After Flirting with the Wrong Stand-in, I Overturned (GL) - Chapter 54

Turning back into the room, she felt around the bed for her phone; sure enough, there were several missed calls. Lin Shuyan dialed back, and the call went through almost instantly.

“A-Xuan,” Shuyan called out, unconsciously tugging at the hem of her clothes.

“What were you busy with?” Ren Xuan asked.

“I…” Shuyan thought blankly of the open wardrobe and paused for a moment. “Tidying up my clothes.”

Ren Xuan had called just to check if she had arrived home safely. They hadn’t talked long when Shuyan heard someone calling A-Xuan’s name on the other end; it sounded like a man’s voice.

“It’s my distant cousin,” Ren Xuan explained.

Shuyan knew before Ren Xuan left that she was visiting relatives, so she didn’t find it strange. “A-Xuan, go ahead and tend to your business.”

“Wait for me a second.” Ren Xuan covered the phone. Shuyan only heard a few rustling sounds and the faint murmur of A-Xuan’s voice. About two minutes later, it was quiet on A-Xuan’s end.

“Settled,” Ren Xuan said easily. “Did something happen to you, Shuyan?”

“No.” Shuyan blinked her stinging eyes. For a split second, she felt incredibly aggrieved. If A-Xuan were by her side, could she have told her directly about An Ruo’s provocation?

“Still saying nothing happened?” Ren Xuan frowned. “Your voice sounds off.” Since getting together with Shuyan, they had spent more time apart than together, communicating mostly by phone. If she couldn’t detect that something was wrong, she would be failing as a girlfriend.

“I…” Shuyan was speechless. After a moment, she asked dejectedly, “A-Xuan, when are you coming back?”

“I miss you,” Shuyan said.

The girl poured out all her thoughts without reservation. Ren Xuan’s heart felt like a paper boat drifting in water—swollen and a bit aching. At this very moment, she desperately wanted to hold Shuyan.

“I was just asking,” Shuyan said quickly, hiding her lonely gaze when no answer came immediately. A-Xuan was away for work; besides, they had only been apart for one day.

“Soon,” Ren Xuan promised. As soon as things were settled, she would return. If Shuyan hadn’t just returned from the neighboring city herself, Ren Xuan might have asked her to come along. As it was, hearing Shuyan say she missed her made Ren Xuan want to compress all her tasks to the absolute minimum to get back to Yecheng sooner.

“If you miss Xiao Ke, ask Ren Ke to help you invite her out.” Ren Xuan couldn’t return immediately. Shuyan would surely be bored cooped up at home; the best way was to find someone to keep her company.

“Mhm.” Shuyan agreed obediently. They talked for a while longer before hanging up. As soon as the call ended, Ren Xuan called Ning Yinman.

“Xuan, what is it?”

“How is An Ruo doing lately?” Ren Xuan got straight to the point.

The question startled Ning Yinman. “Xuan, why are you asking about her all of a sudden?”

“I’m away from home,” Ren Xuan briefly explained her situation. Based on the original Ren Xuan’s memories, An Ruo was clearly someone capable of causing trouble. She was worried An Ruo would harass Shuyan.

“Got it,” Ning Yinman agreed readily. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure she’s watched closely.” Even setting aside Ren Xuan’s reasons, Ning Yinman would keep an eye out—after all, Rong Yu had somehow become good friends with Shuyan as well.

“Thanks.”

“Being so polite doesn’t sound like you.” Ning Yinman yawned and tapped her mouth. “Just treat me to a drink when you’re back.” She turned around and instructed her people to pay more attention to news about An Ruo.

Upon learning that An Ruo had been behaving herself at home lately, Ning Yinman felt completely relieved. Suddenly, she noticed the person on the line was hesitating. “President Ning…”

“Just say it,” Ning Yinman said impatiently.

“President Ning,” the other party said with difficulty, “I recently heard a piece of news… it’s about President Ren…”

Ning Yinman nearly jumped out of her chair. Her first reaction was: Oh no. Her second reaction was: It’s over!

The news had been circulating for a while. It didn’t matter if she was behind on the gossip, but what would happen when Ren Xuan returned? Ning Yinman asked for details again, pressing her hand to her forehead with a sigh.

Right, who would dare speak openly about a “stand-in” situation, especially in front of Ren Xuan’s best friend?

The key question now was: Did Lin Shuyan know?

Children’s Playground.

Lin Shuyan held Ren Ke’s hand with her left and Xiao Ke’s with her right. The playground was packed. After accompanying the two little ones on several rides and seeing that nap time was approaching, Shuyan decided to take them to lunch.

“Sister Yan, I want to eat hot pot,” Ren Ke suggested. Xiao Ke agreed.

“Then we’ll have hot pot.”

“There’s one right across the street!” Ren Ke pointed at the spicy hot pot restaurant and excitedly tried to pull Shuyan and Xiao Ke toward it.

“Wait, red light.”

“Oh.” Ren Ke stuck out her tongue, glad she hadn’t stepped out. A few seconds later, the light turned green, and the adult led the two children across.

“Sister, the pinwheel fell!” Xiao Ke suddenly broke free from Shuyan’s hand and ran back a few steps.

Clutching the newly bought pinwheel, Xiao Ke tried to run back toward Shuyan and Ren Ke.

Out of the corner of her eye, Shuyan saw a car approaching from the left. “Don’t come over! Don’t!” she screamed, her legs racing toward Xiao Ke. She shouted and waved her arms, but the car reached them in the blink of an eye.

At the critical moment, a figure seemed to pounce forward. Shuyan only saw something flash before her eyes. Seconds later, bystanders rushed over.

“Little girl, are you okay?” “Come on, get up first.” “That girl’s reactions were so fast!” “…”

Shuyan stood in a daze for a moment before running over. “Sister!” Xiao Ke ran into her arms. Shuyan knelt down and pulled her close, checking her over carefully. Seeing only minor scrapes, she looked up at the girl who had lunged forward.

“Song Jing.” Shuyan looked up and thanked her sincerely. “Thank you, thank you for saving Xiao Ke.”

“No thanks needed,” Song Jing said indifferently.

Ren Ke ran over as well. She went to Xiao Ke’s side first, and seeing blood seeping from Xiao Ke’s palm, she started to cry. Seeing the pinwheel still held firmly in Xiao Ke’s hand, she blamed herself: “It’s all my fault.”

If she hadn’t bought so many toys that she couldn’t carry them all, she wouldn’t have asked Xiao Ke to help. If Xiao Ke hadn’t been holding the pinwheel, she wouldn’t have gone back across the road.

On the other side, the driver, who had braked hurriedly, approached on shaky legs. Seeing everyone was unharmed, he let out a long sigh of relief. He saw the light was about to change and wanted to shave off a few seconds; he never expected a child to jump out. The car was borrowed from a friend; how would he have explained it if he’d actually hit someone?

Lin Xuejin, who had been walking over slowly after buying milk tea, only realized a near-accident had occurred from the chatter around her. Looking closer, she saw one of the involved parties was her girlfriend and patted her chest in lingering fear.

Song Jing signaled for her to look over.

“Shuyan?”

“This is my sister Xiao Ke, and the other is also my sister, A-Ke,” Shuyan introduced them to Lin Xuejin.

“Wow, you have two sisters!” Lin Xuejin knelt down, practically drooling with envy. What adorable sisters.

“Since you’re taking children out,” Song Jing’s gaze fell on Ren Ke, “especially children of this age, if you can’t take proper care of them, don’t bring them out.”

Shuyan nodded, looking like she was taking the lesson to heart. However, Lin Xuejin, who had spent many days with her girlfriend, noticed something off in her tone and nudged her shoulder. She didn’t approve of Song Jing’s harsh tone.

“No one wanted this to happen,” Xuejin murmured softly.

“That’s why one must be careful. If something truly happened, could you take responsibility?” Song Jing addressed this directly to Shuyan.

“Yes,” Shuyan nodded.

Ren Ke had been talking to Xiao Ke for a while when she heard an unfamiliar woman speaking to her Sister Yan like that. She pulled Xiao Ke over. “Thank you for saving us, Sister, but Xiao Ke and I are over ten years old; we can take care of ourselves.”

“Care for yourselves enough to need someone else to save you?”

Lin Xuejin tugged at Song Jing’s clothes again. What is going on? Why did this girl seem wrong every time they ran into Shuyan? Now she was even picking a fight with children.

“Miss Song.” Shuyan noticed Song Jing’s clothes were scraped and offered to compensate her. Song Jing refused flatly. Lin Xuejin wanted to chat more, but she was pulled away by Song Jing after only a few words.

“Sister Yan,” Ren Ke murmured as she helped clean the scratch on Xiao Ke’s hand, “that sister just now was scary.”

“She was just worried,” Shuyan stroked Ren Ke’s head. She truly thanked Song Jing from the bottom of her heart. If not for her, today… she had failed as an older sister.

“I know she meant well,” Ren Ke scratched her head. “I just feel like that sister looks so familiar…” As if she had seen her before.

Shuyan didn’t pay much attention to it. After the interruption, they skipped the hot pot and went straight back to the Ren house to eat food prepared by the chef.

On the phone, Ning Yinman had been hesitant and hadn’t clearly explained the situation, but Ren Xuan had already decided to return. Compressing her workload, she arrived in Yecheng two days early. When she got off the plane and went home, she found no one there.

“Eldest Miss,” Butler Wang came out to explain. “Miss Lin went out with a Miss Rong.”

Rong Yu? Since she hadn’t told Shuyan she was returning, Ren Xuan could only wait at home.

Meanwhile, following Rong Yu into a bar, Shuyan wanted to run before even entering. “No one will recognize you, don’t worry,” Rong Yu said.

That wasn’t the main reason—Shuyan still didn’t really want to go—but Rong Yu said she had something important to tell her. Shuyan thought about it and followed her in.

Ordering a drink, Shuyan soon noticed the server looking at her strangely. At first, she thought they had recognized her and were whispering about it. Straining her ears to listen, Shuyan suddenly realized that wasn’t the case at all.

“Look at that one just now, doesn’t she look a lot like that star?” “I think so too. Maybe she fits President Ren’s requirements.” “Rich people really know how to play. You said the one before her went… I really didn’t expect President Ren to have this hobby.” “Sigh. If someone went and got plastic surgery to look like that now, wouldn’t they be set for life?” “Right? The Eldest Miss of the Ren family—so many people want to climb that ladder. I heard this Lin Shuyan was surrounded by scandals at first, yet she got this famous in less than a year.” “…”

Shuyan listened to their idle chatter. At first it was whispers, but later the voices grew louder.

Shuyan’s face grew whiter and whiter.

What were they saying?

Wasn’t this what the message from An Ruo said? Why did they all know?