My Romance Game Updated – Chapter 55
by Little PandaBloodsucking Insects
The moment Chen Gu heard Zhang Tongqi say “someone’s here,” he reluctantly put down the generator and stormed out with a sour look on his face.
Mu Ning had intended to go out and handle the annoying pests herself, but when she saw the curiosity in Ren Chenxi’s eyes, she paused. In a slightly aggrieved tone, she said to Ren Chenxi, “Liao Lan is here for water again…”
Liao Lan? That disgusting guy who used the pretense of being Ren Muhui’s friend to freeload?
Ren Chenxi’s expression immediately soured. “Ignore him. Drive him away!”
“But I’m afraid he’ll keep insisting that he and Ren Muhui were close…”
Hearing this, Ren Chenxi figured that with a shameless and thick-skinned personality like Liao Lan’s, he would absolutely dig in his heels, deny that his relationship with Ren Muhui was poor, and continue using her brother’s name to treat Mu Ning as his personal long-term reservoir. From Liao Lan’s perspective, Ren Muhui wasn’t around, and no one else in the base who was close to her brother could expose him. He wasn’t about to give up the chance to latch onto Mu Ning and suck her dry!
At that thought, Ren Chenxi declared huffily, “Let’s go. I’ll go with you and get rid of this guy! And remember, if he ever comes asking for water again, he gets nothing!”
“Okay~” Mu Ning’s lips curved into a slight smile.
As Ren Chenxi and Mu Ning walked out the main gate, they were met with a passive-aggressive female voice, going ‘yap yap yap’ non-stop.
“Well, well! I was wondering why Mu-xuejie wouldn’t give us the building they aren’t even using! So it’s because you lot have taken it over? Tang Ying, you’ve got some nerve! To think you managed to get to Mu-xuejie before we did!”
The moment the acidic voice trailed off, Tang Ying’s sharp rebuttal rang out. “We got to Mu-xuejie before you? Zhang Xiaoxiao, can you use your brain for a second? You shamelessly stole all our supplies, snuck off in the middle of the night, and abandoned us on the road. How could we, with no food or water, possibly have reached the base before you?!”
“Chen-ge, these are the kind of scumbags who betray their own people and leave them for dead. You can’t give them any more water! Who knows, one day they might just help Fan Juntian go after Mu-xuejie!” Yang Xiangrui’s deep voice was filled with fury.
Then, Ren Chenxi saw a man next to Liao Lan hurriedly try to explain himself to Chen Gu. “Chen-ge, don’t listen to their nonsense! They ostracized us first. We just took back our share of the supplies and parted ways with them!”
“Pfft! We ostracized you? Li Jie, don’t make me laugh! It was clearly because water was limited, but you people insisted on wasting it. How much more water have you drunk than us on this trip? We said a few words, you got pissed off, and then you used it as an excuse to steal all the food and water that night!”
“Hah! You’re the ones who had a problem with us, so of course you’d throw all sorts of dirty water on our names! Chen-ge, even if you don’t believe us, you should at least believe Liao Lan, right? He’s Ren-xuezhang’s good friend! Mu-xuejie values Ren-xuezhang so much, if she knew her boyfriend’s good friend was being slandered like this…”
“Knew what would happen?”
Just as Li Jie was habitually playing the “Liao Lan is Ren Muhui’s good friend” card, Mu Ning’s cold voice cut in.
“Mu… Mu-xuejie, you’re just in time!” Seeing Mu Ning, Li Jie became defiant, playing the victim to lodge his complaint first.1 “Back then, we asked if you would lend us the building next door, and you refused. So why are you letting these scoundrels like Yang Xiangrui live here now? Mu-xuejie, our Liao Lan was Ren-xuezhang’s roommate and good friend! If your boyfriend comes back and finds out his good friend was treated so differently by you…”
“So what if I treated him differently? Is there a problem?” No longer giving Li Jie a chance to yap, Ren Chenxi impatiently walked to Mu Ning’s side and raised an eyebrow at him. “Since when was Liao Lan my brother’s good friend?”
At Ren Chenxi’s interruption, Li Jie’s group turned their dissatisfied gazes on her. But when they got a clear look at her face, their eyes widened in unison.
“Ren… Ren Muhui… No, wait! You’re a woman?”
“You call Ren Muhui ‘brother’? You’re Ren Muhui’s sister?” Liao Lan, who had been calling himself Ren Muhui’s friend all this time, stared at Ren Chenxi in disbelief.
“Calling him ‘Ren Muhui’ over and over, so formally. Are you really my brother’s good friend?” Ren Chenxi crossed her arms, tilted her chin up, and looked at Liao Lan with utter disdain.
“You…” Faced with this person who was clearly female but had a face identical to Ren Muhui’s, Liao Lan had no choice but to admit, however reluctantly, that this really was Ren Muhui’s sister. But so what if she was? The sister didn’t go to the same university and had never met him, so… wouldn’t she just have to believe whatever he said?
With that in mind, Liao Lan forced what he thought was a warm and friendly smile. “Hello, meimei~ I’m Ren Muhui’s roommate and good friend~ Your brother probably never introduced me, so it’s normal that you wouldn’t know you have a friend like me~” Heh, I have to say, this sister who looks exactly like Ren Muhui is really pretty~
Watching Liao Lan’s shameless attempt to act familiar,2 Ren Chenxi’s lips curled into a sarcastic smile. She kindly corrected him, “Oh, you’re mistaken. My brother has told me about you~”
“…”
Seeing the smile freeze on Liao Lan’s face as she’d hoped, Ren Chenxi continued, “Not only does my brother not consider you a friend, he finds you extremely annoying. Hmm… he even told me about all the rotten things you used to do in the dorm. Do you want me to repeat them here?”
Seeing Liao Lan’s expression darken, Yang Xiangrui eagerly chimed in, gloating, “What rotten things? Xi-jie, hurry up and tell us~”
“Sigh, it’s just my brother being too petty, really. All just trivial little things.3 Like his toothpaste being used, his shampoo and body wash being used, his spare change being stolen, someone always being late with their share of the utility bills, never paying for the meals he brought back for them…”
“Enough!” Before Ren Chenxi could finish, Liao Lan, his face livid, angrily cut her off. “What nonsense are you spouting? When did I ever do those things! You never even lived in our dorm, what right do you have to slander me like this?”
“Hmm, why are you so worked up? I’m not the one who said these things, my brother told me~”
“Your brother, your brother, how do you know if what your brother said is true or not!”
“Good point!” Ren Chenxi clapped her hands and nodded in agreement. “I never lived in your dorm, so I have no idea if what my brother told me is true or false…”
Hearing this, Liao Lan’s expression relaxed considerably. But before he could offer another defense, Ren Chenxi continued, “So, if what my brother said is true, then someone as obnoxious as you couldn’t possibly be his friend. And if what my brother said is false… then why would he speak ill of you to me? Aren’t you his good friend?”
“…” Liao Lan’s face began to turn black again. He glared at Ren Chenxi for a long moment before managing to choke out, “How should I know what’s wrong with your brother, talking bad about people behind their backs? And here I was, thinking of him as a good friend…”
“So you were the only one who thought of my brother as a good friend, is that it? But since you considered him such a good friend, why did you sell him out back then?”
“Wh-what do you mean… What nonsense are you talking now?” This time, Liao Lan’s expression was clearly panicked.
“Hmm, I mean when you secretly snitched to Fan Juntian, telling him my brother slipped out halfway through class. And then Fan Juntian took the opportunity to have people go and corner my brother!”
Ren Chenxi narrowed her eyes, staring at Liao Lan. She had only ever suspected it was him. After all, the day she was cornered outside of school by the thugs Fan Juntian hired was right after she had slipped out of a public lecture. Tantan had just come home from the pet hospital a few days prior, and Ren Chenxi had been so worried she was always trying to find ways to leave early. On that day, her other two roommates had skipped the lecture entirely; only Liao Lan had gone. Compared to her other friends in that class, with whom she had a good relationship, she was of course more suspicious of Liao Lan, whose character was poor and with whom she’d never gotten along. Now, seeing his guilty expression, Ren Chenxi was certain: the one who sold her out and leaked her whereabouts to Fan Juntian was Liao Lan!
“Ah! And I’m guessing it was also you who gave Fan Juntian the drugs to frame my brother with, right?”
The moment Ren Chenxi said this, Liao Lan retorted agitatedly, “Nonsense! Fan Juntian got those drugs from who-knows-where, how would I have the ability to get my hands on drugs…” He stopped mid-sentence, and his face turned a deathly gray. “N-no, that’s not… I…”
“Oh, so you knew Fan Juntian was going to use drugs to frame my brother, and not only did you not warn him, you colluded with Fan Juntian, providing him with my brother’s location so he could set him up~ After all, skipping out of class to go do drugs off-campus would result in a very severe punishment from the university! He could have even been expelled, oh~” Staring coldly at the pale-faced and now silent Liao Lan, Ren Chenxi bit out each word through clenched teeth. “A piece of trash like you, what right do you have to call yourself my brother’s good friend? And to use my brother’s name to keep asking Mu Ning for water? Heh! If my brother knew, he would probably wish you’d just die of thirst in this apocalypse!”
“Then let him die of thirst.” Mu Ning gently patted Ren Chenxi’s back comfortingly and also spoke up, her voice cold. “Don’t come looking for me for water anymore. I will no longer provide it to you for free, nor will I sell it to you.”
“N-no… Mu-xuejie, Liao Lan, he…”
“That’s enough! Shut up, you trash!” Chen Gu, no longer bothering to listen to Li Jie’s excuses, wore a look of disgust. “You people are truly sickening, aren’t you? You were clearly at odds with our Boss’s boyfriend, yet you used his name to sponge off how much of our Boss’s water? Let’s just say the Boss was feeding dogs with all that water in the past. From now on, you can either buy water from someone else or just die of thirst! A bunch of giant infants4 like you, I don’t believe for a second you have the ability to go out and find your own water resources.”
“No, no, no, Chen Gu, did you forget? They still have Fan Juntian~ Without our Boss, they’ll immediately go latch onto Fan Juntian, believe it or not?” Having put up with these bloodsucking insects for so long, Zhang Tongqi of course seized the opportunity to join in with some vicious mockery.
“Right, right, there’s still Fan Juntian~ You all are a perfect match for his crowd, so… hurry up and get lost!”
“Get lost, get lost, scram now, we won’t see you out~ Hope to hear news of you dying of thirst soon~”
Tang Ying and Yang Xiangrui made it clear that their smiling and waving them away was already them being polite. Faced with these enemies who had once stolen their precious food and water, they had to thank Nanhai Base’s no-fighting rule for not beating the scum up on the spot.
“Hey! So you won’t give us water, fine, but why are you cursing us!” Zhang Xiaoxiao, the girl who had been arguing with Tang Ying from the start, immediately reddened around the eyes, looking as if she’d been terribly wronged.
“Are we cursing you?” Yang Xiangrui spread his hands innocently. “We’re just helping you foresee your future~”
“You…” Li Jie glared hatefully at Yang Xiangrui, his face dark as he threw out a threat. “You just wait. Don’t let us get our hands on you one day!”
“Ooh, ooh, I’m so scared!” Yang Xiangrui hugged himself and shivered dramatically. “You white-eyed wolves,5 we’ve already been screwed over by you once. We’ll definitely be more careful in the future and not fall into your hands~”
At the mention of ungrateful wolves, Chen Gu thought of Sun Jia’s injuries and his face hardened. He added sarcastically, “Ungrateful wolves is right! You harmed our Xiao Jia so badly, not only did you not give her any medicine, you still had the nerve to come here every day for water! Oh, right, that Dong Ting didn’t come. Is she too ashamed? But she still has the nerve to hide at home every day using our Boss’s water!”
When Yang Xiangrui provoked him, Li Jie could still issue a warning. But against Chen Gu, who was much stronger than him, Li Jie could only swallow his anger. Finally unable to bear it any longer, he turned on his heel and left.
With Li Jie gone, Liao Lan naturally couldn’t stay and beg for water. And from the looks of it, Mu Ning really wasn’t going to give them any more. He could only shoot a resentful glare at Ren Chenxi before following.
With the two main water-seekers gone, Zhang Xiaoxiao and the others could only depart empty-handed under the crowd’s contemptuous stares. Before leaving, she just had to get in one last spiteful remark. “What’s so great about you? You’re not the only water-system esper in the base!”
The author has something to say:
Wooden-head (aggrieved): They’re using Ren Muhui’s name to leech off me again…
Xixi (rolling up her sleeves): Watch me go scold them away!
Wooden-head: I’m so moved. I have no way to repay you, except to offer myself in marriage~
Xixi: …
ps: The temperature dropped again here the last two days, it’s only 5 or 6 degrees Celsius indoors!!! Indoors! My fingers have frozen into carrots! The fact that I haven’t missed an update is because I’m typing out every single word with my carrot fingers! And you all still want double updates and ten thousand words a day… Hmph!
Footnotes
- Original: 恶人先告状 (è rén xiān gàozhuàng), literally ‘the villain sues first’. A Chinese idiom for a situation where the guilty party preemptively accuses the victim to deflect blame.
- Original: 自来熟 (zìláishú). A Chinese term for someone who warms up to strangers very quickly and acts familiar with them right away, which can sometimes be seen as forward or presumptuous.
- Original: 鸡毛蒜皮 (jīmáosuànpí), literally ‘chicken feathers and garlic skins’. An idiom for trivial, insignificant matters.
- Original: 巨婴 (jùyīng). A popular slang term for an adult who acts like a baby, unable to take care of themselves and expecting others to cater to their needs.
- Original: 白眼狼 (báiyǎnláng), literally ‘white-eyed wolf’. A classic Chinese insult for an ungrateful person who turns on their benefactor. Wolves are seen as cruel, and white eyes are associated with looking at people with contempt.
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