Did the Tsundere Miss Get Slapped in the Face Again Today? - Chapter 63

Chapter 63: “Jiang Zhi, I Regret Liking You. I Don’t Like You Anymore.”

The shredded cabbage was tossed into the red-hot wok, letting out a sharp “crackle and pop” as it hit the hot oil.

Wearing a pink apron, Jiang Zhi expertly tossed the wok.

Within five minutes, the vegetables were done and plated in a bowl.

She went to check the time, only to realize her phone wasn’t in her pocket—she must have left it in the bedroom.

Lin Anran had run out early this morning. Jiang Zhi didn’t know where she went, and Lin Anran had insisted on going alone.

For someone who was usually so clingy, it felt quite strange for her to head out without bringing Jiang Zhi along.

Lin Anran said she would definitely be back by noon. Jiang Zhi had finished cooking, but there was still no sign of her.

Looking at the hot dishes, Jiang Zhi thought for a moment and decided to cover them to keep them from cooling too quickly.

After covering the food, she headed up to the second floor to get her phone.

The room was decorated in shades of pink—even Jiang Zhi’s phone case had been changed to pink.

Because Lin Anran couldn’t stand Jiang Zhi’s “ugly” transparent case, she had swapped it for a pink one and covered it in the glittery sequins she loved.

Every time Jiang Zhi picked up her phone, she felt the sequins scratching her hand, but since Lin Anran insisted on sticking them there, she had no choice but to let her have her way.

The phone was on the nightstand. Jiang Zhi walked over and picked it up.

21 missed calls from Lin Anran.

Jiang Zhi’s expression stiffened. She was stunned—what happened? Why so many calls?

Without a second thought, she prepared to call back immediately.

Before she could hit the dial button, she heard the hum of a car engine from downstairs.

She walked to the window and looked down.

Lin Anran was hurrying out of the car. For some reason, she lost her balance and collapsed onto her knees on the ground.

Jiang Zhi’s brow furrowed. She turned and ran downstairs.

She sprinted through the house and threw open the front door. Not far away by the car, Lin Anran was still kneeling on the ground, unable to get up.

The driver stood nearby, looking helpless—unsure whether it was appropriate to help her up or not.

Jiang Zhi hurried toward her with worry.

Hearing the movement, Lin Anran snapped her head up.

Tears blurred her vision; she couldn’t clearly see the person coming out of the door, but she heard the familiar voice.

“How did you fall? Does it hurt badly?” Jiang Zhi reached her side.

Lin Anran, who had been kneeling weakly, suddenly lunged upward and threw herself into Jiang Zhi’s arms.

Jiang Zhi was jolted back several steps by the abrupt collision before she managed to steady herself.

Lin Anran held her extremely tight—so tight it actually hurt.

Jiang Zhi was a bit confused, but she didn’t push her away because she could feel Lin Anran shaking.

She rested her hands on Lin Anran’s back and patted her gently to soothe her.

Lin Anran didn’t speak. She buried her face in the crook of Jiang Zhi’s neck, inhaling the familiar scent. Her trembling gradually subsided.

Then, a wave of grievance washed over her, and her tears fell like a broken levee.

Jiang Zhi felt the warm tears against her neck. Her body stiffened slightly. “Is the fall that painful? Why are you crying? Don’t cry, it’s okay, it’s okay.”

“Why did you keep ignoring my calls?” Lin Anran sobbed, her voice muffled.

“The phone was in the bedroom. I was in the kitchen cooking and didn’t hear it. I didn’t ignore them on purpose,” Jiang Zhi explained.

The villa was too large. The bedroom was on the second floor and the kitchen was on the first; the distance was too great for the ringtone to carry down.

Jiang Zhi tried to push her back slightly to see what was wrong, but the moment she moved, Lin Anran reacted instinctively by clutching her even tighter.

“Didn’t you hurt your leg? Let me see…”

Before she could finish, she was interrupted by a sharp pang of pain.

Lin Anran bit down hard on Jiang Zhi’s shoulder.

Jiang Zhi was dressed thinly in just a shirt. With one bite, the fabric sank in, and blood began to seep through.

Jiang Zhi let out a hiss, her face contorting with pain.

Lin Anran bit hard—harder than she ever had before.

But Jiang Zhi didn’t stop her. She let out a muffled groan and endured the pain, letting her bite.

After several bites, Lin Anran finally seemed to have had enough. She let go of her shoulder but still kept her arms locked around her, as if terrified she would vanish.

Jiang Zhi could keenly sense her emotion.

She is afraid I’ll disappear.

Jiang Zhi looked down, her heart heavy and aching. She knew she should give Lin Anran more security, but…

Jiang Zhi sighed silently in her heart. How could she guarantee things that she herself couldn’t be certain of?

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have missed your calls. Next time, I’ll keep my phone on me at all times.” Jiang Zhi rubbed her cheek against Lin Anran’s hair, her voice soft.

“Shut up! I won’t forgive you! I don’t like you anymore!” Lin Anran said fiercely.

Jiang Zhi chuckled softly. “What should I do then? You don’t like me anymore, but I still want to like you.”

I will like you forever. Even if we part one day, I will continue to like you.

Hearing this, Lin Anran felt a flicker of joy. When she was angry, she wanted to bite her; now that she was happy, she still wanted to bite her.

She opened her mouth to bite again, but seeing the blood seeping through the shoulder of the shirt, she paused.

Jiang Zhi whispered in her ear with a smile, “Bite if you want to. It doesn’t hurt. You can bite.”

Lin Anran raised her hand and touched the bite marks on the shoulder.

Jiang Zhi caught her hand. “Now that you’ve vented, can I see the injury on your knee?”

Lin Anran finally remembered the pain in her knee.

Jiang Zhi supported her. “Let’s go inside first. It’s cold out here.”

The early spring air carried a chill. Dressed thinly as they were, staying outside for too long was becoming uncomfortable.

She helped the limping girl into the house and sat her down on the sofa. Jiang Zhi knelt before her to check the injury.

The fabric at the knee was torn. Beads of blood were oozing from the scrape, and the delicate skin had turned red and swollen.

“I’ll call the doctor to come and treat this,” Jiang Zhi said.

“No,” Lin Anran shook her head.

Jiang Zhi thought for a moment and asked tentatively, “Then shall I do it?”

It was just a scrape with some bleeding—not overly serious. Jiang Zhi should be able to handle it.

Lin Anran nodded. “Okay.”

Jiang Zhi: “My technique isn’t as good as a doctor’s. I might hurt you.”

“Stop being so wordy.”

“Alright, alright. I’ll be as gentle as possible.”

She brought over the disinfectant and bandages. She initially wanted to roll up the pant leg, but the pants weren’t loose enough, and she was afraid of rubbing against the wound.

“Take your pants off,” Jiang Zhi said, reaching out to undo the button.

Lin Anran shrank back, her expression becoming awkward.

Jiang Zhi paused, then laughed. “It’s not like it’s the first time I’ve helped you undress. Why are you suddenly shy?”

Lin Anran glared at her. “Are you sick? Shut up!”

“I can shut up,” Jiang Zhi pulled her back, “but I have to get these pants off first.”

Lin Anran slapped her hand away, fussing about doing it herself.

Jiang Zhi didn’t insist. She knelt there, making no effort to look away, staring directly at her.

Lin Anran’s ears turned crimson, but her shyness was short-lived. The moment the fabric brushed against her knee, her face twisted into a grimace of pain.

“Take them off slowly.”

“It’s all your fault.”

“Fine, it’s my fault.” Jiang Zhi reached out to help, carefully sliding the pants down until the wound was fully exposed.

Jiang Zhi examined it closely and breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t too deep—just a surface abrasion.

The wound looked horrific mainly because of Lin Anran’s sensitive skin; even a minor injury looked severe on her.

“I need to apply some iodine to disinfect it. It might sting a bit, so try to bear with it,” Jiang Zhi warned her.

Clearly, the warning was useless. Lin Anran kicked Jiang Zhi in pain.

Jiang Zhi was kicked right onto the floor. She looked up helplessly—she knew she’d get kicked.

After all, Lin Anran had a history. Whenever they were intimate, there were moments she would bite or kick; Jiang Zhi had often been kicked right off the bed when she wasn’t paying attention.

“What about your wound? Doesn’t it need treating?” Lin Anran pointed at Jiang Zhi’s shoulder.

“So my Third Miss Lin actually knows how to care about my wounds? I wonder which little kitten bit me,” Jiang Zhi teased.

“You talk too much,” Lin Anran snatched the disinfectant swab from her hand. “I’ll do it for you.”

“Do you know how?”

“Stop talking.”

“Ahhh! Gentler! Who uses brute force to treat a wound?”

“Why are you so delicate? Stop being dramatic, I don’t like it.” Despite her words, Lin Anran’s movements became much softer.

As she worked, Lin Anran suddenly said, “I won’t bite you so hard in the future.”

“You won’t bite anymore?”

“I mean I’ll bite lightly! I didn’t say I’d stop!”

Jiang Zhi laughed softly. The “little cat” really loved to bite. If you didn’t let her, she’d get upset. But luckily, Jiang Zhi quite liked… being bitten.

They were a perfect match in that sense.

“Jiang Yi.”

“Mm.”

Lin Anran tossed the cotton swab into the trash, her voice dropping lower. “You won’t leave me, right?”

Jiang Zhi’s hand froze while buttoning her shirt. She looked up, her lips parting, but no sound came out for a long moment.

“You won’t leave, right?” Lin Anran asked again.

“The food is getting cold. Let’s eat first,” Jiang Zhi said, stroking her head.

Lin Anran: “You didn’t answer me!”

Jiang Zhi went quiet for a beat, then gave a soft “Mm.” “I won’t leave.”

“I just went to see my Big Sister. She tried to scare me. Luckily, she was just scaring me. I’m so glad you’re still here.” Lin Anran tugged at a corner of Jiang Zhi’s shirt.

Jiang Zhi looked down at the tugged fabric. Her eyelashes lowered, hiding the turbulent, unreadable emotions in her eyes.

“I’m telling you, even if you wanted to leave, I wouldn’t give you the chance. From now on, I will watch you every single moment. You’ll have to report to me even when you go to the bathroom.”

“What for? Are you guarding a prisoner?”

“I don’t care. I’m worried. You’re mine, so I’m going to keep my eyes on you.”

That night, curled up in Jiang Zhi’s arms, Lin Anran didn’t forget to issue one last threat before falling into a groggy sleep: “If you dare to leave without a word, I will never speak to you again for the rest of my life. I won’t forgive you, and I definitely won’t come looking for you. Do you hear me?”

Jiang Zhi held her tighter. “Go to sleep.”

Lin Anran fell asleep, but Jiang Zhi remained awake for a long time, her thoughts in a chaotic tangle.

Even with the person she loved in her arms, she felt Lin Anran was far away—so far she couldn’t be reached.

Just then, the person in her arms began to murmur in her sleep.

“Jiang Yi… I don’t like… Jiang Zhi.”

Hearing her call her own name even in her sleep, Jiang Zhi felt her heart turn sour and bitter.

“I’m here,” she whispered in her ear. “Don’t be afraid.”

In her dream, Lin Anran let out a satisfied hum, and her furrowed brow slowly smoothed over.

With her like this, how could Jiang Zhi dare to leave…

But if she did leave, Lin Anran wouldn’t be short of people, would she? Someone better and more suitable would appear to accompany her.

But… but… but… why couldn’t that better, more suitable person be her?

If only she were more outstanding. At least a bit wealthier. At least to the point where Lin Anran’s quality of life wouldn’t plummet the moment she left the Lin family.

Living in a cramped rental, riding a rickety electric scooter through the rain, wearing cheap clothes, carrying cheap bags—how could Jiang Zhi dare take Lin Anran to live such a life?

How could a princess living in a pink castle live like that?

Jiang Zhi could live that way, but Lin Anran could not.

Jiang Zhi stared blankly at the crystal chandelier above, reminiscing about the past.

She had struggled through university on work-study programs. Her strongest memory of college was the endless part-time jobs; if she didn’t work hard, she couldn’t even afford tuition.

For all these years, the work had never stopped. She never dared to spend on luxuries, living a stingy, scraped-together life. Yet, she still seemed utterly ordinary.

Jiang Zhi had loathed her mediocre and cowardly self countless times.

If she was so mediocre, why did she have to meet the shining Lin Anran?

Fate really loved to play jokes. It gave her a piece of candy, and just as she tasted the sweetness, it slapped her and told her she wasn’t worthy of the bite.

Toward dawn, she finally fell asleep, only to be tortured by nightmares.

She dreamed of her senior year of high school, throwing the sweater her grandmother had knitted into the trash.

“I don’t want to wear this kind of sweater! It’s embarrassing! Grandma, don’t come to see me at school! It’s embarrassing, so embarrassing! My classmates are all laughing at me…”

In the dream, she was screaming herself hoarse, her face contorted like a monster.

Suddenly, the monster turned into Lin Anran.

She swept the pink teddy bear to the floor, crushed the cheap pink helmet with her foot, and finally kicked over the old electric scooter.

“Jiang Zhi, you can give me nothing. You make me live in this dump, wear cheap clothes, and ride a piece of junk scooter.”

“I’ve had enough of all of this. I’m done with this life. It’s embarrassing. I don’t like it!”

“I want to go home! I’m going home! I regret it! I regret choosing you! I regret liking you…”

Would you like me to translate the next chapter or analyze the themes of class disparity and insecurity present in this text?