Chapter 159: How Could This Be Ye Fuli's Best Friend?
Mund College, Room 404.
The orientation process was complete, and Ye Zhen and her roommates had all returned.
After the holiday break, everyone had gained a bit of weight.
"Oh my gosh, I can't take it anymore! I've got so much extra flab around my waist! I'm getting a gym membership." Wang Xiaoya declared, immediately turning to Lu Chengcheng with pleading eyes: "Let's go together? Huh?"
Lu Chengcheng was styling her hair, her expression gloomy.
As the dorm's resident philosopher, she usually lived with clear-eyed clarity and rarely showed such an expression.
Even Qiao Xin found it surprising.
"What's wrong, Chengcheng?"
Lu Chengcheng tugged at the corner of her mouth. "Nothing. Just a little problem."
"What kind of little problem could have you so stumped?"
Before she could finish, a knock sounded at the dorm door.
The person closest to the door now was Ye Zhen.
Ye Zhen casually opened the door.
The person standing at the doorway was dressed in a strikingly flamboyant and extravagant manner—a bright red dress paired with an expensive mink coat, her feet in seven-to-eight-centimeter heels, her face heavily made up with eyeliner that almost reached her temples.
The moment the door swung open, a wave of incense hit Ye Zhen like a punch, making her cough uncontrollably.
Yet, despite the exaggerated makeup, Ye Zhen felt a sense of familiarity with the woman's face.
Where had she seen it before?
"Chengcheng, your dad asked me to bring you something. Why did you run off before I could get out of the car?"
The moment the woman spoke, Lu Chengcheng sprang to her feet, snatched a pillow, and hurled it at her.
Lu Chengcheng, who usually kept her emotions tightly in check, now glared at the woman with vicious hatred.
"You. Get out. Don't let me see you again."
Even at the height of her fury, Lu Chengcheng refrained from hurling insults.
Yet the woman showed no sign of understanding the gravity of the situation. She walked in, heels clicking, swaying her hips.
"It doesn't matter if you don't like me, but don't disappoint your father's expectations."
"Besides, why do you hate me so much?"
"Your parents' divorce? I had absolutely nothing to do with it! Their relationship had been broken for ages—they'd been separated for three or four years. You know that."
"As for me? I'm here to join this family, not tear it apart."
By the time she finished speaking, she had already walked up to Lu Chengcheng.
She even snatched Lu Chengcheng's chair and sat down with an air of arrogance.
Lu Chengcheng glared with bloodshot eyes at this woman radiating an aura that screamed "ask for it."
Her fists clenched so tightly they cracked, yet she didn't strike out.
From childhood, Lu Chengcheng had been taught to be a gentle lady.
Faced with such a despicable creature, she didn't even know how to curse her out.
"Jiang Nini, you're certain I wouldn't kill someone, right?"
Jiang Nini?
That name finally jogged Ye Zhen's memory—it explained the inexplicable sense of familiarity she'd felt upon meeting her.
This woman was none other than Ye Fuli's best friend, as described in the comic!
Wait…
Could Ye Fuli really be best friends with someone like this?
No way!
Their styles were completely mismatched! And this wasn't Jiang Nini's style in the comics either, was it?!
Ye Zhen's face was now frozen in undisguised shock.
As for the other two in the dorm, they were equally choked up with shock.
Jiang Nini raised an eyebrow. "Your words are really hurting my feelings. When your dad said he wouldn't give you living expenses anymore, it was me who pleaded on your behalf… There's five thousand yuan in this card. Eating at the cafeteria should last you until next semester, right?"
"Get the hell out of here."
Before Lu Chengcheng could respond, Wang Xiaoya had already grabbed a stool, glaring fiercely at Jiang Nini.
"If you don't get out now, this chair is going to land on your head!"
At that moment, Ye Zhen quickly signaled to Qiao Xin. She understood immediately and stepped forward, wrapping her arms around Wang Xiaoya's waist. "Don't be impulsive, Xiaoya!"
Ye Zhen grabbed Wang Xiaoya's arm and deliberately said, "Xiaoya, even though you have a mental illness diagnosis certificate, beating her to death wouldn't be illegal, but you'd have to pay damages! Though your family isn't short on money… we can't waste it!"
Qiao Xin froze. Was this how it worked?
But she recovered quickly, jumping in with Ye Zhen's line: "Exactly, exactly! Xiaoya, listen to reason! Save that money for hotpot—don't waste it on people like her~"
Wang Xiaoya: "…"
Wait, why are you two acting now?
Ah well, if they want to play along, so be it!
Anyway, for her dorm sisters, she was willing to go all out.
So Wang Xiaoya immediately launched into a performance of madness: "Don't try to stop me! I'm going to beat her to death!"
"You! All of you… You're beyond redemption, beyond redemption…"
Jiang Nini was startled and immediately grabbed the desk to steady herself as she stood up.
She refused to leave like this, yet dared not risk her life betting on whether the other had proof. An intensely conflicted expression appeared on her face.
Lu Chengcheng stared at her expressionlessly: "Jiang Nini, don't gamble on my moral boundaries. They might not be higher than the legal ones."
"Hmph! How dare you talk to me like that? I'll tell your father and have him teach you a lesson!"
With a look of reluctance, Jiang Nini finally left Room 404.
Outside the corridor, her footsteps sounded hurried and disordered.
Once the dorm room fell silent again, Lu Chengcheng finally began recounting what had happened at home.
"That Jiang Nini—she started out as our family's maid, specifically tasked with tending to my dad's potted plants. I don't know when it happened… but she and my dad grew closer and closer…"
Lu Chengcheng was utterly devastated.
"My parents divorced as quickly as possible, and Jiang Nini officially moved into our house. But I always felt like her target wasn't just my dad. It seemed like she just liked taking things that belonged to others… What she enjoyed was the sense of accomplishment from plundering!"
Hearing this, Wang Xiaoya and Qiao Xin both gasped in shock.
Could someone be this despicable?
Ye Zhen, however, fell deep in thought.
She didn't doubt Lu Chengcheng's assessment—after all, this girl had an uncanny knack for reading people and situations.
But this Jiang Nini was clearly the best friend assigned to Ye Fuli in the comic.
Did Ye Fuli even know her best friend was this twisted?
Or was it precisely because of having such a twisted best friend that Ye Fuli had become this obsessive, deranged version of herself?
In her past life, the person closest to Jiang Nini had been Ye Fuli.
Jiang Nini loved snatching things from others—could she have snatched something from Ye Fuli too?
The thought was truly terrifying.
"I need to go home and warn my dad to watch out for that fox spirit," Qiao Xin said immediately.
"I need to go home and warn my dad too," Wang Xiaoya chimed in.
Soon, their attention shifted to Ye Zhen.
Ye Zhen felt a chill run down her spine under their intense stares.
"What's with the stares?"
Qiao Xin patted her shoulder. "You need to be careful, Zhenzhen."
Ye Zhen paused before saying, "She probably won't see my dad."
Wang Xiaoya grew impatient and immediately shouted, "I wasn't warning your dad to be careful—I was warning you!"
"Me…?!
Jiang Nini probably doesn't like girls.
Ye Zhen thought this, finding it utterly ridiculous, and couldn't help but laugh.
"You're overthinking this! Still, thanks for the kind warning."
……
……
At the entrance of Mondstadt Academy.
Inside a brand-new silver-gray sports car, Jiang Nini sat in the passenger seat, meticulously shaping her eyebrows in the mirror.
Her looks weren't exactly what you'd call stunning.
But her skill in flattery was second to none, and she knew exactly how to cater to her targets' preferences, which is why she often succeeded.
"Miss Jiang, you did well this time, but it's still not enough."
The man in the driver's seat spoke coldly, casually grabbing a stack of cash and tossing it onto Jiang Nini's lap.
"This man is worth barely over a hundred million. He's only good for practice."
"If you want to take down the Ye family, you need to target higher-level prey!"
"You must become even more beautiful, more alluring. Understand?"
Jiang Nini curled her fingers, picked up the money, and chuckled. "Yes, Master Bai Ruoting. As long as you promise me it can be done, I'll try my best…"
The promise he made her was precisely this: after taking down the Ye family, he would marry her.
Such a thing was utterly impossible!
How could he, Bai Ruoting, possibly marry such trash?
Still, considering Jiang Nini's competence, Bai Ruoting could only be patient with her. He had barely escaped his grandfather's control and returned to the country. Now, he had to be even more discreet than before.
The Bai family was no longer what it once was!
What used to be solved with money now required sophisticated methods.
"Just do your best. I won't shortchange you."