Chapter 38: Pt.1

After thinking for a moment, Murong Shi said, "This Friday night."

Xu Chuanchuan did not expect Murong Shi to agree so quickly. Stunned, she asked, "Don't you need to go out with your boyfriend on Friday night?"

Murong Shi might have spoken casually, but neither Xu Chuanchuan nor Linda could remain calm.

"He should've asked another girl out already."

"..." Perhaps there might be a problem with the lighting, but Xu Chuanchuan could faintly see a green patch on top of Murong Shi's head.[1]

…

Xu Chuanchuan didn't wish to hold up her little sister's studies, so she told Xu Xiangxiang not to visit her for the time being. Although Xu Chuanchuan no longer had anyone accompanying her home, she did carry the fruit knife Xu Xiangxiang had deliberately left for her in her bag. On her way home, she stopped by a supermarket to look for some self-defense tools. Unfortunately, she couldn't find any pepper spray, so she ended up buying a bag of chili powder instead.

With the fruit knife and chili powder in her arsenal, Xu Chuanchuan could finally walk with confidence. Seeing as the sky was darkening soon, she pedaled her bicycle home as quickly as possible. However, when she arrived at her destination, she found a man standing by her rented apartment's entrance.

Looking at the man's silhouette, Xu Chuanchuan quickly determined that he was none other than the lecherous man from that day.

Xu Chuanchuan's heart tensed at this discovery. Just as she was about to make a U-turn and flee, she suddenly changed her mind. She felt that it wouldn't do for her to keep living in fear and hiding like this. After firming her mind, she pushed her bicycle forward and shouted at the man, "Hey—"

Her sudden shout gave the sneaky man a scare. However, when he turned around and saw her face, he immediately revealed his disgusting, sleazy expression again.

Xu Chuanchuan used her bike as a barrier to separate herself from the man. While putting on a fierce look, she demanded, "Why are you stalking me?"

"I-I r-recognize you," the man stuttered as he pointed at her face. "L-Little Monster, I-I've always given you g-gifts when y-you're streaming."[2]

Xu Chuanchuan was shocked, particularly by the man's words.

Although the man's stuttering made his words, Xu Chuanchuan still understood what he was trying to say. Frowning, she said, "I don't understand what you're saying. You got the wrong person."

The man moved closer.

Seeing this, Xu Chuanchuan backed away in alertness and raised her voice, "Don't come near me! There's a surveillance camera there! I'll call the police if you mess around!"

When the man followed her finger and saw a camera, he promptly stopped his footsteps.

Meanwhile, Xu Chuanchuan subconsciously tightened her grip around her bike. In reality, that camera had long since stopped working. The landlord was also too lazy to get it replaced, so it was now nothing more than a decoration.

Fortunately, the man didn't seem very smart, so he failed to find anything strange with the surveillance camera. Instead, he stared at Xu Chuanchuan's face and asked skeptically, "A-Aren't you K-KS p-platform's C-Carrot Loving Monster?"

While inwardly cursing Xu Xiangxiang a hundred times, Xu Chuanchuan said with a dead-pan face, "I'm not. I'm calling the police if you keep on stalking me."

The man's expression changed a little upon hearing the word "police." Rubbing his palms together nervously, he scrutinized Xu Chuanchuan for a moment before saying, "Y-You look a-alike, but y-your v-voice is different."

After the man was done mumbling to himself, he reluctantly left the area.

Meanwhile, after returning home, the first thing Xu Chuanchuan did was to call Xu Xiangxiang and give her a good scolding.

When Xu Xiangxiang heard that her elder sister's stalker was one of her viewers, she heartlessly said, "That's my fan!"

Growing further incensed, Xu Chuanchuan bellowed, "Fan, my ass! Do you think of yourself as a celebrity?!"

Hearing the rage in her elder sister's tone, Xu Xiangxiang only grunted and dared not say anything back. She then contentedly said, "Take care of yourself, then. I'm about to go to my elective class."

After waiting for her breathing to settle, Xu Chuanchuan said, "Miss Murong says she's free on Friday night."

In response, a groan came through the phone as Xu Xiangxiang said, "Are you kidding me, sis? Do you really intend for me to apologize to her?"

"So, you think you don't need to apologize after doing such a thing?"

Xu Xiangxiang said defiantly, "But I never agreed to his advances…"

Gnashing her teeth, Xu Chuanchuan said, "Yes, you didn't agree to his advances, yet you still communicated with him using that kind of ambiguous tone. What you did was blatant seduction!"

"..."

…

On Friday, after getting off work, Xu Chuanchuan got onto Murong Shi's car.

"Where to?" Murong Shi asked.

"My sister wants to eat wood-fired chicken. Do you like that?"

"You guys decide. I don't mind anything."

Recently, Xu Chuanchuan found that Murong Shi was becoming more and more agreeable, and she couldn't help but find this change unsettling. After fastening her seatbelt, she quickly gave Murong Shi the address.

After turning on the car's GPS, Murong Shi casually struck up a conversation with Xu Chuanchuan. "What does Xiangxiang want to say to me?"

Xu Chuanchuan blinked. She then ambiguously said, "Let her tell you face-to-face."

"Is she planning to treat me to a meal because she earned some money from doing live streams?"

When Xu Chuanchuan thought about how most of the money her little sister earned came from Jiang Shaohua, her expression grew even more unnatural. While rubbing her nose, she said, "Maybe."

Chuckling, Murong Shi said, "Xiangxiang is quite to my liking. She's frank, bold, and isn't afraid to say anything."

You'll probably want to slap her afterward, though, Xu Chuanchuan thought to herself.

There was some traffic on the road, so when they arrived at the restaurant, Xu Xiangxiang had been waiting for some time already.

However, when Xu Xiangxiang saw Murong Shi, she no longer acted as carefreely as before. Instead, she had her head lowered as she timidly said, "Big Sis Shishi, I'm sorry."

"Is this what you wanted to say to me?" Murong Shi asked in confusion.

The seat Xu Xiangxiang chose was quite secluded, but there were still other guests nearby. After looking around, Xu Xiangxiang quietly said, "I'm really sorry. I didn't know Young Master Hua is your boyfriend."

"Young Master Hua?"

Seeing that Xu Xiangxiang's face was close to turning into the color of liver, Xu Chuanchuan explained, "She's referring to Young Master Jiang."

Looking at Xu Chuanchuan, Murong Shi asked, "Jiang Shaohua?"

Xu Chuanchuan nodded and awkwardly said, "Young Master Jiang gave her a lot of gifts on KS, and they ended up exchanging contacts. She even said a lot of ambiguous words to him."

At this time, Xu Xiangxiang anxiously said, "He told me he didn't have a girlfriend before, so I didn't think too much about it. I never thought you and he were…"

Murong Shi instantly understood what was going on. She then asked, "You mean to say Jiang Shaohua tricked you?"

Xu Xiangxiang hurriedly nodded.

Lightly chuckling, Murong Shi said, "He often uses this method to pick up girls. And here I thought something big happened."

Stunned by Murong Shi's reaction, Xu Xiangxiang asked, "You… You aren't mad?"

Shrugging, Murong Shi said, "I'm used to it."

Xu Xiangxiang and Xu Chuanchuan briefly exchanged looks with each other. However, when they saw Murong Shi's nonchalant behavior, they found themselves unable to say anything.

After taking a sip of herbal tea, Murong Shi said, "Since he tricked you, there's no need for you to apologize to me."

Wetting her lips, Xu Xiangxiang said, "Actually, I'm partially at fault as well…"

Murong Shi put on a posture that showed that she was all ears.

"I… Although I never agreed to his advances, I deliberately aroused his interests because I thought he would keep giving me gifts… I know this is a nasty method… But I failed to control myself because I realized how easy it is to make money this way…" Xu Xiangxiang's voice grew increasingly incoherent and softer as she spoke. Eventually, her voice had become practically inaudible.

As Xu Xiangxiang's elder sister, Xu Chuanchua's face also turned red from embarrassment, and she couldn't bear to look Murong Shi in the eye.

Meanwhile, Murong Shi did not say a word throughout the entire time, her thoughts known only to herself.

After a moment, Xu Chuanchuan cleared her throat and said, "We originally planned to return the money to Young Master Jiang, but he refused it. How about I transfer it to your WeChat instead?"

In response, Murong Shi set down her teacup and said, "Don't. What's his is his, and what's mine is mine. There's no meaning in giving me his money."

"But—"

Interrupting Xu Chuanchuan, Murong Shi said, "I already figured out what happened. In reality, there's no need for you two to explain this to me or apologize to me. This matter ends here."

Xu Chuanchuan and Xu Xiangxiang looked at each other, both of them at a loss for words.

Because of Murong Shi's indifference, Xu Chuanchuan suddenly felt like she had kicked up a fuss for nothing.

Meanwhile, Xu Xiangxiang couldn't help but complain to her elder sister, saying, "It's all your fault. I told you there's no need to apologize. Sis, you really like to make something out of nothing."

If not for Murong Shi's presence, Xu Chuanchuan really wanted to give her little sister a beating.

After solving her problem, Xu Xiangxiang quickly returned to her original behavior and began merrily chatting with Murong Shi.

As for Xu Chuanchuan, she ended up being cast aside, looking no different than a third wheel at the table.

Midway through the meal, Xu Xiangxiang left for the washroom. As soon as she left, the atmosphere at the table cooled down significantly.

Although Xu Chuanchuan found the silence awkward, she couldn't think up any conversation topics on the fly. Hence, she kept her head down and silently ate her meal.

Looking at Xu Chuanchuan, Murong Shi calmly said, "Xiangxiang is still young and easily susceptible to temptation. I think you should dissuade her from continuing her live streams."

In actuality, Xu Chuanchuan had just that intention. Sighing, she said, "I know. I'll talk to her about it."

"Xiangxiang is right, though. You have indeed made quite a fuss over this small matter."

Xu Chuanchuan: "..." Your boyfriend is out flirting with girls everywhere, so how can you be so calm?

Xu Chuanchuan had a mix of dipping sauce in front of her. The small plate held shades of red and green coated by a layer of sesame oil. Xu Chuanchuan would get addicted to eating spicy food very easily, and her lips would swell whenever she finished eating. If one looked closely at her lips, they were even trembling slightly right now. And perhaps her lips had swelled up a lot this time, Xu Chuanchuan noticed Murong Shi constantly staring at them.

Feeling a little discomforted by Murong Shi's staring, Xu Chuanchuan took a sip of tea and said, "You should quickly eat up as well. Don't waste it."

While slowly eating a potato slice, Murong Shi stared at the dipping plate in front of Xu Chuanchuan and asked, "What are those strips of yellow?"

Xu Chuanchuan paused for a moment. She then picked up one of the yellow strips and said, "You mean this? It's fish mint. Have you never had it before?"

Murong Shi shook her head.

"It tastes good. Do you want to try it?"

"I know it tastes bad just by hearing its name."

To quell Murong Shi's doubts, Xu Chuanchuan put a stalk of fish mint into her mouth, chewed it, and swallowed it. After finishing a stalk, she picked up another one with her chopsticks and stuffed it into her mouth again. She then said, "It really is delicious. My whole family likes to eat this."

Seeing the look of enjoyment on Xu Chuanchuan's face, Murong Shi couldn't help but grow puzzled.

TL Notes:

[1]green patch on top of Murong Shi's head: This is referencing the "green hat" mentioned previously (during the paint incident). It means that Murong Shi is being cheated on by her partner.

[2]gifts: the gifts referenced here is probably the currency used on the KS platform, like the bits used on Twitch.