Jiang Nuan suddenly found it funny and poked Lu Ran with her finger. “You helped me pass the level. Is that your way of apologizing?”
“You failed at your prank, so I’m supposed to apologize for not confessing it was me when Chen Dama was demanding answers?”
“Fine, fine… I just thought you were always so full of yourself. I wanted you to be labeled as a ‘bad kid’ for once, but it didn’t work.” Jiang Nuan thought for a moment and pushed the coffee back toward him. “You might as well drink it.”
After a long pause, Lu Ran finally said, “I just didn’t want you to succeed. I didn’t expect Chen Dama would call your mom.”
Jiang Nuan tilted her head, pondering for a long time, before asking, “But what if you knew Chen Dama would tattle on me? Would you have stayed silent or admitted that I threw the firecracker?”
Lu Ran remained silent for nearly half a minute. Jiang Nuan felt an inexplicable sense of anticipation, but she knew that someone as principled and strict as Lu Ran wouldn’t give her the answer she wanted.
“Forget it. You’re the good kid, after all.”
“I’d probably tell Chen Dama it was my first time playing with firecrackers and I threw it in the wrong place.”
Jiang Nuan froze, then playfully pushed him. “No way! A guy your age has never played with firecrackers? Did you even have a childhood?”
“Aren’t you a girl? Shouldn’t you be playing with sparklers?”
“I once played with sparklers and burned the cured meat my mom was drying on the balcony. The meat was full of grease, and when it caught fire, it burned into a huge ball, even left a hole in my down jacket… See? I’m just not cut out to be a little fairy.”
“If someone thinks that even when you do bad things, it’s cute—burning cured meat is cute, losing at a game and throwing a fit is cute—then you’re their little fairy.”
Jiang Nuan froze. Looking at Lu Ran’s serious expression, she felt as though she was wrapped in a warm, gentle breeze.
“Don’t you think that kind of person… is a bit of an idiot?”
Lu Ran remained silent, not saying anything for half a minute. Then his fingers tapped lightly on Jiang Nuan’s desk.
“Let’s go. Time to head home.”
“Huh?”
“Do you really want to eat instant noodles here? I saw your mom washing shrimp earlier.”
Jiang Nuan swallowed. She hadn’t eaten enough at lunch, and the instant noodles she’d made in the internet cafe didn’t cook through properly because the water wasn’t hot enough. She had taken only a few bites before giving up. Now, her stomach felt completely empty.
There was no point in dragging this out any further. Jiang Nuan was already feeling a bit guilty. It was time to go home.
As soon as they stepped outside the internet cafe, Jiang Nuan sneezed.
Before she could even sniff, Lu Ran had already wrapped his scarf around her neck.
“Ugh, this is so ugly!” Jiang Nuan tugged at it.
“You knitted it yourself. How can you complain?”
Jiang Nuan fell silent and followed behind Lu Ran.
Girls are really strange. They can remember every single moment when they hate someone so clearly. Every teasing or factual remark he made, whether joking or serious, felt like it touched her most sensitive nerves.
If the same words had come from Rao Can or Dou Dou, she would have happily snapped back. But just because it was Lu Ran—because he was so excellent—it felt different.
But somehow, she always seemed to forget the good things he did. That’s probably why her mom calls her an ungrateful brat.
Just as they were about to enter the courtyard, Jiang Nuan called out.
“Hey, Lu Ran—”
Lu Ran turned around, his eyes seeming to ask, “What’s up?”
“Thank you.”
Lu Ran stood there, looking at Jiang Nuan.
Jiang Nuan realized that every kid gets compared to someone else at some point. If it weren’t Lu Ran, it would have been Zhang Ran or Li Ran.
Was she really going to hold a grudge against everyone better than her in the world?
“Um… I’ve probably caused you a lot of trouble in the past. It’s been hard on you these past six months. From now on… I won’t be causing you any more trouble.”
What she really meant was, I won’t be bothering you anymore.
Lu Ran stood there, and under the dim courtyard lights, Jiang Nuan couldn’t make out his expression. The occasional sounds of people playing mahjong, as well as firecrackers and fireworks, filled the air around them.
His sharp, handsome features were bathed in a soft glow, like rocks submerged in the ocean.
He seemed to be holding something back, like a wave building up but never crashing. In the end, he remained silent.
After a long time, he finally spoke. “Is your brain still not working?”
Jiang Nuan almost got angry, but then she realized that if she had really been bothering him all this time, Lu Ran must have been annoyed for months. So, if he snapped at her now… well, she probably deserved it.
“My brain’s fine. Just not as good as yours.”
Jiang Nuan walked toward Lu Ran.
When she was almost next to him, she suddenly said, “You dropped your keys.”
“What?”
Instinctively, Lu Ran looked down, just as a small puddle came into view at his feet.
There was a loud bang as water splashed everywhere—Jiang Nuan had thrown a firecracker.
Lu Ran had started to move but, for some reason, stayed still, letting the dirty water splash up onto his chin.
Jiang Nuan had been so eager to see Lu Ran embarrassed that she hadn’t dodged in time either. The dirty water splashed all over her face, and some even nearly got into her mouth. She quickly wiped her face with her hands, only to find dirty water spots all over the front of her down jacket.
“You just hurt yourself as much as your enemy.” Lu Ran said as he wiped his chin with a tissue.
“Give me a tissue! Give me a tissue! My down jacket!”
That was the down jacket that Jian Ming had bought for her!
Lu Ran handed Jiang Nuan the tissue he had already used. “This is the last one. You used the rest to blow your nose.”
With that, Lu Ran turned and walked away.
Jiang Nuan stared after him, suddenly realizing that, with all of Lu Ran’s fencing training, he could have easily dodged that splash.
He just didn’t.
Jiang Nuan ran after him, grabbing Lu Ran’s arm and blurting out, “Why didn’t you dodge?”
To her surprise, Lu Ran bent down slightly, grabbed her waist, and lifted her onto the hood of a parked car.
In an instant, the car’s alarm blared through the courtyard, startling Jiang Nuan. She was about to jump down, but Lu Ran pressed her shoulders, keeping her in place.
His eyes remained as calm as ever.
But that calmness was just a mask. Because there must be something in this world that Lu Ran cared about deeply, something that could make him act recklessly.
“Because this was your personal ritual, and you’re ready to step out from the shadow I cast over you.”
Jiang Nuan sat there in a daze, unable to understand how Lu Ran could know what she was thinking.
The alarm continued to blare, and Jiang Nuan started struggling, but Lu Ran’s grip was strong. Suddenly, he wrapped his arms around her.
His voice echoed in her ear. “Xiao Nuan, I’ve always believed that as long as you don’t give up, no matter how loud the world’s objections are, they can’t actually stop us.”
Jiang Nuan’s eyes turned red.
Lu Ran was talking about fencing.
Could someone really continue doing something they didn’t want to just because of a few words from someone else?
“Who’s out there sitting on my car?”
A man stuck his head out of a window on the upper floor.
“Just like now, if you insist on sitting on his car, all he can do is yell at you. He’s not going to come down and hit you.”
Jiang Nuan froze for two seconds, then burst out laughing.
Lu Ran finally let go of her, and she immediately jumped forward, ready to hop off the car. But she hadn’t expected Lu Ran to still be standing so close. She crashed straight into his chest.
Her nose bumped against Lu Ran’s chest, and Jiang Nuan’s heart jumped. She stumbled to the side, but the boy’s arm reached out, gently catching her.
“Come on, let’s go home.”
Lu Ran walked ahead, and Jiang Nuan jogged to catch up. She noticed his clothes were splattered with mud.
They entered the building and stepped into the elevator. The feeling of Lu Ran’s strength lifting her, his embrace, and the warmth of his breath as he spoke still lingered in Jiang Nuan’s mind.
Lu Ran remained silent as they reached Jiang Nuan’s door. As soon as it opened, the warmth of the house and the smell of food filled the air, making Jiang Nuan’s eyes almost tear up.
No matter how great the outside world is, it’s never as good as home.
Luo Chen immediately rushed over and hugged Jiang Nuan.
“My Nuan Nuan is back! Time to eat! Time to eat!”
Her father, Jiang Huai, had been sitting on the couch, but the moment he heard Luo Chen call “Nuan Nuan” he sprang to his feet.
“Alright, alright, as long as the kids are back, everything’s fine! Let’s have a family dinner together!” Lu Ran’s mom said with a big smile.
At last, Jiang Nuan was the center of attention.
Her mom kept putting food on her plate, and her dad even peeled shrimp for her and placed it in her bowl. The special treatment made her feel like royalty.
“Parents, ah… we always talk about how other people’s kids are better, but in the end, our own children are our treasures. Sure, we might criticize them ourselves, but if anyone else says anything bad about our kids, we’d fight them! Take Lu Ran, for example. He has so many bad habits that if he weren’t my own child, I would have thrown him out long ago instead of letting him be the little prince of the house!” Auntie Yuan said with a laugh.
“What bad habits could Lu Ran possibly have?” Jiang Nuan was immediately intrigued.
“He’s stubborn! If he hits a wall, he won’t turn back! Back in middle school, there was this remote-controlled plane competition, and the engine he was trying to build kept having problems. His dad and I both advised him to try another design that would still win him a prize, but he refused to listen. He stayed up for several nights and still didn’t get it to work. He could have won second or third place, but in the end, he couldn’t even enter the competition.” Auntie Yuan shook her head.
“That’s not really a bad thing, though. Lu Ran never settles. If you give up on what you truly want just to get a prize, you’ll never reach the place you want to be.” Jiang Huai clinked his glass against Lu Ran’s. “That’s definitely not a flaw.”
“True. In the end, he kept tinkering and won first place the following year. But it’s a double-edged sword. I always worry that Lu Ran will keep chasing his ideal, but if that ideal is unreachable, he might end up getting hurt.” Auntie Yuan glanced at Lu Ran.
Author’s Note:
Jiang Nuan: Aunt Flo is here, I’m not in a good mood, please compliment me. I want something sincere and heartfelt.
Lu Ran: In your heart, there’s a little fairy who doesn’t sweat the small stuff, who’s open-minded and bright, and who has lots of friends.
Jiang Nuan: Hmm, not bad…
Lu Ran: Not bad what?
Jiang Nuan: At least you didn’t say, “If it flies, it’s an angel, but playing with sparklers doesn’t make you a fairy.”
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