19 – Picking Up the Young Lady’s Unwanted Things
“Alright, I’ll keep it safe for you.”
It might have been an illusion, but Brother Tan’s words seemed to carry a hint of inexplicable defiance as they fell upon her ears.
“Mhm.”
After saying that, Tan Shen hung up the phone directly.
He gazed into the pitch-black night, the deep, ink-like sky spreading out like his own unruffled heart.
Suddenly, he raised his hand and touched his Adam’s apple.
…It felt completely different from before—no reaction at all.
Frowning, he tightened his expression and remained silent for a long while. Finally, he narrowed his long eyes and forced three words through his teeth.
“How audacious.”
That unreasonable little fox—no matter how much she acted up tonight, she shouldn’t expect him to pay her any more attention!
Yet, barely five minutes later, urgent knocking suddenly came from outside his door.
“…”
The young lady was crying and calling for him outside the door, “Tan Shen, there’s a cockroach in my room, wuwuwu.”
Tan Shen: “…”
Tan Shen stood still without moving. Three seconds later, gritting his teeth, he walked over with an impatient expression.
He pulled the door open with a swift motion—
The young lady had been persistently pounding on the door. With his sudden opening, she stumbled and crashed into the man’s arms.
Warm and soft, she collided with him, enveloped in a rich fragrance of Rose. Tan Shen paused for a moment.
Xie Yurao covered her sore nose, swaying unsteadily as she straightened up, her eyes glistening with tears. “Are you trying to kill me…?”
Tan Shen: “…”
Wasn’t she the one who crashed into him?
Seeing her slightly reddened, delicate nose, Tan Shen lowered his gaze, making no move to help her rub it.
His tone was indifferent as he asked, “…Where’s the cockroach?”
Better deal with the cockroach quickly and get rid of her early tonight, Tan Shen thought.
Xie Yurao mumbled, “In the bathroom.”
She had always been afraid of bugs, and it seemed she had been thoroughly frightened tonight—her voice was soft and trembling.
Tan Shen glanced at her but said nothing more, striding with his long legs into her room.
The bathroom was now in complete disarray—bottles and jars shattered all over the floor, a chaotic mess resembling a war zone.
Tan Shen: “…”
He could already imagine how terrified Miss Xie must have been.
He spotted the so-called terrifying cockroach, which was only about the size of a thumb, perched on a tube of lipstick, its long antennae resting on the lipstick’s casing.
Tan Shen crouched down and directly pinched the cockroach with his bare hand. “It’s just a cockroach. Is it really that bad?”
“Ah! Hurry up and get rid of it!”
Seeing him reach for it, Xie Yurao felt a shiver run down her spine.
She quickly hid behind the bathroom door, covering her eyes with her small hands. “Throw away that lipstick too!”
Tan Shen tossed the cockroach directly into the toilet and flushed it away.
Then he picked up the lipstick and rinsed it under the faucet. “It’s still usable. It just landed on it.”
“No, no!”
Xie Yurao radiated refusal from head to toe.
Tan Shen had always been frugal—not because he was poor or stingy, but because he disliked waste, a stark contrast to Xie Yurao.
The young lady had a habit of discarding or throwing away anything she was even slightly dissatisfied with.
It was a terrible habit.
He walked toward her with the lipstick, trying to make her reconsider. “This is your favorite one.”
“Get away, get away!”
Xie Yurao pushed him aside with extreme disdain, as if he were the cockroach. “Don’t touch me with hands that have touched a cockroach!”
Tan Shen: “?”
Was this the same face she made when she eagerly touched me earlier?
But did he dare say that? No, he didn’t.
Xie Yurao said, “Throw it away, I don’t want it anymore.”
Tan Shen glanced at her. Perhaps it was the hazy night, but her long, wavy hair like seaweed cascaded over her shoulders, her fox-like eyes glistening with tears, looking pitifully frightened.
He lowered his gaze and said nothing more.
“Alright, I’m leaving.”
Tan Shen returned to his room, only then realizing he was still holding the lipstick in his hand. There was no use keeping it.
He walked over to the trash can, hesitating for a moment before tossing it in.
In the end, he just threw it randomly into his suitcase.
Tan Shen lay down on the bed, unable to stop thinking—first eating her leftovers, then picking up things she didn’t want…
The man suddenly couldn’t hold back a curse.
“Why the hell do I feel like a beggar?”
…
The next day, Xie Yurao left Ancheng with Tan Shen and returned to Kyoto.
As soon as she got off the plane, she received a call from the dance shoe studio.
The person in charge anxiously asked her, “Miss, do you have time to come to the studio now?”
Xie Yurao said, “What a coincidence.”
“You have time, right?” the person in charge asked happily on the other end.
Xie Yurao replied, “I just got off the plane.”
“…”
There was a moment of silence on the other end. Xie Yurao asked, “What’s the matter? You can tell me over the phone.”
It seemed the matter was somewhat complicated, as the person in charge took a moment to organize their thoughts before slowly asking, “Do you know Guan Yin, the only daughter of the Guan family in Ancheng?”
Xie Yurao chuckled lightly, “I suppose so.”
The person in charge remembered Guan Yin’s warning not to tell anyone about this.
So he immediately turned around and told Xie Yurao, “This morning, she came to order a pair of dance shoes exactly like yours, but the material is different. She specifically requested the worst special material.”
Despite the designer repeatedly warning her that this material was too soft and could easily cause problems during high-intensity dancing, she just smiled gently and said, “My feet are delicate and can’t handle shoes that are too hard.”
“…”
Concerned about the studio’s reputation, the designer ultimately refused.
But the next moment, Guan Yin dropped her gentle, ladylike demeanor and glared coldly at the designer, her tone sharp and threatening.
“Do you know who my father is? Don’t want your little shop to stay open?”
The designer thought, “How does she have two faces?”
The Guan family was indeed a prominent and influential family, not one a small design studio could afford to offend.
Just as the designer reluctantly agreed, she casually added, “Since there are two identical pairs of dance shoes, swapping them wouldn’t be impossible, right?”
At that moment, everyone understood her intentions.
But what Guan Yin never expected was that the studio’s manager was an old friend of Qin Yun.
In no time, he had spilled everything.
The manager said earnestly, “Miss, don’t worry, I would never do such a thing. I can go and refuse her right now.”
Offending the Guan family wasn’t as terrifying as offending the Xie family.
“No need.”
Xie Yurao chuckled leisurely, “Since she’s gone to such great lengths, of course we should let her have her way.”
The manager was confused, “Huh?”
Tan Shen glanced down at the little fox.
Seeing the corners of her eyes curl up, sparkling with cleverness and mischief.
He knew someone was about to be in trouble.
“I think this material is perfect for her.”
Xie Yurao said with a smile, “Since she likes it, let’s use the same material for my pair that matches hers.”
“That way, she can wear whichever pair she wants.”
The person in charge was stunned for a long time before finding their voice again, “…Alright, okay.”
Wow, how ruthless.
After hanging up the phone, Xie Yurao couldn’t help but praise herself.
“I really am such a kind fairy.”
Tan Shen: “…”