Chapter 9: The Breakdown of Decorum

Noon. Summer in Mirror City. The 26th floor, where no tree shadows were visible outside the window. The cuff buttons on the shirt featured a contrasting color design.

“You and that one are a couple, right?”

Zhao Chiyun asked lazily: “Which one?”

“The tall, skinny one wearing colored contacts.”

Although Zhao Chiyun didn’t understand what “wearing colored contacts” meant, she could analyze that the question referred to Gan Xun. “A couple” meant having a private affair.

“None of your business.”

“Just asking.”

Under her noisy probing, Zhao Chiyun clarified: “We’re not. Just… friends.”

Actually, not even friends.

“Blueberry” leaned close across the dining table and said in a coquettish tone: “Sister, don’t think I’m naive and deceive me. You two were holding hands from the moment you walked in, and she wouldn’t let you sit on the sofa.”

“You expect me to believe there’s no flirtation?”

The words “impudent” hovered on Zhao Chiyun’s lips, but Gan Xun had told her not to shout outside.

No one would listen. This was a place that didn’t respect hierarchy.

What a breakdown of decorum!

“I don’t have a sister like you.”

Zhao Chiyun said sternly: “Don’t call me Big Sister.”

“Okay, okay.” The red-haired woman didn’t take it to heart.

“Don’t judge us with your dirty mind.”

“Before we entered, I have acrophobia. She was kind enough to support me.”

“As for the sofa, it was because you dirtied it.”

She was wearing her clothes. How could she not care?

In “Blueberry”‘s eyes, this woman was explosively beautiful. She’d never seen anyone like her—seduction and remoteness fused into one, her speech carrying a touch of cold humor.

She didn’t have that kind of interest, but at this moment, she wouldn’t mind being scolded a few more times.

“Then, do I have the honor?”

Zhao Chiyun shot her a sidelong glance, her gaze carrying a question.

She opened her phone: “Add WeChat? Come find me to play when you’re free?”

Zhao Chiyun didn’t delve into the meaning of WeChat. She only heard the word “play.”

This person fancied women and had a sneaky look. No need to guess what she meant by “play.”

Zhao Chiyun had never suffered such humiliation. Nausea surged in her stomach, worse than in the elevator.

She could no longer conceal her disgust. Staring coldly, she said: “You’re not worthy.”

It dirtied her ears.

Unwilling to share a table with such a person any longer, Zhao Chiyun abruptly stood: “If it were… in my time of power, asking that would be a capital crime.”

In Mirror Country, beheading would be going easy on her.

Blueberry was stunned but didn’t care if she was boasting. She still grinned: “Just joking. Don’t really get mad. You’re already sentencing me to death now. Really not considering?”

The law wouldn’t allow it. No fine to pay. She didn’t want to go to jail.

Zhao Chiyun recited silently in her heart.

Flicking her sleeve, she left: “I’m straight. Mind yourself.”

When the door opened again, Xu Yanyan knelt on the ground.

Zhao Chiyun felt a sense of familiarity at the sight of someone kneeling, but the posture was too ugly, lacking a master’s instruction.

Gan Xun couldn’t stand to watch. She tried to pull the person up, flustered and busy: “Get up and talk. Who are you putting on this show for? You two sit down and talk it out properly, okay?”

“Cuican won’t forgive me, so I won’t get up.”

Xu Yanyan, her face still bearing a slap mark, shed tears that seemed full of regret.

Cui Can had been facing the window, trying to calm down.

Hearing this, she flew into a rage again and turned to curse: “Keep dreaming about forgiveness. Jump off the building. Jump, and I’ll forgive you.”

Zhao Chiyun knocked on the door to interrupt: “The girl outside says she has a lunch engagement and needs to leave. Dare I ask if you’ve resolved things?”

“Why hasn’t she rolled out yet!” Cui Can shouted.

Xu Yanyan looked up at the sound. Upon clearly seeing the visitor’s appearance, her pupils dilated involuntarily.

Subconsciously, she didn’t want to appear too pathetic in front of a stranger. She stood up smoothly, patted nonexistent dust from her knees, and straightened her clothes.

Gan Xun took two steps forward and said to Zhao Chiyun: “Let her go first. This has nothing to do with her. Wait for us a moment.”

Xu Yanyan wasn’t doing this for the first time. Even without the red-haired woman, there would be purple-haired or yellow-haired ones. In the end, it was her personal problem.

Zhao Chiyun’s eyes were sharp: “What happened to your leg again?”

Gan Xun’s scrape from yesterday was minor. After applying medicine, it barely hurt, and she walked normally today.

But after just a short separation, she was limping again now.

Spotting a gray footprint on her black pants, Zhao Chiyun pursed her lips.

Gan Xun whispered: “Breaking up a fight. Got kicked accidentally.”

Zhao Chiyun asked coldly: “Kicked by whom?”

“It’s nothing. Not important.”

Zhao Chiyun restrained herself and gave her a look as if she were an idiot. It wasn’t convenient to say more in front of others.

“She told me to unplug the charger from the bedside for her.”

Xu Yanyan and Gan Xun both looked toward the bedside table.

A white charger was plugged into the outlet. Unfortunately, right beside it was an insertable sex toy.

Gan Xun wanted to gouge out her own eyes and simultaneously blocked Zhao Chiyun’s vision with her hand.

Zhao Chiyun didn’t move, but curiosity stirred: “What can’t be seen?”

“Foul object.”

Xu Yanyan first glanced guiltily at Cui Can, then hurried over a few steps to unplug the charger and handed it straight to Zhao Chiyun.

Staring intently: “Thanks.”

Zhao Chiyun neither looked directly at it nor took it.

She merely looked at Gan Xun and instructed faintly: “You take it and hand it to me.”

Xu Yanyan’s already unpleasant expression grew worse, a mix of bafflement and impatience. She shoved it directly into Gan Xun’s hand.

Gan Xun offered a polite explanation: “She’s shy,” as she handed it to Zhao Chiyun.

But Zhao Chiyun disliked playing peacemaker. She vented her anger from the red-haired woman onto the culprit as well.

“Not at all. I most despise people without manners—handing items past strangers.”

There were many rules in the Prince’s Mansion. It was normal, Gan Xun thought.

“A fickle woman without sincerity even in kneeling. Mouth says she won’t rise until forgiven, yet stands the next moment for the sake of face. Words and deeds at odds, flip-flopping. Such a person doesn’t deserve to stand before me.”

She glanced sideways at Xu Yanyan: “I’m speaking of you. Take your eyes off me. I disdain even a glance.”

Xu Yanyan was stunned by the scolding. Reacting, she flew into a humiliated rage: “What the hell are you? Crazy? Who are you, you foul-mouthed bitch?”

Gan Xun immediately stepped in front of Zhao Chiyun and glared back: “Watch how you speak.”

“Gan Xun, you’re sick too. Who started the cursing?”

“Is she your girlfriend or your mom?”

Gan Xun’s gaze turned utterly cold.

“Clean up your mouth.”

Cui Can had noticed the bedside item earlier and held back, waiting for Zhao Chiyun to leave.

Now, hearing Xu Yanyan yelling, her anger erupted.

She rushed over on swift feet, grabbed the item from the bedside table, and hurled it at Xu Yanyan.

She exploded: “You still think you’re in the right? Shameless. So what if she cursed you a few times?”

“Get out with that woman. I never want to see you again.”

Xu Yanyan dodged nimbly—probably used to being hit—and evaded instinctively.

The item flew straight toward Zhao Chiyun and Gan Xun.

Gan Xun had no room to dodge. She reached out swiftly. Realizing what she’d touched, she let out a miserable scream and flung it to the ground.

From Gan Xun and Cui Can’s attitudes, the current situation, and the location, Zhao Chiyun understood what the thing on the ground was.

She’d never seen such a thing. Redness flooded her face, nearly reaching her neck.

She felt both deep sympathy and gratitude toward Gan Xun.

Gan Xun had protected her in the crisis. If that filthy object had hit her, she’d rather jump from the building.

She missed Mirror Country’s subtlety. Even erotic paintings had a touch of elegance, nothing like bedroom toys flying about.

People are not as they used to be.

The scene descended into utter chaos.

Cui Can and Xu Yanyan fully erupted into argument. The enraged Xu Yanyan refused to yield further. With failed reconciliation, her resentment boiled over, turning even more vulgar.

She began counterattacking Cui Can’s flaws with vicious words and even PUA’d her, saying Cui Can would never meet someone sincere—no one could tolerate her.

The two nearly came to blows again.

Gan Xun had no time to deal with her hand and hurried to intervene.

It wasn’t about being a good person. Cui Can had a precedent of arguing with her partner until the police were called. If Xu Yanyan spitefully reported it, Zhao Chiyun could get dragged in.

The bold Orange Cat had entered the room at some point and circled at its owner’s feet. Seizing the chaos, it went to sniff the “dangerous item” on the ground.

Zhao Chiyun urgently shouted at it: “No!”

The cat scurried out of the room.

What remained had nothing to do with Zhao Chiyun.

She prepared to leave the battlefield. At that moment, Xu Yanyan and Cui Can shoved closer, nearly colliding with her. Gan Xun blocked them.

Zhao Chiyun watched coldly from the sidelines. In the chaos, she found an opening and angle to deliver a fierce kick to Xu Yanyan’s leg from behind.

No matter who had kicked Gan Xun earlier, this grudge went on the Xu woman’s tab.

She showed no mercy. Caught off guard, Xu Yanyan lurched forward, her knee slamming the ground. Her head crashed into Cui Can’s leg, braking abruptly.

The massive thud scared Gan Xun. While intercepting Cui Can’s descending slap, she reached to help Xu Yanyan: “You okay?”

Exempt from courtesy. Rise.

Zhao Chiyun felt magnanimous in her heart. Smiling, she closed the door and walked out gracefully.

This house belonged to Cui Can to begin with. Soon, Xu Yanyan was swept out the door. By then, it was already one in the afternoon.

After venting, Cui Can gradually calmed and went to the bathroom to touch up her makeup.

It was exhausting physical labor. Gan Xun was covered in sweat. She grabbed a few wet wipes to clean her forehead and neck.

She took two bottles of mineral water from the kitchen fridge, opened one, and handed it to Zhao Chiyun.

“Sealed. No poison. Drink. You must be thirsty too.”

“County Princess, your eloquence is brilliant. Admirable.”

Gan Xun smiled and praised her.

Zhao Chiyun proudly arched a brow, greatly pleased. “Pity there are no bailiffs to dispatch. Otherwise, I’d make them suffer.”

Gan Xun sat at the dining table and downed half a bottle of ice water in one go, finally coming back to life.

“Here, never have such thoughts. Everyone is equal. Use reason. Use the law.”

“Xu Yanyan felt guilty today, so her temper was mild. She endured the scolding and left when told to roll. Normally, she’s very difficult to deal with.”

Gan Xun rested her elbow on the table, leaned forward slightly, and said with a smile: “You played a sneaky move from behind today. She hit the ground with such a heavy thud. Good thing no injury, or it would be trouble.”

“I merely vented anger for you.”

Zhao Chiyun was unhappy at the after-the-fact accounting: “You don’t like it?”

Gan Xun froze.

She had thought Zhao Chiyun was simply throwing herself into the “catching the affair” task, helping out with curses and kicks. While appreciating it, she planned to clarify that such methods weren’t for other matters.

She hadn’t expected it was for her sake.

The ice water settled in her stomach, kindling an overload of warmth in the midsummer heat.

Gan Xun smiled.

As Zhao Chiyun drank her water, she thought: “Did you wash your hands?”

Gan Xun’s smile vanished.