Chapter 103 Discovering the Secret of the Watch
"My dear lady, you've finally decided to come out of seclusion!"
As soon as Jiang Tangtang saw Ruan Yao, she exaggeratedly opened her arms and gave her a big bear hug, so strong that she almost strangled Ruan Yao.
"I thought you were locked up in a gilded cage by your boss, Mr. Huo, and that you'd forgotten all about the hardships of ordinary people like me!"
Ruan Yao laughed at her and playfully punched her.
"What are you saying?"
The two walked into the mall hand in hand, and Jiang Tangtang immediately switched to gossip mode.
“Let me tell you, you really missed out by not going to the class reunion!” Jiang Tangtang took a big gulp of milk tea and vividly described the scene, “It was like a large-scale Versailles! One person was saying they had just bought a sea-view house in Sanya, and another was saying their company was about to go public.”
Ruan Yao was amused by her exaggerated expressions, but she wasn't really interested in them.
“However,” Jiang Tangtang changed the subject, winking and leaning closer, “Chen Jiayu has really changed a lot. He’s now a total success story, all dressed up in a suit and tie, looking all high and mighty. He drove up in a flashy blue sports car, his suit was impeccable, and the watch on his wrist almost blinded me!”
Ruan Yao was holding up her phone, taking pictures of the new milk tea product in her hand, when she heard this, she absentmindedly said "Oh".
She quickly typed out a message: "This is too sweet, it doesn't taste good, I'll never buy it again," and sent it out.
Jiang Tangtang continued her rambling: "Several boys at the table who used to have a crush on you were subtly asking me about you, saying why our school beauty wasn't here, and whether you're really taken. I said, of course! Our Yaoyao is now a potential Mrs. Huo, hidden away by the prince of the Beijing circle. You mere mortals shouldn't even think about it!"
"Oh dear, that was so many years ago." Ruan Yao waved her hand dismissively. "Don't mention it. Let's go check out that store, what do you think of that new dress?"
She pulled Jiang Tangtang into a women's clothing store, picked up the dress she had long admired, and went into the fitting room.
A moment later, she came out wearing a new dress, turned around in front of the mirror, and her first reaction was not to ask Jiang Tangtang's opinion, but to take out her phone and take several photos of herself in the mirror.
Then, she skillfully opened WeChat, sent the photo, and a sweet smile, unnoticed by herself, played on her lips.
Jiang Tangtang stood in front of the mirror, arms crossed, taking in everything.
When Ruan Yao went to another shop and took a picture of a delicate mousse cake while having afternoon tea, Jiang Tangtang finally couldn't resist anymore.
“I say, Miss Ruan,” she poked at the cake on her plate with her fork, looking utterly helpless, “are you on a date or giving a work report to your boss? You take a picture every three steps and bow every five.”
"He takes pictures of you trying on clothes, taking pictures of you drinking milk tea, and now he even takes pictures of you eating cake. Is he installing a surveillance camera on you, checking up on you in real time?"
“No, that’s not it!” Ruan Yao retorted immediately, her cheeks slightly flushed. “It’s just our little fun, you wouldn’t understand.”
She waved her phone screen in front of Jiang Tangtang; it showed her chat with Huo Yanzhi, filled with various photos she had shared.
"He's just clingy, always wanting to know what I'm doing and whether I'm happy. I also want him to see what good food I ate today."
Ruan Yao stirred the coffee in her cup, her tone filled with undisguised pride and sweetness.
"And he's incredibly considerate. When I said I wanted to go shopping with you, he agreed without hesitation and said he'd reimburse us. Before we left, he even prepared everything I needed and specially prepared flat shoes for me in case I got tired."
Jiang Tangtang felt numb all over from the overwhelming stench of romance and shuddered dramatically.
"Alright, alright, I know. Your CEO Huo is the best in the world, so considerate and a perfect husband."
She waved her hand dramatically, "Please stop showing off, have mercy on me! I feel like a 1,000-watt light bulb, I haven't even eaten yet, and I'm about to choke to death by your PDA."
After laughing and joking around for a while, the two prepared to order something else to eat.
When Ruan Yao reached for the menu on the table, her wrist accidentally bumped hard against the corner of the solid wood table.
"Ouch..." She pulled her hand back in pain.
The buckle on the exquisite wristwatch on her wrist came loose from the impact, and the entire watch slid down her wrist and fell onto the thick carpet on the floor with a dull thud.
"Oh dear, my watch!" Ruan Yao exclaimed in distress, and quickly bent down to pick it up.
She treasured everything Huo Yanzhi gave her.
She bent down and groped around on the carpet, quickly finding the watch.
But when she picked it up, she was stunned.
The watch's back cover had actually popped open due to the impact, revealing the complex movement inside.
On the carpet about half a finger's width away from the watch, there lay a tiny, black electronic component, no bigger than a grain of rice, that looked completely out of place in the watch's internal structure.
"What's wrong?" Jiang Tangtang also came over to look.
"The back cover is broken..." Ruan Yao held the watch in her palm with heartache, then pinched the small black part, examining it with suspicion, "What is this? Did it fall out of there?"
She looked at it over and over, but still couldn't figure it out.
Jiang Tangtang, however, sensed something was amiss. She took the small part from Ruan Yao's hand and examined it closely with her fingertips.
This thing is very sophisticated in its construction, with several invisible metal contacts on it, unlike any component you would find in a regular quartz or mechanical watch.
An inexplicable doubt arose in Jiang Tangtang's heart.
"This thing...something doesn't look right," she muttered. "What watch part looks like this? It looks more like a chip."
"Maybe it's a shock-absorbing pad?" Ruan Yao guessed, preparing to put the item away and take it to a watch shop to have a watchmaker take a look.
"Don't move." She stopped Ruan Yao, who was about to put the parts away. "I'm taking a picture."
Ruan Yao was still checking the watch face for scratches with concern, not thinking much of it.
Jiang Tangtang took out her phone, turned on macro mode, and took an incredibly clear, high-definition photo of the tiny black part on her fingertip.
Then, she clicked on her cousin's WeChat profile picture and sent him the photo.
Her cousin is a tech geek who loves playing with all sorts of electronic gadgets and making bizarre modifications.
"Brother, can you help me identify what this is?"
The message was sent successfully.
Jiang Tangtang put away her phone and looked at Ruan Yao, who was still upset about the watch, and comforted her, "Don't look at it anymore, it's not broken, just the back cover is open. We can take it to a watch shop and have a watchmaker put it back on."
Ruan Yao picked up the watch and examined it carefully, her heart aching. Fortunately, the dial and strap were intact, only the back cover was loose.
Just as she secretly breathed a sigh of relief and was thinking about how to tell Huo Yanzhi about this, Jiang Tangtang's phone, which was on the table, vibrated slightly.
The screen lights up.
Jiang Tangtang subconsciously picked it up and glanced at it.
On the screen, her cousin's reply was concise and to the point.
[A military-grade miniature positioning module, something you can't get on the market. Where did you get it?]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
