Chapter Four: Masterpieces of Humanity

Um?

Jiang Ran raised an eyebrow, looking at the orange twilight sky outside the window, somewhat puzzled.

At this hour?

"Who is it?" she asked.

The maid hesitated for a moment upon hearing this, and subconsciously glanced at Si Yanxiao not far away.

Jiang Ran fell silent.

Okay, this time I don't even need to do any divination to know he's not a good person.

She tossed out a "Okay" and turned to leave. In the instant the door closed, no one saw the man's slender fingers twitch almost imperceptibly.

As soon as Jiang Ran came downstairs, she saw a tall, thin man sitting on the sofa in the living room, acting all familiar with her.

“Baby, you’re finally down.”

The greasy sweet talk instantly made Jiang Ran look like an old man on the subway looking at his phone.

"Who are you……"

“Honey, nobody’s here, you don’t need to pretend.”

Lu Ziyi stepped forward with a cloying smile, his fairly handsome face radiating a fawning tone. The moment his large hand reached out, Jiang Ran slapped him across the face.

"Smack!"

He hit the bullseye hard.

"Who do you think you are? Do you even know where you are? How dare you lay a hand on me? You're asking for death!"

Her cold words, spoken like those of a queen, left Lu Ziyi, who was opposite her, stunned on the spot.

"Ranran, what are you saying? I'm Ziyi!"

Lu Ziyi was first surprised, then annoyed.

This woman usually acts like a sycophant, how dare she hit him today?

He held back for a moment, remembering the purpose of his trip, and could only forcefully suppress his anger, making up an excuse: "Is it because I didn't come to see you the other day? I already told you, I was busy with investments!"

invest?

At this point, Jiang Ran finally remembered who this Lu Ziyi was.

The original owner's previous lover was a lazy, good-for-nothing man from a poor background. If I remember correctly, this man was introduced to her by Song Yuqing.

Thinking of this, Jiang Ran couldn't help but glance sadly at the second floor.

The man lying on the bed probably has no idea that he's already being cheated on.

Jiang Ran sighed and rubbed her forehead, then frowned slightly and asked, "So, what do you want from me?" If it was something underhanded, Jiang Ran would show him why the flowers were so red.

Fortunately, Lu Ziyi simply sat down with a rather aggrieved expression, looking as troubled as an ordinary man.

"Ranran, you know, the project I recently invested in is in an emerging industry, which requires a lot of start-up capital. My family is poor, and I have younger siblings who need to go to school. I'm the eldest child, and they need me—"

When did you have your younger siblings?

Jiang Ran was too lazy to expose him. She just did a quick calculation and figured this guy was a seasoned actor.

He is destined to be guided by many treacherous forces, but in reality, he is extremely hypocritical.

A gigolo, an only child and a mama's boy, where did his younger siblings come from?

Lu Ziyi was taken aback and, just as he was putting on an act, suddenly didn't know what to say next.

"How...how did you know? No—"

He was a little flustered and stammered, "Ranran, that's not the point. The point is, I... I'm a little short on money lately. You know, I'm doing this for our future. After all, you promised we'd be together soon—"

Want to go together?

Jiang Ran couldn't help but sneer. What kind of international joke is this?

Why should I go with you?

She couldn't help but scoff, "Is the Si family broke, or am I out of my mind?"

Why would she give up a rich, handsome man and a great career to be with a smooth-talking, ordinary guy?

Lu Ziyi seemed not to have reacted yet. He was stunned for a few seconds before he came to his senses: "Ranran, what nonsense are you talking about? Isn't this our ultimate goal? You use the Si family's money to invest in me, this promising stock, and then I'll take you away from this boring place and get rid of those two little bastards?"

Jiang Ran frowned, and a question mark slowly appeared on her face.

"So, who gave you the confidence to think you're a potential star?"

Jiang Ran laughed, a bright and scathing laugh, a merciless mockery.

Lu Ziyi got angry and became furious: "Ranran, I have never minded that you have had a child, and I have never even touched you. That's because I cherish you and love you. How can you just treat my sincerity like this?"

Huh?

Jiang Ran suddenly stopped laughing. So, there's no real progress between these two yet?

This is truly an unexpected delight!

"Ahem, well, what did you just say?" She coughed lightly, quickly becoming serious.

Lu Ziyi was taken aback by her sudden change in attitude, looking completely bewildered: "I'm truly sincere towards you—"

"No, the previous sentence."

My investments—

"Okay, let's talk about your investments."

Jiang Ran abruptly changed the subject, saying that since they hadn't slept together, things would be easier.

This guy from a poor background is scheming to cheat her out of money, right? Well then she'll make him cough up whatever he cheated her out of!

"Ranran, do you mean you're willing to invest in me again?" Lu Ziyi thought Jiang Ran had returned to normal, so he quickly put on a loyal and devoted look: "Don't worry, this investment will definitely pay off, and I will give you a satisfactory answer."

Jiang Ran nodded in a pretentious manner before starting to spout nonsense with a straight face.

“Ziyi, as you know, I recently sold all my shares in the Si family company. If I had sold them, I might have made tens of millions. But because I had to find people to smooth things over, I’ve already spent a lot of money.”

She sighed with feigned melancholy before saying, "Ziyi, we've been together for so long, and it seems like you've never given me anything except money. You know, smoothing things over costs a lot of money. If we can't speed things up, and if Grandpa Si finds out, we'll have wasted our time."

After Jiang Ran finished speaking, she stared at the man in front of her with her beautiful eyes full of tears, her face saying, "Do you understand?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Ziyi's eyes lit up immediately, and he quickly began to pledge his loyalty: "I understand, Ranran. I still have 200,000 here. Although I... I'm also short on cash, for our future, I can give it to you—"

He took out a bank card and placed it on the table, but Jiang Ran looked disgusted.

"Two hundred thousand? That's not even enough for one of my maintenance treatments."

This natural sense of superiority is not Versailles at all, but it is enough to hit Lu Ziyi's most sore spot.

His expression immediately changed, and then he gritted his teeth before saying, "Ranran, you know my family is poor, and I don't have that much money..."

“Last month you said you needed 500,000 yuan for financing, so I transferred the money to you via mobile banking.”

As Jiang Ran spoke, she scrolled through the messages on her phone, reading them aloud one by one: "At the end of last month, you said you needed a decent outfit, so I transferred 100,000 yuan to your WeChat account."

She looked up as she spoke, her eyes sharp, and asked, "So, what do you think 200,000 yuan is enough for me to do?"