Chapter 86: The Grudge is Set

Chapter 86: Chapter 86: The Grudge is Set

It was nearly eleven at night when Yu Zhiming returned to his apartment in the Zijin Garden District.

He was surprised to find that the little brat, Gu Qingning, was still there. The living room was now cluttered with two large suitcases, several cartoon plushies over a meter long, and other miscellaneous items.

This made the already small living room feel even more crowded and messy.

Yu Zhiming’s eyebrow twitched. He coldly questioned Gu Qingning, who was dressed in a light set of pajamas.

"Why are you still here?"

"Did you move your whole house in?"

Yu Xiangwan quickly answered, "Fifth Brother, Qingning’s upstairs neighbor is renovating and their bathroom is leaking. She’s going to stay with us for a few days."

"For real?" Yu Zhiming looked skeptical.

Gu Qingning rolled her eyes.

"Believe it or not!!"

"If Sister Xiang Wan and I hadn’t hit it off right away, do you think I’d care to live here, under the same roof as someone as annoying as you?"

Yu Zhiming didn’t believe a single word of the girl’s nonsense.

"Sis, she says you two hit it off and you just believed her? Does she not have any other friends in Binhai?"

"Besides, she’s related to Gu Qingran. Her family definitely isn’t short on cash; at the very least, she can afford a hotel."

"Sis, she’s up to no good. Kick her out."

Yu Xiangwan felt her temples throb. This was giving her a headache!

’Are these two destined to clash? Why do they start bickering the moment they see each other?’

She pushed Yu Zhiming into the bathroom, telling him to wash up first.

Then she turned to comfort Gu Qingning.

"Qingning, my brother was spoiled by our family since he was little. He’s not very considerate, and he’s a bit of a neat freak with some strange habits. Don’t take it to heart, okay?"

Gu Qingning put on an understanding expression.

"Sister Xiang Wan, I’m not angry. Doesn’t every family have a self-righteous, annoying little brother?"

"I have several cousins just like that."

"That Yu Zhiming occupies the bedroom while you, his older sister, have to sleep in the living room. From that alone, I can tell he’s a selfish guy."

Yu Xiangwan quickly defended her brother. "He sleeps in the bedroom because as a doctor, he needs to rest well and keep his energy up. It’s not because he’s selfish."

Gu Qingning didn’t buy that explanation, but she couldn’t very well keep badmouthing Yu Zhiming.

’After all, Yu Xiangwan and that guy are actual siblings.’

Gu Qingning then changed the subject and explained, "Sister Xiang Wan, although Gu Qingran and I are relatives, we’re a bit distant..."

"Let’s put it this way, we’re on ’can I borrow a thousand yuan’ terms. Anything more than that, and the relationship is over..."

After washing up and taking a shower, Yu Zhiming changed into a fresh set of pajamas. When he came out of the bathroom, he found Gu Qingning blocking his path with her hands on her hips.

"Yu Zhiming, I know you don’t like me living here, so I’ll give you a chance to kick me out."

As she spoke, Gu Qingning rummaged through a large suitcase and pulled out a dartboard and a bag of darts.

"Let’s compete with this!"

"If you win, I’ll move out tomorrow!"

"If you lose..."

Gu Qingning took a step back, looked Yu Zhiming up and down a few times, and said, "My demands aren’t high. Just let me give your thigh ten hard slaps to vent a little."

She then took a step and a half forward, looked up into Yu Zhiming’s eyes, her gaze full of provocation.

"Yu Zhiming, do you dare?"

Yu Zhiming scoffed and pushed the little brat aside.

"As much as I want you to leave, I’m not going to take advantage of your arrogance and ignorance by using a surefire way to win and kick you out."

"It would be a rather dishonorable victory!"

Just as Gu Qingning was about to speak, she heard Yu Zhiming continue, "Let my sis tell you why it would be a dishonorable victory."

Yu Zhiming sat down on the living room sofa.

Yu Xiangwan grabbed two dry towels and skillfully began to dry his hair.

"Why not use a hairdryer?" Gu Qingning asked, puzzled.

"It’s too loud, and it damages the hair."

"What a spoiled brat. Sister Xiang Wan, you can’t be so nice to him." Gu Qingning’s disdain for Yu Zhiming grew.

Yu Xiangwan gave a faint smile. Looking at Gu Qingning, who had come closer, she said softly, "We grew up in the countryside."

"In the summer, the cicadas in the trees would chirp very loudly, and Zhiming really hates noise."

"So, he would throw stones at the cicadas in the trees, and at night he would go into the woods to collect cicada nymphs."

"Cicada nymphs?" Gu Qingning was confused.

"Oh, yes. The larvae before they molt. That’s just what we called them in our hometown."

Yu Xiangwan explained, then recalled, "In half a night, Zhiming could collect one or two hundred of them, filling a small half-bucket."

"You could probably sell those for a good bit of money."

"The money we got from selling the nymphs the next morning was what we used to buy our snacks."

"Sister Xiang Wan, the stones and the cicadas!" Gu Qingning prompted, trying to get her back on topic.

Yu Xiangwan switched to another dry towel and continued drying Yu Zhiming’s hair, a smile on her face as she went on.

"Whenever Zhiming had free time, he would throw stones at the cicadas. At first, he always missed."

"But after three or four years..."

"He never missed?" Gu Qingning’s face was full of doubt.

Yu Xiangwan chuckled and nodded. "That’s right, he never missed. And back then, Zhiming was blind."

"So, if you compete with him in darts, you’re guaranteed to lose."

Gu Qingning leaned down slightly to meet Yu Zhiming’s gaze.

"No wonder your auscultation and percussion skills are so amazing. It turns out you’ve been training your ability to identify positions by sound since you were a child."

At this, Gu Qingning had a sudden realization.

’No wonder that bastard dodged my two sneak attacks from behind so easily.’

’So that’s how it was...’

The rage meter in Gu Qingning’s heart shot up again.

She took two deep breaths to calm herself down.

"It’s just that... throwing stones at cicadas sounds like a scene straight out of a martial arts novel. I just can’t bring myself to believe it."

Without even lifting his eyelids, Yu Zhiming said coolly, "I’d be happy to demonstrate my ’never miss’ skill for you."

"But, I have one condition..."

"What condition? Just name it."

Gu Qingning puffed out her small chest confidently, saying with a proud look, "If it’s something I can do, I definitely won’t disappoint you."

Yu Zhiming’s gaze, however, focused on her fair, well-rounded long legs.

"The condition is that I get to slap your legs twice."

"No problem. But if you don’t have that ’never miss’ skill, I’m going to slap you back ten times."

Feeling insulted, Gu Qingning huffed and urged, "Hurry up and show me. Stop dawdling."

Yu Zhiming slowly got up, slowly hung the dartboard on the door, and slowly backed up to the sofa in the living room.

From this spot, he was seven or eight meters away from the dartboard.

Then, under the pretext of getting a feel for them, Yu Zhiming casually threw seven or eight practice darts.

Although these darts all hit the board, they were quite far from the bullseye.

Gu Qingning’s face was a mask of scorn.

"Yu Zhiming, how about you practice for half a year or so? We can start the demonstration once you’ve *really* gotten a feel for it."

Yu Zhiming ignored her. He slowly pulled the darts from the board and returned to his spot in front of the sofa.

He turned to look at Gu Qingning.

"This dart, what ring do you want?"

"What do you mean, ’what ring’? The ten-point ring, of course!"

The words had barely left Gu Qingning’s mouth when Yu Zhiming, without even looking at the dartboard, flicked his right wrist and sent the dart flying.

Gu Qingning’s eyes followed the dart...

THUD. The dart hit the dead center of the dartboard.

Bullseye!

"This next one, what ring?"

"The one-point ring!"

Still not looking at the board, Yu Zhiming casually tossed the dart with his right hand...

Dead on... the one-point ring.

"Eight-point ring!"

"Three-point ring!"

"Five-point ring..."

When all ten darts had been thrown, they were stuck in the dartboard in an almost perfect line, from the one-point ring to the ten.

Gu Qingning stared wide-eyed at Yu Zhiming, her mouth half-open in disbelief, momentarily at a loss for words.

Yu Zhiming was very satisfied with the little brat’s shocked expression and gave a smug smile.

The next moment, he bent down...

A bad feeling welled up in Gu Qingning’s heart, followed by two sharp sounds. SLAP, SLAP.

An excruciatingly sharp pain immediately shot up from her thighs.

She looked down to see red handprints appearing above the knees on both her left and right legs, blooming into view before her very eyes.

’That bastard, he actually hit me.’

’And he used a lot of force, too. He didn’t hold back at all.’

When Gu Qingning looked up again, her eyes were already filled with tears, her face a mask of someone desperately trying not to cry.

She looked as pitiful as could be...

Standing to the side, Yu Xiangwan was also stunned.

She hadn’t expected things to escalate so quickly, that her infuriating Fifth Brother would just go ahead and do it.

She certainly hadn’t expected him to hit so hard.

Yu Xiangwan wished she could crack her brother’s head open to see what was wrong with his brain.

’Why does he have to be so different from everyone else in how he deals with people?’

Yu Xiangwan rushed forward and pulled Gu Qingning into her arms, shooting a glare at Yu Zhiming as she scolded him.

"Fifth Brother, you’ve gone too far."

"Get back to your room and think about what you’ve done. You’re not allowed out until tomorrow morning."

After Yu Zhiming went into his bedroom, Yu Xiangwan gently patted Gu Qingning’s back and comforted her.

"Don’t be angry, don’t be angry. My brother is just a blockhead. It’s not worth getting upset with him."

With teary eyes, Gu Qingning sobbed, "Sister Xiang Wan, this means war."

"If I don’t give him a good beating, I’ll never be able to swallow this anger."

"Sister Xiang Wan, it really hurts... *sob sob*..."