Chapter 139: The Person Who Took Over the Baton

Jiang Ran’s last entitlement she fought for was Beijiao’s mercy in letting her wear a hoodie instead of being wheeled out in a hospital gown.

The corridor of the VIP ward was nearly empty, unlike the regular wards where family members or doctors bustled about. Jiang Ran kept stretching her neck to peek into every room she passed—

She half-heartedly hoped her attending physician would suddenly emerge like a cavalry from one of the rooms, scolding fiercely with his famous triple strike: “Where do you think you’re going? Absolutely not allowed!”

Unfortunately, nothing happened.

The hoodie’s drawstring nearly cut off her fingers when she suddenly thought Beijiao resembled a thug, eager to snatch her away at this moment…

Although it was her own foolish idea to bring up marriage.

Until she was wheeled into the basement, and he bent down to lift her into the passenger seat of the car, did Jiang Ran realize this dog was serious.

She loosened her grip on the hoodie’s drawstring and quickly grabbed his collar. As he started to straighten up and pull away, he paused, tilting his face slightly, “Hmm?”

Jiang Ran moistened her lips, took a deep breath, and said, “Look at me.”

His gaze was very calm, brushing over her face like a gentle breeze, long lashes concealing the light in his dark pupils. No matter how she tried, she couldn’t interpret his expression as “I’m joking.”

The brief eye contact lasted less than ten seconds, yet it was enough for him to clearly see her hesitation.

But he stubbornly remained silent.

Jiang Ran felt a heavy mood, wondering what was wrong with this person. Couldn’t he see the unwillingness written all over her face?

…Ah.

Not that she was unwilling, just that it felt a bit sudden.

An hour ago, she was still the disobedient daughter of the Jiang family, arguing furiously with her father about participating in a professional skiing competition, recklessly enjoying her own ferocity and immaturity…

At that moment, if someone had asked her age, she might have defiantly replied with hands on her hips: “What, old lady, I’m sixteen, not even an adult yet! I can be capricious!”

No one told her that with just a blink of an eye, she could get married. She wasn’t even an adult yet!

Jiang Ran’s thoughts were in a mess, clearly frightened by the situation.

After a few breaths, Beijiao suddenly spoke. His tone was calm: “Finished looking? Then what?”

Jiang Ran moved her lips, wanting to ask him what he meant by “finished looking.” A few seconds later, she realized he was responding to her previous request for him to look at her properly.

He had done as asked and posed another question.

Jiang Ran couldn’t answer his “then what.” She stared at him expressionlessly, almost wanting to say, “Well, why don’t you just kill me instead? That way, I can transition more comfortably from an unmarried girl to a married woman today.”

At this moment, one of Beijiao’s hands, which had been supporting her while fastening the seatbelt on the backrest of the car seat, silently slid down and cupped the back of her head.

Her eyes flickered, forced to maintain eye contact with the person in front of her—

“Not willing?”

So close, she could see his tall nose bridge, his thin lips pressed together, and the sharp starlight in his eyes.

It had been years, and occasionally she still felt her heart race at her boyfriend’s god-like features, occasionally leading her to do some irrational things…

Like right now, staring into his eyes, she found herself stiff-necked, utterly unable to nod in response to his question.

She even pathetically shook her head.

Seeing her shake her head, the gloom in Beijiao’s eyes slightly lifted. He rewarded her with a smile, his large hand affectionately stroking the hair at the back of her head.

Then he gently kissed her lips.

He released her, walked around to the driver’s seat, fastened his seatbelt, and slowly drove the car out of the hospital’s underground garage.

“…”

Holding her seatbelt, Jiang Ran almost wanted to cry—

This was undoubtedly the most humiliating moment in her life, one that would go down in history.

When she grew old, she could start her story to the younger generation with: “Back then, your grandma made a rash remark and then quickly followed it up with lust.”

…

The car drove quite a distance before Jiang Ran even noticed. She stared blankly out the window, her mind full of thoughts about whether Qiu Nian and the others would laugh their heads off if they found out about this.

She had fallen before even reaching the battlefield, spending her entire life being well-behaved, only to meet a dog who snatched her away without giving her a moment to hesitate…

They might laugh at her for the rest of her life.

Jiang Ran sniffled, turned her head, and looked pitifully at the person driving, forcing a smile: “Is this what they mean when they say a second feels like a lifetime? How far is it to the Civil Affairs Bureau?”

Although Guangzhou is big, there are many Civil Affairs Bureaus. There’s one within ten minutes’ drive from the hospital. Yet she felt like she had already been riding in the car for almost an hour.

Her voice was overly mournful. At a red light, Beijiao couldn’t help but glance back at her—seeing her red-rimmed eyes still stubbornly curving her lips upwards at him, he said, “Better this way. Otherwise, with you looking like this when we enter the Civil Affairs Bureau, people might think someone from the mountains brazenly trafficked women, broke the bride’s legs, and tied her up to go into the city for the marriage certificate.”

He said it with a serious face.

Jiang Ran was amused despite herself.

…Damn it, actually she wasn’t that unwilling. After all, even if she waited another ten or eight years to pick, she probably wouldn’t find anyone more suitable than this dog—

What could be more reliable than a domesticated dog raised by her own hands?

His ability to control his dog-like temper was perfectly aligned with her taste.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Jiang Ran looked at the focused side profile of the person driving, stretched out her hand, and touched his back.

Beijiao glanced sideways at her: “Take your hand away, don’t touch me.”

“We’re about to become legally married, why are you still fussing about these trivial things?”

Jiang Ran forcibly pulled down one of his hands from the steering wheel, held it in hers, played with it for a while, then placed it against her cheek, taking a deep breath to sniff the scent from his sleeve, “Why does your smell always give off such a clean feeling?”

She was moody, changing from rain to sunshine in a moment.

Beijiao didn’t know what she was up to, but he followed her lead, his large hand silently flipping over, his fingers intertwining with hers, silently holding her hand.

Jiang Ran’s heart stirred, feeling a surge of affection, when he suddenly said, “You like the smell of formaldehyde? That’s quite a unique taste.”

Jiang Ran was stunned for a moment, then immediately darkened her face, hastily throwing away the hand she had just been holding and sniffing.

At this moment, Beijiao was steering the car into a main street. Jiang Ran realized they were really getting farther and farther from the Civil Affairs Bureau. She helplessly leaned against the window and asked, “Where are we going?”

“Do you think you can just walk into the Civil Affairs Bureau empty-handed to get the certificate?”

She thought for a moment, realizing she couldn’t. So were they going home to get the household registration book?

Still puzzled, Beijiao drove the car into the underground garage of the CapitaLand Plaza when passing by—

Jiang Ran was very familiar with CapitaLand Plaza. With its dazzling array of international brands, she had once, in her spare time, stepped on every single tile here and added every sales advisor’s WeChat.

In the heart of Guangzhou’s central business district, this place not only had the evil magic of making money disappear on the surface, but even the underground parking fee was twenty yuan per hour, with no upper limit.

“…Classmate, the parking fee here is twenty yuan per hour,” Jiang Ran reminded him, “What are you doing here? Are you a college student who asks the auntie to replace a three-yuan-five-fen meat bun with a vegetarian one?”

The meat bun reference was a joke she had learned much later after they got together. At the time, she had laughed so hard she couldn’t stand straight, hugging her stingy yet generous dog for a long time.

The first few times she teased Beijiao with it, he still knew how to blush, but after playing it too many times, this dog had obviously become immune. He glanced at her and said, “Twenty yuan is a bit expensive, so you better hurry.”

The car smoothly parked into a spot.

When Beijiao lifted Jiang Ran out of the passenger seat, she was still bewilderedly saying, “I don’t want to go to the bathroom.”

Pushed into the mall in her wheelchair, she paid no attention to the strange glances from the people around. The lady with her legs crossed kept turning her head to look at the emotionless dog pushing her wheelchair behind: “So is it you who wants to go to the bathroom? I can wait for you at the entrance.”

She was still muttering about where else could he go to the bathroom besides such an expensive place, twenty yuan per bathroom visit was way too expensive.

Her grumbling was abruptly cut off by the cold gaze from the person behind her.

She lifted her head and found that her wheelchair had stopped in front of a jewelry store with a black-themed decor—

The understated yet luxurious decoration, diamond necklaces in the display window dazzling her dog eyes. Looking up, the neat English words “HARRY WINSTON” were right above her.

The salesperson at the entrance, dressed in a formal suit, was obviously shocked by this peculiar wheelchair combination. After his pupils had a few seconds of earthquake, he professionally bowed, “Welcome to HARRY WINSTON. How may I assist you today?”

The woman sitting in the wheelchair turned around to ask the person behind her, calmly, “What are we doing here?”

Behind the wheelchair! The black-haired young man, wearing a hoodie bought for 150 yuan last Double 11 (buy one, get one free), and a 300 yuan coat, remained expressionless: “Pretending? Your mouth is already up to your ears.”

Jiang Ran raised her hand to press down her mask. As she was being pushed into the store, she said, “Don’t try to trick me. I’m wearing a mask. You can’t even see where my mouth is.”

Beijiao snorted.

He pushed her wheelchair to the counter, threw the salesperson three words “Let her choose,” and then wandered around the store by himself.

Jiang Ran didn’t care whether he was still by her side at this moment. She cheerfully took the catalog offered by the salesperson and put it aside: “I want to see THE ONE.”

THE ONE, one of HW’s flagship models, had a main diamond surrounded by two circles of small diamonds. It was conventional yet classic and enduring, and it was pursued by young girls simply because it had a very considerate Chinese name: First Lady.

The salesperson saw that this unusual couple had come straight for the flagship diamond ring, and his professional smile became even brighter.

So the next moment, the lady sitting in the wheelchair appeared as if she had never seen the world before. She opened her WeChat video and enthusiastically boasted to her friends, “Guess where I am.” The salesperson regarded this as the amusement of a wealthy person.

…Indeed, it was the taste of a wealthy person.

The money in her bank account was enough to buy the store’s treasures for half a year.

But it didn’t stop her from saying in the sweetest voice to the salesperson, “Just one carat is fine. My finger is thin, I don’t need anything too big.”

On the other end of the video call, Qiu Nian saw Beijiao occasionally appearing behind Jiang Ran through the video and was shocked to the point of tears: “Just one carat is fine! Did the dog sell a kidney or something! Oh my god, I’m going to post this on my Moments. You’re the most successful friend I’ve ever had, deceiving a college student into buying you a diamond ring. Jiang Ran, I underestimated you before!”

Her voice was deafening. On the other side, Beijiao, who was leisurely looking at the jewelry in the display case with his hands in his pockets, turned back with an expressionless face.

The salesgirl who was temporarily helping to serve him couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

Diamond rings around one carat had ready-made samples. If one was selected and sent back to the factory to adjust the ring size, soon enough the woman in the wheelchair had her hands full of diamond rings.

Jiang Ran slightly narrowed her eyes, looking at the sparkling rings on her hands, feeling like this look was a bit too flashy and didn’t quite match her mood?

She carefully asked about the quality and the size of the main diamond, and finally the price, which was roughly around 300,000 yuan.

She turned her head to look at Beijiao. Obviously, he had heard the price, but the dog that couldn’t sleep at night over a three-yuan-five-fen bun was now so calm, not even a single eyebrow twitched.

At this moment, he was chatting happily with another salesgirl.

Jiang Ran rolled her eyes, took off the rings, and modestly said, “I’ll think about it again. Thank you.”

It was unclear whether the salesgirl sensed the lady’s true nature after her actions, but she enthusiastically added her WeChat. Jiang Ran was a bit confused—she hadn’t even bought anything, so why add her?

Eventually, the salesgirl still bowed her out of the store.

At the store entrance, Beijiao said, “Made up your mind? Suddenly feeling shy and wanting to save me money? There’s no other chance after this.”

Jiang Ran wasn’t going to be intimidated by him. She hadn’t come into this store intending to save him money. Wasn’t Beijiao’s bank account filled with money she endured him using the skiing knowledge he learned from her, then holding hands with others to push the slopes and earn?

What reason did she have to feel shy?

“Before, I never tried it either. I didn’t expect it to actually not suit me a bit,” Jiang Ran said. “I just really like the packaging of this brand. Plus, in the world, what could be more fitting to my identity than ‘First’!”

Beijiao patiently listened to her nonsense.

Jiang Ran was quiet for a while and summarized: “Maybe expensive doesn’t necessarily mean the most suitable for me.”

Beijiao: “Mm.”

Jiang Ran pointed to the golden and splendid store across the street: “Let’s take a look at Cartier.”

Beijiao: “Even if I’m not that familiar with jewelry brands, the two brands being face-to-face on the same street, how much cheaper can the brand opposite HW be?”

Jiang Ran was mercilessly exposed and, behind her mask, let out a sneaky laugh.

In the end, after lingering a bit at Cartier, Jiang Ran still came out empty-handed. She looked around and said, “Forget it, I’ll study diamond rings at home. Let’s go get the certificate first. We’ve wasted quite some time.”

Beijiao slowly pushed her towards the underground parking garage.

Jiang Ran patted his hand and, with her legs crossed, commanded him: “Push faster. What time is it already? The Civil Affairs Bureau might really close.”

The dog behind her was silent for a few seconds.

When Jiang Ran turned around in confusion, she finally heard him say lightly, “It’s already seven o’clock.”

“…”

At seven in the evening, the staff at the Civil Affairs Bureau were probably already home with their rice cookers having finished cooking.

Outside the mall, the night had already fallen, and the city lights were everywhere.

On the way back to the hospital, Jiang Ran felt a bit embarrassed.

“I didn’t mean to waste time,” she said. “Women just tend to forget the time when shopping, especially when it’s a diamond ring, something that might be worn for a lifetime.”

“‘Might be.'”

Jiang Ran raised her hand and slapped her own mouth, “Strike out those three words.”

She paused for a moment and emphasized, “I’ve made up my mind. I can really go get the certificate. I never regret the decisions I make.”

“Mm, that’s the nicest thing you’ve said today.”

“…Don’t be so arrogant and provoke me,” Jiang Ran said. “I didn’t spend a single penny of yours today. Why do you look so smug!”

In her angry warning, the driver lightly chuckled and ignored her.

…

The car parked back in the hospital parking lot. Jiang Ran looked at the dark hospital and didn’t want to return to her ‘prison’ so early. She complained of being hungry and insisted that Beijiao take her to a nearby restaurant.

Sitting in a small street-side eatery, the woman whose legs couldn’t bend naturally enthusiastically pinched the greasy, dirty menu and ordered dishes from the Cantonese-speaking owner.

Under the dim, pale light of the restaurant, she was always full of spirit—

As if going to the jewelry store had given her a refined and energetic look.

After dinner, as Beijiao pushed the wheelchair to send her back to the ward, he was still thinking about the events of the day.

They passed a Catholic church. Just as they were passing the main gate, the church bell rang on the hour. It was exactly nine o’clock in the evening.

The first toll of the bell startled Jiang Ran. A white dove resting on a tree branch flapped its wings, its white figure gliding across the dark night sky.

Jiang Ran blinked, then turned around and grabbed the slightly cold hand behind her. Her eyes sparkled as she looked at him: “The mood is right. Now you should propose.”

The second toll of the bell—

She moved quickly, grabbed a stray dog tail grass from the roadside, randomly stripped off the leaves, wrapped it around the base of her middle finger, shaped the dog tail grass into a fluffy ring, and then handed it to the dog.

The third toll of the bell—

He now stood in front of her, the dog tail grass ring landing in his palm.

He stood still, looking down at her.

The fourth toll of the bell—

Jiang Ran didn’t care about the people passing by on the street, nor did she care whether he was willing or not. In high spirits, she stretched out her right leg and kicked his knee: “Kneel, kneel!”

The fifth toll of the bell—

He showed a smile, bent down, and supported himself on both sides of the wheelchair’s armrests. He leaned forward and kissed her lips.

He whispered in her ear, “Close your eyes.”

She obediently closed her eyes.

The sixth toll of the bell—

When she opened her eyes, she felt his warm kiss and breath leave her. Amid the rustling of clothes, she opened her eyes and saw him kneeling on one knee in front of her wheelchair.

She never expected him to actually kneel.

She immediately sat up excitedly, looking around, noticing several elderly women who had finished their evening walks and were now watching her.

The seventh toll of the bell—

She reached out to pull him up, struggling hard but unable to move him. She was even pulled forward by him, her left hand captured. He bent down and kissed the base of her middle finger.

When Beijiao looked up at her, his eyes were like stars, and for a moment, she thought of the boy five years ago, standing under the blazing sun, holding a dirty dishcloth, and looking at him askew. He had said, “Stay away from me, got it?”

But at this moment, she was the only one in his eyes.

Her throat tightened. Perhaps it was a moment of sentimentality, she actually felt like crying, tears quickly blurring her vision.

She felt a cold and hard texture sliding from her fingertip all the way down, finally settling comfortably and significantly on the base of her left middle finger.

“Jiang Ran, you might not be that smart sometimes. I can’t possibly let you follow me to the Civil Affairs Bureau with a limp and empty-handed.”

The eighth toll of the bell—

In her tear-blurred vision, she helplessly looked at her hand, not the dog tail grass ring.

Brilliant small diamonds and sapphires shone together, glowing with a unique brilliance even in the dim streetlight.

Her mind went blank. Another jewelry box was placed in her hand. Jiang Ran’s fingers pried open the box. The box opened left and right, revealing a blue velvet lining with the clear HARRY WINSTON logo.

In the center of the ring box, a simple men’s matching ring lay quietly.

“Uncle Jiang spoiled you for the past twenty years.”

His long, neat hand stretched out in front of her.

“I’m just someone preparing to take over the baton.”

The ninth toll of the bell—

His hand slipped into her soft palm.

In the night, his lips were always upturned, his handsome face like the god of love descending on earth, gazing up at her.

“Requesting approval to take over the baton, Jiang Ran. Is it okay?”