Did the Tsundere Miss Get Slapped in the Face Again Today? - Chapter 78

Chapter 78: “We Never Broke Up.”

Her cheek was lightly brushed by soft lips.

Jiang Zhi’s pupils trembled. She instinctively pulled back, covering the spot on her cheek, and looked at her in shock.

“Hehe.” Lin Anran’s cheeks were flushed with a drunken glow. She smiled sillily, appearing completely unaware of how inappropriate that kiss was.

Jiang Zhi’s lips parted, but no words came out. The spot where she had been kissed still held a lingering warmth, like ants crawling over her skin—an itch that traveled all the way to her heart.

“You’ve mistaken me… I’m not…” Your wife. She couldn’t bring herself to say those words.

A wave of sourness rose in her chest. The title of “wife” now belonged to someone else—someone she had seen with her own eyes. That woman was gentle, elegant, and looked stunning in a qipao. She was a woman of classical beauty.

Lin Anran’s wife was beautiful and accomplished—unlike her, who was plain and ordinary.

Does Anran kiss her wife’s cheek like that when they are together?

Jiang Zhi lowered her head, the bitterness hard to swallow. She didn’t want to imagine the details of Anran’s life with her new partner, but the thoughts were like smoke, seeping through every crack in her mind. She thought of Anran in someone else’s arms, hugging them, kissing them, sharing every intimacy lovers share…

Jiang Zhi had to admit it: she was jealous. She was jealous that someone else now possessed Lin Anran—the wonderful Lin Anran who no longer belonged to her.

She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, trying to push down the pain and jealousy. Once she regained her composure, she looked up and offered a faint smile. “You can’t handle your alcohol. Try not to drink so much in the future. And… don’t do things like that to other people. Your girlfriend will get angry. Since you’ve decided to be with her, you should treat the relationship with respect.”

Lin Anran blinked her confused eyes, tilting her head slightly as if struggling to process the sentence.

“Do you still want milk tea?” Jiang Zhi asked.

Anran continued to blink and tilt her head, silent. Jiang Zhi sighed. There was no point talking to a drunk person; she wouldn’t understand anyway. Jiang Zhi sat down beside her on the bench.

Almost instantly, Lin Anran leaned her head onto Jiang Zhi’s shoulder with practiced ease.

Jiang Zhi’s body stiffened, but she didn’t stop her. She let her lean, secretly craving this fleeting moment of closeness. She felt a wicked sense of gratitude for Anran’s drunkenness—it was the only reason she could be this close to her.

Jiang Zhi tilted her head slightly, her nose brushing against the top of Anran’s hair. It was that familiar, faint, sweet scent of peaches. It was the scent of Lin Anran. She inhaled it greedily.

If only time could stop here forever. She didn’t want this to end. She didn’t want to lose her. But… she had already lost her.

Does Lin Anran lean against her girlfriend like this every day? Jiang Zhi’s eyes grew lonely, and her heart throbbed with a rhythmic ache.

This moment of closeness gave her the illusion that they were back in the past—back to the days when they loved each other. But it was over. Lin Anran had started a new life, and she shouldn’t interfere further.

Jiang Zhi bit her lip until it turned white, forcing herself to end the intimacy. Her voice was hoarse and strained. “Where is your phone? Give it to me. I’ll call your driver.”

“Mm,” Anran hummed, but didn’t move.

Jiang Zhi didn’t expect the “drunken kitten” to hand it over, so she began to search her. Most evening gowns don’t have pockets, but some have hidden ones for small items. Jiang Zhi’s own red dress had a hidden pocket at the waist. She reached toward Anran’s waist, checking to see if her pocket was in the same place.

Lin Anran didn’t resist. Instead, she rested her chin on Jiang Zhi’s shoulder, looking utterly receptive to whatever Jiang Zhi wanted to do.

Jiang Zhi tried her best to avoid unnecessary contact, focused solely on the phone. But as she searched, her hand inevitably brushed against Anran’s waist. At the touch, Anran let out a soft “mm” right in her ear.

It was a short, breathy sound that sparked a thousand thoughts.

Jiang Zhi’s fingers froze. It felt like a string in her brain had snapped. Her ears burned, and she pulled back to look at her. Did she make that sound on purpose?

Lin Anran looked back with an innocent, dazed expression, as if she weren’t the one who had just made that suggestive sound. Jiang Zhi shook away her wild thoughts and leaned back in to continue the search.

More soft humming and sighs sounded in her ear—faint, intermittent, and agonizingly beautiful. It was a sound Jiang Zhi had heard many times two years ago, and many more times in her dreams.

Finally, she felt the phone. Like a prisoner receiving a pardon, Jiang Zhi immediately pulled back, putting distance between them. Her entire face was flushed.

The pushed-away Lin Anran stared at her with watery, tearful eyes. Jiang Zhi had clearly only been looking for a phone, but Anran looked as though she had been bullied… it was a sight that left Jiang Zhi’s throat dry.

She wanted to ask if the sounds were intentional, but looking at the drunken girl, it seemed impossible. Is my own mind just full of filth? Jiang Zhi wondered.

Anran tried to lean in again, but Jiang Zhi used a stern voice: “Sit properly. Sit up straight.”

Lin Anran looked aggrieved but obediently stopped moving. Jiang Zhi touched her burning cheek with the back of her hand and let out a quiet sigh of relief.

She unlocked the phone—the password was still Anran’s birthday. She went to the contacts and searched for the driver. She didn’t find the driver, but she found a contact labeled “Wife.”

Jiang Zhi’s thumb froze. Her gaze locked onto those two words. But before she could sink into despair, she realized the number looked familiar. Actually, it wasn’t just familiar… isn’t this my old phone number?

Not quite believing it, she checked the digits. It was indeed her old number. Her heart skipped a beat, then quickly cooled down. It doesn’t mean anything. Maybe she just forgot to delete it. It’s a contact from two years ago, and she just never bothered to remove it. That’s all.

She shook her head, dismissing her delusions, and continued searching for the driver.

Ring, ring!

The phone vibrated with an incoming call: “Second Sister.”

Jiang Zhi hesitated, looking at Anran. “It’s your second sister. Can you answer?”

Clearly, Anran couldn’t. After a moment’s hesitation, Jiang Zhi answered and put the phone to her ear. “Hello? Is this Anran’s second sister? Anran is drunk, I’m her…”

She didn’t know how to introduce herself.

“I’m her friend,” she finally settled on. “She’s drunk, but don’t worry, she’s safe with me. I was going to call her driver, but I couldn’t find the number. Could you call him for me?”

There was a long silence on the other end.

“Hello? Are you there?” Jiang Zhi checked the screen.

“I’m listening. Drunk, is she? Good. That’s great. Excellent. Then you keep taking care of her. That’s all. Bye.”

Click. The call was disconnected before Jiang Zhi could even react.

Jiang Zhi stared at the screen. What does “drunk is good” mean? Is that really her sister? How can she leave a drunk person with a “friend” without even verifying who I am?

First the bodyguards were missing, and now the sister was being negligent. Was everyone around Lin Anran this unreliable? But then, the sister’s voice… it sounded so familiar. A gentle, soft voice. Where had she heard it?

Jiang Zhi searched her memory. She had never met Anran’s second sister, so she shouldn’t know the voice. She looked at the phone thoughtfully.

Suddenly, her eyes widened. The sister’s voice and the “girlfriend’s” voice were almost identical. And the “girlfriend’s” face… it had looked familiar too.

Unless…

Jiang Zhi quickly opened a search engine and typed: “Lin Family Second Daughter, Lin Yishu.”

Dozens of videos popped up. Unlike Anran, Lin Yishu was a famous dancer. There were many videos of her performances online. Jiang Zhi clicked one. As she watched the woman dance, everything clicked into place.

Because of Anran, she had actually looked up Lin Yishu years ago. No wonder she looked familiar. But the familiarity wasn’t the point. The point was…

If the “Qipao Beauty” was Lin Yishu—Anran’s sister—then did that mean Lin Anran wasn’t in a relationship? That there was no “new person”?

Her heart began to pound against her ribs. Her grip on the phone tightened, and her breathing grew heavy. She turned her head stiffly to look at the girl beside her.

Their eyes met. Jiang Zhi felt her heart might leap out of her chest.

“Anran… are you single? Do you have a girlfriend?” Jiang Zhi asked, emboldened by the other’s drunken state.

Lin Anran nodded firmly. “I do.”

Jiang Zhi’s hand trembled as she pointed to herself. “Is your girlfriend… me?”

Lin Anran’s hazy, drunken eyes suddenly cleared, as if she hadn’t been drunk at all. She looked Jiang Zhi dead in the eye and said:

“Who else would it be? We never broke up.”

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