Make him mad
At 3:45 pm, Zhuang Yu'an walked into the cafe.
Glancing around, he found the woman wasn't there. He chose a relatively quiet corner to sit down and ordered an iced Americano.
After a while, a young woman who looked like an underground rock musician came over. She wore a strange hat, a rattling black leather vest, and a tattered black blouse with cutouts over it, revealing half of her pale shoulders.
Zhuang Yu'an's brows were furrowed with wrinkles and he lowered his head to avoid offending the other party.
But the image of the girl still lingered in my mind: she had a fair face, but with dirty, smoky makeup and poisoned crimson lips. A leather ring with a metal buckle was placed around her slender neck, and a bunch of decorations that looked like chains and fishing nets were wrapped around it, extending all the way to the tattoo below her collarbone - it was a hummingbird trapped in thorns...
The clanging sounds were getting closer and closer, and unexpectedly, a strange girl sat down opposite him.
Zhuang Yu'an raised his eyes and spent several seconds to finally recognize from the other person's eyebrows and eyes——
It's her!
In broad daylight, did the White Bone Demon reveal himself?
Zuo Xiao tilted her head to glance at him, a wicked smile on her face. She knew he was intimidated by her appearance. Well, her elaborate attire was well worth it. She'd even gone out to buy the tattoos this morning. By the way, Chen Liqing had also contributed to this; he'd come up with the whole design idea.
Her gaze drifted to the side. Across the table, Chen Liqing winked at her.
Zuo Xiao pulled out her phone, scanned the code, and ordered an iced Americano. Never mind, Zhuang was having an iced Americano, and she didn't want the same thing. She deleted the order and ordered a dirty one instead.
"Tell me, what kind of deal do you want to discuss with me?" She leaned back in her chair. "First of all, let me make it clear that I won't betray the Party and the country."
Disgust flashed across the man's eyes, but he quickly hid it and said seriously, "It was my sister who approached you?"
Zuo Xiao smiled lazily and asked, "What else?"
Zhuang Yu'an was asking questions knowing the answer. After a long conversation last night, he had already learned the whole story from his sister. Hearing that this half-baked teacher had come to his house to eat, drink, and chat for an entire afternoon, and had actually accepted 3,000 yuan from his sister, he instantly lost his temper!
While he was wealthy, it wasn't something he'd just gotten out of nowhere. Spending it on his sister was fine, donating it was fine, but supporting a poisoner who constantly polluted the mind and misled innocent girls was a problem! And it was a deeply insulting problem! The day before, he'd planned to have his secretary, Chen Quan, negotiate with her, but now, infuriated, he had to personally confront her.
Zhuang Yu'an took a sip of coffee to calm himself down. The most taboo thing at the negotiation table is emotional outbursts.
"Why do you think my sister wants to get close to you?" he asked coldly.
Zuo Xiao chuckled. "Then you have to ask her. There are so many people close to me, not just her. I don't have time to ask them one by one: Hey, what do you want to do by coming here?"
Zhuang Yu'an's throat tightened, and his heart suddenly felt blocked! This girl really couldn't be underestimated. She always picked out words that would poke people in the chest. She knew that he cherished his sister like a treasure, but she insisted on speaking to her as if she was worthless!
Even though he saw through the other party's trick, Zhuang Yu'an still felt angry. He gritted his teeth and unconsciously clenched his fingers around the glass.
Zuo Xiao was very proud of his small victory, and the look he gave his opponent became more and more arrogant.
The waiter brought a small, dirty cup. She downed half of it in one gulp, then turned and said, "Hello, could you give me another glass of ice water, please? Thank you." Then it occurred to her: Was she being too polite? There was this arrogant, bullying guy sitting across from her.
The man looked at him silently, and suddenly a fierce look flashed in his eyes. Zuo Xiao immediately became alert, and then he heard the other party say:
"I know you write novels online, and they're not very good."
Zuo Xiao's eyes suddenly went dark and his ears started buzzing.
Even Chen Liqing didn't know she was writing online—no, she had done a superb job of keeping it a secret, so anyone she knew in real life, or anyone who might know her, wouldn't know. Firstly, the most important thing to avoid when writing is revealing; it's wise to keep it under wraps. Secondly, writing is a form of self-exposure, especially for someone like her who writes for the love of it. She didn't want anyone she interacted with in real life to see through her.
Before today, she had never doubted the quality of her confidentiality. However, the truth was that she had been exposed, and her true identity, hidden under the pen name "Zuo Xiao Bu Pa Zhuo", had been revealed!
But why? Could it be that the problem lies with the two characters "Zuo Xiao"? Perhaps the search for her real name, "Zuo Xiao," resulted in "Zuo Xiao is not afraid of curses"? Or perhaps...
She stared blankly at the man's sharply defined lips, doubting whether the words he had just spoken had truly come from his mouth. However, her mind told her that she hadn't just hallucinated. He had clearly come prepared. What was he planning?
She stared at the unfamiliar man before her, anger welling up in her chest. Though she hated to admit it, this anger was clearly mingled with fear. It was like being suddenly thrown into a room, the lights blindingly bright, and you were standing there, not knowing who was watching you through the surveillance camera.
Noticing her breathing was becoming irregular, she reached for her coffee cup, hoping to calm herself with the iced drink, but her hands were shaking. She quickly pulled them back and hid them under the table.
After a while, she said calmly: "I don't know what you are talking about, and there is nothing to talk about with you."
As I stood up to leave, I heard the other person say, "Your pen name is Zuo Xiao Bu Pa Curse, and 'Jasmine Garden' is your third novel."
These words were like sparks falling into a haystack, instantly making her furious!
She leaned forward and slammed her palms on the table. "You're going to do me a human flesh hunt?!"
Everyone in the room looked over here. Zhuang Yu'an instantly felt regretful: I should have found a private room...
"Sit down and talk." He said in a deep voice.
At this moment, his emotions were extremely complex. He had long seen through her disguise, including her unintentional fear and vulnerability, as well as her forced calm and indifference. Somehow, his heart felt like it had been pricked by a small needle, and there was a faint pain.
Indeed, asking Chen Quan to investigate an online writer and expose her true identity hidden behind a pseudonym was hardly upright. When he issued this order, he was solely concerned with comforting his sister. He hadn't considered what to do once the person was found, let alone how they would react. The ID, "Zuo Xiao is Not Afraid of Curses," was merely a symbol.
But now, a living person stood before him. Even if some of her actions were abhorrent, she was still a person with flesh and blood and emotions, and a weak and helpless girl. He couldn't help but wonder if he had gone too far.
Time passed slowly. Zuo Xiao did not leave, but he did not sit down either. He just stood there condescendingly facing Zhuang Yu'an.
The other party was silent for a while, then suddenly said, "My sister is your loyal reader. She approached you to encourage you to continue updating your novels."
Huh?! A big question mark popped up in Zuo Xiao’s mind, followed by an exclamation mark.
Zhuang Jing's previous strange behavior was now explained: no wonder she approached him so abruptly and tried to please him in every way, no wonder she hesitated and refused to explain the whole story... The truth turned out to be like this!
She felt annoyed and ridiculous, and sat back in her chair with a sneer: "Is this the reason you wanted to expose me?"
"I hired someone to investigate you," Zhuang Yu'an explained. "My sister was simply trying to influence you with her childish tactics out of a simple desire to get closer to her favorite author."
"Of course, just because I helped her realize her wish doesn't mean I approve of the content you publish online." He said with a hint of disdain. "Whether it's aesthetic appeal or the values it conveys, your work isn't high-quality. It's even harmful to readers like Jinghao. So I hope you won't continue writing."
The more Zuo Xiao listened, the worse her expression grew. She felt her temples throbbing violently. She had shown the greatest self-control by not slapping the man when he uttered his last words.
She laughed out loud in anger, saying, "I think you're a garbage bag turned spirit—quite good at pretending! She reads hers, I write mine, what does it have to do with you? Do you fucking love to dramatize yourself so much?"
Zhuang Yu'an frowned. Not only because of the curse words, but also because her resistance reminded him of his sister: the two girls were equally naive and stubborn. Girls their age always felt they had plenty of youth to squander, and hadn't experienced much hardship in life. They only focused on today and not tomorrow, only to regret it one day.
He couldn't help but feel a headache and sighed slightly. After a moment, he said, "Miss Zuo, listen to my advice: life is short, and there are many things worth doing. Why waste your best years on creating electronic waste?"
Zuo Xiao raised her eyelids, and pointed at his nose, unable to bear it any longer, and scolded him, "Are you fucking sick? Can you please take care of yourself and stop bossing others around? I hate pretentious people like you the most! What a pretentious person! You're such a show-off!"
The string of swear words successfully angered the man opposite. His face looked extremely ugly and even the corners of his eyes were twitching.
After a long pause, he said in a deep voice, "Name your price. How much do you want to stop producing electronic waste and stay away from my sister?"
Zuo Xiao found this scene ridiculous. It felt familiar. In so many old romance dramas, the hero's mother slapped a blank check and asked, "How much do you want to leave my son?" But in this moment, the son was replaced by a younger sister, and the hero's mother became the father of all fathers!
My eyes cast towards the ice water on the table, and a picture emerged in my mind: she picked up the cup and arrogantly splashed it in the face of the person opposite her.
"You said what I write is electronic garbage?" She crossed her arms, smiling brightly. "Then may I ask, what kind of creature is your sister who likes to eat garbage? And what kind of creature are you, who was born from the same mother as her? I'm a proper human being after all. Why should I negotiate with a species like you?"
Seeing the bastard across from her finally lose his temper, his lips trembling with anger, Zuo Xiao felt extremely pleased. Out of the corner of her eyes, Chen Liqing gave her a big thumbs-up.
She became more and more proud and continued, "What I write, whether I want to write or not, is my freedom. What your sister reads, whether she wants to continue reading, is her freedom. This whole thing has nothing to do with you! Keep your stinky mouth and put away your daddy voice, understand?"
She stood up and said condescendingly, "Zhuang Jinghao has a class with me tomorrow night. Her legs are on her body. You're not trying to tie her up with a dog leash, are you? I'll wait and see, and I'm ready to call the police at any time."
He finished speaking in one breath and left, swinging his arms. Soon, Chen Liqing followed him, like a lackey.
"You can do it!" Chen Liqing grabbed her arm. "You don't need to use your voice to argue, and you don't use any dirty words to curse. Damn, no one can compare to you!"
In the coffee shop, Zhuang Yu'an gritted his teeth and clenched his fists as he looked at Zuo Xiao and her lackeys walking briskly outside the glass wall.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
