I Quit Being This Female Lead (GL) - Chapter 81

Since Xun Fangyun was discharged from the hospital, discussions have been swirling everywhere.

Xun’s mother is a nationally renowned entrepreneur who changed the way people shop, so matters concerning her daughter always attract a lot of attention. Even if they wished not to be disturbed, various rumors and discussions still constantly surfaced online.

[Exclusive Daughter of Province X’s Richest Person Wakes Up]

[New Technology Will Drive Era Development]

These two topics landed on the newspaper headlines. The first occupied most of the space, consisting entirely of anecdotes and trivial family matters of the wealthy, which greatly reduced the credibility of the report.

In contrast, the second topic, which was about academic research, only had a small column, yet the lighthearted language revealed enormous information. It was something that would change the lives of many people in the future.

Looking at the sensational news in the paper, Jiayun sat in the coffee shop, sipping a latte, and couldn’t help but let out a long sigh.

Mang Ke, who had just walked in, saw her looking this way and couldn’t help but step forward and ask, “What’s wrong? You’re sighing the moment we meet.”

Jiayun looked up at the person. Mang Ke was wearing a white, long dress today. The puff sleeves made her shoulders look small and delicate. Jiayun propped her chin up with her hand and said, “Xiao Ke, my mother is pressuring me to get married.”

Mang Ke couldn’t help but laugh out loud: “Aren’t you pressured to get married every day?”

“This time is different.” Jiayun turned the newspaper around and handed it to her, pointing at the headline with her freshly manicured nail. “My mother wants me to get engaged to Xun Fangyun again.”

Mang Ke took the orange juice that the waiter brought over, glanced back at Jiayun, and said, “But didn’t Auntie already reject you?”

“I also told my mother that we weren’t a good match, but she was very fierce. She told me I had to bring someone home this year. It doesn’t matter if it’s a man or a woman, as long as they’re a living person.”

“Hmm… Has your mother’s standard been lowered to ‘just being a person’? Well, it seems she really is very anxious then.”

“She is,” Jiayun said, picking up her coffee, exasperated. “My mother practices Karate. She has already kicked down three of my doors.”

Mang Ke: “…You’d better resolve this matter quickly.”

Otherwise, next time, it might be a person she kicks.

Jiayun looked at Mang Ke and asked, “What about you? Xun Fangyun is a topic of discussion right now. How is your pressure?”

“It’s alright,” Mang Ke said with a smile. “I’m always busy accompanying Xun Fangyun anyway. If I don’t go out, the pressure won’t be too bad.”

“Then…” Jiayun leaned closer, looking at her. “Would you like to work? My laboratory is still short of a few testers. You are the only one with a proven track record. I want to sign a contract with you.”

Mang Ke thought for a moment: “I don’t think I can.”

If Xun Fangyun found out she was going back to that kind of world, she would probably go crazy.

Jiayun explained, “It’s not the kind of world you and Xun Fangyun went to before. It’s simply a spatial environment. We want to test whether a person’s memory changes in a folded environment. Each experiment is only about an hour long, and there will be no other accidents.”

Mang Ke was still hesitant: “Let me think about it.”

“Mm, no rush.” Seeing that she couldn’t be persuaded for the moment, Jiayun didn’t push it further. Instead, she said, “You and Xun Fangyun finally reunited in the real world. What are your plans for the future?”

“Wait for her to get better,” Mang Ke replied. “Her family has been quite chaotic recently. I want to put off our matters for a little while.”

It’s not urgent to talk about the future until everything is calm. Anyway, she still has a lot of time.

After a brief chat, Jiayun took a call and left. Mang Ke had nothing else to do. Xun Fangyun was currently practicing walking in the basement-level two training room at home and should have just finished.

She took a detour to buy some of Xun Fangyun’s favorite snacks and was happily walking toward the villa, carrying the plastic bags.

As she rounded a corner, Mang Ke felt as if someone was following her, but when she looked back, she didn’t see anyone, which made her feel a little paranoid.

After turning into the residential area, the complete security of the villa district made her feel much more comfortable. Standing next to the fountain on the slope, she looked back and found a white car parked on the opposite side of the road. Just as she was about to take a closer look, the driver’s side window quickly rolled up, as if afraid Mang Ke would see inside.

Mang Ke didn’t look any further but turned to continue walking toward the villa. She took out her phone and tried to call Xun Fangyun but found no one answering.

The maid opened the door for Mang Ke. She put the items on the side table and asked the maid, “Is Xun Fangyun practicing downstairs?”

“Yes, she just finished,” the maid said, noticing the items Mang Ke had bought. “What did Miss Mang Ke buy?”

“Some fruit and snacks.” Mang Ke took off her jacket and smiled. “The store was having a promotion, so I bought a little extra. Please wash some to eat, or they’ll go bad if left for too long.”

“Okay, I’ll go wash them right now.”

After the maid left, Mang Ke stepped into the elevator to check on Xun Fangyun’s training progress on the basement floor.

After the capsule elevator descended, there was a deep corridor. The two sides of the corridor were partitioned by closely spaced, black-gold wooden poles drilled down from the ceiling, acting as half-screens. Looking through the screens, Mang Ke saw Xun Fangyun leaning against the wall, practicing her legs, with two or three doctors in white coats standing nearby.

Probably sensing someone had arrived, Xun Fangyun looked up, saw it was Mang Ke, and then continued to lower her head, trying to walk slowly while holding the wall.

Xun Fangyun’s muscles had started to atrophy only because she had been lying in bed for a long time. Fortunately, she was young and had been recovering well in the hospital for the past half-month. By leaning against the wall, she could gradually start walking.

After walking back and forth twice, Xun Fangyun was completely covered in sweat, looking as if she had run ten laps around the track.

“That’s enough. Ten minutes of exercise like this every day is fine. Don’t strain yourself too much.” The doctor and the personal trainer made an assessment based on Xun Fangyun’s condition and told her, “Your recovery is faster than we expected. You should be able to walk in just over a month.”

Xun Fangyun returned to her wheelchair and nodded to everyone.

Seeing that the training was over, Mang Ke walked over and asked, “Are you finished?”

“Yes,” Xun Fangyun nodded. She reached out and took Mang Ke’s hand, saying, “Just arrived?”

Mang Ke nodded as well. Seeing the doctors leave first, she bent down and said to Xun Fangyun, “I bought your favorite fruit. Let’s go up. Auntie is about to finish work and come back, so we can have dinner soon.”

Xun Fangyun couldn’t help but smile, letting Mang Ke push her upstairs.

After dinner that evening, Mang Ke stayed to chat with Xun Fangyun and helped massage the muscles in her legs. Mang Ke had massaged her before, so her actions were very skillful.

Around nine o’clock, Mang Ke packed up her things, preparing to go home.

The rental apartment Mang Ke lived in was not far from Xun Fangyun’s house; it was just two streets away. Looking at the time, Mang Ke felt there was no need to take a taxi. Since it was only two kilometers, she decided to walk instead.

The streets at nine o’clock in the evening still had quite a few people. Although winter had begun, most people’s routines hadn’t changed, and the streets were lively with people coming and going.

Mang Ke walked along the road, stopping here and there to buy some snacks and small items, planning to eat them while watching TV when she got home. She walked through the bustling street and past the dilapidated guardhouse. Mang Ke noticed that the security guard on duty was nowhere to be seen, leaving only an electric scooter that was still charging.

Since it was an old residential area, Mang Ke didn’t find anything particularly wrong. It was already good that there was someone from property management, which was much better than the kind of community where no one cared or supervised.

Mang Ke went upstairs and took out her key. Just as she was about to open the door, she suddenly realized her apartment door was somehow ajar. The sound-activated light in the corridor shone through the gap, making it look slightly unsettling.

Had she not closed the door when she left?

Mang Ke took a step back. She clearly remembered she had definitely closed the door before leaving this morning, double-checking many times before going out. Besides herself, no one else had a key here. Could it be the landlord?

The more she thought about it, the more wrong it felt. It was late, and Mang Ke could even hear the muffled noise from the TV sets upstairs and downstairs.

The sound-activated light went out a few seconds later. There seemed to be a breeze coming from the room through the crack, and she could even hear something scraping.

‘Clack—’

Mang Ke heard a sound of footsteps, and her hairs stood on end. There was someone in her apartment!

Without any hesitation, Mang Ke grabbed her things and turned, rushing down the stairs. She then quickly ran out of the residential area. Passing the guardhouse, Mang Ke couldn’t help but look up at the building where she rented. She only saw the sound-activated light turn on on her floor and then stop, neither going up nor continuing down.

Mang Ke didn’t know who was in her house. She hurriedly took out her phone and called Si Nan. If anyone could have a spare key and be inside her apartment, Si Nan was the person Mang Ke hoped it was.

“Hello?” Si Nan answered the phone quickly. The noise on her end was a little loud. “What’s wrong, Xiao Ke?”

Mang Ke gripped her phone, looking at her building, and asked, “Where are you now?”

“Me?” Si Nan glanced at the person next to her and said, “I’m tutoring a friend. She can’t write her thesis. I’m with her at McDonald’s now.”

As if to confirm Si Nan’s words, a girl on the other end of the phone said exasperatedly, “Who tutors at McDonald’s? Wouldn’t Starbucks be better!”

Si Nan complained, “What’s wrong with McDonald’s? Didn’t I buy you a Happy Meal?”

“Who wants SpongeBob and Patrick Star!”

“Didn’t you see the advertisement and get stuck?”

Listening to the argument on the phone, Mang Ke’s heart sank even further. It wasn’t Si Nan at her house.

“I have to hang up now.” After saying this, Mang Ke hung up Si Nan’s phone, turned around, hailed a car, and sped away without looking back.

Si Nan and Jiang Chuner argued for a long time before she realized Mang Ke had hung up on her, which made her a little confused. But she was quickly frustrated by Jiang Chuner’s clumsy writing and slammed the table, telling her to rewrite it.

It was past ten o’clock at night. Xun Fangyun had washed up and was sitting on the bed in a dark blue nightgown, flipping through the book she hadn’t finished reading, when she suddenly heard a knock on the door.

The maid, wearing a bathrobe, came to open the door, but Xun Fangyun didn’t hear clearly what she said.

Just as Xun Fangyun was wondering, she heard someone walking toward her room.

‘Knock, knock, knock—’

The maid knocked on the door, then opened it and said to Xun Fangyun, who was sitting on the bed, “Miss, you’re not asleep yet?”

“No,” Xun Fangyun looked up at her and asked, “Who is it?”

“It’s Miss Mang Ke,” the maid stepped aside, revealing Mang Ke behind her. “She said her house seemed to have been burglarized and now she doesn’t dare to go back. She wants to stay here for the night.”

Mang Ke looked anxiously at Xun Fangyun in the bedroom and asked a little awkwardly, “Can I… stay the night?”