Chapter 23

“I want you to come watch me play badminton during tomorrow’s physical education class.”

“Huh?” Song Yu Meng stood up and shook her head, holding both hands up. “I can’t, I need to watch Liu Luo Yang gege play basketball tomorrow.”

Yi Ran’s smile froze on her face before slowly disappearing. She lowered her eyes, an inscrutable expression on her face.

Song Yu Meng suddenly felt anxious and wished she hadn’t said it, but there was no way to take her words back.

Seeing Yi Ran turn around and walk away, she hurriedly called out: “Where are you going?”

“Back to class.” Yi Ran left the medical bay without even looking back.

Song Yu Meng wasn’t dumb, she knew Yi Ran was angry. How could she not see it? She felt jittery all of a sudden.

“Your friend’s upset.” The school doctor reminded her as well.

She felt even more anxious, her heart pounding. She hadn’t even eaten the medicine, but she wasn’t in pain anymore.

Song Yu Meng took the bag of medicine and left, bumping into Su Xiao Xiao on the way back to class.

Seeing the bag Song Yu Meng was carrying, Su Xiao Xiao hadn’t even had time to see what the boxes inside were when Song Yu Meng hid it behind her back.

She asked curiously: “What are all those boxes inside the bag?”

“Nothing, just cramp medication.”

“Oh.” Su Xiao Xiao nodded, then continued. “Then where did you go with Yi Ran? We didn’t see you guys at roll call.”

“Umm we hid in the small grove, then we didn’t notice you guys and when the teacher was calling our names, it wasn’t good to come out then either, that’s why you didn’t see us.”

This explanation was so ridiculous even Song Yu Meng couldn’t believe it. How could the two of them have hid in the grove for an entire period? Then where did the medicine come from? There were just too many holes.

But Su Xiao Xiao was naive and trusting, so she believed whatever she was told.

“That’s what I said, I definitely saw it wrong.”

“Saw what wrong?” Song Yu Meng looked frightened.

“When I was running, I saw two people who looked like you guys. I thought it was student Yi Ran hugging you.”

Song Yu Meng immediately thundered: “How could that be! I’m enemies with Crazy Yi!”

The moment she said that, Song Yu Meng felt a bit guilty. What sort of enemy would take the risk to jump over the school wall to buy medicine for their enemy?

Looking at the bag of medicine, she thought about the way Crazy Yi had walked over dopily to ask her if she really thanked her. It was a funny memory.

What a silly person.

Then she thought about how Yi Ran left the medical bay without looking back at her and her heart sank.

Pulling on Su Xiao Xiao‘s hand, she asked: “Xiao Xiao, I have something to ask you. It’s really important, you need to answer me properly.”

“Ah, what’s so important?”

Song Yu Meng stammered: “That is… I have a friend, she angered another friend. What should she do to make up with her friend in that case?”

“Umm… This…” Su Xiao Xiao stopped and considered it seriously. “Maybe give her some stuff she likes to eat and make up that way?” Su Xiao Xiao was a glutton and this was definitely something she could think of.

“Give food… Are you sure it’ll work?” Song Yu Meng knew Su Xiao Xiao was a glutton, but she didn’t know if Yi Ran was one too.

Su Xiao Xiao nodded seriously. “Of course! Who would be able to say no to food?”

Song Yu Meng thought about it and felt it was true. After all, she often saw Yi Ran with a lollipop in her mouth during class.

Since Yi Ran gave her a carton of water yesterday, she would have to give Yi Ran a jar of lollipops now.

There was still seven minutes to the start of class, and Song Yu Meng ignored the last bits of pain in her abdomen. She handed the bag to Su Xiao Xiao and said “wait for me here!” before she started running to the commissary.

– Commissary –

“Aunty, give me a jar of lollipops, the orange-flavoured ones!” Song Yu Meng panted.

The commissary lady was shocked, thinking to herself: Is there no end to these two kids? They buy everything by the carton or jar, they’re really too wealthy.

Despite her shock, the lady handed an entire jar to Song Yu Meng, who hugged it and ran back to Su Xiao Xiao.

“Here, take this to Yi Ran and tell her to not be angry anymore.” Song Yu Meng was almost breathless from all the running.

Su Xiao Xiao was rendered speechless by the jar of lollipops. “Xiao-Yu, why don’t you give it to her yourself?”

“The lollipops were given to me by that person, she was the one who argued with Crazy Yi.” Song Yu Meng lied. “They just argued, she’s definitely too embarrassed to give it to Crazy Yi. It’s not good for me to do it either, we’re enemies, so I’ll have to trouble you!”

Su Xiao Xiao didn’t think too much of it either, taking the jar. “Okay, I’ll pass it to student Yi Ran.”

The two of them entered the classroom and Su Xiao Xiao put the jar on Yi Ran’s table.

With a look of astonishment, Yi Ran pointed at it and asked “what’s this?”

“Your friend gave this to you, she asked you to not be angry with her anymore.”

Yi Ran racked her brains trying to figure out which friend this was. Her character in the novel was just cannon fodder originally, with a lot of detail left out. Aside from being enemies with Song Yu Meng, Yi Ran didn’t know anything else.

“My friend? Who?”

“I’m not sure who it is either.” Su Xiao Xiao said. “But she’s the one who gave you these sweets. She asked Xiao-Yu to give it to you, but Xiao-Yu said she’s your enemy, she didn’t want to give it to you, so she asked me.”

Yi Ran chuckled once she heard that.

“What are you laughing at, student Yi Ran?” Su Xiao Xiao scratched her head.

“Nothing, what else did Song Yu Meng… No!” Yi Ran interrupted herself, smiling. “What else did my friend say to Song Yu Meng?”

Su Xiao Xiao didn’t realise anything was wrong and considered for a while. “She told Xiao-Yu to tell you not to be angry with her anymore.”

“Is that so? Did she really say that?”

Su Xiao Xiao nodded confidently. “Yup, that’s what she said!”

Yi Ran couldn’t hold her smile in anymore, and she glanced over at Song Yu Meng.

She was hiding behind her English textbook, peeking out over the top to watch the two of them.

When she saw Yi Ran looking over at her, her heart raced and she hurriedly lowered her head to hide behind the book, not wanting Yi Ran to know she was looking at her.

After a few seconds, Song Yu Meng slowly peeked out again.

Yi Ran wasn’t looking at her anymore, she was talking to Su Xiao Xiao and even though Song Yu Meng tried her best to eavesdrop, the classroom was too noisy.

After a few seconds, Song Yu Meng saw Su Xiao Xiao nod to Yi Ran, then walk over towards herself. She looked at Su Xiao Xiao as if saying “so how’s the situation?”

Yi Ran sat sideways in her chair, leaning against the wall. She had one arm on the backrest of the chair and one resting on the jar. Looking at Song Yu Meng’s blur expression, she smirked.

She really didn’t expect the high and mighty girl to apologise, especially in this way.

She’s really proud.

“So how is it? Is Crazy Yi still angry?” Song Yu Meng asked seriously.

“I think she shouldn’t be angry already.”

Song Yu Meng sighed in relief. “That’s good.” At least her jar of lollipops didn’t go to waste.

“But student Yi Ran said, you have to go and apologise personally before she completely stops being angry.”

Song Yu Meng stood up and asked: “Crazy Yi asked me to apologise personally before she’ll let go of things? She really said that?”

“Yeah, that’s what she said.” Song Yu Meng’s troubled expression made Su Xiao Xiao a bit confused, and she started talking to herself. “Eh, shouldn’t it be asking that friend to apologise?”

“Um, it’s almost time for class. Xiao Xiao, you go back first.”

Su Xiao Xiao nodded innocently. “Alright, then I’ll head back first.”

After Song Yu Meng let Su Xiao Xiao go, her expression twisted and she looked incredibly disgruntled.

During English class, Song Yu Meng kept looking at Yi Ran with resentful eyes. Yi Ran was smiling so widely, she had to prop her English textbook up to hide her face.

Her eyes were scrunched up until it was almost a line, and there was plenty of mirth in those watery eyes. Just based off that, one could tell how happily Yi Ran was smiling.

From the start of the class till now, it had already been 10 minutes and Yi Ran kept holding the book up. Chen Ling was already staring at her for quite some time.

“Don’t use ‘like’ all the time. Use terms like ‘be keen on’ as a substitute, the standard of your essay would be lifted immediately……”

Right after this sentence, Chen Ling’s tone got harsh: “Yi Ran, you’re not paying attention again! Stand up!”

Yi Ran startled, and her book almost fell to the floor. Chen Ling looked like she wanted to kill someone and Yi Ran didn’t dare to dilly-dally. She immediately wiped the smile off her face and stood up, looking at Chen Ling carefully, waiting for the scolding.

“Yi Ran, tell the class, how should you answer the next question?”

“Um……” Yi Ran stood up straight to sneak a glance at the paper of the student in front of her, and just picked a few random answers. “Pick ACDFE.”

Everybody broke out in laughter, even Song Yu Meng, who had been sulking the whole class also started laughing.

Yi Ran was lost and she stood there dumbly, asking the person in front of her: “Did I say it wrong? Didn’t you write ACDFE on your paper?”

When the laughter died down, Chen Ling looked at Yi Ran like she was looking at an idiot and said: “I’m begging you, pay some attention in class. We’re already discussing the fill-in-the-blanks questions.”

Another round of laughter ensued and Yi Ran smiled at herself too.

Amidst all the laughter, two people’s gazes met. Yi Ran flushed and Song Yu Meng felt she looked incredibly silly.

After English class, Yi Ran stayed put, sitting sideways in her chair and leaning against the wall while waiting for Song Yu Meng.

Song Yu Meng looked over many times angrily at this irritating person, but still went over in the end.

She immediately went on the offensive: “Crazy Yi, you’re being unreasonable! I clearly gave you a jar of lollipops, why are you still mad at this lady?”

“Do I look like I’m mad at you?” Yi Ran smiled radiantly, with no sign of anger at all.

“You fooled me!” Song Yu Meng was both upset and annoyed, sounding as if she was about to cry.

“It’s not important.” Yi Ran looked at Song Yu Meng questioningly. “Tell me, did you eat the medicine? Are you still in pain?”

“Ate it! It doesn’t hurt!” She still had that discontented expression on.

Yi Ran smiled and hummed, feeling like Song Yu Meng was acting a bit spoiled. Compared to her usual arrogant demeanour, there was a bit more softness and coquettishness, making Yi Ran want to bully her.

Yi Ran kept staring at her with a soft smile, not saying anything, but the look in her eyes was unfathomable.

The whole classroom was rowdy, but the two of them painted a completely different picture, calm and quiet, as if they were separate from the room.

“What are you, you looking at? Does this lady have words on her face or what?” Song Yu Meng flushed under Yi Ran’s stare and even stuttered.

“I can’t look at you if you don’t have words on your face? Just because you’re pretty, can’t I?” Yi Ran put both her index fingers and thumbs together into two circles, one in front of the other, almost like a looking glass and put her hands in front of her right eye, closing her left one. “If you’re not ugly, you should be pretty good-looking right?”

“Scram! Are you crazy!” Song Yu Meng’s face turned a bright red from anger. “You’re the ugly one, you’re the ugliest!”

Su Xiao Xiao and He Xiao Meng were sitting in the third row next to each other. They heard Song Yu Meng calling Yi Ran ugly and thought, could it be that they were blind?

“Song Yu Meng’s just being spiteful right? I think Yi Ran’s quite good-looking.”

Su Xiao Xiao looked behind and nodded. “Yeah yeah, I think Xiao-Yu’s just being mean.”

“I must be out of my mind to come over and speak to a crazy person like you!”

Song Yu Meng walked back to her seat and sat down, giving Yi Ran an angry stare and repeating mentally: Crazy Yi must be sprouting rubbish! Stupid! Ignore her, ignore her!

After consoling herself for 10 minutes, she finally calmed down, but she realised another problem. Yi Ran didn’t bring up the matter of her going to watch the badminton match tomorrow.

She couldn’t decide, should she go tomorrow or not?

If she went, she was scared Yi Ran would say “it was just a joke, you actually came”. Then where would she be able to hide her face? If she didn’t go, she was worried Yi Ran would get angry again.

Aiya, how troublesome! Why couldn’t Crazy Yi just make things clear! Song Yu Meng grabbed her hair in annoyance, and blamed it all on Yi Ran again.

……

– Physical education class the next day –

The basketball court was as crowded as usual, with the most number of students spectating. The difference was that the usual spectator when Liu Luo Yang was playing wasn’t there.

Song Yu Meng was at the badminton court watching Yi Ran’s match.

She had considered for a long time, and eventually dragged Su Xiao Xiao along since she thought it would look too stupid to stand there alone.

“You actually really came.” Yi Ran was pleased, even somewhat surprised. Honestly, she never had any hope that Song Yu Meng would actually come to watch her play.

Yi Ran wanted to express her pleasant surprise with her words, but Song Yu Meng heard it as Yi Ran mocking her.

“Oh, then you mean I shouldn’t have come? Fine, this lady is leaving!” Song Yu Meng started to pull Su Xiao Xiao away.

Yi Ran was quicker though and blocked her path, explaining hastily: “Did you misunderstand me? It’s not like I don’t welcome you coming here.”

Song Yu Meng turned her head aside. “Hmph, that’s better.”

“Relax, you won’t be wasting your time watching me play. You’ll definitely get to watch an exciting match.” Yi Ran smiled confidently, tossing the shuttlecock in her left hand up and down.

Song Yu Meng provoked her: “Cheh! Who doesn’t know how to brag? Keep on boasting, Crazy Yi, you might not even know how to play!”

At this moment, He Xiao Meng who was standing on the other half of the court walked over to back Yi Ran up: “She’s really good at badminton. I can’t even say for certain that I can win.”

“How good can she be? I’ve never seen it anyway.” Song Yu Meng refused to believe it.

Su Xiao Xiao jumped up to speak for Yi Ran too, in an idolising tone: “Xiao-Yu, student Yi Ran really is very good. I’ve seen it! A lot of guys can’t even beat her!”

After being praised by two people, Yi Ran was feeling smug and she decided to show off: “Hear that? Even your best friend says I’m good. Why don’t you praise me too?”

Song Yu Meng gnashed her teeth together, wanting to jump up and punch her.

“Praise you, as if! You care to guarantee that you can beat He Xiao Meng?”

“Then if I win, you have to admit I’m good, how about that?”

“One game to decide the winner. If you win, I’ll admit it.”

“Alright! Then I shall show you a textbook perfect game!”

The three of them looked at He Xiao Meng.

She wanted to cry. You guys can argue all you want, why did you drag me into this mess?!

Yi Ran stood on the right half of the court, shuttlecock in her left hand and racquet in her right. The shuttlecock flew over the net into the first third of the court.

It wasn’t easy to hit, so He Xiao Meng advanced and hit the shuttlecock back, aiming for the middle of the court.

Yi Ran smiled, it was the opportunity she was waiting for. She retreated and waited for the shuttlecock to be around the height of her head before she hit it hard.

The shuttlecock flew over and landed right at the edge of the court. He Xiao Meng didn’t even have time to react, she watched as the shuttlecock flew over her head.

Su Xiao Xiao exclaimed in amazement and said: “Student Yi Ran’s really good!”

Song Yu Meng folded her arms and sulked. She didn’t even look at the shuttlecock, she was watching the people playing. She noticed Yi Ran looked at He Xiao Meng, and suddenly recalled that Yi Ran seemed to only be playing with He Xiao Meng lately.

Yi Ran won, and usually, she wouldn’t feel anything about it, but today, she was a little happy.

Yi Ran held her racquet and walked to the side with He Xiao Meng, who was asking: “Why didn’t you play according to the normal routine?” Yi Ran smiled and didn’t answer.

“How is it? Are you going to admit I’m good now?” Yi Ran smiled, unable to hide the pride in her voice.

Song Yu Meng tilted her head, asking arrogantly: “Is that good? It’s pretty average.” No way she was going to admit Yi Ran was good.

Yi Ran was about to reply when screams came from the basketball court. Liu Luo Yang’s three pointer had gone in.

Song Yu Meng’s attention was already stolen. Seeing the bunch of screaming girls, she couldn’t believe she actually came to see Crazy Yi play instead.

Song Yu Meng’s gaze was following Liu Luo Yang and Yi Ran was unhappy, standing in front of her. With her line of sight blocked, Song Yu Meng looked at Yi Ran doubtfully.

“What?”

“What do you think? You’re here to watch me play, why are you looking at other people?”

Song Yu Meng tossed her hair to the side angrily and Yi Ran waved the racquet twice, asking: “Do you know how to play badminton? Want me to teach you?”

“No, this lady has no interest in badminton.”

“No interest, or you can’t do it?” Yi Ran provoked her intentionally, and added on a line: “No way, badminton is so easy and you can’t even play?”

Song Yu Meng’s self-esteem couldn’t take such a slight, Yi Ran successfully enraged her.

“Who said I can’t play?! How could I not know how to, badminton is so easy!”

“Then let’s play a match?”

“Sure, do you think this lady is scared of you?”

Yi Ran smiled, she knew Song Yu Meng wouldn’t be able to say no once provoked. She gave her racquet to Song Yu Meng, borrowing He Xiao Meng’s to use.

Snatching the shuttlecock from Yi Ran’s hand, Song Yu Meng said: “I want to serve first.”

“Alright alright, you can serve first.”

“That’s more like it!”

Yi Ran smiled helplessly. He Xiao Meng looked a bit closer, why did she feel like that smile had a bit of indulgence in it?

Both of them got into position and Song Yu Meng started her serve.

Although she had never played badminton before, she had seen Yi Ran play in the past when she was walking around the fields with Su Xiao Xiao, and she remembered the actions.

She threw the shuttlecock in the air first, then swatted gently with the racquet and the shuttlecock flew over to Yi Ran’s side.

Just as she was feeling proud at her first successful serve, Yi Ran immediately retaliated with a swing and the shuttlecock flew back quickly and accurately, landing at Song Yu Meng’s feet.

The game was over as soon as it started, and Su Xiao Xiao and He Xiao Meng were both dumbfounded at the side. It’s a bit too fast, isn’t it?

Feeling her pride take a bit hit, Song Yu Meng pointed at Yi Ran with the racquet and said unhappily: “Crazy Yi, what are you doing spiking the shuttlecock!”

“Then I won’t spike next time!” Yi Ran shouted back, smiling.

Pouting, Song Yu Meng picked up the shuttlecock and served it again.

This time, Yi Ran indeed didn’t spike, but she used another move to end the game.

Every match after that was the same, Yi Ran used different techniques to beat Song Yu Meng, who couldn’t react and return the shuttlecock at all.

The shuttlecock was having an even worse time than Song Yu Meng. Because Yi Ran was using so much strength, the smooth feathers had been hit ragged.

After the n-th time of being beaten, Song Yu Meng walked over and stuffed the shuttlecock into Yi Ran’s hand, saying unhappily: “You’re doing this on purpose! I’m not playing with you anymore!”

“You only just realised I’m doing it on purpose, hahaha!”

Song Yu Meng raised a hand to punch her, but Yi Ran dodged.

“So be it if you don’t want to play, but now you want to hit me? Can you even reach me?”

Angered and embarrassed, Song Yu Meng turned away, acting like she didn’t care, but her heart was burning with annoyance.

Yi Ran continued playing with He Xiao Meng after that, while Su Xiao Xiao and Song Yu Meng watched by the side. Su Xiao Xiao’s attention was completely on the shuttlecock, while Song Yu Meng’s gaze was on the person playing.

She stared at Yi Ran. Tall, with a high nose bridge, a defined jawline, looking strong and charismatic as she played badminton, and her smile was just as warm and inviting as the sun shining on her.

She admitted to herself that Yi Ran and the word “ugly” had nothing to do with each other. She actually really liked Yi Ran’s shallow dimples. It would be better if she wasn’t so annoying, Song Yu Meng thought to herself.

She took a look at He Xiao Meng and asked Su Xiao Xiao casually: “Are the two of them very close? How come I always see Crazy Yi playing with her?”

“Yeah, they’re always playing badminton together. They should be pretty close.”

Song Yu Meng let out an “oh” blandly, and Su Xiao Xiao didn’t realise anything was up.

As the bell rang, Yi Ran was incredibly thirsty, but she forgot to get water beforehand.

On the way back to the classroom, the girls wanted to give Liu Luo Yang water. Yi Ran saw it and intentionally teased Song Yu Meng: “Look at how sensible those girls are, then look at you. You didn’t even bring any water when coming to watch me play, how stingy.”

Song Yu Meng “oh”-ed forcefully and said: “If other girls are so sensible, ask them to come watch you play instead. As if I want to watch you so badly.” She put on an air of being forced and said: “If you want water, go snatch theirs. You’re that shameless anyway.”

Yi Ran heard the serious tone and couldn’t differentiate if Song Yu Meng was joking or being serious. Besides, it felt like she was a little angry.

“Why would I snatch their water? If I was going to snatch water, I’d only take yours, alright?” Yi Ran said, half jokingly.

Song Yu Meng looked at her expressionlessly before walking back to the classroom, a little faster.

Yi Ran stood frozen for a couple seconds, wondering what’s wrong with her, before following behind and panicking slightly: She can’t be angry, right???

The two of them picked up the pace, while Su Xiao Xiao and He Xiao Meng also walked a little quicker, not knowing what was going on with the two.

Song Yu Meng got to the classroom first, and when Yi Ran reached, she saw her standing by the carton of water.

Giving the cardboard carton a kick, Song Yu Meng said: “If you want water, take it yourself. Don’t say this lady is stingy, not even giving you water after watching you play badminton.”

Yi Ran looked at the carton, then at Song Yu Meng and laughed.

“What are you laughing at? I’m already giving you water, what else do you want?” Song Yu Meng said angrily.

Yi Ran couldn’t keep the smile off her face. “But you said I could forget about ever taking this water?”

“You believe that?” Song Yu Meng rolled her eyes.

“Of course, how could I not believe what this miss says!” Yi Ran said seriously. “This is miss Song’s water, I wouldn’t dare to take it.”

Song Yu Meng was speechless. She grabbed a marker out of her pencil case and wrote “Crazy Yi” on the box.

Capping the marker, she said frustratedly: “There, now you dare to drink it, right?”

Yi Ran smiled and snatched the marker, writing “Yi Ran” on top of “Crazy Yi”. Then, she wrote “Scaredy Cat” below “Song Yu Meng” and even drew a circle around it.

Seeing what Yi Ran wrote for her, Song Yu Meng was incredibly annoyed.

“Hey! Crazy Yi! You better not push your luck!”

Yi Ran grinned at her and took a bottle out, gulping down most of it. After capping it, she said: “Your water’s really sweet. Thanks, Scaredy Cat.”

Song Yu Meng immediately blushed and said weakly: “You, you’re crazy!”

……

There was around 50 lollipops in the jar Song Yu Meng gave her, and Yi Ran was eating sweets practically every lesson.

But if you stroll by the river frequently, your shoes will eventually get wet.

On Friday, Yi Ran got caught eating a lollipop by Tang Xiang Ping.

“Yi Ran, you’re eating in class again. How many times have I said it’s not allowed, why can’t you just listen!” Tang Xiang Ping clapped her hands together, a stern look on her face.

Yi Ran lowered her head, listening to Tang Seng’s scolding with the lollipop still in her mouth.

Song Yu Meng was watching the scene unfold with a bit of glee; her enemy was finally being scolded by Tang Seng.

“It’s not even the first time I’ve seen you eating lollipops. Since you like it so much, go buy a stick for all fifty of your classmates. Go now.”

Yi Ran pouted, thinking: So unlucky! But she still took her card and headed out.

“Wait!” Yi Ran was almost at the rear door when Tang Xiang Ping stopped her and pointed at her desk. “You have such a big jar of lollipops, just share this jar then.”

“No!” Yi Ran blurted out and ran to block the jar from view.

Everybody had a look of confusion, including Tang Xiang Ping.

Yi Ran rushed to explain: “This jar of candy, it’s, it’s not nice! I’ll go buy Fujiya lollipops for you, those are nicer.” She swallowed hard, her heart racing, fearful someone would notice something wrong.

Tang Xiang Ping saw how anxious she was and teased: “Fine, fine, what are you so worried for? Not like I’ll force you to give us your candy. Alright, if you want to buy Fujiya lollipops, go ahead. It’s even more expensive but you’re still willing to pay.”

Yi Ran smiled dryly and ran out to buy the sweets.

When Tang Xiang Ping walked out of class, Song Yu Meng sighed in relief. Earlier, when she said to distribute the candy in the jar, Song Yu Meng’s heart had leapt to her throat. She bought that jar for Yi Ran, of course she wouldn’t want Yi Ran to give it to other people.

After a short while, Yi Ran came back victoriously with two bags of Fujiya lollipops and a bag of random Fujiya candies as everybody stared at her.

She started distributing from the fourth row. When she got to Xu Yuan, Xu Yuan took the candy from her hand and said “thanks” politely, and Yi Ran also smiled politely and returned a “you’re welcome”.

To other people, it might have seemed like a very normal thing. But to Song Yu Meng, it was different. To her, Xu Yuan touched Yi Ran’s hand on purpose, she was trying to seduce Yi Ran! Yi Ran smiled at Xu Yuan, she must be interested!

Song Yu Meng held a pen in her hand, opening the cap with a “pa” and capping it back with a “pa”. Her heart felt unsettled.

Crazy Yi had never smiled at her like that before.

When it came to her row, Yi Ran stole a glance out of her peripheral vision. When she noticed Song Yu Meng was playing with her pen and not paying attention, she quickly reached into the jar of lollipops she had and took out an orange-flavoured one to hide in her pocket, then continued distributing the sweets.

Yi Ran started distributing to the first row of the first group and Song Yu Meng stopped playing with her pen. She propped her head on her hand and stared at the ceiling. It seemed like she was daydreaming but she was actually waiting for Yi Ran to give her the candy.

Yi Ran had bought 50 sticks of Fujiya lollipops, which was enough for the whole class, but she played a trick. She gave Su Xiao Xiao two sticks, meaning Song Yu Meng’s one was actually given to her.

“Why are you giving Xiao Xiao two sticks?” He Xiao Meng asked curiously, and Su Xiao Xiao was confused too.

“Then I’ll give mine to you, you have two sticks too.” Yi Ran put another stick on He Xiao Meng’s table and continued distributing the sweets.

She didn’t notice that He Xiao Meng’s face had turned red.

Yi Ran hadn’t gotten to her yet, and Song Yu Meng didn’t look at her either. She still had to act like she didn’t know she was getting candy, her hands were all sore from the clenching and she had pretty much almost stared a hole into the ceiling. In her heart, she had already complained god-knows-how-many times: why is it so slow? Why hasn’t Crazy Yi finished distributing the candy!!!

Yi Ran finally gave the last two people their candy and Song Yu Meng thought she would finally be next. But Yi Ran acted as if she hadn’t seen her, and was about to loop around her and head back to her seat.

Anxious, she shouted at Yi Ran’s back: “Hey, where’s mine?”

Yi Ran smiled, she was waiting for this sentence! She turned around and said apologetically: “Sorry, all the Fujiya candies are given out……”

Yi Ran had snuck her hand into her pocket and held onto the lollipop, intending to toss it to her and say “so I can only give you this”, but Song Yu Meng beat her to it.

“Good! This lady doesn’t care for your sweets anyway, even if you gave it to me, I’d throw it away!”

Yi Ran’s hand tightened around the lollipop and her smile faded away slowly. With everybody staring at her, she stood in place for a few seconds before she hummed softly and walked back to her seat with a forced smile.

If Yi Ran had looked angry, or scolded her, Song Yu Meng wouldn’t be feeling so anxious. But Yi Ran sat at her seat quietly with no expression on her face. Song Yu Meng was panicking inside.

She knew she had gone overboard with her words, but it was like throwing water out. There was no room left for regret.

Twenty minutes into the lesson, Yi Ran’s face was still blank. Song Yu Meng felt like she was sitting on a bed of nails, she felt uncomfortable all over. Usually, she would zone out and stare at Liu Luo Yang, but today, her attention was completely on Yi Ran.

She even wanted to apologise to Yi Ran in person, saying “it was just words of anger, don’t be angry anymore”, but she couldn’t make herself put aside her pride.

She also considered buying another jar of lollipops for Yi Ran, but she quickly decided against it. Using the same method twice wouldn’t be very effective.

Ahhhhh it was so frustrating! She shouldn’t have spoken in anger! After she freaked out mentally, she slumped over the table, wondering what to do.

Yi Ran saw her actions and sighed. She wrapped her fingers around the lollipop again, and thought for a long time but decided to not take it out.

She’ll give it to her later.

After the last period, Tang Xiang Ping reminded them to be safe and released the class.

Yi Ran slung her bag over her shoulder and exited through the rear door without any hesitation or expression on her face.

Song Yu Meng had been debating with herself all afternoon on whether she should apologise, and just as she made up her mind to talk to Yi Ran, a gust of wind blew by her ear, along with a faint scent of jasmine.

She suddenly realised it was Yi Ran leaving and immediately picked up her bag to give chase, not even caring about the maths homework that was being handed out.

She saw Yi Ran in the distance. She was wearing a thin, grey hoodie with the hood up. Walking along with her head slightly lowered, her back view looked a little depressed.

Song Yu Meng wanted to run up and apologise, but seeing Yi Ran like this, she lost her courage. She trailed behind Yi Ran, keeping a distance of five metres.

Yi Ran knew Song Yu Meng was following her, but she acted like she didn’t know. She wanted to see when Song Yu Meng would come up to her.

Song Yu Meng followed Yi Ran all the way out of the school gate, but still hadn’t built up the courage yet to speak to her.

When she was passing by a small alleyway, a punk with bleached blonde hair jumped out and blocked Yi Ran’s way. Yi Ran paused, looking alertly at the guy. Song Yu Meng also stopped a few metres behind.

Song Yu Meng saw the gangster as well, he looked fierce and he had a baseball bat with him. It was clear he was there for a fight.

“So you’re Yi Ran? You’re in for a beating.” He pointed the baseball bat at Yi Ran.

Yi Ran’s eyebrows knitted together. She had no idea who he was, so it must have been the original character who offended him.

“What bad luck!” She spat out under her breath and stared at him, so he couldn’t catch her off guard.

Just as Song Yu Meng was starting to worry for her, Yi Ran backed up a few steps and pulled her behind her body. She said angrily: “If you don’t want to be punched, scram behind me and hide!” She stared at Song Yu Meng with a ferocious look but pointed to the safe area behind her.

Song Yu Meng knew Yi Ran was still angry at her, but being spoken to like that, it was hard not to feel upset.

In such a dangerous situation though, Song Yu Meng still obediently listened to Yi Ran and went in the direction she pointed. The alleyway was long and a bit dark, with nobody there. Yi Ran had pointed at the entrance of the alleyway, which was still safe.

“Turn your head around!” Yi Ran’s tone was bordering on demanding, she didn’t want her to see herself in a fight with others.

Song Yu Meng turned around and complained softly: “What the hell! You’re clearly concerned about me, would it kill you to be nicer? Might as well get beaten to death!”

Alright, it was just her speaking in anger. If Yi Ran really fought with that punk, of course Song Yu Meng would hope for her to be safe. Even if she hated Yi Ran to death, she wouldn’t want her to be hurt.

“Are you bloody done talking!” The gangster was out of patience, twirling the wooden baseball bat as he walked towards Yi Ran menacingly.

Song Yu Meng couldn’t see what was going on, but she heard the bat whoosh through the air and a swoosh of air that seemed quite forceful. She clasped her hands together, palms all sweaty, praying in her heart: Crazy Yi better not get injured!

Yi Ran definitely took part in a lot of fights before. She might not have been able to win if it was a group, but just one hooligan didn’t pose much of a problem to her.

Yi Ran dodged the bat and landed a punch square on the guy’s face. Yi Ran was strong and she used all her strength in that punch, resulting in the gangster immediately falling to the floor.

She didn’t do anything else, merely raising her fists and moving closer as the guy struggled to his feet. He thought Yi Ran was going to punch him again and he certainly didn’t want to receive a second punch, so he turned and fled, leaving behind his baseball bat.

Yi Ran didn’t give chase either.

“Hey!”

Hearing the familiar voice, Song Yu Meng turned around and caught the small object that was tossed her way.

“I’m treating you to a lollipop.”

Looking at the orange-flavoured lollipop in her hand, she was reminded of what happened earlier. Yi Ran had given out sweets but left out her share, and she immediately felt bitter again.

“What do you mean by giving it to me now? Why didn’t you do it then? Also, don’t you know this lady hates sweet stuff?”

“Why should I know? Are we very close?” Yi Ran slung her bag over her shoulder and interlaced her fingers behind her head, walking slowly without even glancing back to Song Yu Meng. She said half-jokingly: “If you don’t like it, you can throw it away. Besides, you don’t care for it anyway, right?”

The last sentence sent Song Yu Meng into anxiety again, she knew Yi Ran was definitely still mad at her or she wouldn’t say such things.

“Petty.” She was quietly complaining about Yi Ran, but she followed behind, clutching the lollipop tightly.

She was just speaking in anger, how could she really throw it away? She blamed Yi Ran too, couldn’t she realise she was just being a bit spoiled?

Yi Ran walked with her hands behind her head, but she secretly turned slightly to see if Song Yu Meng was following.

Seeing her following closely behind with her cheeks puffed up in anger, holding the lollipop, Yi Ran smiled and continued walking silently.

This Scaredy Cat said she didn’t want it, but she actually didn’t throw it away!

Ahead, there was a traffic light that took a minute to change colours and Yi Ran came to a stop. Song Yu Meng also stopped a distance away, her left hand holding her bag strap and her right wrapped around the lollipop. She was biting her lip and looking at Yi Ran, as if thinking about something.

With 20 seconds left and Song Yu Meng still yet to walk to her side, Yi Ran got a bit impatient and turned around: “You’re still not coming here?”

Song Yu Meng immediately jogged over, her heart pounding. She was nervous, initially thinking Yi Ran would say something else, but she just turned away and continued staring at the traffic light.

Waiting for the green man, but also waiting for something else.

“About what happened this morning, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have said that.” Song Yu Meng turned away, her hair falling around her face to cover up her blushing cheeks. After a while, she stammered: “Can you…… not be angry anymore?”

The green man came on and Yi Ran smiled before walking along with the crowd.

Song Yu Meng felt even more troubled. Was Yi Ran still upset? But she had already apologised, was it that serious?

“Petty.” Song Yu Meng scolded her again, but followed her closely.

“Why are you so unforgiving, didn’t I apologise already……” Yi Ran suddenly turned towards her and stopped in her tracks. Song Yu Meng couldn’t stop in time and bumped into Yi Ran, stepping on the edge of the ledge of the sidewalk.

The green man had turned red as cars started whizzing by. It was the peak commuting period, so cars were almost brushing by Song Yu Meng as she stood there in a daze.

Yi Ran frowned and pulled her onto the safety of the sidewalk, annoyed: “There are cars behind, don’t you know you should move?”

Song Yu Meng pulled her hand away and asked seriously: “Are you still angry?”

“Not anymore.” Yi Ran tried to keep her face as neutral as possible. The truth was, since the time Song Yu Meng held the lollipop and followed her, her anger had already dissipated.

“But what sort of apology is that? You can’t even say those two words?” Yi Ran raised an eyebrow.

Song Yu Meng lowered her head to stare at her feet, her hair falling like a curtain to hide her face. Yi Ran waited patiently.

“Thank you……”

It was so soft Yi Ran was wondering if it was a figment of her imagination.

“Thanking me?” She pressed on. “What’s there to thank?”

Song Yu Meng finally raised her head and met Yi Ran’s gaze. “Thanks for pulling me back just now, and for protecting me.” She looked away again, playing with her fingers, a blush spreading across her cheeks.

Yi Ran chuckled: “It was convenient for me, no need to thank.” She bent her waist slightly to look at Song Yu Meng’s face and asked: “It’s just thanking someone, why’s your face red? Shy?”

“Who’s shy?!” Song Yu Meng waved her fist in the air and shouted, all the passersby looking at her strangely.

Yi Ran smiled at her then continued walking with her hands behind her head, the smile never leaving her face.

Song Yu Meng didn’t follow her either, she knew Yi Ran wasn’t angry at her anymore.

……

In the blink of an eye, the school term was already halfway over, and it was time for the mid-term exam.

“This time, the mid-term exam is important, all of you need to take it seriously.” Tang Xiang Ping pushed her glasses up before continuing. “No more answering questions with nonsense, I still remember the person who wrote rubbish for the last geography exam……” She didn’t name and shame the person, but her eyes flashed a warning at Yi Ran.

After class, Song Yu Meng went over to mock Yi Ran.

“She’s talking about you, telling you not to write rubbish.” She snickered while teasing Yi Ran.

Ever since that incident, Song Yu Meng loved to pick on Yi Ran and she would never pass up on a chance to laugh at her. Yi Ran was the same, always trying to prank Song Yu Meng.

Yi Ran smirked and said: “You’re one to talk. Didn’t you also draw nonsense on your maths paper? You’re just lucky the teacher who marked your paper didn’t tell Tang Seng, or else you would be getting scolded too.”

Song Yu Meng said it as if it was expected: “Hmph, that just goes to show how lucky this lady is!”

Yi Ran said good-naturedly: “How about this? Let’s take the exam seriously this time and see who can score better.”

“This lady is too lazy to compete with you, what a waste of time.”

Yi Ran looked her up and down then said slyly: “Are you just scared to compete because you’re afraid of getting embarrassed when I score better than you?”

“Nonsense! Clearly, I’m the one who’s not interested in competing with you!” Song Yu Meng’s face flushed, but she still retorted in an attempt to hide the truth.

“Alright alright, forget it then.” Yi Ran folded her arms and bent over slightly to get closer to Song Yu Meng. “But there’s no way you’re escaping from the fact that you’re going to rank last for maths.”

When Yi Ran had drawn closer, Song Yu Meng had taken a step back to maintain the distance between them and her face reddened, but who knew if it was from anger or something else.

“You’ll be the last-ranked!”

Song Yu Meng stormed back to her seat. She hadn’t left for long before Xu Yuan came over and spoke to Yi Ran since she was fetching some water. “Are you prepared? Do you think you’ll do well this exam?”

“How prepared can I be? It’s all the same.” Yi Ran stopped writing on the paper and held her hands behind her head, looking as if she didn’t have a worry in the world. “I’m already prepared to rank in the bottom again. I really envy you studious kids, you can get first place just by moving your pen.”

Xu Yuan smiled gently and said: “If you’re willing to spend time studying, you could get first too. If you don’t know anything, come ask me.”

“Oh, that’s perfect. I’m actually stuck at this question right here.” Yi Ran pointed at one of the questions on the geography paper on her table.

“This question……” Xu Yuan looked at it for a few seconds while thinking of how to explain it, but the bell rang. “I’ll come and explain it to you after this period ends.”

Yi Ran nodded her head. She was only asking since it was convenient anyway, she didn’t really care if she heard the explanation or not.

Since the teacher hadn’t arrived even after the bell rang, Yi Ran took out a lollipop. While checking the rear door for spying teachers, she noticed Song Yu Meng was actually staring at her with an annoyed look.

Odd.

Yi Ran felt a chill run down her spine, wondering what she did to irritate Song Yu Meng, but aside from speaking to Xu Yuan, she couldn’t think of anything else.

It can’t be that even that was enough to annoy her?

But on second thought, Song Yu Meng hated Xu Yuan the most, and she always asked Yi Ran to ignore Xu Yuan.

But……

So what if she spoke to Xu Yuan? Why did she have to be so obedient to Song Yu Meng? If she asked Song Yu Meng to ignore Liu Luo Yang, would she do it?

Yi Ran sucked on her lollipop while staring at Song Yu Meng with an equally annoyed look.

After staring at each other for a few seconds, Song Yu Meng looked away first, with a bit of an upset expression.

Yi Ran figured that if nothing went wrong, she would definitely come over to find Yi Ran after the period.

As expected, Song Yu Meng walked over after the lesson ended with an unpleasant expression.

“Hey, what did that woman say to you? Did she tell you to ask her if there are questions you’re unclear about?”

Song Yu Meng’s tone wasn’t pleasant at all, but Yi Ran wanted to laugh. The more unhappy Song Yu Meng was, the more Yi Ran wanted to laugh.

“How did you know? Do you have ears that can hear everything that the wind blows[1]?”

“Your head! You’re not allowed to ask her anything, she’s not a good person!”

Yi Ran stifled a laugh and looked at her, feeling that if she was compared to Xu Yuan, Song Yu Meng, who would explode at the slightest provocation is even less like a good person.

“Our class president is just being nice, she said she’ll even come over later to explain the question to me.” Yi Ran purposely took out the geography test and pointed to the question. “See, this one.”

Song Yu Meng snatched the paper and without even seeing the question, she said: “This question is so easy, you can’t even do it?”

Yi Ran held her hands up in resignation. “Yeah, I’m that dumb, I can’t even do a simple question. Then why don’t you explain it to me.”

She thought Song Yu Meng would refuse, but who knew she would really start explaining.

Xu Yuan came over as promised to help explain, but found Song Yu Meng standing by Yi Ran’s side, with a look of hatred in her eyes.

“This……” Xu Yuan pointed at Song Yu Meng and looked at Yi Ran, not knowing what to say.

Song Yu Meng was incredibly annoyed, she had just said two sentences and she got interrupted. When she saw it was Xu Yuan, she got even more irritated.

“What are you interrupting for? Can’t you see this lady is explaining to Crazy Yi?”

Yi Ran raised a fist to her face, trying to hide her smile. Xu Yuan walked away.

After she walked a distance, Yi Ran put her fist down and smiled: “Well, she’s gone now. You can continue.”

“It’s not difficult, you just… just…” After stammering for a while, Song Yu Meng saw it was actually a Gaokao question.

So it was a question for Gaokao, no wonder she couldn’t figure it out at all. If she knew, she wouldn’t have been bragging.

Song Yu Meng’s face was red and Yi Ran finally laughed, pushing her head with one finger. “Just say it if you don’t know. Bragging about how it’s so easy, now you’re mocking yourself right?”

“No laughing! Or this lady will call someone to beat you up!”

Yi Ran stifled her laughter till Song Yu Meng left, then she laughed freely.

Scaredy Cat really knew how to bluff. When it came to a real fight, she still ended up hiding behind Yi Ran.

[1] 顺风耳 – This is the name of a deity in Chinese mythology, basically his power is to be able to hear anything that’s carried by the wind. He’s usually accompanied by 千里眼 or Thousand Miles Eyes, another deity who can see anything in a thousand miles.