OHHACOM Chapter 21.4

In the end, Xu Zitian took one bite of duck intestines and immediately gulped down an entire bottle of cola, sticking his tongue out. Mu Sheng couldn’t even bring himself to take a bite after seeing that bright red bowl, and when he glanced over at Lu Ran and Jiang Nuan…

Jiang Nuan’s nose had turned red, and tears were hanging from the corners of her eyes. She was so spicy she couldn’t stop exhaling, while Lu Ran was slowly eating and occasionally sipping cola.

Mu Sheng couldn’t take it anymore and said, “Junior Sister, why do this to yourself… Lu Ran can handle spicy food.”

Jiang Nuan looked at Mu Sheng with red eyes, “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”

This meal cost Jiang Nuan a good amount of money, and by the time the four of them left the shop, both Jiang Nuan and Xu Zitian’s lips were swollen.

Mu Sheng couldn’t even bear to look at them anymore.

“Who knew spicy hotpot could be so tasty! Let’s come again next time!” Xu Zitian said, sniffling.

“Why don’t you make sure you don’t get diarrhea tonight before talking about next time?” Mu Sheng shook his head helplessly.

Jiang Nuan was still thinking about how to get home when a bag was suddenly pressed into her arms.

“Let’s go, time to head home.” Lu Ran’s voice came.

There was no way she was going to turn down a free ride. Hugging Lu Ran’s bag, Jiang Nuan rode off with him, leaving Mu Sheng and Xu Zitian watching them disappear into the distance.

“Is Master Lu taking Junior Sister home?” Xu Zitian asked with wide eyes.

“What’s going on in that head of yours! Lu Ran and Jiang Nuan live in the same area.” Mu Sheng shook his head and rode off.

Sitting on the back of Lu Ran’s bike, Jiang Nuan couldn’t help but ask, “You guys won’t tell my dad where I’m training in fencing, right?”

“We weren’t planning to. But after eating spicy hotpot, I think I should.”

“What?”

This guy just wanted revenge for her ordering him pork kidneys and duck intestines, didn’t he?

“At that place, it’s hard to find opponents on your level during practice. It’ll be tough to improve like that.” Lu Ran’s voice was calm and matter-of-fact.

“Oh…” Jiang Nuan thought for a moment, “But there’s He Zheng! He can still practice with me…”

Just as she finished speaking, Lu Ran suddenly braked and stopped by the roadside, turning around to look at her.

“Do you think He Zheng is qualified to be your opponent?”

This was the first time Jiang Nuan had ever heard the words “qualified” from Lu Ran.

“You need more high-level sparring partners to adapt to different offensive and defensive styles.”

“But… but you still can’t tell my dad! What if he comes and drags me back home?”

“I won’t tell him for now. If I do, I’ll let you know first.”

Jiang Nuan breathed a sigh of relief.

Although she didn’t particularly like Lu Ran, he had a way of keeping his word. If he promised not to tell her dad, he wouldn’t.

After a while, Jiang Nuan poked Lu Ran’s back again and asked, “Hey… How did you recognize me?”

“We’ve practiced together before.”

That sentence, carried by the wind, wasn’t entirely clear to Jiang Nuan.

“…I don’t remember.”

“Probably because it wasn’t that important to you, so you didn’t remember.”

When they reached the gate of her building, Jiang Nuan jumped off the bike and handed the bag back to Lu Ran.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to buy an ice pop!”

The spicy hotpot had her burning up, and she just wanted an ice pop to cool down. She stood by the freezer in the small supermarket at the entrance, contemplating for a while.

She really wanted a Magnum, but unfortunately, she didn’t have enough money this month.

Forget it, a milk bar will do…

But when she walked back to the elevator while licking her milk ice pop, she was surprised to find that Lu Ran hadn’t left yet.

“Are you waiting for me or the elevator?” Jiang Nuan squinted at him.

At that moment, the elevator doors opened, and without a word, Lu Ran stepped inside with his bag, leaving Jiang Nuan to follow, still nibbling on her ice pop. Unexpectedly, Lu Ran suddenly stopped, and Jiang Nuan, not paying attention, bumped right into him, smearing her ice pop all over his back.

Oh my god… I’m doomed…

Jiang Nuan froze in place, the ice pop in her hand now only half intact, while the other half slowly slid down Lu Ran’s back.

Seizing the moment before the elevator could start, she quickly pressed the open button and tried to bolt.

But Lu Ran’s reflexes were too fast. With his long arms, he easily grabbed her.

Jiang Nuan still wasn’t ready to give up, trying to dash away, but Lu Ran firmly wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her back.

“Clean it off.” Lu Ran’s voice was low.

“How can I clean it… You can just clean it when you get home!”

Then came a soft “plop” and the remaining half of the ice pop fell to the floor.

Jiang Nuan swallowed nervously and said, “No need to clean it now… It’s already fallen off…”

Lu Ran pulled a napkin out of his bag and handed it to Jiang Nuan.

“Wait a sec, let me finish the rest first so it doesn’t drip all over my hand…”

Before she could finish her sentence, Lu Ran suddenly lowered his head, turned slightly, and took a bite out of the remaining milk bar!

Jiang Nuan stood there in shock, feeling like she could still feel the warmth of Lu Ran’s nose brushing against her fingers. Lu Ran pushed the napkin into Jiang Nuan’s hand and turned around.

“That was the part I was eating!” Jiang Nuan thought Lu Ran would care about that!

“The part you were eating is lying on the floor.”

The entire elevator was filled with a sweet, creamy scent, like that of a White Rabbit candy.

Unhappily, Jiang Nuan wiped Lu Ran’s back, grumbling as she did, “It wasn’t even that dirty, just a little bit, and once it dries, you won’t even notice. You guys sweat when you play basketball or soccer, don’t you?”

“This isn’t sweat. It’s milky.”

“Fine, fine! You’re always right! It’s clean now!”

The next morning, Jiang Nuan was woken up by her alarm and noticed a pair of school pants draped over the back of her chair, neatly ironed.

Jiang Nuan slipped them on and realized the tear at the back was no longer visible, and the width had been adjusted to fit her better. But more importantly…

“Hey, how come they seem longer?”

Jiang Nuan stood in front of the mirror for a while, noticing that the pants used to sit just above her ankles, giving off a cropped-pants vibe, with a bit of sock showing, which was slightly embarrassing. But now, her school pants not only fit well but were also the perfect length.

“Mom—how did you make my school pants longer?”

“Isn’t it better this way? Now they’ll last until your school issues new ones. Hurry up and eat breakfast before heading to school.”

As soon as she got into the elevator, she ran into Lu Ran again.

Lu Ran glanced down at her pants.

Since he had sat behind her on the bike yesterday, of course, he had noticed her pants had torn.

“Stop looking! I’m not wearing pink long johns today!” Jiang Nuan pouted.

She waited for Lu Ran to say something sharp again.

But when the elevator doors opened, Lu Ran got on his bike and rode off without saying anything.

Jiang Nuan was a little uncomfortable with that.

But anyway, these well-fitting school pants put Jiang Nuan in a good mood, and even during morning exercises, she stood tall and proud.

“Did your mom alter your school pants for you?”

“Yeah! Don’t they look nice?”

“Yep, the legs are more fitted. They make your legs look longer. Ask your mom where she got them altered; I want to get mine done too.”

“Forget it. If you alter your school pants any more, there won’t be anything left to hide your beauty. You should spare the boys at our school.”

Just as Jiang Nuan finished speaking, she heard Lin Mixia let out a light snort from behind.

When Jiang Nuan went to the restroom, she noticed that her long johns had a loose thread. She tugged at it for a while, pulling it all the way to the back of her school pants, where she felt the little label at the waistband.

She remembered cutting off all those little labels because they made her itch, so why was this one still here?

Back at her seat, Jiang Nuan tugged on Rao Can’s sleeve and whispered, “I have this feeling… these pants aren’t mine…”

“If you’re wearing them, they’re yours.” Rao Can replied with a smile.

At that moment, Lin Mixia had just returned with hot water for herself and Lu Ran when Jiang Nuan suddenly heard Lu Ran, who had been quietly reading, say, “They weren’t yours in the first place.”

“Huh? What?” Jiang Nuan turned her head around.

Lu Ran slowly raised his eyes to meet hers.

“They were the pants I wore in middle school.”

“What?” Jiang Nuan leaned in closer, thinking she had misheard.

“Why else do you think your school pants suddenly got longer?”

After saying that, Lu Ran lowered his head again, continuing to work on his assignments, not bothering to explain further to Jiang Nuan.

Jiang Nuan was dumbfounded.

The middle school uniforms at Affiliated High School had been the same for years, identical to the high school uniforms.

If these pants had been altered from Lu Ran’s, then everything made sense.

Like why her school pants had mysteriously gotten longer, why her mom had been so secretive about fixing them, and that little label at the back.

The more Jiang Nuan thought about the fact that these pants had once been worn by Lu Ran, the more uncomfortable she became. Next to her, Rao Can was trying hard not to laugh.

“I… I don’t want your pants… I’ll give them back…”

“You planning on taking them off right now? What color are your long johns today? Rainbow-colored?”

Lu Ran’s voice was cool and indifferent.

“No, I mean, I’ll take them off when I get home and give them back to you.”

The thought of wearing pants that Lu Ran had worn… It was just too embarrassing! What was her mom even thinking?

“And if you give them back, what, I’ll wear them as five-point shorts?”

“Five-point shorts? At least they’re seven-point shorts…” Jiang Nuan realized too late that something wasn’t right with her words, and her classmates all burst into laughter.

Rao Can tugged at Jiang Nuan’s sleeve and whispered, “Alright, alright! Even if you give them back, it’s not like he can use them again. They’ve already been altered to fit your small frame. And besides, if it were any other guy’s middle school pants, they’d be all worn out by now. These look so new; Lu Ran probably didn’t even wear them much.”

Jiang Nuan suddenly realized that the little label at the back of the pants did look pretty new.

“Besides, if you think about it, wearing pants that the school genius wore is practically like wearing a protective charm. It’s super lucky!”

Now that Rao Can put it that way, it started to make sense.

No matter how tough the exams were, or how much Lu Ran had to juggle between competitions and training, he always came out on top.

Maybe she could absorb some of that lucky energy from Lu Ran?

Jiang Nuan touched her pants, feeling much better inside.

At the end of the school day, just as Jiang Nuan had packed her bag and was about to leave the classroom, a group of girls gathered around her.

“Jiang Nuan, I want to buy your school pants.” Zhou Yan said.

“Huh? Buy my school pants? But yours look fine.”

“We’ve all heard that the ones you’re wearing were Lu Ran’s middle school pants, which were altered. Name your price.”

“Uh, Lu Ran isn’t Jay Chou. Wearing his pants won’t magically get you into the first exam hall.”

Another girl beside Zhou Yan chimed in, “It’s not about that. Just name your price.”

Jiang Nuan’s eyes suddenly lit up. If she kept wearing Lu Ran’s pants, someone might bring up that rumor from last semester about her chasing after Lu Ran again.

If she sold them to someone else and made some money for her coaching fees, that wouldn’t be a bad deal, right?

“But if I sell you these, what am I supposed to wear?” Jiang Nuan asked.

“Don’t worry, we’ll find you a suitable pair.”

It sounded so logical, like she was the one getting a good deal out of this.

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