RWWAI 12

Chapter 12: Zhang Yue in Real Life

The next morning, the moment Qin Miaomiao left, I started packing my bundles, throwing all the visible valuables I could lay my hands on straight into the luggage.

Given how things were currently trending, Luo Fan's mission was bound to fail anyway.

If I didn't get out now, Liang Jingjing's satisfying web novel script of "dumping the scumbag and glowing up solo" was going to get rewritten into a sweet-pet romance script titled "After Rebirth, My Husband Finally Loves Me"!

I was dead certain this wouldn't pass the mission criteria anyway, because Luo Fan wasn't genuinely in love with me either!

Once I had everything packed, I drafted a divorce agreement, stormed straight into the study, and slammed it down onto the desk.

"We're getting a divorce—now, immediately! I'm leaving,"

I said anxiously.

Looking utterly dumbfounded, Luo Fan stood up and replied:

"Huh? Why?"

I brushed him off evasively:

"No reason why, I'm just sick of looking at your face."

With that, I shoved an ink-loaded calligraphy brush straight into Luo Fan's hand and kept up the pressure:

"I know you don't know how to write ancient script, so I've already drafted the divorce agreement for you. All you have to do is draw a circle for your signature, hurry up!"

In a panic, Luo Fan flung the brush away and protested:

"No, wait! If you just up and leave right now, how are we supposed to tell the outside world that Qin Miaomiao's kid is yours?"

I scrambled over to pick up the brush, arguing:

"I can't worry about all that anymore! Worst-case scenario, after I leave, you can just elevate her status to primary wife, and the kid will still count as legitimate anyway."

"I already told you we can't do that! Can't you just wait until after she gives birth?"

Luo Fan clenched both fists behind his back, fiercely resisting the urge to sign.

As I lunged forward to pry open his right hand, I blurted out whatever came to mind:

"If we wait until after she gives birth, it'll be too late!"

Well, I have to admit, I was hardly blameless for how things had spiraled to this point.

If I hadn't been blinded by Doctor Zhou's drop-dead gorgeous looks and insisted on changing the adoption plan into a total mother-swap, Qin Miaomiao probably wouldn't have misunderstood things so thoroughly that she wanted to become a nun.

But things had already reached this stage, and there was no way I was going to blame myself.

So I tossed my head back, a mix of arrogance and a sliver of a guilty conscience coloring my voice:

"It's all because of your dumbass stunt yesterday—Qin Miaomiao is planning to become a nun the second she drops the kid! Your mission is completely tanked!"

Luo Fan loosened his grip on my hand slightly.

"So you're just going to abandon me and run off..."

he muttered desolately.

I wrenched my hand free from his grasp and snapped irritably:

"Well, what else? Stay here and die together?"

Instead of lunging forward to grab me again, Luo Fan spoke in a voice that sounded almost like he was talking to himself:

"Is the mission... really completely hopeless?"

Seeing his utterly hopeless expression, I couldn't help offering some comfort:

"Not necessarily... isn't your mission just to make sure she has no regrets? Maybe after I leave, if you give her enough face and grant her a high-profile, glorious promotion to primary wife, there's still a turning point?"

Meeting his almost hollow gaze, I compromised:

"If divorce is completely off the table... then just tell people I'm missing! The system shouldn't be that petty; it might actually accept that."

Little did I know, the next second, Luo Fan actually raised his eyes to look at me.

"What do you need?"

I: "Huh?"

He stepped closer and explained:

"To accomplish your mission, what else do you need? Money? Land deeds? Reputation?"

I took a defensive step back:

"What are you playing at?"

Luo Fan offered a bitter smile and said:

"Didn't you just say my mission can't be cleared? Then I'll help you achieve your mission instead—at least that's better than both of us being chained down here."

Completely taken aback, I asked:

"Are you seriously giving up just like that?"

"What else can I do?"

Luo Fan slumped his shoulders in despair.

"After you leave, I won't even be able to read the official memos. As for Qin Miaomiao... I haven't the foggiest idea how to convince her either. I don't know how to fake affection for someone, so she's bound to run off eventually anyway. Forget it!"

"No way, think about your friends and family back in real life! They're all waiting for you to go back! Are you really just going to give up like this, aren't you even a little bit ticked off?"

I blurted out.

Luo Fan dragged himself back to his chair, plopped heavily into it, and said:

"Zhang Yue, you must be pretty amazing in real life, right?"

I: "Huh?"

Luo Fan gazed toward the doorway and slowly continued:

"You've got a sharp tongue and lightning-fast reflexes—you must be some kind of manager or team lead, right? Me? I'm just a food delivery guy. No wife, no kids, no girlfriend, and I don't even look as good-looking as Qi Lu. Even if you handed me a starting hand with two wives, I'd still manage to chase both of them away entirely on my own merit."

His gaze slowly drifted back to land on my face.

"If you hadn't been helping me read those memos and letting me crash on your floor, I wouldn't even have lasted this long on my own... What do I even have to fight with? I was destined to lose right from the opening move—so I might as well let you win. At the very least... during this time, you kept me from feeling too lonely."

For some unknown reason, his speech stirred a sudden, nameless spark of fiery rage deep within my chest.

"You useless piece of trash! Even before you got here, I was holding down the fort all by myself for over half a month! You think that's because I'm some kind of badass? Let me tell you the truth—in real life, I'm literally just a dental receptionist front-desk assistant! I rent a matchbox-sized apartment near the very end of the subway line, and it's an illegal rooftop extension right above a fruit stall! Every single month the rent crushes the air right out of my lungs, and by the end of the month, I'm surviving entirely on instant noodles!"

Pointing right at his nose, I kept chewing him out:

"I'm just like you, I don't have any golden fingers either, and making it this far has been entirely driven by old lady's sheer stubborn grit! I've been dragged down and exhausted to death by you this whole time and I haven't quit yet—so you better pull yourself together and hang in there too!"

Luo Fan was clearly scared completely out of his wits by my unhinged rant, leaving him speechless for a long, heavy beat.

Just as I was starting to feel pretty badass about my speech, he suddenly piped up:

"You do have a golden finger though... don't you have Liang Jingjing's abilities?"

"Quit obsessing over these trivial side details!"

 

-- 

Comments

Popular Posts