【57】I’m Being Bullied, Jiang Yan, Where Are You?
Wen Ran first went to the bank to withdraw some cash, then went back home. While Song Zixuan was playing games in his room, he packed up the things in his own room.
He had few belongings to begin with; the closet only held a scant few clothes. Packing didn’t result in much, and the room was empty in no time.
Wen Ran’s room door was closed, so unless it was very loud, one could hardly hear what was happening inside.
Since being bought, the kitten loved sticking to Wen Ran. Seeing him open the suitcase, it immediately jumped in, curling up into a small ball.
Wen Ran helplessly took the cat out and placed it on the bed.
But the kitten wouldn’t settle down at all, clumsily hugging Wen Ran’s hand with its two short legs.
It meowed beside him, hoping he would play with it.
Wen Ran reached out and stroked the kitten’s head. If he had known this day would come, he wouldn’t have agreed to buy the cat no matter what.
The kitten was unaware of the impending separation. It rubbed its small, soft head against Wen Ran’s palm, squinting comfortably.
When Jiang Yan brought the kitten back, he had jokingly told Wen Ran that they were now a family of three. But thinking of this now, Wen Ran felt a heartache beyond measure.
“Sorry…” He lowered his head, stroking the kitten’s head. “But… I can’t take you with me.”
Wen Ran finished packing the suitcase, placed the three thousand yuan he withdrew from the bank on the nightstand, and gently closed the door.
He didn’t belong here in the first place. Now that he was leaving, he should pay off the rent.
Wen Ran got a new phone card.
Song Zixuan didn’t know anything, so he couldn’t bring himself to delete and block Song Zixuan’s contact as well.
But he didn’t want to see any news about Jiang Yan.
Perhaps changing numbers and starting over was more appropriate.
Wen Ran held the new phone card in his hand. The sky was overcast with dark clouds.
It was going to rain.
The experiences of these past few months felt like a dream. No friends, no lover. It seemed he was… alone again.
Wen Ran walked on the road, lost in desolation. When he returned to the base, Four Leaf Clover was coming downstairs with a lollipop in his mouth.
“Dawn? You’re back? Why so early this time?” He ran down to Wen Ran. “Didn’t spend a two-person world (romantic time) with your partner?”
Four Leaf Clover had no idea what had happened; it was just a normal greeting between teammates. But Wen Ran didn’t know how to answer such a question.
Seeing the look on his face, Four Leaf Clover spoke somewhat cautiously, “Dawn, did I say something wrong?”
“I broke up.”
Wen Ran finally mustered the courage. He had to face it sooner or later, didn’t he?
“Huh?” Four Leaf Clover’s face instantly looked very bad. “Sorry Dawn, I didn’t mean to…”
“I know.” Wen Ran didn’t want to continue. “I want to go up now. Could you please make way?”
“Oh, oh, okay!” Four Leaf Clover hurriedly stepped aside to clear a path. Wen Ran carried his suitcase upstairs expressionlessly.
However, when he reached the second floor, he happened to run into Ye Xin (Night Heart) coming out to get water.
Ye Xin disliked Wen Ran to begin with. Seeing him in this state now made him feel even more disgusted. He couldn’t help but mock sarcastically:
“Yo, isn’t this our new Mid-laner? What’s wrong, who upset the Crown Prince?”
Ye Xin’s fans called Wen Ran “Crown Prince” because a rookie with no background had replaced their idol’s position. Although Ye Xin couldn’t play because he was penalized, he had a substitute. No matter how you looked at it, it shouldn’t have been Wen Ran’s turn.
But the fact was, Wen Ran signed the contract as a starter and even served as the vice-commander in the team.
Wen Ran was in a terrible mood and didn’t want to tangle with Ye Xin excessively. He didn’t reply and intended to walk past him directly.
But Ye Xin blocked him. “I’m talking to you, didn’t you hear?”
He scoffed coldly. “Just reached Group A, and you really think you can ride on my head? Don’t know who you’re showing this stinking face to.”
“None of your damn business.” Wen Ran was never the type to indulge others. He was already annoyed to death today and completely forgot the manager’s instructions. “Can’t you tell your Daddy doesn’t want to talk to you, dumbass?”
“What the f*ck did you say?” Ye Xin hadn’t expected Wen Ran to dare be so arrogant. “Say that again if you have the guts!”
“I said, I was the one on stage playing the match, not you. It’s not your place to dictate things here.”
“Winning a few low-end matches and you think you’re so amazing,” Ye Xin gritted his teeth. “Disrespecting elders and insulting seniors, is this how your mother taught you?”
“Esports relies on skill, not mouth output.” Wen Ran sneered. “That I can stand here proves I have the ability.”
“Also, I think you should be glad the League’s rules saved your face. Otherwise, if you really had to compete with your Daddy for the post, who knows how embarrassing it would be for you to get pressed down and beaten.”
“You f*cking…!” Ye Xin originally intended to mock Wen Ran a bit, but he didn’t expect Wen Ran to be like he ate gunpowder today—aggressive with every sentence. Unable to bear the humiliation, he punched Wen Ran directly in the face.
Naturally, Wen Ran wasn’t willing to take this abuse and punched back, not showing any weakness.
The two wrestled together.
“What are you two doing?!”
Passing staff members were so scared they dropped the documents in their hands and hurriedly went up to break up the fight. Finally, even the manager was alerted.
“You two are adults,” the manager was fuming with rage. “Fighting inside the base?”
“Even elementary schoolers wouldn’t do something like this, right?”
Wen Ran was smaller than Ye Xin to begin with. He had taken several punches to the stomach during the fight and was hurting terribly now.
But Ye Xin wasn’t much better off. He really hadn’t expected this Wen Ran to be like a violent little beast, possessing such explosive power that half his cheek was swollen high.
He glared viciously at Wen Ran, regretting not kicking him when they were being pulled apart.
“Matches are coming up soon, and you guys actually caused this kind of incident! I’m not an idler; I have my own things to do, not judging cases for you two every day!” The manager scolded a heap, panting from anger.
“Enough. I won’t ask the reason for the fight, but this kind of thing is absolutely not allowed to happen a second time in the base. Otherwise, you’ll each be fined ten thousand!”
The manager slapped the table and left. Ivan and Four Leaf Clover then hurriedly came in to find Wen Ran.
“Dawn, I’ll support you. Let’s get back to the dorm quickly!”
There was a bit of blood and broken skin at the corner of Wen Ran’s mouth, and half his cheek was red and swollen from the hit, looking incredibly pitiful.
But his eyes remained determined and daring, like an injured little snow leopard.
“I have ointment for reducing swelling; I’ll get it for you.” Four Leaf Clover actually went to find a small tube of swelling ointment and brought it to Wen Ran.
Ivan, always attentive to detail, couldn’t help asking, “Dawn, do you need me to help apply the medicine?”
Wen Ran shook his head gently.
He took the ointment and went into the bathroom.
Gently squeezing a little out, he applied it to his face.
Then he lifted his shirt, revealing a bruise on his belly.
Bruises had to be rubbed out to heal quickly. Wen Ran endured the pain and pressed his hand onto his skin.
Piercing pain immediately swept through his whole body. Wen Ran remembered Jiang Yan telling him before that with him around, he wouldn’t be bullied by anyone.
Jiang Yan, I’m being bullied now.
But… where are you?
Wen Ran didn’t know if it was because his body hurt or his heart hurt, but tears slid silently down his cheeks.
Jiang Yan, you are truly a big liar.
Inside the mall, Mu Yan held the high heels she just bought and spoke somewhat nervously to Jiang Yan:
“Do you think I’ll succeed in proposing to Lu Jing this time?”
“I’m betting on you,” Jiang Yan said with a look of hopelessness, carrying a huge pile of things. “If you still can’t secure him, you’ll be letting down the meal I turned down with my Ran Ran today.”
It wasn’t easy getting his Precious Baby to actively ask him for a meal, but he had painfully declined.
“When I get together with Lu Jing, I’ll treat you two for a month, order whatever you want.” Mu Yan waved her hand grandly. “Besides, you promised me last night that you’d help your good friend get out of singlehood!”
“Now let’s hurry to order flowers,” Mu Yan gritted her teeth. “I don’t believe I can’t secure him this time!”
Mu Yan was a jewelry designer. Her family was also in the jewelry business, and her studies abroad were in this direction too.
Jiang Yan wanted to give Wen Ran a special gift on the day he won the Seeding Match.
After thinking it over, Jiang Yan planned to design a ring himself to give to Wen Ran. But with his drawing skills, even if he holed up in his room without even taking a sip of water and worked hard drawing all day, he would only have a rough sketch. He couldn’t concretize his ideas, and the details required the professional help of Mu Yan.
Mu Yan was a very good friend of his and said she could make the ring directly to give to them.
She wouldn’t charge for design or labor.
Of course, Mu Yan didn’t work for free. Her condition was that Jiang Yan had to help her pursue Lu Jing.
She, Lu Jing, and he were high school classmates and very good friends. Those two had been making eyes at each other since high school, very ambiguously, but just hadn’t pierced that layer of window paper.
Upon high school graduation, Mu Yan confessed to Lu Jing, but Lu Jing rejected her, saying he already had someone he liked.
In a fit of anger, Mu Yan went abroad. Only later did she find out that Lu Jing rejected her because his family’s company had problems and was heavily in debt; he was afraid he wasn’t worthy of Mu Yan and didn’t want to delay or burden her.
So, Eldest Miss Mu Yan dragged Jiang Yan along to plan this wedding dress confession.
She was going to force Lu Jing to admit he liked her.
Because time was tight and the story was long, Jiang Yan didn’t tell Wen Ran. He planned to introduce Wen Ran to his two good friends formally after the matter was concluded.
Then he would slowly tell the story to Wen Ran.
“I also booked fireworks.” Mu Yan urged, “I watched fireworks with Lu Jing back in high school. The way he looked up was really handsome!”
“If your fireworks are good, push the contact info to me,” Jiang Yan said thoughtfully. “Next time, I’ll take my Ran Ran to see fireworks too.”
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