He didn’t know how to kiss either—his movements were chaotic and unskilled. Yet, simply being this close—inhaling her breath, touching noses—was enough to easily excite him. He truly acted like a little puppy, nibbling playfully on her lower lip before letting go as if it were a game. At that moment, his vision was so sharp he surprised himself—he looked down and saw her lower lip glistening, marked by his teeth. He felt satisfied, as if he’d left his mark on her.
He rubbed his nose against hers. Jiang Ran felt tickled and instinctively tried to pull away, but at this moment, this dog-like creature unexpectedly showed a possessiveness he never displayed before. He placed his large hand on her shoulder, pinning her between himself and the pile of blankets. She nearly sank into the soft mattress.
The brief separation slightly eased the unique masculine scent that was both youthful and mature, allowing her to regain her senses. She wanted to raise her hand to stop him, saying, “What are you doing…”
Her tone was calm, but the tail end wavered slightly, betraying her confused and uneasy emotions. She had hidden it well, and Bei Jiao hadn’t noticed. How could he answer her question—just moments ago, caught up in the moment or overwhelmed by passion, he had acted on instinct. Should he apologize? But he wasn’t really in the mood to.
“Nothing,” he lowered his voice, leaned close to her ear, and simply invited, “Taste me.”
“…”
He actually hadn’t forgotten the joke about eating grass near the kennel…
Jiang Ran was shocked—how obsessed could he be?
Her brief moment of contemplation relaxed her vigilance, and he seized the opportunity to move in again, pressing her shoulder down. The soft rustling of clothes and fluffy blankets filled the air as she was completely enveloped by the bedding. His hand gently cradled her neck, rubbing against her to leave his scent before his fingers forcefully wove into her hair.
Her hair was still slightly damp, warming his fingertips that had been cold from nervousness.
This time, he wasn’t content with just teasing her lips. His tongue clumsily yet eagerly slid into her mouth, which offered little resistance.
The moment his tongue touched the soft interior of her mouth, he felt like he was going to shatter. Every cell in his body stood up in celebration, roaring and cheering. A low, satisfied sound rumbled from deep in his throat. His lashes lowered slightly, eyes half-closed, he continued to entwine with her tongue lazily while staring at her—like a greedy, giant snake. Clinging and sticky.
He even refused to miss any detail of her face, beginning to seriously count how many eyelashes she had.
“…Stop messing around.”
Taking advantage of his brief distraction, she pulled back. As the youth’s tongue left her warm mouth, he immediately snapped back to attention, making a sound of displeasure.
Tilting his head to look at her, he seriously said, “I’m not messing around,” paused, then added, “Let’s kiss again, okay?”
But he wasn’t really asking for her opinion.
Grasping her wrists, he firmly pinned her beneath the pure white bedding. Apparently dissatisfied with her sudden interruption of their previous intimacy, this time he applied slightly more force.
As he leaned down again, one hand held her in place while the other, instinctively knowing what to do, held her chin to prevent her from moving.
Jiang Ran felt her scalp tingling from his clinginess. The youth’s breath invaded every direction. She heard her heart pounding wildly in her chest, her reason screaming, “Have you gone mad?” Yet her waist instinctively softened into a mess.
His boldness still carried a hint of innocence—his hands remained respectful, not wandering, focusing solely and persistently on kissing…
So disciplined that she was startled to find herself not even wanting to get angry with him.
His delicate face rubbed against her cheek. He loved the closeness, pressing so tightly that she felt the indoor heating was too high, quickening her blood flow…
So when he tried to entwine with her again, she cunningly closed her lips to keep him from reaching them.
Then her teeth were about to shut, attempting to forcibly end this sticky state.
Of course, Bei Jiao wouldn’t allow it.
Realizing her intention, he muttered, “What’s wrong?” “What’s wrong?” while moving his hand that had been holding her chin—unaware of conventional methods, he was solely focused on not letting her push him away.
In his urgency, his hand reached for her lips, inserting a finger to pry them open.
Originally just trying to force her lips apart.
But as his fingertip touched her soft lips, he stiffened slightly himself.
That warm sensation deepened his already bottomless pupils, turning them into a pool of dark water.
His fingertip couldn’t help but twitch, even wanting to push further and open her lips wider.
Guessing his intention, she clenched her teeth and bit him.
He felt the pain, hissing slightly, but still continued what he wanted to do. Two fingers mischievously danced inside her mouth.
Outside her lips, in the air, he looked down as her pale lips slightly parted, kissed into a beautiful shade… He slowly pulled his fingers out from somewhere hidden, letting out a low, ambiguous chuckle before leaning down to peck her lips again.
…
After a while of rubbing and clinging, Bei Jiao obediently pulled the blanket over both himself and Jiang Ran.
He knew that separating now was the safest choice, but his long arm still stubbornly draped around her waist. His face buried deeply in the blanket, his voice came out low and muffled, “Wait a moment, it’s just a natural reaction. It’ll pass soon.”
His tone remained calm, exuding a sense of habitual ease.
As he spoke, as if fearing she might escape, his arm tightened its grip.
“Wait a moment” indeed.
Wait for what?
Jiang Ran wanted to speak, mainly to curse, but the moment her lips moved, she felt a sharp pain… If it weren’t for the power outage leaving everything pitch black, she might have pulled out her phone to check if her lips were swollen from his kisses.
Like a dog.
The arm resting on her waist felt as hot as a branding iron. Irritated, she tried to shift her waist sideways, only to be silently pulled back by him. She then attempted to pry apart his fingers one by one—exhausting effort, because although he remained silent, he was silently exerting force against her. She had just pried apart his thumb when he immediately curled it back around her index finger.
Finally out of strength, her lips still ached, and her tongue felt numb. Irritated, she patted his hand, “Let go.”
His response was a deep sigh through the blanket. His long legs moved slightly, gently kicking her calf to express his displeasure.
“What time is it?” Jiang Ran asked, “If you don’t go back soon, Song Die will wonder what you’re doing here?”
At the mention of that name, Bei Jiao suddenly gained energy. Previously, he had been dejectedly waiting for his good brother’s cooldown period, but now his ears perked up. He lifted his face from the blanket: “Then just tell him, right? I can do that.”
Yeah, right.
She lifted her hand expressionlessly, giving his pretty face a light slap—not hard, just enough to make a clear “slap” sound. If it had been anyone else, they might have already gone to meet King Yama, but since it was Jiang Ran, his master, his focus shifted elsewhere: Oh, he didn’t sense her anger—it wasn’t an angry slap.
So naturally, he took it as a sweet gift, leaning into her hand to rub against it again, “I want to sleep here tonight.”
He timely brought up this matter he had been thinking about for two days.
“Impossible.”
He hadn’t expected her refusal to be so immediate. She looked slightly surprised: “Why not? I won’t do anything… I didn’t do anything just now!”
His tone was really strange, as if he had done something extraordinary, which almost infuriated Jiang Ran into laughter. Three minutes later, Bei Jiao, after manually recharging the emergency light, was kicked out by the woman holding the now-lit emergency lamp.
Standing in the icy cold, gazing at the snow still falling from the sky, his mind filled with the final moment—she holding the swaying lamp, wearing that white spaghetti-strap dress, the long skirt almost reaching his ankles…
He thought of a nobleman’s daughter from old European aristocracy.
And he was probably a stray dog passing by that luxurious gate.
The noble lady, seeing his pitiful state, reached her hand through the railing, offering the stray dog a piece of bread—
The stray wolfed down the bread, then licked her fingertip. She smiled and said, “Don’t mess around,” then slowly withdrew her hand behind the railing.
A place forever out of his reach.
Bei Jiao felt a sudden lump in his throat, unexpectedly feeling upset by his own imagination. Why did Jiang Ran not scold him after all that intimate contact?
Could it be that moment was truly the finale?
Looking down, there was still a small pit in the snow piled up by the door frame—created earlier when he stood here, heartbroken and unconsciously scraping the ground.
The pit remained.
But his sigh now was completely different from that moment of despair—
He had a new worry.
He turned around and knocked on the door he had just slammed shut in his face. After a few knocks, the door was pulled open. In the crack stood a woman with a blank expression.
The youth, boneless, leaned against the doorframe: “So… does this mean you’ve forgiven me?”
Jiang Ran was taken aback, not expecting him to remember this. She immediately smiled: “Have you done something good enough for me to forgive you?”
Bei Jiao couldn’t answer.
Could sacrificing himself be considered a good deed?
Seeing his hesitation, fearing he might blurt something shocking again, Jiang Ran tried to cover his mouth but ended up wanting to close the door instead.
As the wooden door began to close, she heard him urgently say, “Wait,” and saw an arm shoot through the crack, blocking the door.
She calmly raised her eyes to look at him.
His foot was almost wearing a hole in the ground, kicking away the snowflakes falling around him. He kept his head lowered, hesitating: “Just now—”
Jiang Dan thought, great, he still dares to bring it up.
“Forget it,” she said generously, “I’ll just pretend I was bitten by a dog.”
“?”
While the stray dog was still stunned by the previous warmth and tenderness, the noble lady indeed heartlessly withdrew her hand, smilingly commanding the guards, “Lock the door, don’t let any strange stray dogs sneak in”—then the grand door was indeed locked.
From beginning to end, it was merely a tentative peek inside.
…
The stray returned in a daze, naturally unaware that his single lick had poisoned the noble lady deeply. The entire night, the spot she was licked felt hot and burning, keeping her tossing and turning. She wanted to chop off her own hand.
What troubled her more was discovering she didn’t even know who to talk to about this situation caused by her momentary lapse…
Whereas Bei Jiao, if he wanted, could even share it with Song Die.
She seemed to be worse off than him.
She realized when she picked up her phone, the desire to confide was there, but there was no one to confide in… and Baidu or Zhihu would never give a perfect suggestion to someone whose first kiss was accidentally stolen by a dog.
The self-deception of calmness shattered into pieces after she closed the door—
Being pressed and kissed by a younger brother, unable to resist at all—it was so embarrassing.
Hugging her knees, sitting on the bed, Jiang Ran kept the emergency lamp that was probably the root of all evil, staring blankly at the window frame until the sky outside began to lighten.
Only then did she shed two crocodile tears.
Then, too tired to continue, she sobbed herself to sleep with tears in her eyes.
But she couldn’t even sleep peacefully.
Perhaps her grievance before sleep was too heavy, she vaguely felt herself returning to several hours ago, the youth hugging the blanket beside her, stubbornly refusing to leave. She had softened her heart and truly didn’t chase him away…
He took a shower at her place, then, ignoring her protests, only wore a pair of sweatpants when he climbed back into bed, his bare upper body radiating heat, smelling of her shower gel, making the familiar scent completely natural and unobtrusive.
She relaxed her vigilance, didn’t chase him off the bed, and the two chatted under the same blanket for a while. She couldn’t remember the content, only remembered that somehow they ended up kissing again.
This time, he wasn’t as obedient as before.
One large hand easily grasped both her wrists, pinning them above her head. He leaned down and kissed her, robbing her lungs of all air, making her suffocate—
Then his other hand lifted her skirt.
Jiang Ran woke up.
Thankful for the internet’s harmony, when the fixed thought of pulling the blanket over is deeply rooted even in dreams, she was spared from more terrifying visual impacts.
The warm breath between her nose and mouth, the dreamlike dominance of his tongue felt so real. Sitting alone on the bed, she raised her hand to touch her lips—
They still hurt.
This pain had little to do with the dream.
Suddenly, Jiang Ran felt she should listen to Jiang Huaimin and find a man to live a normal life…
Not counting younger brothers.
Although she initially did have a crush on his good looks, she had intended to admire from afar rather than indulge.
Like buying an expensive piece of artwork to display at home—it might not serve much purpose, but just seeing it would make her feel good.
…………………………………………And now, she couldn’t resist indulging.
Wait, this word would probably be quite liked by the person involved. She could already imagine his eyes lighting up as he said eagerly: Great, let’s play.
……Aaaaaaaaah!
So annoying.
……
Jiang Ran always valued sleep; normally, she needed a full eight hours at home.
But today, due to overthinking, she had barely slept four hours. When her door was knocked on in the morning, Song Die and Beijiao stood outside.
It must be said that this little brat was extremely cunning. He probably guessed that he wouldn’t receive a warm reception if he came alone, so today he brought Song Die along.
Song Yan wasn’t here. Because of the matter concerning the wild wolf ravine and making questionable friends, she had been sent home by Song Die yesterday. Jiang Ran had no objections to this—people who walk different paths cannot plan together. She didn’t want to see Song Yan anyway.
Opening the door, she was already ready. She hadn’t worn makeup for the past few days, but today she had specially applied makeup to cover her dark circles and slightly swollen lips. At a casual glance, no one could detect any clues—
Except for Beijiao standing behind Song Die, whose gaze was fixed on her lips without restraint, making her spine shiver.
Thinking about the dream she had last night, she felt rather embarrassed and annoyed. She lifted her eyelashes and stared at him coldly, asking, “What are you staring at?”
Beijiao probably hadn’t expected her to be so fierce and was genuinely startled. He hastily shifted his gaze and stared at the snow on the doorstep in front of her house. After a while, he slowly redirected his gaze back to her face and muttered, “Eat breakfast.”
Jiang Ran responded with an “Oh” and proudly walked forward, passing the two people at the door without even glancing sideways.
As she stepped off the porch, she heard the two behind her whispering—
Song Die: “You’re going to kill me with laughter. Who was it yesterday who came back looking so triumphant telling me everything was fine? And now this is fine?”
Beijiao: “Are you blind? Looking like a stray dog—that’s triumphant? You’re jealous of me so much you’ve got your own filter? How would I know what’s wrong with her… It should be fine, right?”
Song Die: “Oh, did she even look at you once since just now?”
Beijiao: “Her not looking at me is the norm… Yeah, right. Then it must really be fine.”
Song Die: “…You’re the one with Stockholm syndrome, aren’t you?”
Beijiao: “Say whatever you want.”
Jiang Ran turned back: “This called whispering? Should I get you two a megaphone to shout into?”
Song Die: “……”
Beijiao: “……”
Song Die: “Sister, are you in a bad mood?”
“Yes,” Jiang Ran replied calmly. “Morning grumpiness. Haven’t you heard of it?”
……
Today, Jiang Ran indeed woke up early enough to catch breakfast before the shuttle bus departed.
Breakfast was provided by the restaurant at the shuttle departure point—plain steamed buns, congee, pickles, stir-fried shredded potatoes, fried eggs, and boiled eggs. These were common breakfast items, no meat in sight.
Jiang Ran absentmindedly took a boiled egg and placed it on the table, tapping it without knowing when a few people had sat opposite her.
When Jiang Ran finally looked up, she found that besides Song Die and Beijiao, Qiu Nian was also at the table.
To Qiu Nian’s left was Huang Can, with bright yellow hair and a temper like an irritable cat. Everyone used to call him Big Orange or Ah Ju.
To Qiu Nian’s right was Li Xingnan, usually quiet and steady, someone everyone was happy to follow around. Li Xingnan’s family ran a large secondhand car business in the three northeastern provinces and was the local secondhand car market prince, hence his nickname “Second Car.”
The last time she had spoken to them felt like a lifetime ago.
Originally, Beijiao had a terrible relationship with Qiu Nian over the matter of drinking toasts. They always quarreled when they met. But he wasn’t stupid—he knew these were Jiang Ran’s old friends, and they might still have lingering feelings for her—
Otherwise, Qiu Nian wouldn’t have cared whether he died in the wild wolf ravine, and wouldn’t have squeezed into the cable car yesterday stirring up trouble with his WeChat background photo.
…Thinking about this, Beijiao stopped glaring at her.
When these people sat down, he merely lazily lifted his eyelids, like a guard dog watching its owner greet familiar visitors—alert but no longer aggressive.
He took the broken egg from Jiang Ran’s hand, peeled off the shell, and handed it back to her.
No one spoke. The arguing had stopped, which made things awkward, floating in an unnatural atmosphere, like the calm before an inevitable war.
After enduring it for a while, Jiang Ran couldn’t stand the atmosphere anymore. When Qiu Nian asked Li Xingnan to pass her the pickles, she wanted to stand up and leave directly. But as her gaze swept over the familiar faces, none of the three showed any discomfort.
At a moment like this, if she made the first move, it would seem like she was the one who felt guilty, as if she cared too much about them.
Jiang Ran could only sit there stiffly, desperately reminding herself—
They had parted on peaceful terms back then. Please respect the aesthetics of a peaceful breakup and don’t make the scene so bloody.
“Congee.”
A low youthful voice sounded by her ear. A hand pushed a metal bowl’s edge toward her—Beijiao had used the back of his hand to slide a bowl of congee over.
She felt as if rescued and picked up the congee, taking a sip. Unexpectedly, it was still hot, scalding the wound on her lips.
……From yesterday, where the little brat had pecked at her, the skin had broken.
She hissed in pain, frowning.
This soft sound drew everyone’s gaze at the table… Everyone looked confused, except Beijiao, whose dark eyes flickered as if recalling something. His chopsticks, originally reaching for the shredded potatoes, paused for a moment before he modestly picked a bite and placed it into Jiang Ran’s bowl.
“What’s wrong with your mouth?”
A calm, slightly cold female voice—Qiu Nian’s.
Beijiao twitched his lips, realizing he had already somewhat gotten used to her cold, aggressive way of showing concern…
If he hadn’t keenly noticed her bizarre social style, he might have jumped up again and dragged her away.
But Jiang Ran had no mind to savor all this—
She felt as if her hair was standing on end, a sensation that her biggest secret had been easily exposed. Thinking about how yesterday she still considered it a secret no one could know and had even cried over it, she felt an overwhelming sense of shame.
She stood up, the chair screeching against the floor, and quickly glanced at Qiu Nian, who had also finished her meal and was sitting by the table, head bowed as she adjusted a loose thread on her ski glove.
For those who practiced freeriding, unless deliberately avoided, hands often touched the ground while sliding. Ski gloves were disposable items for them, with countless pairs ruined every snow season…
The one Qiu Nian held was about to be retired.
Jiang Ran ignored her.
Frowning, she grabbed a tissue to wipe her mouth, then looked down at Song Die and Beijiao, coldly asking, “Finished eating? Are we leaving or not?”
Before the two could answer, Qiu Nian laughed again.
“That’s right, just like you always are. When something happens, you keep it bottled up. Anyway, Lin Shuang is gone now—you still have Baidu and Zhihu to chat with.”
Her voice was slow, “Jiang Ran, if it weren’t for me yesterday, would you have the chance to boss around living people today? Probably still blaming your little apprentice for disobediently running off to the wild wolf ravine, treating him nose-lessly and eye-lessly… Not reflecting on your own issues, then acting out, acting out until you lose another apprentice.”
Jiang Ran was hit where it hurt—Baidu and acting out, everything—
Combined with the morning’s frustration, she instantly flared up!
She sharply turned her head back, across the table, and childishly slapped the glove out of Qiu Nian’s hand!
The glove flew off, one landing by Li Xingnan’s feet, the other flying onto Ah Ju’s face!
“What does it have to do with you? He’s my apprentice! He won’t leave even if I scold him! Why do you have to act like you’ve done some great good deed?”
She rarely spoke with such intense emotion—
Rarely, in these years.
Li Xingnan bent down calmly, picked up the glove by his feet, then took the one that had flown onto Ah Ju’s face. He placed both gloves casually back on the table.
He reached for Qiu Nian’s hand to check if she was hurt—Jiang Ran’s slap had grazed her backhand.
Qiu Nian glanced at him. A flicker of emotion appeared on her previously expressionless face. She subtly avoided his hand…
He hesitated, then sat back down.
Jiang Ran observed all these details, her anger receding slightly, returning to calm sarcasm: “Qiu Nian, if you have time to meddle in my affairs, why don’t you first deal with your own pile of messed-up things?”
As she finished speaking, Qiu Nian’s expression changed.
“What are you flying off the handle at me for?”
“You provoked me first. Didn’t you even glance at me ten minutes ago?”
“Am I your enemy?”
“No,” Jiang Ran said firmly. “But we’re not friends either.”
This statement not only shocked Qiu Nian, but Ah Ju exclaimed “Ah!” in apparent surprise, looking at Jiang Ran, while Li Xingnan also turned to look at her—
Their three gazes were like needles, making her slightly recoil.
But only for an instant. She quickly adjusted her emotions, returning to cold indifference, almost flawlessly composed.
No one had anticipated this situation. All the remaining men in the room watched the two women like fighting roosters glaring at each other across a table.
Finally, Beijiao reacted first, grabbing Jiang Ran’s arm and dragging her out of the restaurant.
……
It was still early. Everyone was either eating breakfast or hadn’t even gotten up yet. The shuttle bus was empty, the driver squatting five meters away smoking.
Beijiao directly took Jiang Ran to the back row. She unwillingly allowed herself to be dragged along. When they arrived, she was pushed onto a seat and struggled. Her strength wasn’t enough to overpower his, so she raised her face to glare at him—
Her deep brown almond eyes brimmed with anger, but not directed at him, more like aimlessly attacking all living beings around her.
“What’s going on?”
Beijiao asked, puzzled. He hadn’t spoken much so early in the morning, so his voice was somewhat hoarse.
“……”
What the hell “what’s going on”!
He dared to ask her that!
Wasn’t he the main culprit!
Her delicate and proud face burned with fury, “Get lost!” she turned her face away, “I don’t need you!”
At this moment, looking at her in Beijiao’s eyes, her pale cheeks were slightly flushed, her eyes bright from anger, and her lips, coated with lipstick, had lost some color from breakfast, but still looked darker than usual…
Unconsciously, his eyes darkened. He reached out and wiped his fingers across her lips.
He used quite a bit of force. His hands were already rough, and this motion directly rubbed against the broken skin on her lips. She nearly jumped up in pain, furrowing her brows and inhaling sharply—
Beijiao was still looking at the lipstick on his hand when he was suddenly kicked!
She was wearing the same Nitro snowboard boots as him, heavy and solid. This kick almost sent him flying. Fortunately, he quickly grabbed the backrest of the seat. “What’s wrong with you today? You’re acting like you’ve eaten two pounds of gunpowder…”
Straightening up slightly, he placed one hand on the seat back and the other beside her head, trapping the struggling woman between his chest and the seat. As she struggled fruitlessly, she tried to scratch his face—
That was fine for other things.
But scratching his face was too much. On the slopes, he could cover his face with a face guard, but in daily life, he still needed to be seen by others. How would he explain it if someone asked?
Calmly pulling one hand out, he easily and firmly grabbed her wrist. She immediately tried to pull back, only resulting in him tightening his grip further.
Jiang Ran was completely overpowered. In this moment, she finally realized she was no match for him at all. So she stopped struggling, lifting her eyes to ask him, “Did you agree with what Qiu Nian said earlier?”
“Hmm?”
“If I had always stubbornly believed that you went to the wild wolf ravine just because you were disobedient and you were wrong—what would you have done?”
He hadn’t expected her to ask this.
How should he answer?
He glanced down at her, surprised to find her eyes slightly red, as if this question was very important to her…
He found it somewhat amusing, lifting the corner of his lips, and slowly replied in a matter-of-fact tone, “I don’t care. From the first second you scolded me, I already assumed it was all my fault.”
……As for the subsequent changes, he considered them a bonus he had gained for free.
After he finished speaking, he noticed she didn’t respond, just looking up at him, not indicating whether she was satisfied with the answer or not.
……Probably satisfied.
If not, she would have already started cursing him. At least now, she didn’t look like she wanted to eat someone.
“Any more questions? Ask them all at once?”
Beijiao held her wrist, his thumb pressing on her pulse, feeling her wildly beating heart through her pulse…
He felt she still had something to say.
“My mouth hurts.”
“……What?”
He thought he had misheard.
“You bit me yesterday, why?” she pursed her lips, looking up at his bewildered black eyes with suppressed anger, “It broke the skin, otherwise Qiu Nian wouldn’t have noticed… I’m so embarrassed.”
After she finished speaking, the accumulated resentment, shame, and lack of sleep suddenly surged in her heart, making her genuinely want to cry.
Her eyes quickly reddened, as if tears might fall in the next second.
He looked down at her, completely stunned, until she sniffled softly and asked him to let go, her wrist hurting from his tight grip—
Delicate and temperamental.
But when had she ever revealed this side of herself to him while sober? Even after yesterday’s incident, she had mercilessly kicked him out, even adding the remark, “Just pretend I was bitten by a dog…”
If she always acted like this.
If she asked him for the stars, he might already be thinking about dropping out of school and retaking the college entrance exam to study aerospace engineering.
“Where does it hurt?” The boy’s voice was low and hoarse. “Let me see?”
He let go of her hand and cupped her face with one hand. Originally, he just wanted to check where on her lips was bruised; he hadn’t used much force, so how could she be so fragile? However, when she obediently lifted her face toward him, she looked at him with blame in her eyes.
His gaze flickered slightly.
Just when he thought he really had Stockholm syndrome,
“Jiang Ran.”
“What?”
“I need to ask you something.”
“What is it?”
“Are you sober right now? Do you know who you’re talking to?”
“What kind of weird question is that? Are you out of your mind?”
She snapped back impatiently.
A few seconds later, everything fell silent.
Except for a brief, low “mm” sound from the back row of the empty bus, coming from deep within a woman’s nasal passage.
…
When the people below boarded the bus, the temporary conflict had already extinguished, and everything seemed to return to peace.
As the bus gradually filled up, Song Die boarded and immediately spotted Jiang Ran curled up in the farthest corner at the back, hugging her phone and playing with it; beside her, the boy sat with his arms crossed, eyes closed and resting.
He sat down one row in front of Bei Jiao and asked, “Did you get hit?”
The boy being questioned opened his eyes and glanced at him, smirking coldly.
It seemed that he and his master were perfectly fine.
At this moment, upon hearing their conversation, Jiang Ran merely lifted her eyelids slightly and peeked out, unfortunately meeting the gaze of Qiu Nian, who had just boarded and was looking around, for a second. She hesitated briefly before quickly dropping her eyes again.
Qiu Nian casually chose a seat in the front and sat down. After sitting for a few seconds, he hesitated before tapping A Ju, who sat beside him: “Was that crazy woman’s lipstick this morning the same shade as now?”
A Ju: “? Are you asking me?”
Qiu Nian: “I feel like it’s much lighter now…”
A Ju: “Can you possibly care about something more useful for once?”
Not bothering to respond to his nonsense, Qiu Nian stared at the ceiling, muttering to himself. Yes, it was definitely lighter… As if someone had kissed away a layer of it.
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