A Paper Contract GL - Chapter 21

“What’s wrong? Are you angry?” Jiang Yuetong finally stopped laughing and stood up. “You told me to come to your house before 8 o’clock, but you were sound asleep in bed. That’s unfair! So you can’t blame me.” Jiang Yuetong spread her hands, looking innocent.

“Nonsense! Of course I blame you!” Chen Nan pulled the quilt over her and lunged, but Jiang Yuetong successfully dodged. Chen Nan, however, was exposed, wearing nothing on top and only a pair of panties on the bottom.

“I’ll deal with you later.” Chen Nan quickly covered her chest with her arms and hurried into the bathroom.

Soon, Chen Nan finished washing up, sprayed perfume, and got dressed. She came out of the bathroom and into the room, wearing a camisole on top and casual shorts on the bottom.

“Let’s go. Why are you standing there?” Chen Nan said, pulling Jiang Yuetong’s hand and leading her downstairs to the dining room.

The dining table was already laden with various foods. Jiang Yuetong looked at Chen Nan and said, “Don’t you know we advocate for the ‘Clean Plate Campaign’ now? Can you finish all this by yourself?”

“Are you implying that you’re not a person? Don’t I have you too? I usually don’t eat breakfast at all. I only asked the auntie to prepare so much because you were coming today. I didn’t know which one you would like, you’re so picky.” Chen Nan pulled out a chair for Jiang Yuetong to sit in.

Jiang Yuetong sat down, took a sip of milk, and picked up a piece of toast.

“I woke up a bit late today. I set an alarm, but I didn’t hear it ring. Maybe I was sleeping too soundly. I only went to bed at four this morning. Reading the proposal made me want to vomit. It was all damn English, with a bunch of words I’d never seen before. Even if translated into Chinese, I probably wouldn’t recognize them either.” Chen Nan’s English was already very good. She had studied in the UK for five years, and conversation was no challenge for her. It was just that the engineering proposal contained a large number of obscure words and technical terms. Although there were only three she didn’t know, it made Chen Nan, who was very confident in her English, extremely annoyed.

“Oh… so it was work…” Jiang Yuetong nodded. “Where are we planning to go today?”

“The amusement park.”

The moment Chen Nan finished speaking, Jiang Yuetong spat out a mouthful of milk. Fortunately, Jiang Yuetong had turned her head slightly, or the table full of delicious food would have gone into the trash.

“Are you sick? Or do you have an extremely strong urge to conquer? We just came back disappointed from the amusement park last week, and you want to go again today? Do you still want to ride the roller coaster?” Jiang Yuetong asked, confused and shouting.

Chen Nan laughed. “Not the roller coaster, the roller coaster.” (Referring to a different type of coaster or emphasizing the name.)

Jiang Yuetong glared fiercely at Chen Nan.

After breakfast, Chen Nan pulled Jiang Yuetong’s hand and left the house. Chen Nan opened the passenger door for Jiang Yuetong to get in, then took the driver’s seat. She said, “I’ll drive today, so you don’t feel wronged saying you’re my chauffeur.”

Around ten o’clock in the morning, Chen Nan and Jiang Yuetong arrived at Guangzhou Chimelong Paradise again.

Getting out of the car, Chen Nan held Jiang Yuetong’s hand and said, “I searched on Baidu and saw that Chimelong added a special haunted house. We left in a hurry last time and didn’t go. I’m quite interested, let’s go check it out.”

Jiang Yuetong pulled her hand back and covered her chest. “I’m not going! I’ve been afraid of ghosts since I was a child. If I go, I definitely won’t be able to sleep.”

Chen Nan chuckled mischievously to herself, but couldn’t show it too obviously. She thought, It’s good if you can’t sleep at night, besides, there won’t be any chance to sleep tonight. They’ll probably be busy all night long…

“It’s fine, I heard it’s not very scary. Be brave. I have a fear of heights, but I still rode the roller coaster. Besides, I’ll be with you the whole time, what are you afraid of? Just think of them as fake, that’s all.” Chen Nan egged her on.

Jiang Yuetong was persuaded by Chen Nan to enter the haunted house. Jiang Yuetong, who never watched horror movies, was terrified, screaming like a pig being slaughtered the entire way. The people accompanying them weren’t scared by the ghosts in the haunted house but were almost scared by Jiang Yuetong.

Chen Nan also sensed Jiang Yuetong’s terror and felt a slight pang of guilt. For her own selfish reasons, she was putting Jiang Yuetong through physical and mental torment. Chen Nan held Jiang Yuetong’s hand the entire time, but the fear in her heart couldn’t be hidden even with many people around. Jiang Yuetong’s palms were covered in cold sweat. She was close to just fainting and having someone carry her out.

The moment they walked out of the haunted house, Jiang Yuetong actually started to cry, catching Chen Nan completely off guard.

“It’s okay, it’s okay.” Chen Nan put her arm around Jiang Yuetong’s shoulder. It seemed she was genuinely terrified, otherwise, Jiang Yuetong wouldn’t cry.

Jiang Yuetong just cried without speaking. Onlookers cast their eyes on them, and some even commented, “It’s not that scary, is it? Why cry? If she went to the haunted house at a Japanese perverse hospital, she’d probably wet herself.”

Chen Nan shot a murderous glare at them, and no one dared to say anything more.

“If I had known you would be this scared, I really wouldn’t have taken you inside,” Chen Nan said with some self-reproach. “Besides, there wasn’t anything much in there. It was all fake, just a few people in white clothing and scary makeup walking around, and then we came out. What was scary about that…” Chen Nan asked, puzzled.

Jiang Yuetong nestled in Chen Nan’s arms, pounding her chest and crying, “Who is as heartless as you, pretending not to see what you see! It was so terrifying, I was scared to death! I’m never going again…”

Chen Nan patted Jiang Yuetong’s back. “Okay, okay, we won’t go again… Are we finally even this time?”

Jiang Yuetong immediately stopped crying, looked up at Chen Nan, her eyes red and swollen, but it didn’t affect her sharp tongue. “Oh! Chen Nan! You think because you lost face on the roller coaster last week, you have to scare me into crying this week to make me lose face, right?” Jiang Yuetong’s voice was hoarse, as she stared directly at Chen Nan.

Chen Nan smiled, “If you insist on putting it that way, fine. Anyway, you’re not crying now, so my goal has been achieved. Let’s go.” Chen Nan said, pulling Jiang Yuetong away.

Jiang Yuetong hooked her arm around Chen Nan’s and mumbled, “I’m done for. Don’t even think about sleeping tonight; I definitely won’t be able to. I remember watching The Village’s Old Corpse 1 with a bunch of classmates in junior high, and I woke up in the middle of the night terrified, always feeling a hand reaching out from under the bed. I didn’t even dare to go to the bathroom, I almost wet the bed from holding it in. I kept the lights on all night and didn’t dare to sleep. So, since then, I’ve never watched a horror movie again.” Jiang Yuetong shivered. She said, “What I saw today was much scarier than that. I don’t know how I’ll get through tonight.”

“Tonight? Then just ask your family to sleep with you,” Chen Nan said, feigning lightheartedness.

“Family? My mom?” Jiang Yuetong frowned. “I’m this old, how can I ask my mom to sleep with me again? How could I even say that?”

“Oh…” Chen Nan appeared to be contemplating, then said, “How about this? Don’t go back home. Chimelong Paradise is close to my house. It takes over an hour to drive back home, and most importantly, you’ll be too afraid to sleep when you get there. You can stay here with me. We can sleep together, and then you won’t be scared.”

Jiang Yuetong’s IQ had been reduced to zero by the haunted house, so she kept nodding. “Okay, okay, I’ll tell my mom I’m sleeping over at a friend’s house.”

Chen Nan smiled, a very wicked smile.

The two played until noon before leaving Chimelong with laughter.

Chen Nan drove Jiang Yuetong to eat Japanese food. As the car was driving on the road, Jiang Yuetong said mysteriously to Chen Nan, “Today is Saturday. This afternoon, I’m taking you to meet a very mysterious grandfather.”

“Very mysterious? Grandpa? Your grandpa?” Chen Nan looked straight ahead.

“No, he’s just a very kind grandpa. I don’t know why, but whenever I have confusion about life or relationships, I like to talk to him. It’s strange, he’s just a very ordinary old man, but he’s like a philosopher. He has unique insights into every problem and is a very wise person,” Jiang Yuetong praised sincerely.

“Oh? There’s such a person?” Chen Nan immediately became interested. She had always enjoyed chatting with wise elders; she could learn a lot from them.

“Yes,” Jiang Yuetong nodded. “We agreed to meet him every Saturday afternoon. For more than a year, we’ve kept our appointment without fail, never being late.”

“What does he do?” Chen Nan asked.

Jiang Yuetong thought for a moment. She couldn’t recall the grandpa ever mentioning his profession. “He’s probably retired…” Jiang Yuetong answered.

“Alright then, let’s go meet him this afternoon.” Saying this, Chen Nan’s peripheral vision caught a crowd gathered on the side of the road, with a middle-aged woman lying in the center, seemingly crying loudly. “Yuetong, do you see that crowd?”

Even without Chen Nan saying anything, Jiang Yuetong’s gaze was drawn to the group. “I see them. It must be a traffic accident or something. Chinese people love to watch a commotion.” Chen Nan wasn’t very interested in watching others, but as the car got closer, she saw the situation clearly inside the crowd.

“Huh? That person looks a lot like my classmate!” Jiang Yuetong’s face was practically glued to the window. “Yep, that’s definitely my classmate. Should we stop and take a look?”

“Sure.” Chen Nan parked the car on the side of the road, and the two got out and walked towards the crowd.

They saw a woman who looked like a middle-aged housewife lying in the middle of the road, occasionally wailing. Chen Nan frowned. “Are you sure she’s your classmate? Why is there such a big age difference between you two?”

Jiang Yuetong pulled Chen Nan’s arm and explained, “She’s always looked a bit old. She got married very early, and maybe because she was taking care of her family, she didn’t put much effort into her appearance.” Jiang Yuetong wasn’t entirely sure what the truth was; this was just her guess. Jiang Yuetong hadn’t seen her for many years, and now they were meeting in such a situation.

As they got closer, they heard her crying and shouting: “You heartless man, I worked like a cow and a horse for you, serving your parents and children, but you went and messed around with other women outside! Have you no shame!”

As soon as Jiang Yuetong and Chen Nan heard this, they understood the situation. Jiang Yuetong squeezed through the crowd, walked to the woman, and bent down. At this moment, the woman’s face was covered in tears, and she didn’t clearly see who had approached. “Fangfang, don’t cry.” Jiang Yuetong took out a tissue to wipe Fangfang’s tears.

After wiping her tears, she finally saw Jiang Yuetong clearly. “Yuetong! Yuetong! I married an animal! Not only did he mess around with other women, but he also… loses his temper with me all the time. I can’t live like this anymore!”

The man standing beside her roared, “If you can’t live like this, then don’t! I haven’t wanted to be with you for a long time! Now seeing you just makes me sick.”

Fangfang raised her face excitedly. “Now you find me disgusting? Why didn’t you say so earlier? Huh? You shameless thing! You animal, you bastard!”

Jiang Yuetong lowered her head, unintentionally looking at Fangfang’s faintly protruding, flabby belly, which resembled a life buoy, and the edges of a bright red pair of underwear showing. Her hair was messy and unkempt, making her look more than ten years older than her actual age. Jiang Yuetong couldn’t help but wonder, Are all married women this sloppy? Completely disregarding their image and wailing on the ground? If it were me, I probably wouldn’t act like this, no matter how upset I was.