The Subtle Seduction of My Ex-Girlfriend’s Aunt - Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Want to Give It a Try?

The morning sun pierced through the mist, casting its first golden rays.

Ding-ding-ding-ding-dong, ding-ding-ding-dong.

Tang Ran reached for her phone with closed eyes and turned off the alarm.

Ding-ding-ding-dong…

The alarm rang again. Tang Ran frowned, reached for her phone a second time, and after the sound stopped, she rolled over, suddenly snapped her eyes open, and sat bolt upright.

Grabbing her phone to check the time, Tang Ran hurriedly kicked off the covers and hopped out of bed.

She applied a full face of makeup at high speed and went to the walk-in closet to swap her cartoon pajamas for a creamy-white Polo T-shirt paired with sapphire blue trousers—casual yet steady.

Tang Ran looked in the mirror and felt something was missing. She took a white gold cheetah brooch set with diamonds, pinned it to her shirt, and scrutinized her reflection once more. Only then did she leave the closet, satisfied.

Calculating the time, Tang Ran took her coffee out to the balcony.

However…

One cup of coffee later, and even after touching up her lipstick, there was still no movement on the balcony opposite hers.

She looked down at her watch.

7:10 AM.

It was about time. Why hadn’t Song Zhixu come out to water the flowers yet?

Rising with a puzzled look, Tang Ran walked to the glass railing and leaned out to peek. Due to the angle of the balcony, she could only see a corner of the sliding door; she couldn’t see inside the room. Tang Ran pricked up her ears, but either the soundproofing was too good or there was no one inside. She heard nothing.

Tang Ran let out a sorrowful sigh.

Could it be that Song Zhixu had already left? She had specifically set her alarm half an hour early just to have a “chance encounter.” Surely her luck wasn’t that bad.

Another five minutes passed, and still no sign of Song Zhixu. Tang Ran felt they wouldn’t cross paths today. She yawned, propped her chin on her hand lazily, and stared blankly at the flowers on the opposite balcony.

The flowers over there were so well-kept.

For some reason, Tang Ran suddenly remembered that the first time she ever saw Song Zhixu was in the garden of the old Song estate. She couldn’t remember if she was four or five years old when she followed her mother there as a guest.

Tang Ran remembered crying her eyes out in that garden. She couldn’t remember why she was crying or what happened afterward; she only had a vague memory of meeting a beautiful older sister.

And that beautiful sister was Song Zhixu.

The reason Tang Ran still remembered this wasn’t because of some profound first meeting, but because she had been truly, deeply heartbroken that day. Later, Tang Wanru confirmed that she had cried herself to sleep and didn’t wake up even after being carried all the way home.

Tang Wanru even teased her back then, saying everyone in the Song family knew she was a “little crybaby.” Remembering that nickname made Tang Ran feel a bit embarrassed. She really was a crybaby when she was little.

Suddenly, a rustling sound of a door opening came from next door. Before Tang Ran could react, Song Zhixu had stepped onto the balcony.

Their eyes met unexpectedly.

Thinking of her current unrefined posture, Tang Ran wanted to cry. She had woken up early, put on beautiful makeup, and carefully selected her outfit just to leave a “mature and steady” impression on Song Zhixu. Instead, Song Zhixu had caught her at her laziest!

Tang Ran cleared her throat and stood up straight with feigned composure. She could still salvage this. She crinkled her eyes into a bright smile. “Sister Song, morning!”

Song Zhixu replied with a soft smile, “Good morning.”

Tang Ran’s gaze landed on the flowers behind her, and she took the opportunity to praise them. “The flowers you grow are so beautiful.”

“Do you like them? I can give you a few pots,” Song Zhixu offered generously.

“No, thank you.” Tang Ran waved her hand. “I don’t know how to garden. They’d probably be dead in a few days.” She wanted to grow them, but forget flowers—she couldn’t even keep a cactus alive.

The corners of Song Zhixu’s mouth curved slightly, her voice gentle. “It’s not hard. You just need to understand their habits.”

Looking at the countless varieties of flowers on that balcony, Tang Ran felt that “not hard” only applied to Song Zhixu. For her, memorizing the habits of so many flowers was no different from memorizing those rearranged chemical formulas in high school textbooks.

Song Zhixu turned and picked up a pot filled with small pink, white, yellow, and orange flowers. She walked to the edge of the balcony. “Want to give it a try?”

“So cute.” The “girly” flowers Song Zhixu held perfectly matched Tang Ran’s aesthetic.

“These are sun roses. They are very easy to grow—drought-tolerant and sun-loving.” Song Zhixu introduced them patiently. “They don’t need special care; just water them once every other day and they’ll thrive.”

“Really?” Tang Ran sounded unsure, but her eyes never left the pot.

“Really. If you feel they aren’t doing well, just bring them back to me.”

“Want to give it a try?” Song Zhixu looked at her with encouraging eyes.

“Okay! I’ll come over to get it right now.”

No special care, just water to live—wasn’t this the “chosen flower” specifically prepared for a black-thumb like her? There was nothing to hesitate about. If the pot hadn’t been so heavy, Tang Ran would have reached across the balconies to take it.

Without the slightest hesitation, Tang Ran dashed over to the next unit like a small whirlwind. Song Zhixu happened to be opening the door to come out.

Tang Ran took the pot, her eyes curving into crescent moons from her smile. “If I run into any problems with the flowers, can I ask you for help?”

She was willing to take the flower not just because it was pretty, but because she wanted to use the gardening as an excuse to have more contact with Song Zhixu.

“Of course. You can ask me anytime.” The flowers were meticulously raised by Song Zhixu, and she hoped Tang Ran would take good care of them too.

“Then let’s add each other on WeChat,” Tang Ran said with a smile, pulling out her phone.

The carefully planned balcony chat ended successfully with Tang Ran gaining a pot of flowers and Song Zhixu’s WeChat.

The good mood started in the morning, and by the afternoon, Tang Ran received more good news.

The Song Group and Da Ning had entered their second round of negotiations. Just as Tang Ran expected, Song Wuqi had taken it upon herself to modify the acquisition proposal for the second round.

Long before the negotiations, the Song Group had set a floor price, which was higher than the quote given in the first round. According to the original plan, if Da Ning remained adamant about the price in the second and third rounds, the Song Group would appropriately increase the offer.

However, after confirming the Ning family’s funding gap, Song Wuqi immediately revised the proposal. She did not follow the plan to increase the quote. She kept the price from the first round but increased the proportion of the signing deposit and the initial down payment.

In this way, although the total price the Ning family would receive remained unchanged after a successful signing, the funds they could get in the initial stage were almost equal to the “initial payment” they had requested themselves—enough to cover Ning Hao’s debt.

Based on the previous negotiations and the information she had on the Ning family, Song Wuqi was very confident that Da Ning would agree to her proposal. She did not report the early revision of the proposal to Song Zhixu.

The acquisition case was an opportunity for her to prove her ability. To Song Wuqi, if the acquisition was completed according to her revised plan without her aunt’s participation and decision-making, the credit for the acquisition would belong solely to her. Furthermore, if she could secure Da Ning for less than the expected cost, both her grandfather and the board of directors would certainly see her in a new light.

After confirming the news of the second round of negotiations, Tang Ran pulled out her phone and sent a message to the WeChat contact with the loquat tree profile picture.

“They’ve taken the bait.”

The other side replied with a single, brief word.

“Mhm.”

Support The Subtle Seduction of My Ex-Girlfriend’s Aunt