Chapter 4_2

A man who looks even richer than Dad getting a mistress set up in this kind of neighborhood? Qu Xiaojuan rationalized her guess.

But as soon as she entered the door, she heard the sound of the elevator clanging open behind her. She immediately became alert, twisted her slender waist and pressed against the door, peering through the peephole to investigate. Sure enough, the two men and one woman who came out of the elevator were whispering and moving swiftly into the room across from hers, 2201. "Wow, grandma's got a live scoop tonight," Qu Xiaojuan stealthily waited for the opposite room's door to close tightly, then with a twist of her waist, she darted out the door, into the elevator, and headed straight for the basement. On the scene she snapped shots of two luxury car plates with her cell phone and immediately sent an MMS to a friend she had just parted ways with at 77 Bar for identification.

Soon, the callback came, "They're both Tan Zongming's cars. But the boss's new favorite is said to be a red Ferrari, which I haven't seen in the flesh yet. Where did you spot them?"

"Below the apartment complex I'm living in, yes, the shabby one I'm currently residing in. Don't ask me; I don't know any more than you do. Hey, what does Tan Zongming do?"

"Big shot, way out of our league, someone with a background."

Big shot?! Qu Xiaojuan glanced back at the two cars once more, cleverly dived back into the elevator. Wow, what a bombshell!

There's substance to this! Back in her own nest, Qu Xiaojuan stayed glued to the peephole until Tan Zongming and his driver left. Fortunately, the two men only stayed for about fifteen minutes, which her eyes could tolerate. But she was still so insatiably curious that she went downstairs again; this time the Maybach was gone, and only the white Porsche GT2 remained in its place.

When Qiu Yingying got up in the morning, the first thing she saw was a note from Guan Ju'er with just one sentence, "Manager Bai will text you around 12:15 PM to ask for your address, he said he'd pick you up on Saturday morning on his way." That was all it took to blind her to everything else; Fan Shengmei's advice, Guan Ju'er's analysis—all out of mind, as sparkly smiles of Manager Bai flashed before her eyes. She bumped into the bathroom door, mistakenly used toothpaste to wash her face, and only after she had finished putting on her makeup did she think to take a shower and wash her hair to look even more beautiful. Her clattering around woke up her two roommates, who couldn't sleep anymore and lay there sheepishly counting sheep in their beds. Fan Shengmei was even annoyed to think of that silly girl ignoring her advice and got up unhappily from her bed.

As Qiu Yingying was about to step out the door all dressed up, she saw Fan Shengmei and gave a foolish smile, "Fan Jie, do I look good this way?"

"Very nice, very nice. Just don't forget to attend class, or that you've got your CPA exam. Hmm, put on that amethyst necklace of yours." Fan Shengmei couldn't bear to see Qiu Yingying leave the house looking less than perfect.

"Yes, Fan Jie." Qiu Yingying immediately dashed into the bedroom to find her necklace, rummaging through the drawers with a loud clatter, until at last she emerged triumphant, wearing her victorious smile and the purple amethyst, drifting to the door. Amidst her confusion, she didn't forget to ask, "Fan Jie, where are you off to this Saturday?"

"Nowhere, just planning to count hairs in the mirror," Fan Shengmei replied weakly, leaning against the door frame.

Qiu Yingying muttered her acknowledgment. Fan Shengmei figured she hadn't listened at all and said nothing further, watching Qiu Yingying fumble with the elevator buttons from the corner of her eye, thinking that such chaos would mean losing any natural edge she had with the handsome Manager Bai.

But suddenly, Qiu Yingying dug through her bag for a moment, then dashed back in, brushing past Fan Shengmei into the bedroom, "I forgot my textbook!"

Fan Shengmei rolled her eyes, leaning against the wall and watching the show. When Qiu Yingying burst out again, she asked, "Got your pen? Notebook? Got money? Tissues? You must bring chewing gum for a date, got some? How about lipstick?..."

As Fan Shengmei asked, Qiu Yingying, without thinking, would rummage through her bag, and if she couldn't find something, she'd run back into the room with a shriek. Fan Shengmei's eyes were hurting from rolling, but she had to stop at some point. Finally, with everything ready, Qiu Yingying whisked past Fan Shengmei, running out the door, only to turn back at the doorway with a silly smile to politely ask, "Fan Jie, where are you going this Saturday?"

Even with the pain in her eyes, Fan Shengmei rolled them again, "I plan to chat with the first mosquito that bit my arm."

Waiting by the elevator, Qiu Yingying didn't even think before blurting out, "Then hurry up and smack the mosquito dead, it's going to itch like crazy."

"It's got my blood in it, how could I bear to hit it?" Fan Shengmei replied casually, her eyes though were already gleaming as they fixed on door 2203. She saw Qu Xiaojuan stepping out looking casually chic, holding a beautiful wicker platter. Meanwhile, Qiu Yingying, obliviously, had already rushed into the opening elevator doors.

As Qu Xiaojuan turned around after closing the door, she immediately spotted the bright-eyed Fan Shengmei and felt a bit awkward.

But she quickly approached with the wicker platter in hand, and said with a smile, "You left early last night, I didn't see you afterwards."

"I thought about what you said, and decided to go with the flow. Thank you. Oh, visiting someone?"

"The person across from us in 2201 moved in last night in the wee hours. She must be as inconvenienced as I was when I first moved in, so I'm bringing her some pastries and fruit to make friends and help each other out in the future. Do you want to come with?"

Fan Shengmei paused, surprised that Qu Xiaojuan had taken the initiative. Not wanting to fall behind, she quickly said, "Sure, sure, come in and sit for a while, I just got up and haven't even washed my face yet."

Qu Xiaojuan refused to enter, even though she could already smell the stuffiness wafting out from the room, the kind that comes from poor ventilation and too many people. However, she didn't leave, a person of her word, she'd said she would wait for Fan Shengmei and she wouldn't go back on it. But she ended up waiting quite a while, long enough for Guan Ju'er to get up and change clothes. Little did she know Fan Shengmei was busily applying a delicate makeup with some tricks up her sleeve.

The three girls stood in front of door 2201, with Fan Shengmei in the middle knocking on the door. Qu Xiaojuan tried to hide her curiosity, Guan Ju'er was still bleary-eyed, and Fan Shengmei was full of anticipation.

However, a voice came from behind them, "Are you looking for me?"

They all turned around and saw a tall and slim woman about 1.7 meters tall, dressed in sportswear as if she had just returned from exercising, with short hair, big eyes, a small mouth, and an upright nose. Logically, with such an outfit, she should look brisk and lively, yet there was a charming allure to her smile when she did. A beauty!

Qu Xiaojuan promptly explained that they were there to build a friendly neighborly relationship. Her thoughts indeed started to wander, "A beauty, hmm, the big fish Tan Zongming, Porsche sports car, explosive stuff."

Fan Shengmei was quite disappointed; it was another woman. Could it be that the city was really overflowing with leftover women?

The beauty spoke, astonishing the girls. "I just asked the taxi driver to take me around to the supermarket, park, subway station, and other places. The Ode to Joy Residential Area really is convenient. Going out of gate number one and turning left, cross three intersections, turn right, at the next cross intersection, turn left, pass one cross intersection, go under the overpass, and right again to reach the supermarket. Then go out of gate number one and turn right, go through two cross intersections, turn right again for the park. The subway is even more convenient. Out of gate number one, turn left, and you can see the station sign just looking across at the cross intersection. Sorry, I have a lousy sense of direction and need to memorize the routes to find my way around."

The beauty was Andy. Andy's original name was He Lichun, but she changed it to Andy he when she became a citizen of the United States. She had few friends, and most of her colleagues only knew her as Andy. The connection between He and Lichun, Andy always avoided mentioning. She told the three neighbors that her name was Andy, so they assumed her last name was An and her first name Di.

This book is first published by Xiaoxiang Academy, please do not reprint!