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Chapter 16 – The Bet

Xu Jingchu carried a small stool into the courtyard, enjoying the cicadas’ song and the evening breeze—a rare moment of peace. Thanks to the mint growing in the yard, even mosquitoes weren’t bothering her.

Unfortunately, someone was even more annoying than mosquitoes.

“Xu Jingchu, what trick are you playing today?” Lin Tingjun had appeared behind her without her noticing.

“What do you mean?” Xu Jingchu blinked innocently.

“About last time—I wronged you. Maybe you’re not that kind of frivolous woman. But you’re extremely scheming.” Lin Tingjun’s tone was firm, not speculative.

“First of all, drop the ‘maybe.’ Second, calling a woman frivolous is insulting. And third, accusing me of being scheming without evidence—that’s slander!”

Xu Jingchu was furious. If Lin Tingjun kept his mouth shut, things would be fine. But once he opened it, his words were infuriating. No wonder he hadn’t gotten along with Qin Yajuan in her past life. Clearly, it wasn’t just Qin Yajuan’s fault—one hand can’t clap by itself.

Without Lin Tingyu’s mediation, Lin Tingjun’s good attitude was gone. “So today’s lock just happened to break on its own?”

He sat down on the steps, tilted his head back to look at the moon, then glanced sideways at her.

Caught red-handed. She couldn’t admit it! “Locks break sometimes. If you feel bad about it, I’ll buy you a new one.”

“Locks breaking is normal. But finding matchsticks shoved inside one isn’t.” He tossed a small stone up and down in his hand.

Xu Jingchu wanted to argue, but the evidence was solid. “Oh? And what if it’s true? Doesn’t mean I did it.” She still tried to struggle.

“So you admit that matchsticks were shoved in there, that it was broken on purpose, not by accident.”

Damn it. Xu Jingchu realized she had underestimated Lin Tingjun—quiet as he seemed, he knew how to bait people into revealing themselves. Silent dogs bite hardest.

“I don’t know anything.” At this point, flat denial was the only way.

“You broke it, and then you wanted someone to fix it. You just wanted it temporarily damaged. So what’s your purpose? To put on a little show in front of everyone about a broken lock?”

Ignoring her denial, Lin Tingjun carried on with his analysis. And when he finished, he added calmly, “You don’t have to admit it. I have no proof. But I’ll be watching you closely from now on.”

His sharp gaze made it impossible to fool him. Xu Jingchu gave up on pretending.

“I won’t harm anyone in the Lin family. The Lins have shown me kindness.” She spoke evenly.

“Your target is Qin Yajuan, isn’t it? Competing for the paper mill job?” Two country girls fighting over a city job—it was understandable.

But he couldn’t accept Xu Jingchu’s methods. Just as he’d said: maybe she wasn’t frivolous, but she was deeply calculating.

“So you think I’m scheming?” Xu Jingchu met his eyes directly. Usually she kept her hair tied up for convenience, but tonight after her bath she had left it loose to dry, which gave her a softer look. The fragrance of her shampoo drifted toward him.

“Isn’t that the case?” Lin Tingjun was grateful for his self-control. Another man would’ve already been distracted by her almond-shaped eyes or her cherry lips.

“What you mean is, I should lie down and let Qin Yajuan trample me. Just be her victim.” Xu Jingchu wasn’t angry—she understood he didn’t know the full picture.

But if he still blamed her after she explained everything, then that would be on him.

“Yes, we are both fighting for the paper mill job. But I’ve never stooped to dirty tricks. Qin Yajuan, on the other hand…”

She looked up at their room upstairs, already dark.

“Tingjun-ge, shall we make a bet? If you win, I’ll grant you one request. Anything.” Her eyes sparkled with confidence.

“And if you win?” he asked carefully. A bet needed both sides to agree on terms.

“I will win. What I want is for you to stop looking at me with prejudice. Yes, I admit I have some schemes—but only to protect myself.”

“Alright.” Lin Tingjun was curious now. This woman seemed both exactly as he thought, and not at all. The more he looked, the more unfathomable she became.

When Xu Jingchu returned to her room, as expected, Qin Yajuan was already asleep, soundly so.

The next day passed quietly, nothing unusual.

Qin Yajuan shamelessly mooched off meals again. Liu Xiaoxia pulled her aside. “Yajuan, let me give you some advice. You keep eating with everyone, and you’ve said you’d treat us to a meal, but none of us has seen any sign of it.

“Everyone’s been helping you out, and I’m not saying this because I want free food. But this isn’t how people should behave.”

“I understand, Sister Xia.” Qin Yajuan smiled sweetly. “My parents went on a trip these past two days and didn’t leave me allowance money. They’ll be back soon.” She made up an excuse. In truth, she’d searched for the key yesterday and found nothing, which left her restless and anxious.

Embarrassed to linger around the group, she went home early. Xu Jingchu was studying, her drawer firmly locked.

Seeing no chance, Qin Yajuan simply went downstairs to watch TV. But her mind was elsewhere, unable to relax.

“Tingjun-ge,” she said eagerly when she saw Lin Tingjun, standing up from the sofa at once. “Your lock-picking skills yesterday were amazing. Did you learn them from a book?”

“Yes. I read a couple of books about it.” He didn’t understand why she cared so much about locks. Compared to Xu Jingchu, this girl was easy to read: always thinking of eating, playing, and climbing higher through his family.

“Do you still have the books? I want to read them too.” Qin Yajuan was desperate. If Xu Jingchu kept her key hidden all the time, she’d have no way in.

“They’re old books. You’d better start with basic knowledge.” He kindly suggested.

“Forget it then.” Basics took too long. Qin Yajuan was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, but she dared not show it.

“Jingchu, are you doing laundry today?” Qin Yajuan finally found a way to probe indirectly.

“No, I just washed yesterday. Why?”

“Nothing, I was just asking. I didn’t want to clash with you for space on the clothesline.” She laughed it off.

Perfect. Xu Jingchu wasn’t doing laundry today—an opportunity.

Before ten that night, Qin Yajuan climbed into bed, pretending to sleep while she waited for Xu Jingchu to doze off.

It felt endless. She almost drifted off herself, but then she thought of the treasures in that drawer, and the way the bell-bottom girls had been acting lately. She pinched her thigh hard to stay awake.

At last, Xu Jingchu was sound asleep. Bathed in moonlight, Qin Yajuan easily retrieved the key from her pocket, opened the drawer, and—lucky! Money and ration tickets, plenty of them. Finally, she could hold her head high.

She put the key back, hid the loot, and drifted off contentedly.

“Yajuan, wake up! Someone broke into our room!” Xu Jingchu shook her awake. Eyes still shut, Qin Yajuan heard her warning: “Quick, check if your things are missing!”

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