I’m A Scumbag Woman—I Flirt, But Never Marry [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 19

After finishing their meal, the two women cleared the table together. One washed the dishes while the other dried them.

Although neither spoke, some of the distance between them had disappeared, replaced by a quiet understanding.

Once everything was put away, Gu Shuofeng walked to the window and closed it.

It was only early summer, but the midday heat was already oppressive. The temperature inside the apartment had begun rising, and even the slightest activity brought a faint sheen of perspiration to the skin.

Xu Tinglan sat down beside the sofa. Her back was held straight, her solemn expression carrying a trace of tension.

She took out her phone, drew a deep breath, and finally turned it on.

Beep, beep, beep—

The notification sounds began the moment the home screen appeared.

Xu Tinglan hadn’t subscribed to the missed-call text-notification service, yet she had still received an overwhelming flood of messages.

She waited quietly until the phone finally stopped beeping. Only then did she open her inbox.

Looking across the screen, she was surprised to discover that it wasn’t filled with messages from “Husband.”

Almost every message was from Zhi Zhi.

She had to scroll all the way to the bottom before finding several from “Husband.”

Ignoring Wang Jianfei’s messages, Xu Tinglan casually opened some of the most recent ones from Zhi Zhi.

【Are you trying to make me die of anxiety? Call me the moment you see this!】

【Don’t frighten me! My head is filled with news reports about murder cases! I can’t take this anymore! I’m going to the police!】

【I’m almost at the police station. If you don’t answer me, I’m really going inside!】

【I’m outside the police station. I’m going in!】

【I’m inside! Please call me! I panic whenever I see the police. I’m terrified that if I report you missing, they’ll actually find your body or something. I’m afraid I’ll lose my mind!】

【Please, Lan Lan. Call me.】

【The police told me to calm down before giving my statement. Lan Lan… Lan Lan…】

Xu Tinglan couldn’t spare the time to read the remaining messages. She immediately selected Zhi Zhi’s number and called.

The call connected instantly!

Xu Tinglan didn’t even hear a single ring before a barrage of nearly hysterical questions flooded her ears.

“Lan Lan?!!! Is that you?! Are you all right? Did something happen? Where are you?! Are you hurt?! Don’t be afraid! I’m coming to save you right now! Wait! Don’t hang up! I’ll call an ambulance for you! Oh, right—where exactly are you?”

Heavens.

What had Zhi Zhi imagined?

Xu Tinglan hurriedly reassured her.

“I’m fine. I… just arrived in K City.”

“K City? What are you doing there?!”

“I… well… I was in a bad mood, so I decided to wander around.”

“Wander around…”

Zhi Zhi, who had been practically shaking the heavens a second ago, abruptly fell silent.

She repeatedly turned the phrase over in her mind before suddenly bursting into loud sobs.

She was still inside the police station. Xu Tinglan could faintly hear a landline ringing, along with the voices of police officers and residents who had come in to handle various matters.

Zhi Zhi didn’t care.

She cried as though heaven and earth were collapsing.

“I’m ending our friendship, Xu Tinglan! I’m never speaking to you again!”

Xu Tinglan knew she had only been worried about her. Enduring the heat gathering behind her eyes, she replied in a choked voice, “I’m sorry. I should have told you first. It was just… it was just…”

Xu Tinglan, who was terrible at lying, repeated “it was just” for ages without producing a single excuse.

Beside her, Gu Shuofeng rapidly tapped her fingers, desperately wishing she could answer on Xu Tinglan’s behalf.

My phone ran out of battery!

What a simple excuse!

It would naturally follow that she couldn’t charge it on the train. The moment she got off, she hurried to a hotel, plugged it in, and contacted Zhi Zhi before anyone else.

That would fully demonstrate how important Zhi Zhi was to her and effectively ease her hurt feelings.

Of course, that wasn’t the optimal explanation.

If Gu Shuofeng had been speaking, she would have claimed from the beginning that she had just gotten off a plane.

Her phone had already been low on battery, and she wasn’t permitted to turn it on during the flight. Failing to contact Zhi Zhi would therefore be perfectly reasonable, and Zhi Zhi’s anger would subside more quickly.

Moreover, a plane could travel much farther, so she could name any destination she pleased—the capital, Heilongjiang, anywhere.

Anything would have been better than K City, which was practically within walking distance.

What if Zhi Zhi impulsively decided to rush to K City and accompany her?

That wasn’t impossible.

In the original plot, Zhi Zhi treated Xu Tinglan so extraordinarily well that Gu Shuofeng had almost suspected she possessed special feelings for her.

The only reason Gu Shuofeng dismissed the possibility was that she knew this was a melodramatic, Zhiyin-style marriage story.

While Gu Shuofeng openly eavesdropped on this end, Zhi Zhi tearfully began listing her grievances in front of everyone inside the police station.

“Do you know how worried I was?! Wang Jianfei called me in the middle of the night and demanded that I hand you over!

“I told him you weren’t with me, but he refused to believe it. He told me to wait because he was coming over to smash down my door!

“I was afraid he would bully you, so I rushed to your home in the middle of the night. No one answered, and your neighbors gave me a vicious scolding!”

Gu Shuofeng thought, There was a doorbell. Why didn’t you use it? It would have been strange if the neighbors hadn’t cursed you for pounding on the door in the middle of the night.

Zhi Zhi took out a tissue, loudly blew her nose, and continued sobbing.

“I thought Wang Jianfei had gone out to search for you, so I curled up outside your door and waited.

“But Wang Jianfei was actually asleep at home! He didn’t wake up and leave for work until nearly ten!

“We argued outside the apartment for ages, and he called property management to throw me out. Do you know how humiliating that was in front of so many people?!”

Gu Shuofeng thought, Isn’t it even more humiliating to scream and cry inside a police station?

Xu Tinglan gently comforted Zhi Zhi.

Afraid she would impulsively reveal the truth, Gu Shuofeng occasionally prompted her from the side.

Zhi Zhi cried, and Xu Tinglan wiped away tears of her own.

They remained on the phone for more than an hour before Xu Tinglan finally managed to pacify Grandma Ma and end the call.

The corners of Xu Tinglan’s eyes and the tip of her nose had been rubbed bright red.

She set down her phone and rose to wash her face.

Before she had taken even two steps, the phone began vibrating.

She turned back.

The word Husband flashed across the screen.

Xu Tinglan pressed a hand to her stomach as a sudden wave of nausea rose inside her.

Once, that word had been her sweetest form of address.

Now it only disgusted her.

She rejected the call, opened her contacts, and deleted Wang Jianfei’s number.

The moment she finished, a second call arrived.

The sickening label was gone, leaving only a cold string of numbers.

Xu Tinglan decisively turned off her phone.

Zhi Zhi had spent the entire night sending worried messages and had even gone to the police station to report her missing.

Her beloved husband, however, had slept peacefully until he overslept.

He hadn’t worried about whether a woman alone outside in the middle of the night might encounter danger. Nor had he worried about whether the mere two hundred yuan she carried would be enough.

All he had done was send furious messages filled with threats and abuse.

Right now, Xu Tinglan didn’t want to hear his repulsive voice at all.

She turned and continued toward the bathroom.

Gu Shuofeng leisurely followed and leaned against the doorframe, watching her wash.

Xu Tinglan took out a hair-fixing strip and swept it backward over her head, securing the stray strands away from her face.

She turned on the faucet. The hot water was on the right and the cold on the left. After adjusting the temperature, she squeezed facial cleanser into her palm, added a little water, and bent over to rub it across her face.

The fine foam carried a faint gardenia fragrance, perfectly complementing the silvery-white gardenias decorating the hem of her dress.

As she gradually leaned lower, the fabric across her back tightened slightly against her body, outlining her graceful spine, perfect waist, and pert…

Gu Shuofeng arched an eyebrow.

Even while thoroughly enjoying the view, she didn’t forget the matter at hand.

“Is it really appropriate to turn off your phone like that?”

With foam covering her face, Xu Tinglan couldn’t open her eyes, but that didn’t prevent her from speaking.

“There’s nothing inappropriate about it. He won’t dare involve my parents.”

This was the difference between panicking and thinking calmly.

Xu Tinglan had now understood everything.

As long as Wang Jianfei still cared about his job, he wouldn’t easily turn the matter into a major scandal.

Brother Zhang wasn’t the sort of irrational person who would casually fire an employee, but he was still human. No one could completely escape the influence of emotion.

Brother Zhang genuinely respected her father and cared deeply about her.

Leaning against the milky-white plastic doorframe, Gu Shuofeng tilted her head slightly. Her fingertips idly played with the ends of her hair, and her expression was languid.

Yet her question struck directly at the heart of the matter.

“Even if you don’t care about Wang Jianfei, you can tell Zhi Zhi that you turned off your phone to avoid him. But what about your parents? What if they call you?”

“Then I’ll subscribe to text notifications for missed calls. The moment I see one, I’ll call them back.”

“What if you see it too late? Even if you turn on your phone periodically, you still can’t completely prevent yourself from missing something.”

Xu Tinglan rinsed the foam from her face, dampened a towel, and dried the remaining water.

Then she gripped the edge of the sink and released a long breath.

“What do you suggest?”

Gu Shuofeng smiled faintly.

“Why not activate call forwarding? Redirect every call to my phone. Mine is a smartphone, so I can add unwanted numbers to a blacklist.”