Chapter 190: The ultimate cohabitation

Walking out of the street with many ‘Vajra Tribulation Rings’ around his head, Xu Tingsheng stood by the roadside, preparing to hail a taxi.

However, Apple dragged him away, saying, “I want to walk with Sun Wukong today.”

“But my head’s very heavy,” Xu Tingsheng protested.

The two of them walked for seven streets. Apple turned a corner and stopped.

“Xu Tingsheng, do you know how to speak sweet nothings?”She asked.

“I used to be very good at it,” Xu Tingsheng felt rather awkward.

“Used to? Weren’t you rather the honest kind in the past?” Apple recalled the past Xu Tingsheng of her memories. When she had come to Libei Senior High in twelfth grade, Xu Tingsheng had indeed been rather honest in the area of relationships. Actually, it had always been so before the two of them had started interacting.

Xu Tingsheng’s past naturally wasn’t his past that Apple had seen.

“Uncle was once an expert in the playing fields of love for quite a few years, roaming a whole round amongst the myriad flowers, okay? Only till...I met Miss Xiang,” Xu Tingsheng thought.

“One line. I wanna hear,” Seeing that Xu Tingsheng was silent, Apple said.

“Why?”

“Because I want to exchange sweet nothings with you, just that I’m afraid of it being mushy. Give me an anaesthetic first.”

“I haven’t practised for too long. I really can’t get so mushy so soon,” Xu Tingsheng smiled, “Anyway, I just walked seven whole streets, but I couldn’t spot a single girl prettier than you.”

Apple savoured it for a moment, “Oh, so you were looking at other girls all throughout. Still, I’m pretty happy.”

“If you’re willing to listen, there’d actually be tens of thousands, perhaps even more people than that who would be willing to say them to you,” Xu Tingsheng said.

“But I only want to listen to yours,” Apple said.

“It’s my turn,” Apple continued, “Xu Tingsheng, loving you is so dangerous, but I really can’t stop myself.”

She paused for a moment before resuming, “Actually, I guess most deep, heartfelt relationships in this world should be like this.”

Xu Tingsheng looked down and kicked a pebble on the ground.

“Actually, round this bend right here is the school that I studied in just after having come to Shenghai,” Apple said.

“Want to take me over for a look?” Xu Tingsheng asked.

Apple shook her head, “This is the place that I want to take you to, just right here. Once, I was stopped by several female students here after school. They beat me up and even tore my new skirt.”

“I wore the torn skirt and shielded myself with my bag all the way home. Then, because I was afraid that my Mum might be worried, I didn’t dare to say that I’d been beaten. I said that I had gotten myself injured when squeezing my way through a thicket, getting my new skirt torn in the process. In the end...Mum gave me another beating.”

Apple rubbed her nose and smiled before continuing, “The reason they beat me was that they’d always taken me for a shabbily dressed country girl. When I finally got a new skirt and wore it to school that day, maybe people told me how nice I actually looked.”

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

“Sorry,” Xu Tingsheng could imagine that Apple, that pitiful, helpless girl.

He hugged Apple gently.

“It’s not that,” Apple buried her head in Xu Tingsheng’s shoulder, holding back tears as she pursed her lips, “I brought you here because...did you know? Ever since then, I never dared to walk here again before and after school. Even when I had friends afterwards, I still didn’t dare to do it. It had become a shadow that hung over my heart. Now that I’ve brought you here, with you beside me, I’m not afraid anymore. I’ll be able to forget that experience of the past.”

Xu Tingsheng stroked the back of Apple’s head, “Rest assured, there’s no one who’ll be able to bully you in the future.”

“What if it’s you who bullies me then? What if...Xiang Ning bullies me?” Apple asked.

Apple returned to the riverside residence.

A matter that Xu Tingsheng had originally thought might lead to great upheaval had unexpectedly ended without incident just like that due to Lu Zhixin’s calmness.

Xu Tingsheng had given a call to Lu Zhixin to report on this matter beforehand, saying that she could find a place outside to stay. Lu Zhixin had asked, “Are you staying together?” He had said, “No.”

“Let her stay together with me then. I’ll have a companion, and we can feel a bit more at ease...I can’t guarantee it, but I’ll try my best, just try my best to take care of her mood,” Lu Zhixin said.

“What about you then? Are you moving in to stay?”

On Apple’s side, she had actually already long since come to know who Lu Zhixin was through her spy, Zhang Ninglang. She also knew that she was currently partners with Xu Tingsheng, that he had not been staying in the riverside residence before this.

Therefore, when Xu Tingsheng intended to give her a vaccine shot along the way, she directly refused. “I feel that it’s pretty interesting this way, and I can also take a look at whether there’s anything going on secretly between you two,” Apple smiled, already being much better when by Xu Tingsheng’s side. The key was-Xu Tingsheng had to be there.

While it didn’t sound logical, it was like this in actuality. Apple’s trust of the relationship between Xu Tingsheng and Lu Zhixin didn’t actually come entirely from Xu Tingsheng himself. Instead, more of it came from Xiang Ning’s existence. She knew how persistent Xu Tingsheng had once been over Xiang Ning.

Today, the sole thing that rather surprised Apple was Lu Zhixin’s calmness.

Her love rival having come, Lu Zhixin actually didn’t make a scene and threaten to move out. She just said hello as calmly as that. Then, after knowing that Apple was going to stay in Xu Tingsheng’s original room, she went in and removed the bedsheets and pillowcases that she had previously brought over.

“These are mine,” She said.

Apple was taken aback as she asked Xu Tingsheng softly after Lu Zhixin had returned to her room, “What now?”

“We have our own,” Xu Tingsheng took out the set that he had washed before, arranging the bed properly once more.

“What about you then? Are you moving in?”

Because he needed to take care of Apple, Xu Tingsheng considered it for a moment, “Yeah, I’ll be staying in that room.”

Then, someone else pushed the door and came in, “Sorry, but that room is mine. As Hucheng’s shareholder, I should also be more concerned with my business. An in-charge of the Student Affairs Department coming here to stay-shouldn’t you be welcoming me, Xu Tingsheng?”

Xu Tingsheng turned to see Fang Chen carrying a whole bunch of living necessities with her. She directly entered, grabbed Apple’s hand and whispered to her for a bit. Then, she led her into the final room of the house.

Why was she here? Why was she in such a rush...Xu Tingsheng couldn’t be any clearer on that.

“No. Where will I stay if you move in?” Xu Tingsheng adamantly refused.

“The sofa in the living room,” Fang Chen said.

“Why? I rented this place.”

“The company’s money.”

“I’m the major shareholder.”

“Do you want to flunk your exams?”

“...So be it.”

“I’ll go stay with Apple then?”

“Definitely not.”

“I’ll stay with Zhixin?”

“...No.”

“Choose.”

“I’ll sleep on the sofa.”

One Xu Tingsheng and three great beauties-a theoretically incomparably fragrant life of cohabitation began just like that.

Xu Tingsheng cooked dinner. After they had finished eating, Xu Tingsheng washed the dishes.

After that, the girls began chatting while Xu Tingsheng went to buy tidbits and fruits. Because of Fang Chen acting as a lubricant in their middle, Lu Zhixin actually began chatting with Apple as well. A former singer, a female workaholic and an old demoness whose appetite went both ways actually chatted incomparably happily now.

So as long as they were women, whatever kind they were, they would always have so many common topics, like bags and clothes, like the celebrity gossip Apple had heard in the industry.

After 9pm, Lu Zhixin finally remembered to call Xu Tingsheng to go take a look at Hucheng’s preparation work for its expansion. Fang Chen stayed behind in the room to accompany Apple, tugging at her who had originally wanted to see Xu Tingsheng working and not letting her go.

Hucheng’s expansion work was already virtually ready to be launched at any time. After looking through it, Xu Tingsheg proposed a few amendments and ideas according to his memories of Ganji.com, also asking Lu Zhixin’s opinion regarding changing the name of the service platform to ‘Hucheng Tongcheng(Mutual Trust Collective Cities)’.

“I’ll consider this a little more,” Lu Zhixin who possessed the ‘ultimate authority’ said.

“Alright then. Well, let’s go downstairs now,” Xu Tingsheng said.

“Why’re in you such a rush? Are you afraid that Apple might suffer some kind of loss?” Lu Zhixin smiled.

“You know?” Xu Tingsheng asked in astonishment.

“I already realised it long ago.”

“Could it be that she, to you...”

Lu Zhixin stomped out towards Xu Tingsheng, “Xu Tingsheng, you...I shouldn’t be the kind that she likes, otherwise...we even stayed in the same room that time...”

“Which time? On the same bed?” Fragrant scenes arose within Xu Tingsheng’s mind.

“I already said that she didn’t do anything...shut up, let’s go downstairs. Otherwise, your innocent little lamb might be skinned alive by Fang Chen.”

“Oh.”

......

After they had gone downstairs, the three beauties chatted for some time longer. Xu Tingsheng even heeded their orders and cooked supper. Uncle was full of resentful thoughts, “I’ll fatten you lot to death.”

Of course, seeing Apple happily chatting with others, Xu Tingsheng was also full of gratitude.

Thinking how he still couldn’t let Apple be alone at night now, Xu Tingsheng stayed by her side in her room as he had recently been doing until Apple finally managed to fall asleep with some difficulty.

Xu Tingsheng looked at the time. It was 1.30am.

Leaving the room, he found two figures in the living room. It was only having seen Xu Tingsheng emerge that Fang Chen and Lu Zhixin returned to their own rooms.

“No touching my Apple. I’ve got my eye on you,” Fang Chen said before re-entering her room.

Lu Zhixin just smiled very domineeringly before saying nothing at all as she simply threw Xu Tingsheng a thin blanket.

Lying down on the sofa with the blanket, Xu Tingsheng blurrily slept until around 4am in the morning when he felt someone tugging at his blanket, then, also seeming to be taking off his...

“I, you...Apple?”

Xu Tingsheng flipped himself up, grabbing hold of his blanket as he thought that Apple had suddenly become a female hooligan again. In the end, what he saw was an improperly dressed Fang Chen with a strange, dark smile on her face.

“Taking off my pants, are you crazy?”

“It’s just a look, so what.”

“...”

Xu Tingsheng pulled away the blanket and looked. Half of his pyjama pants had already been taken off.

Due to the noise, the doors of Apple’s and Lu Zhixin’s rooms opened simultaneously. The two of them stood blurrily there, still unable to get a grasp on the situation for the time being.

“Wah.”

Fang Chen turned on the lights, pulling at her dishevelled pyjamas before pointing at Xu Tingsheng as she said resentfully, “He just came to my room, I...look...”

“The heck, I didn’t!” Xu Tingsheng retorted.

“He even took his pants off. If you don’t believe me, pull the blanket aside.”

Xu Tingsheng’s entire worldview crumbled, “Fang Chen, this old man’s gonna get you dead!”

“So it was like this. You girls heard him? He wants to get...me.”