Chapter 4: CH 4

“If I’m his father, then this unfilial son must be put in his place.” Qin Juran slowly replaced her phone to her purse, looking down her nose at the group of good-for-nothings. “I don’t care how many copies you saved – you will delete them all by tonight. If a single one leaks, I will make sure you all will be facing three years in jail.”

“It’s not like I’m the only person who has them!” Liu Qiang protested.

Qin Juran shook her finger. “I don’t care who has them. If you leak it, I will find you. I heard that you were planning on studying abroad?”

Afterward, she faced the girl who made fun of her cheap lipstick: “Oh right, I wasn’t worried about staining my wine glass, I just know that drinking cheap wine—”

“—causes bad breath.”

With this, Qin Juran fanned the air in front of her, lips curving into a mocking smile as she strode towards the exit, ignoring the stares around her.

Outside BLUE HOUSE, Ruan Nan slammed on her brakes, causing the passengers in her car to jerk forward. Sitting in the passenger seat, Lin Wei noticed something in front of them and couldn’t help exclaiming, “Hey, who decided to park their bike here?”

Wang Yuanyuan replied, “You wouldn’t understand, biking to the bar is a great way to save money. It’s called ‘balance.’”

After parking her car and tossing the keys to Lin Wei by her side, Ruan Nan also noticed the little neon green motor scooter tucked in between lines of expensive luxury cars.

Somehow, the bike looked inexplicably familiar.

Zhou Ziqing demanded it to be moved, but Ruan Nan shook her head, saying, “Don’t move it.”

As she passed security and was walking through the narrow entrance door, she collided with the person exiting just then.

“Watch where you’re going—” Seeing Ruan Nan get pushed, Lin Wei exclaimed. Then, getting a better look at the perpetrator’s face, he cried out incredulously, “Qin Juran?!”

Although he didn’t know what Qin Juran was doing in a place like this, the neon lights illuminating on her fancy red minidress and plum-colored lipstick made her seem like a completely different person.

Qin Juran was also startled by the sight of Ruan Nan. She seemed to prefer wearing black; in her tight-fitting black dress, her pale skin looked almost translucent.

The two stared into each others’ eyes like enemies meeting in battle.

The pure and innocent model student was standing in the doorway of a bar.

Thinking back to Qin Juran’s remark of “Are you jealous, babe?” from earlier today, Lin Wei and Zhou Ziqing moved to block the doorway. It looked like they were in for a show.

Letting out a cold laugh, Ruan Nan only reached to pull out a pack of cigarettes from her purse, saying nothing.

With a crackle, the flame of the lighter cast a warm glow on the girl’s face.

“Qin Juran, you –” Before she could even exhale a breath of smoke, in a second, Qin Juran extended her hand and snatched the cigarette from Ruan Nan’s fingers, deftly sticking it in her own mouth.

Everyone on the scene gasped.

She took a long drag, graceful tendrils of smoke swirling between the two girls, leaving a nice lip-mark on the end of the cigarette. Qin Juran cast Ruan Nan a languid look, snapping the remaining half of the stick apart. “If you can’t smoke, then don’t start,” Qin Juran spoke as she walked out.

Ruan Nan stood in a daze. Lin Wei, being the first to recover, remarked, “WTF, Qin Juran smokes? The campus’s innocent model student smokes??”

Zhou Ziqing’s mind was elsewhere, as he stared at Qin Juran’s retreating figure. “Aye, she said that our Ruan Nan can’t smoke? Hahahahaha, what a joke…”

“Right? She doesn’t know that our Nan Sister always has a newly sealed pack in hand and only smokes the first stick in the pack, really…”

Zhou Ziqing paused as the words left his mouth. Leaving the house with a new pack every time, only smoking one stick…

“Wait a second—” Zhou Ziqing and Lin Wei both looked at Ruan Nan in realization, the other party shooting back daggers with her eyes. She squeezed the fresh pack of cigarettes in her left hand and bit out, “Shut. Up.”

As Ruan Nan and the others walked inside, Liu Qiang’s group was still grumbling in anger. Seeing Ruan Nan approach, he quickly beckoned someone for more wine.

Ruan Nan’s entourage consisted of true second-generation nouveau rich kids, on the same level as Fan Chuan. In fact, over the past few years, the Ruan Family Estate had even begun to surpass that of the Fan Family; needless to say, she never batted an eye at mere lapdogs like Liu Qiang.

As the clock struck 10, the dancefloor surged back to life. Ruan Nan frowned with impatience, prompting Lin Wei to ask Liu Qiang, “Ok, what did you want to show us?”

Liu Qiang had planned to toy with Qin Juran and drag out an apology for Ruan Nan at the same time, but in the end, he was the one played. He plopped dejectedly onto the sofa, offering a cigarette to Lin Wei, “Hai, Brother Wei, don’t even ask. I got played by Qin Juran, I never thought that white-lotus b**ch actually had a brain in her.”

Upon hearing the name “Qin Juran,” Ran Nan shifted her hands and crossed her legs, beckoning with the lighter in her hand at Liu Qiang. “Explain.”

Hearing the interest in Ruan Nan’s voice at the mention of Qin Juran, Liu Qiang quickly scooted closer. “So you know, that private photo Qin Juran sent Young Master Chuan, it was sexy AF, so I originally wanted to use it to warn her to back off from Young Chuan and Sister Nan, but who knew she was going to record the whole thing?! She even threatened to go to the police!”

The lighter in Ruan Nan’s hand hissed.

A cold chill passed in the air, accompanying her naturally indifferent face, as she looked to the man beside her. “So, you’re saying, you tried to blackmail Qin Juran with her photos?”

“Yea, she sure has no shame…”

Before he could finish, he was yanked by the collar as a knee connected forcefully with his skull. Blood spurted from his nose, causing the girls sitting around him to yelp. Liu Qiang let out a curse and wailed, “What was that for, Sister Nan?”

Still twisting his collar with a death grip, Ruan Nan looked down her nose at him, hissing, “If I ever catch you trying such disgusting tricks on a girl again, I’m going to rip your balls off.”

No one on the scene had the guts to defend Liu Qiang. After glancing at the mess of discarded wine bottles, then back at Liu Qiang’s head, Ruan Nan finally let loose of her grip with a snort.

The girl with the sickly-sweet voice braved, “Sister Nan, what are you doing, Brother Qiang only wanted to help you get revenge…”

Ruan Nan spoke with a cold laugh, “When did I ever ask for his help?”

Suddenly, the image of Lin Juran today, so different from usual, and her words, “Are you jealous, babe?” flashed into Ruan Nan’s mind. She turned to face the group, boring her icy gaze into each one of them. “From now on, only I can mess with Qin Juran, got that?”