Chapter 25: 25

Once the words left her mouth, Qin Juran watched as Ruan Nan’s face visibly darkened.

The other students all seemed to know about this matter as well. In order to prevent provoking anyone, they filed awkwardly into the hall without another word. Zhou Ziqing handed a bunch of keys to Ruan Nan, telling her that his home was empty besides the housekeeper, so she could relax there as she pleased.

Jiang Chen, Jiang Chen…

This name didn’t seem to have any overlap with the original Qin Juran’s life, as she had no recollection of it whatsoever. But why has he become the thorn in her and Ruan Nan’s relationship?

In high school, Ruan Nan and Zhou Ziqing had been in Class 21, while Qin Juran was in Class 22. However, the two classes shared the same teachers, so they were practically one and the same. Qin Juran recalled that “Fan Fan” had mentioned that Zhou Ziqing was going to the 21 and 22 Class reunion, so Ruan Nan was probably going to. Thus, she had advised Qin Juran to avoid them.

At the time, Qin Juran had assumed that even since high school, Fan Chuan was the cause of the rift between her and Ruan Nan, but now it seemed that the more likely culprit was this “Jiang Chen” person.

“You’re going to Zhou Ziqing’s house?”

“Mhm.” Ruan Nan replied aloofly.

Qin Juran looked around at her surroundings. “Then I’ll call a cab. The villas are probably in a different direction than my house.”

Ruan Nan objected. She pulled her car up beside Qin Juran: “Get in.”

Qin Juran didn’t protest. Although the restaurant was around an hour away from Qin Juran’s home, it was evening rush hour time. With the sun setting in the distance, the two girls were stuck in the slow-moving traffic for quite a while.

Hardly any words were exchanged during the entire drive. After getting in the car, Qin Juran sent “Fan Fan” a WeChat message, but she must’ve been busy as she still hadn’t replied.

Qin Juran rested her elbow against the window, staring at the flashing neon lights emitting from all the cars around them, blurring against the night sky. It felt just like the first time she stepped foot outside of the school campus. Perhaps the only thing discerning this world from her previous one was the particularly large billboard signs towering all along the roads. The extravagant, brightly lit screens made the drive feel like a passing dream.

As the car came to a halt at a traffic light, Ruan Nan spoke: “I’m going to park at the street behind your house, so you’re going to have to cross the street yourself.”

Qin Juran switched on her phone to see the time. “You’re scared my Dad’s going to make you stay for dinner?”

Ruan Nan refused to comment.

Qin Juran twirled a lock of hair around her finger: “Do you still care about what happened in high school?”

Ruan Nan tightened her grip on the steering wheel. In a cold tone, she replied with a brisk “Mhm.”

“Then do you care about me?”  Qin Juran blurted out without warning.

“Ever since September 8th, since that morning when I tore up that love letter, up until now – haven’t you realized that I’ve changed?”

The outside lights cast a glow upon Qin Juran’s face, highlighting her red lips and dark hair. Despite her nonchalant posture, slumped against the car seat, her voice revealed a newfound stubbornness.

As well as an earnestness.

Behind JuJu Tavern was a small, quiet street. Ruan Nan braked on the side of the road, gripping the steering wheel silently for a long moment. Then, she turned towards Qin Juran and answered, “I have realized. So?”

Amused by her attitude, Qin Juran laughed brightly, “So you’re still going to treat me the same way as before? Was everything that happened these past few days solely out of responsibility and nothing more?”

“Well, what else am I supposed to think? I’m supposed to believe that you’re really doing this because you like me?”

Ruan Nan looked into Qin Juran’s eyes, which were wide open as if she’d asked an unfathomable question. Each word that she spoke seemed to waver between doubt and evasion.

“I really do like you.”

I really do like you. The kind of “like” where I want us to be together, the kind of “like” where I want to have you all to myself, the kind of “like” where I could proudly call you my wife.

Even when we were living in separate worlds, when you were only a name written on paper, I had already liked you.

And now, this name has come to life in bursting colors. Even your prideful and duplicitous nature, I like all of it. The type of affection that makes me want to stay in this world so that I could treasure it forever.

Her heart was brimming with emotion, but Qin Juran didn’t say any of the words aloud.

All Ruan Nan heard were those five seemingly earth-shattering words.

The sudden confession hung in the air; this time, it was different from all the past teasing and provoking. The pair of iridescent eyes was filled with an unusual sense of loneliness and solemnity.

Ruan Nan felt as if her entire body had been immersed in a glass of soda cocktail, as those few words sucked out all the air out of her lungs. The taillights from the cars in front of them cast a red glow on Qin Juran’s face, and the entire car seemed to be filled with a foggy blur.

Qin Juran sat still beside her, staring at her as if waiting for an answer.

But she knew deep down in her heart that the answer she desired wouldn’t come so easily.

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After a moment of the two pairs of eyes staring at each other, Ruan Nan seemed to break her gaze in defeat. She leaned back until her face was partially concealed by the shadows: “I can’t accept your feelings.”

“If you say you’ve changed,” Ruan Nan paused, sucking in a deep breath, “Then I’ll try to let go of the matter with Jiang Chen. I’ll try not to trouble you anymore from now on.”

“As far as becoming friends – I’m sorry, but it’s not possible.”

An awkward silence began to set in the car.

After a long while, Qin Juran turned her head: “I understand.” With this, she opened the door and prepared to leave. With one foot rooted on the ground and the other still in the car, she turned back towards Ruan Nan in the driver’s seat: “From the first day I met you, I never once thought of becoming your ‘friend.’”

Once Qin Juran arrived at home, she handed the permit to Qin Haotian. His happiness was palpable, and he immediately asked, “Where’s Nannan? How come I didn’t see her car?”

Qin Juran explained, “She went to attend the class reunion. This road’s narrow, so she parked on the back road.”

“Class reunion? For high school? You’re not going, Ranran?”

Qin Juran shook her head. Seeming to have remembered something, she raised her head and asked quietly, “Dad, when I was in high school, was I really unlikeable?”

Qin Haotian froze for a second, then fumed, “My daughter is so outstanding, who wouldn’t like her? They must’ve been jealous.”

The corners of Qin Juran’s lips twitched, amused by his outburst. After all, what parents would think there’s something wrong with their own child?

Since her dinner had already been brought upstairs, Qin Juran put down her bag, preparing to go upstairs. Before she left, she heard Qin Haotian call out from behind her: “Ranran.”

“What’s up, Dad?” Qin Juran turned her head back.

Qin Haotian wiped his hands on his apron, then said somewhat awkwardly, “Before, you never seemed to like making friends, and you hardly spoke to Mommy and Daddy.”

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“Daddy thinks that the way you are now is wonderful.”

“And in the future, you’ll only become better and better.”

Qin Juran let out a laugh, nodding her head energetically.

After going upstairs and speedily finishing her dinner, Qin Julai had some questions about his homework, so Qin Juran attempted to rely on her old memories to give some pointers about a physics problem. After her long explanation, Qin Julai pointed out that it was actually a math problem.

Once Qin Juran returned to her own room, she sat barefoot on her desk chair. Meanwhile, Fan Fan seemed to finally have some spare time; after reading Qin Juran’s message, she quickly asked what the matter was.

Qin Juran replied: 【Can you call right now?】

Instead of a message response, there was an immediate incoming call from the other party.

Qin Juran answered the call. From the receiver came a rather crude-speaking female voice. After exchanging greetings, Qin Juran jumped straight into the subject at hand: “Fan Fan, we’re best friends, right?”

“Of course, we’ve been friends since forever! Is it that time of the night you’re having an existential crisis?”

Qin Juran ignored her jokes: “Then do you trust me? Would you question my viewpoints or actions?”

The other end was silent for a moment. “If this is about Fan Chuan, then honestly, I don’t want anything to do with it. Besides him, anything’s fine.”

Qin Juran: “Not him. Jiang Chen.”

“…..”

“Everything’s going so well, why’d you bring him up all of a sudden? That wasn’t your fault— it was his own…”

“Fan Fan.” Qin Juran cut her off, continuing, “If you respect me as your friend, then please, from a completely objective perspective, as if you’re an outside spectator, tell me everything plainly – everything that happened that year and just what kind of history there is between me, Ruan Nan, and Jiang Chen.”

“Please?” Her voice was serious and resolute, so different from the weak and often crying Qin Juran from before.

Fan Fan was silent for a long while, then finally, she replied, “Alright. I’ll compile it into an essay then send it to you.”

After a long time, Qin Juran felt a vibration from beside her. Inhaling a deep breath, she picked up her phone.

In high school, Qin Juran was in Class 22 while Ruan Nan and Jiang Chen were in Class 21. Naturally, Qin Juran, who was deemed campus flower since she first entered the school due to her pure elegance and beauty, had no shortage of fans. One of which was Jiang Chen.

Unlike her other followers, this boy was average in appearance, with a scrawny figure, as well as a terribly impoverished family background. His grades were better than average, but there was nothing else remarkable about him.

Despite this, he was Qin Juran’s most devoted, most persevering fan.

Here, Fan Fan omitted Qin Juran’s personal opinion of Jiang Chen. But based on the original owner’s taste, Qin Juran speculated that the original owner hardly spared any glances towards someone like Jiang Chen at all.

Additionally, the original owner was somewhat of a white lotus, so she must not have rejected him outright, or perhaps, just when the boy was about to give up, she’d unwittingly show him a touch of warmth.

Until one day, Fan Chuan came representing another high school in a basketball game.

Qin Juran obviously did not want Fan Chuan to see the poorly dressed Jiang Chen following her around, so she tried to send him away by telling him to meet at the small alley in the outskirts of the school. But then, he ran into one of Qin Juran’s fan club members. Seeing that Jiang Chen was so close to his idol, the fan didn’t think twice before giving Jiang Chen a good beating.

The details of the brawl were unclear; whether the fan accidentally used a little too much force, or whether Jiang Chen’s attitude was simply too detestable, but the fight resulted in Jiang Chen’s two broken legs. The fan went off to the army for a few years while Jiang Chen was disabled for life.

As for Ruan Nan and Jiang Chen’s relationship, it was quite simple. Ruan Nan’s grades in high school weren’t very good, so Jiang Chen often helped her with her studies, while Ruan Nan helped him with his tuition and living expenses. Another point to mention was that Jiang Chen once saved Ruan Nan during swim class.

So after finding out that the entire situation had to do with Qin Juran, Ruan Nan hated her ever since.

Qin Juran felt that she finally understood all the unresolved questions from the original story. The reason why Ruan Nan, who obviously didn’t like Fan Chuan, still chooses to be Qin Juran’s rival…

And the importance of Jiang Chen to Ruan Nan.

Rescuing her in swim class…Qin Juran recalled Ruan Nan’s words from last night, how her stepmother had nearly drowned in the swimming pool.

To anyone else, it might’ve been a simple lifting of one’s hand, but to Ruan Nan, it must’ve felt as if someone extended a hand to pull her out from the depths of ice water.

Although she’d never say it aloud, the little stray cat who never forgets the kindness of others must’ve taken that gesture to heart as well.

Qin Juran collected her thoughts, her gaze incidentally drifting over to the list of dreams by her desk.

In her past life, the ideas of “dreams” never crossed her mind. If she wanted purses or jewelry, then she’d only need to say the word and she’d have a collection of Louis Vuitton and Hermes brought in. If she wanted to start a business, then she could rely on the strength of others. Since the inception of her company, it was only flourishing more and more.

If she wanted women…

President Qin had never liked anyone in her past life.

Qin Juran reached out her hand. Her long, slender fingers grazed the slip of paper and stroked it for a moment. She thought of tonight’s confession and Ruan Nan’s momentary daze, then slowly shook her head and climbed into bed.

Meanwhile, at Jinghua Mansion.

Zhou Ziqing finally arrived back home at 2 a.m. in a half-drunk state. As he wobbled into the room, he thought of dragging the housekeeper along for a finger-guessing drinking game, but the auntie quickly made a shushing gesture with her hands: “Miss Ruan is resting, Young Master will wake her up.”

At the words “Miss Ruan” Zhou Ziqing suddenly sobered up. He finally remembered that Ruan Nan was staying over tonight, and quickly asked, “Did she eat?”

The auntie shook her head: “Miss Ruan seemed to be in low spirits. I made her a bowl of noodles, but she only took a few bites before apologizing, saying that she had no appetite.”

“Low spirits? That’s not right…what could be bothering Sister Nan?” As Zhou Ziqing spoke, he began walking into the living room. When his eyes landed upon the bottle of red wine on the table, he sobered even more: “She drank this?”

The auntie nodded.

Zhou Ziqing walked over and held the bottle up. More than half of the bottle was gone.

Ruan Nan never liked drinking; after hanging out with them for all these years, they could count the number of times she drank alcohol on one hand.

And now she drank half a bottle in one sitting…what could’ve happened that made her so depressed?

Thinking back to the parting on bad terms from the restaurant earlier, Zhou Ziqing vigorously shook his head. How the hell did Qin Juran manage to make such a mess?!

 

T/N: this is getting a little angsty…I hope my girls clear up the misunderstanding soon! I wonder when QJR is going to tell RN about her transmigration???

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