I Married My Love Rival (GL) - Chapter 6

When Ji Ran came out after changing clothes, she was still wondering what they would do about sleeping tonight, but Luo Simo had already prepared a solution.

“I’ll use a throw blanket, and you can use the air-conditioning quilt. We’ll keep to ourselves. If you still feel uneasy, you can put a bowl of water on the bed if you want.”

In the time it took her to change, Luo Simo had already tidied the bed. The two pillows were spaced apart, with a thick quilt on one side and a thin blanket on the other.

“A bowl of water won’t be necessary.” Ji Ran said sheepishly, sensing the playful mockery in Luo Simo’s tone. They weren’t Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, so there was no need to imitate the ancients. Besides, if Luo Simo had that intention, even a wall might not stop her.

“Since we’re sleeping with separate covers, why not just have separate rooms? There are several empty rooms anyway,” Ji Ran suggested honestly.

Luo Simo, who was opening her wardrobe door, turned to look at her. For some reason, she seemed upset again.

“No.”

She uttered two cold words, then grabbed her clothes and walked towards the bathroom, adopting a posture that showed she wasn’t in the mood to deal with Ji Ran.

Ji Ran instinctively shut up. It seemed separate covers were fine, but separate rooms were not. She had been thinking about buying her own house eventually, which would essentially be separation, so that was definitely out.

Separate covers was already the biggest concession Luo Simo was willing to make.

Luo Simo’s bed was large. Ji Ran snuggled under the quilt, looked at the wide empty space next to her, and felt reassured.

Luo Simo emerged from the bathroom shortly after Ji Ran lay down.

Ji Ran felt the mattress dip from the weight of another person, and her heart inevitably tensed. However, Luo Simo showed no intention of moving closer to her. She quietly leaned against the headboard and started working on her laptop.

“Aren’t you going to sleep?”

Ji Ran, who hadn’t felt sleepy for a long time, finally asked. Luo Simo hadn’t spoken to her for a while since she mentioned separate rooms.

“Is the keyboard sound bothering you? Or is the light keeping you awake?”

Ji Ran expected Luo Simo to still be in an annoyed mood, but to her surprise, Luo Simo’s voice was completely devoid of emotion. Instead… it was unexpectedly gentle and considerate.

Her voice was even lowered unconsciously.

This was completely unexpected. Ji Ran, with her back to Luo Simo, was momentarily startled and clutched the small quilt tightly.

“N-No.”

“I just can’t fall asleep myself. You don’t need to worry about me. I’ll watch some TV and then sleep. You continue your work.”

“Alright then. Get some rest.”

Luo Simo glanced sideways at the lump under the quilt beside her. Her hands on the keyboard remained motionless for a long time.

Truthfully, she was also a little unaccustomed to having someone suddenly beside her.

Unaccustomed to this inexplicable sense of security.

Ji Ran opened a TV series on her phone, setting the playback speed to 1.5x to binge-watch. The plot wasn’t particularly engaging, but that was the point. Before the first episode was over, Ji Ran was already yawning widely.

She glanced at her phone before drifting off to sleep. It was only a little past ten, a rare occurrence for her to go to bed so early.

The sound of the TV series beside her stopped. Luo Simo turned her head. Although she could only see a back, she watched it for a long time until the laptop screen automatically turned off.

In a classroom long ago, she had also seen the back of this person’s head while she slept.

Meeting her again at the nightclub last night, she thought Ji Ran would recognize her, so she sat beside her, watching, trying to spark her memory. But this person seemed to have a very poor memory.

This was the second time she hadn’t recognized her.

However, it was also possible that Luo Simo herself had changed too much.

She hadn’t been able to hold onto her properly back then. This time, she would absolutely not let her go.

When Ji Ran woke up the next day, there was no one beside her. The thin blanket was neatly folded and placed at the foot of the bed, along with Luo Simo’s changed light-grey pajamas, also folded very tidily.

Ji Ran tried to emulate her, folding the air-conditioning quilt and her own pajamas in the same manner, but they looked nowhere near as neat and uniform as Luo Simo’s, creating a stark contrast.

After washing up, Ji Ran went downstairs, but Luo Simo wasn’t there either. She only left a simple breakfast and a note.

[Eat breakfast and then take care of your own things. I probably won’t be home until the evening. Contact me anytime if you have questions.]

Looking at the note in her hand, Ji Ran couldn’t help but smile.

A partner who was rich, beautiful, and considerate, who also left early and came home late. Bliss.

The breakfast was still slightly warm, meaning Luo Simo had likely left not long ago. The person’s cooking was actually quite good. Ji Ran finished half a sandwich and half a plate of fruit contentedly.

It was 9:30 AM, half an hour past Ji Ran’s start time. As she pressed the dishwasher button, Ji Ran received a call from her supervisor.

Without thinking, Ji Ran immediately hung up and opened the chat window with her boss.

[I will be going to HR later for resignation procedures.]

Her supervisor seemed to have been caught off guard by her audacity. Ji Ran watched the “typing” indicator next to her name appear and disappear. After a while, she received a message.

[Permanent employees must give one month’s notice for resignation. If you do this, you will not receive your half-month’s salary.]

It was the expected response, but did the current Ji Ran care about a few thousand dollars?

Yes, she did. It was her rightful labor income. It wasn’t about the money; it was about her work not being for naught.

It wasn’t her first time resigning and changing jobs. She wouldn’t be fooled by this tactic used to exploit honest people. However, she couldn’t be bothered to waste time arguing with her boss online. She would just talk face-to-face later.

Today, the things she needed to take care of were resigning and moving.

Actually, even if a Luo Simo hadn’t suddenly appeared offering her a better job, she had already been considering switching.

The company was small, and the boss was demanding.

She studied design and was proficient in drawing and Photoshop, usually creating posters and such. When she was short on money, she had also secretly taken on a lot of freelance work.

But after years of doing this, she was getting tired of the increasingly assembly-line nature of the work. She wanted a job that was more creative and offered a sense of accomplishment.

Instead of the current demanding, piecework-based job.

The sudden resignation made the small office supervisor a little flustered. From the initial disdain and condescending attitude toward Ji Ran, she eventually put aside her pride to try and keep her, offering a raise or a promotion.

Ji Ran’s attitude was firm, and she successfully argued for her half-month’s salary, though a few days’ wages were deducted as compensation to the company for her abrupt departure.

While handing over her work and filling out forms with the administrative department, the HR person who initially hired her, as per protocol, tried to persuade her to stay. When that failed, she started to pry, asking why she was suddenly leaving and if the office supervisor was too harsh.

If she said a few negative words now, her supervisor would be the subject of gossip in the company. But Ji Ran chose not to say anything bad, joking instead.

“Actually, I won the lottery yesterday, so I decided not to work anymore.”

“Really? How much did you win?”

They believe that? Ji Ran couldn’t help but smile. HR continued to press.

“Five million?”

Ji Ran smiled and shook her head: “More than that.”

She had won much more than five million. The car she was driving today was the cheapest one in Luo Simo’s garage, probably worth two million.

Finally finished with the resignation process, Ji Ran took her few belongings back to the car. Next stop: moving.

It was noon again. The landlady was cooking.

Ji Ran first returned to her room to pack. When the landlady started eating, Ji Ran went out to talk to her.

“We still have six months left on the lease. Deducting the one-month deposit, you need to refund the remaining five months to me. One month should be enough for you to find a new tenant.”

Hearing about the termination of the lease, the landlady’s expression began to look displeased. Instead of discussing the refund directly with Ji Ran, she started bringing up other topics.

“You’re quite comfortable living here, and it’s a new apartment I just bought. Did something happen recently?”

When Ji Ran first agreed to rent, she was fooled by the landlady’s seemingly understanding and considerate demeanor. She thought the person was nice, the apartment was great, and she wasn’t charging her high rent. Moreover, the landlady claimed to be clean and organized and said that two girls living together could be friends.

But after they actually lived together, Ji Ran realized she had been too young and easily deceived. Living with the landlady was not a good experience. The landlady, who seemed considerate and reasonable, actually protected her own interests in every situation, was extremely fussy, and demanding.

As for being friends, she would occasionally use Ji Ran’s things or eat her food, but if she spent money on something herself, she would immediately demand accountability. When she was sad or upset, she would come to Ji Ran to vent her negativity, completely disregarding Ji Ran’s own feelings.

The one thing Ji Ran couldn’t tolerate the most was that she had to join the landlady in caring for and protecting her apartment. She often had to be overly careful in her actions, making life too restrictive.

“Nothing happened. I just bought my own house, so I won’t be renting anymore.”

“You bought a house?”

The landlady was somewhat taken aback and almost blurted out her true thoughts: With your savings and salary, you can buy a house?

“Yes. I won’t need to rent anymore.”

“Where in Jiangcheng did you buy?”

“Beyond the Third Ring Road, in the suburbs.” Ji Ran saw the landlady’s expression and knew she was secretly making comparisons, so she intentionally started to mess with her.

“Oh, the suburbs. Houses there are certainly more affordable than in the city center. I still have to pay over five thousand in mortgage every month for this place. How about yours? How much do you have to pay each month?”

The landlady subconsciously ruled out Ji Ran buying the house outright. Ji Ran played along with her assumption, putting on a worried face, sighing, and remaining silent.

“Sigh, young people today are all struggling for a house. It can’t be helped. But I still have to advise you, if you buy a house too far out, it will be inconvenient to rent out later, and the rent will be low.

Besides, it’s really hard for us girls to shoulder the mortgage alone. Look at me, sis. I paid the down payment alone, and now I have huge monthly mortgage stress, which is why I was forced to rent out rooms.”

“Who did you buy the house from? Have you signed the contract yet? I’m telling you, many real estate agents are very tricky. You might have been fooled. It’s not easy to offload a bad house, and you could lose a lot of money. Actually, if you do the math carefully, I realized buying a house isn’t even as cost-effective as renting, especially since we’re both single and not planning to get married. Why rush to buy a house?”

The landlady spoke eloquently, sounding very reasonable. Ji Ran nodded along.

“You’re right, sis. But I’m married now. If we had a mortgage, I wouldn’t have to bear it all alone. But the good news is, we don’t have a mortgage to worry about.”

Ji Ran’s words were few, but each one stabbed the landlady’s heart. The landlady’s expression, which had been feigning concern while subtly showing off, became awkward.

“Ah? Oh, oh, is that so…”

“When did you get a partner?”

“Just a girl I met recently. We hit it off, so we got the certificate.”

“The one you brought yesterday?”

The landlady immediately thought of Luo Simo, whom she had seen yesterday. She felt utterly miserable, a mix of envy, jealousy, and resentment. Such a beautiful and excellent woman, and Ji Ran had met her, successfully gotten her, and married her.

“Yes, it was her. Let’s not talk about that. Let’s discuss the lease termination first. The moving company I called will be arriving soon if we don’t hurry.”

Watching the subtle changes in the landlady’s expression, Ji Ran admitted she was enjoying the moment.

Finally, when the landlady refunded the rent, Ji Ran delivered a final blow, pulling out a photo of what was once her dream home.

“Sis, look, the house we bought.”

The landlady chewed on the rice in her bowl, forcing a strained smile.

“Mm, it looks quite nice.”

It was many times better than the apartment she had always been so proud of.

Before leaving, Ji Ran successfully avenged all the frustration she had endured from the landlady. She constantly listened to her boast about buying a house at a young age, and the landlady even scolded her for putting up a poster on the wall. Now, she wouldn’t have to face any of it again.

Now, she only had to face the unknown path of her married life ahead.