Chapter 47: The Certified Bastard

Bei Luonan forcefully broke free from Meng Xingzhe’s chokehold and scrambled away in a panic.

Once he was out of Meng Xingzhe’s reach, Bei Luonan started ranting, “You have the nerve to blame me? I just started it, but weren’t all those offensive remarks your own doing?”

Meng Xingzhe glared at him fiercely, as if he wanted to tear him apart with his eyes.

“Who told you to start it? Do you always have to be the one to speak up? Should I tell Ling Xiaoxin about all the times you’ve chatted up girls?”

Bei Luonan panicked, “We were just fooling around! Don’t go making up stories to her, or I’ll fight you!”

“I’m ready to fight you right now!” Meng Xingzhe said, lunging at Bei Luonan.

Bei Luonan grabbed a broken lamp from the bedside, intending to use it as a weapon for self-defense.

Meng Xingzhe shouted at him, “Put it down!” He pointed to another lamp on the nightstand, a stylish and elegant Italian piece. “If you’re going to use one, use that!”

Bei Luonan looked at the broken lamp in his hand. “What’s so special about this lamp? Why are you so nervous?”

Meng Xingzhe rushed over, snatched the lamp from him, and gently placed it back on the nightstand.

“My lamp broke, and this one is borrowed. If you break this one too, how am I supposed to sleep tonight?” he said, feeling quite justified in his reasoning.

“There’s more to it, isn’t there?” Bei Luonan’s mind raced. “This lamp is so plain, it doesn’t match your style at all. Could it be… Yao Xiaojia’s?”

Meng Xingzhe cursed at him under his breath.

“Swearing means it’s true!” Bei Luonan said gleefully. “Thanks to your big mouth earlier, even if you had any hidden feelings, you’ve ruined your chances completely. You’ve offended everyone!”

He rubbed his sore neck and, as if to vent his frustration, said to Meng Xingzhe, “Serves you right for being so obnoxious!”

**

Meng Xingzhe was so furious that he ignored Bei Luonan for the rest of the day, determined to punish him with silence for his loose tongue.

Before bed, he tossed a sleeping bag from the storage compartment under the bed to Bei Luonan, saying irritably, “Don’t sleep on my massage chair. You’re not worthy!”

Bei Luonan, however, was overly grateful, almost theatrically so. “Oh my gosh, Xingxing, did you feel sorry for me after the last time I slept on your massage chair and secretly bought a sleeping bag for my next visit? Oh, Xingxing, you’re so considerate and sweet now!”

Meng Xingzhe nearly gagged. “If you disgust me any more, I’ll drown you in the toilet!”

Bei Luonan set up his makeshift bed next to Meng Xingzhe’s. Before sleeping, he tried to negotiate, “Xingxing, how about we turn off the lamp tonight? I’m here with you, so what are you afraid of?”

But Meng Xingzhe flatly refused.

“No way.” After a pause, he sighed, “No one has ever made me feel comfortable enough to sleep with the lights off.”

******

Yao Jia stormed out of Meng Xingzhe’s place, fuming as she returned to her room.

She recounted the conversation between Meng Xingzhe and Bei Luonan to Ling Xiaoxin. Repeating it only reignited her anger, and she felt furious all over again.

“I’ve never met someone so shameless and full of themselves!” Yao Jia ranted, hands on her hips, venting to Ling Xiaoxin. “Isn’t he just a wannabe gold digger himself? And yet he looks down on others for the same thing? I’m so mad, if I reveal my true identity, he’d probably be scared enough to call me godmother!”

Ling Xiaoxin comforted her, patting her back and soothing her, while cursing Meng Xingzhe for not recognizing a gem when he saw one, and vowing to cut ties with Bei Luonan as well.

Even as Yao Jia lay in bed, she couldn’t shake off her anger. Her dreams were filled with frustration, and when she woke up, she felt like a balloon about to burst. She had never been this angry, not even during her father-daughter sparring matches with Yao Bingkun.

Yao Jia wondered if Meng Xingzhe, this pretentious troublemaker, was sent by the heavens to test her patience.

As she left the house in the morning, she ignored Meng Xingzhe.

Meng Xingzhe, Bei Luonan, and Ling Xiaoxin were all in the same elevator with her. Besides them, there was an elderly couple.

The old man was saying to the old woman, “The family downstairs is at it again. They’ve found some remedy, claiming black ants can boost a child’s brainpower. So now they’ve got jars of live black ants, grinding them into powder for the kid to eat. Aren’t they worried about poisoning the child?”

The old woman replied, “Well, it’s their family, they can do what they want. But those ants are everywhere. I’ve asked Old Li and Old Wu, and they say they have black ants at home now too. If I find them in our place, I won’t let it go. I’ll go downstairs and give them a piece of my mind!”

Yao Jia listened to their conversation, realizing the ant-raising family lived above them and had once piggybacked on their Wi-Fi. When the old couple mentioned black ants, she thought she heard someone in the back of the elevator gasp, as if very excited.

Thinking about the eccentric neighbor upstairs, Yao Jia almost got excited herself. She mused that peculiar people never cease to surprise; they always come up with new antics, forcing everyone to strengthen their ability to withstand such shocks.

Exiting the elevator, Yao Jia strode forward, leaving behind the person who had infuriated her like a balloon.

As she reached Kunyu Building, Yao Jia received a message from Ling Xiaoxin: [Jiajia, this morning after I went downstairs, while waiting for the bus, I saw Meng Xingzhe and Bei Luonan fighting in the middle of the street. It was so disgraceful and ugly.]

Yao Jia chuckled to herself. Fight, fight to the death.

Ling Xiaoxin continued: [Meng Xingzhe grabbed Bei Luonan’s head like a sandwich, cursing him, saying it was all his fault for being a blabbermouth, and that’s why you roll your eyes at everyone first thing in the morning.]

Yao Jia thought, “…” Her eye rolls were clearly targeted, specifically reserved for Meng Xingzhe!

Ling Xiaoxin added: [Bei Luonan retorted: Ha! Anyway, you think the little customer service girl isn’t good enough for you, so why do you care if she rolls her eyes at you?]

Yao Jia mentally spat at Meng Xingzhe once more. This was the ten thousand and eight hundredth time since last night.

Ling Xiaoxin went on: [Meng Xingzhe said: Bei Luonan, you bastard, I’m not living with her, but I still need to borrow money from her, right? Now you’ve blocked my way, and you won’t lend me money either. Damn it, I’ll crush you!]

After reading Ling Xiaoxin’s account, Yao Jia couldn’t help but roll her eyes again in exasperation.

He actually had the nerve to blame others.

He actually had the nerve to still want to borrow money from her?!

He really was an internationally certified jerk!

After clocking in at the call center, Yao Jia sat at her workstation, determined to ignore Meng Xingzhe.

She stared straight at the computer screen, cold as a machine, and said to Meng Xingzhe without emotion, “Pay back the money quickly. Once it’s settled, let’s part ways. From now on, let’s not bother each other to avoid any misunderstanding that I have any intention of pairing up with you!”

Meng Xingzhe once again shattered Yao Jia’s understanding of him. Upon receiving the debt reminder, he shamelessly told her, “I have no money now, just a life. Either let me keep washing dishes to pay off the debt, or just kill me.”

Yao Jia was so infuriated she didn’t want to deal with this shameless scoundrel anymore.

No matter how Meng Xingzhe tried to strike up a conversation afterward, she treated him like air.

No, like a fart.

Even during break time, Yao Jia refused to go to the break room with him.

She used her aloof demeanor and actions to show Meng Xingzhe that if you look down on others, you’ll be looked down upon like a dog!

During the afternoon break, Yao Jia received another message from Ling Xiaoxin, telling her, “Hao Lidan came to the office after visiting the hospital. We went over all the evidence together, and everything is going smoothly. Don’t worry! Once we have all the materials ready, I’ll help her file a case in court.”

This was the only piece of good news Yao Jia received on an otherwise frustrating day.

In the break room, she shared the news with Tian Huasheng.

Tian Huasheng clapped his big hands and said, “That’s great! I knew you and Brother Meng could solve my problem, so you could definitely solve Sister Hao’s problem too!” He praised Yao Jia, “Jia, you’re amazing. Sister Hao often targeted you, but if it were me, I’d definitely hold a grudge. Yet when she’s in trouble, you not only didn’t step on her, but you sincerely helped her. Jia, your quality of not holding grudges is something I should learn from!”

Yao Jia modestly replied, saying it was nothing. She vaguely felt that Tian Huasheng’s compliments today seemed to have a specific purpose.

The next moment, she realized Tian Huasheng, like a mediator, was pulling her and Meng Xingzhe’s hands together, sealing them with his big paws so tightly that she couldn’t pull away.

…Yao Jia cursed inwardly, thinking Meng Xingzhe’s slippery hand was quite annoying.

Looking up to glare at Meng Xingzhe, she noticed his gaze was unfocused.

Holding Yao Jia’s hand, Meng Xingzhe’s thoughts drifted far away. As a child, he read Jin Yong’s “The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber” and never quite understood what it meant when Zhang Wuji felt his heart flutter for Zhao Min. He thought such feelings might lead to a heart attack.

But in the moment Tian Huasheng forced him to hold Yao Jia’s hand, he seemed to understand what it meant to feel one’s heart flutter. It really did feel like a heart attack. The girl’s delicate hand was so soft it seemed to have forgotten to grow bones.

Tian Huasheng’s voice brought him back to reality.

“Jia, although I don’t know what caused the rift between you and Brother Meng, and of course, whatever it was, it must have been Brother Meng’s fault. But Jia, you’re an exceptional, noble person with a great spirit who doesn’t hold grudges. So why not give Brother Meng a chance and make peace with him?”

Yao Jia felt that having Tian Huasheng work as a Customer Service Representative was truly a waste of his talents. With his skills in mediating disputes, he should pursue further studies to become a negotiation expert. She thought that if she ever accidentally gained power one day, she would definitely appoint Tian Huasheng as a supervisor for resolving After-sales Service disputes.

Thanks to Tian Huasheng’s efforts in mediation, Yao Jia felt slightly relieved. However, she was still quite angry.

She believed that the only way to let go of her anger was for Meng Xingzhe to personally apologize to her. Otherwise, he would forever be nothing more than a nuisance in her eyes!

— Translator’s Notes —

– Jin Yong’s “The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber”, Zhang Wuji, Zhao Min: Jin Yong (pen name of Louis Cha) is a renowned Hong Kong author famous for wuxia (martial arts and chivalry) novels. ‘The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber’ is one of his classic works, set in the Yuan dynasty, where Zhang Wuji is the protagonist, a young martial artist and leader of the Ming Cult, and Zhao Min is a intelligent Mongol princess who becomes his romantic interest.

– black ants can boost a child’s brainpower: In traditional Chinese folk medicine, black ants (often Polyrhachis species) are sometimes used as a tonic for vitality, anti-aging, or health benefits due to their purported nutrients like proteins and acids, though claims of boosting brainpower are more anecdotal or exaggerated in popular remedies.