she had looked down at students from a teacher’s perspective, and it felt quite wonderful.

Next, she surveyed the classroom and noticed it was equipped with air conditioning, and the teaching platform on the podium was state-of-the-art. She thought to herself: We didn’t have conditions like this back then.

After everyone had come up in order to take their food, Fang Yize moved a chair over for the standing Jiang Xule and invited her to sit down beside her.

“What for? Give me the money and I’m leaving,” Jiang Xule said.

“What’s the rush? Don’t your arms and legs shake after just climbing up? It’s still raining so hard outside; eat first.”

And so, Jiang Xule compromised and sat down next to Fang Yize.

An anime was playing on the TV screen at the back. Jiang Xule was quite interested in it; she could see the electronic screen from the table where she was eating, and it was synced with the screen at the back.

Fang Yize didn’t look at her phone or the TV while eating; she kept her head down and ate heartily without saying a word, as if she hadn’t eaten in centuries.

She only spoke when a student asked a question.

“Teacher, some of us don’t have WeChat. Is cash okay?”

Fang Yize didn’t understand what she was saying at first, but she quickly remembered she was talking about the money for the meal.

“It’s my treat, no need to pay.”

“Don’t be like that! That’s so embarrassing, isn’t it?” A male student’s grin reached his ears even as he spoke polite words.

“If you’re so embarrassed, hurry up and finish it,” a girl retorted.

Jiang Xule was somewhat shocked to see this. After all, a single portion of fatty intestine fried noodles cost ten yuan, not to mention the roast meat rice was fifteen, and some students had asked for double meat. With forty-five people in the class, that wasn’t a small expense. She just treated them that easily?

That’s right—last time at the Fanjin Hotel, a teacher had booked half the venue. Jiang Xule had seen Fang Yize there, and the uniforms those students wore were exactly the same as these students. So…

Jiang Xule turned to look at Fang Yize with disbelief, thinking: Is this person really a fourth-generation wealthy heir?

At the thought of how she had gossiped with Yang Huan last time about her putting on a persona, she wanted to go back and punch herself. But this was all her own speculation; whether it was a persona or if she really was the daughter of Yuegang’s richest man, she hadn’t received confirmation.

“Why are you looking at me? Do you want some roast meat rice too?” Fang Yize glanced down at her bowl and pushed it toward Jiang Xule, saying, “I haven’t touched this half.”

Fang Yize ate very neatly, in a way that would make someone with OCD feel very comfortable. Inside the circular paper bowl, every spoonful she took was orderly; she didn’t mix the rice into a mess.

Fifteen-yuan roast meat rice—Jiang Xule indeed hadn’t tried it before. Now it just depended on whether she could resist the temptation.

But before Jiang Xule could make a decision, Fang Yize pushed it toward her again. If she wasn’t worried that Jiang Xule would be disgusted by her saliva, she would have directly scooped a spoonful for her with her own spoon.

So, Jiang Xule somewhat unnaturally used her chopsticks to pick up a piece of roast meat and said, “Thanks.”

“Um, do you want some fatty intestine—”

“I’ll eat it!” Fang Yize beamed with joy, responding immediately before Jiang Xule could even finish her sentence. She took a piece of fatty intestine with her spoon, and after chewing for a while, she even gave feedback: “So delicious!”

Jiang Xule pursed her lips and smiled, raising her index finger to scratch behind her ear.

Fang Yize believed that being able to sit together, eat, and share with each other proved they were friends. Thus, she leaned a bit closer to Jiang Xule and found a random topic to chat about.

“Do you have a partner?”

“…No.”

“Then who was that girl who gave you the shawl at the venue last time?”

Jiang Xule froze. Connecting a girl giving a shawl with the question of whether she had a partner—as a lesbian, it was hard for Jiang Xule not to think in that direction. Besides, who would normally ask that? Unless Fang Yize was one too.

She looked into Fang Yize’s eyes for two seconds before quickly averting her gaze, replying unnaturally, “She’s a former classmate of mine.”

“Are you really just classmates?” Fang Yize confirmed again.

“I guess we’re friends.”

“Ordinary friends?”

Jiang Xule arched an eyebrow, appearing somewhat impatient, her tone cold: “What else?”

Fang Yize awkwardly tucked her hair behind her ear and stopped talking. She continued eating happily, as if the food tasted even better than before.

After finishing the meal, two episodes of the anime had finished as well. Jiang Xule always had a cigarette after eating and reflexively reached into her pocket, but she suddenly remembered she was in a school and pulled her hand back.

The rain outside had lightened considerably, but the wind was quite strong. The classroom door had been blown shut several times, so Fang Yize simply closed it.

The sky was gloomy. Though it was nearly ten in the morning, it was as dark as seven or eight o’clock at night. Taking advantage of the lighter rain, Fang Yize and Jiang Xule walked the group of well-fed students back to their dormitories.

Fang Yize’s umbrella was large, making it difficult to hold steady when the wind blew. Jiang Xule couldn’t stand watching it, so she snatched it away.

Fang Yize’s arms were very thin, but she had quite a bit of muscle. It was hard for Jiang Xule not to think she was intentionally acting weak.

With her hands now free, Fang Yize pulled out her phone and said, “Add me on WeChat, I’ll transfer your pay to you.”

“No need to add me, just scan it directly.”

“Don’t!” Fang Yize finally had a chance to add her on WeChat; how could she let her refuse so easily? Her mind raced and she thought of another excuse, saying, “Next time I have a job like this, I can call you again. It’s money for the taking, after all.”

Jiang Xule was currently unemployed. Why wouldn’t she take an opportunity to earn money? Who would complain about earning too much?

So she pulled out her phone and added Fang Yize on WeChat.

Fang Yize didn’t hesitate to transfer a hundred yuan to her.

“Ten yuan?”

“Medical expenses,” Fang Yize said. “Didn’t you hit your head earlier?”

Jiang Xule looked at her without speaking.

Fang Yize’s lips always carried a beautiful curve, making her look completely non-threatening.

Thinking carefully, she seemed to have never seen Fang Yize with a long face, except for their “first meeting” at the Fanjin Hotel, when she was aggressively confronting the store manager, appearing as if she feared nothing in heaven or on earth.

“That…” Fang Yize suddenly stopped walking. She turned to face Jiang Xule, looking up at her with a very serious expression, and said:

“I am truly sorry. Whether it was at Fanjin, when you were at your stall, or at the class reunion—I didn’t do any of it on purpose.”

“I’ve thought about it for a long time; I owe you a formal apology. But it seems like every time I see you, I end up making you look so… miserable.”

Like today, even making her hit her head.

“I hope you can accept my apology,” Fang Yize closed her eyes, looking like she was awaiting a death sentence as she said, “Because, I think I like you a little!”

Jiang Xule: “Hmm, ah?!”

Wasn’t this an apology? How did it turn into a confession?!

The wind kicked up dust all around them, and the rain blew diagonally. Many green leaves were forced off the trees, continuously drifting down from the branches. Even with an umbrella, leaves still found their way in, drifting between the two of them and brushing painfully against Fang Yize’s arm.

“You—”

“You don’t have to respond to me! I just feel that after all these years, it’s necessary to let you know how I feel. I like you, and I want to pursue you!”