Volume 1 - CH 5

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Guo An was convinced that He Ran was insane.

After the heavy rainstorm night when their communication to dissolve the marriage contract failed, this big brother disappeared without a trace for the next few days, as if he had disappeared from this beautiful world altogether.

Finally back at school, Guo An went to the student union office and the gym, places where He Ran often frequented, but always came up empty-handed.

If you didn't know any better, you'd think he was dead.

But this big brother's circle of friends was very active, updating daily and jumping around in various entertainment venues.

Someone with too much free time drew a map of He Ran's new location, and the conclusion was that the center of this map was the CW Business Center, which seemed to be a temporary tea shop where a female student surnamed Lu worked.

Rumors were flying around.

In response, Guo An, the fiancee, seemed deaf or mute.

She relentlessly searched for He Ran, going to find him multiple times, but always running into his circle of rich kids who knew nothing about He Ran, Guo An, and Lu Wan's love-hate relationship. They just thought Guo An was being possessive and clingy, unable to let go of He Ran because of his sudden infidelity. They teased her, saying that she was really something else, that she was so strict and clingy, and that He Ran wouldn't like that.

These people were all on a cruise ship last week, and they saw He Ran and Guo An quarreling over Lu Wan. Even if they didn't know anything else, they could still say these cold words, and they certainly didn't have any good intentions.

Guo An was too lazy to argue with them, but after a while, she realized that He Ran was deliberately avoiding her, which was very inexplicable. It made her feel like she was the one who did something wrong.

The sword of Damocles of the iron bars and tears hung over her head, and Guo An had nightmares every night until the marriage contract was broken.

After a few more days, with heavy black circles under her eyes, Guo An impulsively checked He Ran's friendliness rating and found that it had somehow gone from 33 back up to 35...

It was really ridiculous.

As expected, the heart of a man is like a needle in the bottom of the sea.

...

On Friday, after finishing the last session of ideological and political theory, Guo An sat happily in the department student union office, packing up her personal belongings and preparing for the weekend. At that moment, the head of the external liaison department pushed open the door and handed her a flyer, begging her to give it to He Ran at the school student union office.

Guo An took a look at the flyer. What good could the head of the external liaison department want? It was nothing more than asking the student union to generously allocate funds for the department's basketball game, a group of wealthy dads who had a special structure at school and had a say in matters...

She lifted her eyelids and said, "You want me to go? Don't you want the student union to pay? I thought everyone in the world knew about the fight between me and He Ran on the cruise ship before May Day. He's so annoying to me now."

Miss Guo's words were insincere, and the head of the external liaison department smiled and said, "But you're still He Ran's fiancee, aren't you?"

Oh.

Right.

How could she forget?

At least for now.

Guo'an took the flyers and turned to the student council office. She thought she would be alone and just drop off the flyers, but to her surprise, there were people inside.

A group of spoiled second-generation rich kids occupied the school's public resources (the student council office) under the guise of holding meetings, drinking tea, and snacking on melon seeds.

"Ran-ge, Guo'an hasn't come to see you in the past few days."

Guo'an recognized the voice coming from inside the office, it was Zhou Yanji, one of He Ran's lackeys.

Zhou Yanji was the youngest son of the Jiangcheng real estate tycoon Zhou family. He had two capable older brothers but insisted on following He Ran to study for a graduate degree in a domestic university instead of going abroad like his brothers did. The Zhou family had a habit of spoiling their youngest son, and they donated a teaching building to Jiangcheng A University just to get this "howoldareyou" boy into the school.

When Guo'an heard Zhou Yanji speaking nonchalantly about her outside the door, she hesitated and stopped pushing the door open, instead standing outside.

After a few seconds of silence inside the office, someone sneered and said, "It's better if she doesn't come. She's annoying to look at."

It could only be He Ran who spoke these words.

Guo'an raised her eyebrows outside the door and felt that He Ran's words lacked refinement.

If she's annoying, then just fire her. Why drag it out and not deal with it? What's the point?

Inside the office, He Ran's words made a group of second-generation rich kids burst out laughing. Zhou Yanji changed his sitting posture, played with his purple sand teacup, tilted his head, and his short hair looked like a hedgehog. The diamond earring on his left ear sparkled, "Ran-ge, do you really like that Lu Wan?"

He was referring to the incident on the cruise ship that day.

That day, Guo'an poured a whole glass of red wine on Lu Wan's head, and He Ran was very angry, thinking that she was bullying her classmates. He personally helped Lu Wan off the cruise ship by supporting her shoulder.

Not to mention that later, the two of them somehow recognized each other and unlocked the achievement of being "childhood saviors CP."

No one knew the reason behind it, but everyone in their circle talked about the incident where Guo'an lost face in public. It was the first time they had seen Guo'an, the young lady, being humiliated like that, and they found it very fresh and interesting.

At this point, sitting behind the desk, He Ran gave Zhou Yanji a cold look, meaning: "It's none of your business."

"I'm serious, you know?" Zhou Yanji smiled frivolously, his tone as casual as ever, and his black eyes twinkled, no one knew if he was serious or not. "If you don't want Guo'an, break up with her now and let me try."

Zhou Yanji's words surprised everyone - no one knew where he got this idea and when he started to have thoughts about Guo'an.

The people looked at He Ran - he was the only one in the room who didn't have much of a reaction. He just looked at Zhou Yanji expressionlessly and didn't say yes or no.

However, the latter seemed unfazed by his low-pressure demeanor and shrugged indifferently. "My mom really likes the idea of being a daughter-in-law of the He family. She always says she wants to marry into your family. So, I have to make it happen for her, right?"

He spoke so lightly, as if his previous remarks had nothing to do with his personal wishes and were solely based on his reputation as an exceptional filial son.

He Ran slowly withdrew his gaze. "You're just going to make it happen? Did Gu An even give you a second glance?"

Zhou Yan chuckled, revealing a set of pearly white teeth. "No worries. You haven't given her a proper look either."

He Ran nodded. "Don't you think she's annoying? She's like a firecracker that goes off at the slightest provocation. Who can stand that?"

Zhou Yan shook his head, smiling. No one knew what he meant.

But Gu An, who was standing outside the door, picked up on it. It turned out that her image among these rich second-generation types was that of an annoying firecracker.

At that moment, she really wanted to barge in and have a fight with He Ran. But she realized it was unnecessary. If she did that, it would just cement her reputation as a firecracker. So, she gritted her teeth and stood outside the door until her legs grew numb. Finally, when they changed the topic to something else, she pushed open the door.

As soon as Gu An appeared, the room fell silent.

He Ran, who had been playing on his phone with a relaxed expression, suddenly stiffened and put away his phone.

His legs, which had been resting on the table, dropped to the ground.

"The department wants the student union to allocate some funds," Gu An said calmly, placing a pamphlet on the desk and looking directly at He Ran. Her tone was businesslike.

"Oh," He Ran said.

Then, no one spoke. The atmosphere in the office became awkward all of a sudden.

A few seconds of dead silence passed.

Finally, it was Zhou Yan who stood up. With his tall frame of nearly six feet, he reached for the pamphlet and glanced at it before bending slightly and smiling at Gu An. "Ran-ge is busy these days. Why don't you take this to the secretary's office? It just so happens that I'm here today, so I'll take care of it."

Someone had spoken up to spare them more pointless talk. Gu An turned her head and looked at Zhou Yan's sharp canine teeth before nodding slowly.

As she turned to leave, He Ran called out to her.

Sitting behind the desk, he tilted his head and his gaze flickered. "I heard you've been looking for me these past few days."

Oh, he's not playing dead anymore?

"I want to talk about what happened on May Day," Gu An said.

The atmosphere in the office suddenly became tense.

He Ran stared at her for a while.

The pressure in the room was so high that it was hard to breathe...

For a moment, Gu An felt that He Ran was angry.

But the good friend aura above this Mr. He's head only flickered and didn't fall off.

After a long time, He Ran looked away and assumed a posture of refusing to talk.

Gu An felt as if she were hanging in the air, her posture as stiff as that of a crane. What did this guy want?

For a long time, she had really considered He Ran her boyfriend, even though he wouldn't even hold her hand. According to the saying, childhood sweethearts were no match for sudden love, especially when the sudden love was his real "White Moonlight" from childhood memories.

She knew.

"She voluntarily withdrew, so she wouldn't have to deal with any drama between He Ran and Lu Wan. She didn't need to hold grudges or obstruct Lu Wan at every turn, leading to her own imprisonment.

Dissolving the engagement was clearly good for both of them, but for some reason he was being stubborn and refusing to let go.

It shouldn't be like this.

Shouldn't he be fed up with this deceitful liar by now?

At this moment, no one except the two of them knew what kind of game they were playing.

The atmosphere felt a bit eerie.

"He Ran, the sooner we resolve this, the better," Gu An frowned as she reminded him, "Don't procrastinate."

"Why, are you in a hurry?" A slight mosquito net covered her, and Gu An felt like she saw He Ran's cheekbones tighten, as if he'd just clenched his teeth.

As if he was unhappy.

Maybe it was just her imagination.

Their friendship was as solid as a rock.

There was no reason for him to be unhappy.

It wasn't until Gu An turned around and confidently pushed open the door to the Student Council's office that she heard a chubby cat say, "Jiao Jiao: He's just not happy."

...

"Jiao Jiao: But his friendliness level hasn't dropped, it's so weird. Is the system broken?"

...

Gu An didn't pay attention to the silly cat's words. After all, He Ran would soon be officially single, and although it hadn't been announced yet, it wouldn't be long before he could openly pursue Lu Wan...

He might not even have time to celebrate with fireworks, so what could he be unhappy about?

Her confidence lasted until the department basketball game began.

The Student Council's sports department had invited the school's basketball team to sit in, just to add to the spectacle. Surprisingly, He Ran, who was the Student Council President and the captain of the basketball team, showed up.

Although he spent the whole time standing on the sidelines blowing his whistle and lazily leaning against the wall...

His appearance still caused the attendance rate for the department basketball game to be ten times higher than in previous years.

The stands were packed with people, and during halftime, someone bumped into Gu An's shoulder with their own.

Gu An turned her head and saw Tang Xinjiu sitting next to her. In a previous, nightmarish - no, in a prophetic dream about the future - she had cried and said she was afraid to play with the malicious Lu Wan because she was afraid she would be killed by her someday.

Now, Tang Xinjiu was still her friend. To be honest, this girl was really timid. Last week, whether it was the death of Jiao Jiao or the red wine poured on a younger student's head, she was scared out of her wits... The fact that she didn't immediately turn around and run away after being flung three meters away by the shock of it all was a sign of how deeply she loved Gu An.

Gu An didn't blame her for later betraying her. She raised an eyebrow and looked down at her, meaning, "What are you doing?"

At this time, Tang Xinjiu was still a loyal supporter of the original couple, pointing to He Ran, who was standing on the sidelines with an impatient expression, wiping sweat from his face. "Your boyfriend is going to be cooked dry."

Gu An looked in the direction she pointed and saw He Ran, who was watching the game replay with a dark expression. The team today included a future star player from the school team, and as the captain of the school team, He Ran looked like he was preparing to cuss out the poor guy who had performed poorly today."

Tang Xinjiu pushed Guo An again and handed her a bottle of mineral water.

Guo An hesitated. In the past, it was true that by the time He Ran's first drop of sweat hit the ground, her towel and mineral water were already in place...

But now they were at a critical moment in their breakup.

She didn't want to go, but Tang Xinjiu kept elbowing her and asking why she was hesitating.

Ten minutes later, Guo An reluctantly took the mineral water and made her way through the layers of people until she finally squeezed next to Young Master He. She moved her lips to speak, but before she could get any words out, he seemed to sense her presence and looked up from the computer screen replaying the match.

Through the monitor, the two of them locked gazes.

The hostility in Young Master He's eyes didn't dissipate at all. His pitch-black pupils turned into thick ink dots as he expressionlessly looked at Guo An.

Guo An placed the bottle of mineral water next to him and thought for a moment before using the bottle to nudge his hand, which was propped up on the edge of the computer desk.

He Ran didn't say anything. It wasn't until people around them started to notice their interaction that he raised his hand and used the back of it to push away the bottle of mineral water that Guo An had given him.

Wiping away his sweat, he turned his head and looked at a busy figure behind him. Using a teasing tone with an elongated ending, he lazily said, "Hey, give me a bottle of water! Haven't you seen how tired we've all become from the competition?"

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the slender figure turned around without looking back and swayed as she walked over to the water cooler. She muttered an "oh" and bent down to take out a bottle of chilled mineral water before turning around and handing it over.

For a moment, everything was silent.

As she held the bottle of chilled mineral water in her slender, fair hand, and locked gazes with He Ran across the computer desk, her face turned as pale as a sheet of paper.

Author's note: Curse the male supporting character, not me (not really).

Keep pressing the paw to send red packets. After cursing the male supporting character, there are still many good things to take advantage of, so don't miss out.