“The car’s broken down? You can’t come to pick me up? There’s no need…… I’ll find a way to get back to town myself…… I haven’t, it’s the housekeeper’s day off today, there’s no one at home….. Don’t worry about it. You don’t need to help me think up ways to call a car over, a lot of people drove here today. Later, I can just hitch a ride back to town…… Mm, no problem…… Bye.”

After she ended the call, “Liang Dou Kou” stood there for a while and then went back inside with her phone.

Only then did Jiang Qian Qian slowly walk out from behind the Chinese rose plant.

She tilted her head down and stared at place that “Liang Dou Kou” had been standing just moments before for a while.  She then lifted her head up to look at the dark cloudy sky and remembered that the morning weather forecast had said that there would be a rainstorm tonight. Suddenly, a light flashed across her eyes.

……

The weather hadn’t been that good the entire day. By the time Qin Zhi Ai had finished soaking in the spring, had a bath, redid her makeup, and returned to the private room, the sky was densely covered with black clouds. It was so dark; it was almost like night-time.

As the weather had suddenly worsened so badly, many people were worried that when the rainstorm started, they wouldn’t be able to return to the city[1], and one after another started suggesting they call it a day.

Before one of the girls, who had a pretty good relations.h.i.+p with Liang Dou Kou, was going to leave, she asked Qin Zhi Ai, “Xiao Kou, how will you be getting back? Will anyone be coming to pick you up?”

Qin Zhi Ai was about to say, “The agency’s car broke down,” but Jiang Qian Qian, who was by the window in the middle of chatting with Lin Rong, suddenly turned her head and said in a loud voice, “Of course Liang-jiejie has someone to pick her up. When I was soaking in the spring before, I accidently came across Liang-jiejie talking on the phone with Sheng-ge[2], saying that she’d be getting Sheng-ge to come and get her.”

Since when did she call Gu Yu Sheng to tell him to pick her up? Qin Zhi Ai frowned, and was about to ask Jiang Qian Qian that question when Jiang Qian Qian tilted her head and spoke again while beaming at Qin Zhi Ai with a harmless expression. “Liang-jiejie, could it be that when you were talking on the phone, Sheng-ge didn’t agree to pick you up? When I left the house at noon today, I heard my big brother say that he and a few others were going to play cards at Gold Jade Splendour[3]. Don’t tell me that Sheng-ge has the time to play cards but doesn’t have the time to pick you up?”

“Sheng-ge’s gone too far! I’ll ring him right now!” Jiang Qian Qian pouted, put on an indignant expression and took out her phone from her bag.

The purpose of this whole self-directed, solo-act, which Jiang Qian Qian had gone through a lot of trouble to put on, was probably to prevent Qin Zhi Ai from hitching a ride.

But Qin Zhi Ai had to admit that Jiang Qian had made an exceptionally good move this time.

Even though she knew Jiang Qian Qian’s objective, she had no other option but to play into her hands.

This was because she couldn’t let Jiang Qian Qian ring Gu Yu Sheng. If he didn’t answer, it’ll still be fine, but if he did answer, and heard that she was getting him to pick her up, she didn’t what he would say. Jiang Qian Qian would then find the right moment to make a big fuss out of nothing, and with so many girls from distinguished families here, the news that Gu Yu Sheng hated Liang Dou Kou’s guts would spread through all of Beijing in a flash.

Leaving aside that fact that she would have failed her task and wouldn’t be able report back to Liang Dou Kou, she herself wasn’t willing to let other people make a laughingstock out of her either……

[1] As the hotspring resort is in the outskirts/suburbs of Beijing, returning to the city/town simply means returning to the central city area.

[2] 哥(gē) means brother. Is used to call your older brother or an older male you’re close to. Sheng is part of Gu Yu Sheng’s name, so she’s calling him Brother Sheng.

[3] 金碧辉煌 (jīn bì huī huáng) It’s probably a hotel that exists in Beijing. Couldn’t find the English name so I translated it directly.