The story of Rose starts with being a brother

Chapter 503 Danger!
Wow, this place seems pretty nice!

Love Apartment 3904.

After returning home, Jian Ning took another taxi back and looked at the apartment that Xin Ling had just rented, praising it.

Xinling, who had changed into a plain white loungewear outfit, smiled and made her a cup of tea. She smiled and said, "I just rented it yesterday and moved in this morning. You are my first guest."

Jian Ning looked at the layout of the room, which was indeed different from 3601 downstairs, but fortunately the original owner was also a young person, and the overall decoration was quite youthful.

"But if you rent it alone, the rent must be expensive, right?"

"It's alright, the original rent would have been very expensive." Xinling smiled, her eyes narrowing, "But I rented it at an 80% discount."

"A 20% discount?!"

Jian Ning, who was drinking tea, looked surprised: "So cheap? Was the original owner doing charity?"

Xinling lowered her head and took a sip of tea, then smiled and said, "No, the sub-landlord originally wanted to rent it out at a high price, and even organized a viewing event to auction off the subletting rights, but no one who attended made a bid."

"what?"

"The sub-landlord thought his house was very good, so he advertised it in advance. Many people came to the viewing, but the starting price he set was never moved."

Who in their right mind would believe that Cupid's Star story?

Xinling's smile deepened, and after a slight pause, she continued, "Everyone came for the free snacks. Not only did no one bid, but they also almost finished all the snacks and treats from the sub-landlord's place."

"Haha."

Jian Ning couldn't help but laugh when she heard this.

"So you're the only option left to rent the house to me?"

"Correct."

Xinling nodded and smiled, "He originally wanted to give me a 20% discount, but when he saw that I was about to leave, he kept lowering the price. When I was about to get into a taxi, he said he would give me an 80% discount and even give me a free parking space."

Thinking of how Teacher He watched those people come, eat and drink, and then leave, Xinling couldn't help but smile.

Even the wealthy landlords are running out of food.

Then Jian Ning remembered something and couldn't help but ask, "Isn't this apartment only rented out for a few months? So... will you still be renting in Love Apartment then?"

Upon hearing this, Xinling's smile faded slightly, and after a few seconds of silence, she said softly, "I don't know either."

Seeing her like this, Jian Ning sighed, looked down at the tea leaves slowly sinking in the teacup, and after a long while said, "I just went to 3601."

Hearing this, Xinling looked up in surprise, but quickly thought for a moment and said:
"Zhang Wei took you there?"

"Yes." Jian Ning nodded. "They're all here."

She paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "Zhang Wei told me before that Wen Sheng's cooking was especially delicious. I didn't really believe it at first, but I didn't expect it to be true. Your benefactor's cooking skills are excellent."

"is it?"

Xinling had a smile on her face, but her eyes were full of loneliness.

I don't think I've ever tried Mr. Knight's cooking.

“I also asked him about saving you back then, but it seems…” Jian Ning looked at the expression in Xin Ling’s eyes, hesitated slightly before continuing, “They don’t really want to talk about it.”

"That's it..."

Xinling lowered her eyes, a bitter smile appearing on her lips: "It's okay. I've moved here now, so I'm very close to him. I should just focus on making sure I can live a good life for now."

Hearing Xinling's seemingly self-comforting words, Jian Ning didn't know what to say for a moment.

Only when the tea in her cup was half gone did she speak, seemingly casually: "Xinling, do you think what you're doing is worth it?"

"I do not know."

Cyndi still gave this answer, which wasn't really an answer, without hesitation.

She paused for a moment, then touched her chest: "There has to be an outcome, right? After all, my heart no longer beats for myself."

"..."

As an archaeologist, Jian Ning has long dealt with things underground. Whenever she sees secrets hidden in the soil that belong to hundreds or thousands of years ago, she feels that only such things can truly amaze her.

But now that she has met Xinling, although she doesn't quite support Xinling's pointless idea of ​​repaying, she is still deeply moved by Xinling's firm belief.

Xinling smiled faintly and changed the subject, saying, "By the way, why didn't you stay downstairs a little longer? You just mentioned that you came from your own home."

"Mm." Jian Ning nodded. "I had lunch and went back. I don't really want to stay any longer."

"what happened?"

Xinling noticed that the other person's mood had suddenly soured, and asked curiously, "You're Zhang Wei's girlfriend, shouldn't you be getting along well?"

"It was very pleasant."

After saying that, Jian Ning snorted coldly: "If he wasn't lying to me."

……

Suite 3601.

"Zhang Wei, what's wrong?"

Hu Yifei looked at Zhang Wei, who was sitting upright on the sofa, and asked with a smile, "Your girlfriend has been gone for ages, and you're still so absent-minded?"

Zhang Wei, who had been staring intently at the TV screen, snapped out of his reverie, glanced at Hu Yifei, and then said in a muffled voice, "I don't think I should have lied to Jian Ning."

"How can this be called deception? This is called a white lie."

Hu Yifei, munching on sunflower seeds, sat down on the sofa next to Zhang Wei. Seeing that Zhang Wei still looked conflicted, she said, "Even if this is a lie, it's for your own good. Think about it, a misunderstanding could cause problems in your relationship. Isn't that a huge loss? You just cleared up the misunderstanding."

"But... I still lied to Jian Ning!" Zhang Wei, still looking constipated, couldn't get over his conscience.

"You've simply cleared up a misunderstanding that shouldn't have happened in the first place," Hu Yifei advised. "Besides, no one in this whole affair really wanted to ruin your relationship!"

After a pause, she continued, "Although Guan Gu and Youyou mistook you for someone else, they mistakenly thought you were in dire straits and wanted to rescue you. And Ziqiao, do you really think he's so disgusting as to harass an old woman? Besides, his head has been shaved off, which can be considered atonement. Since Jian Ning has already let this matter go, you shouldn't think about it anymore."

"wrong……"

Zhang Wei shook his head, wanting to say something but not knowing how to begin.

When he saw Wen Sheng leaning on the attic railing looking in their direction, he couldn't help but ask, "Brother Sheng, do you think... what I said to Jian Ning just now was right?"

"You have to ask yourself what you really think about that."

As a scumbag, no matter what reasons he uses to cover it up, Wen Sheng knows that his past behavior was essentially a form of deception in relationships.

However, most of the time, his deceptions were not concealed by such blatant lies as Zhang Wei did today.

On the contrary, he will usually choose to be honest when a woman asks. Of course, being honest is not the same as being truthful. This difference in the art of language is not a more noble act, but at least it avoids direct lying.

Otherwise, he would never have encountered the embarrassing situation of having his lies exposed.

He had experienced many such "battlegrounds," but in every so-called battleground, everyone knew what was going on before they entered.
If we have to pinpoint any deception, then the lie he told most often, and only ever, in matters of the heart was: she's just my sister.

However, regardless of the circumstances, the situation he faces is different from that of Zhang Wei today, both in terms of his own circumstances and external factors.

Zhang Wei wants to find a girlfriend honestly and seriously, so he shouldn't meddle in this kind of thing with his experience as a scumbag.

Just like Lao Meng and Gu Yuan before, I can't offer any more help.

Hearing Wen Sheng's words, Zhang Wei's eyes showed some disappointment, but he quickly became determined again.

“Jian Ning and I officially became a couple yesterday. I feel that she is my Mrs. Right.”

……

Lonely Corner Bar.

"Phew, this ordeal is finally over." Tang Youyou sat at the bar with a glass of wine in her hand and breathed a sigh of relief. "Now Zhang Wei can continue to be with Jian Ning."

"Really?" Guan Gu Shenqi glanced at his girlfriend. "Why do I feel like something's off?"

"Actually, I feel that way a little too."

Tang Youyou muttered something, then said helplessly, "But who could have imagined things would turn out this way? Anyone who listened to Louise back then would have misunderstood."

Her complaints weren't just about shirking responsibility; the things Louise said when she came over a few days ago just didn't sound right.

In addition, Zhang Wei's previous vague statements led them to misunderstand the situation.

At this moment, Zeng Xiaoxian and Lu Ziqiao, who was wearing a baseball cap, walked over. After hearing their conversation, Zeng Xiaoxian said, "Yeah, I also feel that something is wrong."

"Oh? Teacher Zeng, you're a relationship talk show host, you're a professional, you also think Jian Ning figured it out?" Guan Gu Shenqi quickly asked.

"No, I don't know about that."

After ordering a drink from the waiter, Zeng Xiaoxian said, "What I find strange is, is Jian Ning really a good match for Zhang Wei?"

"They've only just started dating, isn't it too early for you to dismiss them now?" Tang Youyou glanced at him.

"premature?"

Zeng Xiaoxian snorted: "I think it's too late, okay? Think about it, Jian Ning's mother has been married six times!"

"So what?"

"Studies have shown that the marriages of parents have a high probability of influencing their children's views on marriage. Anyway, I would never date a woman whose mother has been married six times."

"..."

The group looked at each other in silence for a moment, then Lu Ziqiao asked, "How many times has Laura's mother been married?"

"..."

Soon, the bar was filled with a cheerful atmosphere again.

Emotional guru Zeng Xiaoxian instantly lost face, and then ripped the baseball cap off Lu Ziqiao's head.

"Hiss! What are you doing?"

Lu Ziqiao, feeling a chill on his head, immediately panicked and tried to snatch the hat from Zeng Xiaoxian's hand.

"Hmph, Lu Ziqiao, weren't you known as a Casanova? Let's see how you can still be a Casanova now that you've become a monk!"

Seeing this scene, Guan Gu Shenqi thought for a moment and said, "Don't monks all have a Dharma name? I think Ziqiao could be called... Abstinence!"

"Hmm~" Tang Youyou nodded in agreement, "It seems that shaving Ziqiao's head has its advantages, as it makes the girls around the apartment safer."

"..."

Listening to these people taking turns insulting him, Lü Ziqiao, who had just snatched back his hat and put it on, immediately got angry, took off the hat, and threw it on the ground.

"So what if I shave my head? What's the big deal? Do you really think that being bald will diminish my charm?"

"Hehe, Master Abstinence, this is a bar, no girl would want to be a nun here," Zeng Xiaoxian said with a laugh.

"Hey, back in the day, Jia Baoyu was also a playboy, but in the end he saw through the vanity of the world and shaved his head to become a monk," Tang Youyou added with a laugh.

"At least he has a Lin Daiyu who is deeply in love with him, but Ziqiao? He's just chasing after his ex-girlfriend."

"Although the ending is a bit sad, the saying 'a vast expanse of white remains, truly clean' applies here. He was surrounded by women in the beginning, and then there was a strange Buddhist temple in the end. Zi Qiao's current situation is quite fitting."

"Uh...who is Jia Baoyu?" Guan Gu Shenqi asked after listening for a while.

"The male protagonist of the classic novel *Dream of the Red Chamber*." Zeng Xiaoxian explained before asking, "Aren't you studying Chinese? You haven't heard of him?"

"I can't understand the content of your Four Great Classical Novels at all, they're all written in classical Chinese." Guan Gu Shenqi smiled sheepishly. "I've only heard of some of the main characters, but I've never heard of Jia Baoyu."

“How could that be?” Zeng Xiaoxian raised an eyebrow. “Tell me which characters you’ve heard of.”

Upon hearing this, Guan Gu Shenqi counted on his fingers and said, "There's Sun Wukong, Guan Yu, Wu Song who fought the tiger, and... Ximen Qing and Li Ping'er."

"..."

Tang Youyou's lips twitched, and for a moment she didn't know what to say to her boyfriend.

"Haha, Guan Gu is pretty good." Zeng Xiaoxian said happily, "Jin Ping Mei is also a classic, men love to read it, and Ximen Qing's death from excessive indulgence is actually something that Zi Qiao with hair can learn from."

"..."

After listening for a while, Lu Guangtou glared at him, wanting to curse but forcibly suppressing it.

"I don't understand why you're all talking about Baoyu shaving his head to become a monk, as if shaving my head means I can only become a monk and will never be able to pick up girls again? Three years ago, I came to Love Apartment and stepped into this bar, starting the second phase of my girl-chasing journey. The parties and social gatherings around the apartment then had a mainstay. Wherever this handsome guy went, beautiful women welcomed him wholeheartedly. That vibrant and bustling atmosphere is still vivid in my mind. In just three short years, has this place really become my place of decline?"

"No matter what, I've only lost my hair. My face, Lu Xiaobu's face, is still here. I'll definitely pick up girls and prove it to you!"

……

Love Apartment 3904.

"So, you think that Lu Ziqiao is the pervert who harassed your mother?"

After listening to Jian Ning recount what had just happened downstairs, Xin Ling looked somewhat astonished.

"I'm an archaeologist, and what I need to do is test my eyesight. If I can't even see this, what am I doing doing archaeology?"

“Then you…” Xinling wanted to offer some advice, after all, Zhang Wei had left a good impression on her when he held his farewell party, and he was Wen Sheng’s roommate. Even if she didn’t love him because of his love for Wen Sheng, she at least thought Zhang Wei was a good person.

Jian Ning stood up and said calmly, "I think it's necessary to reconsider this relationship."

(End of this chapter)