Chapter 56: Clashing Part 2

The hesitation in Shen Ruoshuang’s eyes turned deep and dark. Under Xu Yinian’s watchful eye, she opened WeChat and went straight for Bai Ran, having no intention of prying into Yinian’s privacy.

Xu Yinian had very few friends and no habit of giving people nicknames. When Shen saw that Bai Ran’s contact name was just her actual name, the same as hers, she finally felt a sense of balance.

Her mood visibly improved; she was as easy to coax as ever. She pressed the voice call button and didn’t touch the phone again. Only then did Shen Ruoshuang release Xu Yinian and walk a short distance away to take the call.

Even though she had been incredibly intrusive and overstepped boundaries by taking the phone, her subsequent actions were so measured that it was hard to stay angry… Xu Yinian was completely helpless against her and could only turn her face away.

After what felt like an eternity, Bai Ran finally answered. A dead, suffocating silence hung in the air, making time seem to freeze.

“Found out Xu Yinian is gone? How does it feel?” Shen Ruoshuang spoke first, her calm voice dripping with the provocation of someone who had already seized the upper hand.

To her surprise, her words actually provided a shred of clarity to Bai Ran’s drowning, suffocating consciousness.

Niannian was taken by Shen Ruoshuang, and not…

The moment she saw Xu Yinian had vanished, Bai Ran had feared the girl had seen something she shouldn’t have—that her “playtime” with Xu Yinian as the object of her fantasies had scared her away.

Knowing Xu Yinian wasn’t nearby, the suppressed, dark madness in Bai Ran’s voice surfaced. “Do you have a death wish?”

“You went to such lengths to lie to Xu Yinian. Surely it wasn’t just to share a bed,” Shen Ruoshuang’s voice was like ice, cold and sharp. She met Bai Ran’s violence head-on, refusing to back down an inch. “What were you planning? Touching her while she slept?”

Hearing this, Bai Ran keenly deduced Shen Ruoshuang’s current situation. Shen couldn’t just take Xu Yinian away; she had likely used some excuse to lure her downstairs.

The gloom turned into a sneer. Bai Ran’s melodious voice spoke the most condescending, mocking words. “You’re so righteous, so why don’t you go judge me in front of her? Oh, I forgot—you can’t even get Niannian to agree to spend the night with you. Between the two of us, she will always choose me unconditionally. What can you do other than follow her around like a beggar, eating my leftovers?”

Shen Ruoshuang ignored the taunt entirely, coldly declaring her ultimatum. “You don’t seem to understand the situation. I am the one with Xu Yinian right now. I am the one in control. I will be staying in that room with her. If you can’t handle that, you’d better leave now to avoid having another one of your episodes. I don’t care if I see it, but you know what will happen if Xu Yinian finds out.”

“Besides,” she added, delivering the final blow, “Xu Yinian has already agreed.”

Shen Ruoshuang’s stance made it clear she wouldn’t back down. Bai Ran couldn’t reveal her true nature to stop or fight her in front of Xu Yinian; it would ruin her “gentle and kind” persona. And because of her earlier lie, she couldn’t even offer to open a separate room for Shen Ruoshuang now.

It was practically set in stone: Shen was moving in.

“The three of us in one bed? Have you no shame, Shen Ruoshuang? Do you enjoy watching me flirt with Xu Yinian that much? Are you addicted to being a cuckold?”

The night she had craved for so long had been hijacked and ruined. Bai Ran’s repressed hostility exploded in this angry outburst.

“I think that kind of ‘kink’ is better suited for a pervert like you,” Shen Ruoshuang retorted before hanging up.

Xu Yinian had been watching from a distance for a while, but she couldn’t read anything from Shen Ruoshuang’s unchanging expression.

She nervously started to ask, “Is Ra—”

She suddenly remembered Shen Ruoshuang’s sarcastic “beloved Sister Ran” and found herself unable to say the name. She corrected herself. “Did Bai Ran agree?”

Shen Ruoshuang lifted her eyes, staring at her silently for a long time before answering, “She’s so ‘gentle and understanding,’ how could she possibly refuse?”

Xu Yinian listened to her. Why did it feel like she was being sarcastically mocked again?

***

The moment Xu Yinian swiped the room card and opened the door, she was startled by Bai Ran, who had been standing there for who knows how long.

Seeing Bai Ran’s shapely figure loosely wrapped in a bathrobe, Xu Yinian was suddenly reminded of that snowy-white scene she shouldn’t have witnessed and that strange sound. Her neck shrunk back instinctively, and she quickly averted her gaze.

Because of this, she failed to notice the wrongness in the aura surrounding Bai Ran. The other girl’s gaze looked as if it wanted to devour her whole, the redness at the corners of her eyes seemingly bleeding into her pupils.

“S-Sister Ran…” she stammered.

Between her guilt for bringing Shen Ruoshuang back and her urge to hide, no one knew the real reason behind her awkwardness. Her mind was a blank slate; her innocence prevented her from even guessing at the “wrongness” of the situation. She only felt a vague, instinctive sense of unease and discomfort.

To her surprise, Bai Ran stepped forward in the next second and hugged her tightly, her arms encircling Yinian’s back in an intimate embrace. She buried her face in Xu Yinian’s neck, her breath sending a bone-deep chill through the girl.

“Niannian, I thought you really abandoned me and left.”

Her lips spoke the most tender, heartbroken words, but when she looked up, her eyes slowly drifted to Shen Ruoshuang—whose face had darkened instantly behind Xu Yinian. A crimson flame flickered in the depths of Bai Ran’s gaze.

You like being a voyeur? Then watch all you want.

Bai Ran rarely showed any emotion other than kindness and grace, let alone such heartbroken vulnerability… Xu Yinian’s heart twinged. The discomfort she’d felt moments ago was easily tossed aside. Even this overstepping of physical boundaries was accepted after a moment of hesitation.

“I-I’m sorry. It was my fault.”

In her state of confusion, Xu Yinian was completely swayed by Bai Ran’s emotions. All she knew how to do was apologize.

“Don’t apologize. Niannian can never be wrong.”