Chapter 6: Mangosteen

"I put something in the wine I gave Gu Yan!" Wen Zhizhi said, throwing caution to the wind.

"What?" Gu Ran's voice shot up. "What did you just say?"

Had she misheard?

Wen Zhizhi said she put something in the wine she gave Gu Yan?

Sweet mother of god, those things from the dream really did come true!

"What did you put in the wine?" Gu Ran stared at Wen Zhizhi nervously.

Wen Zhizhi said guiltily, "Just a little something to get a man excited!"

Wen Zhizhi had put it delicately, but Gu Ran understood.

Having understood, Gu Ran's face turned as awful as an old lady who'd been constipated for three days and three nights.

She hadn't expected Wen Zhizhi to actually drug Gu Yan.

Even less had she expected Wen Zhizhi to just up and tell her about it.

Gu Ran looked at Wen Zhizhi for a long while without speaking.

Wen Zhizhi glanced at Gu Ran and explained in a small voice, "Don't worry, I didn't do anything to Gu Yan."

Gu Ran: "..."

You put drugs in the wine Gu Yan drank, and you still say you didn't do anything to him?

Do you even believe that yourself?

Wen Zhizhi held up three fingers and swore, "I swear, I really didn't do anything to Gu Yan. Didn't you just call him? Does he seem like anything's wrong?"

Gu Ran's rationality, which had been scared off, came back.

Right!

Gu Yan's tone on the phone really hadn't sounded like anything was wrong.

Taking advantage of Gu Ran's slightly softened expression, Wen Zhizhi confessed everything that had happened tonight in one go.

She held up three fingers, face full of sincerity. "I did put something in the wine I gave Gu Yan, but not much. I regretted it right after, and I took remedial measures in time, I..."

Gu Ran cut her off. "What measures did you take?"

This time it was Wen Zhizhi's turn to go silent.

Gu Yan had already hidden the drugging incident for the sake of a man's pride.

If she brought up the princess-carrying thing, that'd be a bit low of her.

Wen Zhizhi's silence stirred Gu Ran's curiosity.

Probably because tonight's Wen Zhizhi seemed so easy to talk to, and Gu Yan really hadn't been harmed, she tugged at Wen Zhizhi's hem and urged, "Come on, tell me, what measures did you take?"

Wen Zhizhi saw thick gossip written all over Gu Ran's eyes.

No, seriously...

Was it really the time to be eating melon?

Wen Zhizhi said briefly, "I put the drugged Gu Yan in the bathtub and gave him a cold shower."

Gu Ran had completely forgotten about Wen Zhizhi drugging Gu Yan.

Her eyes were full of thirst for gossip.

"Does Gu Yan know you drugged him?"

Wen Zhizhi nodded. "He knows!"

Gu Ran was greatly surprised. "He didn't do anything to you?"

With Gu Yan's tit-for-tat nature, once he knew Wen Zhizhi had schemed against him, there was no way he'd let her off easy.

Wen Zhizhi felt more bitter than if she'd eaten a pound of coptis. Her face scrunched up in melancholy. "He shoved me hard."

It was that hard shove from Gu Yan that made her transmigrate here.

Gu Ran looked confused. "He just shoved you?"

That was so not Gu Yan!

Wen Zhizhi shot Gu Ran a look. "He also cursed me out, threatened me, wished he could strangle me to death!"

Gu Ran nodded.

Now that was more like Gu Yan.

Wen Zhizhi: "..."

What was that nod supposed to mean?

Was she saying Wen Zhizhi deserved it?

Although she... pah, the original host deserved it.

Gu Ran blinked her big eyes and scooted closer to Wen Zhizhi, asking curiously, "Can a cold shower really bring a drugged man back to normal?"

In short dramas, those drugged CEOs can't shake off the drug's effects without sleeping with a woman.

How was it that with Gu Yan, one cold shower solved it?

So not short-drama-like!

Wen Zhizhi was speechless.

The book never said Gu Ran was a melon-field badger.

Was it really okay for her to be this gossipy?

Especially at such a serious moment.

No, this wasn't how she'd imagined it.

Hearing that she'd drugged Gu Yan, shouldn't Gu Ran, as Gu Yan's own sister, criticize and condemn her?

How did she end up eating melon instead?

Wasn't Gu Ran's focus a bit off?

Wen Zhizhi reminded her kindly, "Aren't you missing the point? Shouldn't you be worried about Gu Yan, speaking up for him, getting justice for him?"

Gu Ran didn't seem to care. "Gu Yan's fine, isn't he? And didn't you already take remedial measures?"

Wen Zhizhi: "..."

That was true and all, but it was a thousand miles off from what the book described.

According to the plot, shouldn't Gu Ran be disappointed in her, leave her with a "you'd better know what you're doing," and storm off angrily?

Where was the disappointment in her?

Where was the angry "you'd better know what you're doing"?

Not there!

None of it!

"So, is this the reason you want to leave North City and go back to the countryside?" Gu Ran asked.

Wen Zhizhi: "That's not the whole reason. Mainly I just miss my parents."

The original host's parents were pitiful people, come to think of it.

In the book, the original host's parents doted on her brainlessly.

Even knowing what the original host was doing was immoral, they still chose to support her unconditionally.

They even morally blackmailed the female lead and her family to help the original host achieve her wishes.

In the end, they had their family fortune drained by the original host, buried their child, and ended up lonely and miserable in their old age.

Now that Wen Zhizhi had become the original host, she not only had to change the original host's tragic death, but also change her parents' miserable fate.

Gu Ran stared at Wen Zhizhi for a while. "You really do seem different from before?"

Wen Zhizhi felt a bit guilty. Of course she was different from before.

After all, the person inside had been swapped out.

She put on a deep expression. "People always have to learn to grow up after going through setbacks."

Gu Ran: "..."

She was starting to suspect whether the person in front of her was even Wen Zhizhi.

The Wen Zhizhi she remembered couldn't say such... pretentious things.

Gu Ran had a belly full of questions.

But her mind was a mess right now—one moment it was the things from the dream, the next it was this changed Wen Zhizhi...

Suppressing her questions, Gu Ran looked at Wen Zhizhi and said, "If it's because of the drugging thing, you don't actually have to leave. I can go explain to Gu Yan for you."

Wen Zhizhi hurried to stop her. "No, please don't. My leaving has nothing to do with Gu Yan. I just miss my parents. I've been out for a while now, it's time to go home and see them."

Gu Ran saw that Wen Zhizhi didn't look like she was faking it, and asked, "Want me to go back with you?"

Wen Zhizhi refused outright: "No need!"

The whole reason she was leaving North City was that she didn't want to get tangled up with the Gu family again.

If Gu Ran came with her to the countryside, wouldn't that just be getting entangled all over again?

Besides, the Gu family wouldn't agree to Gu Ran going to the countryside with her anyway.

Gu Ran paused. "Then I'll take you to the airport tomorrow."

Wen Zhizhi declined politely. "No need. I don't have much luggage, I can manage on my own."

The Gu house was pretty far from the airport. You'd have to leave at seven in the morning to get there.

She was worried Gu Ran wouldn't be able to get up.

And she didn't want to disturb the rest of the Gu family either.

"But I'll have to trouble you to tell Uncle Wang for me, ask him to drive me to the airport tomorrow morning."

It was hard to get a taxi that early in the morning, especially in a villa district like this—even harder.

Gu Ran looked at Wen Zhizhi with a complicated expression. "Are you blaming me?"

Wen Zhizhi was baffled.

Where did that come from?

Which eye of hers saw blame?

Wen Zhizhi shook her head. "No, I don't blame you." She patted Gu Ran's shoulder. "Don't overthink it. I just want to go home myself. It has nothing to do with you or anyone else."

For some reason, Gu Ran felt a little bit sad.

After a moment of silence, she said, "If you ever want to come back, give me a call. I'll pick you up at the airport."

Wen Zhizhi wanted to say she wouldn't be coming back.

But meeting Gu Ran's big dark eyes, she nodded and answered, "Okay."