Jiang Ran didn’t know whether Bei Jiao had grown up listening to some bizarre, unconventional fairy tales as a child, because no normal human being could possibly develop such a twisted personality otherwise—
Even a three-year-old understood these rules of life: say what you want, speak your mind, cut the crap, and prioritize happiness.
But he refused to follow them.
He seemed perpetually immersed in a sage-like contemplation. At nearly twenty years old, he was dull and lifeless—
For example.
After all these days, this was the first time he had initiated a conversation with her, and it was about skiing.
Jiang Ran knew skiing. She was ecstatic, throwing all rationality aside to eagerly cling to him, shouting inwardly, “I can! I will! I can teach you! No charge!” But how did he reply?
“Oh, just asking randomly.”
You’ve got to be kidding.
That night, Jiang Ran refrained from scolding him on the spot only because it was late, she was tired, the neighbors were asleep, and it would’ve been too disruptive. Out of momentary soft-heartedness, she let it slide. But the next day, as expected, this little brat gave her trouble again.
The next morning, thinking about her agreement with Xie Yu and needing to send her younger “stepbrother” to school, Jiang Ran set her alarm early again.
Yawning, she kindly squeezed toothpaste onto a disposable toothbrush for him when she noticed Bei Jiao wandering restlessly around the house since he got up.
He wandered and wandered, eventually stopping behind the bathroom door.
He wore a hesitant expression.
“When you hesitate over whether something should be said or not, don’t doubt,” Jiang Ran didn’t even look up, “don’t say it.”
She meant for him to shut up, not to provoke her so early in the morning.
But Bei Jiao, after some consideration, genuinely couldn’t see anything wrong with what he wanted to say. Thus, he ignored the instinctual biological premonition of danger and asked, “Can I borrow an umbrella?”
His tone was polite.
It had rained all night without stopping. Outside, it seemed as if the Jade Emperor had overturned his foot-washing basin. Everywhere looked like the Water Curtain Cave… Jiang Ran handed him the toothbrush with toothpaste already squeezed on it and asked, “What do you need an umbrella for?”
Bei Jiao entered the bathroom, switching positions with her, then reached out to turn on the faucet for his morning routine: “To the subway station.”
“…” Jiang Ran’s palm itched immediately, “And what exactly do you need to go to the subway station for?”
Bei Jiao glanced at her through the mirror above the sink, puzzled by her sudden gritting of teeth: “Back to school.”
Jiang Ran really wanted to slap him, or kick him. She restrained herself and reminded him of last night’s warm moment: “Back to school! By yourself? Taking the subway? I told you last night I’d drive you, did you forget?”
Oh.
She had said that.
“No, it’s okay. I can go by myself.”
“You either let me drive you, walk in the rain to the subway station, or you can even place an umbrella order on Meituan. I might die of anger, but I’ll generously provide my home address,” Jiang Ran said in one breath, paused briefly, and then added with a smile, “If you’re willing to waste your hard-earned money on an umbrella for just a short while.”
“…”
Bei Jiao indeed wasn’t willing to spend the money. The ten-yuan umbrella in his dorm was still perfectly usable. Why waste money on another one that would cost more than ten yuan?
—She had him figured out.
As he sat in the front passenger seat of Jiang Ran’s car, fastening the seatbelt, he came to this horrifying conclusion with a blank expression.
…
Jiang Ran parked her car at the entrance of University A. Although it was summer vacation, the campus entrance was bustling with people that morning.
There were many out-of-town students from other schools who wanted to try local breakfasts instead of the cafeteria food, and buses kept pulling into the school.
Student union members were busy holding megaphones, running around the crowd, trying to arrange everything properly.
At this moment, as they passed by a black Mercedes SUV parked openly in a roadside parking spot near the school entrance, they couldn’t help but reflexively glance at the car’s emblem first before looking at the driver—
Inside the car, Jiang Ran, wearing a light purple tracksuit, was leaning sideways talking to Bei Jiao.
From an angle invisible to those outside the car, she was wearing shorts and white canvas high-tops.
The zipper of her loose hoodie was only pulled up to her chest, revealing a small section of her rounded shoulder. One hand casually rested on the steering wheel, asking Bei Jiao if he was hungry.
As she asked, she kept glancing left and right.
“Looking around for what?” The boy in the passenger seat slowly shifted his gaze from her shoulder and asked in a slightly hoarse voice.
His fingers twitched a few times, finally only undoing the seatbelt on the passenger side instead of reaching over to adjust her hoodie collar that was stuck on her arm.
“I’m looking for breakfast,” Jiang Ran naturally didn’t know that the person beside her had already formed a thousand feudalistic thoughts in his mind. “I’ve never been around here in the morning. Any recommendations?”
Bei Jiao had never eaten breakfast at these shops before because the cafeteria was cheaper.
He shook his head, so Jiang Ran just randomly brought him to a popular steamed bun shop.
Thinking that boys probably liked meat, she ordered two meat buns, one red bean bun, and one vegetarian bun—The auntie at the bun stall, wearing a mask and a hat, was busy and quick in her movements, skillfully picking out the buns Jiang Ran had requested and telling her to go to the cashier.
Jiang Ran said “Okay” and was about to go pay when she looked up and saw Bei Jiao’s back walking toward the cashier.
“…”
It was just a few buns, so she didn’t call him back.
Watching him stand at the cashier and take out his phone, she stopped looking and instead moved aside, enthusiastically continuing to watch the nimble auntie asking, “What do you want, what do you want?” while quickly picking out the white, fat, hot buns from the steamer.
The cashier girl also looked like a summer worker, carefully checking the electronic receipt before saying in a crisp voice to the boy on the other side of the register: “Hello, your total is eleven yuan.”
Bei Jiao took out his phone to scan the code, and after entering the number, he felt something was off. He lifted his eyelashes and asked, “How much?”
“Two meat buns at three fifty each totals seven, one red bean bun at two fifty, and one vegetarian bun at one fifty. That’s eleven yuan total,” the girl explained.
Three fifty for a meat bun?
Was it filled with dragon meat or something?
Bei Jiao moved his lips, about to say, “Never mind,” when he suddenly turned his head and looked at Jiang Ran crouching near the auntie picking buns—
She wasn’t looking at him. Standing apart from the crowd, she was watching each steaming, white, fat bun being taken out of the steamer and handed to the buyers…
Her eyes filled with anticipation.
“…”
Bei Jiao turned his gaze back. His fingers finally landed on the “Confirm Payment” button.
To put it not exaggeratedly, he had never paid eleven yuan for breakfast in his entire life.
Silently holding the buns, he handed them to Jiang Ran, who leaned over to peek into the plastic bag in his hand. She rummaged around and finally took the vegetarian bun.
Bei Jiao: “?”
Jiang Ran took a bite of the vegetarian bun, satisfied with the vermicelli, egg, and wood ear inside. She took another bite: “I don’t like eating too greasy or sweet things in the morning. The rest are all for you.”
Bei Jiao: “…”
In that moment, Bei Jiao suddenly understood what it meant to have one’s defenses completely shattered—it felt like the world that had seemed somewhat pleasant just a second ago had suddenly turned into a black-and-white absurd and ridiculous TV drama—
making one not feel like continuing to live with strength anymore.
Struggling between wanting to hit her or hit her again, he finally aimlessly and in vain looked back at the bun shop gradually falling behind them.
Seeing him glancing back every few steps, Jiang Ran, who was content with a one-and-a-half-yuan vegetarian bun, curiously asked: “What’s wrong? Were three buns not enough? Did I order too few?”
Bei Jiao: “…No, it’s enough.”
He mainly wondered whether he could go back to the shop now and tell them to cancel the meat buns and switch to vegetarian ones.
Jiang Ran: “These buns are pretty good.”
After saying that, she noticed the person beside her was silent.
She turned her head to look at him.
Jiang Ran: “What’s wrong?”
Bei Jiao silently sighed, turned his head, and looked at her deeply before saying: “Nothing. Eat. Don’t talk.”
Don’t talk anymore.
Or I might want to punch you.
…
Jiang Ran took three bites of her bun before completely forgetting about it, holding it in her hand as she stepped through the university gate.
At this moment, she walked along the campus path, looking left and right, her eyes never stopping, like a hyperactive child with attention deficit disorder.
Bei Jiao followed her at about half an arm’s length behind, deliberately slowing down his pace. His gaze fell on the tip of her hoodie’s hood, as if a flower might bloom from it. He quickly finished his three overpriced buns.
Then he smacked his lips. He really couldn’t taste any difference from the cafeteria food…
They were even smaller.
He wasn’t even full.
Full of complaints, his gaze also turned rather solemn.
He glanced at the vegetarian bun still three-quarters left in Jiang Ran’s hand, wondering whether she would finally finish eating it properly… Thinking about this, he finally couldn’t stand it anymore. He stretched out his hand, grabbing the top of her head like one would grab a basketball, and turned her head back from where she was looking.
“What are you looking at?” he asked indifferently.
Jiang Ran was just about to answer that she was looking at her lost youth and university life when, before she could speak, a voice called out from behind, “Sister.”
The voice was quite familiar, so she slapped away the hand on her head and turned around—
In the distance, she saw Song Die running toward her.
Early in the morning, he had dressed himself neatly: a white short-sleeved T-shirt, deep green loose pants, paired with a light green triangular crossbody bag, and white basketball shoes on his feet.
Strictly following the basic rule of not wearing more than three colors in an outfit to avoid fashion mistakes.
And probably to match the high-profile fluorescent green triangular crossbody bag, he only wore small, low-key diamond earrings today.
Invisible indoors, but under the morning sunlight, the diamonds sparkled brilliantly, becoming a highlight on his earlobe.
Show-off.
Bei Jiao, standing beside Jiang Ran, made this emotionless evaluation in his heart.
In no time, Song Die had already reached Jiang Ran. He glanced at Bei Jiao, realizing he was with her, and politely and distantly nodded slightly as a greeting…
His memory was good.
He remembered that day Jiang Ran said he was her brother.
In contrast to his politeness, Bei Jiao stood there, expression lazy, like a thoroughly chilled corpse, showing no reaction.
Song Die didn’t care either.
His attention was almost entirely on the woman in front of him.
“Sister, I heard from Xie Yu that you’re meeting him here this morning to watch our school’s 3v3 street basketball friendly match with their school.”
When Song Die spoke to Jiang Ran, he no longer had the unconscious coldness he had shown Bei Jiao, instead showing great closeness.
“I guessed you would definitely come.”
Jiang Ran caught the deliberate intimacy in his tone, slightly lowering her gaze as she looked Song Die up and down. After thinking for a moment, she nodded: “I promised him, of course I would come.”
She wore an unmistakable air of distance.
Song Die naturally heard it, feeling a bit anxious and uncertain for no apparent reason, though he couldn’t show it on his face…
He hesitated, glancing at Bei Jiao standing beside her like a background prop, and finally had no choice but to ignore the latter. He slightly bent forward, leaned close to Jiang Ran, and lowered his voice: “Sister, what’s wrong? Are you angry? For that thing, I’m sorry, okay? I really shouldn’t have hidden it from you at first. At first, I was called by Song Yan, but once I got to know you, I really didn’t have any intention of doing anything to you—”
His tone was sincere.
Jiang Ran listened, just watching him without responding.
Song Die saw she seemed indifferent, and grew anxious.
So he lowered his eyes, showing a harmless expression.
Then he turned, pulling open his backpack zipper himself, and took out a paper bag with a golden “M” symbol drawn on it: “I brought you breakfast. After you eat it, will you forgive me, okay?”
He looked quite obedient.
Indeed, he looked very much like a large, pitiful dog abandoned on the street during a heavy rainstorm, soaked and homeless.
At this moment, the large dog wagged its tail, holding a McDonald’s breakfast bag.
—He knew how to play to his strengths, clearly understanding what kind of posture younger brothers should take in front of their sisters to be liked.
…Indeed, in such a situation, it was hard for an ordinary person to remain cold-hearted.
Thus, Jiang Ran finally reacted, her eyelashes fluttering as her gaze moved from the young man’s earnestly pleading face to the McDonald’s bag in his hand.
Song Die had only come with impure intentions, but he hadn’t actually done anything bad…
In theory, teaching him lessons and getting paid for it wasn’t a problem.
Now he had even sincerely apologized.
Jiang Ran slowly listed reasons in her mind, while on the surface, she maintained a blank expression, as if seriously thinking or already spacing out.
Bei Jiao, originally watching the scene beside her with great interest, was trying to figure out what was going on between the two of them. Two nights ago, they were chatting nonstop in the car, but now the atmosphere had suddenly turned so strange?
A fight?
Hmph.
He was lost in wild speculation when, unfortunately, other students from the same school noticed and thought, “Oh wow, two recent gossip magazine cover stars standing at the school gate early in the morning, what’s going on?” They kept glancing over, making him feel uncomfortable. He lifted his foot, intending to let them sort it out while he left—
But just then, the young woman standing there spacing out seemed to have eyes on her back. She suddenly reached out and precisely grabbed his clothes.
Bei Jiao lazily turned his head, looking down at her in silence, wordlessly asking what she wanted.
She was still facing Song Die. At this moment, she finally spoke in a toneless, polite voice: “It’s fine, I’m not angry.”
Song Die’s eyes lit up slightly. If he were a big dog, he’d already be wagging his tail.
Bei Jiao looked at this with disdain.
As Song Die was about to seize the opportunity to say something else, he heard Jiang Ran slowly add: “As for breakfast, no need. I have buns.”
No one could play the game of giving a sweet before a slap better than her.
Jiang Ran suddenly extended a slender finger from her clenched fist, pointing sideways at the curious boy, saying, “He bought them for me.”
Song Die: “…”
Bei Jiao: “?”
I was just coincidentally standing here, so why does it concern me again.JPG.
But for some reason, spending eleven yuan on breakfast suddenly felt acceptable.
Author’s note:
Bei Jiao: Hmph, the dragon meat bun wasn’t wasted, McDonald’s has no soul.
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