The bubble tea shop was still the same one from yesterday.
The one where Beijiao stood pathetically under the neon lights at night, feeding mosquitoes.
The owner of the tea shop specialized in hand-pounded lemon tea. Right now, while pounding the lemons vigorously with a mallet, the owner couldn’t help glancing back at the two extraordinary people sitting inside.
At a small table, the tense atmosphere between them had already infected the entire shop.
A massive polar bear skull sat on the table, and across from each other, they were locked in a standoff.
The young woman sat leisurely, lowering her head as she played with her phone.
On the other side, the boy still wore the fuzzy body of a polar bear, with a human head atop the large plush body. Even though his face was sweaty, it was undeniably good-looking…
Except for his sour expression.
“Just lemon tea then. Do you want full sugar or half sugar?” Jiang Ran’s fingers moved across the screen, not looking up as she asked the person sitting across from her.
Receiving no reply after a while, she raised her eyebrow, her gaze passing over the pair of upright bear ears between them, staring at Beijiao. She didn’t urge him, but her expression clearly said: I’m talking to you, are you deaf?
The boy merely lifted his thin lips, and what came out was dog-like barking: “Can we not do this? Just leave me alone.”
“…” Jiang Ran lowered her head again. “Fine—half sugar, regular ice.”
Beijiao: “…”
Jiang Ran: “Want to chat?”
Beijiao raised his eyes indifferently, staring at her.
Jiang Ran: “What did you have for breakfast?”
Beijiao: “Huh?”
“I messaged you this morning and you didn’t reply,” Jiang Ran pointed at his phone in his pocket. “What did you have for breakfast?”
Beijiao: “…”
…Doesn’t she realize how creepy she is?
Just by breathing, she could infuriate someone to death.
Perhaps sensing his impending rage, Jiang Ran slowly ordered two cups of lemon tea, finally putting her phone away and sitting up straighter. She finally addressed him properly: “What’s wrong, do you think I’m annoying? I don’t want to bother you either. If you had just taken that money back then, I might have disappeared without a trace long ago… But I’m just weird like that. The more you ignore me, the more I want to get close to you—”
Her tone was so self-righteous that Beijiao felt a strange illusion—as if everything had spiraled out of control because of him, as if it was all his fault.
Beijiao: “So, is it too late if I start paying attention to you now?”
Jiang Ran: “Too late.”
Beijiao: “?”
Jiang Ran: “You were willing to eat shit just to avoid taking my money. So whatever you do now is just pretending, faking it.”
Beijiao: “…”
Can’t get over that one, huh?
Meanwhile, the tea shop owner had already stretched his ears, pounding lemons furiously while desperately wanting to lean over the counter to ask: What money? What eating shit?
After finally finishing their order, he personally delivered the two cups of iced lemon tea—no other reason, just wanting to get a closer look at the gossip between these two “immortals.”
A large cup of iced lemon tea, half filled with crushed ice. One sip cooled the summer heat. Jiang Ran didn’t rush to drink hers. Under the table, she kicked Beijiao lightly: “Drink it. You look like a water ghost just pulled out of the river. It’s so hot today, don’t you fear heatstroke?”
“If I drink it, will you leave?”
Jiang Ran gave him a sidelong glance, too lazy to scold him, merely humming in response through her nose.
So Beijiao drank. He had been sitting there like a hot ball of fire, and with one sip of the cold drink, his scalp tingled from the chill.
It was a bit uncomfortable.
He drank the first sip too quickly and now put it down—he needed to slow down.
But the previous suffocating heat had indeed eased a little…
The air conditioning in the bubble tea shop was blasting, making it very cool.
He would never step into places like this on his own.
Jiang Ran, like a true guardian, watched him take a few sips of cold drink. Only after the unusual flush on his face faded slightly did she stand up, satisfied.
It looked like she truly intended to leave.
If it weren’t for the fact that she casually picked up the polar bear’s head and tucked it under her arm, Beijiao would have been quite satisfied with the current outcome.
“What are you doing?” He reached out to grab the bear ears. “Put it down.”
“If I don’t take it, you’ll just put it back on your head again,” Jiang Ran gently swatted his paw away. “You don’t have many flyers left anyway. Let the student council distribute them. Can’t you be flexible? You’re so dumb.”
Scolded out of nowhere.
And she even called him dumb—
What the hell?
From the nursery class in kindergarten, the word “dumb” had never been used to describe him.
Absolutely absurd.
Of course, Jiang Ran was unaware of his inner grumbling. She tucked the bear’s head behind her back like a treasure, a childish gesture. She eyed him warily, as if guarding against a thief: “I’ll bring this bear’s head to the bar tonight and return it to you.”
“You’re coming tonight too?”
“You see, you had to ask such a question and upset me,” she scoffed. “Come. Just to check up on you.”
“…Then I’ll take a leave.”
“You better try,” Jiang Ran’s expression remained blank, completely unyielding. “If I see you for even a second, you’re weak.”
With that, she walked away proudly, her back exuding the pride of someone who had just won a legendary battle.
…
Night.
8 PM.
The “Wuwo” bar was bustling with business today. As soon as it opened, it was flooded with college students from all over the country.
The wind chimes at the entrance tinkled continuously. This time, a group of seven or eight young men and women entered. The average height of the boys was about 185 cm, and most of them spoke with a northeastern accent—they were probably the basketball team from a certain university in the three northeastern provinces.
Beijiao originally didn’t even lift his head at the noise, until he heard the bar owner beside him call out, “Ran Jie.” The figure leaning against the bar frying shrimp chips paused slightly.
The group was noisy as they entered, asking the owner for seats. For a while, there was no sound of a woman’s voice.
The chopsticks in his hand stirred the newly added shrimp chips in the hot oil. The small shrimp chips expanded in the heat, tossed around the pan by the tip of the chopsticks…
The person frying the shrimp chips had his eyes lowered.
Seeming focused, but actually distracted.
When the first shrimp chip was done, he couldn’t help but turn his head—
He saw that behind the group of tall college students, like young poplars reaching for the sky, there was a young woman. She wasn’t short, but today she was completely hidden behind the youthful bodies in front of her…
Even so, no one could deny that she stood out tonight.
Unlike the youthful yet somewhat conservative dress of the students, she was dressed casually in denim shorts and a dark tank top.
He usually saw her in short-sleeved T-shirts.
Tonight, however, she was surprisingly revealing—smooth shoulders, rounded collarbones, fair skin.
Her neck was long and exposed, with a diamond necklace shaped like a key. Under the dim lights of the bar, the yellow diamond in the key shone particularly brightly.
As she walked toward him, the simple tank top fit her so well yet seemed almost too tight. The curve of her chest was eye-catching, and the thin straps on her shoulders looked like they might snap at any moment.
His gaze lingered on the small shadow in her collarbone, and Beijiao slightly furrowed his brow…
Then forced himself to look away.
With a large and ugly polar bear plush head tucked under her arm, Jiang Ran approached the bar counter, casually handing the item to the owner with a flimsy excuse: “It looked nice, so I borrowed it to play with.”
The bar owner naturally didn’t mind such trivialities from a regular customer, casually shoving the bear head into a cabinet below.
Jiang Ran glanced at the stubborn back figure not far away.
She didn’t say anything, ordered a round of drinks from the menu, then turned around and joined the group of young people to have fun.
Seeing Jiang Ran walk over, the boys parted like the Red Sea, making space in the middle for her. The other two girls in the group also addressed her as “big sister,” and the atmosphere was quite harmonious.
Backtracking to the employee buried in frying shrimp chips, the bar owner nudged him with his elbow: “Aren’t you going to do something?”
The fried shrimp chips were lifted from the hot oil and placed into a dish.
“What am I supposed to do?”
His voice was steady and cold.
“…Then just keep an eye on things.”
“Keep an eye on what?”
“Come on! What do you think? There are so many guys,” the bar owner said. “They’re all tall and strong. I heard northeastern guys are known for their drinking. I’m worried Ran Jie might get taken advantage of.”
“You said they’re tall and strong.”
His tone sounded indifferent. “So what do you expect me to do?”
“Except for that one who’s probably 190 cm, the rest aren’t even two centimeters taller than you,” the bar owner sincerely counted on his fingers. “Judging by appearances, they’re probably evenly matched with you.”
“I don’t know how to fight.”
“Don’t be like that. Why did I hire you if you’re so useless?”
“How should I know? As a decoration?”
“…I spit at that.”
The bar owner muttered curses, spitting repeatedly in disgust, but Beijiao ignored him.
Another pink shrimp chip, fully expanded from frying, was lifted out and landed in the dish with a “swoosh” sound. After waiting what felt like an eternity, just when the bar owner thought he’d hired a mute employee…
He finally heard him make a faint, indifferent “tsk.”
He didn’t say whether he would intervene with the group at the booth or not.
…
The group at the booth naturally had no idea that they were already under suspicion without doing anything.
Jiang Ran sat among them, not saying much, but fitting in perfectly.
Perhaps because she was older, she found drinking with the young people more enjoyable than drinking with old regulars like Lao Yan.
The two girls from the track and field team who had come with Xie Yu and the basketball team sat beside her. Both were eighteen, youthful and tender, like little hamsters chattering and nudging each other, discussing how handsome the bartender behind the counter was, and how it was a waste to only have him frying snacks and cutting fruit platters—
“I heard the polar bear handing out flyers in the morning was him.”
“No way, really him?”
“Yeah, I heard from someone from the track and field team at Shandong C University.”
“I got a flyer directly from his bear paw! So tonight when we buy drinks, he must get a commission!”
Chirping and chatting, so adorable.
Beside them, Xie Yu and the others had already opened a barrel of draft beer. Jiang Ran was multitasking, listening to the girls gossip while playing drinking games with the boys. Half an hour passed, and half the barrel was already gone…
Jiang Ran hadn’t lost a single round of the game, and the glass in front of her remained untouched, exactly as it had been served.
Xie Yu and the others didn’t even notice.
A group of drunken, loud young men, after a few cups, had become somewhat tipsy… With the help of alcohol, they gained courage. Taking advantage of the bar music, the normally serious and authoritative captain cautiously leaned closer to Jiang Ran.
Turning his head slightly, he stared at her profile for a while. When she smiled and turned to look at him, his heart almost stopped. Gritting his teeth, he leaned close to her ear and said: “Ran Jie, let’s play a dice game just the two of us.”
Of course, Jiang Ran didn’t refuse.
It wasn’t hard to play dice with two people. Xie Yu, already a bit tipsy, called five sixes with ten dice. Jiang Ran glanced at her own and smiled, planning to call six ones. But when she saw her younger brother was already quite drunk, she mercifully changed her mind and called six sixes instead.
Xie Yu then called seven ones, and she followed blindly, leaving the opening to him.
Of course, she lost.
Lifting the wine glass, her lips had just touched the first sip of the night when suddenly a dark shadow appeared at the entrance of the booth—
The two chattering girls beside her fell silent at once.
The figure outside walked in, standing right across from Jiang Ran at the table. As he bent down, his tall shadow completely enveloped her.
Just having found the chance to get slightly closer, Xie Yu, whose shoulder was brushing against hers, suddenly felt as if a cold snake had crawled over him…
The lighting was dim, and nothing was clear.
Probably just an illusion.
At the same time, a plate of freshly fried shrimp chips was placed on the table.
The newcomer lazily straightened up, his calm gaze sweeping around the group. Under the stunned silence of everyone in the booth, his expression remained indifferent.
His gaze landed on Jiang Ran’s delicate wrist holding the wine glass, as if lost in thought.
After a long while, a slow, low, magnetic voice finally sounded.
“Shrimp chips,” he said. “Complimentary.”
Author’s note:
Beijiao: I don’t care, I won’t look, I’ll just keep frying my shrimp chips.
—The moment his sister took the first sip of alcohol—
Beijiao: Put it down. Right now.
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