With each performance limited to just three minutes, the event was proceeding with surprising efficiency. At this rate, the entire host competition would be over in two hours at most.
The auditorium was already packed, but students kept taking pictures and sharing them with their roommates. As a result, more and more people showed up, though of course, they couldn’t get in.
The latecors could only watch from the entrance, the side windows, or the floor-to-ceiling windows at the very back, where they pulled aside the curtains to peek through the cracks.
The whole area was buzzing with activity.
Those who spent all day holed up in their dorms playing gas, furiously flaming their opponents in the Rift, were missing out on quite a feast for the eyes. They would probably be kicking themselves with regret.
Just as Jiangg Ning had predicted, the preliminary event greatly raised the students’ anticipation for the New Year’s Day Gala.
The gala was no longer a re formality to appease the administration, but sothing that could genuinely enrich students’ daily lives and allow them to experience the joy of community.
Students got to score the contestants and make the choice. The teachers’ votes didn’t carry much weight—with only ten votes, they couldn’t decide a host’s fate. Compared to the crude, pre-arranged selections of past years, this was a much more personal approach.
The winter afternoon sun bathed the entire campus in a warm glow, painting the academic buildings and library gold. Outside the auditorium, the students who couldn’t squeeze in were at least able to enjoy the warm sunshine.
Watching the performances from the female contestants while basking in the sun—college life was truly comfortable.
...
「anwhile.」
With Jiangg Ning all by herself, her surroundings seed especially desolate.
She finally had a day off, but there was so much to do that she hadn’t had a mont’s rest all morning.
First, she made two trips to drop off her and her sister’s clothes at the cleaners. Then, she took her watch to be repaired, sothing she’d put off for three or four months. After that, she swapped cars and took the Porsche to the dealership for maintenance. Finally, at a market stall, she spotted so fresh beef for sale—the kind that was still steaming, its muscles twitching!
’Beef is nutritious. I’ll buy so and braise it at ho. I can make so into jerky and use the rest for cold cuts. Yaoyao loves it... and of course, if she can’t finish it all, it would be good for her to take so to Chen Yuan.’
’Students are always eating in the cafeteria, where the nutrition isn’t the best. Chen Yuan is still growing, so the better he eats, the healthier he’ll be.’
Because of all this, she didn’t even have ti to eat lunch.
She bought so sushi, planning to make a vegetable salad at ho for a quick al. The afternoon was reserved for the major undertaking of braising the beef.
Fake cook: Can’t even make scrambled eggs and tomatoes without burning the eggs...
Real cook: Runs ho carrying thirty-three pounds of bloody, fresh beef!
Letting out an exhausted huff, Jiangg Ning stepped out of the elevator, beads of sweat dotting her forehead. But before she could even take out her keys, she was startled by the scene before her. Three or four tall young n in work uniforms were standing in the hallway. The relatively spacious landing in front of the two apartnt doors was cramd with several pieces of furniture and a large sofa, leaving no room to squeeze past.
Judging by their uniforms, all the n belonged to the sa company, and they all wore anxious expressions.
The young man with a square face who seed to be in charge saw her approaching, and his face lit up. He asked hurriedly, "Oh, hello! We’re the delivery team from BoniMan Custom Furniture. Are you Miss Jiangg, the resident of 1302?"
Jiangg Ning frowned, confused. "My last na is Jiangg, but I live in 1301. I think you’ve made a mistake."
"Ah... But the address on the order says 1302."
They exchanged confused glances, not understanding what was happening. Order information was rarely wrong, as the client had to confirm the details several tis.
Besides, Boniman was one of the top furniture brands in the country and had partnerships with many residential complexes.
In a place like Fengting District, no one could get in without proper identification. The fact that they were here ant they had passed inspection at the security gate and were definitely legitimate workers.
Jiangg Ning didn’t doubt that. But with her path ho blocked, she had no choice but to stand there.
"Why don’t you call and confirm which unit it is."
Jiangg wasn’t a common surna, or at least, Jiangg Ning had never t many people who shared it. She figured the delivery crew must have made a mistake.
’Did Yaoyao order this furniture?’
’She never ntioned it.’
As for her neighbor in 1302, Jiangg Ning had no idea who lived there. She hadn’t seen them once since she moved in.
"We can’t get through on the phone, otherwise we wouldn’t be waiting here," the square-faced young man said, looking troubled. "The notes on the order specified 1302 and even made a point of telling us not to get it wrong..."
"Made a point of telling you not to get it wrong?"
Jiangg Ning was baffled. She thought for a mont, a keen sense telling her sothing was off. She glanced down at the desks and expensive chairs—they looked like a gaming setup.
A suspicion began to form in her mind, though she couldn’t be sure.
"Yeah, the delivery was scheduled for 2:30 PM. Do you know the resident? Maybe they changed their number?"
"No, I don’t know them," Jiangg Ning said, shaking her head. Her tone was flat. "Look, why don’t you reschedule and co back another ti. You’re blocking my door, so I can’t get in."
"Oh... I’m so sorry!" The young man finally realized.
The only reason this beautiful woman was speaking to them so patiently while holding all her things was because she couldn’t get ho!
The n snapped to it and quickly moved a desk.
Jiangg Ning was finally able to use the fingerprint lock and get into her apartnt.
Once inside, however, she put down her things, crossed her arms, and let out a long sigh. She picked up her phone, intending to call her sister.
’That brat, Yaoyao!’
’Just how many things is she hiding from ?’
’Without a doubt, Jiangg Yao must have ordered the furniture being delivered across the hall!’
A woman’s intuition is a scary thing. Jiangg Ning realized sothing was wrong, but just as she was about to dial, she hesitated.
’Should I ask her?’
’Why does she have to hide this kind of thing from ?’
’Why are there so many secrets between blood sisters?’
She herself never held anything back, but Jiangg Yao had changed so much recently. It all made Jiangg Ning feel incredibly insecure.
’The new tenant across the hall... it couldn’t be Yaoyao, could it?’
’Then what would she rent a new apartnt for!?’
Countless questions flooded Jiangg Ning’s mind, and her already sour mood worsened. She didn’t make the call. Instead, Jiangg Ning opened the banking app on her phone and switched to a different account.
She sat on the sofa and calmly entered Jiangg Yao’s account and password.
As she expected, she logged in without a problem.
Then, she began to check the transaction history for the last two months. Soon, one particular charge caught her eye:
November 17th: 12,566 yuan
Payee: BoniMan Custom Furniture
’Aha! So it really was Jiangg Yao. Her hunch was spot-on!’
’Why choose 2:30 on a Thursday afternoon? Because I’m already at work by then. There’s no way I’d be ho.’
’And why insist on specifying 1302 and not to get it wrong? Because Jiangg Yao goes over to the apartnt across the hall after I leave for work!?’
But as it turned out, today Jiangg Yao was at school, and she was ho.
That’s why the delivery crew had to leave empty-handed.
The more she thought about it, the more horrifying it beca.
Jiangg Ning had never imagined that her own sister, the one she shared a bed with every night, could hide sothing so huge from her while she remained completely in the dark.
When she finally looked up again, Jiangg Ning was running a hand through her hair, her chest heaving as she tried to suppress her mounting anger.
She had thought that after they had laid everything on the table about Chen Yuan, there would be no more barriers between them—that they could go back to how they were. She had even resolved to give them her wholehearted blessing, without any reservations.
Losing the chance to be close to the person she loved was painful, of course, but Jiangg Ning was now experiencing a second, sharper pain: the sting of her sister’s deceit.
November 17th was the day after Jiangg Ning returned from Mingzhu City.
In other words, while she had been in Mingzhu City, struggling to deal with the caustic Jiangg Ruxue, Jiangg Yao had used her absence to sche all sorts of things she could never have imagined.
’Could it be... Yaoyao, do you hate ?’
’Why couldn’t you just say it to my face? I’ve been completely honest with you. I never hid anything about Chen Yuan.’
’What on earth are you doing?’
Two clear streams of tears rolled down from the corners of her eyes. Jiangg Ning couldn’t hold them back any longer. Her emotions had been more turbulent in the past few days than in the last decade combined. This string of unimaginable events left her feeling lost and bewildered.
It takes countless lies to cover up a single one, and you can’t wrap fire in paper forever.
From that mont, a complete crisis of trust erupted between the two sisters.
But at that mont, Jiangg Yao was completely oblivious to her sister’s turmoil.
...
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