【19】Very Fierce Little Friend, Want Some Cotton Candy?
Li Hao clenched his fists tightly. He had never been rebuked like this before.
But he didn’t dare provoke Jiang Yan, afraid of retaliation.
After all, the other party was a rich second generation and attended a famous school like Liqing. His family background was probably beyond his imagination.
He didn’t like Wen Ran to begin with; he just saw that he was simple and easy to trick. As long as he gave a little warmth, Wen Ran obediently gave him money. Now seeing the two so stuck together like glue, he probably had to give up on this idea.
He wondered what means Wen Ran used to make the other party like him so much.
Li Hao was afraid that if he stayed too long, the other party would deal with him. He didn’t even dare to look at Jiang Yan and slipped away with his tail between his legs.
Only when Jiang Yan saw Li Hao’s back disappear into the crowd did he guide Wen Ran to the side.
Wen Ran felt uncomfortable and broke free from his embrace.
Flustered, he took out the item and handed it to Jiang Yan. “Your USB drive!”
“Thanks.”
Not knowing if he was overthinking it, when Jiang Yan took the USB drive, his finger seemed to inadvertently hook Wen Ran’s palm.
It made him retract his hand as if electrocuted.
Jiang Yan, however, looked at him with a smile, making Wen Ran feel creeped out.
He glared at him. “Why do you keep staring at your Daddy?”
“Looking at how your eyes grew.” Jiang Yan clicked his tongue. “You used to go for this type?”
“Your taste is quite unique.”
Wen Ran: “…”
“Don’t think that just because you helped me today, I won’t dare to do anything to you!” Wen Ran said fiercely. “We can count one thing as one thing!”
“No no no, Brother was joking with you.” Jiang Yan had a sense of propriety. Although he was curious why Wen Ran had fallen for that guy, he knew when to stop and not sprinkle salt on someone’s wound.
“If he dares to harass you again next time, call Brother directly.”
Wen Ran’s anger was smoothed down before it could erupt. “Oh.”
“I haven’t asked you yet. You’re only eighteen; why aren’t you in school?”
If things followed normal procedures, Wen Ran should be in university right now.
Wen Ran almost never mentioned his private life to others, but regarding education, a fact already set in stone, he didn’t want to hide it. He said directly, “University? I haven’t even attended high school. What university would I take an exam for?”
Jiang Yan’s expression paused upon hearing this, which Wen Ran saw completely.
True. When others hear this, many react even more strongly than him. Didn’t I know this long ago?
What is there to expect?
Wen Ran fished a cigarette out of his pocket and clamped it between his fingers.
His posture holding the cigarette was practiced. Jiang Yan could tell at a glance that he didn’t look like a boy of this age.
Jiang Yan spoke up. “Is that so?”
“You don’t believe what I said?”
“No.” Jiang Yan raised his eyebrows and looked at him. “Then you’re quite amazing.”
Wen Ran: “?”
“Brother means, coming out so young and not growing crooked—you’re already better than many people.”
Wen Ran had a moment of daze. He completely hadn’t expected Jiang Yan to have such a reaction, making him feel somewhat at a loss.
He suddenly let down a bit of the guard around his armored heart. His hands clenched tightly, and he stumbled over his words to complete a sentence: “You… you saying these things, are you praising me?”
“Otherwise?” Jiang Yan hooked his lips and smiled. The sunlight hit his side profile, gentle beyond words.
“Neither stealing nor robbing, feeding yourself with your own ability—Brother admires you.”
Wen Ran’s face flushed red instantly. He had never thought someone would praise him like this.
The evaluations he used to hear were “little hoodlum,” “no future,” “social bottom feeder.” He remembered forever when he had just escaped from home, not having eaten for three whole days. He helped someone unload half a truck of goods until his shoulders broke skin and blood soaked his clothes, just for a boxed meal given in charity.
Wen Ran squatted in the corner outside the shop eating his hard-earned food.
A mother and son passed by. The well-dressed woman avoided him like a snake or scorpion, saying to her child, “If you don’t study hard now, you’ll be just like him in the future!”
Later, when Wen Ran worked in an unlicensed internet cafe, some kids saw he was good at games and kept pestering him to play. Wen Ran would carry them and even use his meager wages to buy them ice cream, always tutoring them to finish their homework before playing. But parents came to the door, pointing at his nose and scolding him for being shady, a little hoodlum with no future who maliciously led their children astray.
But they didn’t know that Wen Ran won awards every year in elementary and middle school; he wasn’t unlearned or incompetent.
No one would empathize with others, nor really understand others’ suffering. They only believed what they saw and interpreted it wantonly, using it as a negative teaching example.
Wen Ran suffered a lot of cold eyes and discrimination. At best, people treated him as an ordinary person.
Even when Li Hao was with him, he often used the education matter to belittle him. For four whole years, only Jiang Yan said he “admired him” and sympathized with his difficulty.
Wen Ran always thought he was a tough person, but now he couldn’t help his nose souring.
“But I smoke, dye my hair, never went to high school, don’t have a stable job, only know how to play games,” Wen Ran bit his lip. “I also curse people, very fierce!”
Wen Ran said it all in one breath, lowering his head and fidgeting with the hem of his clothes.
He regretted a little why, clearly having been praised, he had to refute so awkwardly, even going as far as dissecting himself and placing the pieces in front of the other party.
However, if Jiang Yan saw clearly what kind of person he was earlier, maybe he wouldn’t mention “dating” anymore, and their lives would return to the right track.
“So what?”
Jiang Yan’s answer came almost without hesitation, his voice not quiet. He was no longer his usual lazy and loose self; his tone was full of sincerity. “Does that mean you’re not a good person just because of these things?”
The first time they met, although he was blustering, he gave him all his money to apologize. Song Zixuan said he only needed to make breakfast, but he made almost every meal and even put a cookbook in the room. Last time, Jiang Yan even saw Wen Ran taking a stray kitten downstairs to shelter from the rain.
Clearly just a kid who blushed at a single compliment, how bad could he be?
Wen Ran really wanted to cry now. His eyes were red, tears swirling inside. He pursed his lips desperately, tilting his head up slightly to hold the tears back.
Then Jiang Yan handed over a pack of tissues from somewhere. “Tsk, weren’t you very fierce?”
He leaned in with a very punchable face to look at Wen Ran. “No way, no way someone is going to cry, right?”
Wen Ran forcibly held back the tears that were about to fall.
Out of anger.
Seeing Wen Ran puffing up like an aggrieved little pufferfish, Jiang Yan couldn’t resist reaching out to pinch his cheek. “Very fierce little friend, want some cotton candy?”
Wen Ran slapped his hand away. For the first time, he didn’t curse.
“You are so annoying!”
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