Chapter 31

Ch.31

The two of them finally snuck back into school when it was the evening self-study period, but unfortunately, they had just flipped over the wall when a patrolling Tang Xiang Ping caught them.

– Teacher’s office –

“You guys are great, not attending class but sneaking out of school to go play! You really can’t be bothered about school rules!” Tang Xiang Ping raged.

Both of them had their heads lowered. Glancing at each other, they wanted to smile.

After a long lecture, Tang Xiang Ping asked: “Speak up! Who was the mastermind?”

Song Yu Meng raised her head and looked at the form teacher, not wanting to sell out Yi Ran. But Yi Ran took all the blame onto herself.

“Me, me, me. I was the one who taunted and dared Song Yu Meng to skip class with me. It’s my fault, if you want to punish someone, just punish me.”

Yi Ran smiled, not looking as if she was worried about getting punished at all. Song Yu Meng looked at her in concern, with a sudden warmth gushing in her heart. She had never expected Yi Ran to take all the blame.

“You’re pretty righteous, huh.” Tang Xiang Ping pushed up her spectacles and continued. “But you both must be punished. Flipping over the wall is a severe breach of the school rules. If there’s another such occasion, I’m going to have to invite your parents down. I’ll let it go this time. You’ll both be doing a week’s worth of classroom cleaning duties.”

“We won’t do it again.” Yi Ran swore, and Tang Xiang Ping let them leave.

On the way back to the classroom, the silent Song Yu Meng suddenly stopped walking.

“Eh, why aren’t you following?” Yi Ran stopped as well.

Looking at her, Song Yu Meng asked: “Why did you take the blame for me?”

“Who took the blame for you?” Yi Ran folded her arms and laughed. “I was the one who dared you to do it. I was just telling the truth.”

Song Yu Meng looked at her, not saying anything.

“What? Are you moved?” Yi Ran smiled. “Are you going to thank me again?”

“You wish.” Song Yu Meng said haughtily, walking past Yi Ran. When she was sure Yi Ran couldn’t see, she smiled.

She was indeed moved.

……

The next day after class, everybody was jostling to get to the canteen for lunch, but Yi Ran and Song Yu Meng had to stay behind to clean.

The student committee would check the blackboard the most stringently, there couldn’t be a bit of dust on it or points would be deducted. Therefore, once class was released, Yi Ran immediately ran to snatch the broom and sweep the floor. Song Yu Meng was left with cleaning the blackboard.

It was long and wide, and Song Yu Meng’s arms were all sore. The most annoying thing was that she wasn’t very tall, so she couldn’t reach the top of the blackboard.

Glancing at Yi Ran, she felt upset. She should do this kind of easy work, Crazy Yi was so tall, shouldn’t she be cleaning the blackboard? How did she have the face to snatch the floor-sweeping duty?

Shameless!

The more she thought about it, the more sullen she felt. But the work had to be done, so she turned around and stood on her tiptoes, cleaning the board and mentally scolding Yi Ran.

Yi Ran had finished sweeping the first and second group and as she stood there resting, she looked at Song Yu Meng.

She saw her standing on her tiptoes and waving her arms to clean the board, and she realised she felt a bit reluctant to subject her to it.

Putting down the broom, she walked to the platform and stood behind Song Yu Meng, reaching out to take the cloth from her and continue cleaning the top of the blackboard.

Song Yu Meng was diligently cleaning the blackboard and didn’t realise Yi Ran was standing behind her. She turned around once the cloth was taken from her hand.

She was immediately greeted with Yi Ran’s high nose bridge and clean jawline. She could smell the jasmine scent from Yi Ran’s body.

But the most important thing was, the two of them were standing extremely close. She had almost kissed Yi Ran when she turned around.

Song Yu Meng’s eyes widened and her heart started pounding erratically. She quickly turned around again and hid her face to avoid anybody seeing her blushing.

Yi Ran was focused on cleaning the blackboard and didn’t notice Song Yu Meng’s actions. “What are you still standing around for? I’m helping you clean the blackboard, go and sweep the floor?”

It was only when she lowered her head to speak to Song Yu Meng that she realised how intimate their position was. If Song Yu meng was to turn around and speak to her, wouldn’t it be a kabedon!

Yi Ran could smell the scent of her shampoo and her face reddened. She silently moved aside to give Song Yu Meng space to move.

Song Yu Meng rushed out and kept her head down as she started sweeping the floor. The classroom was silent as the two of them worked.

When her heart had calmed down, she secretly turned around to look at Yi Ran. All she could think about was how it looked like when she had almost kissed Yi Ran.

Her face turned red again.

How should she say it? She was glad she didn’t kiss Yi Ran, or else it would have been crazy awkward.

But at the same time, she felt a sliver of disappointment. She touched her lips and wondered: If I really kissed Crazy Yi, what would that feel like?

……

After the two of them were done cleaning the classroom, they could finally go for lunch.

But they were late, and most of the food was already sold out. All that was left was two portions of ribs and some vegetables.

“Aunty, I want two portions of ribs.” Yi Ran smiled and held two fingers up, cruelly wanting all of the meat and leaving none for Song Yu Meng.

“Aren’t you being too shameless! Would you die if you left one portion for me?!” Song Yu Meng angrily scolded.

Yi Ran didn’t seem to feel guilty at all, hitting her back with a: “Sorry, first come first serve.”

“You!” Song Yu Meng angrily looked away. “Hmph, this lady shan’t argue with the likes of you!”

Yi Ran eventually carried her plate of meat while Song Yu Meng bitterly held her plate of green vegetables.

When they were eating, Yi Ran looked at the plate full of greens and joked: “Look at all that green on your plate, must be insinuating something about you.[1]“

“Are you crazy! You were the one who ordered all the meat!” Song Yu Meng’s temper flared at the thought of it, her cheeks puffing up.

Yi Ran lowered her head and smiled. She took a few pieces of ribs and placed it on Song Yu Meng’s plate. “Here, here, here. I’ll give you a portion. Eat more.”

Song Yu Meng acted as if it was completely expected. “Cheh, who cares about your ribs!”

But….. even though she said she didn’t care for it, she ate it all. Yi Ran didn’t eat much of the two portions at all, mostly giving it to Song Yu Meng.

Yi Ran complained: “You just love being stubborn. Who was the one saying she didn’t care for it just now? In the end, you ate it all, not even leaving anything for me.”

Song Yu Meng immediately sat up straight and retorted: “I just love being stubborn! You’re the one who paid for it anyway, why shouldn’t I take it!”

Yi Ran shook her head helplessly. What could she do when she encountered this sort of person? Just endure it.

……

After school was released on Friday, Song Yu Meng and Yi Ran were quarrelling all the way out of school. When Song Yu Meng saw Liu Luo Yang and Xu Yuan riding the same bicycle, her banter with Yi Ran stopped.

Yi Ran saw it too. Xu Yuan was sitting on the rear seat of the bicycle, hugging on to Liu Luo Yang in front.

She didn’t feel anything of course, she was just watching a show, but she was worried about Song Yu Meng. This person’s possessiveness was so strong, she should be very angry. If it was her normally, she would have rushed up to scold Xu Yuan.

But Song Yu Meng didn’t rush up. Instead, she was surprisingly calm, even though she had an expression that looked as if she was a little upset or disappointed.

“Are….. you okay?” Yi Ran asked carefully.

She didn’t reply, gazing at them as they turned a corner and disappeared.

Song Yu Meng was looking at them, Yi Ran was looking at her.

Honestly, she thought Song Yu Meng had already handled it pretty well. Although she selfishly had wanted Song Yu Meng to have no reaction at all, she also understood that it was not possible for Song Yu Meng to be completely unphased right now. She could only wait for her to slowly let things go.

“Upset?” Yi Ran asked gently.

“No.” Song Yu Meng was unusually calm. Her eyes that were normally bright were dull and Yi Ran wouldn’t believe her claim of not being upset.

She pushed Song Yu Meng gently and consoled her. “Don’t force yourself, your face pretty much has upset written all over it.” Patting her scooter, she asked: “How about I bring you for a ride?”

Song Yu Meng looked at the scooter then looked away, refusing haughtily: “I don’t want to.”

Yi Ran sighed. “Alright then, I’m going.” She got on her scooter and rode off, leaving Song Yu Meng behind.

She was even more aggrieved, stomping her foot on the ground and shouting in the direction that Yi Ran had left in: “Just because I say I don’t want it, does that mean I really don’t want it? You big idiot!!!”

Her voice was shaky and on the verge of tears.

The passersby all looked at her in surprise.

Song Yu Meng was upset and wanted to call a car home, but Yi Ran rode around the block and came back to find her.

How could Yi Ran not know that Song Yu Meng was just being spoiled? She clearly wanted to get on, but she was stubborn and said no. Yi Ran also heard her outburst, so she looped around the block, just to spite the stubborn girl.

Yi Ran was smiling the whole time she was riding around the block. She could imagine how upset Song Yu Meng would have looked, she must have been pulling a long face while scolding Yi Ran.

Looking at it now, that was indeed the case. This fellow was definitely upset.

Yi Ran stopped the scooter beside her, and Song Yu Meng’s face immediately stiffened. The tears in her eyes dried up and she looked as if she wanted to eat Yi Ran up in anger.

She folded her arms and said viciously: “What are you doing back here? Why did you come back? What? You want to see this lady make a fool out of herself? No chance!”

Yi Ran didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “I’ve seen you make a fool out of yourself so many times, why must I specially come back just to see it again?”

Song Yu Meng wanted to punch Yi Ran. “Then why did you come back?”

“Of course it was so I can pick you up for a ride.” Yi Ran smiled cheerily. “So? Are you coming? If you want to come along then get on, stop being so stubborn.”

“It’ll be a waste if I don’t go, it’s your money paying for the gas anyway!” She wasn’t stubborn this time. Besides, she was in a terrible mood, going for a ride to lift her spirits was a good choice.

Song Yu Meng was about to get on when Yi Ran stopped her.

“Wait.”

“What?”

“Helmet. How could you forget such an important thing?” Yi Ran took her helmet off and helped Song Yu Meng to put it on. She knocked on the helmet and smiled. “That’s good.”

Song Yu Meng asked: “If I’m wearing your helmet, then what are you wearing?”

“I’m used to riding, I don’t need one. You can have it.”

Song Yu Meng lowered her head and hummed in acknowledgement, feeling warm and fuzzy inside. Even though it was a small thing, but it made her feel touched. Paying attention to the small details was the best.

Song Yu Meng got on the rear passenger seat and Yi Ran said: “Hold on tightly.”

“No.” She rejected shyly.

“Sure, but don’t blame me when you fall off.”

Song Yu Meng suddenly thought of the last time Yi Ran had rode quickly, that traumatic incident was still fresh in her brain. After contemplating for a while, she hugged Yi Ran’s waist tightly.

“Stubborn.” Yi Ran smiled, complaining softly.

“You’re the stubborn one……” Song Yu Meng pouted, also replying softly.

Yi Ran smiled and started the scooter, thinking: The real stubborn one, don’t you know who it is?

[1] So this might be a bit of a confusing sentence, but to wear green, it basically means you’re being cheated on/cuckolded. There are plenty of ways to say it, wearing green, being green-ed, wearing a green hat etc. Although it’s not explicitly stated here and it might seem like a bit of a stretch, I would assume Yi Ran was teasing her about Liu Luo Yang even though they’re not together and whatnot.