Chapter 26
By the time Ling Rong had single-handedly dispersed the group for the second time, Liu Chengyi was still stunned to realize that this person was actually here to help him!
Watching Zhang Jiacheng, as disheveled as he had been earlier, flee after being repeatedly knocked to the ground by Ling Rong, Liu Chengyi felt a hint of schadenfreude. However, the next second, a sharp pain in the corner of his mouth made him blurt out a curse.
"Are you not getting up?" A hand suddenly appeared in front of Liu Chengyi.
It was long and fair, not at all like a man's hand. Liu Chengyi quietly joked about Ling Rong's feminine behavior, but his body was honest, subconsciously gripping the helping hand.
With a firm pull, Ling Rong helped him to his feet.
"Why would you help me!" Liu Chengyi was bewildered, unable to understand why Ling Rong, with whom he had already had a falling out, would suddenly appear here and even save him. He remembered how he had almost tried to deal with him a few days ago.
Later on, when he found out that Chen Xuerou had tipped him off, he almost died of anger.
Ling Rong gave him a side-eye, “I'm not as petty as you. We attend the same school, and having you bullied by outsiders tarnishes the reputation of our high school. Otherwise, I couldn’t care less about saving you."
However, only she herself knew that there was no such thing as unrequited kindness, it was all just for some purpose. She hadn't forgotten what Qin Chaomu had done last time, but with the protection of the Qin family and him not being 18 yet, it wouldn't be easy to get him sent to jail for attempted murder.
But since Qin Chaomu had initially sent Liu Chengyi to intercept her, Liu Chengyi must still have their call records. If she could get these as evidence, wait for some time, then with the help of Elder Huo when the right opportunity arose, Qin Chaomu's good days would be over.
To get something from Liu Chengyi, Ling Rong was playing the sympathy card.
"You..." Liu Chengyi was provoked by Ling Rong's words. His anger rose slightly, but when he thought about how this person had saved him at his most helpless moment, and looking at the face which had once quickened his heartbeat, the flame of anger was instantly extinguished.
"You could have just let me be," said Liu Chengyi awkwardly. But the clenched fist revealed his true feelings.
"Hey, lend me your phone. I didn't bring mine, I need to call a ride home," Ling Rong kicked him lightly. If she had dared to do this before, Liu Chengyi would have surely punched her. But perhaps the heroic rescue came into effect, the other party, despite grumbling reluctantly, actually handed his phone over.
"What do you even do outside without carrying a phone?" Liu Chengyi couldn't help but snark while passing his phone, but his heart was pounding even more fiercely.
He couldn't be falling for a man, could he? Damn it!
In fact, Liu Chengyi had initially agreed to intercept Ling Rong for Qin Chaomu just to confirm whether the acceleration of his heart rate was real. He didn't intend to actually beat Ling Rong up. However, things turned out differently today.
Hmph, it must be because Ling Rong looked so feminine that he made Liu Chengyi mistakenly believe he was a girl. It seemed that Liu Chengyi needed to find a girlfriend soon to straighten things out.
Afraid to look at Ling Rong's face again, Liu Chengyi naturally didn't notice what the other was doing on his phone.
Upon opening the call history, Ling Rong quickly instructed the system: "Copy all of their chat and call records, you can do that, right?"
"No problem," replied #05. Although it was a dating system, it still had all the basic functions of a regular system. In less than two seconds, it fulfilled all of Ling Rong's requirements.
After finishing these, Ling Rong immediately returned the phone, pretending to have changed her mind. "Never mind, calling a car is too troublesome. I'll just hail a taxi outside. I'm leaving."
"Hey!" Seeing Ling Rong toss the phone back and walk away, Liu Chengyi hurriedly called out.
"Just a word of advice, don't get too close to Qin Chaomu!" Ling Rong inexplicably left this sentence and ran out of the alley without turning her head back. Liu Chengyi and his three or four subordinates were left in the alley, looking at each other in confusion.
Having carefully reviewed the story, Ling Rong knew that in the book, although Liu Chengyi was said to have pushed Qin Zhaoyang off the rooftop, it was not actually the case. At that time, the situation was different from the previous one. In fact, both Liu Chengyi and Qin Chaomu were present.
In fact, the person who actually pushed someone off the roof was Qin Chaomu, who decided to do it on a whim. However, the scene was too chaotic at the time, and Liu Chengyi didn't even know if he had accidentally pushed Qin Zhaoyang. Coupled with Qin Chaomu insisting that it was Liu Chengyi who pushed him, the blame was shifted to Liu Chengyi without hesitation. This caused Liu Chengyi to panic and desperately try to distance himself from the incident in the original plot.
In the end, Liu's family didn't have a good outcome. After Qin Chaomu completely took control of the Qin family, the first thing he did was to directly annex the Liu family's business, forcing Liu Chengyi's family into bankruptcy and eventually disappearing from the imperial city.
Ling Rong's reminder was the last bit of kindness she gave considering Liu Chengyi didn't actually cause Qin Zhaoyang's death.
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"You seem to be in a good mood. Did something nice happen?" At 1:30 in the afternoon, the Huo family's car arrived on time at the entrance of Ling Rong's villa area and picked her up.
Having obtained the evidence, Ling Rong was naturally in a good mood. However, she didn't want to mention these troubles to Qin Zhaoyang alone and casually said, "It's because I got to see you."
Seeing the handsome face of the male protagonist, Ling Rong was indeed quite happy.
Uncle Wang, the driver, clearly saw in the rearview mirror that his young master's face had indeed turned red because of Ling Rong's words.
Not only was the young master genuinely caring, but even Old Mr. Huo couldn't help but praise the child. The driver couldn't help but sigh that Ling Rong was truly very likeable.
As the car was about to reach the school gate, Ling Rong suddenly opened her mouth, "Uncle Wang, can you stop by the milk tea shop up ahead? I'll quickly buy a cup of milk tea and come back."
"Are you thirsty? I'll go get it for you. What flavor would you like?" Qin Zhaoyang was already preparing to open the car door.
Ling Rong quickly stopped him, "It's not for me, it's for someone else. I just don't know what kind of milk tea Chen Xuerou likes."
Last time, Chen Xuerou also contributed to Ling Rong's timely arrival on the rooftop. Ling Rong thought of buying her a milk tea as a token of appreciation. She had observed that the girls in their class seemed to like milk tea, especially in the afternoon when they would bring one to enter the class. That's when Ling Rong thought of buying milk tea as a thank you gift.
"It's for... Chen Xuerou?"
Qin Zhaoyang suddenly seemed stunned, and the joy in his heart from Ling Rong's earlier words immediately dropped, as if it had been drenched in a bucket of cold water.
He knew that Chen Xuerou was the school beauty of their school, but how could Ling Rong suddenly connect with her? Wasn't Chen Xuerou the one who made trouble for Ling Rong because of Liu Chengyi before?
Or was it that… Ling Rong had also fallen for Chen Xuerou?!
Qin Zhaoyang admitted that as the school beauty, Chen Xuerou indeed had the qualities to attract countless boys, but that person shouldn't be Ling Rong, right? How could Ling Rong suddenly like Chen Xuerou who is not even as pretty as himself?
Not realizing that someone beside her had unconsciously drunk a large bucket of vinegar (a Chinese metaphor for jealousy), Ling Rong finally explained the story about what happened last time. After hearing the ins and outs, Qin Zhaoyang's sunken heart gradually recovered, and a smile appeared on his face again.
"So that's it. Indeed, we should thank her deeply." Qin Zhaoyang cast down his eyes, hiding the deep desire for possession in them. However, in Qin Zhaoyang's view, he simply didn't want to lose his only friend so soon — he had seen enough examples of guys forgetting their friends after getting a girlfriend.
"Then I will go buy it. What do you want to drink? I will buy it for you too." Qin Zhaoyang remembered that Ling Rong liked something sweet, so if he was going to buy milk tea, he would naturally buy one for her too.
"An Oreo milk tea will do. I've been liking that lately." Thinking of the fragrant Oreos blending into the sweet milk tea, Ling Rong couldn't help but lick her lips, unbeknownst to her this small gesture was clearly seen by Qin Zhaoyang.
"Okay." The young man's voice seemed a bit hoarse, but Ling Rong didn't notice because his reply was short.
Once the car stopped by the milk tea shop, Qin Zhaoyang quickly got out of the car and walked into the shop.
"Hello, what can I get for you?" The uniformed clerk enthusiastically asked the incoming customer.
"One Oreo flavored milk tea, and also one..." Qin Zhaoyang scanned the menu, spotting a name and immediately said, "And a Passion Fruit Tea."
"Okay, for the Oreo Milk Tea, would you like to add pearls or nata de coco?"
"Nata de coco." Qin Zhaoyang replied without hesitation. Ling Rong always favored nata de coco more than pearls.
"What about the Passion Fruit Tea? Would you like to add honey?"
Passion fruit can taste quite sour unless it's fully ripe, so it's common to add honey to balance its sourness in drinks.
Still, Qin Zhaoyang didn't pause at all: "No."
Sweet foods can cause weight gain. Presumably, Chen Xuerou might care about this a lot, so he decided not to add honey for her.
The clerk was somewhat surprised, giving the young man a second glance. This was the first time a customer had ordered passion fruit tea and requested not to add honey. Weren't they afraid of the sourness damaging their teeth?!
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Author's Note:
Chen Xuerou: ???
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Thank you for the translation!
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