Chapter 34: They're all men, bro, can you help me?

The sales assistant stood up from the cashier and was about to lead the customer over when she noticed that the door to the store's only fitting room was tightly closed, and there were vague figures moving inside.

Strange, when did someone get there?

The sales assistant peeked inside, exclaimed "Huh?" in surprise, and turned to the customer apologetically, "I'm sorry, there seem to be other customers trying on clothes inside. Please wait for them to come out before you try them on."

"Okay, I'll wait a bit then," the customer said, and sat down on the sofa next to him with his clothes in his arms.

After a long time, Xing Lan and Li Baidong, who were embracing and kissing inside, slowly separated.

The changing room was cramped and the air was thin. Xing Lan was almost suffocating from the kiss, and she subconsciously opened her lips to breathe lightly. Her snow-white face was tinged with a striking blush, and her soft black hair at her temples was slightly damp with sweat.

Li Baidong's long, narrow, and bright black eyes were still fixed on Xing Lan. He looked down at Xing Lan's lips, which were now red and moist from his kisses, and his gaze was filled with undisguised pleasure and greed.

He licked his lips, still savoring the moment, his gaze slowly moving upwards from Xing Lan's moist red lips to her misty, almond-shaped eyes. For a moment, their eyes met.

Li Baidong chuckled and spoke.

"elder brother."

"Your kissing skills are terrible."

"First kiss?"

"..."

Upon hearing this ambiguous and slightly flirtatious remark, Xing Lan gritted her teeth and glared angrily at Li Baidong.

Who was that just now, burying their head and gnawing around like a dog? They almost bit their lips raw.

With a cold face, he decisively raised his leg, unable to resist the urge to kick this arrogant brat.

But as soon as I lifted my knee, I felt it suddenly hit something that's hard to describe.

It was very hot and rock hard.

As if realizing something, Xing Lan's body stiffened instantly, and she immediately turned her head away, her face flushed with embarrassment.

Li Baidong glanced at him and said nonchalantly, "Sorry, brother."

"Apologize for what?"

Li Baidong lowered his head, innocently fiddling with his fingers, and sincerely reflected on himself: "I kissed you without asking you."

“…You know that too.” Xing Lan turned her head back, gave him a disgruntled look, and wiped her lips with her hand.

"I'll definitely be more careful next time," Li Baidong said sincerely.

He's said this countless times, but each time he still acts first and asks for permission later, catching Xing Lan off guard.

"Can you go out like this?" Xing Lan subconsciously lowered her eyes, glanced at the particularly prominent spot on Li Baidong's light-colored jeans, and then looked away with a complicated expression.

Li Baidong gently grabbed Xing Lan's wrist, lowered his eyes, and said pitifully, "Then, brother, please help me?"

“…I won’t help.” Xing Lan’s scalp tingled just thinking about the scene. She coldly refused him and urged, “Solve it yourself, and hurry up.”

"How do I solve this?" Li Baidong, who is usually very shrewd, suddenly started to play dumb, his eyes looking frighteningly innocent.

Xing Lan remained silent for a few seconds, her face flushed, and she stammered, "Use yours...use yours..."

He bit his lip, unable to finish his sentence at once. After a long pause, he spoke in a very soft, very low voice: "Hand."

"Hurry up." Xing Lan had always been well-behaved and had never done anything outrageous. When she heard the voices of the shop assistants outside, her heart raced instantly, and she hurriedly urged Li Baidong in a low voice.

"Brother... I'm not very good at it, can you teach me?" Li Baidong lowered his eyelids as if he were very aggrieved, his hoarse voice pitiful, pleading with him like a helpless child, "Brother, I feel so bad."

How are you supposed to teach this?! Shouldn't it be something that unlocks automatically during puberty?

Xing Lan refused, pushing the man pressed against her away. With the last shred of reason in his mind, he coldly warned Li Baidong, "Hurry up, if you dawdle any longer, I'll just open the door."

"..."

"All right."

Seeing that Xing Lan was so shy he almost wanted to dig a hole and bury himself, Li Baidong stopped teasing him, quickly kissed his tense little face, and then began to fend for himself.

The breathing in the air gradually became rapid and chaotic. Although the panting and groans were suppressed very slightly, the two were too close, and every very small sound still fell into Xing Lan's ears.

Even though it was Li Baidong who was doing that kind of thing, Xing Lan seemed more nervous than him, her face turning red and white in turns, and she kept biting her lower lip tightly.

After a long while, Xing Lan noticed the intense and unyielding gaze of the person opposite her. She stiffly turned her neck and awkwardly said, "Don't look at me."

"I don't want to look at the wall." Li Baidong tried to suppress his breath as he leaned close to his ear and said, "Brother, we're both men...you can understand, right?"

The warm breaths from his breath hit Xing Lan's neck in waves, making him feel extremely unsettled.

Actually, what Li Baidong said wasn't entirely unreasonable.

It would be too monotonous not to watch something at times like this.

But Li Baidong kept staring at Xing Lan with that aggressive yet ambiguous gaze, especially at such a delicate and special moment, giving Xing Lan a strange feeling that made his spine tingle.

Awkward as it may be, the most important thing right now is for Li Baidong to resolve this situation as quickly as possible so the two of them can get out of here. Xing Lan sighed softly, trying her best to ignore the subtle, embarrassing noise.

After Li Baidong finally returned to normal, the two hurriedly tidied themselves up and came out of the locker room one after the other.

Xing Lan remained hidden behind Li Baidong, burying her face in the man's broad back, her slender white fingers shamefully gripping the fabric of his clothes, almost crumpling Li Baidong's shirt.

The shop assistants and customers waiting outside were utterly shocked when they saw the two men emerge from the same fitting room in the lingerie store.

Not only was it shocking, it was absolutely astonishing!

Li Baidong, true to his sunny, cheerful, and shameless self, looked around the store with curiosity, squinted his eyes, and said with interest, "Brother, these clothes are quite avant-garde in design. How about we buy a couple before we leave?"

He stopped and whispered to Xing Lan, "We've been in their shop for so long, wouldn't it be a bit much if we didn't buy something to take home?"

Li Baidong immediately spotted a sexy lace overcoat on a model at the booth, with pink leopard print trim, exuding both innocence and allure.

He raised his hand, pointed casually, and asked Xing Lan in an ordinary tone, "I think that pink one is nice, very pretty. Do you like it?"

Xing Lan was so anxious that she didn't know what to do, and only now did she realize what kind of store he had led Li Baidong into.

His mind went blank, and he didn't dare to lift his head. He stammered, "No, no, don't! Hurry up and go!"

As he walked out of the store, Li Baidong casually waved goodbye to the stunned shop assistant and promised to come back next time to browse around.

Xing Lan gritted his teeth and thought to himself that even if the world ended next time, and this lingerie store was the only safe place left, he would still choose to go out and die without hesitation.

-

Despite a few hiccups, the first date was generally quite pleasant.

While having lunch together at a Japanese restaurant, Li Baidong casually asked Xing Lan, "Brother, why did you take me into that restaurant just now?"

Judging from Xing Lan's subsequent reaction, he clearly didn't want to go in to shop.

It's better if he doesn't mention it; the moment he does, Xing Lan immediately recalls the awkward scene from earlier.

He didn't want to recall it, and gave Li Baidong a cold glance: "So much sushi can't shut you up."

Although Xing Lan is a few years older than Li Baidong, she doesn't actually have much more dating experience than him.

When couples go on a date, chatting and building a relationship should be the priority, not just filling their stomachs. It's not like they're eating in a cafeteria.

Just like Li Baidong, who usually has a big appetite, he was a bit reserved this time. Half a day passed and he didn't eat many plates of sushi. He just watched Xing Lan eat with a smile.

Japanese cuisine, which mainly consists of raw food, is not to Li Baidong's liking for Chinese food, and besides, the food itself is already visually appealing.

Xing Lan grew up in Ning City, and her family was well-off since childhood.

Because Xing Yi was extremely concerned with appearances, the Xing family always had the best of everything. Their dining tables were never short of delicacies, and even the bottled water was a high-end brand imported from France. If they were to eat out, they wouldn't even glance at a restaurant with a per-person cost of less than four figures.

Compared to Li Baidong, who was still fighting with his neighbor Erdan every day for a bag of spicy strips when he was six or seven years old, Xing Lan didn't care much about food. She ate in a refined and leisurely manner, which was very pleasing to the eye.

To use the local saying from Li Baidong's hometown, "The city kids are very spoiled. They don't want to eat even when there's food available, and they're always picky eaters."

When Li Baidong was a child, his grandmother often told him to find a wife from the same village when he grew up. They were all from the same village and knew each other well. Girls from the countryside were also more honest and straightforward, and not as shrewd as girls from the city.

But Li Baidong was unwilling.

The village was so small that he knew all the girls around his age. Even if they weren't close, he had some impression of them, but none of them were his favorites.

He also disagreed with his grandmother's statement that "the countryside is better than the city." If the countryside were truly better than the city, why would his parents and brother all move to the city? They would only come back for a few days during the Lunar New Year each year, and then leave again after a short while.

Li Baidong has always dreamed that when he grows up, he will find the most beautiful, smartest, and best wife.

He was too young then and hadn't seen much of the world. The perfect wife he could imagine was someone with fair skin, red lips, and who looked like a doll that girls played with.

Li Baidong glanced at Xing Lan and felt that she looked exactly like the wife he had wanted back then—beautiful and delicate, rational yet gentle.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but smile.

Xing Lan turned her head and saw Li Baidong sitting to the side, not eating anything, just casually resting one hand on the table, grinning foolishly at her. She really wanted to pay the bill and leave immediately, pretending that she didn't know this person.

-

After you finish your meal at this sushi restaurant, you can play a mini-game on the screen on the table. If you win, you can enter a free prize draw.

Li Baidong loved tinkering with these meaningless things, and as soon as he finished eating, he couldn't wait to start playing on the electronic screen.

But he failed every time he tried, and after using up all three chances, he only got a small pack of floral-scented tissues.

He lowered his head in frustration, looking at Xing Lan with a wronged expression. He reached out and tugged at Xing Lan's sleeve, calling out pleadingly, "Brother..."

Each person has three chances. If you win, you can enter a big prize draw. If you lose, there's no penalty. Why not give it a try?

Xing Lan glanced at the so-called "grand prize," which was nothing more than a ceramic ornament shaped like a sushi. It was completely useless and would just be a waste of space at home, gathering dust.

However, seeing Li Baidong's tearful eyes, he sighed, rolled up his sleeves, and walked to the screen.

How do you play this?

Seeing him come over, Li Baidong's eyes lit up immediately, and he hurriedly explained the rules of the game to him: "It's about catching stars. You catch any star you see. If you catch a landmine, you lose a life. If you score more than 500 points within three minutes, you pass the game."

The rules were indeed very simple, and Xing Lan understood them immediately.

He turned to look at Li Baidong: "Is it really that simple? You lost three times?"

"...It gets really fast later on, and it's easy for it to catch landmines. All the points I accumulated earlier were blown up." Li Baidong bravely defended himself.

Xing Lan pursed her lips noncommittally, said nothing more, and immediately started playing the game with her head down.

His hands moved quickly and he was completely focused, reminding Li Baidong of a video he had seen online of a kitten playing a tablet game, deftly catching an electronic mouse on its owner's iPad, its fluffy little paws moving so fast they left afterimages.

Xing Lan looks a lot like those kittens in the video. Not only is she beautiful, but she's also very capable.

-

Finally, Xing Lan scored an impressive 826 points, breaking the store's historical record and earning a chance to win a prize.

He had no interest in doing any of that. After finishing the game, he walked straight out of the store, giving the lottery chance to Li Baidong.

Li Baidong excitedly went to the shop assistant to draw a prize, but unfortunately his luck was not good and he did not win the large ceramic ornament. He only won the third prize.

Xing Lan stood at the store entrance waiting for him. Not long after, she turned around and saw Li Baidong coming out of the store with the prize he had received, looking for him.

"What is this?" Xing Lan's gaze fell on his hand, thinking that the prize she saw in the store earlier was quite big, so why did it shrink so much when it came to Li Baidong?

"Brother, the big sushi was taken this morning, I only got two small pendants."

Although he didn't win the grand prize, Li Baidong wasn't disappointed at all. Instead, he happily carried the two small pendants and smiled at Xing Lan, saying, "These are a little small, but they're quite cute, and it's just right for us to each have one."

The sushi shop's keychains are also sushi-shaped, but with added animal elements. Instead of raw or cooked ingredients, the distinct grains of white rice are wrapped around cute cats and dogs.

Xing Lan waved her hand, not even glancing at them, and said, "I don't want them. You can have them all, since you smoked them."

“Brother, it’s pretty cute, you can have it.” Li Baidong reached out and quickly put the cat sushi keychain into the left breast pocket of Xing Lan’s shirt, saying, “I’ll hang mine on my backpack later, you can hang yours wherever you want.”

Xing Lan opened her mouth slightly, but ultimately did not refuse him.

After finishing their meal, the two originally planned to go to the movies. A sequel to a well-known blockbuster was currently showing and had received excellent reviews. Li Baidong had even bought the movie tickets online in advance. Just as they arrived at the movie theater entrance, Xing Lan suddenly received a phone call.

It was his dad who called.

He didn't want to answer at first and hung up several times, but the other party kept calling relentlessly, the shrill ringtone repeatedly ringing in his ears.

Even Li Baidong, who was standing next to him, noticed his unusual behavior. He stopped talking enthusiastically about the movie and looked up at him with concern, asking, "Brother, what's wrong? Who keeps calling you?"

“…It’s nothing.” Xing Lan frowned and walked to a quieter spot. “I’m going to take this call.”

After the call connected, Xing Yi sounded very anxious, rattling off a string of questions: "What are you doing? Why didn't you answer the phone for so long? Didn't you know your grandfather was in trouble?!"

Xing Lan's thoughts were in disarray. Suppressing her resentment towards his father, she calmly asked, "What's wrong with my grandfather? Did his heart condition relapse?"

"How is he now? Is anyone with him? Have you taken him to the hospital?"

Xing Yi seemed not to understand human speech, avoiding answering Xing Lan's questions and instead shouting on the other end of the phone, "Count the days, how long has it been since you've been home? Poor old man, even if he wasn't sick, you've made him sick!"

Xing Lan took a deep breath, pinching her palm with her fingertips, trying her best to remain calm.

"Stop with the nonsense. What's wrong with my grandfather? Is he at home or in the hospital?"

"At home!" Xing Yi roared impatiently. "If you have any conscience at all, come back right now!"

"……knew."

Xing Lan was too lazy to argue with him any longer and hurriedly hung up the phone, not even realizing that her brows were furrowed deeply.

Xing Yi's roar was so loud that Li Baidong, who was standing next to Xing Lan, heard everything clearly on the phone. He knew without guessing that something had happened at Xing Lan's home.

Seeing Xing Lan's hurried appearance, he raised his hand and gently patted his back, comforting him considerately, "Brother, don't worry too much, everything will be alright."

Xing Lan was indeed upset by Xing Yi's phone call.

He glanced at his watch, then looked at Li Baidong across from him, and told him apologetically, "I have to go home for something, so I might miss the movie later."

"It's okay." Li Baidong paused, then smiled understandingly, "Brother spent so much time with me today and even helped me win a prize. I'm already very happy."

Xing Lan hesitated for a few seconds, nodded to him, and hurriedly left.

Li Baidong found watching a movie alone boring, so he wandered around the mall for a while before deciding to take a taxi home.

As soon as he took out his phone, he saw Xing Lan's message from a few minutes ago.

A Lanlan Baby Baby Baby >3<: [If the movie is still showing in a few days, I'll treat you to it.]

He smiled knowingly and immediately replied to Xing Lan with several emojis, indicating that he didn't mind and told him to go home and see his grandfather without worry.

Li Baidong is a rather strange person. In real life, he seems very warm and cheerful, but when he chats with people online, he speaks very concisely, using only "oh" or ".", appearing particularly aloof. This often frightens some of his juniors who haven't met him before, who think he has a bad temper.

However, he actually has a lot of very cute emojis, which he collected from various places. He saved each one specifically for chatting with Xing Lan.

Although Li Baidong had never been in a relationship, he knew one thing: a person can develop a habit after 21 days.

He persistently attracted Xing Lan's attention every day, infiltrating every corner of Xing Lan's life like air. One day, Xing Lan would belatedly realize that he had been firmly woven into the great net that Li Baidong had painstakingly created. The more he tried to move, the tighter he was entangled, and in the end, he would never be able to escape.

-

After sending the message, Xing Lan didn't look at her phone again and drove all the way to the Xing family villa.

This is the place where he grew up, but he hasn't been here for a long time.

A few years ago, his father spent a lot of money to renovate the entire house, transforming it from the elegant French-style villa that Xing Lan's mother preferred into a ostentatious European style. Everything inside was expensive and ugly, showing that his father's aesthetic sense had drastically declined since he entered middle age.

Xing Lan stopped the car in front of the courtyard and quickly walked in without even straightening her clothes.

Xing Yi's words on the phone were vague, which made him very worried about his grandfather's health.

His grandfather suffered from a serious heart condition, which cannot be delayed; time is of the essence.

However, when he got to his front door, he discovered that the original door lock had been replaced long ago, and he didn't know the password for the new smart lock, let alone have his fingerprint registered.

His face turned slightly cold, and he raised his hand to knock on the door.

The door was quickly opened from the inside.

The person who opened the door for him was Xing Yi's new wife, Lin Ya. She was still wearing the long dress she had worn when she went shopping that morning, but she had taken off her mink coat and was wearing a beautiful pearl necklace around her neck. It must have been a small gift that Xing Yi had casually bought for her while shopping, and she put it on as soon as she got home.

“Xiao Lan?” She looked at Xing Lan calmly and smiled elegantly, “It’s been a long time. Your father has been missing you a lot and talks about you to me every now and then.”

Xing Lan glanced at her quickly before looking away, not wanting to engage in insincere pleasantries, and asked directly, "Where is my grandfather?"

Without waiting for the woman's reply, he pushed the door open and went inside.

His grandfather wasn't in the large living room, but several people were sitting on the sofa, some of whom were familiar and some were not.

His father sat in the middle of the mahogany sofa with a serious expression, next to another middle-aged man with a smile.

Beside the middle-aged man was a slightly older woman and a younger woman who looked to be in her early twenties.

The girl blushed as soon as she saw Xing Lan arrive, and nervously brushed the stray hairs from her ear with her hand.

Xing Yi looked up at him, seemingly forgetting how anxious and agitated he had been on the phone, and casually ordered, "What are you standing there for? Come and sit down."

"This is your Uncle Lin and Aunt Lin, and their daughter Lin Xiaoyu. I told you about her on the phone before, remember?" Xing Yi leaned back on the sofa, crossed one leg, and casually introduced them to Xing Lan. "That girl has been very outstanding since she was a child, and she's also very beautiful, isn't she? Don't you two seem like a good match?"

Xing Lan paused, immediately realizing the situation.

This wasn't because his grandfather was sick; it was just a random excuse to lure him home for a blind date.

He clenched his fists secretly, a surge of anger instantly rising within him.

Perhaps other children have many relatives they can rely on, but for Xing Lan, his only closest and most valued relative in his life is his grandfather.

After his mother died, Xing Yi completely abandoned him, leaving him in the ancestral home to be cared for by his elderly grandfather. Due to psychological trauma, he remained aloof and withdrawn for a long time, disliking everyone. It was his grandfather who personally raised him, patiently warming him with love time and time again.

But for Xing Yi, his most important grandfather was a lie that could be used at will. In order to trick him into going home, they actually dared to use such a disgusting excuse.

He suddenly sneered, looking at Xing Yi who was sitting on the sofa drinking tea as if nothing had happened, and said in a cold tone, word by word: "You really don't care about using any means necessary."

"Smack!"

Xing Yi suddenly frowned, smashed the teacup in his hand to the ground, startling the elderly couple next to him, who instantly changed their expressions and gasped sharply.

Xing Lan was used to his father's sudden madness, and his expression remained unchanged.

He raised his eyebrows, pointed at Xing Lan, and trembled with anger: "Your Uncle Lin and Aunt Lin came all this way, and you didn't even greet them, and you spoke to your own father like that. Do you think you have any manners? Is this how I taught you since you were little?"

"You lied to me and said Grandpa was in trouble, that's why I came back." Xing Lan said calmly, her face expressionless, as she asked the enraged Xing Yi, "Where is my grandfather?"

“Your grandfather is dizzy. The family doctor just checked on him; it’s just low blood pressure after a meal. He’s resting in his room now.” Xing Yi sneered sarcastically. “What, do you think I lied to you? If I hadn’t lied to you, would you have come back? You’re so independent now; you probably don’t care about our family anymore!”

Xing Lan lowered her head and smiled gently: "This was never my home to begin with."

"……What did you say?"

“I said this was never my home!” Xing Lan said coldly, repeating herself.

He stared at Xing Yi, his voice not loud, but every word was firm and powerful, "From the day you cheated on my mother with other women and brought them into the house, this has not been my home for a long time!"

Upon hearing this, everyone in the living room froze.

The surrounding air instantly became exceptionally quiet, filled with a lingering awkwardness.

The Lin family of three looked uneasy, as if they wanted to say something but hesitated.

Lin Yana's carefully applied makeup made her face look even worse. Although she tried her best to control her expression, she could not hide her embarrassment.

Xing Yi's face grew increasingly dark.

The next second, he stood up with a dark expression, walked up to Xing Lan, and slapped him hard across the face.

The father wanted to discipline his son, and no one stopped him, no one seriously tried to stop him, and a loud slap landed on Xing Lan's left cheek.

Xing Lan stood still for a few seconds, then slowly turned her face, her expression showing no sadness or grievance, only a silent smile.

"Oh dear! Let's talk this out, don't hit the child!" The Lin couple arrived a beat late to mediate, their expressions embarrassed and their smiles stiff.

"Get out of here!"

Xing Yi stared at Xing Lan with bloodshot eyes, raising his trembling hand to point to the doorway not far away.