"Darling, what do you think about this dress? You…"
A lady wearing a s.e.xy strapless dress walked out of the change room and immediately noticed Lin Yan facing a tall and thin woman.
"Did something happen?" The woman walked over and clung to Lin Yan, pulling on his hand as she stared at Sheng Jiaoyang cautiously.
Sheng Jiaoyang"s gaze s.h.i.+fted from the woman back to Lin Yan. "I heard from Mei Niu that you have a fiancee. Is that her?" She spoke in Mandarin so the Italian woman couldn"t understand them.
"Yes." Lin Yan stared at her, trying to find more resemblances.
"Oh." Sheng Jiaoyang pursed her lips as her mood boiled to an extreme point. She took a deep breath and calmed herself before smiling again, her voice soft, "I wish you two happiness then."
She immediately recognised the woman. It was Julia Gudilesi, one of the closest people pursuing Lin Yan for the past few years. The Gudilesi Family had both power and authority, and Julia was favoured in her family. If Lin Yan married Julia, he would be able to get the support of the Gudilesi Family and would definitely stand out from the other heirs of the Lin Family.
Wasn"t this precisely what he wanted? Although Lin Yan had never said that he wanted to compete for the inheritance outright, Sheng Jiaoyang knew that as long as Aunty Lin wasn"t a legitimate member of the family, the filial son, Lin Yan, would fight for it. Marrying Julia meant gaining the support of the Gudilesi Family, and that was only his first step.
After she threw off all the lies and excuses she"d created for herself for her emotions, she finally realised why he hadn"t accepted her, despite liking her. It was because he wanted something that she couldn"t give.
Sheng Jiaoyang lowered her head to hide the smile in her eyes. Lin Yan was still in shock as he observed the young woman standing in front of him. He"d obviously only seen this person twice, but she gave him a very peculiar feeling. It was as if he should be familiar with her, but there seemed to be a layer of frosted gla.s.s in between.
"What were you guys talking about?" Julia frowned.
"I was giving my congrats on your engagement and wis.h.i.+ng you guys good fortune," Sheng Jiaoyang explained to Julia.
Julia"s gaze relaxed as she gave a big smile.
A strange light flickered through Lin Yan"s eyes as he stared at Sheng Jiaoyang with unknown thoughts. Everybody had slight differences in accents and p.r.o.nunciations, but everything about this girl was familiar apart from her voice. Her expressions, her mannerisms, her unique way of speaking, and the way she smiled were all very similar.
So many things were identical, but it wasn"t the same person.
The reason why Nana had befriended her so quickly was probably because this person was so similar to Jiaoyang.
"Are you guys holding a meeting or something?" a voice said from beside them.
Sheng Jiaoyang turned and smiled welcomingly. "Mei Niu, you look so good in that dress!"
"Really?" Lina held her skirt and gave a twirl.
"Lina, you"re also here!" Julia said.
Lina nodded back politely in response and casually praised, "Julia, you"re prettier every time I see you."
Julia smiled happily. "How about we have dinner together?"
"We already made plans tonight, so we won"t be third wheeling," Lina declined.
Julia smiled as she turned towards Lin Yan. "Darling, what do you think about this dress?"
Lin Yan tore his gaze away and nodded slightly. "It"s pretty good."
Lina didn"t change out of her dress. She just paid with her card before dragging Sheng Jiaoyang out of the store, not wanting to watch the lovey-dovey PDA.
It was already dark so Lina and Sheng Jiaoyang went straight to Rita"s villa. The villa, which was decorated in a very feminine and girly fas.h.i.+on, was a gift from her father for turning 18.
The two could instantly sense the atmosphere change into a familiar one as soon as they entered. It was especially coa.r.s.e and wild as music pounded in their ears, filling the air with excitement.
Lina and Sheng Jiaoyang looked at each other in dismay and both saw the speechlessness in each other"s eyes.
Rita the Freak"s preferences were still the same as ever.
A group of people were surrounding the bar, where shouts could be heard over the loud club music.
As they broke through the crowd, they finally saw the two…
Arm wrestling!
One was a tall and muscular youth, while the other was the dressed up Rita.
"She"s testing her strength again. I really don"t get it, what"s the point?" Lina whispered in Sheng Jiaoyang"s ear.
Sheng Jiaoyang smiled. Rita was most proud of her freakish strength.
A big hand clasped the delicate, thin hand, but the owner of the big hand already had veins bulging on his face, whereas the woman"s face was still calm and collected. The scene felt off, almost unbearable for others to watch.
The onlookers all cheered for the youth named Jesse. However, he seemed to be losing, his muscular arm being pushed down by Rita, little by little, before finally, a loud bang echoed as it collapsed against the table.
The onlookers all made pained faces as they watched him lose.
"Alright, drink, drink!" Rita poured a cup of vodka and stuffed it into Jesse"s hands.
Jesse smiled bitterly as he downed the gla.s.s, hiccuping from the alcohol as he mumbled, "You really are a freak!"
Rita put her hands on her hips and shouted boldly, "Anybody else?!"
"No way, no way, we"re going to go dance!"
"We"re going to play mahjong!"
"We"re going to chat!"
The crowd all made excuses.
Rita saw Lina and Sheng Jiaoyang, her eyes lingering on the latter before deciding there wasn"t really anything special about the unfamiliar girl and turned to speak with Lina, "You"ve arrived! Let"s drink a toast!"
Right, not only did Rita the Freak like to compete in strength, she also liked to drink…
"Your friend too!" Rita didn"t forget to also stuff a cup into Sheng Jiaoyang"s hands.
"Don"t make us drink such strong alcohol as soon as we arrive. We aren"t heavy drinkers like you," Lina said helplessly.
"What are you scared of? If you get drunk, just sleep here. I can even get you heated beds." Rita raised her chin.
"Please, it"s summer! Why would we need heated beds?" Lina was truly helpless against her.
Rita raised her gla.s.s. "Okay, let"s stop talking nonsense! You aren"t Jiaoyang, so you don"t have any right to refuse!"
Sheng Jiaoyang giggled and raised her cup under Rita"s stare before tilting her head back and draining the cup in one gulp.
"Great!" Rita"s eyes lit up.
Lina had no time to stop Sheng Jiaoyang and could only watch her drain the entire cup. Only now did she realise that if it wasn"t for Sheng Jiaoyang"s previous body, her Little Sun might"ve become a second Rita: Rita the Drunkard.
"Alright! Come on friend, let"s down another cup!" Rita picked up the bottle, wanting to refill Sheng Jiaoyang"s cup.
Sheng Jiaoyang used a hand to cover her cup and muttered under Rita"s unhappy stare, "Just drinking a single type of alcohol is pointless."
Rita"s eyes became even brighter, her gaze filled with friendliness for Sheng Jiaoyang.
Lina facepalmed. This was a meeting between a drunkard and a drunkard with taste. Two birds of a feather!