After Being Targeted By A Sweet Girl With Big Eyes - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Dislike

“Uh-huh, there’s traffic, but I’ll be there soon.”

Jiang Ruyi hung up the phone with her friend, then lifted the long hair draped over the back of her head in the taxi to get some air. The traffic today was unusually heavy.

She was wearing a white and green striped vintage daily Lolita dress today, paired with a small hat, exuding a casual, summery elegance. Her lightly Gothic, sharp makeup coupled with the small, impatient expression caused by the heat created a unique charm.

Jiang Ruyi took a tissue from her handbag and carefully wiped the sweat from her forehead under the hat. She looked out the window at the bus stopped beside them, which displayed a poster identical to those appearing all over the city. The decorative typeface prominently featured the eight characters: Sunset Pact Farewell Stage.

“Tsk.”

The driver, who had been grumbling internally, quickly restrained his cursing expression when he heard her sound. He offered a forced smile, “Passenger, don’t worry, we’ll be there soon.” He was genuinely afraid this passenger might smash his car if she got too annoyed.

“Mm-hmm.” What the heck? I’m anxious, but with this awful traffic, I can’t blame the driver.

Jiang Ruyi fanned herself with her hand, thinking: The Sunset Pact group broke up recently, but their breakup was grand, with a farewell stage. Meanwhile, my Burning Heart band disbanded quietly. The sense of disappointment was strong.

She turned her head to look at the person in the center of the poster, who was facing her. Their smile is even wider than some people’s eyes, their eyelashes are perfectly separated, and their bunny teeth are showing when they smile.

Jiang Ruyi couldn’t help but feel the urge to “tsk” again. She quickly glanced sideways at the driver, who was also baking in the sun, and silently shut up, merely muttering her complaints about the poster person internally. Look at that silly expression. Clearly a straight girl.

The traffic remained consistently heavy, frustrating everyone. They finally crept forward a bit, only to be blocked again. As Jiang Ruyi’s taxi slowly crawled ahead, she finally understood: the traffic lights at a busy intersection were broken. Whether to proceed depended entirely on the driver’s courage and skill beyond the crosswalk.

Jiang Ruyi’s phone was getting hot from her fiddling with it. Another call came in. She checked the caller ID. Oh, it’s her dear Mom! She quickly answered, speaking affectionately and playfully, “What’s up, Mom? I’m out having fun. Yeah, yeah, the band broke up… I’m not going to work, I’d rather just go home and feed cattle… Mom, life is a wilderness… You’re the savage one, Wang Rumeng, give the phone back to Mom… Uh-huh, I know, I know. Let’s talk about it later, okay?”

She hung up one call only for another to ring immediately. “Ling, I’m going to be stuck here for a bit longer… My fault, my fault, please forgive me… What kind of rubbish bar has a time limit today… I estimate I can still make it. Okay, hang up now.”

Finally, the driver in front of her screamed as if he’d seen a savior, shouting for Jiang Ruyi to look, “Police! Police! A cop is finally here to direct traffic! That’s great, we’re saved!”

A long-haired female officer stepped out of a car diagonally in front of them. She straightened her uniform, quickly jogged a few steps, and began directing traffic in the center of the road.

Jiang Ruyi’s first reaction was that something felt off, but she couldn’t pinpoint what. She carefully considered it, thinking maybe the officer’s hair wasn’t regulation, but since the person was voluntarily working overtime after hours, one shouldn’t be too harsh.

With a leader taking charge, order was restored: this side moved, then that side moved, left moved, then right moved. It wasn’t until the driver happily stepped on the gas and finally passed the officer that Jiang Ruyi realized her feeling was correct: that was no police officer. With those large double eyelids, slender nose, and exaggerated high-beam highlight, she was clearly someone doing cosplay.

Fan Ling sat at the bar, efficiently rejecting advances from others. Just as she was boredly wondering when Jiang Ruyi would finally show up, Jiang Ruyi smoothly whirled around and took a seat. She snapped her fingers and asked the bartender with a smile in her eyes, “A Blue Lotus, please. Thank you.”

“Coming right up, beautiful lady.” The bartender smiled ambiguously in the dim light, his eyes lingering with Jiang Ruyi’s.

Jiang Ruyi rested her head on her hand on the bar. This caliber of bar had strong privacy and high-quality staff. If she truly ran into someone who loved to spill secrets, she’d just have to accept her bad luck. After all, people have mouths to talk and ears to listen.

So, she didn’t bother avoiding the bartender, looking at Fan Ling and saying, “That’s weird, I think the bartender just flirted with me.”

“You got here earlier than I thought, only thirty-five minutes late. That’s real progress.”

“But you’re not my type,” she said, turning to the bartender. She saw he was busy grabbing a bottle from the cabinet and wasn’t paying attention to her. “Well, I guess it was just professional courtesy to flirt a little.”

“A friend gave me two tickets. Are you free tomorrow? Let’s go listen. Anyway, we just got laid off and haven’t found new jobs. Of course, I don’t mean to imply we were busy before the band broke up.”

“Ah, I don’t get it. With my qualifications, everyone should like me.”

The bartender slid the drink to Jiang Ruyi. “Miss, your Blue Lotus.”

He winked and flirted with Jiang Ruyi again. This time, Jiang Ruyi was unbothered. Bad girls are all like this. I’ve matured.

Jiang Ruyi and Fan Ling continued talking at cross-purposes until Jiang Ruyi’s mood suddenly plummeted. “We broke up…”

Fan Ling knew this was the main topic of the day. She immediately stopped her eyes from wandering around the room and asked in the tone of a qualified drinking buddy and confidante, “What was it for this time?”

She wasn’t surprised at all; she’d known since seeing the change in this person’s profile picture. The three states—single, ambiguous, and in a relationship—were all too obvious.

“She said my love was too broad, not specific enough. She said she was only one of the people I liked, and she wanted to be the only one, but she said I couldn’t give her that.”

Jiang Ruyi traced the moisture on the outside of the glass as the ice within slowly melted. “I don’t understand why she said that. If I didn’t like her, why would I pursue her instead of someone else? I don’t get it. I’m such a great person. Was she just making up an excuse to break up with me? I don’t get it. Why do other people’s relationships last three to five years, but mine only lasts a few months? I truly don’t understand.”

Jiang Ruyi looked up. The eyes hidden beneath her small hat were now moist, revealing their true, full size, making her look innocent and pure.

Fan Ling was not one of her girlfriends who would feel sorry for her and fall for her act. People like Jiang Ruyi get emotional and tearful at the drop of a hat. Fan Ling had nothing to console her with; she’d seen it all over the years. She went straight to the point: “So, what exactly did you like about her? Her mullet? Her style? Or her cooking?”

“What are you talking about? Those are all things she possesses. That’s her, isn’t it?”

“Fine, to keep it simple: If one day she suddenly changed her hairstyle, changed her makeup, and started talking to you about small, everyday gossip, would you still like her? If she made some small changes, would you still like her? Are you sure you’d still be liking her?”

“That wouldn’t be her anymore!”

“No, she’d still be her. You just wouldn’t like her anymore. People’s personalities are fluid. No one can maintain the exact same persona as they did while dating every day. They felt tired, they felt you were starting to lose interest in them, and so they left. Do you understand now?”

Fan Ling’s words came out rapidly like gunfire, leaving Jiang Ruyi stunned. “Haha, you’ve got a quick mouth! Are you planning to become a rapper?”

“Huh?”

Fan Ling’s single grunt made Jiang Ruyi immediately retract her smile. She was already feeling wronged over the breakup, and Fan Ling wasn’t offering comfort but hitting her with a harsh lecture. Furthermore, she didn’t quite understand the lecture but somehow felt it made strange sense.

People change, but someone will always like that style, Jiang Ruyi thought. She just felt she hadn’t found the right person yet. She angrily chewed on her straw, but only dared to grumble softly in her mind, not daring to speak to Fan Ling.

Fan Ling saw the expression on Jiang Ruyi’s face and knew what she was thinking. She sighed and slowly tried to guide her. “Ruyi, your preferences are too constrained by checklists and you require the other person to possess several specific labels. But these characteristics—these shouldn’t be labels—these traits are especially common among younger people. Do you plan to fall for every single one you meet? What is it that you truly like?”

Sometimes I seriously question whether she’s a lesbian or if I am.

What she truly likes? Jiang Ruyi was even more confused. Fan Ling herself had just mentioned the mullet, the long legs, the extremely cold-faced demeanor, and the exciting look. What else could she possibly like? Those were just her very simple courtship standards! Aren’t people allowed to have their own aesthetic preferences?

Suddenly, she remembered the scene in the taxi, facing the person on the bus poster, and she sheepishly changed the subject. “You saying that made me uncertain about what I like, but I just remembered the type of person I dislike.”

Fan Ling saw her look and knew she still hadn’t figured it out. She had said enough for today. If it weren’t for the fact that all of Jiang Ruyi’s relationships were with the same “type” of person, with nearly identical dating and breakup reasons, and given that their band had disbanded—meaning their friendship might fade due to distance—she wouldn’t have bothered lecturing her. She saw how pitiful Jiang Ruyi looked now, carefully observing her expression, terrified of saying the wrong thing again.

She asked, “What kind of person do you dislike?”

Seeing that Fan Ling had engaged and wasn’t going to scold her further, Jiang Ruyi’s expression immediately brightened. Leaning her head on one hand, she said brazenly, “I only realized this today, but I seriously dislike people who keep their eyes too wide open. I don’t mean big eyes, but the kind that you can tell is intentional. Who on earth has perfectly round eyes? And they wear those individually separated eyelashes, with their eyeliner drawing downwards—so innocent~ And then they smile and you can see their bunny teeth. My god, doesn’t that make them a literal rabbit? Who likes that?”

Jiang Ruyi saw the stunned expression on Fan Ling’s face and added, “It’s not about any of our friends! I just dislike that type. You have to respect my personal aesthetic. Of course, I’m only telling you because you’re my friend. I’m not demanding anything of others.”

From behind, a sweet fragrance enveloped Jiang Ruyi. A female voice whispered next to her ear, “Really?”

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