At her words, for the first time since he entered the door, Cheng Jun looked at her. As if looking at a stranger, there was no change in his expression.
“The house cannot be given to you.”
The house? Ruan Jiu Jiu paused.
On the table were two divorce agreements. Ruan Jiu Jiu hurriedly flipped through one, scanning through it. On the page was written that the divorce was due to the pair’s relationship breaking down. One party, Ruan Jiu Jiu, was renouncing any rights to real estate and physical assets, hence as compensation, the other party would give her all of his shares in the Cheng family’s business, which was the equivalent of roughly 5 million RMB.
The original novel had mentioned before that the Cheng family’s company was something that Cheng Jun’s father had owned and the size of the company couldn’t be considered large. It was only that after his mother had passed away and a stepmother entered the door, the relationship between father and son had soured. The amount of shares that Cheng Jun owned was very small, only amounting to a few million.
Ruan Jiu Jiu was a bit surprised. This flat was merely close to the downtown district, under 100 sq. meters, in an ordinary residential building. According to the female lead’s estimate in the book, at most it would be worth no more than 3 million, yet Cheng Jun was going to give her so much compensation?
No wonder the original Ruan Jiu Jiu immediately agreed to divorce.
According to the novel, this body’s original owner indeed happily accepted Cheng Jun’s terms and conditions. The female lead, as someone related, recorded a grudge. The female lead originally just wholeheartedly wished to marry Cheng Jun, but the few millions the female supporting character walked away with was enough for an ordinary person to comfortably live out the rest of their lives.
Ruan Jiu Jiu flipped the cover of the forms back into place and shook her head. “I’m not trying to negotiate the terms with you, nor do I want the house, I just don’t want to get divorced anymore.”
At this time, when she still didn’t have her bearings, stabilizing her surroundings and living conditions was the most important thing to do. In this short amount of time, Ruan Jiu Jiu had experienced a few twists and turns and her head was all jumbled up. Her only thought was to first find a place to recover her spirits and accept this new existence.
For the time being, no divorce, and only until she could confirm where this story’s plot had developed to would she decide upon her next steps.
Cheng Jun appeared not to care at all about Ruan Jiu Jiu’s change of mind.
“Alright.”
Or perhaps to him, whether there was someone by his side or not, what kind of person they were, was all an insignificant matter.
Seeing the instant noodles in Cheng Jun’s hands, Ruan Jiu Jiu raised an eyebrow.
She walked into the kitchen and rummaged through the food inside the fridge. If it wasn’t some kind of instant food, it was instant ramen, soda, that kind of high calorie, fattening type of food. There were no sign of edible vegetables or fruits.
Ruan Jiu Jiu thought silently. Was this the kind of household that never used the stove for a meal?
“Err…Cheng Jun, after you finish those noodles, let’s go on a quick supermarket run to buy some food.”
Cheng Jun slowly gave her a glance.
The meaning in his eyes was obvious, it was as if Ruan Jiu Jiu was a stranger who suddenly made a big, difficult request.
Ruan Jiu Jiu lamely found an excuse, “I can’t carry that much stuff, plus it’s dark outside already, and even raining.”
“……”
Typically, the body’s original owner and Cheng Jun lived in a situation where neither disturbed the other, and they could even go several months without ever speaking a word to each other. The original owner had once tried to seduce Cheng Jun, but it was a pity that Cheng Jun was well-known as a dense beauty, the kind of immovably dense, hard, like rock, that was impossible to warm up, and so gradually she had lost interest in having her overtures be met with his cold rejection.
Ruan Jiu Jiu only wanted to maintain a relationship with Cheng Jun where they displayed the level of polite concern of roommates.
“After eating, change your clothes or you’ll catch a cold.”
Cheng Jun didn’t take the opportunity to respond. Holding his noodles he entered the study, the door closing soundly.
Ruan Jiu Jiu only took a glance, and saw that inside seemed to be a single twin size bed. Then thinking of how the room she slept in didn’t have any traces of men’s clothes or male necessities, she sighed in relief.
…Thank goodness, there seemed to be no need to sleep on the same bed.
Before transmigrating, Ruan Jiu Jiu was also a lone wolf. She didn’t have family or a boyfriend. She lived alone in a foreign city and rarely interacted with others. Now that she had an amicable roommate, she was actually rather pleased.
Who knows, maybe this life might actually be pretty good.
※
Cheng Jun changed out of his black hoodie and into some light gray exercise clothes. Just based on his face, he could pass as a high schooler and people wouldn’t question it.
He carried a few trash bags. Ruan Jiu Jiu followed empty-handed and looked around, observing the surroundings. The two were silent the whole way but it wasn’t awkward. There was a Wu Mart nearby that was only a few minutes walk away. Ruan Jiu Jiu expertly found what they needed and Cheng Jun pushed the cart. The two’s responsibilities were clearly split.
Cheng Jun’s phone suddenly buzzed. He stopped and answered, with one hand still pushing the cart.
A young male voice sounded on the other end. “Boss, the bug has been fixed. You want to come online and look?”
“I’m busy.”
Cheng Jun’s sight fell on a shelf a short distance away. Ruan Jiu Jiu was on her tiptoes trying to reach the toilet paper on the topmost shelf. Her cheeks flushed red from her straining. Her neck was craned and her arm was outstretched. She was clumsy and didn’t look like “her.”
He had an indiscernible expression on his face.
“Huh? How come you don’t have time? Haven’t you gone home?”
Cheng Jun lazily replied, “At the supermarket.”
“Supermarket?” The person had an urge to joke around. “Don’t tell me you’re with your wife!”
Cheng Jun’s reply was light and airy. “Mhm.”
The person on the other side fell dead silent for a few seconds, and then suddenly burst and said, “How could you guys…”
Cheng Jun hung up and cut off the clamor. He walked forward and easily reached over Ruan Jiu Jiu to grab a roll of toilet paper and throw it in the cart. Ruan Jiu Jiu was relieved and grateful. “Thanks.”
But all she got in response was the backside of Cheng Jun pushing the cart past her in a familiar fashion towards the shelf on the opposite side.
Ruan Jiu Jiu: “… Come back! Don’t get any junk food!”
……
At the same time, Tu Nan had been hung up on and was shocked. The people nearby asked, “What’s wrong? Did the boss say that we have to work overtime?”
“No.”
After coming to his senses, he cryptically said, “Guess what earth-shattering secret I just heard? Our boss is apparently shopping at the supermarket with his wife! Holy shit, to think that there would be a day where he would go out with someone. The sun is rising from the west!”
His words fell and there was a commotion.
Normally, their boss wouldn’t say a peep about anything to do with his wife. When the two wed, there wasn’t even a ceremony. They didn’t even know what this mysterious Mrs. Cheng looked like.
Now with this, maybe their relationship is actually pretty good, and it’s just that Cheng Jun is an introvert and is too shy to show it.
“Didn’t his wife want a divorce?” The only woman An Rou bit her lip and cautiously stated.
“Don’t speak nonsense! The boss doesn’t like people spreading gossip.”
“How could that be? My friend sometimes hangs out with his wife. I only recently found out.”
The group of single men suddenly took interest. “What does the Mrs. look like? Is she pretty? What’s she like?”
This time, their question hit the mark. She thought of the heavy makeup she saw on the other’s face. In comparison with her own light makeup, it was clear who had the upper hand. An Rou almost let out a laugh before covering her mouth. She smiled and shook her head.
“Her makeup is a bit heavy. I couldn’t really tell.”
……
In the short interaction, Ruan Jiu Jiu discovered Cheng Jun had a lot of good sides.
He would take the trash out and push the cart of his own initiative. He would pay without Ruan Jiu Jiu even needing to open her mouth. He was quiet and not rowdy at all.
Most importantly, he didn’t question Ruan Jiu Jiu on her abnormalities. She could just be herself and didn’t need to fake anything.
No, rather it might be more accurate to say that he didn’t take anything to heart, including herself.
Ruan Jiu Jiu originally wanted to ask if he wanted to eat dinner together. But Cheng Jun put down the shopping bags and immediately retreated to his room. She looked at him close the door and shrugged her shoulders. She decided to have noodles.
At night, Ruan Jiu Jiu rolled comfortably in her queen-size bed. She already decided to sleep until the sun was out the next day and then head to the mall to buy clothes.
Ring ring. Her phone sounded incessantly.
Ruan Jiu Jiu glanced at the caller ID. It was an unknown number and she ignored it. She was very calm. Soon, she received a few texts from the other party. It seemed like the other person was furious. They didn’t even bother to hide their anger.
In the WeChat records, this person was nicknamed Babe.
Xiang Rong was a gold-digging pretty boy. He didn’t have the best intentions. The original Ruan Jiu Jiu was either really dumb or just faking stupidity. She was entangled with and spending money on this sort of guy, and even promised to marry him after getting the money.
Stealing fortunes and ruining families was an unforgivable sin.
Xiang Rong was texting her nonstop, as if he were afraid that she would disappear on him. He was only a step away from chasing her down to her front door. In the middle of his stream of texts, a friend named Yun Yun texted her with advice.
[Qiu Qiu, you’re mad aren’t you… Xiang Rong is just like that. Don’t fight with him. We’re still waiting for your good news]
[Oh right, how’s the divorce coming along? Tomorrow wanna hang out and celebrate?]
Ruan Jiu Jiu stared at the name written on the screen. It was very familiar. In her Wechat moments there were many photos of her and Ruan Jiu Jiu posing together, yet this best friend was clearly quite close to Xiang Rong.
Xiang Rong had been introduced to her by this friend, or to say it less nicely, he had been pimped out by her. Their relationship wasn’t that simple.
Only
This troublesome matter couldn’t be avoided forever. Aside from personally resolving it, there were no other alternatives. Ruan Jiu Jiu calmly sat up straight and messaged each of the two separately.
[Xiang Rong, let’s meet up tomorrow.]
[Yun Yun, tomorrow I’ll bring Xiang Rong to meet you guys. See you there.]
Ruan Jiu Jiu closed her phone.
She wanted to see what this group of people were planning to do.
Author’s note:
Ruan Jiu Jiu: Counter soldiers with arms, water with earth. Each situation has its own method. If that’s not enough, release Cheng Jun.
Cheng Jun: ……
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