Love Apartment: Yifei is my junior aunt

Chapter 39 Harley Quinn and the Street Singer

The woman in the red dress smiled when she heard Zi Qiao's lewd words: "Mr. Lü Bu, isn't your intention a little too obvious?"

"I can't help it, I'm an honest person. If I don't put it bluntly, I'm worried you'll just think our chat is a friendly exchange."

As he spoke, Ziqiao revealed a shy and innocent smile, as if he were truly a simple and taciturn boy who had met the girl he liked and had mustered up the courage to make a move.

The woman in the red dress raised an eyebrow in surprise, her eyes sparkling as she stared at Ziqiao: "When did we become friends?"

Ziqiao glanced around the bar, feigning curiosity: "Isn't the rule of bars simply one drink and one friend?"

"You're all talk and no action; you don't seem as honest as you claim."

"Then you must have misunderstood me. Everyone knows that I, Lü Xiaobu, have always been loyal and filial, and a very honest man."

"But honest men usually don't have the courage to talk to pretty girls they like, so that doesn't stop me from being a playboy for 8.67 minutes for true love."

[Lu Xiaobu's Dating Lesson Begins: To keep the conversation going, leaving room for further discussion is crucial, because it means that you're actually controlling the pace of every question and response from the other person.]

To achieve this goal, the topic must be eye-catching and interesting enough, for example...

Why 8.67 minutes?

[Make up a precise, complete, and confidently stated figure on the spot.]

"Because according to an authoritative report from Iceland, the golden time for two people to improve their rapport is within the first 520 seconds of their first interaction."

"If I still can't make you like me during this golden period, then I may not have enough courage to make a second move on you."

An authoritative report? Of course, that's just something Ziqiao made up.

As a man who had never passed any subject from school to graduation, the mere mention of reports made him nauseous, let alone reading them.

But Ziqiao is currently chasing girls, not engaging in any academic exchange. Should he be held responsible for the authenticity of the report?

Furthermore, to increase the credibility of the fabricated stories, the countries mentioned in the reports cannot be well-known countries like the UK, the US, or Germany. Instead, they must be lesser-known but familiar countries like Iceland, Singapore, and Australia. In addition, a few obscure scientific research journals from these countries should be noted down just in case. This should be enough to fool most beautiful women.

If you still get caught like this... There are so many beautiful women in the world, can't you find someone a little dumber? Why do you have to hang yourself on this one tree?

However, it is clear that this woman in the red dress is not involved in the academic circle. She easily believed the report that Zi Qiao mentioned, or rather, she did not care whether what Lu Zi Qiao said was true or false.

"If that's the case, then you don't have much time left?"

Ziqiao nodded, taking a step back to move forward: "So I've decided to give up. After all, without that kind of ability, it's really hard to win over a woman who already has someone in her heart with just a sincere heart."

"However, the rule in bars is that each bottle of wine tells a story. Since I'm treating you to a drink, before the bottle is empty, tell me about that story in your heart that you've never told anyone else."

"We're friends as long as the bottle isn't empty, and you can confide your troubles to your friends."

"Once the bottle is empty, we're strangers, and you can continue to keep your secret."

Ziqiao leaned forward slightly, which created a subconscious sense of tension in the person opposite her, making her more inclined to obey her instinctive decision.

"And who knows, besides creating a psychological profile of you in this story... I might also be able to create a psychological profile of another protagonist?"

The smile on the woman in the red dress was as stiff and frozen as a sculpted stone statue. She had previously seemed to handle Zi Qiao's repeated attacks with ease.

Whether it's laughter or anger, it's more like an actor cooperating with a clumsy partner on the other side.

But at this moment, her eyes finally revealed a mixture of bewilderment and anticipation, something that was not part of her plans.

She got into character.

The seemingly fabricated but actually targeted job description, a long passage of reasoning to enhance the credibility of the profession, and a bottle of red wine with a low alcohol content but enough to amplify inner emotions.

First, reveal your intention to pursue her too obviously, then create the image of a reliable and honest person, and finally, use a strategic retreat to make the other party lower their guard.

All the previous groundwork was like piled-up kindling, beginning to reignite the long-suppressed embers in her heart.

From the moment Ziqiao saw her, he knew that someone already resided in her heart. Ziqiao had seen that look in the eyes of many different people, such as Lisa, and so on...

For example, who was it again?

It doesn't matter, it's not important anyway.

The important thing is that girls with such eyes seem unapproachable, almost impossible to win over. However, with the right approach, their seemingly impenetrable armor can become a fatal weakness.

That's why they say if you swing your hoe well, you can dig down any corner.

For example, she has now begun to have hope: perhaps Ziqiao can find some useful clues from these snippets of information.

Even if I can't find it, I'll just consider it a way for me to vent my frustrations, and I won't lose out no matter what.

"Let's start by talking about your first meeting," Ziqiao asked abruptly, not even giving the woman in the red dress time to think. "Do you remember how long ago that was?"

The woman in the red dress remained silent, simply drinking one glass after another.

Ziqiao felt that the timing was just right, so he didn't urge her any further, but simply kept refilling her cup after cup.

Suddenly, the woman in the red dress snatched the wine bottle from Zi Qiao's hand and gulped it all down.

boom!

With the sound of an empty wine bottle tapping on the table, the woman in the red dress finally uttered a precise number: "Four hundred and seventy-five days."

Before Ziqiao could press for further questions, the woman in the red dress began to murmur softly, her eyes blurry with drunkenness. She gazed at the chandelier above the bar, as if she had returned to that brightly lit bar.

"That was the third night of my official relationship when someone told me that the bastard I was dating already had a girlfriend, so I stormed into the bar where that bastard was having a party."

"I grabbed two bottles of liquor from the bar and confronted that bastard. Actually, I've almost forgotten what we were arguing about. I just remember that I was so angry that I smashed the bottles in my hand at him."

"That scumbag was quite agile and dodged the wine I threw. But while he could dodge my wine, he couldn't dodge the slap from his ex-girlfriend."

"The two of us teamed up and taught him a lesson. That scumbag was too ashamed to stay in the bar anymore. Later, his girlfriend left too, and I was left alone in the bar, drinking my sorrows away."

"Then... he appeared before me just like you."

Ziqiao knew that from this point on, the "he" the woman in the red dress was referring to was no longer her previous scumbag ex, but the real male protagonist in the story.

"He's the resident singer at this bar. He was singing on stage when I was tearing into that scumbag. It's strange, we were arguing so much, and everyone was crowding around to join in the fun, but he was still there playing his guitar and singing his songs."

"Until I smashed that bottle, I missed the jerk but instead knocked his guitar away. The guitar fell to the ground and broke a few strings. I remember when the jerk's girlfriend was teaching him a lesson, she picked up that broken guitar and threw it at him."

"If a few strings are broken, it might be repairable and still usable, but once this guitar is used as a sledgehammer, it's basically time to say goodbye to the music industry."

Ziqiao understood: "So he's here to ask you to pay for his guitar?"

The woman in the red dress shook her head: "He came here to ask me to pay for that song he sang."

Ziqiao: "???"

Even today, the woman in the red dress still laughs when she recalls the scene: "He said: 'Miss Harley Quinn, let's put the guitar aside for now. Your farce just now interrupted my singing and ruined my mood to continue singing.'"

"So, as compensation, shouldn't you generously go on stage and sing the last half of my song today?"

"Then why does he call you Harley Quinn?"

"Because in his eyes, the three of us had just put on a terrible clown show, and the woman who was sitting in a bar drinking and crying because she was deceived by a man she had only been dating for three days was the clown among clowns."

Upon hearing this, Ziqiao instantly developed a liking for the male protagonist whose identity was unknown; this is a case of great minds thinking alike.

So what if you got cheated on by a man? You've already hit him, punched him, and gotten your revenge. Why are you still sulking? You're just asking for trouble. If you're really still angry, wait until he's better before giving him a good beating.

I really hope that all the girls he deceived could have such a clear understanding, and simply slap themselves a few times and kick themselves a few times, and that would be the end of it.

Why must things be developed into a brainless script filled with love, hate, and grudges?

"And then?"

"Later, I thought he was crazy. He wouldn't even accept money to buy me a guitar, and insisted that I go on stage to sing. He thought I was like a clown, saying that there are so many fun things in the world to do, but I had to waste my time, my mind, and my body on a man I would never have anything to do with again."

"As we argued, he told me that it was time for him to get off work and that he was going to experience more fun things. Then he looked at me with pity and told me to just stay in the bar and rot and stink."

"Finally..."

The woman in the red dress stared blankly at the bar entrance, as if a young man with blond hair and a studded leather jacket was leisurely walking out of the bar right now.

"I've already spoken to the bartenders, and they'll make sure they get your phone password before you get completely drunk. Then they'll call your elderly parents who are already getting up and working hard because of their troublesome daughter, and ask them to come pick you up and pay for your drinks."

"Remember to bring a small gift to thank the waitresses who were forced to work more because of you after you sober up the next day. I'll bring them a strawberry cake tomorrow night, so don't bring the same one as me."

"Miss Harley Quinn, after you finish tonight's drink, consider yourself dead once."

"As I said before, there are many things in this world that are far more interesting than you imagine."

Watching the street singer finish explaining everything and then leave work on time, she inexplicably felt a surge of courage.

"Hey, you busker!" she called out breathlessly as she chased after him. "Are those things really as interesting as you say?"

The street singer turned around in surprise, revealing a handsome face that seemed completely out of place with his attire.

He pondered for a moment before saying, "Whether those things are interesting or not, we'll only know by trying them one by one."

His voice was light and ethereal, yet carried the passion unique to youth, like a gentle breeze that moved freely according to its own will.

"Then take me with you to try it."

"...Get in the car."

(End of this chapter)