The Green Tea Supporting Girl Is Still Playing Her Role Today (GL) - Chapter 62

Chapter 62

In the restaurant, Lin Zhimin had invited a few close friends to have a meal together and, by the way, introduced her boyfriend to everyone. The others were all pressing her for details about their romance, but only Wen Pinghan kept her head down, chatting with Xie Zhifei on WeChat.

The other person sent over a photo that was so stunning it seemed unreal.

She immediately saved it and then asked: [Why are you dressed up so formally today?]

Xie Zhifei: [The Li family is hosting a birthday banquet, and my dad was on the guest list, so he brought me along as his tag-along.]

“Han Sis, Han Sis.” Lin Zhimin suddenly called out to her in a low voice twice.

Wen Pinghan looked up and gazed at her in puzzlement.

“That person—isn’t she the woman who has a grudge against you?” Lin Zhimin nodded her chin toward a certain direction.

Wen Pinghan turned her head to look, and her gaze wandered around for a bit before she spotted, on a sofa seat by the window in the distance, a pair of young man and woman sitting side by side. She did not recognize the man, but the woman was Wang Wan, who sat there with her arms crossed over her chest, leaning arrogantly against the sofa and paying no attention at all to what the man was saying.

“Is that her boyfriend?” Lin Zhimin asked.

“I don’t know.” Wen Pinghan turned her head back, continued eating, and occasionally chatted a couple of lines with Xie Zhifei.

After the meal, Lin Zhimin organized everyone to go sing karaoke. Wen Pinghan happened to receive a call from a client right then, so she told them to go ahead first and that she would join later, then she picked up the phone.

More than ten minutes later, she finally ended the call. As she prepared to leave, she suddenly heard a sharp, furious shout: “I told you not to touch me!”

Wen Pinghan turned her head and saw Wang Wan, seething with rage, pointing at the man and saying: “Get lost!”

“Wang Wan, do you think I’m giving you too much face?” The man laughed as if it were nothing, reached out to touch her face, and said, “Do you really think I actually fancy you? You’re nothing more than an outsider kept by the Gu family. If I hadn’t heard from others that you’re still a virgin, I wouldn’t bother with you at all.”

Wang Wan slapped him in fury, but he grabbed her wrist, curled his lips in a nasty way, and said: “Try moving against me and see. Let’s see how you explain it to your aunt when you get back, or to my parents. You don’t want the families’ business talks to fall through, right?”

“You!” Wang Wan stared at him in anger, her chest heaving unevenly. “You bastard!”

“Indeed pretty feisty, full of flavor—I like it.” The man released her hand and reached again to touch her face. “You dress up so flashy every day—are you really still a virgin?”

Slap—

The man suddenly took a slap to the face. He covered his cheek in surprise and turned his head to look at the woman who had passed by. Even Wang Wan stared in stunned silence.

“Who the hell are you? How dare you hit me?!”

“Just a passerby who doesn’t need to account to anyone or explain herself.” With that, Wen Pinghan turned and walked away.

“Hey, you—stop right there, you b1tch!” The man turned to chase after her, but Wang Wan grabbed him.

“You’d better not drag an innocent passerby into this, or I’ll really call the police right away. If you don’t believe me, just try it!” Wang Wan said angrily.

The man glanced back at her, kicked the table with one foot, pointed at her, and said through gritted teeth: “Fine, this debt goes on your head. I’m telling you, Wang Wan, I’m set on messing with you for life—wait and see!”

With that, he strode away. Wang Wan’s shoulders slumped, and she collapsed onto the sofa. She irritably ran her hand through her hair before getting up to head to the restroom, only to run into Wen Pinghan again.

She froze for a moment and said in a muffled voice: “Just now… thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Aren’t you afraid? His family background is very powerful.”

“No matter how powerful, can it be more powerful than the law?” Wen Pinghan finished washing her hands and pulled out some tissue paper to dry them.

Wang Wan looked at her a few times and suddenly said: “You really impress me. First you confronted my aunt, and now you dare to slap him—unafraid of the powerful. Does my brother like you for exactly that? Or has he gotten slapped by you too?”

“I’d love to slap him, but I haven’t found the chance.”

“…” Wang Wan slowly raised her thumb.

Wen Pinghan remembered something else and asked: “Isn’t today the Li family birthday banquet? Why didn’t you go?”

“My brother took my aunt.”

“He didn’t take you?”

Wang Wan shrugged indifferently: “If I went, I’d only cause them trouble. My temper is bad, and I’d hold back their networking. They won’t let me join this kind of top-tier rich folks’ gathering. Besides, I don’t want to go anyway—whenever I do, people always ask whose who I am.”

No wonder Xie Zhifei had dressed so formally. Wen Pinghan suddenly realized that a huge gulf still existed between the two of them. She shook her head to dismiss those messy thoughts and changed the subject: “Who is that man just now to you?”

“A blind date match, introduced by my aunt. We met at home a few days ago, and my aunt really likes him.” Wang Wan took out a tube of lipstick to touch up her makeup.

“Does your aunt know what kind of person he is?”

“As long as she knows what kind of family he comes from, that’s enough.” Wang Wan smiled, propped one hand on the counter, and flashed her a faint smile. “Do you think many people in our circle actually marry for true love? It’s all about how much your family can help mine, or how much benefit the partnership brings. So my aunt doesn’t want you in the family door either because you can’t bring any benefit to the Gu family.”

Wen Pinghan looked at her in puzzlement: “What do you mean—you still plan to keep tangling with him?”

“It wouldn’t be him; it’d be someone else. He said he wants to play with me for life, so let him come—let’s see who outplays whom. Worst case, we both end up destroyed and get some peace.” Wang Wan said through clenched teeth.

Wen Pinghan frowned and could not help saying: “Don’t act on impulse and gamble your whole life away.”

“My whole life? From a very young age, I never thought I’d live to eighteen, but now I’m twenty-two. My aunt saved me, and everything I have now is thanks to her. I can’t be ungrateful, and I know it all comes at a price. I’ve been prepared for a long time. Forget it—you wouldn’t understand even if I told you.”

Wang Wan gave a desolate laugh and turned to walk out. At the door, she suddenly heard her say: “I understand.”

She turned her head in puzzlement. Wen Pinghan walked up to her and said slowly: “You’re not the only one who had an unhappy childhood. You’re indeed lucky that someone pulled you out of it, but how do you know that person won’t drag you into another fire pit?”

Wang Wan froze for a moment.

“As a kid, what you feared most was physical pain, so it terrified you and felt like the end of the world. But when you grow up, this world can hurt you in ways that go beyond the body. Isn’t it even more terrifying to torment your body and mind for a whole lifetime?” Wen Pinghan asked.

After a long while, Wang Wan came back to herself and said in surprise: “What do you mean? How do you seem to know about my childhood?!”

“…” Wen Pinghan turned sideways and walked out.

“Don’t run—how do you know about that?!” Wang Wan chased after her.

“You said it yourself last time when you were drunk.”

Wang Wan opened her mouth, then finally smacked her own cheek: “That’s what you get for drinking.”

Wen Pinghan strode forward, and Wang Wan asked again: “Where are you going?”

“Singing karaoke.”

“What’s fun about singing? Come on, let’s go drinking—my treat.”

“…” Who was it that had just smacked her own face?

“Just for helping me out today, I’ve decided you’re my friend. Come on, come on.” Wang Wan grabbed her and headed to a nearby clear bar. After ordering two drinks, she sat down in a corner. She had not even taken a sip when she pulled a box of chocolate bars out of her bag, took one out, held it between her fingers, and put it in her mouth like a cigarette.

“…” Wen Pinghan could not help asking, “What are you doing?”

“Feeling a bit anxious.”

“Anxious, so you smoke a chocolate bar?”

“I see other people smoke when they’re anxious, but I have a trauma about cigarettes, so I use this instead. I know what you want to ask—there’s a spot on my lower back near the waist dimples with four or five scars from cigarette burns. The others have mostly healed fine, but this one hasn’t. I wanted to get skin grafted, but my aunt said I should remember the past pain, so I didn’t.”

Wen Pinghan: “…What a load of dog sh1t.”

“What?”

“What do you mean ‘remember the past pain’? She clearly wants you to remember the current favor she did you. Every time you touch the scars, you’ll think of how good she was to you, right?”

Wang Wan looked astonished. Upon careful thought, it really was that way—the more she recalled the past pain, the more grateful and obedient she felt toward her aunt, and she dared not go against her.

At that moment, her phone suddenly rang—it was a call from Gu Zhizhang. She picked it up right away, and a few minutes later, she hung up.

“I can’t drink this anymore. I have to go to the Li family—my brother wants me to go home, grab something, and send it over.” Wang Wan said.

“The Li family?”

“Yeah.” Wang Wan had just stood up when she paused, looked her up and down a few times, and said, “Do you want to go?”

“I wasn’t invited.” Wen Pinghan said regretfully.

“You can just come with me to deliver the thing—get a chance to see the big world. There are all kinds of prominent figures inside; you might not get to meet them in a lifetime.” Wang Wan said.

That was true enough, but what attracted her more was Xie Zhifei. The other person should already be at the banquet by now, and she wondered what the situation was like.

“So what do I do?”

Wang Wan grinned slyly: “You can pretend to be my secretary—the cool, badass kind, just like Shu Sis.”

“…Fine.”

“That outfit won’t do. Here’s the plan: you go home first and change into formal clothes—dress like a secretary. I’ll go get the stuff, and we’ll meet up at the Jiefang Road intersection.”

“Alright.”

Half an hour later, Wen Pinghan got into Wang Wan’s car and headed straight for the Li family.

Plenty of luxury cars parked outside the villa. The security guard stopped their car and asked to see the invitation. Wang Wan rolled down the window and said: “I’m Gu Zhizhang’s cousin, here to drop off something for him. You can call him to confirm.”

“Oh, it’s you. Mr. Gu already notified us in advance. Go on in.” The security guard let them through immediately.

After parking in a corner, Wang Wan got out of the car and called out in a showy way: “Secretary Wen, over here.”

Wen Pinghan walked over with an expressionless face.

“Hee hee.” Wang Wan just grinned, as if she really were a big boss now. But after only a few steps, she spotted Gu’s mother and a few other ladies sitting in the pavilion chatting. It scared her so much that she quickly pulled Wen Pinghan to hide behind a car. “My aunt is sitting right there—don’t let her spot you, or she’ll make trouble for you. Let’s go this way.”

“…”

Wen Pinghan followed her as she sneaked along the edge, slinking past more than ten cars before finally reaching the main entrance. The two of them walked through the gate one after the other and found the inside clearly divided into several groups. About ten tycoons sat on the sofas chatting idly. Wen Pinghan glanced casually and saw they were all remarkable figures—Mr. Xie was among them.

On the other side, six or seven young people sat in a circle playing cards, but they kept their voices low, as if afraid to disturb the elders’ conversation.

But neither of them spotted the target person. Wang Wan found a server and asked: “Excuse me, where is Mr. Gu Zhizhang?”

“Mr. Gu is in the backyard discussing something with the young master. I’ll take you there.”

“Okay.”

Wen Pinghan did not want to see Gu Zhizhang and was about to say she would wait there, but then she heard the person continue: “Miss Xie and Miss Liu are over there too.”

Wen Pinghan immediately lifted her foot and followed.

The backyard was especially large. The server said that a bit further on was the golf course, but since it was winter now, the course was under maintenance. As they spoke, they arrived at a conservatory. Glass walls enclosed it on all sides, and inside grew many tropical plants—quite beautiful.

Wen Pinghan’s gaze was drawn in; she kept looking at the plants all around and exclaimed in admiration nonstop.

“Cousin, I brought the thing you wanted.” Wang Wan called out and quickened her pace.

The people who had been talking all looked over, but Gu Zhizhang and Xie Zhifei both looked toward the person behind her with equal surprise and delight.

“Wen Pinghan?” Gu Zhizhang said.

“Sister!” Xie Zhifei came straight over, unable to keep the corners of her mouth from turning up. “How did you get here?”

“I brought her.” Wang Wan said proudly. “She’s my secretary now, you know.”

“What nonsense are you up to this time?” Gu Zhizhang’s face fell at once, and he looked at her sternly. “What are you planning to do to her? Did you deliberately call her here to watch her make a fool of herself? Wang Wan, I let the previous matter slide, but don’t go too far.”

Wang Wan opened her mouth, so angry she could hardly speak, and shoved the item roughly into his hands: “Here! I’m leaving!”

She stormed to the door, where she happened to bump into Fang Ningshu, who was coming back with some water.

“You came too?” Fang Ningshu asked.

Wang Wan looked up at her, and tears streamed down her face all at once. But she knew that the Fang Ningshu of now was no longer the one who would comfort her before, so she hung her head and ran out.

“Wang Wan actually wanted to bring me here to see the world and meet important people—she meant well.” Wen Pinghan frowned and quietly explained to Xie Zhifei.

Xie Zhifei nodded and called out: “Fang Ningshu, go after her and check—make sure nothing happens.”

“Okay.” Fang Ningshu set the water down on a nearby table and then turned to go find her.

“I’m sorry—my sister is immature. I apologize to you on her behalf.” Gu Zhizhang stepped forward and said to Wen Pinghan.

Wen Pinghan gave him a deep look and asked from the bottom of her heart: “Why do you never listen to her explanation before just condemning her outright?”

“I know her. Her temperament is unruly, and she has quite a prejudice against you. If she said anything unpleasant, please don’t take it to heart.” Gu Zhizhang said.

“…” Wen Pinghan withdrew her gaze in speechless fashion, too lazy to argue with him anymore—it was simply a waste of time.

Xie Zhifei quietly blocked Gu Zhizhang’s line of sight, smiled, and said: “Sister, shall I take you around? Li Hongyan said there’s an even bigger conservatory—want to go see it?”

Wen Pinghan said awkwardly: “I only came with Wang Wan to deliver something. I don’t have an invitation at all, so I need to go back with her right away.”

“No problem—you’re already here, so let’s just wander a bit. If anyone asks, say I invited you.” Li Hongyan walked over and said.

Wen Pinghan: “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. You two go have fun then. Zhizhang, let’s continue talking about the earlier matter.” Li Hongyan said.

Gu Zhizhang had no choice but to stay behind and could only watch as the two of them held hands right under his nose and walked away.

“Sister, how did you end up coming over with Wang Wan?” Xie Zhifei asked.

Wen Pinghan recounted the chance encounter that day. The more Xie Zhifei heard, the tighter her brows furrowed: “The second young master of the Liu family? Is it Liu Chuan?”

“I don’t know. What’s wrong?”

Xie Zhifei racked her brains for a long time. If she remembered correctly, the side story had mentioned that Wang Wan also found her happy ending with a rich second-generation guy named Liu Chuan, but it was glossed over in just a line or two, so the readers had simply assumed she got a happy conclusion.

But if this blind date match really was that person, then this happy ending needed a big question mark.

“Have we arrived?” Wen Pinghan pointed at the conservatory ahead and said.

“Yeah.”

The plants inside here were even bigger, with broad leaves that sometimes blocked the path ahead. The two of them sidestepped or bent over now and then, giving a real sense of adventure.

“This is so fun. Shall we make a landscape like this at home in the future?” Xie Zhifei said excitedly.

“Us? In the future? At home?” Wen Pinghan’s smile paused slightly, and her heart began to pound.

Xie Zhifei bit her tongue hard and sneaked a glance at her dazed expression before probing: “I mean… if I set up a landscape like this at home in the future, you could come play too, treat it like your own home?”

Wen Pinghan nodded: “Sure.”

Xie Zhifei was happy again: “So what kind of home would you want?”

“Anything is fine.” Wen Pinghan looked at her and smiled. When they reached a corner, the space was very narrow and would not allow both to pass at once.

Xie Zhifei went first, turned her head with a smile, and asked: “So would you be willing—”

“Ahhh!” Wen Pinghan, with her head down, suddenly noticed an unidentified bug pass right in front of her. It scared her badly; she screamed and hurried forward two steps, bumping straight into Xie Zhifei. The two of them ended up squeezed tightly together.

“There’s a bug, a bug!”

“Ah—! Where?!” Xie Zhifei held her and started screaming too.

“There!” Wen Pinghan pointed, but then found the bug had vanished somewhere. “It seems to have run off.”

“Scared me to death.” Xie Zhifei let out a breath like a survivor and only then gradually became aware that the two of them were hugging tightly, pressed so close they were almost inseparable.

Wen Pinghan naturally noticed the situation too. She lifted her eyes, and their gazes met—the heat in them nearly enough to melt the other.

Xie Zhifei swallowed, her eyelashes trembling slightly as her gaze fell on those lips.

Wen Pinghan’s heart drummed like thunder, and the confirmation in her mind seemed more and more obvious. She licked her lips, intentionally or not.

Xie Zhifei’s breath caught, her brain nearly oxygen-starved. She subconsciously wanted to lean in, but at that moment, a suddenly ringing bell interrupted her wandering thoughts.

“It seems to be my phone.” Wen Pinghan gave an embarrassed smile. When she picked up the phone and saw the caller, she suddenly remembered that she had forgotten something very important!

“Han Sis, where are you? It’s been over two hours—haven’t you finished your call with the client yet?!” Lin Zhimin asked on the other end of the line.

Wen Pinghan: “…”