On the road, Chu Yuwei rested her cheek on her hand, anxious and uneasy.
She had just called Chen Wanying again to explain.
Another round of scolding. Her mood completely soured.
“What do I do, Jiang Zhou? I explained to my mom, but she still doesn’t believe me.”
“She said I must’ve gone out specifically to stay with you!”
Jiang Zhou smacked his lips, feeling totally wronged.
They didn’t even do anything last night!
Now he was getting falsely accused.
And the worst part was, both of their families knew each other fairly well now.
Knowing Chen Wanying’s character, she definitely wouldn’t keep this to herself.
Sooner or later, Madam Yuan Youqin would hear about it and probably in an exaggerated form.
“Alright then,” Jiang Zhou said. “Just tell her…”
Chu Yuwei turned her head. “Tell her what?”
Jiang Zhou thought for a moment. “Tell them: if they still don’t believe you, they can just wait to welcome their grandkid next year.”
“Go die! If I said that, they’d rush here in the middle of the night and beat me!”
“Well, I’ve got no better ideas then.”
Chu Yuwei drooped her head in defeat. “So unfair… if I knew this would happen, we might as well have actually done something last night…”
Jiang Zhou’s eyes widened. “What did you just say?”
“Huh? I-I didn’t say anything! I meant I wish I hadn’t seen you last night!”
“Really? That’s not what it sounded like…”
Chu Yuwei blushed and buried her face, vowing never to talk again.
Her mouth always moved faster than her brain.
If not for that, she wouldn’t have accidentally blurted things out this morning either.
A little after 3 PM, the Toyota Corolla rolled into the University City district.
Jiang Zhou first dropped Chu Yuwei off at her dorm.
Then he drove back to Shangjing University and let Su Nan and Mu Xiaoxiao out.
But he didn’t get out himself. Instead, he turned the car around and headed north.
After all, a man needs to lose his temper once in a while.
Otherwise, some women might really think they have him in the palm of their hand.
Don’t be fooled by the fact that Yin Shuya was already 29.
In Jiang Zhou’s eyes, whose soul was already 36 years old, she was nothing more than a spoiled, willful brat.
He was a transmigrator, after all. No way he’d let himself be manipulated by someone like her.
He arrived at Red Maple Manor.
Jiang Zhou stopped the car, picked up a brick, and walked around to the back of the villa.
After checking both sides and confirming no one was nearby, he snapped a tree branch and wedged it into the gap of a glass window.
Then he pulled a white string from his pocket, tied it to the brick, and hung it on the branch.
Once it was set up, he lit a cigarette and took two puffs.
Then, he gently laid the cigarette horizontally across the string.
Now, a simple booby trap was in place.
Once the cigarette burned through the thread, the brick would fall and smash the window.
And all of this? Yin Shuya had given him permission.
She’d said herself, “I’ve got plenty of houses. Smash the windows if you want.”
In both of his lives, Jiang Zhou had never heard of such a bizarre request.
After setting the trap, Jiang Zhou got back in the car and parked a bit down the street, just outside the villa community.
Then he pulled out his phone and dialed Yin Shuya.
The call connected after two rings.
“Hello? Decided to sell Ganfanren to me after all?”
“Sell your sister. Keep dreaming.”
Yin Shuya sneered, “You handled a bunch of off-campus orders today, didn’t you?”
Jiang Zhou stayed calm. “You can keep placing them if you want. I’m not delivering, and I’m not refunding either.”
“No problem. I’ve been placing them randomly. You guys can waste time filtering them out. It’s like picking red beans out of a pile of black ones. It’s not too easy, right?”
“I’ll have the devs build a program tonight to auto-block any account with the name Yin Shuya!”
Yin Shuya laughed again, “Then I’ll just have my people change names. Every one of them will use their own.”
Jiang Zhou faked anger. “You know karma’s real, right?”
“Karma? A college student like you still believes in that stuff?”
Just as she finished speaking, a loud crash echoed through the phone.
Followed by the sharp sound of shattering glass.
No doubt, her massive French window had just been obliterated.
“You seriously smashed my window?!”
Jiang Zhou grinned. “Hey, don’t slander me. Would I be that childish?”
“You’re the only one who said you’d break my window! Who else would it be?!”
“I’m literally out on the street right now. What do you want me to do, teleport?”
As he spoke, Jiang Zhou held the phone out of the car window.
Sure enough, sounds of honking traffic, street vendors shouting, and the bustle of a city filled the call.
There was even a fruit-seller auntie yelling on the corner.
A high-end villa district could never have such noise.
The kind of wealthy folks living there would raise hell if they did.
The other end of the call went silent.
“It… really wasn’t you?”
“Of course not. Told you. Karma’s a thing.”
Back on her end, Yin Shuya’s place had turned into chaos.
“Go to the property office and check the security footage! I want to know who did it!
“Once I catch them, I— I’ll scold them until they cry!!”
Jiang Zhou grinned in satisfaction.
So what if they checked the cameras? Even if they saw him, he had a solid excuse.
That smug woman had been messing with him nonstop.
If he didn’t knock her off her high horse, she’d keep thinking the world revolved around her.
Feeling much better, Jiang Zhou drove back toward Shangjing University.
He had originally arrived at University Town around 3 p.m.
But after the little detour to set his trap, it was now dusk.
At the school gate, under the shady trees lining the path…
Feng Siruo stood quietly at a corner.
She held a piece of milk candy in her palm, eyes repeatedly glancing toward the street.
She had been waiting for more than two hours.
But she didn’t feel tired.
There was even a bench at the nearby intersection, sitting would’ve been easier than standing.
There were too many people at the school gate.
All the chattering made her anxious.
Just like that evening at the amusement park…
If Jiang Zhou hadn’t shown up that time, she would’ve had a full-blown panic attack.
And today was worse than back then.
She had no idea when he would show up.
If she waited too long, she was afraid she might just faint.
Just then, a honk sounded in the distance.
Jiang Zhou’s car slowly pulled into the campus.
Feng Siruo’s eyes lit up instantly.
She raised her hand, wanting to call out…
But then hesitated and covered her mouth.
Ah… there are still a few hours left before the three-day silence was up…
Back at Ganfanren’s office, Han Rou looked stunned as Jiang Zhou walked in. “You’re back already?”
Wasn’t he supposed to be out spending time with Feng Siruo?
Why is he back alone? Thɪs chapter is updated by 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵※𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮※𝓷𝓮𝓽
Jiang Zhou found the question odd. “This is my office. Where else would I go?”
Han Rou blinked. “Then where’s Feng Siruo?”
Jiang Zhou froze. “I just got back to Shangjing, how would I know where she is?”
“No, that can’t be. Didn’t you say on the phone that you’d be back at 3?”
“Oh, I went downtown to handle some business. Back and forth took two hours.”
Han Rou immediately pushed him out the door. “Feng Siruo went to the gate at 2:30 to wait for you. You didn’t see her?”
Jiang Zhou frowned. “She went to the gate? Why? Wouldn’t it make more sense to wait here?”
“I told her that. She insisted on waiting at the gate.”
“Goddamn. That girl’s really… something else.”
He threw on his jacket and ran straight toward the school entrance.
By then, the sunset sky had turned into a blazing sea of fire, like waves rolling in at high tide.
Fiery clouds stretched across the horizon.
The chill of autumn had already crept in.
The wind whooshed, sending dry leaves flying across the ground.
Along the shady path near the gate…
Feng Siruo, dressed in her hoodie, walked back slowly.
Her head hung low, cheeks puffed in frustration, hands buried in her pockets.
The front pockets of her hoodie were connected.
She would pass the milk candy from her left hand to her right… and back again.
But as she played with it absently, she suddenly walked right into someone’s chest.
Startled, Feng Siruo didn’t even look up.
She mumbled an apology, flustered. “S-sorry…”
The person in front gently patted her head.
Then looked down into her face.
“I’m back. Give me a hug?”