When Song Die opened the door and got off Jiang Ran’s car, Bei Jiao had already seen them.
His vision was naturally excellent. Back in senior three, there wasn’t a single bright lamp in the rented apartment, yet he read until two o’clock every morning without developing myopia.
After entering university, Bei Jiao mostly kept to himself, aside from interactions in the dormitory. Naturally, he didn’t know Song Die, nor was he aware that Song was a prominent figure, just like him. Thus, his gaze calmly slid past Song Die and lingered for a few seconds on the person behind him—
At that moment, Jiang Ran had already averted her gaze and was speaking to Song Die with her head bowed.
Her eyes were lowered. Perhaps it was the influence of the evening glow or the dim interior lighting of the car, but her face looked soft and gentle, showing none of the inexplicable arrogance she had displayed in front of him earlier.
Jiang Ran didn’t know Bei Jiao had looked at her for about four or five seconds.
When she looked up again, his gaze had already returned to his phone, scrolling endlessly through a local job recruitment page.
At this time, Bei Jiao was looking for temporary work that provided accommodation and meals. However, such jobs usually required long-term workers, not university students seeking summer employment. This made things a bit difficult for him—
The school had given sudden notice about moving out of the dormitory, and his several part-time jobs hadn’t paid him yet. Moreover, finding short-term accommodation for just the summer vacation was tough.
Maybe he could only go to a construction site for daily wage labor?
This thought surfaced, and Bei Jiao himself felt it was a bit absurd.
He recalled how, during the day, Jiang Ran had added his WeChat, and in a huff, she had sarcastically asked if his next plan was to go sweep the streets…
Great, it seemed like her words were unfortunately coming true.
This woman must have a bit of a crow mouth.
Thinking this, Bei Jiao glanced up again, instinctively sweeping his gaze toward the car not far away… The car was still parked in place, the passenger had already gotten out, and was leaning against the car door, bending over to talk to the person inside—
“…”
This back-and-forth glancing step, if you’re not willing to get out, then don’t get out?
Isn’t it hot outside?
Talking endlessly?
Without expression, Bei Jiao locked his phone screen, stuffed both hands into his pockets, and turned to leave.
…
Of course, Bei Jiao didn’t know that as he turned away, Jiang Ran’s gaze returned to him.
Song Die, who was speaking, immediately noticed the woman in the driver’s seat was distracted. Meeting her eyes, he saw her hand resting on the steering wheel, supporting her chin, looking backward.
Hidden in the dim yellow light inside the car, half her face was obscured by strands of hair, half-lit and half-shadowed, seemingly tired, yet her gaze was gentle.
It was obvious who she was looking at.
Song Die bent slightly: “He’s gone.”
Jiang Ran slowly turned her gaze back, looking at him blankly for a moment. He just smiled subtly: “Why didn’t you greet your brother? He’s already left.”
“No need.” Jiang Ran said without hesitation, “I know where he’s going. I’ll go find him later.”
…
The “Wuwo” bar on Qingsong Street hadn’t officially opened for business yet.
During the clinking sounds of washing glasses and barware, Bei Jiao reached an agreement with the bar owner. Before he found a place to live, he could temporarily stay on the sofa in the corner of the bar, and the storage room in the back could be used to store his luggage.
The storage room had a small spring bed and a rudimentary bathroom for showering, though there was no hot water.
Luckily, the summer heat in Guangzhou didn’t require hot water.
“The premise is that you have to work hard,” the fat owner said with a smile, “don’t always have that grim expression.”
Bei Jiao lifted his head, just about to agree, when the bar door was pushed open—
It might have been an illusion, but at the moment the summer breeze carried the figure from outside into the bar, the young man, who was bent over cleaning a crystal glass, paused in his actions. Without looking up, he seemed to know who it was.
Jiang Ran entered the bar but didn’t come over to talk to him. She casually greeted the owner and found a table in the corner to sit down…
The entire time.
It was as if she didn’t know him.
Bei Jiao didn’t know what this woman was thinking, or maybe she wasn’t thinking anything at all—
He recalled roughly half an hour ago, she was leaning on the steering wheel in the car, chatting with that male student from the same school who looked about his age…
She seemed to have a good temper and was very gentle.
Bei Jiao took the opportunity to glance toward the corner while placing a glass on the rack. He saw her sitting there, one hand supporting her chin, lazily flipping through the drink menu, her lips showing no smile…
Her long eyelashes also concealed the light in her eyes.
…She didn’t even glance this way.
Lowering his eyes, the boy wrung the cloth a bit harder than usual.
…
Time passed quickly, two hours passed in a flash.
After nine o’clock, the bar gradually became busy, the atmosphere slowly warming up. With almost every table occupied, Jiang Ran hadn’t left, occupying a small table by herself.
The lively surroundings seemed to have no effect on her. She didn’t invite anyone over nor did she act annoying. Alone, she ordered five cocktails, three plates of snacks, borrowed a power bank, played on her phone while drinking, her slender white legs swinging as she crossed her legs.
During this time, she politely sent away three groups of people who approached to ask for her WeChat—
One of the groups even included three blushing girls, which was quite absurd.
When the time passed half past ten, the first wave of customers had already drunk quite a bit. At one table, a group of men had nearly finished two buckets of draft beer and were now shouting loudly, planning to continue drinking at a late-night snack stall.
At this time, Bei Jiao was preparing to make Jiang Ran’s fifth cocktail according to the menu. It was a sweet cocktail with three candied fruit skewers on top, low in alcohol content, a suitable drink for women.
He was bending down, about to take the candied fruit from the fridge, when the owner kicked him, telling him to remind the group of people who were standing up and preparing to leave to settle their bill—
Such awkward and somewhat offensive tasks naturally couldn’t be done by the owner himself.
Out of gratitude for the accommodation, Bei Jiao, who had just promised the owner he would behave well, looked at him, put down the drink he was preparing, and went over.
Among the swaying crowd, he chose the one who seemed slightly less drunk.
Unexpectedly, the man in the floral shirt, upon hearing the server’s soft reminder to settle their bill, smirked and laughed: “Why did you choose me to pay? Do I look like a rich fool or a sucker?”
As soon as these words were spoken, Bei Jiao knew this person was somewhat looking for trouble.
He remained expressionless on the surface and sincerely suggested that they could collect the payment later via WeChat group, which wouldn’t make him seem like a sucker.
But the man wasn’t satisfied, raising his voice to tell his drunken friends around him, “He wants us to collect via WeChat group, hundreds of yuan, who the hell does he think he’s disrespecting—”
A chorus of “wow” laughter erupted from the group, a bunch of men, whose low sense of humor was inexplicable.
One of them, after finishing his laughter, bent down and hugged the glass beer barrel, inside which there was still about a third of the amber liquid left. He casually said, “Little brother, your older brother today isn’t not paying for the beer, it’s just that you made my friend unhappy. If you don’t apologize, this matter will be hard to resolve—”
This is how it is working in a bar.
When people are drunk, they can do all sorts of unreasonable things…
When it comes to drinking, it’s settled by drinking. Therefore, bar owners are generally able to hold their liquor.
Bei Jiao was an exception. He looked down at the large barrel in the man’s hand, thinking that last time it was at least just a bottle.
“Drink up!”
“If you don’t drink, have your boss come and apologize～haha～”
“Otherwise, we’ll just stay here, we didn’t say we wouldn’t pay, right?”
The surrounding people were in a chaotic mess.
During this time, someone acted, grabbing a half-full glass and trying to shove it into his arms—but because he was too drunk and swaying, he lost control of his strength and pushed Bei Jiao.
Bei Jiao stepped back with the force, didn’t fall, stood steadily, didn’t speak, and of course, didn’t drink.
Seeing this, the man felt humiliated. If he couldn’t even handle a bar server, he would really lose face. His tone changed, he slammed the table and shouted, “Are you looking for trouble! Brother just asked you to drink a glass, what’s wrong with that? Selling drinks in a bar without drinking, are you trying to be a prostitute and still want to—
This was getting too harsh.
The previously harmonious atmosphere in the bar changed somewhat. Other customers turned their heads, and a table of girls even looked a bit frightened, shrinking into the booth.
Bei Jiao still didn’t speak. As the man’s words became increasingly offensive, he leaned on the edge of the table, bent down from under the table, grabbed a wine bottle, and stood up again…
The wine bottle was in his hand, weighing its heft.
He slowly uttered, “Hmm.”
Those black eyes, previously without any ripple, the pupils contracted like those of a large feline in the dark.
No one had time to react to what he was about to do—
At this moment, a soft, white hand stretched out from the side and gently pressed down on his wrist.
The arm that had been tense with bulging veins stiffened. He was taken aback, turned his head, and saw the woman who had been amusing herself alone in the corner all night standing beside him. She wasn’t even looking at him but was smiling at those drunken, swaying people, saying, “You can go now. I’ll cover your table tonight.”
“…”
Bei Jiao’s mind went blank for a few seconds.
The two fingers pressing on his wrist didn’t apply much force, yet it felt like the five fingers of Mount Tai pressing down on Sun Wukong. His hand was magically unable to lift—
In his stunned state, the previously noisy bar also quieted down for a few seconds.
Finally, under the woman’s friendly smile, the man in the floral shirt who wasn’t as drunk awkwardly scratched his nose, looked around uncomfortably, muttered, “Just kidding, how could I really not pay,” and hurriedly went to settle the bill.
Then the group quickly left.
The alarm was lifted.
The crisis dissipated into thin air, vanishing without a trace. The bar owner, who had nearly become headline news, was so overwhelmed with gratitude that he could have kissed Jiang Ran. Muttering under his breath, “Ran Jie, you’re truly my lifesaver,” he watched as she dragged her troublemaking service boy to a corner.
As for what she was pulling the impulsive little brat to do, the owner didn’t care.
He could beat him to death for all he cared.
…
When they reached the corner, Bei Jiao stiffly shook off the hand still lightly holding his wrist.
He glanced sideways at the woman standing beside him, a head shorter, wondering where she got the nerve to step in. Those four or five big men could have torn her apart together.
Thinking about this, his chest heaved, suddenly becoming more agitated than before.
“Got money to burn?” His voice was a bit hoarse, “If you have so much money, do charity, respect the elderly and love the young, raise cats and dogs, give money to those scums?”
He rarely spoke in long sentences, and he was very fierce.
But it didn’t scare her at all.
Jiang Ran’s reaction was slow, still savoring the tightness and hardness of his wrist… That was really damn hard, like stone.
Rubbing her fingertips, upon hearing his words, she slowly lifted her eyelids to glance at the person on the verge of exploding, emphasizing, “There were five of them.”
He curled his lips, revealing white teeth, showing disdain.
“Even another five, I could flip them all.”
“…Alright, even if you could flip all of them,” Jiang Ran looked at his tense jawline, wondering if he was a pufferfish spirit, how could he be so angry, “would it feel good to smash the wine bottle over their heads?”
“Feels good.”
“Feels like crap.”
“Better than giving them money.”
“If you smash their heads open, you’ll still have to pay to get you out of the station anyway?”
Her tone was matter-of-fact, as if she had often dealt with such charitable aftermaths.
This time, Bei Jiao was silent.
Mainly because he was stuck, realizing he seemed to have a bit of a hard time arguing with her.
Seeing his rare moment of losing momentum and the atmosphere becoming a bit calmer, Jiang Ran’s eyes finally softened.
She raised her hand, wanting to pat the fluffy dog head of the young man in front of her. Her fingers moved, feeling he would definitely dodge again…
So she sighed, she lifted her hand, took the wine bottle from his hand, swung it behind her back, placed it where he couldn’t reach, and put it down.
“If dogs eat shit, do you have to eat it too?”
Her voice was lukewarm, but as soon as the words fell, she saw him quickly raise his head.
Under the bar’s dim lighting, he just looked at her deeply for a moment before quickly turning his head away, staring into the dark corner. His black eyes were bright, like a stray dog in a dark alley, stubborn and untamable.
“Eat it then.”
“Huh?”
Jiang Ran thought she hadn’t heard clearly, JPG.
“Eating shit doesn’t break the law.”
“…”
Author’s note:
Ran Ran: It’s allowed, but not encouraged (.)
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