After Being Targeted By A Sweet Girl With Big Eyes - Chapter 15

Chapter 15: The Campaign

Madam Wang hung up on her, leaving her with a sense of helpless rage as she stared at the disconnect screen.

Ugh! She never thought that in all the time since coming out, the only person to criticize her was her sister, and now, she was losing the battle to veto a brother-in-law candidate simply because she was a lesbian!

Agh! She wouldn’t accept this!

Heaven and Earth, she, Jiang Ruyi, was the greatest!

But of course, there was nothing she could do about her indignation. It was late, and she was alone under a clear, starry night.

Just then, Fu Tian called. Right away, she asked playfully, “Ruyi, Ruyi, are you tired from traveling home? I shipped my luggage today. Once I wrap things up here, I’m coming to pursue you.”

Jiang Ruyi answered, realizing it was a video call. She quickly tidied her clothes and complained petulantly, “Why are you calling me by video?”

“Because I miss you! A day apart feels like three years. You know this little desire to see the person you like, right?”

Jiang Ruyi watched Fu Tian lying on the bed, her dark hair spread across her shoulder, her feet wiggling happily like a kitten’s tail. “Speak properly… But I don’t know why, the more I look at you now, the more I like what I see.”

Fu Tian giggled, covering her mouth, tilting her head slightly, letting her hair fall to reveal her fair neck. “Hahahahahaha, really? I’m so happy!”

Donovan: Sister, you know you only look good because I’m here to make you look better.

“Of course it’s true! Is it because you deliberately cleaned up and posed nicely to video call me?”

“What? You must be very experienced in dating for you to figure that out.”

She was being intentional.

Fu Tian’s original intention was to probe into Jiang Ruyi’s dating status, but Jiang Ruyi completely missed her meaning, instead taking the compliment. “Of course! Your Sister Jiang’s eyes are rulers! All kinds of demons and monsters show their true forms in front of me. Hurry up and come visit me. There’s someone at home I absolutely can’t stand, and I don’t know who to complain to.”

Bored? She was anything but!

Jiang Ruyi slept late and woke up late. When she was awake, she went herding cattle and horseback riding, wandering freely between the sky and the earth.

Jiang Ruyi’s casual bit of whining instantly made Fu Tian feel utterly smitten and love-struck, making her want to fly to her side immediately. After settling her affairs, she booked the next available flight. Her arrival and luggage were almost simultaneous.

Fu Tian sent messages to Jiang Ruyi in the morning, but no one replied even by the afternoon.

In the end, it was Donovan who picked up Fu Tian at the airport, followed by another car to carry Fu Tian’s six suitcases. Jiang Ruyi only galloped up on horseback when Fu Tian was checking in at the ranch’s registration desk.

She wore sunglasses, her sun protection jacket half-on, and a short tank top that revealed her faint mermaid lines, which subtly flexed as the horse trotted. She reined in her horse and walked up to Fu Tian, her voice lazy. “You’re here?”

Back home, Jiang Ruyi had completely dropped her pretense, her accent blatantly adopting the Northeast flavor again. This felt so much more comfortable.

“Mhm, I’m here.” Fu Tian leaned on the car window, smiling sweetly at her.

“Since you’re here, let’s go. Hey, you, drive slowly, let her get a good look at our scenery.”

Fu Tian looked at the woman on horseback and praised her sincerely, “Jiang Ruyi, you look so cool.”

Jiang Ruyi tilted her head proudly. “Of course, I do.”

Then she pointed to the cowshed. “That place, see it?”

“I see it. What about it?”

“The cowshed. You said you wanted to herd cattle, right? Get familiar with this landmark. Go herd them whenever you feel like it. Someone will be there to help you.”

Fu Tian leaned in and whispered, afraid others would hear, “You know perfectly well why I came.”

Jiang Ruyi looked at Fu Tian through her sunglasses, smiling meaningfully.

Fu Tian didn’t understand what the smile meant at first, but after staying there for a while, she got it.

Her time with Jiang Ruyi never aligned. She woke up on time every day to have breakfast and lunch with her grandparents and the annoying little foreigner, Donovan, but Jiang Ruyi didn’t eat with them—she simply didn’t wake up.

After meals, the two warm and hospitable elders would take them for a digestive walk in the back garden, looking after Fu Tian just as they were looking after Donovan, who was sent by Wang Rumeng.

No matter what time they finished chatting, Jiang Ruyi was always already gone. And once she left, she didn’t check her phone, making it impossible to contact her.

Fu Tian went to the cowshed; Jiang Ruyi was riding freely on horseback. Fu Tian tried to ride a horse, and Jiang Ruyi was busy driving the cattle around. Fu Tian even squatted in the cowshed to shovel cow dung. This time, Jiang Ruyi didn’t even come home at night, opting to camp by the stream.

Jiang Ruyi was more free than the wind itself.

Donovan and Fu Tian, the two “questing” players, couldn’t find the free spirit of the grasslands anywhere. They sat under a lush, green, faux-lemon tree in the courtyard, bored yet elegantly enjoying a Mongolian-style afternoon tea.

They had pretty much completed the side quests with the grandparents—they were called and came immediately, like benevolent boy-scouts around a deity. They talked endlessly about various topics, and they were eager to absorb the elders’ earnest teachings. But still, not being able to find Jiang Ruyi was a problem.

Who would have thought that even after moving into her house, she and Jiang Ruyi were still communicating by phone? How was she supposed to pursue her like this? By daily, scheduled “flirting”?

No! Fu Tian believed Jiang Ruyi wanted her to give up, but she wouldn’t!

“We will not give up!”

Donovan suddenly stood up and raised his arms, shouting, startling all the living things in the courtyard.

He turned, his green eyes filled with sincerity. “You agree, my friend.”

Fu Tian and Donovan hit it off instantly and formally established their alliance.

They were just discussing their respective plans when they saw Jiang Ruyi walking over with her horse. A nanny stopped her before she could enter the courtyard, forcing her to stand still and take a scolding. “Miss! Miss! Simmie is too big to be sneaked in! She’ll run off and eat those flowers again, and then you’ll complain they don’t look pretty! Honestly…”

Despite Jiang Ruyi’s aggressive appearance, unless provoked, she was mostly just a bit mouthy—and even that was usually only with people her age, or more specifically, people she disliked. She was very respectful to elders, especially since most of the people here had watched her grow up.

For example, now, after Jiang Ruyi finished being scolded and walked over, Donovan called out, “Hey, Little Sister Ruyi, are you okay?”

Jiang Ruyi was irritable. “Shut up.”

Donovan was obedient. “Okay.”

As Jiang Ruyi was being scolded, Fu Tian, who was comfortably basking in the sun under the tree, narrowed her eyes and watched Jiang Ruyi slowly approach. “Ruyi, come here.”

“Mhm…” Jiang Ruyi was about to answer when she suddenly vanished right in front of Fu Tian’s eyes.

!

Could she fly?

Fu Tian’s gaze swept past the shady path, searching for Jiang Ruyi’s figure between the bright khaki walls and the green shrubs until she heard a faint moan coming from the bush where she had disappeared.

A large dog with a light yellow coat and a white belly, held under the armpits by Jiang Ruyi, was lifted out of the bushes first. She complained, “Laifu, you little brat! How dare you ambush me! Ah, my waist! You bad dog, rotten dog, trash dog! Count how many times you secretly stepped on me just now!”

Then Jiang Ruyi held Laifu by his two front legs and walked towards them. A breeze blew past, carrying the scent of fresh grass, like the perfume Jiang Ruyi had given her that day, Fu Tian thought.

“I knew your family had a cat named Leon. This is the first time I’ve heard of a dog named Laifu.” Fu Tian looked up at Jiang Ruyi for a long time. “Have I not seen you for a long time?”

Jiang Ruyi put the dog down, avoiding Fu Tian’s gaze, and poured herself a glass of watermelon juice. “It’s fine. It’s mainly because Simmie was angry these past few days, and I had to coax her. That girl has a bad temper. Just because I took the wrong brush to groom her that day. Picky, incredibly picky.”

Fu Tian tugged at Jiang Ruyi’s clothes. “But, but if I can’t see you, how am I supposed to pursue you?”

Jiang Ruyi drank her water while studying Fu Tian. The watermelon juice was sweet. Fu Tian was wearing a sleeveless pink tulip dress today. Mhm, undeniably, Fu Tian was very cute.

But she honestly couldn’t muster any same-s3x desire for Fu Tian. She purely treated her as a friend.

She looked at the girl’s pitiful, affectionate manner, yet the words coming out of her mouth were so direct, hotter than the July sun. She truly couldn’t figure her out.

Since she couldn’t figure it out, she asked, “Aren’t you straight?”

Fu Tian’s eyes widened in disbelief. “What? Why would you say that? I told you I’m going to pursue you! How could I be straight? What other definitions have you secretly assigned to me in your mind?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Don’t get worked up.” She put down her glass and tried to soothe her. “My bad. I jumped to conclusions. Fine, fine. You don’t like men. You’re gay. You’re gay.”

“This isn’t about whether I’m gay or not! It’s about the fact that you haven’t taken me seriously as a potential partner all this time! I clearly… I clearly told you, and you still wouldn’t believe me! You, you, you…”

“Okay, okay, I apologize. I apologize. I’m taking you seriously as a potential partner now. See, I’m taking you as a potential partner now.”

Jiang Ruyi stared directly at Fu Tian. The two looked at each other, their eyes intertwining in a brilliant summer moment.

Donovan: A breakthrough for the century! But seriously, sorry, I’m still here.

He didn’t know whether he should leave or stay, quietly shrinking his 192 cm frame into a large ball.

Thump-thump-thump

Fu Tian was the first to look away. “Then you have to remember that, okay?”

Jiang Ruyi looked at her with a victorious smile, then suddenly remembered something. “You know, right? I was just dumped recently. I might not actually be ready to start a new relationship. And I haven’t even fully processed the lessons and mistakes from my last one… So, bringing you back was just me keeping my end of the bargain. If you give up, remember to tell me. Before anything happens, we might still be able to be friends.”

…

Fu Tian was angry again, but this was her own doing. Jiang Ruyi had been very direct, and very generous—so generous that she clearly hadn’t taken her seriously at all.

Ah, this is so hard. It’s just too difficult.

“Kiss me.” Fu Tian grabbed her arm and leaned in.

Jiang Ruyi glanced at Donovan nearby and said in shock, “What have you learned from this little foreigner?”

Donovan was greatly wronged. “Not me! I didn’t do it!” Sister, why are you so aggressive?

Fu Tian stood up, looking down slightly at Jiang Ruyi.

She was a few centimeters taller than Jiang Ruyi when standing, giving her a different feeling from her cute face. Her eyes were filled with swirling emotions. “You kiss me, or I’ll kiss you. Either way, in my heart, we can’t be friends. We can only be lovers.”

She leaned closer to Jiang Ruyi’s ear and whispered, “You don’t get that kind of urge for a friend, do you?”

With that, Fu Tian straightened up slightly to look at Jiang Ruyi. They were incredibly close, their breaths mingling. Jiang Ruyi could even feel the fine hairs on Fu Tian’s face brushing against hers with each breath.

Oh my God. Jiang Ruyi was completely flustered. It was like taking a bite of a sweet, fragrant cupcake and discovering it was filled with cumin beef. What was this feeling? Was she actually starting to like this?

“You, you, you, you’re unreasonable!”

Fu Tian, of course, didn’t get her way. Jiang Ruyi spat out the insult and ran off.

Fu Tian looked down at the dumbfounded Donovan, smiled, and turned to walk away, leaving behind a light comment. “In the campaign of love, that’s called taking an unorthodox approach. Clearly, I narrowly won.”

Maybe Jiang Ruyi’s aesthetic isn’t so fixed after all?