茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

Chapter Seventeen: The Villain

“I have a question for you, do you have a girlfriend?”

Reading this WeChat message sent by Tang Baona, Xiang Kun was a bit dumbfounded. Although it was just text, he could tell from the words that she was annoyed.

What was going on? Could it be that Tang Baona had fallen for him?

Xiang Kun found this a bit unbelievable. Although his body had gone through some changes, making him look younger and more energetic than before, and his physique had changed from fat to fit after two transformations, he was far from handsome. His facial features were just ordinary, and besides, he was bald.

Although they chatted happily when they met at the café, Xiang Kun didn’t have the blind confidence to believe that it was enough to win over Tang Baona.

Could it be that after several mutations, his body had developed some abilities he hadn’t noticed—such as the ability to attract women?

As Xiang Kun wondered and guessed, he replied to the WeChat message.

Although he had no plans to fall in love now, he couldn’t let her misunderstand that he already had a girlfriend. This would implicate Chang Bin and Wang Han, who had introduced them to each other.

So he replied, “Not at all, why do you ask?”

A few seconds later, another message from Tang Baona came, “Or do you have a boyfriend?”

Seeing this message, Xiang Kun’s first reaction was, had she mispelt? But soon, he understood her meaning, and barely managed not to roll his eyes:

“I am straight!”

Tang Baona: “Is it because I’m not pretty enough to meet your aesthetic standards?”

Xiang Kun: “You are very beautiful.”

Tang Baona: “So was I rude or did I have a bad attitude when we met before?”

Xiang Kun: “Not at all.”

Tang Baona: “Then why are you avoiding me?”

Xiang Kun wanted to reply, “When did I avoid you?” Indeed, he had merely declined an invitation to hang out, which couldn’t be counted as avoidance.

However, if he replied like this, it may seem a bit aggressive. They met through a blind date. After the meeting, Xiang Kun, as the man, didn’t take the initiative to contact her, so saying “avoiding” wasn’t too far-fetched.

Just when he was hesitating about how to explain, Tang Baona sent another message:

“Don’t misunderstand, I have no intentions. I just think you’re a good person and we could be friends. But you’re avoiding me, which hurts.”

Xiang Kun knew what she meant by “no intentions,” and he vaguely understood her thoughts. He considered his words and replied: “It’s not that you’re not good, it’s just that you’re too good, outstanding in every way. I don’t think we’d have much hope of developing further. I’m probably not your type.”

Tang Baona immediately replied: “How do you know what type I like?”

Then she quickly sent another message: “What I mean is, there should be a process of getting to know each other. Even if it doesn’t lead to anything, we can still be friends!”

What else could Xiang Kun say? All he could respond was, “You have a point, I was wrong.”

Fortunately, Tang Baona didn’t ask “what was your mistake”, or else he really wouldn’t know what to say.

“Are you free tomorrow night? Let’s have dinner together. I’ll bring my roommate, and you can bring a friend too. We can decide the location later, and split the bill.”

Looking at the message about dining together, Xiang Kun felt a headache coming on, so he could only reply, “To tell you the truth, I’m quite picky when it comes to eating, and not a fan of dining with others.”

Tang Baona: “Then let’s not eat. How about a hike next weekend?”

“OK.” He really couldn’t refuse this.

Looking at the chat history with Tang Baona on his phone, Xiang Kun felt a bit of regret. If he had met Tang Baona before his body had mutated, he would definitely have pursued her wholeheartedly. But on second thought, if he had that mentality, there might not have been any hope from the very beginning, just like those many blind dates before.

A scream suddenly came from the street outside the window. Xiang Kun rushed to the window to look down and saw a grim-faced young man with a knife chasing a couple. The couple seemed to be the one living downstairs.

Xiang Kun hesitated for a moment, then instinctively picked up his phone to dial 110. As the dial tone rang, he saw the man downstairs fall, and the woman was stabbed twice by the villain as she tried to protect her boyfriend.

Without having time to think too much, Xiang Kun quickly rushed out of his room and ran downstairs. While running, he was on the phone with the 110 operator, giving them his street info and reporting that someone was being attacked.

When Xiang Kun rushed downstairs, the villain was still wielding his knife, but the owner of the small store had already rushed out with a mop handle to stop him from continuing to stab people.

Without any hesitation, Xiang Kun accelerated and rushed over. With a flying kick, he knocked the villain to the other side of the street. The knife fell to the ground. Before the villain could struggle up, Xiang Kun was on top of him, punching him in the face.

His fist hit the villain’s face with a “plop,” as if something had burst. Xiang Kun was about to throw a few more punches, but he saw the villain’s face covered in blood, and he was unconscious. Surprised, Xiang Kun stopped his fist in mid-air, and didn’t punch again.

…

When Yang Zhen Er parked her car in the underground garage after Tang Baona had finished her WeChat chat with Xiang Kun, she turned her head and looked at her friend on the passenger seat, frowning, “Did you really make a date with Teacher Saitama for a hike? Why?”

“Why not?”

“You can’t really like him, right? You said he’s not your type, and he doesn’t even pay attention to you. Why are you still eager to meet him?” Yang Zhen’er was very confused and asked, “Nana, this isn’t like you.”

“I just think we could be friends! Going for a hike together is not like me going out alone with him, there will be a lot of people…”

Tang Baona got out of the car while talking and walked towards the elevator.

In truth, she regretted it the moment she sent the first WeChat message to Xiang Kun. However, it was too late for regrets, so she simply asked everything she wanted to ask, and for some reason, she felt a sort of bottled-up frustration, an insistence on getting Xiang Kun to agree to meet her.

Yang Zhen’er locked the car and followed her, standing in front of the elevator, looking sideways at her friend, whispering, “You’re not planning to use your charm to make him fall for you, and then kick him to the curb, are you?”

“What nonsense are you talking about? Have you been reading too many novels?” Tang Baona rolled her eyes at her.

“Or after being nudged by me these few days, do you start to doubt your charm? Oh dear, that would be my fault! I was just joking, you know that, right? Do you remember the tall and goofy guy you met at my house two years ago? That’s my cousin and he still hasn’t forgotten about you…Your charm is undeniable alright! You don’t need to prove anything with that bald man…”

“Oh, it’s not like you think! Why are you always…”

“Let me see what you chatted with him just now?”