The Villainous Scum Alpha Was Reborn (GL) - Chapter 16

After getting Lan Zifan’s hair, Nan Ke didn’t stay for even a second. She took Jiang Ying straight to the hospital.

They were not in a hurry to get the DNA results, so they didn’t remain at the hospital long. After dropping off the sample, they went out for lunch.

Jiang Ying had eaten a little earlier that morning while accompanying her mother, even if it had been under pressure. Nan Ke, however, was truly hungry and finished an entire plate of pasta by herself.

Just as she put down her fork, her phone lit up. It was a text notification showing a deposit of eight million yuan. After recently paying out ten million, this brought her a bit of relief. As an independent investor, she couldn’t afford to be without money.

Jiang Ying, sitting across the table, glanced at Nan Ke’s phone. As soon as she saw the number sequence, she knew it was the transfer Nan Ke had mentioned. She was about to joke, “You’re paying for this meal,” but then remembered Nan Ke had just talked about paying back the Wei family. She pressed her lips together and quietly paid the bill.

“What are you doing? Stealing the check?” Nan Ke raised an eyebrow, pretending to be annoyed. There was a playful tone in her voice.

Jiang Ying turned her phone to show the payment confirmation and said flatly, “It’s already paid. If you really want to beat me to it next time, you’ll have to move faster than your mouth.”

Nan Ke laughed. “I’ll remember that.”

Jiang Ying rolled her eyes and glared at her. “Relax. I was joking. It’s just a meal. Are we really counting down to the last yuan now?”

“You just bought me a bag earlier. I felt a little guilty,” Nan Ke replied playfully. As they stood up and walked side by side, her tone turned sincere. “Thank you.”

Jiang Ying often joked with Nan Ke, but it was the first time she had ever heard her say thank you like that. It caught her off guard and made her pause for a moment.

She swallowed the lump in her throat, then forced a smile and threw an arm over Nan Ke’s shoulder. “Come on, we signed a commission contract, remember? Once things flip around, I’m getting a cut. You think I work for you for free? Dream on.”

They returned to the hospital just as planned. While looking for a parking spot, they unexpectedly saw Xu Bingzhi, who had come to visit Bai Ruoya. Nan Ke’s grip on the steering wheel tightened instinctively, and Jiang Ying turned to look at her.

Nan Ke’s white Volvo S90 was new and had never been driven to the Wei house. Xu Bingzhi didn’t recognize it, so even though they passed by each other, she didn’t notice anything unusual.

Jiang Ying’s expression, however, changed noticeably.

She could understand someone being distracted, but emotionally, it was hard to accept. They had been so close. After all those years of calling each other mother and daughter, how could Xu Bingzhi not recognize her? Even in a crowd, she should have noticed her. No wonder Nan Ke suspected she was not their real daughter. No wonder she had decided to cut ties with them.

If it had been Su Hongying, Jiang Ying thought, even if she were hiding among dozens of people, her mother would have dragged her out by the ear.

Nan Ke noticed the shift in her expression and waved a hand in front of her eyes. “What are you daydreaming about? I called you twice.”

Jiang Ying blinked. “Oh. Nothing.”

Nan Ke glanced around at the parking lot and said, “The spaces here and up front are full. I can’t find a spot. Why don’t you go in and pick up the results? I’ll drive around and wait.”

“Okay.” Jiang Ying got out of the car. As she walked, she kept thinking about Nan Ke and how unfair it all seemed. She started to regret being stingy about that bag earlier. Even though she hadn’t gotten the report yet, she had already made up her mind to buy Nan Ke a limited edition one next time.

Nan Ke, still unaware that a limited-edition handbag might be coming her way, sneezed inside the car. She reached over to grab a tissue from the door compartment but suddenly noticed someone outside who looked familiar. As she lowered her window and passed by, she realized with surprise that it was Liang Qingqing.

“Ms. Liang? What a coincidence.”

Traffic at the hospital moved slowly, and the windows were open. Nan Ke’s voice was clear and easily heard.

Liang Qingqing turned her head. She looked surprised to see Nan Ke, clearly not expecting to run into her here. After a brief pause, she offered a polite smile, the kind she would give a customer at the shop, and gave a small nod.

Nan Ke’s eyes moved to the simple canvas bag slung over Liang Qingqing’s shoulder and noticed her hands were empty. Smiling, she said, “Hop in. I’ll give you a ride.”

Liang Qingqing was about to decline but remembered how inconvenient it was to catch a ride at the hospital entrance. She gave a small thank you and walked around to get into the passenger seat.

At that moment, Jiang Ying came jogging back with the report and saw everything clearly. She nearly froze in place.

If she had been the one driving today, she would have turned and walked away without saying a word.

As Liang Qingqing fastened her seatbelt, Nan Ke froze for a second as well. She had been the one to offer the ride, so she couldn’t ask her to switch seats now. All she could do was brace herself and plan to let Jiang Ying squeeze into the back.

Liang Qingqing assumed Nan Ke had come alone. Not wanting to treat her like a driver, she had taken the front seat. Just as she finished buckling in, someone else climbed into the back seat.

Jiang Ying had planned to be as casual and low-profile as possible, so she didn’t say anything before getting in. But the moment the car door closed, a wave of awkwardness filled the space.

No one said a word.

After a few seconds, Jiang Ying couldn’t take it anymore. She forced a laugh to break the silence. “What a coincidence, Ms. Liang. It seems we’re really meant to meet. Maybe this is a good time to officially introduce ourselves?”

Liang Qingqing smiled politely and turned slightly in her seat. She reached back with a hand. “Hello, I’m Liang Qingqing. I think you already know.”

Jiang Ying shook her hand awkwardly. “Yes, I know. I’m Jiang Ying. Jiang like the Yangtze River, Ying like a movie.”

Nan Ke stayed silent. If she weren’t holding the steering wheel, she would have covered her face.

The awkwardness was overwhelming.

Jiang Ying cleared her throat and continued, “She’s Nan Ke. Nan as in south, Ke as in dream. Like the phrase ‘a dream of Nan Ke.'”

Then she suddenly noticed something about the name. She repeated it softly, “A dream of Nan Ke… Yi Meng? That’s funny. What a coincidence.”

Neither of the other two understood what she meant, and the conversation, which had just started to warm up, quickly died again.

Jiang Ying awkwardly closed her mouth. She glanced at Nan Ke through the rearview mirror, then looked down at the report in her hand. Her feelings were all tangled, and the awkwardness in the car reached its peak. She regretted saying anything at all.

The car moved slowly through the hospital exit. Nan Ke took the fastest and most direct route to drop Liang Qingqing off at her flower shop.

But after she stopped the car, she didn’t drive away immediately.

Before leaving the house this morning, Liang Qingqing had already posted on her social feed that she was taking the day off. She had only come back to the shop to tidy up a bit. Seeing that Nan Ke and Jiang Ying were in no rush to leave, she felt a little awkward just accepting a ride for free. So, she invited both of them to sit in the shop for a while and even bought them bubble tea from two shops down.

“Wow, thank you, Ms. Liang,” Jiang Ying said playfully. Once she relaxed, her tone was never serious.

Nan Ke looked around the flower shop and noticed the sign on the door was flipped to the closed side. When she turned back, she saw Liang Qingqing checking the time and putting on an apron. That made her curious.

“You’re not opening for business?”

“I’m off today, just doing some cleaning,” Liang Qingqing replied, putting on a face mask as she spoke.

Jiang Ying paused for a moment, then mouthed to Nan Ke, “Should we leave or help?”

Nan Ke, having nothing else planned that afternoon, put down her drink and asked directly, “Is there anything we can help with?”

Liang Qingqing hadn’t expected them to offer. She thought they would leave as soon as they saw she had work to do. After a brief hesitation, she replied, “If you’re willing, I could use a hand moving the shelves by the wall while I mop the floor.”

“Sure, no problem,” Nan Ke agreed right away.

Jiang Ying didn’t object to Nan Ke’s decision. Tilting her head, she watched Liang Qingqing open the door to the back, then take out a mop and begin cleaning. Curious, she asked, “Do you have another mop?”

Without looking up, Liang Qingqing replied, “No, just this one. It’s alright though. You don’t need to help with this part. I’ve got it.”

The flower shop looked to be around fifty square meters. Along the walls were various cabinets and plant stands. Under the worktable were custom storage units on wheels. Some pieces looked heavy but were easy to move once you noticed the casters.

Because Liang Qingqing kept the shop neat on a regular basis, cleaning was simple. Mopping the floor took about ten minutes, and wiping down all the shelves with a cloth from top to bottom completed the task.

Nan Ke and Jiang Ying weren’t used to this kind of work. In fact, their lack of experience meant they might get in the way, so they focused on simple physical help like moving things around.

After every corner was spotless, a light sheen of sweat appeared on Liang Qingqing’s forehead. Nan Ke, noticing, quickly prepared a tissue and handed it to her.

Watching the interaction unfold, Jiang Ying started feeling suspicious. Something about the way the two of them acted made her feel like she was missing something, as if something had happened between them when she wasn’t looking.

Once the cleaning was done, Liang Qingqing placed the used cleaning tools in a well-ventilated corner, then removed her apron and took her car keys out from a drawer behind the counter.

Jiang Ying gave Nan Ke a little tug on the arm. “Ready to go?”

Nan Ke paused when she saw the car keys and replied vaguely. Liang Qingqing, however, looked relieved. “Thank you both for your help today. Let me treat you to dinner sometime.”

Jiang Ying grinned and glanced sideways at Nan Ke, then turned back to Liang Qingqing. “Why wait? How about tonight?”

Liang Qingqing looked a bit embarrassed. She smiled politely and her cheeks turned slightly red. “I can’t tonight. I already have plans.”

“Then tomorrow?” Jiang Ying pressed on, refusing to give up.

Nan Ke turned to glance at Jiang Ying, about to stop her, but Liang Qingqing replied, “Tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival. I promised my parents I’d spend it with them. How about the day after tomorrow? My treat.”

“Deal,” Jiang Ying said happily, nodding. When she looked back at Nan Ke, her eyes were filled with pride.

Nan Ke gave a short response but said nothing more. She walked out first and got into the car.

Outside the flower shop, a white compact car had been parked in the same spot for a while. Nan Ke had never connected it to Liang Qingqing before. But now, watching her lock the store’s electric door and press the remote to unlock the car, a strange feeling rose in Nan Ke’s chest. It unsettled her.

“Ms. Liang is impressive. I thought she didn’t have a car, but it turns out she’s very independent. That kind of self-reliance is right up your alley,” Jiang Ying said jokingly as she closed the door. Then she turned her head and caught sight of Nan Ke’s moody expression. “What’s wrong?”

Nan Ke shook her head and didn’t answer. Her eyes followed the small white car as it pulled out of the space. Then she muttered, “Who is she meeting tonight? Why was she blushing?”

“Huh?” Jiang Ying didn’t hear clearly. “What did you say?”

“Nothing.” Nan Ke kept her eyes on Liang Qingqing as she reversed and drove off. Then she stepped on the gas and sped away. Her long hair lifted in the breeze, catching the wind as it swept in through the open window.