LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 2 - Did You Come Here Today to Humiliate Me?
“Looking for me for four years?”
Song Qiuzhi pursed her lips. Although the term “keeping” someone sounded unpleasant, was it really necessary to hold a grudge for so many years?
Indeed, her approach with Gu Yan back then had been rather crude and forceful.
She had appeared abruptly before Gu Yan, made the non-negotiable proposal of “keeping” him, and then presumptively ordered him around for nearly three years.
Song Qiuzhi hadn’t felt much about it before, but thinking about it now… perhaps he had reason to hold a grudge.
“So, have you come to humiliate me today, Gu Yan?”
Having figured out Gu Yan’s intentions, Song Qiuzhi’s expression turned cold “If you want to tell me how good your life is now… well, I get it.”
Hearing this, Gu Yan slightly furrowed his brows. “I meant that I’ve been looking for you for exactly four years, Song Qiuzhi.”
“Oh, should I give you a medal?” Song Qiuzhi responded expressionlessly.
Gu Yan stepped forward half a step, his tall figure almost blocking the dim yellow streetlight, his tone slightly rising “Song Qiuzhi, can’t you ever speak properly?”
“I am speaking properly, but you wasted so many years just to find me and humiliate me to my face…”
“I think you’re wasting your time, and it’s really utterly boring.”
In Song Qiuzhi’s eyes, Gu Yan now seemed like a fierce beast.
Oh god?
You spent four years looking for me over something so trivial, and you expect me to believe it’s not for revenge?.
Gu Yan almost laughed from anger, taking another half step forward: “Song Qiuzhi, I think we should talk.”
Faced with Gu Yan’s pressure, Song Qiuzhi instinctively stepped back twice, panic appearing between her brows.
This guy… he couldn’t be so exasperated that he wanted to beat her up first, could he?
“Don’t come any closer, this is a society ruled by law, I’m telling you.”
Song Qiuzhi said with a wary expression,”You know I’m really short on money, right? If you hit me, I’ll extort you until you can’t even afford to wear pants.”
Gu Yan looked at Song Qiuzhi and asked flatly “So you’re determined not to have a proper conversation with me?”
Song Qiuzhi took a deep breath, then said seriously. “We have nothing to talk about. What happened before is in the past, we shouldn’t have any connection now.”
“If what happened before really embarrassed you that much..”
“Fine, I apologize.”
“I’m sorry, Gu Yan, I was immature back then and hurt your pride.”
“Is that enough?”
Gu Yan didn’t speak, just stared at Song Qiuzhi for a while, then slowly lowered his eyes.
Although her past actions were indeed inappropriate, she really didn’t have time to waste here with Gu Yan, she was worried about her mother being alone at home for too long.
Just as she was about to say something more, Gu Yan spoke first—
“Mm, then you can go.”
Song Qiuzhi looked at Gu Yan, several times wanting to speak but stopping herself, but in the end she left without saying anything.
Gu Yan stood under the streetlight for a long time, until the small black dot that was Song Qiuzhi’s silhouette turned the corner and completely disappeared in the distant street corner, only then slowly withdrawing his gaze.
Turning his head, he looked at the bar with its flickering neon sign.
(Jia Lan Zhi Ye)
…
Medieval tavern-style retro decor, mixed with some of the owner’s personal aesthetic designs, this bar was quite nice.
This was the thought that surfaced in Gu Yan’s mind when he walked into the bar again.
Earlier while drinking, Sun Changhai had told him about the bar owner, the woman currently standing behind the bar mixing drinks must be the remarkable woman Sun Changhai had mentioned.
“Hello boss, one cocktail, anything will do.”
Gu Yan slowly walked to the bar, glanced at the extensive drink menu, but still left the decision to the owner.
Through the drink she recommended, he could probably analyze her personality, this was one of his usual tactics.
“You’re not here for a drink.”
Sister Jing just gave Gu Yan a brief glance and saw through his intentions, “Manager Sun brought you here before, right?”
“Manager Sun values you highly, so your status must not be simple.”
“When you were drinking and chatting, I noticed you looked at little Song singing more than once. Is this a rich person’s quirk, wanting to try playing with a girl from an ordinary family?”
Hearing Sister Jing’s words, Gu Yan felt somewhat impressed…
Sun Changhai was right—
She really did say whatever she thought, without showing deference to anyone.
“Sister Jing, right? You misunderstand.”
Gu Yan raised his hand and lightly tapped the mahogany counter, thinking as he spoke: “Ten bottles of Louis XIV, take your time opening them, and listen to my story, okay?”
I misunderstood?
Sister Jing stared straight at Gu Yan, and seeing that he wasn’t angry at having his intentions exposed, she became somewhat interested.
“Go ahead and speak, the alcohol… that won’t be necessary.”
“Thank you for being willing to listen to me ramble. Then let me start from the beginning, it was when I had just started my freshman year…”
“…”
Ten or so minutes later.
Sister Jing pushed the freshly mixed cocktail in front of Gu Yan.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. This is my first time seeing a weirdo who wants a cocktail without alcohol.”
Gu Yan picked up the glass and drank it all at once—he had indeed become a bit parched after talking for so long.
Sister Jing stared at Gu Yan thoughtfully for a moment, then took the initiative to ask: “What do you want to know? I don’t know too much.”
“Anything,” Gu Yan immediately replied: “Everything you know, you can tell me.”
Hearing this, Sister Jing nodded, then began recalling what she knew—
“The bar doesn’t lack resident singers, but that day a friend happened to be present when little Song came looking for part-time work, and told me a bit about her family situation.”
“Her father was the owner of Xinlan Real Estate, and died just a few months after bankruptcy, there are all sorts of stories about the cause of death…”
“But what many people don’t know is that around last year… her mother also became seriously ill, a lung tumor, simply put, lung cancer.”
“Although it was discovered early and should be manageable through surgery and medication, but you know little Song’s current family situation, she has to pay a large amount of interest to creditors every month, where would she find extra money for surgery?”
“I felt sorry for little Song, so I kept her on as a part-time singer, and set her wages as high as I could manage.”
“You say she previously, ahem, kept… kept you for a few years, though that wasn’t handled well, it really does fit her personality.”
This was probably all Sister Jing knew.
She didn’t have a habit of prying into others’ privacy, especially in Song Qiuzhi’s situation, where one wrong word might hurt her.
After hearing Sister Jing’s words, Gu Yan fell silent.
After who knows how long.
Gu Yan slowly raised his head to look at Sister Jing, breaking the silence first, “Sister Jing, thank you for today.”
“I have one last question.”
Sister Jing looked at Gu Yan, then nodded and said, “Go ahead and ask.”
Gu Yan organized his words, “Since she’s only working part-time at the bar, she should have other work, right? Do you know where she works?”
Hearing this question, Sister Jing thought for a moment.
“Let me think…”
“It seems to be something like, Fanxing Entertainment Company? Should be that, little Song mentioned it to me, it’s an MCN agency that incubates internet celebrities.”
Fanxing Entertainment Company?
Gu Yan repeated this name several times in his heart, then looked up at Sister Jing and nodded.
“Thank you for your trouble, Sister Jing, I’ll probably come again.”
“You’re welcome anytime,” Sister Jing smiled and said: “I suddenly remembered something else that might help you—”
“The old alley where little Song rents is going to be demolished, she asked me a few days ago to help look for cheaper housing nearby.”
“It needs to be close to Third Hospital, and the rent needs to be cheap, such houses are really hard to find…”
Hearing this, Gu Yan paused as he was getting up, then looked at Sister Jing again and nodded.
“Okay, I understand, thank you Sister Jing.”
“Mm, come play again when you have time, and pay attention to how you communicate, little Song has a fierce temperament.”
Hearing Sister Jing’s last words, Gu Yan thought of something and suddenly smiled.
“Mm, I know.”
“I’ve known for a very long time…”
…
…
In the dark alley, Song Qiuzhi stopped in front of a rusty security door.
Taking out her key to open the door, the bearings made a teeth-grinding sound as they rubbed together, which also disturbed the person in the bedroom.
“Is that Qiuqiu coming back?”
“It’s me, Mom, did you take your medicine on time today?”
“Cough cough… I took it, I left some food in the kitchen for you, just heat it up and you can eat.”
“Mm, okay, I’ll go wash up first, Mom you should rest early.”
“Cough cough cough! Okay…”
After a brief conversation through the door, the house returned to silence.
Song Qiuzhi sighed slightly, her mother’s condition was getting worse and worse, they probably couldn’t keep delaying the surgery…
But, having to pay so much interest to creditors every month, the family really had no money.
Thinking of this, Song Qiuzhi walked towards the bathroom while taking out her phone to open Douyin, planning to check how the data was for the work she posted this morning.
Sure enough..
Under an account named (Zhi Yu Qiu Tian), the latest posted video had only a mere four hundred likes, and less than a hundred comments.
Looking at the follower count again, today’s only good news was that she had gained another five followers, currently just seven short of breaking through the twenty thousand followers mark.
“Sigh…”
Song Qiuzhi sighed helplessly.
Just posting cover song videos really didn’t get much traffic, but if she were to copy those hit songs from her previous life, she didn’t have money for production costs, and the company had always been indifferent towards her, so she couldn’t count on them either.
“It’s too difficult.”
Muttering to herself, Song Qiuzhi simply turned off her phone and started washing up.
There was no use thinking so much, better to quickly wash up and eat, get a good sleep and think about how to handle tomorrow’s company meeting…
She felt like she was going to be criticized by the unscrupulous boss again, and more importantly—
Her Douyin account was still performing lukewarmly, tomorrow she’d probably have her bonus deducted again.