Chapter 26: The Three Sled Fools
“This 800,000 reward is mine!” Fang Xiaocao declared angrily.
【Hot Noodles: A promising student indeed!】
“Tell me, who’s the murderer?” Fang Xiaocao asked in a message.
【Hot Noodles: What, are you going to run them over?】
Seeing the reply, Fang Xiaocao was speechless.
“Seriously, we’re never letting go of this joke, huh?” She rolled her eyes in frustration.
First Wang Qiang brought it up, and now Hot Noodles too. This whole “running over the murderer” thing was becoming her label.
【Hot Noodles: Nope, never letting it go.】
“Forget it, I’m not asking anymore,” Fang Xiaocao huffed and sent a voice message.
She placed her phone back in the mount, turned a corner, and parked the red Land Rover across from the university.
Peeking outside, she immediately spotted Su Wanqing—the Tiger Girl—along with her dormmates, Yun Luoshu and Wen Shi.
Seeing the trio together, Fang Xiaocao rolled her eyes.
“Great, they’ve teamed up to farm me like a game boss.” She muttered to herself.
Though she rarely stayed in the dorm, she had a close bond with her roommates. They were her best friends—her sisters.
She grabbed her phone and called Su Wanqing.
“Fang Xiaocao, don’t tell me you’re ditching me again!”
Su Wanqing answered instantly, her tone full of suspicion.
Not that Fang Xiaocao could blame her—she had a history of flaking.
Back when she was juggling part-time jobs to make ends meet, she often had to cancel plans at the last minute due to sudden work calls. If Su Wanqing didn’t know it was for work, she probably would have plastered missing person posters of Fang Xiaocao all over campus.
“No, no, how could I dare?” Fang Xiaocao chuckled.
“Hmph, like I haven’t heard that before,” Su Wanqing huffed.
“I’m here. Come over.”
“You’re here? Where?”
“Look across the street.”
Fang Xiaocao rolled down the window and waved.
“Wait, what?! Where’d you get that car?”
Su Wanqing’s shocked voice nearly burst Fang Xiaocao’s eardrum.
“Just get over here, I’ll tell you later,” Fang Xiaocao said before hanging up.
Soon, Su Wanqing, Yun Luoshu, and Wen Shi ran across the crosswalk.
“Xiaocao, did you strike gold?” Wen Shi exclaimed, staring at the red Land Rover in amazement.
“Hehe, something like that,” Fang Xiaocao grinned.
“Then why are we still going for spicy hot pot?”
“Girls, grab her! If we tie her up, we’ll be eating hot pot for days!”
Su Wanqing dramatically shouted, attracting the attention of passersby.
Some concerned onlookers even reached for their phones, ready to call the police.
“Jeez, Tiger Girl, stop embarrassing us! Get in the car!” Fang Xiaocao hissed.
Feeling the weight of judgmental stares, she shrank into her seat.
Yun Luoshu and Wen Shi immediately grabbed Su Wanqing, dragging her into the car before she could cause more trouble.
They had all suffered from her outrageous antics before—best to contain her before she spouted something that would socially end them all.
Each of Fang Xiaocao’s roommates had their own quirks. Su Wanqing—the campus’s official Tiger Girl. Wen Shi—the class’s official naïve sweetheart. Yun Luoshu—the gentle giant who stood at 1.8 meters tall. Together, their classmates dubbed them “The Three Sled Fools”: Su Wanqing, the Husky! Wen Shi, the Samoyed! Yun Luoshu, the Alaskan Malamute!
Fang Xiaocao found the comparison so spot-on, she wanted to give the person who coined it an award.
“I swear, Husky—wait, no—Tiger Girl! Can you please stop embarrassing us?”
“Going out with you is a guaranteed way to trigger social anxiety,” Fang Xiaocao grumbled.
But as soon as she let the name slip, three pairs of sharp eyes locked onto her.
“Oops, my bad! I take it back!”
“Don’t mess with me while I’m driving, alright?”
“I’ll treat you all to whatever meal you want!”
She quickly waved the white flag, throwing out the bait of free food.
Sure enough, the tactic worked like a charm. The Three Sled Fools instantly abandoned their grudge and dove into a heated discussion about what to eat.
“Whew…” Fang Xiaocao let out a sigh of relief. Being stared at by all three of them at once was intense.
After a lively debate, they decided on a hotpot restaurant. Fang Xiaocao parked the car, but before she could even turn off the engine, the Three Sled Fools had already bolted towards the restaurant like wild dogs released from their leash.
“Hey! Aren’t you afraid I’ll run away?” Fang Xiaocao called after them.
“If you dare, you’re dead!” Su Wanqing, ever the Husky, replied wisely.
Rolling her eyes, Fang Xiaocao took her time parking before following them in.
Inside, she was dumbfounded. The Three Sled Fools had already placed their order in the short time she was outside.
Looking at the table piled high with meat—beef rolls, tripe, duck intestines, and more—Fang Xiaocao nearly facepalmed.
“Not a single vegetable?” she asked, exasperated.
“Vegetables?”
“Why eat veggies when there’s meat?” Wen Shi replied with an innocent smile.
“Alright, fine. You just wait until it’s your turn to treat us,” Fang Xiaocao threatened before grabbing her chopsticks to join the battle.
Meanwhile, Han Xue wandered out of the hospital, her face pale and hollow. Gone was her former confidence—her mind was now consumed by the doctor’s words, echoing over and over like a death sentence.
“Shen Tao…”
“Qi Yu…”
“Fang Xiaocao…”
“That damn old bastard!”
“It’s all their fault! They all deserve to die!”
Her eyes darkened with madness, her twisted expression becoming more deranged with every name she uttered. In her mind, all of her suffering was because of Fang Xiaocao and the others.
Back home, she tossed the medicine from the hospital into the trash, freshened up, put on her most revealing, sultry dress, and strutted out.
Walking through her neighborhood, she welcomed the burning gazes of men, responding with flirtatious winks—no matter their age. Out on the street, she hailed a cab.
“To the bar district,” she purred.
(End of Chapter 26)
