The Real Heiress Just Wants to Be a Lazy Fish - Chapter 56

Chapter 56: Inspiration

“Quick, sit over here and rest for a bit. Do you still feel nauseous? Any strange voices in your head?” Tao Yitong pulled various exorcism devices from her bag. During the war years, the Bureau had suffered enough at the hands of black magic, leading them to research and equip every member with these specialized tools.

“I felt a bit sick just now, but it’s much better since I covered my eyes. I didn’t hear any strange voices.” Jiang Zitan felt mostly fine after a brief rest.

The stronger one’s “Spirit Sensation,” the greater the impact of such things. Tao Yitong felt uncomfortable seeing it too, but she had methods to resist; she just hadn’t expected Jiang Zitan’s sensitivity to be so high.

“That’s good. What you saw was likely blurry, so the impact shouldn’t be too great,” Tao Yitong sighed in relief.

Blurry?

“But I… I saw it very clearly.” So clearly that she could draw every single line of the pattern.

Jiang Zitan had followed her based on that sentence: “Don’t play games too late.”

What kind of person invites Tao Yitong to their house late at night to play games? Were they really just playing games, or did they have an ulterior motive?

Then came the next line: “Send me your address…”

What?! She’s actually going to their house?!

It was a bolt from the blue for Jiang Zitan. Fuming, she mentally beat up a plush pig: Tao Yitong, you idiot! Are you stupid for going to someone’s house in the middle of the night! Is there someone else? Dammit!

It’s only been eighteen days, and you’re already attracting people like this! No, I have to hear who this person is.

She pushed aside the mental image of the fuming doll and squeezed closer bit by bit. Just as she leaned in, the phone call happened to end.

Jiang Zitan thought she was well-disguised, holding the handrail and looking out the window, her peripheral vision secretly tracking the person beside her. However, Tao Yitong just stared at her phone screen in a daze.

Jiang Zitan didn’t dare look back immediately, wondering: Who did she talk to that made her daze like that? Is this person very important?

At the thought of an “important person,” Jiang Zitan lightly grit her teeth. Shouldn’t Tao Yitong consider me the important person? No, the most important person.

Unable to help herself, she leaned over to peek.

She couldn’t see clearly…

She could only see a new chat box opening. She couldn’t see who it was, let alone what was being said. At that moment, Jiang Zitan cursed the bus for not having more lights, fundamentally ignoring the fact that wearing sunglasses makes everything darker.

The less she could see, the more she wanted to. Her leaning angle grew steeper and steeper until the two heads lightly bumped together.

Tao Yitong’s eyes widened, and she blurted out: “It’s you?!”

Jiang Zitan blocked her cheek with her velvet-gloved hand, thinking: I’m so well-disguised and you still recognized me?

Unexpectedly, the next sentence made Jiang Zitan’s face turn black as soot.

“Liu Ruomeng. Why are you following me again?”

“Liu Ruomeng?” Behind the sunglasses, Jiang Zitan’s brow furrowed with extreme displeasure. “And… ‘again’?”

Even just a few words were enough to make Tao Yitong’s heart tighten. She leaned in slightly, her hand trembling as she carefully lifted the sunglasses just a tiny bit. She saw Jiang Zitan’s shimmering eyes and the downward, displeased gaze.

Tao Yitong’s fingertips felt numb. She hurriedly lowered the sunglasses and pinched her own cheek.

“Hiss” It hurt. Not a dream.

Only then did she manage to squeeze out two words. “Is it… you?” Her voice trembled exactly like her erratic heartbeat. Yet, the corners of her mouth couldn’t stop curling upward.

Jiang Zitan taking the bus? That’s a world-class miracle. No, Jiang Zitan taking the bus to find me while in disguise that’s the miracle of miracles. Even entertainment reporters wouldn’t dare write this.

The gloom of the past half-month was swept away. Tao Yitong felt an irrepressible joy bubbling up in her heart. She wanted to say more, but looking over, she saw Jiang Zitan gripping the handrail, looking seriously angry.

Dressed like this, isn’t the target even more obvious?

The bus continued to sway. The tired passengers only glanced their way without much interest. In the dim cabin, Jiang Zitan held the handrail, staring out the window crossly: “When are we getting off?”

Tao Yitong snapped out of it and hurriedly looked at the station sign: “Oh, oh, the next stop.”

In less than three minutes, the bus arrived. Ding-dong, the broadcast announced the stop in both Chinese and English. Tao Yitong and Jiang Zitan followed the crowd off through the back door.

Tao Yitong didn’t forget to shield Jiang Zitan, preventing anyone from bumping into her. Once they reached the platform, Jiang Zitan turned around and asked a lethal question.

“What did you just call me?”

Tao Yitong couldn’t answer. She smiled, trying to “moe” her way out of it, but Jiang Zitan was dressed in head-to-toe black. With her glasses and mask off, she looked grumpy, her aura matching the sharpness of her outfit.

Tao Yitong muttered for a while, her hands in her down jacket pockets, fiddling with her innocent phone.

“I know my disguise was too good,” Jiang Zitan said with certainty. She truly believed she was well-hidden and wouldn’t accept any counter-arguments. She took two steps toward her, arms crossed and chin tilted. “But just because I’m well-disguised, you blurt out someone else’s name?”

“So, is this person very important to you?” The words hung in the night breeze, tinged with the sourness of someone who had just been dunked in a vinegar jar.

“No, not at all,” Tao Yitong denied quickly. “Just a normal friend.”

“Normal friend?” Jiang Zitan’s voice was muffled. “The kind of ‘normal friend’ who invites you to their house to play games in the middle of the night? You haven’t even played games with me again!”

This… this was simply impossible to explain clearly.

“I remembered, Liu Ruomeng, wasn’t she at the set…” Jiang Zitan’s brow furrowed again. “So, when did your relationship develop this well?”

Tao Yitong chose her words carefully: “I met her on set later and heard her on the phone. I found out her two stray animal shelters are out of funding, so I was considering helping her prepare a livestream for animal rescue… We’re really just normal friends. I swear!”

Jiang Zitan’s emotions were hidden behind her sunglasses. After a long pause, she asked slowly: “Really?”

“Really! Really!”

She sounded like she was softening. The explanation seemed clear enough. Thank goodness. But just as Tao Yitong sighed in relief, her phone vibrated again. By sheer coincidence, while she was fiddling with it in her pocket, she accidentally answered the call and hit the speakerphone.

“Sister!! Why aren’t you replying to my messages! I just searched for your old roles—Sister, your acting is amazing! I’m becoming such a fan of yours! Wuhu! Sister is the best!” Liu Ruomeng’s cheering voice rang out clearly in the empty night.

Now it was Tao Yitong’s turn to be in a panic. She fumbled for her phone, trying to hang up with a perfunctory, “I’m busy, let’s talk later.”

But Liu Ruomeng’s voice couldn’t be suppressed: “Ayy, Sister, what are you doing? You aren’t replying to WeChat so I had to call! When are you coming to my house? My new game controllers are great! And there’s good food what do you want to eat? I’ll have my assistant buy it all. Sister, talk to me! Did you forget you even hit me”

“Alright, stop talking!” Please, don’t say anything else!

The red button cut off Liu Ruomeng’s voice, leaving an abrupt silence on the empty station platform. Jiang Zitan put her sunglasses back on firmly and turned to leave. But because the lighting was poor, she immediately tripped. The next second, she fell into a warm, fragrant embrace.

Tao Yitong held Jiang Zitan, her ears burning. “Careful.”

The arms around her waist were slender but strong. Her scent wasn’t tainted by outside things it was her body fragrance mixed with her temperature, the pleasant smell of Tao Yitong.

Jiang Zitan pursed her lips and swallowed her dry throat. She raised her hand and pushed Tao Yitong away: “Go hug your Liu Ruomeng. Don’t touch me.”

Tao Yitong shook her head like a rattle. “I’m not going.”

Jiang Zitan frowned. “Why not?”

“If I went, wouldn’t you fall?”

This reply made Jiang Zitan’s heart soften like spring water, yet her mouth remained as hard as a lead weight. “Let me fall then!”

Tao Yitong wanted to laugh but didn’t dare, her lips twitching. “I don’t dare.”

“Why?!”

“I’m afraid you’ll lose your temper.”

Jiang Zitan mentally beat the pig doll again: Is my temper really that bad? Is it?!

Both of them tactfully avoided mentioning the events of that night. Jiang Zitan crossed her arms habitually. “One Yuan (the cat) says if you don’t go see it soon, it’ll go on a hunger strike and run away to find its ‘mom’.”

“Is One Yuan okay?”

“You only ask about One Yuan? You don’t ask about me?”

“Then you…”

“I missed you too.”

 Tao Yitong’s eyes widened. She looked at Jiang Zitan in a daze, a faint blush creeping over her fair skin.

“So, come to my house tonight.” It was the same direct Jiang Zitan, but after saying “I missed you,” she seemed a bit embarrassed, turning her body slightly. “Ahem! Come to my house tonight. We need to discuss One Yuan’s ‘education’ problems.”

“Did it…” Tao Yitong asked tentatively, “do something bad again?”

“More than that,” Jiang Zitan’s lips curled slightly. “It’s practically ‘exhausted all evil’.” She tapped Tao Yitong’s nose with her velvet-gloved finger, like teasing a kitten. “Exactly like you.”

Tao Yitong finally couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh. “Alright, let’s go home.”

She actually agreed? Jiang Zitan was surprised by the sudden compliance but decided to roll with it, giving a perfunctory “mhm.” “Let’s go.”

Under the streetlights, the two slender figures stood very close. The orange light stretched their shadows long on the ground, looking intimate and hazy. But the bickering continued.

Jiang Zitan was a goddess in public, but in front of Tao Yitong, she didn’t bother maintaining the act at all; she was quite talkative.

“Hey, this way. Cross the street.” “I parked the car in the subway lot over here in advance.” “How was I supposed to know which bus you were on? I had to ride several lines back and forth looking for you!” “What are you laughing at!”

Jiang Zitan huffed as she walked, nearly tripping again after a few steps because of the low visibility. She pushed up her sunglasses and raised her hand like an empress: “Come, support me while I walk.”

Tao Yitong gave a smiling, traditional bow and stepped up to support Jiang Zitan’s wrist. As they crossed the zebra stripes to get the car, an old lady passed by with her granddaughter and said approvingly: “See that? A good deed. That girl is not only pretty but has a good heart, helping a blind person cross the street.”

The “blind” Jiang Zitan:

I am lucky. Even if everyone turns their back on me, she is still willing to walk with me.

On the way, Tao Yitong checked in with the Bureau. Prince Noreen arrived after receiving the news. She studied the magic circle over and over, eventually confirming it originated from one of her brothers’ clans.

Since every vampire Prince possesses a portion of power gifted by the True Ancestor, the Princes had started a war over a century ago to seize each other’s power. That was when Noreen came to Hai City. Currently, only three Princes remain active abroad, locked in a stalemate. Any conflict between two would allow the third to intervene, so they have reached a temporary compromise and turned their eyes toward their little sister overseas.

Noreen’s combat ability isn’t the strongest among the thirteen Princes, but her ability is somewhat broken. The other three covet her Eye of the True Ancestor, but since she is protected by the Chinese government, they haven’t found an opportunity to strike.

This incident might be a trap set to strip Noreen of official protection perhaps a plan in motion since thirty years ago, with Zhao Ye or those around him being chosen pawns. They likely didn’t expect the Taotie riot to delay the plan for so many years.

Back then… An Yu’s captain and vice-captain entrusted several people to me before going to the battlefield. Regardless of what happens, I must ensure her safety.

Support