“Crack crack bang bang boom!”
In the old, dilapidated resettlement complex, soundproofing was terrible to begin with. On top of that, the family upstairs was notorious throughout the entire complex for being barbaric and unreasonable.
Listening to the incessant noise, the man who was tutoring his child looked up and met the gaze of his wife, who had just come in carrying fruit and milk. The corners of their mouths both curved into bitter smiles.
“Dad, it’s so noisy…”
The little girl doing her homework pouted and complained.
Hearing this, the man quickly patted his daughter’s hair. “Dad knows. Just endure it for a couple more days. In a few days, Dad will take you and Mom to move into a new place. It won’t be noisy then.”
“Yay! Then I won’t have to see Grandma Huang ever again!”
The little girl cheered.
“What’s wrong, sweetheart? You don’t like Grandma Huang?”
“She… she said before that I’m a useless dead girl, that no matter how well I do on exams it’s pointless, and that if girls are too educated, no one will want them later…”
“That’s going too far! That Huang Guifen…”
The woman slammed the milk and fruit onto the table with a bang, furious beyond restraint.
But before she could go upstairs to settle accounts with the woman above, the next-door neighbor, who had been driven to the brink of collapse by the nonstop noise, had already yanked open the window and cursed loudly upward.
“Are you trying to kill someone in the middle of the night? If you don’t need rest, the rest of us still do!”
At this moment, Huang Guifen, the one living upstairs, the fat aunt who had just been clapped back at by Jiang Mian on WeChat, was in a state where she could hear anything except the word “die.” After seeing Jiang Mian’s message, that single word was the one thing she absolutely could not tolerate.
“What are you saying, what are you saying? I’m in my own home, who am I bothering? You…”
She rushed straight to the balcony, and the woman immediately started screaming at the downstairs neighbor in a wild exchange of insults. All kinds of filthy language poured out, making the man downstairs instantly clamp his hands over his daughter’s ears, looking as if he were in unbearable agony.
“We won’t wait another two days. Tomorrow. Tomorrow we move.”
The man said firmly.
A moment later, Huang Guifen, having failed to win the shouting match as well, collapsed onto the sofa, dizzy with rage.
Today had been cursed to the extreme. She lost to three other families at mahjong, came home and even lost a shouting match, and most importantly, that little bitch Jiang Mian had actually dared to talk to her like that. She was getting completely out of hand.
Unwilling to accept it, the woman tremblingly dialed Jiang Mian’s number again. Unfortunately, that damn girl refused to answer no matter what. Not only that, she did not reply to a single WeChat message either.
Ahhhhh, it was infuriating enough to drive her mad!
Huang Guifen once again smashed things around the house, making loud banging noises.
At the same time, elsewhere, Jiang Mian had just finished showering and walked out of the bathroom, towel in hand as she dried her hair. One of her roommates pointed at her still-vibrating phone and reminded her, “Jiang… Jiang Mian, your phone is ringing again. It’s been ringing nonstop…”
“Did it disturb you guys?”
Jiang Mian asked calmly as she continued wiping her hair.
“No! Of course not!”
The roommates hurriedly waved their hands.
Seeing this, Jiang Mian reached out and picked up her phone.
Forty-three missed calls.
Without hesitation, Jiang Mian blacklisted the number.
She then opened WeChat. Under the contact name “Aunt,” there were twenty to thirty messages sent to her. The first dozen or so were all voice messages of around sixty seconds each. Jiang Mian skipped them entirely and scrolled straight to the bottom, where every single message was filled with threats telling her to call back immediately, otherwise she should not bother coming home ever again, and the like.
Ever since the original host’s parents passed away, she had placed great importance on the word “home.” In the past, as soon as her aunt pulled out this trump card, she would agree to any condition without hesitation, even resorting to absurd actions like transferring money to her aunt while letting herself go hungry.
Thinking of this, the corner of Jiang Mian’s mouth lifted slightly. She typed a few words, then blocked this person on WeChat as well.
After all, she had already had more than enough fun angering that old thing.
After waiting for a long time, Huang Guifen finally heard the WeChat notification sound she had been waiting for and immediately lit up her phone.
She had already made up her mind. Since Jiang Mian had dared to speak to her like that earlier, if she did not peel a layer of skin off her, then her surname was not Huang.
With a vicious look in her eyes, the woman tapped open WeChat.
【If I’m not allowed to come back, then so be it. Paper money can be burned anywhere anyway.】
“Ahhhhh!!!”
A furious scream pierced through the night sky of the entire residential complex.
What made it even worse was that when Huang Guifen tried to call Jiang Mian again and send her WeChat messages, she realized that she had been completely blocked.
‘That bitch, that bitch, that bitch…’
‘Ahhh!’
When Jiang Mian’s uncle finally finished setting up his stall and dragged his exhausted body home, a thermos flew straight at him the moment he walked in. If he had not dodged quickly, the thermos alone would have smashed his head open and left him bleeding.
“What happened again?”
After the initial fright, the man let out a helpless sigh.
“What happened again? You still have the nerve to ask me? Do you know what that shameless niece of yours said to me today? She cursed me to die! She actually dared to curse me to die! That little bitch, that little slut…”
“Niece? Mianmian? She cursed you to die? What nonsense are you spouting? I do not know about anyone else, but how could I not know Mianmian? Ever since she was little, she has always had the gentlest temperament. At home, she barely even dared to raise her voice. How could she possibly curse you like that?”
“Fine then, Jiang Youcheng, you bastard. You don’t believe me and actually believe that damned little bitch. What’s the point of me living anymore? I won’t live, I won’t live…”
The woman began throwing a tantrum.
“Guifen…”
It would have been better if the man had not spoken. The moment he did, the intensity of the woman’s words escalated even further.
“Jiang Youcheng, you useless good-for-nothing. I’ve followed you all these years and never enjoyed a single day of good fortune, nothing but anger and grievances. You $%&&**&*”
The man listened in silence to the woman’s familiar stream of curses. As she kept ranting, her tone suddenly shifted.
“I don’t care. In a couple of days, you must find a way to make that little bitch from your family come back…”
“For what?”
“For a blind date. We let her study, and now what? Haven’t seen a single benefit, and she even dared to curse me. I’ve already asked around for her. Xu Qiang, the one who runs a supermarket on the street, his family is filthy rich. Jiang Mian is still a pure unmarried girl. If she marries over there, he would at least be willing to give 88.000 yuan as bride price. Eighty-eight thousand. What couldn’t we do with that for Tianbao…”
“But… but that Xu Qiang is already fifty, and his previous wife was beaten to death by him…”
“Jiang Youcheng, you useless piece of trash. You can’t earn any money yourself, and you still try to stop your wife from getting some. Let me tell you, Jiang Mian will marry whether she wants to or not. If you dare stop me again like you did the year she went to college, I’ll take our son and jump off from here. Pah!”
Huang Guifen glared with her eyes wide open.
Hearing this, the man opened his mouth, but in the end, he could not say a single word.
Letting Jiang Mian go to college had been the last request he promised his sister on her deathbed. Yet it was precisely because of this that his wife had fought with him for three whole years. She stopped cooking, stopped doing laundry, spent every day in mahjong parlors, and the moment he said a word to her, she would immediately make a scene over Jiang Mian.
These past three years, Jiang Youcheng was exhausted. Truly exhausted.
If she wanted to do whatever she pleased, then so be it.
Jiang Mian…
J-just take it as him having wronged her.
*
At this moment, Jiang Mian, who had no idea she was being plotted against, looked at the text message that had suddenly popped up on her phone and raised her eyebrows in confusion.
【Hello, this is Song Qichen. There is a tea tasting event at Banshan Club tomorrow that requires you to attend with me. Please be at the entrance of the EU Studio on Jiuhua East Road at exactly 5:30 p.m. tomorrow. Someone will be there to meet you then. I look forward to your reply.】
“President Song, will sending it like this really work?”
Assistant Xiao Yan looked at Song Qichen beside him, his face full of mixed feelings. What kind of man texts his girlfriend like this? Was he crazy?
“It’s fine. I’ve signed a contract with her.”
Staring at the computer screen, Song Qichen did not even lift his head.
What he did not know was that, on the other end, Jiang Mian tapped her phone, her face clearly saying: Who is this person?
Since she had only come to this world not long ago, and the original host’s memories were fragmented, Jiang Mian was not familiar with this peaceful world at all. Holding fast to the principle that if you do not understand something, you should ask, she acted accordingly.
Very soon, her phone ended up in the hands of her other five roommates.
After reading the text message word by word and sentence by sentence, the five girls lifted their heads in unison, their gazes firm.
“This is a scam text message!”
“As long as you keep chatting with him, he’ll definitely trick you into transferring money to him.”
“Exactly. We’ve seen this kind of scam all over the internet. And he’s even telling you to go to such a faraway place. He might even be a human trafficker!”
Even the most powerful human trafficker would not be able to abduct a female King Kong.
But… what if?
What if…
The female King Kong accidentally beat someone to death. Wouldn’t that land her in prison?
Wait. If that happened, would they be able to get guaranteed postgraduate recommendations?
“Is that so?”
Jiang Mian took her phone back.
After staring at the message for a while longer, Jiang Mian directly sent him a reply.
So very quickly, Assistant Xiao Yan received a text message from Jiang Mian.
【Hello, I am Qin Shi Huang. I did not actually die. I consumed the elixir of immortality and fell into a long slumber. Now I have revived. Next, as long as I revive my hundred thousand terracotta soldiers, I can rule the world. Therefore, I currently need a sum of money. As long as you transfer 5,000 yuan to my bank account ****** and help me successfully restore my empire, I will record a great merit for you. After unifying the world, I will grant you an entire province to rule as a prince.】
Xiao Yan: “……”
The corners of Xiao Yan’s mouth began to twitch violently.
Hearing the message notification sound, and getting no response from Xiao Yan, Song Qichen laboriously shifted his gaze away from the computer screen in front of him that was busy making money. His handsome brows furrowed slightly.
“What did she say?”
“She said she’s Qin Shi Huang…”
Xiao Yan blurted out.
Song Qichen: “?”
“Ah, no, no, no…”
What Qin Shi Huang. This was definitely some kind of playful banter between a young couple. Yes, it had to be that. The key point was the part at the end.
“She said she wants you to transfer 5,000 yuan to her.”
Xiao Yan, who had scored full marks on the civil service aptitude test, distilled the main point.
Song Qichen: “……”
Even more unreliable than Qin Shi Huang.
“You ask her… whether she can change the request. Don’t transfer money.”
After exchanging a look with Xiao Yan, Song Qichen spoke seriously, putting extra emphasis on the last four words.
Hearing this, could Xiao Yan say that he had already guessed it? Someone who could make this iron rooster part with his feathers was probably not even born yet. This little girl was still too naïve.
He honestly sent Song Qichen’s words over.
Who would have thought that the other side would go completely silent.
Having crossed over from the post-apocalyptic world, Jiang Mian had long been used to having no phone to look at before sleeping. After casually replying to the message, she immediately climbed onto the soft bed and lay down comfortably.
She completely forgot about the existence of her phone.
She had not been lying down for long when Jiang Mian suddenly opened her eyes.
Wait a second…
Song Qichen?
On the other end, Xiao Yan had waited a full half hour without getting any reply. When he saw Song Qichen cast another questioning look his way, he could only awkwardly spread his hands.
What he was thinking inside was that President Song, with a net worth in the tens of billions, was unwilling to part with even 5,000 yuan. No wonder the young girl was ignoring him.
Seeing this, a trace of indescribable struggle appeared on Song Qichen’s usually expressionless face.
After all, it was a free tea event and gifts worth tens of thousands…
“Ask her if 500 will do. Tomorrow I can personally go to the entrance of Yanjing Film Academy to pick her up.”
“Minghu Residential Complex is probably a bit far from Yanjing Film Academy…” Xiao Yan reminded him tactfully.
“I know.”
“What I mean is…”
Xiao Yan decided to spell it out clearly. “You can’t ride a shared bike all the way there!”
The stingy boss still had not bought a car to this day. Whenever he went out, it was either the subway or a shared bike. What else could he do?
“I also have an electric scooter. Oh right, include that in the text message too.”
Song Qichen reminded him with a perfectly straight face.
Hearing this, Xiao Yan took a closer look at his boss’s expression and was horrified to realize that he was actually serious.
‘No, seriously. What girl would dress up all nice and then ride an electric scooter with you to a tea tasting at a mountainside villa?’
‘You cannot rely on your face like this!’
Xiao Yan screamed these complaints internally, but seeing that Song Qichen showed no sign of backing down, he could only painstakingly type the words “electric scooter” into the text message.
Who would have thought that the very next second, the other side replied.
【Okay.】
Xiao Yan: “……” Damn it, there really is someone like that!
As expected, weird people always came in pairs.
Why? Why did a peerlessly stingy boss like this have a girlfriend, while he did not?
Heaven was truly unfair, ahhh!
【But I don’t have a formal dress.】
Right after that, another message came in from Jiang Mian.
“President Song, she says she doesn’t have a formal dress.”
Formal dresses were not cheap at all. Xiao Yan immediately switched into spectator mode, ready to watch the show unfold.
“So troublesome…”
Song Qichen frowned and turned his head to glance at the clock on the wall.
“There’s still time. I’ll go buy fabric right now.”
Xiao Yan: “???”
“You… you… you’re buying fabric. Are you planning to hire someone to make it?”
“I’ll make it myself.”
Song Qichen looked as if it were only natural. Then, seeing Xiao Yan staring at him intently, he asked in return, “Is there a problem?”
Xiao Yan: “……” There were problems everywhere, okay?
“Oh right, in a few days it’ll be my aunt’s birthday. I’ll transfer some money to you then…”
To buy a gift? Oh my god, oh my god. Someone had finally managed to make the iron rooster spend money!
Sure enough, family bonds were truly invincible!
Xiao Yan felt inexplicably moved.
“…Buy a piece of jade rough.”
“Ja… jade… jade rough?”
Xiao Yan stuttered.
“Y-you’re planning to polish and carve it yourself?”
“Mm.”
Coldly tossing out that single word, Song Qichen grabbed the suit jacket at the side. In a rush to buy fabric, he shut down the computer and walked out without looking back.
Watching the man’s figure disappear at top speed—
Xiao Yan: “……” He was numb. Truly numb.
‘Just how many more surprises are there that I don’t know about, President Song?’