Chapter 65: Chapter 65: Invite Her to the Wrap-up Party Chapter 65: Chapter 65: Invite Her to the Wrap-up Party No sooner had I arrived than I overheard Jiang Leyi’s complaints, “…”
Watching Jiang Nanshu’s still seething anger, I hesitated about whether to greet her or not.
Just because you’ve cussed out big brother, doesn’t mean you can curse at me too, huh.
In the end, I still sat across from Jiang Nanshu with my tray of food.
Looking at the two unexpected guests in front of her, Jiang Nanshu lifted her eyebrows in surprise, glanced at Jiang Leyi, then at the silent Ji Ze, and decided to ignore this younger brother. Instead, she asked Jiang Leyi, “What are you doing here? Don’t you have school? Always running to my school, and even bringing him along, are you trying to witness a touching display of sibling affection or something?”
Ji Ze’s hand tightened around his chopsticks, likely reminded of Jiang Nanshu’s ruthless words from before, and he turned his head, “Hmph, I’m here to pick up Sister Le Yi, not to see you.”
Jiang Nanshu propped her chin, “Oh, that’s a relief, I’m not in the mood to see you guys.”
Ji Ze once again widened his eyes to look at her, a hint of redness in his gaze.
Jiang Nanshu felt disheartened, why does this brat love to cry so much?
[Don’t cry, don’t cry! Last time you threw chestnuts at me, this time I definitely won’t coddle you! Eh, did I speak too harshly? He has his own sister, why is he getting upset over a few words from me?]
Jiang Leyi looked at the gloomy Ji Ze and, with a helpless gesture, pushed a box toward Jiang Nanshu with an expressionless face, “Can we come in?”
Jiang Nanshu opened the box to find a shiny, sparkling green gemstone.
She gritted her teeth and pocketed the gemstone, “Well, the school isn’t mine, come if you want. Want me to give you another tour while we’re at it?”
“I’ve finished shooting that web series, and the crew has packed up. The show will air in a month.”
Jiang Nanshu gave her a puzzled look, “So what? You came here just to tell me this? Cough, even though you gave me a gemstone, our relationship is adversarial at best; I can only promise not to be harsh to you.”
She gestured with her hand indicating she’d only be a tiny bit nicer to Jiang Leyi.
Jiang Leyi pursed her lips; as long as she could communicate properly with Jiang Nanshu, it was fine.
She cleared her throat, “I heard something happened to you at school, I came specifically to check on you. I happened to bump into Xiaoze, so I brought him along. It looks like you’ve resolved the matter, right?”
Jiang Nanshu was toying with her food, “It’s resolved, but it cost twenty million.” She gave her a suspicious glance, “You didn’t come just to talk about this, did you? When have you ever cared about me so much?”
[She can’t have figured out that I’m just pretending to oppose her, right? If this backfires, I might as well jump into the river and be done with it!]
Does it have to be this extreme?!
She took a deep breath and gave a sneering laugh, “Who cares about you? I’d rather you’d run into trouble.”
[Good, just a misunderstanding, it scared me for a moment.]
Jiang Nanshu curled her lip, “I knew it, you never bring good news. Just so you know, I’m not giving this gemstone back.”
Jiang Leyi was about to say something when she felt Ji Ze lightly tug at her clothes and saw him shaking his head ever so slightly.
His eyes brimmed with too many emotions, but sorrow was the most evident to Jiang Leyi.
Ah, this kid… he clearly wanted to see Jiang Nan, yet feared her cold stare, wrapping himself in a layer of bristles. Perhaps he really was afraid that Jiang Nanshu would hurt him once more. Yet despite all this, he still couldn’t bear to hear anyone speak ill of Jiang Nanshu, not even his own sister.
“I won’t ask for a gift once it’s given. I’m here because there’s something I need… Can you accompany me to the wrap party for the web series tomorrow?” After Jiang Leyi finished speaking, she nervously awaited Jiang Nanshu’s response.
“What?” Jiang Nanshu wondered if she’d misheard, “You want me to go with you to your celebration?”
“Yeah,” Jiang Leyi nodded, “You always said you wanted to make a splash in the entertainment industry, right? I think you’ve got the credentials now.”
In her memory, her original self seemed to want to enter the entertainment industry. It was something she had mentioned to her family three months before she took over.
Clearly, her family didn’t give her the time of day.
Jiang Leyi and Jiang Zhouye especially acted as if they hadn’t heard her.
To take Jiang Nanshu with them would be like shooting themselves in the foot, right?
Besides, they couldn’t seem to steer clear of her fast enough.
So the original self started her own live streaming, but the results weren’t very good. She had no EQ and was blindly attacked online. She tried to learn and attempt every skill that Jiang Leyi possessed, and in the end, she was all over the place, somewhat giving off a vibe of the foolish woman trying to imitate the frown of Xishi.
Seeing Jiang Nanshu silent for so long, Jiang Leyi slightly curled her lips into a smile, “Changed your mind now? Weren’t you the one who wanted to compete with me in everything?”
“Inviting you to the wrap party was just so you could meet a few directors as well as some friends I made in the crew. Or was your talk about making your way in the entertainment industry just for fun?”
Given the character of her original self, she would have been insane with joy if someone offered to take her along.
Having been rejected by both Jiang Zhouye and Jiang Leyi, and if it wasn’t for the return of Su Ran, her “green gemstone,” she really would have driven herself to death and wouldn’t even have her current host body to possess.
After a long while, Jiang Nanshu reluctantly opened her mouth, “Fine then… I’ll go with you to take a look.”
In the original storyline, Jiang Leyi had never invited the original character; it was she who begged and pestered to go.
And then, goddamn it, she ran into the male lead who was warming his feelings again by taking Su Ran to the wrap party.
What a mess of events.
She had to be part of some drama every single day, huh?
[Resigned, I’ll just take this gemstone as my appearance fee. Thinking this way, I feel like I’m making a killing.]
But… as for whether the original book’s male and female leads have rekindled their feelings or not, she didn’t know. She only knew that the current plot development was quite troubling.
Ji Ze placed his chopsticks on the plate, creating a sound that snapped Jiang Nanshu back to her thoughts.
Looking up, she saw the boy pursing his lips stubbornly staring at her. She couldn’t help but laugh and said, “What are you looking at me for? You threw a chestnut at me last time, and I haven’t even settled that score with you.”
Ji Ze had wanted to say that it wasn’t intentional.
But the words changed as they reached his lips, “Who would want anything from a bad woman like you!”
Jiang Nanshu nodded in agreement, “That’s right, next time you’re bullied, don’t expect me to help you.”
He looked down, remembered the incident in the alleyway, the image of Jiang Nanshu standing in front of him, and said sullenly with a tight lip, “Who cares…”
Jiang Leyi watched Ji Ze’s self-contradiction with resignation.
Eventually, she spoke up for him, “Jiang Nanshu, Xiaoze has missed you a lot these years. You grew up together; no matter what, you two have a bond. Don’t be so cold towards him.”
Ji Ze was like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, nearly jumping up, his face flushed red, “Who would miss her, with her gone my parents don’t sigh anymore, it’s better without her…”
As soon as the words left his mouth, his face turned pale.
Subconsciously looking at Jiang Nanshu, he saw that her expression hadn’t changed, and she still wore a carefree smile.
He stood up and ran out, unwilling to face Jiang Nanshu any longer.
Jiang Leyi also stood up, “Xiaoze!”
She turned her head, her gaze serious, “Jiang Nanshu… Xiaoze is not like what he seems on the surface. You spread rumors about his foster parents three years ago, causing him to be isolated at school, but he never blamed you. He is just too sensitive and insecure inside.”