Gazing at the Rainbow

Chapter 20: Caught Off Guard

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Hot Pot Is Too Hot and Fate Technetium Sky were about the same age as Lin Yao. Since they were all pretty social and outgoing, along with the fact that Lin Yao herself wasn’t that introverted, she gradually integrated into their social circle.

As they were in the middle of chatting merrily, Hot Pot Is Too Hot suddenly stood up and shouted, “Little Guliang, you’re finally here!” He greeted him enthusiastically.

Fate Technetium Sky was also close behind. “Little Guliang, come over here and sit. Let’s not worry about him!”

Lin Yao finally got to see firsthand the Hang City Forum’s popular moderator, someone Jiang Mingshu and the others had been telling her about.

Little Guliang looked like a teenager. She wore a vintage maxi dress, her hair was done in two long braids, her face was small, and her eyes were big. She looked cute, but she had an aloof vibe that was indeed in line with Jiang Mingshu’s description of her—”young with a short temper.”

The handsome man beside Little Guliang was about the same age as Like Spring Breeze, and he had striking eyebrows and soulful eyes. He must be her boyfriend, Lifelong Love For Her.

Lifelong Love For Her ignored Hot Pot Is Too Hot and Fate Technetium Sky as he walked to Like Spring Breeze with a smile on his face, and the two of them started talking amongst themselves.

Lin Yao noticed that both of them spoke using the Hangzhou dialect.

Not far away, Little Guliang sat down with a group of young men. Because of her appearance, some men from the tables next to theirs and from a few tables on the other side of the pub—almost half of the male compatriots in the pub—all came over with their bottles in hand.

At the moment, everyone’s attention was focused on Little Guliang, so much so that even Jiang Mingshu, who had sexy curves, spoke in an alluring voice, and had impeccable makeup, was a wallflower in comparison. Therefore, absolutely no one paid attention to a bare-faced makeup-less nobody like Lin Yao.

However, this was exactly what she wanted. After all, she came here with the intention of being treated like a wallflower.

Lin Yao inadvertently caught a glimpse Hot Pot Is Too Hot, who appeared to be left out of the fun as he sat on the side. He nudged Fate Technetium Sky as he said with displeasure, “Look, that guy Xiaoyu is here again.”

Fate Technetium Sky said, “Let’s just all ignore him since no one knows what he’s trying to do!”

Lin Yao learned from Jiang Mingshu that the netizens of Hangzhou Forum were 571 pub’s main customers.

At the moment, the people in the 571 pub weren’t all netizens from the love life section. There were also netizens from the events section, but netizens from these two sections didn’t usually mingle with each other.

That netizen named Xiaoyu was from the events section. He looked like a man who had a respectable upbringing. He charmingly toasted the female netizens who were present, and then he inched closer to Little Guliang and circled around her. He was equally disdainful towards the male netizens from the single men and women subsection.

Lin Yao had a hunch about the origin of the hostility between them. In conclusion, it was probably due to the fact that there were too few female netizens.

Among the three most popular sections on the Hang City Forum, the livelihood section and the events section were almost completely dominated by male netizens. There were more female netizens in the love life section, but there weren’t as many male netizens.

For example, the ratio of men and women in the single men and women subsection was about 7:3. Demand was higher than supply, so the male netizens in the events section were also eyeing the female netizens in this section, and the consequences were predictable.

There weren’t many female netizens on the Hang City Forum, and female moderators were even more rare. Other than Little Guliang, there were no other beautiful female moderators.

So as soon as Little Guliang appeared, the male netizens that lurked on the forum all year round swarmed around her.

It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that the popularity of Little Guliang at the 571 pub was comparable to that of a celebrity.

That night, just as Lin Yao had wished, she got a full view of the lively interactions between netizens from the two most popular forums of the Hang City Forum.

After spending an entire night being informed by people like Jiang Mingshu and Hot Pot Is Too Hot, she was now able to match most of the IDs active in the two sections of the Hang City Forum to these vibrant young men in real life one by one.

Lin Yao’s impression of these people wasn’t that bad; at least they weren’t as boring as she had expected.

Being in a pub felt a bit different from what she had envisaged as well. In reality, besides the deafening music, crowded dance floor, and the increasingly intense smell of tobacco and alcohol that made her feel a bit sick, nothing else here made her feel uncomfortable.

Lin Yao reflected on how Jiang Mingshu’s so-called nightlife was actually quite fascinating. She also began to look forward to the masquerade that was happening next month.

******

At 22:00, Lin Yao, who had never pulled an all-nighter, began to feel her eyelids grow heavy, but since the others were deep in conversation, she felt torn between leaving and staying.

At 23:00, some people began to leave one after another, and Lin Yao was already anxious to return home. However, Little Guliang was in high spirits and clamored for everyone to head to Baby Face next so they could get even more wild. Since her boyfriend, Lifelong Love For Her, unconditionally supported her, Like Spring Breeze was encouraged to go as well, and Jiang Mingshu single-mindedly wanted to follow Like Spring Breeze and the rest of the herd.

If Lin Yao hadn’t insisted upon going home, Jiang Mingshu probably would’ve followed these people for more wild fun and end up partying all night.

By the time Lin Yao and Jiang Mingshu returned to the Yan Zhili neighborhood community, it was already before dawn, and they were both extremely sleepy.

Lin Yao couldn’t wait to get in bed and sleep her head off under the covers. But as soon as they entered, they were instantly astonished by the sight in front of them.

Someone was in her bed!

Jiang Mingshu didn’t know whether it was out of fury or terror, but her body trembled slightly, and her voice quivered a little as well.

“Who, who is that?”

A moment later, a sleepy head slowly poked out of the blankets.

Lin Yao recognized that it was Jiang Mingshu’s colleague, Ren Jiaying.

Upon seeing Lin Yao, Ren Jiaying couldn’t help but utter in confusion, “Huh?”

The scene was a bit awkward for a while.

This was Orlando Apparel’s dormitory, so in theory, Jiang Mingshu shouldn’t have brought any outsiders back here. Not every employee of Orlando Apparel was eligible to live here, after all.

Lin Yao came here frequently before, but that was because Jiang Mingshu’s roommates didn’t care. They occasionally brought their relatives and friends over to live here for a while as well, so everyone was tolerant. But this didn’t mean that colleagues that didn’t get to live in the dorm, such as Ren Jiaying, wouldn’t care.

Ren Jiaying originally wanted to live in Orlando Apparel’s dormitory, but since she lived with her boyfriend, and her boyfriend didn’t work at Orlando Apparel, she didn’t apply to live here.

In other words, no matter what Ren Jiaying’s reason was for appearing on Jiang Mingshu’s bed, among the three people in this room, Lin Yao was the one that shouldn’t be here.

Lin Yao walked out of Jiang Mingshu’s residence feeling ashamed. She believed that the shame she was feeling at the moment should be remembered for her entire life.

The Yan Zhili community neighborhood wasn’t that far from Lin Yao’s rented room in East City, but it was early in the morning, so as a single woman, wasn’t it a little unsafe to take a taxi alone?

After she pondered over it again and again, Lin Yao finally made a bold decision: she would take the night bus back home!

The reason Lin Yao chose to live in East City, the dirtiest part of the city, was because of its convenient transportation system.

There were many night buses that drove from the Yan Zhili neighborhood community to East City, but there were very few trains running before dawn, and there was usually only one bus per hour.

She would probably have to wait here a while…