CH 26

Qin Juran spent the rest of her National Day holiday at home. While Qin Haotian made some changes to JuJu Tavern’s interior design and layout, Qin Juran assisted in buying some trendy decorations and wallpaper to create a more homely and comfortable atmosphere in the restaurant.

Since she hardly had any classes from Monday to Wednesday, she requested the days off from her counselor so that she could finish helping her family.

Before she left, Qin Juran and Qin Haotian planned out some new special recipes, and Qin Juran also took some pictures. JuJu Tavern’s food wasn’t at all lacking, and it was a local business, so Qin Juran planned on using her personal social media to give it some publicity.

Qin Juran was very familiar with the workings of the market. She had worked with multi-channel networks in her past life, which specialized in using sponsorship with internet celebrities as marketing tools. The only difference was that in her past life, she had plenty of funding to sponsor the most popular celebrities from the get-go, which of course reaped amazing profits. From the management level to the bloggers, as well as the methods of signing contracts and disseminating advertising, her resources were much superior before.

Her prior experience was helpful in her current situation, but the largest issue was her means of investing. So she would use “JuJu Tavern” as a place to start and build from, then if the reception was good, procuring future investments would be simple.

Qin Juran worried that it would be difficult for Zuo Yanzhen and Qin Haotian to adapt to these sudden changes, so she especially took out time to sit down with them and discuss the pros and cons. But it turned out that Qin Haotian would merely wave his hand in compliance, suggesting that he would support whatever plans that Qin Juran decided on for them.

Since the mid-October temperature had already begun to cool, Qin Juran went to the shopping mall in A District and bought a few windbreakers and long pants. By the time she returned to her dormitory on Thursday afternoon, Feng Jing wasn’t in the room, but Huang Ying was cradling her laptop on her lap and eating chips. When she saw her arrival, she greeted Qin Juran excitedly:

“Juran you’re back! You took so many days off I was beginning to worry that something happened to you.”

Qin Juran sneered slightly, then raised her brow strangely: “What could possibly happen to me?”

Confronted by Qin Juran’s stare, Huang Ying seemed to swallow the words in her throat.

Qin Juran flicked her gaze towards Feng Jing’s bed. “What about her?”

“I think she met some guy during the holiday. She went out on a date.”

“She doesn’t like Fan Chuan anymore?”

Hearing this, Huang Ying realized her slip of the tongue. She tugged Qin Juran closer: “Juran, you know about it?” She continued with some difficulty, “Juran, could you not tell anyone else? Especially not Fan Chuan, she told me to keep it a secret…”

Qin Juran peered at her lazily: “I don’t care.”

Once Qin Juran finished unpacking her things, she sat down at her desk and began to study the material she’d missed during the past two days. She noted from her schedule that S University’s midterms began around mid-November.

Asides from her appearance, Qin Juran’s most noteworthy trait was her status as the top student, and she refused to let this title fall from her hands. Moreover, this achievement was probably her best bet in reclaiming the role of President Qin.

Qin Juran went to bed early that night. When she awoke at 6 am the next morning, she saw that Feng Jing’s bed was still empty.

So she was out all night.

Qin Juran didn’t spare her more than a second’s thought. She showered and got ready, then promptly went to the classroom to study.

She was just putting away her notebook in preparation for the start of class when she raised her head to see Ruan Nan walk into the classroom. She was wearing an oversized sweatshirt of some athletic brand, beneath which was a miniskirt that showed off her legs. On her feet were a pair of canvas shoes. She grabbed the attention of the entire class as soon as she walked into the room.

Whether by coincidence or not, right when Qin Juran raised her head, the two girls’ gazes locked on each other. Ruan Nan’s stare only lingered for a moment before she quickly averted her eyes.

Qin Juran also didn’t persist, deciding that there was no need to interact with her without a concrete reason.

Tsk. It was only a one-night stand.

In the evening, Qin Juran dutifully completed her assignments. Just when she had climbed into bed, preparing to read the news, Huang Ying suddenly yelped from the bed beside her, then made a show of covering her mouth.

Qin Juran raised her brows: “What is it?”

Huang Ying shook her phone in the air: “Check out the forums, Juran – looks like I misunderstood you that other day, I really didn’t think that Ruan Nan would dare to do something like that…”

Qin Juran frowned, but before she had even opened the forums, there was an incoming call from Lin Wei. “Hello?”

“Qin Juran, quick, go look at our school’s forum. I know that you might not want to help, but you were the one who brought Sister Nan to the hospital that day, so you’re the only one who can clear up the misunderstanding. I have no idea what kind of bastard is trying to pull these dirty tricks behind our backs…”

“I got it.” Qin Juran didn’t listen to the rest of his angry curses, ending the call and immediately logging onto the forums. There was a trending post with a picture and the blaring caption: “HOT NEWS – The Shady Truth Behind Qin Juran and Ruan Nan’s Disappearance the Night of the Performance!”

Qin Juran clicked on the post. Up popped two images: the first was a back shot of Qin Juran walking into the elevator alone during the performance night, the other was a similar shot of Ruan Nan waiting for the same elevator, which must’ve been taken a moment later.

Although the screenshot from the surveillance camera by the elevator was blurry, the two girls were nonetheless quite distinguishable in their performance gowns.

Below the image were the poster’s allegations: I only meant to find my lost keys, but I never thought I’d discover such a scandal.

The night of the performance, Qin Juran was suddenly led away, then minutes later, Ruan Nan followed. When the security guard saw the surveillance camera and went to check it out, he found out that the stairs leading to the roof had been newly locked.

I’m sure you all can figure out the rest yourselves. This gossip doesn’t really concern me, but I just wanted to give some justice to all the students who prepared so hard for the performance and were let down. I also want to add: Are these rich, elite second-generation heiresses really going to get away with whatever they please?

All the forum posts regarding Ruan Nan and Qin Juran were certain to be “hot” topics, and this one was no exception. Underneath the post were pages and pages of comments:

【My oh my – I was one of the performers backstage that day, and I saw Qin Juran get called over by a male student myself. Soon after, the Missy followed her, and they still hadn’t returned even by the end of the show. 】

【Damn she’d really pull something that big? Sabotaging such an important show just to get back at Qin Juran? This woman thinks the rest of us are just peasants who can be toyed around with?】

The replies under this comment extended a long way, with many even attacking her usual condescending demeanor.

Qin Juran continued to scroll. By the seventeenth comment thread, a different type of sentiment was expressed:

【Wait, you guys are all blaming the Missy? What if campus flower Qin was the one who purposely set up this whole thing in order to frame the lady? 】

The reply right below stated:【Are you dumb? If this was a stunt by Qin Juran, then don’t you think she would’ve been lying in the hospital beaten to a pulp by the Missy by now】

【 That’s right, Qin Juran has no reason to do something like that. With Fan Chuan playing the prince and her playing the princess, only a fool would let up the opportunity to star in such a romantic role just to frame someone.】

Below were more comments speculating that a third party had framed them both, or that the original poster was reversing right from wrong. With the pictures as photographic evidence, along with the fact that neither of them showed up at the performance, any of the speculations were fair game.

After all, Qin Juran herself initially suspected that Ruan Nan was behind this.

The comments immediately below became increasingly one-sided, even to the point of obscenity. Zhou ZIqing, Lin Wei, and Wang Yuanyuan, with their verified statuses, began to attack those commenters back. In the end, they were outnumbered and were quickly rebutted for being “lapdogs.”

Zhou Ziqing was fuming: 【Would a f**king lapdog drive a BMW? 】

There was an immediate reply below: 【I guess you don’t care for money or looks】

Zhou Ziqing: 【Just wait till I track down your f**king IP address.】

【Oh my god I’m soooo scared, the Missy is about to let the dogs out again. 】

Qin Juran closed the forums and walked to the balcony to call Lin Wei: “Can you get your hands on the surveillance footage from that day? And look into who was supposedly searching for their keys that they got the footage?”

Lin Wei was exasperated. “This bastard is too despicable, purposely posting at this time. That building’s workers had already left after their shifts a long while ago, so tomorrow is the earliest we could go.”

Qin Juran tried to calm down and think. Indeed, this person was clever in choosing such a time to post that would catch everyone off guard.

“Can you find out the IP address of the poster?”

“We’ve already found it, anyone can do that easily – it’s some public network in this city. Moreover, it’s not only within our city, but within our school! Anyways, Qin Juran, are you willing to help clarify the situation or not? Sister Nan even skipped out on her trip to Iceland just for your sake, so if you have any inkling of a heart…”

Qin Juran replied coldly: “Even if I tried to explain now, it would just be pouring oil into the fire. No matter what I say, they would just argue that Ruan Nan was coercing me to speak. If you don’t want this to get even more out of hand, then you better tell Zhou Ziqing and the others to stop interacting with that post.”

At this, Lin Wei seemed to realize something, and replied apologetically: “You’re right, my bad! How come I didn’t think of that? No wonder Sister Nan wouldn’t let me contact you! Sorry, Qin Juran, I got too worked up earlier and lashed out at you.”

“…..”

Qin Juran didn’t bother acknowledging him. She frowned and continued, a hint of worry in her voice, “How’s Ruan Nan doing right now?”

Lin Wei replied, disheartened, “What do you think? Sister Nan always claims that it’s nothing to her, but I’m sure deep down, she’s not taking it too well. Before, it was just the rivalry between the three of you, but now it involves all those people associated with the performance, so everyone’s riled up. I’m worried that the hysteria won’t die down at all by tomorrow.”

Qin Juran’s fingers caressed the succulents lining the balcony. She answered thoughtfully, “I understand. You guys take care of Ruan Nan for now, I’ll think of something.”

Lin Wei clearly didn’t believe that she’d actually “think of something.” If he and the others couldn’t do anything even with their money, what could Qin Juran possibly do?

Qin Juran hung up the phone. That night, when Ruan Nan fainted after the performance ended, she was so frantic that she just managed to call 120 1 then run downstairs while cradling Ruan Nan. She hadn’t even noticed that the door had been unlocked.

She had been standing out on the balcony for so long that Huang Ying began to call out, worried that something had happened. Only when Qin Juran saw her did she come out of her daze. In a concerned voice, Huang Ying asked, “Is everything alright, Juran? Was it really Ruan Nan who locked you up there?”

“What do you think?” Qin Juran questioned back.

Huang Ying was caught off guard by her hard gaze and paused for a moment. She replied honestly, “It all sounded very convincing to me.”

“What if I say otherwise?”

“Then it would be likely that Ruan Nan was forcing you to, since it’s like her to order people around like that. If it really wasn’t her, then the only way to prove it is if the real culprit who locked the door confessed. And in addition to the confession, there would need to be concrete evidence.”

A voluntary confession with evidence…

Qin Juran looked pensively towards Feng Jing’s bed: “She’s not coming back tonight either.”

Huang Ying shook her head: “I don’t know.”

Qin Juran didn’t press any further, only shutting off the lights and climbing into bed. The forum post was likely gaining even more traction by the second, but she was confident that Lin Wei and the others followed her instructions to stop engaging with it and arguing meaninglessly.

Throughout the whole ordeal, Ruan Nan hadn’t expressed any of her own opinions. Qin Juran opened WeChat and clicked onto her feed; there were no new posts or activity from her either.

Qin Juran clicked onto the contact designated “Mine,” then stared contemplatively at the dialog box for a while. She kept typing out words then deleting them, but she ultimately settled on something short but sincere: “I’m here for you.”