The moment that name surfaced in her mind, even Xia Anmian froze.
She frowned, instinctively wanting to suppress the thought. However, it seemed to have taken root in her mind. The more she tried to push it away, the deeper it grew.
Jiang Yi…
Although Xia Anmian had never had much personal interaction with him, they had been classmates for three years. Naturally, her impression of him was quite strong—or rather, far too strong.
On the very first day of their first year of high school, she had reprimanded him in front of the entire class. He had fallen asleep during the opening ceremony and been called out by the Principal, embarrassing their entire class.
From that day onward, she had firmly placed him in the category of “carefree, irresponsible, and beyond saving.”
Moreover, everyone in the Advanced Class knew that Jiang Yi had dated more than a dozen girls during high school. He was infamous for being a shameless playboy.
Yet the Jiang Yi she had seen at the dinner table today seemed like a completely different person from the one she knew at school.
He had poured tea for her, served her food, and spoken in a gentle, considerate manner. Whenever he smiled, the corners of his eyes curved pleasantly, making him look obedient and sensible.
At the time, Xia Anmian had found it strange. How could someone behave like two completely different people at school and at home?
Now that she thought about it again, however, everything made sense.
In front of his father, Jiang Yi was a “good boy” who didn’t play with his phone, didn’t talk to girls, and devoted himself entirely to his studies.
At school, however, he was completely different.
That could only mean one thing—Jiang Yi was terrified of Uncle Jiang finding out what he was really like at school.
Once Xia Anmian reached that conclusion, a rough plan gradually took shape in her mind.
She didn’t need Jiang Yi to actually date Su Xiaoyue. She only needed him to cooperate and “pursue” Su Xiaoyue for a while, drawing Su Xiaoyue’s attention away from that “Brother.”
Once Su Xiaoyue gradually moved on from that relationship, Jiang Yi could simply find an excuse to withdraw.
As for whether Jiang Yi would cooperate…
Xia Anmian lightly tapped her fingers against her knee twice.
‘He will.’
Even if he didn’t want to cooperate, she had ways to make him cooperate.
She raised her head and glanced at the phone on the bedside table.
Su Xiaoyue was still waiting for a message from that “Brother.” Xia Anmian guessed that he wouldn’t appear again anytime soon. Someone capable of deleting her, deactivating his account, and then restoring it had probably already exhausted his conscience just by sending those four words.
Expecting him to come back?
Then she had to act before that “Brother” disappeared again. She needed to make room in Su Xiaoyue’s heart for someone else.
With that thought, Xia Anmian took out her own phone.
…
Sister Qian replied almost instantly, [No way, little brother. This is seriously tricky. If you ask me, just send her a message saying, “Actually, I’m an alien. My home planet has summoned me back. If fate allows, we’ll meet again someday.” See? Romantic, and you don’t even have to take responsibility.]
Jiang Yi stared at the screen, the corner of his mouth twitching. He typed back, [Sister Qian, your idea would get me killed faster than jumping off a building. If she actually believed that, wouldn’t she start asking me for a ticket to my spaceship?]
Sister Qian replied within seconds, [Then how about this? Write her a breakup letter saying you’ve been diagnosed with a terminal illness and only have three months left to live. Tell her you don’t want to burden her, so you’ve chosen to disappear quietly. I guarantee she’ll cry her eyes out, remember you as the love she could never have, and never forget you for the rest of her life.]
Jiang Yi nearly laughed from sheer frustration. [Forget it. What if she finishes crying and runs straight to the hospital to check my medical records? Where am I supposed to conjure up a fake one for her? Besides, what if she turns around and jumps off a building? Then my terminal illness really will come true—because my mom will beat me to death.]
[Then I’ve got one last trick.] Sister Qian sent him a mischievous meme. [Send her a video of yourself being kidnapped. Tell her the kidnappers forced you to break up with her, so you had no choice but to delete her. Once everything blows over, you’ll definitely come back for her. See? Not only do you get to break up with her, you even become a hero.]
Jiang Yi finally couldn’t take it anymore and immediately typed, [All right, that’s enough. You’ve been single for a thousand years yourself, and these are the brilliant ideas you come up with? If she jumps off a building again because of this, won’t I be completely screwed?]
After the message was sent, Sister Qian suddenly went silent.
Several seconds later, a new message popped up.
[Jumped off a building? I remember hearing that someone in your county did that today. Don’t tell me you’re talking about your province’s Provincial Top Scorer? Holy crap, little brother. Your online girlfriend is actually the Provincial Top Scorer?]
Leaning against his pillow, Jiang Yi couldn’t help curling his lips into a smug smile. His fingers flew across the screen as he replied, [Now you know how capable your little brother is. Even the women I dump are at this level. Unlike you, a thousand-year-old single woman.]
The moment he sent it, Jiang Yi felt that he might have gone a little too far, so he quickly added another message.
[Sigh, that’s exactly why I’m genuinely scared now. If she jumps off a building again, all those adults are going to vent their anger on me. Wouldn’t I be finished? I don’t want to end up on the national news.]
Sister Qian responded almost immediately. A long string of [Hahahahaha] filled half the screen before another message appeared, [Hahaha, I’m dying! Little brother, even you have days like this! Then there’s nothing your sister can do for you. You made this mess yourself, so suffer the consequences yourself. Oh, right. Remember to video call me tonight.]
Jiang Yi rolled his eyes and rapidly typed back, [Why should I video call you? You didn’t even solve my problem. How could I possibly have the nerve to video call you?]
Sister Qian replied without the slightest shame, [I really don’t have any ideas left. I’m not helping you with something this heartless anymore. But the milk tea shop I promised you before is ready. You can go there tomorrow. I’ve given you the position of assistant manager.]
Seeing that message, Jiang Yi’s tense expression finally eased.
He had met Sister Qian in a game two years ago. She was seven or eight years older than him, and according to her, she was in business and came from a fairly wealthy family.
The two of them clicked surprisingly well. Their relationship had remained ambiguous ever since, and they had even done things that went beyond ordinary flirting. However, Jiang Yi had never dared to cross that final line.
For one thing, he didn’t want to. Accepting Sister Qian would mean breaking up with all his girlfriends, and there was no way he could accept that.
More importantly, Sister Qian was simply too rich.
She was also ridiculously generous. She would casually offer to transfer money to him or send him gifts, and Jiang Yi genuinely feared that if they ever broke up, she might hire someone to deal with him.
The first time Sister Qian offered to transfer him 50,000 yuan, Jiang Yi had nearly accepted it on the spot.
However, once he calmed down and thought about it, he remembered that the bank card linked to his WeChat was a supplementary card under his father’s account. Any transaction exceeding 2,000 yuan would trigger a text notification on Jiang Jianguo’s phone.
If his father suddenly saw a message saying [50,000 yuan credited], Jiang Yi suspected the man would drag him to the police station in the middle of the night and report that his son had probably been tricked into some pyramid scheme.
Because of that, Jiang Yi had spent the past two years pretending to be noble and indifferent to money whenever he spoke to Sister Qian, saying things like, “Sister, I’m not that kind of person. I’m not after your money.” New chapters come out on NovelPing first.
In reality, he wanted it so badly it hurt.
Unfortunately, while he had the desire, he lacked both the courage and the means to take it.
Eventually, Sister Qian seemed to realize what was going on and changed her approach.
She leased a storefront near Xiu County and opened a milk tea shop. The business registration, renovations, and recruitment had all been taken care of. Then she gave Jiang Yi the title of “assistant manager.”
Officially, he was responsible for purchasing and quality control.
In reality, she simply transferred a monthly salary of 30,000 yuan into his account. It was completely legitimate and came through the company’s corporate account. Even if his father checked the transaction history, he would only assume that his son had found a proper part-time job. It would also give Jiang Yi something to do during summer vacation.
When Jiang Yi first learned that he could earn 30,000 yuan a month, he had nearly called her his dear sister on the spot.
Over the years, he had coaxed girls he met online into sending him red envelopes and buying him gifts, yet everything he had accumulated combined wasn’t even a fraction of what Sister Qian was giving him in a single month.
Staring at the message on his screen, Jiang Yi finally broke into a smile and typed, [Sister Qian, you’re practically my real sister. Where’s the shop? I’ll go check it out tomorrow.]
Sister Qian replied instantly, [South Gate of University Town. Here’s the address. Once you get there, find the store manager and give them my name.]
The corners of Jiang Yi’s lips remained raised as he prepared to sweet-talk her a little. Just then, a WeChat notification suddenly appeared at the top of his screen.
He glanced at it.
The profile picture belonged to “Insomniac Bear.”
Xia Anmian.
There was only one short message.
[Are you home?]
Jiang Yi’s gaze lingered on those words for a moment, his thumb hovering above the screen.
He didn’t reply.
He didn’t even open the chat. Instead, he simply swiped the notification away, returned to his conversation with Sister Qian, and typed, [I’ll video call you tonight and show you my sincerity.]
A reply quickly arrived.
[Oh? What exactly is little brother planning to show me?]
Jiang Yi replied, [My “sincerity,” of course. What do you want to see?]
This time, instead of another text message, Sister Qian sent him a three-second voice message.
Jiang Yi tapped it, and a seductive voice drifted from his phone’s cheap speaker, “Sure~ I’ll have something nice to show you too~”