Chapter 177: Jessica

On the way back, Lin Xiuyuan held the steering wheel steadily, driving the car at high speed through the surging traffic, quickly overtaking slow cars one by one as he headed in the direction of Seoul.

The sky at this moment was in the transition of dusk, with the sunlight from past 5 o'clock spilling through the clouds, illuminating every corner of the city.

The air carried a hint of summer warmth, yet still held a slight chill.

Krystal, in the passenger seat, kept her head down, appearing somewhat preoccupied, occasionally stealing glances at the driver's seat beside her, her gaze unconsciously falling on Lin Xiuyuan's profile.

She opened her mouth, seemingly having something to ask, but every time the words reached her lips, she would see Jessica sitting in the back seat through the rearview mirror and ultimately swallow them back down.

Outside the car window, long shadows were stretched out by the slanted sunlight, and the sunset spilled onto her face, the warm yellow radiance outlining the soft lines of her silhouette.

The atmosphere inside the car was momentarily subtle; Krystal's gaze was unfocused, while Lin Xiuyuan was focused on the road ahead, seemingly having sensed something, yet he remained silent throughout.

It wasn't until Jessica in the back seat suddenly broke the silence, "Hey, Krystal, you're being a bit excessive now, hiding things and not daring to speak the whole way, aren't you? What is there to hide from me? Choosing a man over your unnie, right?"

Krystal was stunned, not expecting Jessica to say it so bluntly.

But thinking about it, it made sense; Jessica's personality had always been like this, and recently she had become even more eccentric.

So she turned her head to look at Jessica in the back seat, a trace of helplessness appearing on her face, the corners of her mouth twitching slightly, "What choosing a man over my sister, don't talk nonsense, Jessica, there are just some things I really can't tell you."

With things having reached this point, besides being shocked and taken aback, Jessica looked at the young man in the driver's seat; although she stopped pressing, she was curious to the tenth degree.

"No, how long have you two even known each other, to have such important secrets?"

"Just be quiet for a moment, Jessica, I've told you everything I can."

"Like the fact that you two didn't use protection?"

This answer left Lin Xiuyuan, who was driving in front, unable to react for a moment; his hand shook, and he nearly caused an accident.

In the passenger seat, even someone as strong as Krystal, who had studied abroad, couldn't help but blush at this moment, turning her head to glare fiercely at Jessica, "Hey, why do you say everything that comes to mind?"

"It's a fact you said yourself, and now you're blaming me?"

A wicked smile curled at the corners of Jessica's mouth as she glanced at Krystal; it was clear that the previous remark wasn't unintentional—it was deliberate.

Krystal realized she had been baited, and after glaring at Jessica again, she spoke coldly.

"Jessica, don't force me to expose your big secrets; anyway, since things are already like this between me and Xiuyuan, I'm not afraid of you running your mouth, but as for you..."

"Bring it on, who's afraid of whom?" Jessica retorted without showing any weakness.

"If you want it, you'll get it..."

Krystal provoked, watching as the atmosphere gradually grew tense.

Just as she was truly planning to continue, Jessica immediately raised her hand, interrupting her and ending this contest, "Alright, that's enough, watch your road."

Lin Xiuyuan was still driving quietly, having no intention of cutting in, and even less desire to speak.

He had only one thought in his heart: these two women must be crazy.

The car continued to drive forward, soon exiting the highway and entering the urban area of Seoul.

At this time, Lin Xiuyuan had to look at Krystal beside him, "Krystal, set the navigation, I don't know where Jessica's Apartment is."

Then Jessica in the back seat started up again, "Yo, you've actually never been to Zheng Xiujing's Apartment?"

To this, Lin Xiuyuan didn't answer her, but instead looked at Krystal, asking with a smile, "Should I have been there?"

Seeing Lin Xiuyuan's expression, Krystal gave him a very charming eye-roll, then replied.

"Stop nagging, what's there to be afraid of? If you've been, you've been."

"Alright, so that means I have been; if it's that complex of yours, I don't even need navigation."

Lin Xiuyuan smiled slightly and continued driving forward.

And Jessica in the back seat, seeing the roads on both sides becoming increasingly familiar, finally couldn't help but ask, "Are you really not going to take me to the Villa to look around? If Zheng Xiujing marries you, as her unnie, I'll have to see it sooner or later anyway."

"Jessica, shut your mouth." Krystal turned her head and glared at her speechlessly.

She didn't know what was wrong with her unnie; ever since the Small Division Sign shop gradually closed down, she had become much more relaxed than before, her entire personality had become a bit more cheerful, and she was extremely eccentric.

Jessica, having been snapped at by Krystal, shrugged her shoulders and finally stopped talking, just lowering her head to fiddle with her phone until the car drove straight through The Gate and headed toward the parking lot.

Only then did she look up at the front, "Hey, Zheng Xiujing, you registered his license plate for him?"

"We're here, get out, Jessica."

This time Krystal didn't intend to answer her, instead reminding her to hurry up and get lost, "I'll bring you the things you want later, just get some good rest at home."

"We agreed on eating together tonight."

"Something came up last minute."

"..."

Finally, when Jessica stood in the parking lot, watching the taillights of that Mercedes-Benz gradually fade from sight, she snorted in great annoyance, "Zheng Xiujing, if this isn't choosing a man over your sister, then what is?"

However, Krystal certainly couldn't hear her grumbling; at this moment, she was asking Lin Xiuyuan who was at the Villa.

"Zhenli, Zhiyan, and Enjing have all come over."

"Hiss~"

Upon hearing these names, Krystal finally understood why Lin Xiuyuan wouldn't let Jessica go over; judging by the current situation, if she went over, she would definitely be confined.

But soon, Krystal thought of something and narrowed her eyes slightly, "By the way, when did you add Taeyeon unnie and Enjing unnie as members?"

"One was last night, the other was the night before." Lin Xiuyuan answered every question without fail.

It just stunned Krystal a little, "Two days, you recruited two people? Were they both spur-of-the-moment decisions?"

"Taeyeon was a spur-of-the-moment decision, Enjing is alright; didn't I tell you about Zhiyan's situation before? Besides, when I first looked for you, I had already thought about the Tara side, but after you came with me, I put it aside for the time being."

While driving, Lin Xiuyuan spoke softly to Krystal about the situation over these past few days; it wasn't that he didn't want to tell Krystal before, but mainly because many things were hard to say online, and even phone calls were recorded.

By the time he finished explaining the situation to Krystal, the car had just arrived back at the Villa.

Having understood the whole situation, Krystal glanced sideways and smiled slightly at Lin Xiuyuan, "You control this The Gate; I certainly can't say anything about who you want to recruit, but... Xiuyuan, you have to consider some things clearly before letting others know; I don't want to hear someone complaining about kidney deficiency later."

"It won't come to that, do I look like the kind of person who sleeps with everyone he meets?" Lin Xiuyuan knew what Krystal was talking about and laughed helplessly.

"I don't know if you look like it, I only know you can't refuse a single one." Krystal's tone carried a hint of teasing, yet it was not without a touch of provocation.

"Being proactive and being passive are two different things." Lin Xiuyuan raised an eyebrow, still carrying a trace of helpless amusement.

Krystal continued to tease, "So when someone throws themselves at you, you just eat them up, huh?"

Lin Xiuyuan paused for a moment, then replied, "If it's delivered to my door and I don't eat it, wouldn't that be a waste?"

"Oh, is that so? Then how about right now..."

Hearing this, Krystal raised her eyebrows in a semi-teasing manner, her tone suddenly becoming a bit more playful, and the corners of her mouth curled up slightly, as if she were prepared to tease Lin Xiuyuan further.

"Hey, hey, hey, Zhenli is calling us, you heard that, right?"

Just as Krystal was about to properly teach someone a lesson, Lin Xiuyuan spoke up in time to interrupt her momentum.

After listening to the sound by his ear, he looked at the person beside him with an amused expression, "This really isn't me making things up, you heard it too."

After Krystal rolled her eyes at Lin Xiuyuan with no curiosity, she opened the door, got out of the car, and walked toward the Villa.

Because Xueli had indeed called out; it was mainly because all of them had heard the engine sound of the car returning, as well as the sound of the garage door opening and closing.

As Krystal stepped out from the small door of the car, she saw Xueli standing in the courtyard at a glance, and her expression immediately became joyful as she stepped forward to hug her, "Long time no see, Xueli."

"It's only been a few days, it's not that dramatic."

Xueli chuckled, then looked past Krystal at Lin Xiuyuan who had walked out behind her, "Oppa, you've worked hard~"

"It's alright, let's go, let's go inside and talk."

Lin Xiuyuan waved his hand, and then the three of them walked into the Living Room of the Villa together; inside, Park Jiyeon and Xian Enjing had already stood up and were looking toward the small courtyard.

When Krystal entered, Park Jiyeon also pulled Xian Enjing along to happily greet the two of them.

Then Krystal also re-introduced herself to Xian Enjing, whom she was meeting for the 'first time', and the scene was extremely interesting.

It was just that after Xian Enjing had re-introduced herself to Krystal, her eyes were still fixed on her face with some surprise, "Wow, Xiujing, your condition seems no different from 2013."

Upon hearing this, Krystal smiled with her eyes and was humble for a moment, then quietly glanced at Lin Xiuyuan.

Beside them, Xueli also wore a smile, silently watching all of this.

And at the same time.

Jessica, who had previously returned to the Apartment, felt a bit bored after putting her luggage away.

So, after hesitating for a moment, she decided to find a friend to go out for a meal and chat.

However, after scrolling through her contact list, the people in it were either over in North America in LA, or were people she hadn't contacted in a long time, and the remaining ones were not easy to disturb.

So after looking at the contact list for a long time, Jessica found that she couldn't find anyone to accompany her for a meal for the time being.

If Sunny were here right now, she would probably mock her for having the same predicament as herself, and would take the opportunity to complain to her about it.

Finally, Jessica's gaze rested on a familiar name, and after hesitating for a moment, her fingertip lightly touched the screen, preparing to dial the number.

The call went through quickly, but it wasn't answered immediately; it wasn't until nearly ten seconds had passed that the person on the other end picked up the phone.

"Hello, Unnie~"

The tone carried a hint of surprise and shock, as if she couldn't imagine that Jessica would call her.

(End of this chapter)