“For example, treat me to lunch?”
“I’m going home to eat. Are you planning to follow me there?” Jiang Chan did not slow her steps, continuing her verbal sparring with Qin Fen. For now, he seemed tolerable. Aside from being a bit flirtatious, he did not display any major flaws.
Besides, Jiang Chan was curious about why Qin Fen had appeared here, so she did not mind chatting with him a little longer.
Qin Fen clapped his hands and flashed a bright grin. “That’s great. I didn’t expect you to be so hospitable, Jiang Yuhui. Inviting me to your house for lunch on our first meeting. Let’s go. I’m starving.”
Jiang Chan silently added another label to him. Thick skinned.
She quickened her pace into the bike shed. Qin Fen, usually carefree and flamboyant, visibly grimaced when he saw the small electric scooter Jiang Chan was pushing.
“Xiao Huihui, we’re going back on this?”
He stared at the scooter in disbelief. In both his lifetimes, he had never ridden something so small. Then he glanced at Jiang Chan’s long legs and felt even more displeased.
Jiang Chan held the handlebars with a faint smile. “You can walk. Use your own two legs. Are you getting on or not? If not, I’m leaving. You’ve already wasted a lot of my time.”
She admitted she was doing it on purpose. He had been chattering nonstop the whole way.
Qin Fen hesitated. The thought of sitting on the back seat like a timid little girl made him struggle internally.
“How about this? I’m taller than you. Why don’t you sit in the back? That seat is tiny. I can’t fit.”
Jiang Chan planted her feet firmly on the ground and rejected him without mercy. “No. It’s my scooter. I decide. And do you even know the way?”
Qin Fen was defeated. He had no choice but to sit on the back seat, hugging his backpack, looking like a wronged bride.
In his mind, the back seat belonged to girls. Now he, a grown man, was sitting behind another man. What kind of situation was this?
If he had ears, they would have been drooping. In contrast to his dejection, Jiang Chan was in an excellent mood. She sped off swiftly.
In less than ten minutes, they arrived at Jiang’s residential complex. Qin Fen stopped in front of the villa. “Your family’s doing pretty well. This place isn’t cheap, and the location is prime.”
Jiang Chan tossed her bag down. “My parents earned it. I don’t know the exact value. What do you want to eat?”
Qin Fen widened his eyes in mock shock. “You’re cooking?”
Jiang Chan shot him a cold glance. “Don’t overthink it. The housekeeper is here. Tell her what you want. I’m going upstairs to read. Make yourself at home.”
There was nothing in the house worth coveting, so she let him wander freely and carried her bag to the third floor. The Jiang villa had two floors. The first belonged to her parents. The second was shared by Jiang Yuhui and Jiang Yuzhi.
After ordering food from the housekeeper, Qin Fen sat in the living room for a while before boredom drove him upstairs.
Jiang Chan had not closed her bedroom door. Qin Fen strolled in and immediately noticed the programming book in her hands.
“You understand that? It looks hard.”
In both lifetimes, Qin Fen had been a poor student. One glance at the dense code made his head spin. His skills had always gone into eating, drinking, racing, and chasing girls. Books gave him headaches.
“It’s fine. Once you understand it, it’s not difficult.” Jiang Chan glanced at him. He was lying sprawled across her bed. Calmly, she decided the sheets would need to be changed later.
Since he was here, she voiced her question. “You’re from the capital. The education there is better than here. Why come all the way here?”
Qin Fen sat up sharply. “How do you know I’m from the capital? The homeroom teacher didn’t say that.”
Jiang Chan answered simply, “I have my own channels. Now tell me why you’re here.”
Qin Fen studied her for a few moments, then flopped back down. “I wanted to see what you, this unlucky guy, looked like. You’re nothing like I imagined.”
Jiang Chan caught the word immediately. “Imagined? You know me?”
“If you can know me, why can’t I know you?” Qin Fen snapped, visibly irritated. Things were already unfolding beyond his expectations.
“Of course you can. Tell me what I was like in your imagination.”
Jiang Chan rested her chin on her hand, watching Qin Fen lie there like a lazy fish. Even as a lazy fish, he was a wealthy one.
“Introverted. Quiet. Soft like dough. Spending your whole life hanging on Song Miao’s crooked tree.”
Qin Fen spoke bluntly, trying to detect a reaction. Unfortunately for him, Jiang Chan was only hearing his analysis of Jiang Yuhui, not herself. Her expression did not change.
Ordinarily, revealing such secrets to a stranger would be unwise. Yet Qin Fen spoke as if he could not stop himself.
Listening, Jiang Chan felt her suspicions solidify. This made sense.
“You said I hung on Song Miao for a lifetime. So you knew Song Miao too?”
Qin Fen gave up resistance. “What if I said I knew her in my previous life? Would you believe me?”
“I would. Why wouldn’t I?”
“Forget about me. You have secrets too. How do you know about mine?”
Jiang Chan shrugged casually. “If I said I knew from a previous life, would you believe me?”
It was the truth. She only knew him from the original owner’s memories. Calling that a previous life was not inaccurate.
Qin Fen sighed. “This world is like a sieve. I thought I was the only one like this.”
Jiang Chan flipped a page calmly. “Trust me. We’re not the same. You’ll understand eventually.”
Qin Fen sprang up. “How are we not the same? You know my biggest secret. Tell me one of yours.”
“You’ll find out later.”
She ignored his noise.
“By the way, did you see Song Miao in class today? She used to be your girlfriend. Shouldn’t you reconnect with an old acquaintance?”
Qin Fen looked completely indifferent. “What’s there to see? She’s an ex. Logically, in this life, we don’t know each other.”
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If this IS heading down the Qin Fen x Wu You path, this guy better get some serious character development. Or, y’know, having him be *cough* totally not *cough* gay for Jiang Chan/Jiang Yuhui is fine too. XD