WMR | Chapter 8

Inside the private room.

Jiang Baiyu’s expression turned cold. He turned to Yan Shuran and said, “I don’t know why you’d have such a misunderstanding, but I’ll promise you this, tomorrow I’ll tell Lu Qingci myself that I don’t like him.”

Yan Shuran tried to read the truth or lie on his face. “Then, does Lu Qingci like you?”

“What do you think?”

Jiang Baiyu let out a startled laugh, then asked self-mockingly, “Do you think Lu Qingci would like me?”

Yan Shuran thought of Lu Qingci’s threat on the sports field and pressed her lips together. But then she thought of how aloof Lu Qingci was, and how he would definitely not be able to tolerate Jiang Baiyu saying he didn’t like him out loud.

That way, she would have her chance.

“Fine. Remember what you said.”

She lifted her brows and, when she finished speaking, raised a hand to signal the bodyguards to let go.

The bodyguards immediately released Zhou Nan, and right after that Yan Shuran was about to leave.

“Yan Shuran.”

Jiang Baiyu suddenly called her back in a cold voice. “Zhou Nan needs an apology.”

Yan Shuran seemed to hear a joke and burst into laughter, saying to the bodyguards beside her, “Did you hear that? They want an apology.”

The bodyguard who had just struck out gave a perfunctory fist salute. “Sorry, both of you.”

Zhou Nan could barely hold back his anger, almost wanting to rush over.

Jiang Baiyu gently patted Zhou Nan’s tense fist and said flatly, “Yan Shuran, everyone here belongs to the same circle in City A. No one is nobler than anyone else. The reason everyone puts up with you is just that no one wants to tear their face off. But remember this, if you make too many enemies, one day you’ll be left isolated with nowhere to turn.”

Yan Shuran froze, then said coldly, “Jiang Baiyu, you dare lecture me?”

“It’s a warning. A warning to you, for Old Master Yan’s sake.”

Though Jiang Baiyu had a soft, refined kind of appearance, once his expression went cool and solemn, he suddenly carried a maturity and sharpness that didn’t belong to someone his age.

Yan Shuran was only sixteen or seventeen after all, and she was a little shaken by him.

Then she thought of how Grandpa had treated the Jiang family specially at the banquet, and the young miss grew guilty. With an awkward expression, she said, “Fine, I was impulsive today. I’ll apologize to you. Anyway, as long as you don’t like Lu Qingci, do whatever you want.”

After saying that, the young miss snorted and left with her bodyguards in tow.

Zhou Nan’s face was extremely ugly. He gave a cold laugh and said, “Xiaoyu, you’re right. If they didn’t want to tear faces, who the hell would put up with Yan Shuran.”

The others hurried over to comfort him, and kept asking Jiang Baiyu, “Xiaoyu, when did you offend Yan Shuran? Do you really like Lu Qingci?”

Jiang Baiyu shook his head. “I don’t like him. She misunderstood.”

Zhou Nan stared for a long while, then belatedly asked, “Xiaoyu, so you like boys?”

Jiang Baiyu: ……

---

Outside.

Yan Shuran walked out of the corridor, and after going a certain distance, she found the surroundings unusually quiet. Only when they noticed something was wrong did they realize the long corridor had been blocked off at both ends.

“Who are you?!”

The bodyguards beside Yan Shuran immediately went on alert. “Protect the young miss!”

Yan Shuran had never run into anything like this before, and she was a little panicked. “You, who are you people, how dare you stop me? Do you know who I am?!”

But when she finally saw one of them clearly, she said in delight, “Lu Qingci! Why is it you?”

Lu Qingci was wearing the entertainment bar’s black and white server uniform.

Yet he stood at the center of everyone, with all the people around him taking him as the focus. Even the owner of this place, Song He, was only standing at his side.

Yan Shuran saw the scene and first felt alarm, then surprise, then delight.

She knew a little about the owner Song He, and even their Yan family did not dare to easily provoke people from the underworld. She had never expected Song He to actually listen to Lu Qingci.

Yan Shuran looked at the cold, sharp Lu Qingci, and her heart pounded with excitement. As expected, he was the man she had set her sights on.

Song He shifted slightly to the side and spoke quietly to Lu Qingci. “I just got the news. They didn’t fight, and Jiang Baiyu is fine.”

“Got it.”

Lu Qingci replied indifferently, then looked at Yan Shuran with cold eyes. “Yan Shuran, Zhou Nan and the others are my classmates, friends I play ball with. I don’t want anyone causing them trouble.”

Yan Shuran’s excited face flushed slightly, and she hurriedly explained, “Lu Qingci, don’t misunderstand. I only went over to play with Zhou Nan and the others.”

She even said on purpose, “Oh right, I also talked with Jiang Baiyu. He said he doesn’t like you.”

Lu Qingci’s eyes turned even colder.

He took long strides and walked step by step toward Yan Shuran at the center of the corridor. The bodyguards did not dare relax, especially when they looked at the people Lu Qingci had brought. Every one of them looked like a thug from the wrong side of the tracks, each wearing a provoking expression. What they feared most were these people of unknown background, the kind who had nothing to lose.

So they all stood in front of Yan Shuran to block his approach.

Yan Shuran also sensed Lu Qingci’s danger, and her nerves were so tight she couldn’t get a single word out.

But the approaching Lu Qingci said to her, “Yan Shuran, come here.”

His voice was icy, carrying an irresistible force.

Yan Shuran looked at Lu Qingci’s dark eyes. Her heart pounded violently, and her mind went blank. “I, I......”

The bodyguards all protected her. “Young miss, don’t go over there.”

“Come here.”

Lu Qingci said it again.

Yan Shuran pushed past the bodyguards and walked over step by step, her fingers trembling faintly against the arms she held in front of her chest. “Lu Qingci, I, I......”

Lu Qingci’s tall body inclined slightly. He lowered his head and moved close to the girl, his cold face resting beside her ear as he said softly, “Yan Shuran, the thing I despise most is women like you.”

Yan Shuran’s flushed face instantly went white.

“Don’t provoke me. Otherwise, you’ll wish you were dead.”

The boy’s slow, low voice was like blade after blade of cold ice piercing her eardrums and stabbing into her heart.

Yan Shuran swayed, staring in terror at the icy Lu Qingci so close in front of her that she was trembling.

Suddenly, she thought, When had she ever offended Lu Qingci? Why did she see hate in Lu Qingci’s eyes?