The Villainous Scum Alpha Was Reborn (GL) - Chapter 12

It only took Xu Ran one full day to complete all the paperwork. Now, all Nan Ke had to do was wait for her new property title to be issued.

Xu Ran never mentioned payment, so Nan Ke gave her an extra ten thousand yuan on top of the standard fee.

Xu Ran accepted the money without hesitation and replied just as quickly. “Reach out anytime if you need help. I’m online 24/7 and reply instantly.”

Nan Ke smiled. “Absolutely.”

That night, Jiang Ying behaved for once. She didn’t bring up drinking and instead walked into Nan Ke’s study with her laptop in hand.

Nan Ke’s desk was large enough for both of them to sit across from each other comfortably.

“Well well, bringing your laptop in here? What’s up?”

Nan Ke was busy contacting building management to remove access permissions for everyone except herself and Jiang Ying. She didn’t even look up as she spoke.

Jiang Ying leaned back lazily in her chair, watching Nan Ke type with focus and precision. “Work’s been a bit rough lately. I wanted your opinion.”

Nan Ke paused, tilting her body slightly to glance around her screen. “Did you take a loss?”

“No,” Jiang Ying shrugged. She opened her laptop and pulled up Nan Ke’s investment account.

“If you didn’t lose money, what’s going wrong? You’ve got a better eye than I do for funds and stocks. What advice could I possibly give you?” Nan Ke got up, leaned over beside her, and looked at the screen. Her pupils widened when she saw the numbers, and then she started laughing.

The account clearly showed more than ten million yuan.

It might not sound shocking on its own, but what made it impressive was that the ten million had grown from an initial fifty thousand. That made it exciting.

She remembered when she first heard Jiang Ying talk about making money from funds and stocks. Back then, Nan Ke had just received an investment return of around fifty thousand. She hadn’t thought much of it and jokingly transferred the money to Jiang Ying, saying, “Sister Ying, help me get rich too.”

And now? Not even two years had passed, maybe less than a year and a half, and the number had multiplied this much. Clearly, Jiang Ying had real talent in this field.

But Jiang Ying didn’t seem too proud of herself. She tapped her finger on the laptop’s touchpad with a slightly worried expression. “I found a growth stock recently. I want to buy it, but I’m hesitating.”

“What are you worried about?” Nan Ke stood up straight, leaning on the back of Jiang Ying’s chair. She didn’t understand why Jiang Ying was hesitating. When it came to this kind of investment, Jiang Ying usually made her own decisions. It was the first time she had ever asked for her opinion.

Jiang Ying looked up at her. “I’m worried about getting stuck holding it.”

Nan Ke didn’t respond right away. That concern seemed a little unnecessary.

Realizing that her anxiety wasn’t being understood, Jiang Ying gave up on trying to explain it subtly. “Do you need any money right now? I sold one of your funds yesterday without asking. The money should arrive in a day or two. I’ll send you eight hundred for now, give you another two hundred after, and when the money comes through, I’ll send the remaining three hundred. The rest I’ll keep investing for you. Sound okay?”

“I’m alright. Not short on money at the moment. You can invest it all if you want. I said I trust you to handle it, and I meant it. You decide.” Nan Ke had planned to return to the Wei family the day after tomorrow. According to her plan, she would send them the money tomorrow. She still had enough in her account anyway, and truthfully, she had never planned to touch the money Jiang Ying managed.

Hearing her say that, Jiang Ying let out a soft hum and thought it over for a while. After sitting up straight, she followed her earlier plan and transferred the money to Nan Ke’s account, then confirmed the stock purchase.

No matter what, she needed to keep the risks low.

Seeing Jiang Ying perk up again, Nan Ke left her alone and went back to what she had been doing earlier. She confirmed with building management that the access permissions were updated and sent them a small red packet.

Red packets couldn’t solve everything, but they could certainly speed things up. More importantly, no matter how urgent her request was, people would still treat her with courtesy if money was involved.

After closing her laptop, Jiang Ying let out a sigh of relief. “Want to go grab a bite? Oh right, didn’t you tell me last time that I should go chase after Liang Qingqing? I think it’s doable. I’m free anyway, so let’s see if she’s done with work. Maybe we can ask her to dinner?”

Nan Ke didn’t answer right away. She had only mentioned Liang Qingqing in passing that day. She hadn’t actually meant it.

“Come on,” Jiang Ying said, pulling out her car keys. She casually twirled the keyring around her finger.

Nan Ke glanced at the Porsche key and couldn’t help but feel like this had been planned from the start. Her expression dropped. “Are you even close enough to her to invite her to dinner? And am I supposed to drive separately just so you can keep your passenger seat open?”

“If you’re willing to cooperate, then sure,” Jiang Ying said, her tone light but smug.

Nan Ke glared at her and walked ahead. “I don’t feel like driving. Either let me sit in the front or go by yourself. You choose.”

“You know, you could also sit in the back,” Jiang Ying replied cheerfully, following her.

“It’s late. I don’t want to lose my temper,” Nan Ke muttered.

Jiang Ying said nothing more.

That day, Liang Qingqing’s flower shop had updated its signboard. The decorative logo and unrelated graphics were shrunk down, while the shop name was enlarged and made more visible.

When Nan Ke and Jiang Ying arrived, they almost didn’t recognize the place. But between the two of them, Nan Ke was clearly the more surprised.

“Didn’t business seem pretty good? Why does it look like it changed owners already?”

Jiang Ying looked confused. “Changed owners? It’s still the same shop. They just replaced the sign.”

“Her shop is called Yimeng? That name is so tacky.”

“It’s not that bad,” Jiang Ying said as she pushed open the door. Seeing Liang Qingqing still busy inside, she immediately called out, “Boss Liang, long time no see. I love the new sign. But my friend here says the shop name sounds kind of tacky.”

Liang Qingqing finished tying a ribbon and looked up with a calm smile. “The old sign had the name written too small. A lot of customers couldn’t see it. After we opened online orders recently, many people didn’t even recognize it. Some even messaged me thinking someone was copying my style. So I had the name redesigned and made larger.”

After placing the flowers on the display rack, she continued while tidying up the counter. “The shop name was chosen by my parents. They said flowers are something every girl loves. In ancient Chinese, ‘Yi’ referred to women. They hoped I could create the kind of flower shop every girl dreams of, so they named it Yimeng.”

Jiang Ying immediately turned back with a triumphant look and raised eyebrows, as if she had personally chosen the name.

“I don’t think the name is tacky at all. I really like it,” Liang Qingqing added, looking past Jiang Ying and toward Nan Ke. Her smile was calm and confident.

“I like it too,” Jiang Ying quickly echoed.

Nan Ke had no words. At this point, she couldn’t understand how someone like Jiang Ying, with her level of shameless charm, still didn’t have a girlfriend.

Ignoring Jiang Ying, Liang Qingqing placed her gloved hands on the edge of the worktable and asked, “So, what flowers can I get for you today?”

“I’ll take that bunch of baby’s breath,” Jiang Ying said cheerfully, pointing at a wrapped bouquet on the flower rack. Then she turned back to Nan Ke. “And you?”

Nan Ke really wanted to say she didn’t want any, but considering she had already taken two bouquets for free, she silently pointed at the nearest sunflowers.

After paying, Jiang Ying slowly extended the invitation. She said she wanted to ask Liang Qingqing out for dinner, but unsurprisingly, she was politely turned down. Liang Qingqing explained that she was too busy with work.

What surprised Nan Ke was how casually Jiang Ying accepted the rejection. She simply picked up her flowers and left without a hint of disappointment.

Later, as they sat across from each other in a Western restaurant slicing into their steaks, Nan Ke could not hold back her curiosity.

“Did you really mean it when you said you wanted to pursue Liang Qingqing? You didn’t seem the least bit upset when she turned you down.”

Jiang Ying took a bite and shrugged with ease. “It’s fine. I was only joking. She’s very pretty, but she’s not really my type. The two of us clearly would not match.”

Nan Ke said nothing. She felt like the whole thing had been a waste of emotion.

“But I do think she and you would make a good pair. You two look great together.” Jiang Ying added the comment without a second thought. When she looked at Nan Ke again, her eyes were full of appreciation, as if she could already picture them standing side by side like a beautiful painting.

Nan Ke’s stiff shoulders relaxed slightly in response to Jiang Ying’s calm tone. Still feeling unsure, she asked, “So you really went there just to buy a bouquet of baby’s breath?”

“Why not?” Jiang Ying clearly didn’t appreciate the suspicion in her voice. “You can buy gladiolus for luck, but I can’t buy a lucky flower too? My favorite astrology blogger said baby’s breath is supposed to be lucky for me this week.”

Nan Ke could not argue with that. She sighed. “Alright, fine.”

After dinner, Jiang Ying still did not bring up going to a bar. She quietly drove Nan Ke home without causing any trouble.

Since they had returned, this was the first time they had managed to stick to a normal sleep schedule.

The next morning, Nan Ke woke up early. She skipped breakfast and went straight to the study, opened her laptop, and began transferring money to Wei Hongbo, Xu Bingzhi, and Wei Huan from her phone.

She already had their bank information saved. However, due to transfer limits, after she sent three million to Wei Huan, she had no choice but to take her car keys and head to the bank to complete the rest.

She sent ten million to both Wei Hongbo and Xu Bingzhi. When she left the bank, her account balance was down to just under fifteen million.

The transfers were fast. Almost the moment the money was sent, the deductions followed. As Nan Ke opened the car door, ready to get in, her phone rang. It was a call from Wei Hongbo.

“First thing in the morning, what are you up to now, Wei Ke? If you have so much free time, come home immediately. I have something to ask you.”

Nan Ke opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, the call was cut off.

She had to admit, both her parents shared the same habit. They always ended the call right after saying their piece, without giving her a chance to respond.

Letting out a sigh, she sat down in the car. Before she could even close the door, another call came in. This time it was from Xu Bingzhi.

“Sending me that much money this early in the morning, are you planning to jump off a building? You have thirty minutes to appear in front of me. If you are even one minute late, I will borrow a whip from Aunt Chu.”

Once again, Nan Ke didn’t even get the chance to respond. The call ended.

She shut the car door, ran her fingers through her hair, then grabbed the hair tie from her wrist and loosely tied her hair at the back of her neck. Just as she was about to start the car, her phone rang again.

This time, it was from Wei Huan, the one who should have received the transfer first.

Nan Ke was starting to think they had planned this together.

“Ah Ke, why are you sending me money all of a sudden? I’m not short on cash. You made that money yourself, so keep it. Do you have time this afternoon? Yaya said she wants to take you out for lunch.”

Hearing that warm tone, Nan Ke immediately knew that Wei Huan had not read the message she wrote along with the transfer. She took a deep breath and reminded her calmly.

“Big Sister, that money was to pay you back for the car.”

There was a clear change in Wei Huan’s tone. “What car money?”

“Mom and Dad told me to come home, so I’ll talk to you later. We can chat when I have time. Bye.” Nan Ke started the engine and quickly hung up, finally getting a chance to end a call on her own terms. She turned on airplane mode and drove straight toward the Wei family villa.

She had not intended to be this direct. Originally, she had planned to go home and spend one last holiday with them. After the festival, she would have sat them down and explained everything clearly.

But the system’s sudden interference, along with the photo that Wei Huan and Xu Bingzhi had posted last night showing them smiling happily with Bai Ruoya, had completely changed her mind.

She was angry.

That perfect, happy family photo had pushed her over the edge.