As She Wished - Chapter 16

Out of consideration for the old professor on the podium, Qin Zijin merely glared fiercely at Fu Jing and did not immediately retaliate.

“…”

Fu Jing shrank her head back, knowing she had said the wrong thing.

She picked up her pen again and returned to her own work, remaining silent. The moment the class bell rang, she immediately changed the topic and said to Qin Zijin, “Let’s go. I’ll treat you to pizza, okay?”

Qin Zijin narrowed her eyes slightly. Something she had already forgotten after half a class was completely brought back to mind by Fu Jing’s ingratiating expression. As she packed her things, she asked, “Go on, then. Explain this genius idea of making me pretend to be your mother.”

“…”

Fu Jing deflated. She did not really want to say it, but she was used to never lying in front of her best friend.

So she explained the whole thing.

After listening, Qin Zijin looked at her with disappointment at her failure to improve and sighed. “It’s fine to tell a little story about being excluded in childhood. You can earn pity, create a favorable impression, and bring people closer. But after saying that, you should add a couple of lines about how things are now…”

If a person said they had never had friends, it would only convey a negative psychological suggestion to the listener. In social situations, that did no good at all. Moreover, during a casual meal between acquaintances, bringing up sad topics in conversation was the least welcome thing.

Qin Zijin slowly explained this principle to her.

Finally, she comforted her. “But it doesn’t matter. Since you said it, you said it. They only heard it once and moved on. Later, it’s impossible for them to chase after you and ask, ‘Eh, didn’t you say last time that you had no friends?’”

Fu Jing nodded. “I understand. But actually, that’s not a big deal, because before that, the confession I made seemed even more wrong.”

She then poured out the whole process of how she had sincerely proposed supporting the beauty for a lifetime, only to be miserably rejected.

Gu Qingci had even said she was having wild thoughts and being irresponsible.

Qin Zijin’s lips twitched speechlessly.

The classroom had already emptied out. She was in no hurry to pack anymore. Leaning back, she raised her hand and rubbed her temple. “Your words were one hundred percent those of an unreliable, spoiled, infatuated rich kid. Of course the beauty would be impatient with you. Next time, confess in a different way. Make her amazed! Make her moved!”

Fu Jing instantly straightened her back. “Hm? What should I do?”

“I’ll teach you a universal formula we literature students have figured out.”

“Liberal arts students have formulas too?”

“Of course!”

“Then hurry and tell me!”

Qin Zijin instructed, “Specific time, plus specific action and expression, plus a description expressing your heart being moved, then end with the confession.”

Fu Jing understood it for a moment and said, “Then I’ll have to go home and read a few more books to expand my vocabulary.”

“No need at all,” Qin Zijin said lightly. “Let me tell you, when dealing with bar people, you must avoid sounding too cultured. Otherwise, they won’t understand and will instead look down on you as a bookish idiot. So remember the formula, then insert something ordinary but pleasant-sounding. That works best.”

Fu Jing asked her to give an example.

Qin Zijin did not need even three seconds to think. “On the first day of school, when you handed me water on the field, that look in your eyes—sunlight was shining, as if someone had fired a bullet into my heart… From then on, I was deeply devoted to you, and there was no one else.”

Fu Jing thoroughly absorbed this formula and smiled happily. “I understand!”

“This is the simplest version. You can keep adding onto this foundation. After the time, add the location. After the action, add a description of appearance. After the confession, add vows of eternal love and so on to polish the paragraph.”

Fu Jing listened and nodded repeatedly, giving her a thumbs-up. “You’re amazing!”

“I’m not amazing. You’re just too much of a newbie!” Qin Zijin was delighted by the praise and held out her hand with a smile. “Give me your phone. Let me see your chat records from these past few days.”

Fu Jing hesitated slightly. She was somewhat reluctant, but after dawdling for a while, she still handed it over.

“What is there that you can’t even show me?” Qin Zijin took it and was just about to roast her for forgetting loyalty over romance and having no conscience, but she quickly understood why Fu Jing had that expression.

It was because these chat records were truly too miserable to look at.

Fu Jing asked if Gu Qingci was there and what she was doing, but the other side never replied at all.

If she directly stated her purpose, wanting to invite Gu Qingci to eat, then after quite a while, she would receive a refusal with the reason that Gu Qingci had no time.

“…”

After Qin Zijin finished reading, her chest rose and fell unevenly. Putting herself in Fu Jing’s place, she felt as if she would be angered to death in minutes. She took deep breaths and endured, then reread it all from beginning to end several times, but her anger level did not drop at all.

A woman who took money to accompany people for fun—Qin Zijin had no problem with her using an aloof persona as a selling point to attract customers. But with this attitude of being so arrogant she might as well be in heaven, who was she looking down on?

What kind of attitude was this? If she was so arrogant, then if she had the ability, she should stop relying on selling smiles to make money!

Although Qin Zijin also never replied to nonsense messages like “Are you there?” and “Are you there or not?” she was not someone who made a living by pleasing clients. And even so, her tone when refusing someone’s meal invitation was much more polite than this!

No time???

She actually said she was busy and had no time?

Qin Zijin endured several times, but still turned her head, unable to suppress the fire in her voice. “Look at you. Who pursues someone like this? Giving whatever she wants, spoiling someone to the heavens—you think that’s the correct way to show true love? In reality, that only makes the other person feel too good about herself, floating so high she doesn’t even know her own worth anymore!”

Fu Jing froze after being scolded by her.

She could sense that her friend was indignant on her behalf, but she did not understand why Qin Zijin had to be so angry.

She tried to explain, “If Gu Qingci says she’s busy, then she’s busy. Even if she’s only sleeping at home, that’s still what she wants to do right now. I’m always willing to wait until she wants to meet and eat…”

“But you won’t be able to get her like this.” Qin Zijin pounded her chest to disperse her frustration and tried hard to reason with her. “People are cheap by nature. Compared with a heart full of sincerity, they’re more likely to fall into tricks and traps. You have to hurry and learn some moves!”

Otherwise, do not try to hook up with a nightclub person.

How many good people could there be in a nightclub?

Gu Qingci was so arrogant. Maybe she had already been kept by someone long ago, and the financial backer behind her was most likely a middle-aged or older man with a belly so big he looked eight months pregnant. On the surface, she acted aloof, but in the financial backer’s bed, she was treated like a toy…

Qin Zijin swallowed all the nasty slander down.

She could not bear to puncture her good friend’s pure feelings.

—Originally, she had thought that with Fu Jing’s looks and money, she could casually win someone over.

Both sides would take what they needed, and it could count as happy for everyone.

Looking at it now, it was completely different from what she had imagined.

So Qin Zijin was extremely angry.

Fu Jing said, “I’ve seen those methods too. I just feel that sometimes, if there are too many tricks, it’s easy to confuse even yourself… And then, once you take too many winding paths, the strength you have to love becomes less.”

Fu Jing spoke very slowly, because she was afraid of hurting her friend’s feelings, so every word was especially careful and considered. Yet her face carried a sense of confusion.

She did not know whether her words made sense either.

If she truly wanted to learn the famous online pickup routines, it was not as if she could not learn them.

She just did not like them.

Life lasted only a few short decades. She had not met a Gu Qingci until she was twenty. So she did not want to do anything else. She only wanted to stick to her, openly say that she liked her, and willingly spoil her until her feet floated off the ground.

Fu Jing was Fu Jing. She had always followed her own heart.

That was what she thought, so that was what she said. And that was what she had always done.

“…”

Qin Zijin was silent for a long time. She did not comment on it anymore. She only softened her tone and said she would come to the bar tonight to see her.

—

Thursdays were always full of expectations.

Fu Jing worked her part-time shift as usual. After a while, Cheng Nannan suddenly walked over to the bar and brought her a message. “Sister Tao Xian asked me to tell you that Gu Qingci has been quite busy recently, so she won’t be coming tonight.”

“…Oh.” Fu Jing’s movements paused. Very soon, she continued the work in her hands and nodded. “Okay, I understand.”

She still mixed drinks seriously as usual.

That expression and response—clearly full of disappointment and dejection, yet especially sensible—

made even Cheng Nannan feel a little unable to bear it.

The people in the bar secretly felt that Fu Jing liked Gu Qingci today, but if she could not win her over tomorrow, she probably would stop liking her. They did not understand at all why she was so fixated on Gu Qingci.

If chasing for a few days did not work, then just change to the next one, right?

Cheng Nannan walked away.

There were very few customers with reservations today. Tao Xian wandered around, greeted everyone, then returned to the bar to play on her phone.

Fu Jing wiped the counter and tidied things up when she felt the phone in her pocket vibrate.

She took it out and saw the message Qin Zijin had sent: This old lady has arrived!

Fu Jing lifted her eyes and saw her best friend, dressed up beautifully, walk through the door. She could not distinguish the specific details Qin Zijin had carefully refined from head to toe. She only felt that Qin Zijin was especially beautiful tonight.

At a glance, it was obvious she had specially come to support Fu Jing.

Fu Jing’s almond eyes curved. She hurriedly put down her things, told Tao Xian at the bar, and prepared to go find Qin Zijin to play.

Following her gaze, Tao Xian casually asked, “A classmate?”

“Mm.” Fu Jing nodded and said with a grin, “She’s also my best friend, guardian angel, and precious Sister.”

After taking half a step, she turned back and said, “I think her personality is quite similar to yours, Sister Anjiu. Maybe the two of you would get along. Do you want to play together later?”

Hearing this, Tao Xian became a little interested. “Sure. Then take her to the second-floor private room. Anyway, Gu Qingci isn’t here today.”

—

Several people played cards in the private room on the second floor, trying all kinds of games.

They openly and secretly joined forces to deal with Fu Jing. Fu Jing was targeted very badly, and her wins and losses were split about half and half. Later on, her face was covered in slips of paper. She could not help feeling a little aggrieved. “Can you… can you be a little fair…”

“How is this unfair?” Qin Zijin smiled as she stated, “Fairness that can make the vast majority of people feel it is fair is true fairness.”

Fu Jing: “…………”

She finished her tea, put down her cup, and said, “Then I’m going home.”

“Don’t be in such a hurry.” Tao Xian looked at her phone and pinned Fu Jing down with one sentence. “Your beauty Gu Qingci is here.”

Fu Jing instantly changed her words. “Then I’ll play for a while longer.”

“…”

Qin Zijin was already quite annoyed with Gu Qingci.

In truth, she was in a very bad mood. She simply did not show it on her face.

Her Thursdays were already packed with classes, and all her professors were fierce. Today, she had taken an enormous risk by skipping class and returning to the dorm early to dress up, all to come and investigate on Fu Jing’s behalf.

Yet she had actually come up empty.

When she heard Gu Qingci had arrived, she immediately raised her brows. A disdainful curve lifted at the corner of her lips before she quickly pressed it down.

Her tone was deliberately gentle. “That’s great. Everyone can drink, play dice, and play cards together. The more people there are, the better the atmosphere.”

Fu Jing completely failed to notice the contempt in her eyes. She stood up happily, refilled her own tea, and said, “I don’t drink alcohol.”

—Although no one cared whether she drank alcohol or not.

Tao Xian was someone who could see through people’s hearts, so of course she did not miss the emotion in Qin Zijin’s eyes.

After pondering for a few seconds, she slightly pressed down the corners of her lips. With a bit of wicked amusement in her heart, she prepared with great interest to watch the show.

When Gu Qingci entered the private room,

“Why are you free again? Weren’t you very busy?” Tao Xian immediately stood and half-welcomed, half-introduced her. “But you came at the perfect time. Today, Fu Jing brought a friend—our little Fu Jing’s best friend, Qin Zijin, also her guardian angel and precious Sister.”

Not long ago, Fu Jing had said those words herself.

But Fu Jing instinctively let out an “eh.” “No…”

Gu Qingci’s face showed no expression. Perhaps because she was a little tired, she seemed to be in a poor mood. Her slightly upturned eyes were dark and heavy. First, she glanced at Fu Jing.

Then she shifted her gaze and sized up Qin Zijin.

Her red lips curved slightly, revealing a polite smile. But her gaze was cold and sharp.

The suit on her body was crisp, and there were no visible brand logos on anything she wore. Even the watch on her wrist was so low-key as to be quite inconspicuous. Yet for some reason, her whole body carried an aura that could not be lightly touched.

She did not look like a beauty from a nightclub who sold smiles. Instead, she looked like a ruthless person who made decisive killings.

Their gazes met.

One second, two seconds, three seconds.

“…”

Qin Zijin was vaguely slow to react, but she was the first to be unable to help looking away.

Then the sharpness in her eyes scattered.

Unexpectedly, she also instinctively raised her lips, revealing a somewhat silly, sweet, innocent smile. “Hehe. I’m Fu Jing’s former middle school classmate and current schoolmate. Hello, Sister…”