I Got Together With My Mom's Nemesis - Chapter 9

Ran Xi had only eaten expensive chocolate as a young child, back when her family had enough extra money for such treats.

At the time, she found it unpleasant and a little bitter. Later, as she grew older, she bought cheap chocolate with her own allowance but found it too cloying and sweet, almost inedible.

But now, with two pieces of chocolate in her mouth, she suddenly found it delicious, a sweet flavor that wasn’t cloying at all.

As the chocolate melted in layers on her tongue, the taste spread throughout her mouth. Ran Xi bit down on it, her peripheral vision catching the woman getting into the car.

A pleasant fragrance wafted over, and the next moment, it enveloped her.

A mature aura pressed down on her as Kong Lingyi reached across her chest to fasten her seatbelt.

Ran Xi let out a breath, her mind buzzing with the sound of her own restless heartbeat.

The woman glanced at her, seeming to see right through her, and lifted the corner of her lips in a faint smile.

“You’re still taking work calls this late?” Ran Xi asked, trying to find a topic of conversation.

“I only answer them when I’m not resting. I usually don’t pick up calls this late.”

The car drove in a familiar direction, and Ran Xi didn’t know what else to say.

Kong Lingyi put on some soothing music, and Ran Xi’s tension eased slightly.

Her gaze kept drifting to the ring on the woman’s finger. Finally, she asked the question that had been on her mind. “Why were you waiting for me?”

“Because I think…” Kong Lingyi replied quickly, “you’re cute?”

Ran Xi’s cheeks flushed. She pursed her lips and asked, “Are you saying that on purpose?”

“I am,” Kong Lingyi said, glancing at her. “But it’s also the truth. You look even cuter when you blush.”

“The heater in your car is just too high,” Ran Xi retorted instinctively.

Being called out like that was mortifying.

“Do you act like this when you’re coaxing Songsong?”

“Why are you always comparing me to her? You’ve never even met her,” Kong Lingyi said with a laugh. “Do you think I’m treating you like a child?”

Before Ran Xi could answer, the woman added, “Well, technically, you’re an adult with the maturity of a two-year-old.”

“My mom said you loved playing tricks on people back in school.”

“Is that all Ran Xu told you?” Kong Lingyi wasn’t offended. Instead, she asked, “Don’t you want to know anything else about me?”

“I do,” Ran Xi admitted. “But would you tell me?”

“How will you know if you don’t try?”

For the first time, Ran Xi found talking to Kong Lingyi utterly boring. This woman was deliberately talking in circles.

After all this time, Ran Xi hadn’t managed to gauge her attitude at all. Instead, she’d just gotten herself dizzy from the runaround.

“Can you take me home?” Ran Xi asked, feeling her heart race as she gave the address.

Kong Lingyi didn’t ask any questions. After passing a traffic light, she immediately turned the car around.

For the rest of the ride, Ran Xi stared at her, expecting to be asked why.

But the woman remained silent, her expression unchanged.

Ran Xi hugged the chocolate, unsure if she should keep her distance from Kong Lingyi.

She treats me like a child, Ran Xi thought. The kind of useless kid other people have, whom you only play with for a bit before sending back home after they start crying.

After a few close encounters, Ran Xi still couldn’t figure out how to deal with her.

In the past, when Ran Xi lost her temper, others would either fight back, leading to a massive argument that ended in a complete meltdown, or they would soften when she apologized with teary eyes. After they parted ways, she would secretly smile, knowing her plan had worked.

But with Kong Lingyi, all she ever got was two thousand yuan, and in return, she lost her dignity.

She had talked big countless times, but she had never actually touched herself in front of another woman before. The feeling was hard to describe.

Thank god I had the remote, she thought. If Kong Lingyi had been the one controlling the toy, I would have completely lost control and wet myself.

This incident left her desperate for an explanation, yet she couldn’t find the words to ask.

Yelling at her wouldn’t work. Crying wouldn’t work either. So why did Kong Lingyi wait for her tonight?

Ran Xi couldn’t find the answer, and she knew she wouldn’t get one.

Does she see me as a toy?

Kong Lingyi probably couldn’t afford to keep her as a mistress anyway. Ran Xi had expensive tastes.

But… if I actually became her mistress, that might not be so bad.

After all, Kong Lingyi was the richest woman she had ever met.

When they reached the apartment complex, Ran Xi grabbed the box of chocolates and bolted, without even saying goodbye.

She sprinted up to the fourth floor and ran to the balcony. There, she saw Kong Lingyi had gotten out of the car and was leaning against it, looking up at her.

Startled, Ran Xi ducked down. A few seconds later, she cautiously peeked her head back out.

Kong Lingyi waved at her, then got into the car and drove away.

It was a perfectly staged farewell.

The living room was still empty. Ran Xi took out an ice-cold Coke and chugged it down. Even though the cold made her teeth chatter, she didn’t slow down.

She collapsed onto the sofa, and the box in her arms slipped, scattering chocolates all over the floor.

Ran Xi didn’t pick them up. She lay there, lost in the bitter aftertaste in her mouth, which even the Coke couldn’t wash away.

“What’s the point… Is it fun to tease an innocent girl like me?”

Ran Xi let out a soft huff. She closed her eyes, replaying the moment the woman had buckled her seatbelt. When she opened her eyes, her mind was still a complete fog.

****

The next day, Ran Xi went to the convenience store and spent the entire day flattering the boss. She practically talked herself hoarse before she finally managed to stop him from docking her pay.

For the next two days, she and Li Meimei stood perfectly straight without even sitting down, offering a constant, beaming smile to every customer.

The increased foot traffic was a welcome sight, but it left Ran Xi exhausted. Taking advantage of the boss’s absence, she convinced Li Meimei to join her at the entrance to greet customers.

“Wel! Come!”

“Thank! You! For! Coming!”

The customers were so terrified that they all ran away. Ran Xi collapsed onto a lounge chair, finally catching her breath.

After two full days of work, Ran Xi returned home after 10 PM. She jumped when she saw Ran Xu sitting in the living room.

They hadn’t spoken for several days, and Ran Xi had no intention of starting now. She was still fuming about being blocked. She planned to head straight to her bedroom, but Ran Xu called out to her.

“Have you been working part-time at the convenience store lately?”

Ran Xi nodded. “I have to wake up early for it tomorrow too.”

“School starts in about two weeks,” Ran Xu said. “Stop going to the store. I’ll give you two thousand yuan so you can enjoy your remaining free time.”

Ran Xi glanced outside. It was pitch black, and the sun had long since set in the west.

“Then give it to me.”

Free money is money I’ll take, Ran Xi thought. She wasn’t the kind of kid who would feel bad for her parents and claim she had her own savings.

But as soon as the words left her mouth, she worried that accepting the money too quickly would get her scolded. Before she could try to take it back, Ran Xu had already sent her two thousand yuan via WeChat.

Ran Xi looked down at her phone. She had been removed from the blacklist.

“I still need to go to the convenience store,” Ran Xi said, immediately regretting her acceptance of the money. “If I take too much time off, what if the boss fires me?”

Though the pay was low, the boss was a reasonable person. When the two of them were in class, he would either run the shop himself or hire a temporary worker. Besides, she couldn’t be the kind of person who abandoned her roommate.

“Your manager told me about the police station,” Ran Xu said, her expression grave. “I know who helped you resolve that.”

Ran Xi froze, unsure of how to explain.

“So what?” she snapped, feeling frustrated. “Even people you hate care about me. You’re the only one who kicked me out of the house on New Year’s Day.”

“I was just angry that day.”

“Then did you go out to look for me?” Ran Xi’s voice trembled as her nose began to run. “I was right there, by the convenience store outside the complex, on that small road with the broken streetlights. If you had just stepped outside for five minutes, I wouldn’t have been unable to come home.”

Ran Xi’s voice choked with sobs as she told her, “If it weren’t for Kong Lingyi, I would have frozen to death out there!”

“I know Kong Lingyi better than you do!” Ran Xu snapped, her anger flaring at the sight of her sister’s tears. “Don’t you dare treat her like a savior just because she’s been nice to you a few times!”

“When did I ever say that?” Ran Xi shouted. “You’re always forcing your opinions on me!”

The argument ended as disastrously as always. Ran Xi ran back to her room and slammed the door shut.

Good thing I took those two thousand yuan early, she thought. If I’d waited until now, I’d be too ashamed to accept the money after such a scene.

Her pillow was already soaked with countless tears.

She found herself agreeing more and more with those online quotes about the darkness. People in the dark fear the light the most, they said. Now, she desperately missed her spacious apartment, the feel of high-quality fabrics against her skin, and those hot pot dinners where they’d book a private room just for the two of them…

What a commoner I’ve become, she thought bitterly.

Ran Xi couldn’t help but wonder why Kong Lingyi hadn’t wanted to adopt a child over a decade ago.

When Kong Lingyi had coldly belittled the other woman at the police station, Ran Xi had called out “Mom” several times. It had felt exhilarating.

Now, she wanted to say it again, from the bottom of her heart.

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