Chapter 109
Chapter 109 – Xia Menghuan x Liao Zhenyu III (Translated and edited by Xing)
That day, Liao Zhenyu was deeply on edge as he gamed with Xia Menghuan . He kept feeling that she would put an end to him at any moment with a round of bullets . Thankfully, she seemed to maintain a shred of rationality towards him and only continued picking up junk contentedly .
Liao Zhenyu felt that the junk collection-focused Xia Menghuan was too cute and docile .
He looked at the sky, invisible tears streaming down his face .
Just how wretched am I!
……
The next day was pay day . The students holding part-time jobs in the ice stadium organized a meal gathering after receiving their pay . As luck would have it, Liao Zhenyu happened to meet the girl who badmouthed Xia Menghuan yesterday .
In other words, the same girl who reportedly had a crush on him .
The girl was called Ji Ying and Liao Zhenyu had talked to her a few times before . They were not close but could not be considered strangers either . Ji Ying found an excuse to toast Liao Zhenyu but he did not feel like toasting her . This was mainly because of how she painted Xia Menghuan negatively yesterday . It made him felt that she was an unkind person .
However, if he was to reject her like this, he would be spurning her publicly, which was not graceful either . Liao Zhenyu was someone who was rather amiable .
While he hesitated, Xia Menghuan who was sitting beside him looked down and fiddled with her fingers . She seemed nonchalant as she remarked, “Liao Zhenyu, don’t start drinking . ”
“Mm?” Liao Zhenyu raised a brow and looked at her . “Why?”
“Because if you’re drunk…” Her tone was loaded with meaning .
She did not complete her words . Liao Zhenyu did not hear the latter half of her sentence even after waiting for a while . Thus, he asked, “Will what?”
Xia Menghuan beckoned him over . He immediately bent down and faced his ear towards her . Xia Menghuan whispered, “Your butt will hurt . ”
Liao Zhenyu only realized what “butt will hurt” meant after thinking over it for a moment .
Ahhhhh! Rogue!!!
Liao Zhenyu’s face turned ashen . He wanted to retort and fire back but did not know what exactly he could say . He could only stare at her with his mouth open and tongue tied, looking absolutely indignant with his eyes filled with denunciation .
Seeing their interaction, Ji Ying was somewhat cross . She abandoned the toast and walked away with a surly expression .
Liao Zhenyu had no attention to spare for Ji Ying . He looked at her with reproach, his lips moving soundlessly for a good while before he finally blurted, “You rogue . ”
Xia Menghuan continued eating, with not even a twitch in her brows .
……
After the gathering ended, Liao Zhenyu and Xia Menghuan left side by side . He lowered his head to look at her and saw her rubbing her tummy in satisfaction from having a good meal . When he thought of how she teased him earlier, he became a little annoyed again . He said, “Why are you so bawdy as a girl? Just who did you learnt all these from? ”
“From television shows . ”
“Seriously, which television channel would broadcast this?”
Sponsored Content
“Japanese television shows?”
“Please, Japanese shows doesn’t show all these . Do you think that I’ve never watched a Japanese show before? There’s much more reserved than you . ” As Liao Zhenyu spoke, he noticed how unrepentant Xia Menghuan looked . “Schoolmate Xia Menghuan, I’m very curious about what you’ve experienced . ”
“Okay… I’ll tell you, but you can’t tell anyone else . ”
Liao Zhenyu was a bit surprised . “So there’s really a story behind this?”
Xia Menghuan nodded . “I used to be normal in the past and was someone extremely demure, meek, shy, innocent, kind, endearing…” Like a third-rate writer, she began spamming tons of adjectives .
Liao Zhenyu scoffed, “Are you charging by the number of words?”
“… I just want you to know what kind of person I used to be . ”
Liao Zhenyu was perplexed . He completely could not imagine how the heck Xia Menghuan would be like if she was demure, meek and innocent . He was startled by a sudden realization . Oh no, I’ve been brainwashed by her!
However, Liao Zhenyu still went against his conscience and said, “I know what you used to be like now . Talk about what happened next . ”
“Then… I don’t know why but I kept being harassed . I was still a child at that time . ” Xia Menghuan lamented innocently .
When Liao Zhenyu thought of how a tiny doll-like Xia Menghuan was being harassed by lewd men, he was immediately enraged . “Did you call the police? Lock all those perverts up!”
“There’s no use . The police would at most lecture them . It would have been better to have my parents by my side . But I can’t bring them along with me all the time . Afterwards, once, I saw a couple arguing on the streets . After the woman called the man an enoki mushroom, the man’s face reddened and he stopped speaking…”
Sponsored Content
When she went home and understood what the ‘enoki mushroom’ meant, she realized that there were things that men were afraid of as well .
This incident inspired her greatly and from then on, she fumbled her way onto a path of striking back in self-defence .
Though everything was purely in the name of self-defence at first, she somehow became better and better at being crude . Slowly, she evolved into a real rogue .
It was a mournful tale that could make anyone weep .
After hearing her story, Liao Zhenyu had the urge to laugh . At the same time, he felt sorry for her . He immediately forgave her for all the outlandish behaviour in the past and had the urge to rub her head .
Then, he really did ended up touching her head . He lifted his hand and gently patted her head twice as if he comforting a startled chick .
“Let me know if anyone dares to bully you next time . I’ll beat him up . ” Liao Zhenyu shook his fist as he spoke . This chapter is a labour of love that should not be found outside of teafragrance[dot]wordpress[dot]com .
Xia Menghuan’s heart was filled with soft warmth . She beamed . “Sure . ” She gazed at Liao Zhenyu for a moment and said, “Liao Zhenyu, since you know my secret now, you need to tell me a secret in exchange to make things fair . ”
“Ah?” Liao Zhenyu startled . “I don’t have any secrets . ”
“Hmm…” She held her cheek and thought for a moment . “Why not tell me how you willingly became my king’s lackey . ”
“That? That’s only a joke . We’re good friends and it’s not a feudal society that we’re living in . Who would take all that power structure seriously?”
Xia Menghuan did not buy his vague explanation . She pressed on, “So why is she the boss while you’re the lackey?”
Sponsored Content
“Guys should give in to girls . ”
Xia Menghuan met his eyes silently, clearly unsatisfied at his reply .
Liao Zhenyu could only continue elaborating . “Fine, actually… my boss is a pretty good person . ”
“Good in what way?” Xia Menghuan seemed determined to fully investigate this matter .
“When I was in staying in the school dorm during high school, there was a period when my dad’s company went bankrupted . He was deeply occupied with trying to get loans and forgot to send me my allowance for two months straight . I didn’t have the cheek to ask him for it either . My boss treated me to two months’ worth of food for every single meal . ” After saying this, Liao Zhenyu sighed, “And that’s the start of our steadfast friendship . ”
“Oh . ” Xia Menghuan nodded . Without batting an eyelid, she scanned his expression and remarked casually, “I thought you like her . ”
As if he had seen a ghost, Liao Zhenyu’s eyes widened . He exclaimed, “How is that possible! Can you not shock me like this? Though I admit that my boss is a good boss, she’s really not my type . ”
“So what’s your type?”
“I…” Liao Zhenyu swallowed and looked at Xia Menghuan . He was suddenly at a loss for words .
Xia Menghuan’s features were emphasized by the light and shadow under the street light, appearing more defined than usual . Her eyes were soft and bright, her gaze flawlessly innocent . She titled her head and looked at him, her appearance reminding him of a naïve and unguarded fawn .
Liao Zhenyu was too embarrassed to tell Xia Menghuan that from appearance alone, girls like her was his type .
However, girls like her were kind of devastating…