Escaping from Guangzhou was now a matter of urgency.
After all, Guangzhou was just so small. Running into him on a busy street and having him press her head into a roadside flowerbed—
Whether or not someone ended up dead could be set aside for now.
The main issue was the embarrassment if it ended up on the news.
Jiang Ran, feeling nervous and uneasy, browsed flight tickets for a while but didn’t find any she liked, so she became a bit irritable.
As if the universe had sent her a pillow when she was about to fall asleep, while she was scrolling through her phone in frustration, her WeChat suddenly vibrated with a money transfer.
She opened it and saw it was 150,000 yuan from her father, Jiang Huaimin, sent from Canada, accompanied by a message:
【Dad: My sweet girl, have you been in Guangzhou recently?】
Jiang Ran clicked her tongue.
Jiang Huaimin usually called her “Ranran,” and when he was angry with her, he’d call her “Jiang Ran.” When he used “my sweet girl,” it meant he had a serious favor to ask.
She was there, but she wouldn’t be for long—she was heading back to Harbin.
Still typing out a polite refusal, Jiang Ran was surprised when a reply came from the other end at a speed that surpassed what an elderly person should be capable of, making it hard not to suspect he had already prepared what he wanted to say and was now simply copying and pasting from his draft box:
【Dad: What a coincidence! I heard that your Auntie Zhang’s son also got accepted to a university in Guangzhou. He’s all alone here, needing to study and eat, so life must be pretty tough for him. If you have time, go check on him… if he’s missing anything, help him out, and say hello for me.】
Jiang Ran stared at her phone for a long time.
It was just so strange.
She typed and deleted several times before finally managing to reply:
【Whose Ranran Duck: Did you consult some kind of master again to guide you into doing good deeds and accumulating virtue? Otherwise, why the sudden kindness?】
It wasn’t that Jiang Ran usually started talking like a sarcastic filial daughter.
It was just that Jiang Huaimin’s sudden, unexpected act of conscience came out of nowhere—
The mention of Auntie Zhang and her son reminded Jiang Ran that she had a so-called half-brother (though not recognized by law), from a different mother and father.
This “half-brother” came from her father’s girlfriend, Ms. Zhang…
Zhang what?
Not important.
When Ms. Zhang met Mr. Jiang, her son was in the middle of preparing for the college entrance exam. During this unforgettable and crucial period of his life, he had, in a second-tier sense, lost his mother.
…Of course, Ms. Zhang wasn’t dead.
She had simply chosen to follow her wealthy boyfriend, Jiang Ran’s father, overseas, becoming a 40-year-old “golden bird” in a way never seen before. Jiang Huaimin, in poor taste, only gave her a monthly allowance, which she quickly squandered.
Ms. Zhang, captivated by Mr. Jiang, who was nearly fifty, forgot all about her son outside the golden cage—
Except for the occasional day when she sent him 500 yuan.
It was said that this younger brother had excellent grades and, with only 500 yuan a month, managed not only to survive but also to get into university.
Jiang Ran had once mentioned to Jiang Huaimin that with the RMB depreciating so fast, 500 yuan didn’t go far, and maybe he should help out a bit as a form of charity. She was immediately scolded by Jiang Huaimin:
【What do you care so much? He’s not your real brother, nor is he legally your brother! If you’re going to be so kind, give some of that kindness to your dad! Heaven help me, am I not more pitiful than him?】
Faced with such blatant nonsense, Jiang Ran closed her mouth and never brought it up again, fearing that even saying one more word might summon lightning from the heavens to take her father away—and even drag her down with him as a daughter paying her father’s debts.
She was a person of high moral character and good manners.
She never expected Jiang Huaimin to suddenly change his tune.
【Dad: Just go if I tell you to! Am I getting too old for you to listen to me now?!】
【Dad: I just thought that 500 yuan a month for university is really unreasonable. Auntie Zhang doesn’t have much money left… Last month I gave her a few more ten thousand to pay for her son’s tuition, and she spent every penny without leaving a dime for him—ah, what can I say? She’s just all looks and no substance. I really don’t want to talk to her anymore.】
【Dad: Go check on him and see if there’s anything you can help with… You can look up the address on the map.】
He sent over a university name and another 50,000 yuan, ordering his daughter to go help this person out.
Not even considering whether she might get beaten up due to her sensitive identity.
Finally, he emphasized that she must give him the full 50,000 and not follow Auntie Zhang’s example of embezzling it.
After checking the university name, Jiang Ran immediately let out a whistle like a tough girl toward the screen: her “half-brother” must have an incredible mental constitution to get into such a good university on just 500 yuan a month.
Truly a hardworking ox that doesn’t even eat grass.
Now she understood Jiang Huaimin’s intentions—it was probably the capitalist suddenly realizing that this hardworking ox was a gem worth using, or else it would be a crime against heaven to let him go to waste. Now he was showing mercy, hoping that one day he could trick the ox into working for his company without paying a salary.
【Whose Ranran Duck: Whether I embezzle it or not is another matter…】
【Whose Ranran Duck: But suddenly giving such a large sum to a kid… aren’t you afraid he might go bad with it?】
【Dad: I give you 150,000 every month.】
Meaning, what nonsense was she spouting—he’d already given her plenty of chances to go bad.
【Whose Ranran Duck: But I’m a girl. Boys are the ones who go bad when they get money—men go bad when they have money.】
Jiang Huaimin was silent for about three minutes.
Until Jiang Ran got up to take a shower, he finally responded.
【Dad: Are you insulting me?!】
Then came a series of voice messages, each only two or three seconds long.
No need to imagine—they were filled with a series of not-so-civilized lectures.
Jiang Ran didn’t open a single one. She simply floated past the phone with a blank expression, proudly stepping into the bathroom.
…
Guangzhou.
3 PM in the afternoon.
At the gate of Z University.
【Whose Ranran Duck: You want me to find someone, but you didn’t even give a photo. Should I just pick someone I like the look of at the university gate and hand him the 50,000?】
It was only after arriving at her “half-brother’s” university that Jiang Ran realized she had no idea what the kid looked like.
At that moment, the sun was blazing, and the temperature was conservatively estimated to be around 35 or 36 degrees.
On a whim, while carrying out her mission, she also thought fondly of the cheap, down-to-earth street food near the university gate… you had to admit, sometimes dishes cooked with gutter oil tasted better than those made with proper, high-quality oils like King Young.
The price was that now sweat was dripping down her forehead.
After sending the message, she casually put her phone away and turned around, only to find a claypot rice restaurant right there.
Jiang Ran lifted her hand and pushed open the glass door marked with “Air Conditioning Available.” Lunchtime had passed, and the restaurant wasn’t very crowded. The owner was busy behind the stove, where many claypot rice dishes were cooking. A waiter came out from the back kitchen—
His eyes, black and white, were as calm as dead water, and he met Jiang Ran’s gaze.
He was the same kid she had gotten drunk and recorded on video the night before.
“Welcome, what would you like to eat?”
He said.
…
As everyone knows, Guangzhou is a bustling first-tier city. Guangzhou is big, full of opportunities.
Right now, Jiang Ran didn’t feel how big Guangzhou was, but she certainly felt how many chances there were to get herself killed.
Leaning against the door, she hesitated between “just run and forget your face” and “what can he do in broad daylight,” not realizing at that moment that her thoughts were fully written on her face. Her expressions weren’t particularly rich, but her eyes were full of subtle emotions.
The young man’s gaze swept over her damp strands of hair.
“Sit down,” he casually pointed to a cool spot in the restaurant.
She hesitated for a moment, then obediently followed his instruction, plopping down at the seat he pointed to… surprisingly obedient.
Bei Jiao smirked inwardly.
He walked up to her and pointed at the menu above her head, telling her that was all the food available in the restaurant—
“The recommended dish is the beef and egg with sausage combo. It’s our specialty. The beef is fresh yellow cattle, bought by the owner early every morning before dawn at the market…”
The same kid who had been mixing drinks at the bar last night was now introducing claypot rice.
This was the longest sentence she had heard him say since she met him. It was hard not to suspect that the restaurant owner made him recite it loudly fifty times every morning before opening, forming muscle memory…
Jiang Ran was a bit distracted.
He stopped his mechanical recitation when he got no response: “What would you like to eat?”
He asked again for the second time.
“Do you know who I am?”
She answered with a question.
He gave her a slow, up-and-down glance but didn’t deny it.
“Just give me whatever you won’t poison me with,” Jiang Ran stared into his eyes.
He didn’t respond.
“Or don’t you have a phone?”
She pressed.
So the young man finally reacted, like a slight frown.
“I have a phone, I can go online, I know how to feed myself when I’m hungry, and I know to go home when it rains.”
With a faintly cool, sarcastic tone, his thin lips curled slightly into a look of impatience before quickly returning to his usual tight-lipped expression.
“What would you like to eat?”
He asked for the third time, this time more clearly.
He stood in front of her with an old notebook, and aside from that brief flicker of displeasure just now, his expression seemed unchanged.
The ballpoint pen clicked as he pressed it, and the calm on his face seemed to suggest he had never met her before…
Clearly, he had no intention of holding a grudge.
Jiang Ran studied his face for a while and slowly realized he really didn’t want to continue talking about the previous topic.
So—
Should she apologize?
Logically, he didn’t seem to want to hear an apology.
Jiang Ran certainly knew the meaning of knowing when to stop, but she had always been a bit of a troublemaker, always ready to push boundaries, take every opportunity, be stubborn, and cause trouble… the kind of person who would say, “Since you’re not angry, I’ll be annoying again, okay?”
“I’ll take your recommendation.”
Bei Jiao casually jotted it down in his notebook. Just as he was about to ask if she wanted any vegetables, the woman below his hand suddenly commanded in a bold voice: “Pour me some hot water to rinse the bowl.”
Bei Jiao’s pen, which had been flying across the order sheet, paused.
He moved the menu aside and lowered his head.
He saw her long, delicate index finger pointing at the disinfected, plastic-wrapped chopsticks and bowl in front of her—
In Guangdong and Guangxi, people usually unwrap the plastic around the disinfected chopsticks and bowls before eating and then rinse them with hot tea or boiling water.
…But they did it themselves.
Not by calling a waiter.
Bei Jiao raised one eyebrow.
Jiang Ran stared at him: “No?”
He didn’t quite understand her logic.
From their first meeting last night, she clearly had no logic.
Jiang Ran kept staring at him: “If not, then forget it.”
Her tone sounded anything but like she was about to “forget it.”
He casually put the pen and the menu on an empty table nearby.
—Actually, the moment the person in front of him raised her hand, Jiang Ran had already planned her escape route with her peripheral vision.
As she confirmed for the third time whether she could jump up and run out of the restaurant, that towering figure simply bent down, leaned past her, and took another pair of chopsticks from the chopstick holder on the table.
“Snap”—he inserted them into the sealed disinfected chopsticks and bowl.
The crisp sound made Jiang Ran’s spine tingle.
But he just lowered his eyes, collected the used disposable chopsticks, and then, as she requested, tore off the plastic packaging around the bowl and chopsticks.
“…”
Jiang Ran felt a bit awkward and shrank to the side, pretending to be busy while glancing at her phone with her peripheral vision.
Indeed, there was something to look at.
Jiang Huaimin was bombarding her with messages on WeChat.
【Dad: «Photo» He looks like this.】
【Dad: Come to think of it, considering my ID photo that looks like an animal… this kid actually looks pretty good.】
【Dad: You just can’t help but admit that you’re getting old.】
【Dad: Anyway, when you see him, be nice, okay? Don’t act like you’re doing him a big favor by giving him some money and making him dislike you… understand? That money isn’t even yours. If you throw my money around and cause trouble, you’ll get what’s coming to you.】
【Dad: He might be rude to you.】
【Dad: If he’s rude to you, just drop the money and run.】
【Dad: No one ever hates money.】
Others were being spammed by their boyfriends.
Jiang Ran was being spammed by her dad.
Ignoring the endless messages above, she casually opened the photo sent by Jiang Huaimin—it was a graduation ID photo. In the photo, the boy had a short crew cut, a slightly raised jawline, and slightly furrowed eyebrows. All his emotions were hidden, like secrets buried deep in the ocean, in those pitch-black eyes.
Looking down at the camera.
The protruding Adam’s apple on his long neck symbolized his fading youth.
He was handsome.
Really handsome.
Jiang Ran’s gaze lingered on the screen for three seconds. She pressed her hands on the phone screen, zoomed in, and stared again.
Then her eyes shifted upward, looking over the edge of the phone screen at the young man standing in front of her now—
The latter also had slightly furrowed eyebrows, looking down with the same calm, emotionless eyes as a still, dead sea—unlike the arrogant, indifferent gaze in the photo.
“What do you want now?”
He asked.
His voice sounded a bit hoarse, probably due to the heat.
The electric fan above creaked as it worked hard to spin.
“…”
Jiang Ran’s fingers silently twitched on her phone.
“Nothing.”
“?”
As if he hadn’t heard her clearly, Bei Jiao looked at the woman who had seemed so eager to provoke him just a moment ago, now slowly lowering her head, exposing a pale, slender neck and the back of her head.
Suddenly, the atmosphere became friendly and obedient.
“?”
【Dad: With his looks, you should be able to spot him in a crowd easily.】
【Dad: If not, just ask around at the school gate with the photo?】
【Dad: Or post the photo on the school forum?】
She had already implemented the second unconventional method of finding someone.
…Except it was a video, and she had starred in it.
【Dad: Have you started yet? At least meet him first, right?】
【Whose Ranran Duck: Oh, I met him.】
【Dad: You met him? So fast?】
【Dad: What did he say?】
【Whose Ranran Duck: He’s rinsing my bowl for me.】
【Dad: ?】
Author’s Note:
Jiang Huaimin: My beloved daughter is the best in the world?
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