Chapter 40: Chapter 31.2

When Jun Zishu woke up at eight in the morning the next day, Qin Xiaoman and Jun Qi were still asleep. After eating the breakfast the house cook prepared for her, Jun Zishu left the house.

When the driver dropped her off at the bookstore, Jun Zishu gave Qin Youran a call and informed her that she had already arrived at the meet-up location. Then, she kept her phone and entered the bookstore.

Qin Youran was still in a drowsy state when she answered Jun Zishu’s call. She had gotten too excited yesterday and couldn’t sleep, so she decided to play some mobile games for some time before trying to sleep again. However, the game had ended up causing her adrenaline levels to spike and become even less sleepy. Eventually, she continued playing until 2 AM before she forced herself to sleep.

After climbing out of bed and washing up, Qin Youran stood before her wardrobe with a frown on her face. She would be going over to Jun Zishu’s house to play today, so it was inevitable that she’d meet Jun Zishu’s parents. So, what kind of clothing would be more appropriate for such an occasion?

Dressing beautifully is a must, but what style should I go with? Smart? Refreshing? Mori girl? Or a good girl?

Even after struggling for over a dozen minutes, Qin Youran still couldn’t decide how she should dress up. She would find a flaw in every style. Eventually, she gave up thinking and chose some clothes that she normally wore.

After changing, Qin Youran went to the bathroom to apply some skincare products. However, she didn’t bother putting on any makeup. She was afraid that Jun Zishu’s parents would hold an opinion against her if she wore makeup. After all, adults tended to treat people of her age as little children.

Finally ready, Qin Youran made her way to the bookstore Jun Zishu mentioned. When she entered the bookstore, she saw that Jun Zishu was already waiting in the entrance area.

Jun Zishu wore a plain T-shirt and a pair of jeans today. Paired with her glasses, she looked like a textbook student as she stood there.

“I’m here. Are you done choosing your books?”

“Mhm.”

“My driver is outside. I’ll have him drop us off at your house.”

‘No need. We can take my car.”

“Hm? Okay.”

Qin Youran nearly said “Your house has a car?” without thinking. Fortunately, she had stopped herself in time.

Qin Youran was relatively surprised by this situation. However, after giving the matter some thought, she realized that she was clueless about Jun Zishu’s family circumstances. She had simply assumed that Jun Zishu’s family wasn’t wealthy.

After all, Qin Youran had met most of the children from affluent families in the city, but she had never met Jun Zishu before. She had never heard of any of the city’s affluent families having a smart kid like Jun Zishu, either. Moreover, in the opinions of wealthy children like herself, people who usually did well in their studies should come from average or below-average families.

Subsequently, Qin Youran had her driver head home without her and got into Jun Zishu’s car.

At this time, Qin Youran realized that Jun Zishu’s family couldn’t be considered poor or average. On the contrary, Jun Zishu’s family should be very well off. This was because the car Jun Zishu’s driver drove was a relatively high-quality vehicle.

“Where do you live, Yaoyao?”

“Lishui Villa District.”

“Is that so.”

Qin Youran had her thoughts further reaffirmed. Everyone who lived in Lishui Villa District was a wealthy person.

In front, the middle-aged driver looked at the two girls behind him through the rear-view mirror with a strange look on his face.

Although Qin Youran noticed the driver’s gaze, she didn’t mind it. The man probably found it surprising that the young lady he served managed to make a friend.

The middle-aged driver quickly retracted his gaze and started driving steadily with a puzzled mind. He had served Qin Xiaoman for many years now, and he had sent her to many important locations throughout these years. Meanwhile, one of these places included Qin Xiaoman’s ancestral home.

When visiting the Qin family’s ancestral home, he had met Qin Youran once before, so he knew that the girl was the daughter of Qin Xiaoman’s younger brother. Thus, Qin Youran should be cousins with his young lady. Yet, when he observed the two girls’ interactions, they didn’t seem like they knew they were related. It was a truly strange sight.

However, the driver quickly shook those thoughts out of his mind. It was none of his business, in any case.

When Qin Youran entered the house, she came across Qin Xiaoman, who just happened to be walking down the staircase. The shock she felt was so immense that she failed to control her facial expressions.

“A-Auntie?”

W-W-W-What the fuck is going on?!

This was probably the most awkward day Qin Youran had experienced in her life. Initially, she already found it plenty awkward that she had mistakenly assumed her deskmate to be someone poor. Now, she found out her friend’s mother was none other than her aunt.

For a long time after this day, Qin Youran faced every other surprising matter she encountered with indifference.

“Youran? What are you doing here? Why didn’t you tell me beforehand that you were coming? Come, have a seat.” Qin Xiaoman beckoned at Qin Youran as she made her way to the sofa. Then, she continued, “You two have never met before, right? This is my daughter, Jun Jiayao. She’s roughly two months older than you, so she’s your elder cousin. Jiayao, greet your cousin.”

After introducing Qin Youran and Jnu Zishu to each other, Qin Xiaoman had a servant bring some drinks. However, although she wore a pleasant smile on her face, her heart was filled with worry.

In all honesty, Qin Xiaoman was afraid that Qin Youran would bully Jun Zishu. After all, Jun Zishu had a dull and gloomy personality while Qin Youran was a rowdy and playful girl. If the two interacted with each other, they were bound to come into conflict sooner or later.

“Mom, she’s the new friend I told you about,” Jun Zishu said, pushing her glasses as she took a sip of the drink the servant had brought her.

Qin Xiaoman fell silent. For a time, she was unsure of what kind of expression she should make for a moment.

All of a sudden, the atmosphere in the living room turned incredibly awkward.

“That’s wonderful, then! I didn’t think that was the case just now.”

Qin Xiaoman quickly snapped out of her daze and forced a smile onto her face as the worry in her heart increased.

“I’ll head upstairs first.”

Jun Zishu stood up and left the living room to the aunt and niece duo, letting the two have a proper chat with each other.

“Mhm, go ahead,” Qin Xiaoman said, waving Jun Zishu off.

To Qin Youran, this pleasant surprise was more pleasant than surprise. However, to Qin Xiaoman, this situation was more surprising than pleasant.

Qin Youran felt that this revelation was wonderful news. After all, she and Jun Zishu were originally good friends already. Meanwhile, along with this new revelation, they would become even closer to each other.

Now, Qin Youran would have even more reasons to interact with Jun Zishu, and the two of them could grow even closer to each other in the future.

Qin Xiaoman, on the other hand, grew worried because of this matter. She had a rather good impression of this niece of hers. The two of them also shared a good relationship. However, it was precisely because their relationship was good that she understood a lot about Qin Youran.

Qin Youran was the type of person who liked to be fawned over. However, she wasn’t a detestable person. On the contrary, she was quite talented at socializing with others, and she took on the role of the leader among her circle of friends. However, Qin Xiaoman felt that Qin Youran and Jun Zishu were people of different paths.

Not only was her daughter a gloomy person, but she was also bad at holding conversations with people. She would speak whatever was on her mind without filters, and such behavior led her to offending others easily.

“Auntie, why didn’t you tell me I had a cousin? If you did, couldn’t we have met sooner? Wait… I think I remember my dad telling me…”

Qin Youran recalled that her father had once told her about her aunt adopting a girl from an orphanage. If that was the case, could that girl be Jun Zishu?

“Do you remember it now? Her identity is a little special. If I brought her over, you and the other kids would only bully her.”

“Who said that? We just like to jeer at each other a little. We won’t bully people.”

“Is that so?”

Qin Xiaoman disagreed with Qin Youran’s statement.

“Fine, fine… So, does that mean you would leave her alone at home whenever you and Uncle stayed over at the old mansion in the past?”

“Yaoyao naturally has someplace to go to. Honestly, I’m very surprised to find out that you are her new friend.”

“Are you unhappy because it is me, Auntie?” Qin Youran asked with a raised eyebrow. When she sensed that Qin Xiaoman wasn’t all that happy to find out about her friendship with Jun Zishu, she couldn’t help but feel a little sad.

“I’m happy, but I’m also very worried. Yaoyao is much more fragile than she looks. She is also very introverted, which is why your Uncle and I have been carefully protecting her social circle. While we hope she can make more friends, we are also afraid that she will make friends. Specifically, we hope that she can befriend children who have more stable and cheerful personalities. It doesn’t matter even if they have poor academic performance and poor family background. Your type, on the other hand, worries me.”

“Auntie! What do you mean by my type? Am I not a good choice for a friend?”

“I know you’re a good kid, but I can’t say the same for those friends of yours.”

“Now that I know that Yaoyao is my cousin, I promise to treat her better than before. Although I did find her personality infuriating at the beginning, after interacting with her more, I found that she’s very pure and kind at heart.”

Qin Youran didn’t know what kind of misunderstanding she and her friends had created for her aunt. However, what she did know was that she was sincerely treating Jun Zishu as a good friend right now, even if her initial goal was to make Jun Zishu into her underling.

“Are you really trying to be friends with Yaoyao? Are you sure you’re not just doing it on a whim? Because if you’re just befriending Yaoyao out of curiosity, I hope that you can keep your distance from her.”

“Auntie, I don’t know what made you think that I’m not a suitable friend for Yaoyao, but I swear that I’m not just fooling around,” Qin Youran said. Although she had planned to mess with Jun Zishu originally, she now treated the bookworm like a true friend.

Not to mention, she had even stopped the bookworm from entering an early relationship, preventing any stinky boys from approaching her!

She was a qualified friend!

“Do you know why I’m so worried?”

“I know. It’s because of her personality. She’s rather introverted and innocent, so she’s easy to fool. She is also a stubborn person who doesn’t turn back once she decides on something. So, you’re afraid that if I stop being friends with her in the future, she will become very sad.”

“It’s good that you know.” Qin Xiaoman sighed.

“But, Aunt, you should know that friendship is something that both parties involved have to work hard to maintain. I cannot promise that I can be friends with her forever because there will be variables in the future. I can only say that so long as she is willing to treat me well, then I am willing to treat her well too.”

“That’s reasonable.”

“She is exceptionally smart and kind, so I will do my best to cover for her.”

“I can feel assured with those words,” Qin Xiaoman said. Then, she put on a serious expression and beckoned at Qin Youran, saying, “Come closer, I have something to say to you.”

“Go on,” Qin Youran said enthusiastically, the passionate words she previously said igniting her spirit.

“You know that your Uncle and I adopted Yaoyao from the orphanage, right?”

“Mhm, mhm.”

“At the time, the orphanage’s dean told us that Yaoyao is an intelligent child who has started memorizing her surroundings since a very young age. Moreover, the reason why she picked up that troubling personality of hers is that she witnessed the murder of her birth parents.”

“What…”

Qin Youran’s eyes widened in shock. She also couldn’t help but feel sorry for Jun Zishu.

“I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of that incident before, but you can still find the news article on it if you look through the internet.”

Many years ago, a gang of robbers had invaded a bank and taken hostages. However, someone had secretly called the police at the time, and the robbers ended up getting into a firefight with the police while making a hasty retreat.

As the robbers were running away from the police, they came across a family of three that had just parked their car outside the nearby supermarket. In an attempt to quickly steal a getaway car, the robbers pointed their guns at the man of the family and fired away. Then, the robbers pointed their guns at the man’s wife. Although the woman had tried to run away with her child, she, too, ended up getting shot.

Afterward, the robbers searched the man’s corpse and located the car key. Then, before they made their escape, they took the remaining child as a hostage. However, just as they were about to make their escape, the police caught up with them and shot them dead.

After the incident, the child got sent into an orphanage and later got adopted by Qin Xiaoman.

Qin Youran lowered her phone as she finished reading the news article, her body trembling and her eyes reddening slightly.