Chapter Thirty-Six: The Boss and the Lady Boss

“Hm?” Chen Hao couldn’t quite understand why Gu Mengyan was reacting so dramatically. “What’s wrong? I’ve always kept in touch with her!”

“And why do you keep in touch with her?” Gu Mengyan asked, clearly displeased.

“You little brat, you have the nerve to ask me that?” Now it was Chen Hao’s turn to be annoyed. “Back then, who was it that told me Fan Yirou was so pitiful and asked me to spend more time with her? Who was it that invited her to live in our house? If it weren’t for your sake, would I ever have had anything to do with such a scary girl?”

“Uh…” Gu Mengyan looked at Chen Hao with a touch of embarrassment.

“And another thing!” Chen Hao ruffled Gu Mengyan’s hair as he spoke. “Who told you that when you left for university, you never came home and wouldn’t answer your phone? If it weren’t for Fan Yirou, who I could ask for news about you, I’d have suspected you’d been kidnapped by aliens to become their queen!”

“Hmph!” Gu Mengyan quite enjoyed having her head ruffled, not minding her hair being messed up in the least. Still, she retorted stubbornly, “If I didn’t contact you, couldn’t you have come to find me? You knew exactly which university I was at—it’s not like the monk can run away from the temple!”

Chen Hao shook his head with a wry smile. “What kind of ridiculous analogy is that? Didn’t I explain my situation to you later? My father really did a number on me—he gave me no free time at all. I wanted to visit you, but I never had the chance or the time!”

“Tch! Hypocrite. If you really wanted news about me, why go through Fan Yirou? You think my dad wouldn’t know where I was? I think you just like how pretty Fan Yirou is, and her family’s well-off, so you set your sights on her. Asking her about me is just an excuse; your real aim was to have more chances to talk to her, wasn’t it?” Gu Mengyan feigned anger.

“Oh, come on! You know what my dad is like! Just so I’d focus on our family martial arts, he cut me off from everything else. What choice did I have? I had to rely on Yirou!” Chen Hao’s tone was full of helplessness.

“Hmph!” Gu Mengyan tossed her head and turned away. “You call her Yirou so affectionately! Looks like you two hit it off behind my back long ago. Inviting her to live with us was really bringing the wolf into the fold! Yirou? I think it should be ‘Soft Touch’—how does she feel in the hand, hmm?”

Chen Hao started coughing violently.

But Gu Mengyan wasn’t about to be interrupted by his coughing. “Don’t bother—coughing won’t save you. That Fan Yirou, I should never have invited her to my birthday party back then. She ate our food, lived in our house, and even tried to steal my man… my brother! If she’d had her way and married you, soon our family name would’ve changed to Fan instead of Chen.

“And to think I pitied her, thinking she had it rough, with a mother in a coma and a father who didn’t care. Sigh… one wrong step, and it’s a thousand years of regret!”

Chen Hao kept coughing.

Still, Gu Mengyan went on and on, listing all the grievances she’d suffered at Fan Yirou’s hands over the years, one by one. Then she reached into her bag and pulled out a doll Chen Hao had given her when they were children.

Chen Hao was surprised to see it. “Hey, you still have that old thing? It’s so worn out now—why not get a new one?”

Gu Mengyan shot him a disdainful look. “Why would I? I love this doll!”

Curious, Chen Hao looked at the doll in Gu Mengyan’s hand, and noticed three words written on its back—Fan Yirou.

Oh, come on… really?

Sure enough, just as Chen Hao had guessed, Gu Mengyan pulled out a needle from who-knows-where and began jabbing the doll with it relentlessly, muttering as she did, “Stupid Yirou! Bad Yirou! Rotten Yirou! I hate you! I’ll poke you to death!”

While she stabbed away at the doll, Gu Mengyan kept up her tirade. “Hurts, doesn’t it? Good! Now you know how tough I am. Let’s see if you dare bully me again! If you’re in pain, don’t just hold it in—cry out a little, it’ll make you feel better, and I’ll be satisfied!”

Her words, though spoken aloud, were really just a way to vent her frustrations. In truth, Gu Mengyan’s relationship with Fan Yirou wasn’t nearly as bad as she made it out to be. On the contrary, they were still close friends, more like frenemies who bickered and teased each other.

Aside from their first days of knowing each other, when they almost never fought, after living together for a while, their frequent squabbles became the norm. Most of the time, it was because Fan Yirou would deliberately provoke her, sometimes teasing her while she was in the shower and so on—it had happened before.

Other times, Fan Yirou would purposely pick topics to rile Gu Mengyan up. Later, as they grew older, Gu Mengyan suddenly realized that Fan Yirou’s bickering was entirely intentional—she seemed to particularly enjoy watching Gu Mengyan get flustered and upset. In her own words, seeing a girl hopping mad was just too delightful.

As for Gu Mengyan? Outwardly, she seemed carefree, outgoing, even a little domineering—but that was all a front she put on for Chen Hao. Deep down, she was quite a gentle, soft-hearted girl. If you told Chen Hao that, he’d scoff in disbelief, but the truth was, Gu Mengyan simply didn’t want to appear too vulnerable in front of him.

After all, every woman wants to show her best side to the man she likes. Still, she never considered that if Chen Hao liked those cute, gentle girls from anime, then acting so brash might not win his heart.

Or perhaps, deep down, Gu Mengyan knew exactly what she needed to do to make Chen Hao see her differently, but was afraid that if her dreams really came true, she wouldn’t know what to do next.

Chen Hao watched Gu Mengyan muttering to herself, stabbing the doll repeatedly in the car, and could only shake his head with a helpless smile at the people outside the window. Since Gu Mengyan had her back to his side of the car, she was completely unaware that someone was standing right behind her, watching her every move.

Oblivious, Gu Mengyan kept up her monologue. “Why aren’t you crying out? Go on, let me hear it! Could it be you’re in so much pain you can’t even make a sound? Wahahaha!”

Chen Hao was sweating profusely—Niagara Falls-level sweating! Silly girl, can’t you settle down for a moment? That terrifying woman you keep cursing is standing right behind you, watching everything you’re doing!

He kept trying to catch her eye, but she wouldn’t even glance his way. The whole scene was beyond awkward. Luckily, Fan Yirou wasn’t the least bit angry. On the contrary, she watched Gu Mengyan’s antics with great amusement, as if she were an elder watching a two-year-old at play.

Just as Chen Hao was about to step in and put a stop to it, Fan Yirou made a gesture for him to stay quiet, then opened her mouth—not to speak, but to let out a sound. The sound she produced left Chen Hao at a loss for words, and he couldn’t help having a very strange reaction.

For every jab Gu Mengyan made to the doll, Fan Yirou let out a soft, lingering “Ah~~” that sounded anything but painful—in fact, it was almost pleasurable.

The sensation she conveyed was nothing like the pain one would expect from being pricked by a needle; it was practically enjoyment.

Gu Mengyan, slow to react, didn’t catch on at first, and kept on talking, grinning to herself. “Heh, now you know how tough I am, huh? Hurts, doesn’t it? That’ll teach you not to mess with me!”

But as Fan Yirou continued making those sounds, Gu Mengyan finally realized something was wrong. The sound was coming from behind her—and it was a voice she knew all too well, one that filled her with both familiarity and dread. She stared wide-eyed at Chen Hao, her whole body trembling. Chen Hao could only nod helplessly, and Gu Mengyan’s eyes grew even wider.

Catching sight of the reflection in the car window on Chen Hao’s side, she saw who was standing behind her—it was her nightmare and best friend rolled into one: Fan Yirou. The terrifying woman was waving at her through the window, grinning.

Gu Mengyan ducked her head quickly, leaving only her backside visible, playing ostrich and pretending to be invisible. Chen Hao offered Fan Yirou an awkward smile—what else could he do?

“You’re here, Yirou! Sorry you had to see that…” Chen Hao said helplessly, tugging at Gu Mengyan. “Hey, get up, stop playing dead!”

Taking advantage of the moment, Gu Mengyan hastily stashed the doll and needle back in her bag. When she finally raised her head, her whole demeanor had changed—she now beamed with excitement and delight at Fan Yirou. “Oh, Yirou, what a surprise to see you here! I was just talking to my brother about you, saying how much I missed you, how I longed for the days when we all played together as kids.

“Did you sense my longing and appear before me like magic? Oh, you’re my dearest confidante, my very own Doraemon!

“You’re here to discuss your business plans with my brother, right? That’s wonderful! I wholeheartedly support your plans, and I want to join in too. I’ll work for you two—you’ll be the boss and the boss’s wife!”

Fan Yirou, completely unfazed, played along with a perfectly serious expression, not caring in the least that her little act had already been exposed.

She looked at Chen Hao, her tone amused. “What an adorable little sister you have.”

Chen Hao could only shake his head and smile wryly.

“But…” Fan Yirou let out a silvery laugh. “Were you serious about the boss and boss’s wife bit? Because I just might be interested…”