Hidden Assassin

Chapter 18

Chapter 18 – Living Together

TL: Milaryn

Edit: IlkonEbi

In any case, the two girls’ relationship was set in Jiaming’s thoughts. If he pondered over it a bit further, he would have found the situation a bit strange, but he did not think too deeply about it. He had, in fact, fantasized about spending his future with either one of the girls… But the fact that he thought of them in such a way made it kind of terrifying.

However, having determined that the two girls were still virgins, the relationship between the three of them had evolved further. Jiaming was able to unrestrainedly crack adult jokes which caused Lingjing and Huaisha to be shy and angry at the same time. Though the three people’s relationship ended up seeming like an interaction between gay siblings, the two girls naturally did not realize this until around two years later when they mentally matured. However, because this relationship status was established that day, it was already too late to revisit the situation in the future.

That morning, the three of them were in high spirits. Shasha withdrew a wad of cash from the bank near her villa and was prepared to gift it to the foreigner mother and daughter they had seen yesterday under the bridge. She was hoping that they could use it to travel home, however when they got off the bus, they discovered that the pair was no longer there. She felt slightly regretful, but did not keep it in mind.

When they arrived at school, they were sternly reprimanded; they had to write up a self-review and a meeting with parents was also requested. Of the three people, it was usual for Shasha to get in trouble, so she treated it as something normal. Jiaming put on the appropriate regretful expression, but deep down he did not care – the self-review could be copied, and since his parents were nowhere to be found, the request would be considered unseen. Unfortunately, Lingjing, the stellar student representative, was the only one affected by this. Luckily, Jiaming and Shasha acted together and helped with hiding the situation from Lingjing’s parents. After going through this situation, they thought that Lingjing would be severely depressed and were even thinking of consoling her. However, she only stuck her tongue out at them and said, “This is exciting! We should do it again some time…”

After all, even though she was a paragon of virtue and learning, Lingjing had never been one to strictly follow by the rules. Her rebellious streak had always been hidden under the pure and adorable facade she kept up.

About a month after the skipping-school incident, summer arrived. Jiaming maintained the usual percentages in his midterm results. On the weekends, the three of them would gather at the Liu family villa. Jiaming would use the computer to surf the internet and play various DOS games –Monopoly, Small Warrior Battles, Emperor– with the two girls. Whenever they played Emperor, Shasha would spend a lot of time on the inner court and then, together with Lingjing, would judge the concubines on their beauty. However, her reign caused unrest amongst the people and she would usually end up being assassinated. Whenever they had their discussions about the concubines, Jiaming would always interrupt with jokes, making Lingjing blush prettily. However, she would occasionally fight for one of the concubines due to her preferences, cheeks flushed excitedly from arguing against them.

The three of them would also split up the duties – Lingjing bought the groceries for meal times, Jiaming prepared the food, and then Shasha cleaned up. That was how they passed their weekends, living together in this strange way. Jiaming stayed in Shasha’s tomboyish room, while Shasha and Lingjing slept together in the same bed as they did the first night. After a few weekends, on top of Jiaming’s unconcerned attitude, the two girls would be rather loud and chatty at night. They only blushed guiltily when they saw Jiaming the next morning.

The three of them gradually adapted to this style of living after a few weekends.

In the morning, Jiaming would usually buy breakfast and wait for the two girls to come down to eat. One time, he was using the bathroom and a barely conscious Shasha came in and started brushing her teeth. That caused Jiaming to be in an extremely awkward situation. Shasha rinsed her mouth next to Jiaming and had just finished washing her face, when a piercing scream could be heard from the bathroom.

At around mid-morning, they went to the farmer’s market as well as the supermarket, and the three of them wandered through the city streets, carrying various sizes of shopping bags.

In high spirits, they also split the task of cooking lunch when they arrived home. Leaving the television on, the sound of the afternoon news could be heard in the background while Lingjing and Jiaming were busily running back and forth. They were both wearing a small apron with a robot cat pattern on it, while Shasha was on the side, sorting and washing the ingredients.

After lunch, they would normally play games or use the computer to browse the internet. Jiaming often taught the computer illiterate girls some basic computer knowledge, but due to the contempt in his tone, the two would usually end up chasing and beating him.

After they ate dinner, the three of them would take a walk up to the mountain top or stroll by the sea side to enjoy the view of the setting sun while dreaming about the future.

In the evening, the pajama-wearing girls and Jiaming would nestle on the sofa and watch TV with drinks and snacks. Sometimes, the three of them were rowdy and cushions flew everywhere. That was generally a rather warm and fuzzy occasion in this family of three.

Not long after the exams, Jiaming happened to come across those five high schoolers at the middle school’s sports field. After the previous incident, news of the fatty being the leader of the group of five and being part of the criminal underworld had spread across the whole school. Jiaming and the girls had been punished, but the five of them had been severely criticized as well and they had to lay low for around a month. However, when they saw the person that had been the cause of all their troubles, fury overcame them, and with a quick gesture from the fatty, the group quickly surrounded Jiaming.It was currently the last class of the day, and for Jiaming it was gym class, which basically meant he was done with school. He needed to wait for Lingjing and Shasha, so he had planned to stroll around the sports field. However, it seemed that there were some prominent guests visiting the other school building, so it was arranged for many students –including the five high school students– to clean up the sports field. When Jiaming saw them surround him, his mouth twitched a little before making a helpless expression.

“Brat, don’t even think of running…”

“I haven’t run. Please sirs, it’s already been awhile since that situation happened. What is the point of you all remembering me? Besides, since there’s many of you ganging up on me, it would reflect badly on you instead,” he helplessly said while staring at the fatty. Seeing an ugly-looking scar on the bridge of the fatty’s nose, he could hardly refrain from sneering.

“The f*ck, I didn’t forget you! I swore I would remember your face!” The fatty unconsciously touched the bridge of his nose, ferociously glaring at Jiaming. “Hmph, there’s no teacher here; you think I won’t dare to beat you up? I am letting you know right now; once you enter the high school division, I will make sure you will never have a peaceful day for the rest of your life…”

The fatty signaled with his hand, and they were all about to jump him when Jiaming suddenly pointed to one side: “Fatty bro, look, what is that?”

A few of them turned, and at that moment, a group of teachers arrived at the entrance of the sports field. The group consisted of some high school teachers, some middle school teachers, a few more senior teachers and staff, as well as some smartly dressed young men and women, who were likely the important guests.

“Hmph, you have good luck!” The fatty grudgingly lowered his hand, but it was too late as the teachers had spotted that the five taller students had surrounded a shorter person. Looking displeased, they shouted, “You few over there, what are you up to?!”

“N-nothing…” the fatty quickly responded, glaring one last time at Jiaming. A female voice interjected and interrupted whatever else he wanted to say, “Wait a minute.” Jiaming looked over at the group of teachers and a slight frown appeared on his face – he had wanted to leave, but was stopped instead.

The fatty shifted his gaze towards the teachers that were coming over, and suddenly, his eyes sparkled in delight. “Oh? It’s Teacher Zhang!” he told the few boys standing nearby, “Do you see the prettiest female teacher? She’s from that aristocratic school that newly opened and I was there a few days ago with my father to pay our respects. Look, she still remembers me and is coming over to greet me, hahaha…”

As the group of teachers walked over, Zhang Yahan’s stunning beauty was like the moon amongst the stars – it seemed that the guests visiting today were staff members from the aristocratic school. Jiaming knew that she was only around twenty, but from the look she gave herself –wavy hair, a pair of flat spectacles, a tight blouse and pencil skirt– she seemed like a strong and independent woman. However, her look reminded him of the teacher stereotype from a Japanese AV, because she was wearing the exact same outfit. He smirked to himself internally.

Even though he was ridiculing her in his mind, the others obviously did not think the same way. After all, Zhang Yahan’s beautiful face and graceful figure matched the stereotype of the ideal traditional Chinese woman. The few male teachers by her side would occasionally sneak glances at her, and that fatty even tried to flirtatiously smile at her as he straightened up, “Teacher Zhang, were you calling for me?”

“Um? Ah… You are…” Zhang Yahan originally was heading towards Jiaming, but having been interrupted, she could only look at the fatty confusedly. He seemed familiar but she could not remember who he was, so the fatty could only respond, “Teacher Zhang, my father and I visited you a few days ago. My father is Ma Guangzu, and I am Ma An. We were inquiring about studying at the aristocratic school.”

At that statement, the faces of a few of the teachers darkened; this fatty wanted to transfer schools and even decided to flaunt it right now. Was he not acting like a Buddhist monk scolding a bald donkey[1]? Zhang Yahan remembered this visit and hmm-ed and haah-ed a few times, but when she saw Jiaming preparing to leave again, she rushed over.

“Jiaming! I was looking for you. You’re going to really test my patience if you run away from me again.” Her eyes glittered slyly.

Even though the tone used to familiarly call his name was not very kind and sounded like she had a quarrel with him, Jiaming could only turn his head back with an innocent and adorable smile on his face, saying, “Sister!”

He spread his arms and then ran towards Yahan. The two of them hugged intimately… He hugged her waist and then buried his head in her bosom, rubbing his face between the two mounds. Yahan felt awkward and flushed brilliantly at his actions.

“Sister, I really wanted to see youuuuu…”

The situation looked just like a heartwarming greeting between siblings.

[1] “?????” – idiom meaning that the main issue they are complaining about seems to be the only issue on the surface, while they are actually indirectly criticizing a secondary issue. ?

2 / 5 chapters of the week (next release is Wed, Feb 7).

As to Yahan’s outfit and what stereotype Jiaming is referencing to, I shall leave that to your imagination ;D