Actually, Beijiao and Jiang Huaimin were wrong. They thought Jiang Ran wasn’t afraid of them at all—
Wasn’t Jiang Ran panicking?
She was.
Don’t let her calm expression and sharp remarks fool you. When she heard the word “breakup” coming from Beijiao’s mouth, her mind went completely blank.
She deeply regretted not checking the doorway before uttering those harsh words. Had she known Beijiao was there, even with ten times the courage, she wouldn’t have dared to shout something like “I’d rather die on the track.”
She had cried until nearly passing out last night, and only after hugging and soothing him repeatedly had she managed to make up. Now, all that effort was in vain.
Her shocking declaration just now was purely instinctive and unfiltered by her brain, but words once spoken couldn’t be taken back. She couldn’t possibly admit now and say, “I was just kidding.”
Taking a deep breath, she crossed her arms and sat on the hospital bed, glancing at the two men in the room—one frozen rigidly by the bed, and the other stunned at the doorway… both satisfyingly rendered speechless.
Her rationality slowly returned.
The more silent they were, the more confident she felt. Though her back was already soaked with sweat, she still defiantly lifted her chin and smirked sarcastically, “Can I borrow a wheelchair?”
Beijiao looked at her, somewhat bewildered—why was she suddenly asking for a wheelchair?
Jiang Ran pointed at the electronic clock by the bed, “Let’s go before the Civil Affairs Bureau closes.”
As soon as she spoke, Beijiao’s expression changed—
The previous murderous aura he had standing at the doorway vanished completely. Now, “pale and terrified” was the most fitting description for him. His expression resembled a kidnapped groom, successfully making Jiang Ran forget that she was the one who should feel guilty.
“…”
What kind of expression was that?
Her heart sank instantly. In a flash, she realized—”He doesn’t want to.”
Her entire body stiffened. Jiang Ran instinctively frowned, her defensive arms dropping in shock.
“You don’t want to?”
She asked, her voice laced with disbelief.
At the same time, a wave of cold water seemed to pour over her—
Don’t buy into the nonsense that men are too humble to propose because they feel unworthy. Every male’s confidence is at a nuclear explosion level. Given the chance, they’d even marry a celestial maiden.
Not wanting to marry simply means not loving.
This realization drained some of the flushed anger from Jiang Ran’s face. She thought, “Has he gotten tired of me? Was that breakup talk just now actually his genuine feelings all along? Is that real? Then why is he acting so frightened?”
Unable to help herself, she glanced at Beijiao again. At this moment, the man standing at the doorway had already lost the last traces of surprise and helplessness from his face. There was practically no emotion left.
He just stood there expressionlessly.
Impossible to tell what he was thinking.
Now Jiang Ran felt a little uncertain—
…So was this a refusal or another case of Fan Jin’s unexpected success?
Look at her—when it came down to it, the little princess’s confidence was still inflated to the ceiling—
In an instant, she overturned all her previous self-doubting speculations.
Compared to “his silent refusal,” she now preferred to believe it was more like “he was just so shocked by the sudden good news that his brain short-circuited into idiocy.”
The hospital room fell into a brief, tense silence as both sides engaged in a psychological standoff.
Half a minute later—
“Jiang Ran, have you gone crazy?”
Jiang Huaimin reacted first, breaking the silence.
“You want to go to the Civil Affairs Bureau in a wheelchair with a broken leg? Do you want to end up on the society news tomorrow?”
#Jiang heiress sits in a wheelchair in hospital gown, disheveled hair, registering marriage with mysterious male college student at the Civil Affairs Bureau.
…This topic definitely had the potential to top the local trending list for days.
Jiang Ran casually tucked her hair behind her ear, sneered coldly, and was just about to mercifully say, “Scared, huh? Then forget it,” when she didn’t expect the man at the doorway to move.
Beijiao, his brief surprise gone, turned to leave.
Jiang Ran called him back, puzzled, “Where are you going?”
Beijiao glanced at her, “Aren’t we getting the marriage certificate? I’m going to get you a wheelchair.”
Jiang Ran: “…”
Jiang Ran: “I haven’t even washed my face.”
Beijiao said calmly, “It’s okay. Except for the three seconds you take the photo, you can wear a mask the whole time in public. No one will recognize you.”
Jiang Ran paused, “Can we change the photo on the marriage certificate later?”
Beijiao stared silently at her, as if saying, “Yes, just change your husband and you can update the photo. Tell me, do you have that opportunity?”
Jiang Ran paused again, “If we can’t change it, I can’t get over it mentally… Fine, let me go to the restroom first.”
Without complaining about pain or tiredness, she grabbed the crutch beside the bed, placed her right foot on the ground, struggled to steady her upper body, adjusted the crutch, and hopped nimbly into the restroom.
Less than 24 hours after waking up, she was already hopping around like a pro.
The loud sound of the restroom door locking echoed through the room, followed by the sound of running water. As expected, her “washing face” might last until the end of time.
Jiang Huaimin and Beijiao exchanged glances. The middle-aged man patted his round belly and sighed, “Good thing you reacted quickly. At least you salvaged the situation a bit. Not too embarrassing.”
Beijiao lowered his eyes and murmured, “Mm.”
Jiang Huaimin sensed something off and changed his tone, “Don’t tell me you’re serious about this.”
Beijiao entered the ward, instinctively glancing toward the restroom as he passed. He thought for a moment and asked, “So according to your family tradition, how much should the bride price be?”
The Good Men’s Alliance quickly collapsed.
Jiang Huaimin was momentarily speechless. It was hard to say to a junior, “To be honest, I haven’t even mentally prepared for this.” Facing such a direct question, he mumbled, “I was thinking of a lucky number… maybe 1.88 billion?”
Beijiao: “…”
Jiang Huaimin: “…”
Jiang Huaimin: “Is that too much?”
Beijiao took a deep breath, “How about I become your son-in-law for just 188 yuan?”
Jiang Huaimin was so embarrassed he could dig a hole to hide in. He realized that asking for 1.88 billion as a bride price was indeed excessive. He was grateful that his future son-in-law, though perhaps not as refined as he thought, had enough grace not to curse him out on the spot.
Beijiao sat down on the sofa and quickly checked his bank account. Over the years, he had worked hard to earn money, living frugally as if he were still earning 120 yuan a day handing out flyers. He had saved up more than 400,000 yuan.
For an average college student or even someone who had graduated a few years ago, that was quite impressive.
But he hesitated to bring it up. After a long pause, he placed his hands on his knees, glanced sideways at Jiang Huaimin, and asked tentatively, “How about 48,000 yuan?”
Before Jiang Huaimin could respond, Beijiao handed him his phone: “That’s all I have.”
Curious, Jiang Huaimin instinctively leaned over to look at the phone screen. He saw that the young man’s bank balance was exactly 480,315.28 yuan. If he accepted the 480,000 yuan bride price, this future son-in-law might end up starving for the rest of the month.
The middle-aged man sat down beside him. Feeling the tension radiating from the young man beside him due to his silence, he felt a surge of emotion—
It had been nearly two years since Beijiao first formally appeared before him. In his memory, the young man had always been quiet but efficient, hardworking and responsible, obedient to Jiang Ran but never spoiling her recklessness…
In the past, Jiang Huaimin had thought that an arranged marriage through family connections was the best option, and other men were just for fun.
But now, his view had completely changed.
Especially at this moment, seeing this young man—who usually remained unfazed even when facing his own mother, Zhang Lingling—now radiating nervousness, he couldn’t bear to make him wait any longer. He reached out and patted the tightly tensed shoulder beside him.
“Relax, kid… If you give me all your money, what will you do when Jiang Ran asks for an engagement ring? Don’t think she’s not materialistic. She was six when she scoffed at that scene in a romance drama where the male lead uses a foxtail grass ring and the female lead pretends to be innocent and moved.”
Beijiao sighed.
Of course he remembered. That year at the mountain ski resort, when they were chatting randomly and somehow brought up engagement rings, Qiu Nian had mentioned it. Jiang Ran had declared firmly that she wanted a ring from HW.
Don’t let the name HW fool you into thinking it’s some second-tier domestic brand in a mall. When he actually pulled out his phone and searched for it back then, Beijiao had sat there counting zeros for a long time.
Beijiao sighed again.
His throat felt dry.
“Can I owe you the 1.88 billion for now?” He tilted his head slightly and carefully asked Jiang Huaimin.
Jiang Huaimin was shocked, “You’re actually planning to pay it?”
“Mm.”
A brief pause.
“It’s what she wants,” Beijiao pursed his lips. “I have to give it to her.”
…
When Jiang Ran came out of the restroom, she saw her father and her boyfriend sitting side by side on the sofa, their expressions serious and silent as chickens.
She had been a bit nervous before leaving the restroom, not knowing what she would face—
Now looking around, the wheelchair wasn’t even brought, only two mute men sitting like statues.
Seeing them like this, her mischievous side couldn’t help but rise like a ballet dancer. Jiang Ran stopped her initial impulse to crawl back under the covers and forget everything.
She turned around, stopping in front of them and looking down at the two men, “Where’s my wheelchair?”
Beijiao looked up, scanning her expressionlessly.
“What are you looking at?” She tilted her head, smiling. “What’s with the long faces? It’s such a big day, you should be more cheerful?”
She waited a while but got no response, feeling victorious and satisfied.
She hummed to herself, hopping on her good leg toward the bed, not forgetting to lecture them as she moved, “Don’t talk to me about ‘retirement’ or ‘what if you get injured’ again. I hate hearing that stuff. We wasted our breath arguing over nothing, and I even hurt my wound getting angry…”
As she rambled, Beijiao stood up and wrapped his arm around her waist—
Jiang Ran had been a bit tired hopping, and leaning against his strong, muscular chest naturally made things much easier. As she inhaled his familiar scent, she sighed contentedly.
But soon she squirmed uncomfortably, shaking his arm off, “You threatened to break up with me, so why are you hugging me? Don’t hug me.”
She was being thoroughly spoiled now.
Beijiao was long accustomed to this. Expressionless, he stretched out his long legs, hooked a chair with his foot, and pushed her down to sit on it.
Jiang Ran sat on the hard little stool, puzzled, looking up at her boyfriend’s perfectly defined jawline, “I want to go back to bed. My waist hurts.”
Beijiao pressed her shoulder with one hand, “No need.”
Jiang Ran: “?”
Still confused, she suddenly heard the hospital room door open. A young nurse from the nursing station peeked her head in.
“Room 3204? Is this patient Jiang Ran?”
As she spoke, she pushed the door open and dragged a wheelchair in from outside, muttering, “Is this the wheelchair you requested? I brought it, but the doctor said you have surgery the day after tomorrow. It’s not good for you to run around now, right? What’s so urgent—”
Beijiao: “It’s urgent.”
The young nurse: “?”
Jiang Ran: “??”
He kept one hand on her shoulder, holding her still.
His long fingers still carried the faint smell of disinfectant from the school lab, slightly cold, as he affectionately pinched her cute little nose.
The eternal poker face cracked into a smile.
Beijiao said indifferently, “It’s urgent to go get the marriage certificate. The Civil Affairs Bureau will close soon.”
The young nurse: “??”
Jiang Ran: “????”
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