Chapter 67: Chapter 67: The Reversal of Heavenly Bodies, The Bootlicker Actually Betrays His Master
"Uncle, try the dish I made."
Li Sili unveiled the dish she had prepared.
Seeing that it was fish again, Sun Dasheng almost threw up. Once bitten, twice shy, as they say.
"Uncle, don’t be afraid. This is our Hui Province’s famous Stinky Mandarin Fish. Don’t be put off by the smell; it’s delicious."
Fearing he would refuse, Li Sili took a bite herself first. She also gave Fang Sihan and Yun Yuqing a taste.
"How is it? Tell Uncle," she asked.
"Wow, it’s really tasty!" Fang Sihan exclaimed in surprise. When it was cooking, the faint odor had made her think the dish was ruined.
Yun Yuqing also had to admit, "It is indeed quite delicious."
"But our West Lake Vinegar Fish is no slouch either," she added, still not ready to concede.
"Ah, right, right, right!" Li Sili humored her, then personally scooped a piece for Sun Dasheng. "Uncle, just try it. Don’t be scared."
Sun Dasheng closed his eyes and took a bite.
Huh!
The moment it entered his mouth, it was fresh and fragrant. It seemed to have been cured before cooking, giving it a rich and truly extraordinary flavor. Speaking of cured fish, it reminded him of the Ciba Fish from his hometown. The principle was similar, and he loved dishes like that.
His appetite was completely whetted. He ended up eating quite a bit more than usual that day.
They finished almost every dish on the table. The only thing left in abundance was the West Lake Vinegar Fish. Even the stubborn Yun Yuqing had only eaten a little of it.
"It’s just that I didn’t cook it well, not that the dish itself is bad." Well-fed and satisfied, Yun Yuqing was still stubborn.
The other two girls exchanged a smile, but neither contradicted her.
"Yes, yes, yes," Li Sili said with a smile. "Next time we visit you, you have to take us to the best restaurant to try the real West Lake Vinegar Fish."
"Uncle, go sit and digest for a while. We’ll wash the dishes."
After settling Sun Dasheng on the sofa, the three girls headed to the kitchen to do the dishes.
「Inside the kitchen.」
"Did you two see the juicy gossip in our class group chat?" Li Sili asked.
"What gossip? I haven’t had time to check my phone recently," Fang Sihan asked, her interest piqued.
Yun Yuqing nodded. She and Fang Sihan had been shooting day and night for the past two days. They would just collapse into bed as soon as they got home, so they really didn’t have time to be on their phones.
"Ruan Bingran was cheated on by a scumbag," Li Sili revealed.
"Oh." Their expressions were rather nonchalant. At their art school, that level of gossip was practically a daily occurrence.
"She’s also pregnant," Li Sili continued, spilling the beans.
"Oh?" Now both of them were intrigued. This was starting to sound like real gossip.
"Isn’t she usually a pretty shrewd person?" Fang Sihan couldn’t quite understand. "Who knows how much of my shampoo, sanitary pads, and makeup she’s freeloaded. In the dorm, that girl was always scheming and in control of every situation. She didn’t seem like some naive, sweet girl."
"There must be more to it, right?" Yun Yuqing asked. When it came to being cunning, she was the only one in the dorm who could go toe-to-toe with Ruan Bingran. She also didn’t believe Ruan Bingran would be so easily deceived.
"The child isn’t that scumbag’s," Li Sili said with a mysterious smile.
Good grief! Fang Sihan felt like the CPU in her little brain was about to fry. This is mind-bending, way too mind-bending.
"So, the scumbag is actually the victim?" Yun Yuqing asked. She, on the other hand, was still relatively calm.
"Not exactly. The scumbag knew about it," Li Sili said.
Oh? Now this is interesting.
"So the scumbag was someone else’s ’white glove’?" Yun Yuqing’s mind worked quickly, grasping the key point in an instant.
Li Sili nodded in appreciation. "Yuqing, you’re too smart. How did you even end up at our school? With a brain like yours, you could have easily gotten into the Shanghai Theatre Academy."
Yun Yuqing’s eyes dimmed for a moment before she pursed her lips and chuckled lightly, remaining silent.
Only the simple-minded Fang Sihan was still in the dark. Seeing the two of them laughing, she got annoyed. "What in the world is going on? Come on, tell me! You two always like to pick on me for being slow."
Seeing that she was genuinely getting upset, the two of them stopped teasing. Li Sili explained the whole story.
As a contracted streamer for Xiaoju Technology, Ruan Bingran was in the livestream sales department under the manager, Xiang Yunsheng. She was assigned to Group 3, which specialized in selling women’s lingerie and was led by Xu Yongsheng. To get better opportunities, she hooked up with her group leader, Xu Yongsheng, not long after joining the company. This got her some decent resources.
But the resources Xu Yongsheng could offer weren’t nearly enough to satisfy her. Soon after, during a department team-building event, she got involved with the department manager, Xiang Yunsheng.
After conquering Xiang Yunsheng, she finally had resources handed to her on a silver platter. The best livestreaming time slots and the hottest-selling products all went to her. She was raking in money from her salary, commissions, and bonuses.
But Xiang Yunsheng had a fierce wife at home; his position as department manager was only stable because of his wife’s connections. If his affair got out, he was sure to face dire consequences. Therefore, on the surface, the two of them had no interactions at the company. To add another layer of insurance, he had his subordinate, Xu Yongsheng, get together with Ruan Bingran. This is what’s known as a "white glove."
In some Hong Kong dramas, there are plots where underlings maintain mistresses for the bosses. Being kept at home every day, only allowed to look but not touch, was pure agony.
But modern society isn’t a Hong Kong film. And Xiang Yunsheng was a far cry from those gangster bosses in the movies. So, naturally, Xu Yongsheng dared to sneak a bite.
Besides, Ruan Bingran had gotten all the benefits she could from Xiang Yunsheng, and he had nothing more to offer. Since Xu Yongsheng was younger and more handsome, she naturally fell into his arms.
That’s when she suddenly discovered she was several months pregnant. Obviously, it wasn’t Xu Yongsheng’s child. It could only be Xiang Yunsheng’s.
He wanted no part of it.
Ruan Bingran, with her silver tongue, tried to persuade him to go with her to confront Xiang Yunsheng and use the baby as leverage to demand money, promising him a cut of the payout.
"Isn’t that a good deal?" Fang Sihan blurted out. Seeing the two of them giving her strange looks, she explained, "It’s good for Xu Yongsheng, right? In the end, he gets the money and the girl. He doesn’t lose anything."
Yun Yuqing shot her simple-minded roommate a disdainful look. "Have you forgotten what kind of person our roommate Ruan Bingran is? Do you really think she’d keep her promise and share the money once she got her hands on it?"
Li Sili chimed in, "Exactly. I think she was just looking for a scapegoat to take the blame. Once she got the money, she would’ve definitely kicked him to the curb. With money in hand, she could just say goodbye to her past and rebrand herself as a successful and inspirational independent woman with a clean slate."
"Oh, right!" Fang Sihan said, finally catching on. "So Xu Yongsheng definitely didn’t agree to her plan, right?" she asked.
"Of course. Which one of those corporate elites isn’t sharp as a tack? Once he heard her proposal, he immediately cut off all ties with her," Li Sili said. "It’s a job with all risk and no reward. He wouldn’t have touched it unless his head was screwed on backward, not if he wanted to keep his high-paying job at the company."
"So Ruan Bingran didn’t get the money, the man took off, and she was left with nothing?" Fang Sihan asked.
"Too young and naive. She thought that she, a young vixen, could outplay those old foxes who have been through the wringer of society," Yun Yuqing concluded.
"How did this all get leaked to the group chat?" Fang Sihan asked.
"It was Wang Haochen," Li Sili said.
"It was him?" Fang Sihan was incredulous. "Isn’t he Ruan Bingran’s lapdog?"
A lapdog betraying its master! The world really has been turned upside down