CH 62

Ji Ran immediately noticed Ji Wei and his cronies.

There was no particular reason apart from the gleaming head of the baldie, bright and shiny. Ji Ran immediately recognised him at a glance.

Baldie suddenly turned around, still muttering under his breath, when he met Ji Ran’s gaze without warning.

With a start, he evaded the latter’s eyes.

When he glanced over again, he bit his lips.

“Your amazing classmates are in the back.” Ji Ran snorted, “Is there anyone who is normal among the top students? All of you act like old wives.”

“There are such people in every class, some more than the others, but most of my classmates are pretty good.” Qin Man didn’t seem to care at all and didn’t even glance backward. “Are we going in?”

Ji Ran locked the car. “You go on, I still have something to do.”

“What is it?”

Just as Ji Ran was about to answer, he saw a white BMW roll past him and pull up beautifully in front of his car.

The door opened and a man in a grey suit stepped out.

The man was slender but he appeared to get out of the car a little hastily. When Ji Ran saw the other person’s face clearly, he unconsciously raised his eyebrows.

He had seen this man many years ago.

A long time ago, in the school’s grove. The man was much younger than he was now. With his head lowered nervously, he kept rubbing his fingertips together and quietly confessed to the person he liked.

And the target of his confession was now standing next to his car.

Ji Ran glanced at Qin Man but the latter obviously didn’t notice the person in front of him. Feeling his gaze, Qin Man looked up. “Hm?”

“… Just going to the milk tea shop,” Ji Ran said.

From the corner of his eyes, Ji Ran watched the man walk over hesitantly.

“Qin Man,” he called.

Qin Man turned around and the two looked at each other.

Ji Ran noticed that the man’s eyes were filled with deep and complicated emotions — agitation, joy, and anxiety.

It wasn’t the gaze of an old classmate.

“It’s really you.” The man’s eyes widened. “Do you… remember me?”

“I do, it’s been awhile.” Qin Man nodded a polite greeting to him.

His tone was calm and there were no fluctuations in his eyes.

“I didn’t think you would come.” The man tensed and relaxed several times before he asked, “Do you want to go in together?”

“No thanks, I have something to do.”

The other person noticed Ji Ran’s presence.

Having carried a torch for Qin Man throughout high school, he naturally knew about the two’s relationship. Though surprised, he couldn’t bring himself to ask that question and simply shuffled his feet. By then, Qin Man had already walked past him.

Qin Man took two steps forward and noticed the person behind him wasn’t following, so he turned back. “You’re not going?”

“Ah.”

“Don’t you want to drink milk tea? Let’s go, we’ll have to queue up.”

Ji Ran returned to his senses, and made a small sound of agreement before catching up to him.

Half way through, Ji Ran hesitated. “That person is still looking over.”

Qin Man paused and suddenly confessed, “Actually, I don’t remember him.”

Ji Ran was stunned. “What?”

“There’s more than 30 people in the class, too many to remember.” Qin Man asked, “You used to come look for me, have you seen him before?”

“I have… Fck, who went to look for you? I was there to teach you a lesson.”

After replying, he couldn’t help but continue, “How could you not remember? He even confessed to you.”

“Is that so?” Qin Man murmured.

There were many people who confessed to him, but only a few males. Once Ji Ran mentioned it, he seemed to faintly recall something.

He looked over to the man next to him. “How did you know he confessed to me?”

Ji Ran: “…”

Fck.

“You saw it? Or did you hear about it?” Qin Man’s lips curved, “And you remembered it till now?”

Ji Ran stood in the back of the line and turned away, refusing to look at him. “Blame it on my bad luck for causing me to witness such a stupid thing.”

“I remembered it because I felt the guy was blind, are you happy?”

It finally got to his turn. When the lady boss saw Ji Ran, her smile deepened. “Xiao Ran? You’re back?”

“I’m here for the school’s celebration.”

The lady boss was somewhat surprised, because even when Ji Ran came to the shop, he never stepped through the school gates. “By yourself?”

“And him.” Ji Ran pointed to the person next to him.

“Hello.” Qin Man smiled and greeted her politely.

The lady boss hurriedly nodded, “Alright, what would you guys like to drink?”

“The usual.” Ji Ran turned around and asked, “What do you want?”

“The same as you.”

After getting the milk tea, they decided to rest for a short while before leaving. It was half an hour before the celebration started and the sun was blazing right now, no one was willing to stay outside.

They sat at a table next to the glass door.

Ji Ran fiddled with the small pinball on the table distractedly.

Qin Man watched him and recalled the lady boss’s familiar tone with him. “Do you go back to school often?”

“Why would I go back to that useless place for no reason?” Ji Ran sneered.

“I only come here sometimes for a cup of milk tea.”

Qin Man took a sip. He never liked drinking such beverages, they were too sweet and unsanitary.

“It’s pretty good.”

“Alright, don’t think I didn’t see your frown. Why insist on coming along if you don’t want to drink it? What a waste.”

“I’m worried, so I had to follow along.”

“Worried about what? Are you worried I’ll throw you here and leave?”

Qin Man smiled. “Look around, there are many ladies peeking at you.”

“… How are they only looking at me?”

Qin Man wasn’t lying. The females in the shop, be it those who returned for the celebration or those who were still schooling, could not stop themselves from looking over. Most of them were stealing glances at Ji Ran.

Although mature men had their appeal, many young girls still had a thing for handsome and rough-looking bad boys. Just based on Ji Ran’s appearance, a girl whose type was exactly someone like him had already finished an entire love story in her mind.

Qin Man laughed in reply and looked at the wall filled with post-its.

“What’s this?”

Ji Ran paused before finding a random explanation, “… Just something to kill time.”

Qin Man nodded, “Have you written any before?”

“How could I possibly?” Without thinking, Ji Ran denied it and even his tone had turned sharp. “I’m not that bored!”

The two female students who were putting up a post-it: “…”

Qin Man held back a laugh. “I think it’s pretty nice. It’ll definitely be cool to come back a few years later to see the post-it I’ve written.”

Ji Ran had scanned the wall several times before letting out a breath of relief when he was sure none of the post-its here were written by him.

“What’s so cool about it…” It was almost time, so Ji Ran stood up. “Let’s go in.”

Just as they exited, they heard a conversation.

“I’m telling you guys Ji Ran was definitely not invited back! Is he here to cause trouble? Inviting himself, only he is capable of such a thing .”

“Enough.” It was Ji Wei. “Why are you always mentioning him?”

“…” The other person paused for a moment. “I’m helping you vent!”

“Aren’t you only saying this because of what happened in the booth?”

“It’s not, Ji Wei. Why are you suddenly speaking up for him? Don’t you hate him?”

“I do, so stop talking about it, alright?”

“I was wondering who it was.” Ji Ran turned around and walked out of the door, interrupting them with a cold laugh. “Turns out it was you, Little Baldie.”

Baldie was shocked into a stutter upon seeing him. “L-Little what? Why are you here?”

“What? Weren’t you just happily running your mouth off earlier? Why are you panicking now?”

Ji Ran smiled carelessly. “Don’t worry, I didn’t come back to make trouble, I came here specially to sew your mouth up, so that you stop talking shit behind other people’s backs all day long. It’s also considered saving the world. ”

Baldie was frightened and instinctively cowered behind Ji Wei. “Y-You’re threatening me.”

“That’s right, so what? Are you gonna call the police on me?” Ji Ran only wanted to laugh when he saw this state.

“Enough, stop messing around.” Ji Wei frowned.

“Who are you trying to manage?” Ji Ran sneered.

Qin Man took his time to come forward only after Ji Ran had said his fill.

“It’s almost time, let’s go in.”

Ji Ran wasn’t in a hurry to leave, but Qin Man had a speech pretty early in the assembly, so they couldn’t be late.

He clicked his tongue and glared at the baldie. “If I hear you talking shit about me again… or anyone, I’ll fcking sew your mouth shut. Heard that, Little Baldie?”

It wasn’t until Ji Ran had walked a distance away did Baldie dare to retort, “…How unoriginal!”

The etiquette department stood in a row at the entrance of the school, politely welcoming the guests.

The closer they got to the school gate, the slower Ji Ran’s pace became.

After Qin Man noticed it, he slowed down. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing.” Ji Ran lowered his head when they reached the gates, “Go in.”

After many years, he was back here again.

To him, this was a place filled with malice and darkness. The things and people that mattered to him were pathetically few.

A girl from the line saw them and approached with a red face. “Hello, may I know if you have an invitation? Or are you a visiting student?”

Qin Man handed the invitation over. “For two.”

She took a look at it and nodded. “Seniors, the assembly is about to begin, do you need me to guide you to the hall? The school has been renovated a couple of times and the hall has been relocated, I’m afraid you won’t be able to find it.”

Qin Man nodded, “We’ll have to trouble you.”

Halfway there, Ji Ran suddenly asked, “Is the back gate still around?”

The girl froze. “What back gate?”

“The one that leads to the mountain behind… through the back road.”

“It’s there, but only the teachers can access it. We can’t use it.”

Ji Ran nodded, deep in thought.

Arriving at the hall, the girl stated, “Your seats are printed on your invitation. Seniors, please sit according to your assigned seats.”

Ji Ran was seated in the third row while Qin Man was in the front.

Just as they headed over to the first row, someone walked over. It was a middle-aged woman.

“Qin Man, you’re here.” Seeing the student she was most proud of, the woman was extremely gratified.

Qin Man politely greeted her. “Teacher.”

Just as she was about to speak, she caught sight of Ji Ran and her expression changed.

Qin Man was the student she looked most favourably upon back then and she naturally knew about the feud between the two.

Sensing the caution and warning in her gaze, Ji Ran scoffed and turned to walk towards the third row.

Just as he took two steps, he was called.

“Ji Ran,” Qin Man said, “Wait for me once this is over. Don’t leave on your own.”

“…”

A few leaders in the front could not help themselves from turning to look over.

Ji Ran pretended not to hear and continued to walk forward.

“Classmate.” From behind, Qin Man seemed to be talking to someone. “Do you mind if we swapped seats? My seat is in the front.”

His teacher was startled. “Xiao Man? This is the seating arrangement, you can’t change it.”

This person is really strange, Ji Ran thought.

What was there that couldn’t be communicated over the phone? Those elderly people liked his excellence and purity, but why did he insist on establishing their relationship with those words in front of them?

“You’re so annoying.” Ji Ran stopped and put on an expression of impatience. “Don’t come over… I’ll wait for you, that’s it.”