Chapter 16 A Call from Hometown

Lin Luoran drives her new car nervously and goes shopping with Baojia. Baojia criticizes her old Nokia as worthless, and her black trench coat extremely unfashionable…In short, all the stuff of Lin Luoran from head to toe can’t satisfy Baojia’s taste. Lin Luoran knows Baojia. All the seeming “dislike,” in fact, is her way to celebrate for her. Baojia takes her to buy shoes and clothes. A thick winter coat, silver stilettos, and black rivet boots. All these were luxuries that Lin Luoran used to admire through the glass of the commuter bus when she was with Li Anping and worked hard consistently for his tuition fees and living costs. Today, she goes on a shopping spree and gets satisfied. That may seem tacky to some people, but Lin Luoran begins to understand the truth that if a woman doesn’t love herself, don’t expect a man to save her! In the afternoon, Lin Luoran, worrying about the space, doesn’t accept Baojia’s invitation and insists on driving back to her rented apartment. The community of Lin Luojia’s rented apartment belongs to the area to be demolished in R City. Those with abilities have moved away. Only some migrant labors like Lin Luoran and a small number of natives unable to leave are still here. Therefore, most of the cars in the community are very cheap, about one hundred thousand to two hundred thousand yuan. When Lin Luoran drives a new BMW back to the residential district, the elders walking around are all shocked. “Oh, isn’t that the girl who lives on the third floor of Unit One? I’ve heard from Li that she was from a village. She had a hard time before. Why does she suddenly become beautiful and rich?” An old woman holding her granddaughter stops an old man who is also taking a walk and asks jealously. Alas, that girl even looks less blessed than my daughter. With such a sharp chin, she doesn’t deserve this happy life - the old woman thinks unhappily. The old man rolls his eyes and covers his grandson’s ears. Then he lowers his voice and says, “Got rich overnight. Does she find a sugar daddy? Today’s young people can’t bear hardships at all…” The old woman pats him, “Shut up. Don’t say that in front of kids!” When they are gossiping aside, Lin Luoran packs stuff in the trunk and hears these malicious words clearly—After she ate the magical fruit and sweated a lot, the change of her appearance is what visible to others and what invisible is that she can see immortal energy and even tiny legs of a ladybug on a leaf with her eyes. As for her ears, she can hear the flapping of flies’ wings a few meters away if she wants. After packing up and locking her car, Lin Luoran pretends not to hear their gossips and goes upstairs. Unluckily, when she just walks a few steps, the little girl wriggles in her grandmother’s arms and asks loudly, “Grandma, what does ‘find a sugar daddy’ mean?” Lin Luoran turns around to see her, and the little girl with round eyes still asks the old woman curiously. The woman covers the girl’s mouth, looks at the old man and slips away with him together. Lin Luoran can only laugh bitterly. She can’t argue with the elder, let alone to beat the kid. The only thing she can do is to encourage herself to be generous and more generous! She bought a car on a whim, but now it seems that it doesn’t go well with the community. It doesn’t imply that Lin Luoran dislikes the place she’s lived for three years. But there are not enough planned parking spots in the district. She had to take up the aisle to park her car just now. It will be a big problem in the future. Baojia’s proposal to buy a house seems to be remarkably prescient now, which needs to be put on the agenda. Thinking about it and carrying all those bags, Lin Luoran opens the door and struggles to squeeze into the room. With a significantly booming strength, she doesn’t feel tired after shopping for a long time. Her first thought is to look at the space after putting down the bags. Lin Luoran looks around the room as usual, but why she feels something is wrong? Eh, the cup on the table… Lin Luoran is an organized person, and she will put the cup back to the kitchen after drinking. She remembers putting it back before leaving yesterday. Why is the cup on the table now with even half full of water? Absorbed in thought, she goes to her bedroom and opens the wardrobe only to find her clothes have been rummaged—A thief?! No. She clearly sees the most valuable television in this apartment is still on the bench safely, and the second expensive second-hand computer is also in the bedroom. If a thief has come, why not steal them? Lin Luoran goes to look at the lock. There is no sign of being broken. Otherwise, she would have been on her guard. These clues, for Lin Luoran now, are easy to be associated together- The cup on the table implies that someone got tired after seeking something and casually filled a glass with water to drink. The one even had a rest on the sofa for a while. The lock has not been pried, as if the trespasser entered with a key. Without moving the television, the one seemed to know that there was something more valuable in her apartment... The day before, she was poor. She just got six million yuan and an uncut rock yesterday. But who knows that? Lin Luoran suddenly thinks of a suspect—Li Anping! He has the keys. He knows she has made 6 million yuan. And he even knows that she hides bankbooks in the closet... Lin Luoran sneers. What he doesn’t know is that her life has changed dramatically since she was jilted. With the space, a mobile safe box, she moved all certificates and bank cards into it, even the attached passbooks with no money of the bank cards! Lin Luoran comes to her senses. She wonders why she doesn’t hate him but feels a little funny. She didn’t come home at all last night, and she took the passbooks and cards with her. The raw gemstone is still in Baojia’s. Li Anping probably had come before she got home today but had found nothing after searching for a long time. Lin Luoran really wishes to see the disappointed look on his face. She is happy. But in order to prevent this fly from coming again, it is inevitable to make a move. Before that, Lin Luoran decides to change the lock. “Professional lock change, please dial 138******”. There are several flyers like that on the door. As soon asLin Luoran takes out her new cellphone to call someone to have the lock changed, the phone rings. The ringtone sounds beautiful, and the metallic matte phone gleams. The caller ID starts with “02*”. It is a landline number, which is a bit familiar! Lin Luoran answers the phone with doubts, and a loud, familiar voice comes out. “Luoran, hurry home. Something bad happened to your family!” Something bad?! Is it about mom and dad...? Lin Luoran shivers, and can hardly hold the phone.