Chapter 2: You deserve to be slapped
Luo Rui’s instincts told her that Jiang Ran's attitude today was different from before. She raised her eyebrows and looked at Jiang Ran for a moment, then smiled and stood up. "I said that."
Luo Rui admitted her despicable behaviour outrightly.
"Jiang Ranran, Chengzhi has already broken up with you, don't you understand? Even if you continue to pester us and follow us, Chengzhi will not continue to like you." The girl’s expression was cold and arrogant. She looked condescendingly at Jiang Ran. "Do you think that you can win everyone's favour and gain everyone’s acceptance by luring the group of zombies away for the team? Don't waste your efforts."
Unaccustomed to this angle of looking up, Jiang Ran struggled to get up, without any intention of yielding. "Just because of this, you want Jiang Ranran to die?"
This was how it was written in the novel – Luo Rui had to resort to some unscrupulous means to get rid of Jiang Ranran, who was a hindrance.
Unscrupulous? What a joke.
“I don’t want you to die. I merely don’t want you to pester Chengzhi anymore.”
"Since you have so much confidence in your Chengzhi, why did you use such underhanded means to set me up?" Jiang Ran sneered. "He’s just a jerk. Do you think I'd care about him?!"
She would meet a tragic ending if she followed this team. Since that was the case, it would be better to have a falling-out now and go their own way in the future.
"Jiang Ranran, have you lost your mind after you hit your head?" When Luo Rui heard the girl's agitated words, she frowned and looked at the girl. "Aren't you the one who has been pestering us shamelessly..."
Before she could finish her sentence, there were footsteps approaching again. Luo Rui's disgusted expression instantly disappeared and was replaced by concern. "Ranran, I know you’re blaming me for not saving you in time, but I also have my own responsibility as the captain. I can't..."
"Luo Rui, Xie Chengzhi is here." Interrupting the girl's drama, Jiang Ran raised her eyebrows and smiled. "I'll help you make it more convincing. How about it?"
Luo Rui was puzzled. "What?"
Before she could react, Jiang Ran shook her hand unceremoniously, and slapped Luo Rui hard on her cheek.
A crisp sound of smack was heard. The impact of the slap sent Luo Rui falling to the ground after staggering two steps.
"This is to pay you back for scheming against me." Without Jiang Ranran, the entire team would have become the zombies’ meal. Compared with their lives, a mere slap was an insignificant payback.
Jiang Ran’s slap was forceful. Luo Rui covered her face, her ears were buzzing, and the smell of blood spread in her mouth.
She slowly raised her eyes, looked at Jiang Ran, and enunciated each word, "Jiang! Ran! Ran!" This wretched woman! It was bad enough that she pestered my boyfriend, but how dared she beat me?
Jiang Ran showed no fear as she met the girl's furious eyes. It was because she knew very well that Luo Rui would swallow all her anger the moment the guy stepped into this small shabby hut.
Sure enough, the door of the wooden hut was pushed open again, and the guy leaned forward and said, "Ruirui, dinner is already... Ruirui?!"
The handsome guy had an ugly expression on his face. He rushed to Luo Rui's side and helped her up: "Ruirui, you’re..."
"I slapped her." Before Luo Rui could complain, Jiang Ran spoke first. "With this hand." She shook her wrist, "Xie Chengzhi, you'd better take your little girlfriend back to have some medicine applied, lest she become disfigured."
"Jiang Ranran!" When the guy heard her justified tone, his handsome face turned ugly. He asked angrily, "Why did you slap Ruirui?!"
“Forget it, Chengzhi. It’s my fault...”
"You heard it. She said it was her fault." Jiang Ran interrupted Luo Rui before she could speak about her grievances. Jiang Ran shrugged. "Look, the person who was slapped is fine about it, so why are you being so fierce?"
Luo Rui, “...?”
Xie Chengzhi: "...??" The anger in the guy's eyes was replaced by doubt. He frowned and looked at Jiang Ranran, hesitating. Was this girl in front of him Jiang Ranran? Why did she feel... kind of different?
"If there’s nothing else, can you please go out?" Jiang Ran said, "Oh, it’d be even better if you could give me a change of clothes."
"Dream on!" A hindrance like her wants supplies after slapping someone? Fat hope!
Xie Chengzhi left the wooden hut angrily with his lover in his arms. After they returned to the living room, they met their teammate, Zhou Jian, who was leaving the kitchen. The young girl exclaimed when she saw Luo Rui’s face, "Ruirui, your face..."
"Xiaozhou, please help me get some ointment."
……
Back in the room, Luo Rui covered her face and sobbed with reddened eyes. "Chengzhi, will I be disfigured?” She sobbed, “I just wanted to see if Ranran was better. I didn't expect her to be so hostile to me..."
"Stop crying." Feeling sad for his girlfriend, Xie Chengzhi gently embraced her and said in a low voice, "The wound on your face will be fine once the medicine is applied. Don't worry."
“Really?”
“Yes. When have I ever lied to you?”
When the two of them were being lovey-dovey, Zhou Jian came upstairs with the ointment. "Captain Xie, Gu Yunqing is looking for you. It seems to be about the arrangements for the night shift..."
"I'll go downstairs right away." When he passed by Zhou Jian, he instructed, "Take good care of Ruirui."
As the captain of this team, Xie Chengzhi tried to maintain the imposing manner of a captain in the cooperation with other teams.
“I got it!”
After sending Xie Chengzhi away, Zhou Jian applied the medicine for Luo Rui. "Ruirui, didn't you go and see Jiang Ranran? The wound on your face..."
"Ranran slapped me." Luo Rui sighed and said helplessly, "It’s my fault for snatching Chengzhi away. She should hate me."
"She slapped you?" Being close with Luo Rui, Zhou Jian felt angry for her friend. "You’ve been protecting her along the way, yet she slapped you just because of Xie Chengzhi? Besides, she and he aren’t married. It’s her fault for being unable to salvage her relationship with her boyfriend. That woman is really pushing her luck!”
"That’s enough. I’m sure Ranran didn't do it on purpose." Luo Rui comforted her friend. "Besides, she got lost today, and I didn't go to rescue her. She..."
"She wandered and got lost. What does it have to do with us?" Zhou Jian muttered. "It would’ve been good if she really died. Yet, someone had to be meddlesome and saved her..."
Luo Rui appeared more helpless. "Zhouzhou, you can say this in front of me, but don't let other people hear it, okay?"
"I know." Zhou Jian smiled. "Do you know who gave me the ointment?”
“Who?”
"Captain Gu!" Zhou Jian said with a laugh, "As soon as he heard that you were injured, Captain Gu asked his teammate to bring me the ointment. Do you think he’s interested in you..."
"Don't talk nonsense." Luo Rui patted her friend's arm. "Chengzhi will be angry if he hears about it.”
“Alright, alright, I’ll say no more...”
……
After Xie Chengzhi and Luo Rui left, Jiang Ran walked around the shabby wooden hut, opened the door, and went outside.
The place where they settled down was a three-storey private residence, and the small hut where she was in was a storeroom behind the yard for storing sundries.
The moment the door was opened, the cold wind of early winter rushed in, and the wet clothes clung to Jiang Ran’s body. Jiang Ran shivered and forced herself to leave the shabby hut.
If memory served her right, the juncture when Jiang Ranran fell into the water happened to be when their team met the villain boss’ team – it was at this point in the novel that the villain boss had his eyes on Jiang Ranran, and her life became more tragic.
