Chapter 26: Not wearing a school uniform, deduct one point...

Chapter 26

Neither of them spoke.

The night deepened, and a gray gloom enveloped the study, making the air feel thinner.

Being gazed at by such eyes, Jin Ran felt a moment of intoxication.

Undeniably, Jiang Mingxu is indeed very attractive. Unlike Jiang Xuli, who has just entered adolescence, the former is naive and innocent. He may seem arrogant, but he is actually very straightforward. Jin Ran can easily see through his emotions.

Jiang Mingxu, on the other hand, had experienced far too much: a complicated childhood, a legendary entrepreneurial journey in his youth, and as he entered his thirties, the resentment and rust of the past were gradually worn away by time, becoming a deeper, richer layer.

He was undoubtedly powerful and dignified, but he was more than just mature; occasionally, Jin Ran could also glimpse a suppressed, turbulent wildness within him.

A naturally formed, ultimate contradiction, shrouded in mystery.

Several times, she wanted to unravel the secret, but in the end, her biological instinct for danger made her stop in time.

Their gazes were almost blurred. In the quiet night, an adult man and woman were alone in a room. The light used to adjust the color was swallowed by the darkness. Their breaths suddenly became amplified, and their bodies inevitably pressed together. The scents, the touches, the heat—all were different yet inextricably intertwined.

Such a beautiful atmosphere, such an intimate posture, would probably lead to something indescribable happening in a novel.

Jin Ran suddenly froze on the spot.

It wasn't that she had strong willpower and resisted the temptation of male beauty, but rather that she remembered something.

After taking a shower, I went to bed, so I'm wearing pajamas now.

The thin fabric rubbed against the shirt, igniting tiny sparks in the dry summer heat; if not handled carefully, it could ignite a raging fire.

Jin Ran's face tightened, and for a moment, she couldn't think of anything else. She just wanted to get away from this place of trouble as soon as possible.

The reason is that she can actively flirt with men, and use innocent eyes to pull them back and forth dozens of times, but she absolutely cannot do it in such a shameful way!

Jin Ran instinctively stepped back, but then Jiang Mingxu stopped, and without changing his expression, helped her up.

The two then created some distance between themselves.

The stagnant air began to flow again, and in the darkness, Jiang Mingxu's voice regained its calm: "The lights were broken, and it was getting late, so I didn't ask the housekeeper and the others to come over."

Jin Ran then pretended to be nonchalant: "No wonder, I was wondering why I couldn't turn on the light, it turns out it was broken." She waved the book in her hand, not caring whether the other person could see it or not, and justified her behavior of coming to the study in the middle of the night, "I came to get this, I didn't expect you to still be working so late, I almost thought you were a thief."

"Sorry, there's an unexpected matter that needs to be dealt with."

Jin Ran understood; Jiang Mingxu's phone had been ringing non-stop during her convalescence, regardless of time or place, making him a truly busy person.

Compared to her, the substitute teacher who teaches a maximum of two classes a day and spends the rest of her time in the office doing practice problems has it much easier.

"In that case, I won't bother you any longer. However, the light in the study is broken, so you may have to go somewhere else."

Jin Ran smiled and said goodbye. This time, she waited a long time after she finished speaking before she heard a soft "hmm" from the other end.

Normally, she might have guessed Jiang Mingxu's thoughts, but at this moment she only felt the fabric of her clothes on her chest was cold, afraid that if she stayed for another second she would be exposed, so she left the study with her books and without looking back.

Jiang Mingxu, who was standing still, did not move until he heard the door close.

He reached out to smooth out the wrinkles on his shirt, but whether it was because it was being gripped too tightly or something else, the effect was minimal; his fingertips seemed to still retain the warmth from before as they brushed against the fabric.

Realizing this, he stopped what he was doing, his eyes like an unfathomable abyss.

After returning to her bedroom, Jin Ran picked up the remote control and turned the temperature down to the lowest setting.

A cold wind rushed towards me, instantly dispelling the sticky sweat from my body.

It took a while for the heat on her cheeks to subside. She rested her chin on her hand, reviewing her performance, and finally confirmed that the other person hadn't seen anything they shouldn't have.

As for what can be seen... Jin Ran doesn't care. Is it wrong for her to have a good figure?

Confident and with her head held high, Jin Ran memorized political information for half an hour before going to bed, as usual. She felt sleepy when memorizing, so she slept well that night.

He had no idea how the other people in the villa spent their time.

Jiang Xuli got the new game console and couldn't resist playing it for a while. By the time she came to her senses, it was already past ten o'clock.

I have to go to school tomorrow, and if I remember correctly, the first class tomorrow is math.

Jiang Xuming was only fifteen years old, but at this moment he seemed to have become prematurely old, and he especially wanted to sigh.

In fact, Jiang Xuli was not addicted to games. He found most games to be very simple, and even if he was not familiar with them at first, he could master them after playing for a while.

More often than not, it's just because I'm bored and want to kill time.

He put down his game console, ready to turn off the lights and go to sleep, when he suddenly heard a loud crash downstairs, followed by a woman's short scream.

—Something happened?

Jiang Xuli was startled and ran downstairs without thinking.

After he ran breathlessly from the third floor to the second floor, and then to the door of the study, he saw two people embracing each other inside the study.

To be precise, it was his father who completely enveloped his stepmother in his arms, his tall figure almost completely covering her, with only a little bit of her soft clothing showing.

Jiang Xuli froze. At that moment, a medical miracle happened to him. His stopped steps twisted 180 degrees, and he fled the scene at a speed ten times faster than going downstairs.

A song suddenly popped into my head: He shouldn't be in the car, he should be under the car!

As if things weren't bad enough, because she was running so fast, Jiang Xuli kicked over her half-finished carbonated drink as she entered the room, spilling the entire beverage all over her school uniform.

Jiang Xuli: "..."

How could he be so miserable!

The next day, Jiang Xuli threw her school uniform into the washing machine and waited for the maid to take it to be washed. She could only wear a piece of clothing from the closet for the time being.

Others also gradually got up, some to go to work, some to go to school.

Jin Ran did not forget that today was her turn to be on duty.

Wencheng Middle School has a long-standing system of weekly duty rosters, which involves not only student council members but also a teacher on duty each day to supervise the process.

During this time in the morning, the main responsibility is to check students' appearance and tardiness at the school gate.

So she ate breakfast faster than usual: "I have to get to school early today, so I'll head over first."

Jiang Mingxu put down his chopsticks: "Let's do it together."

Only Jiang Xuli remained.

The boy immediately declared, "I'll walk by myself!"

Although he couldn't skip class, he was determined not to arrive even a minute early!

Jin Ran glanced at the boy who had turned into a panda and was a little puzzled. With such heavy dark circles under his eyes, anyone who didn't know better would think he had been herding cattle at night.

She has no control over her stepson's sleep.

But what if the other person falls asleep in her class after staying up all night?

Even without sleep, staying up late will affect concentration, hinder brain development, and consequently affect her "partner" learning method.

This is something Jin Ran absolutely cannot tolerate.

So he made up his mind to take some time to talk to the boy about life.

Life isn't a big deal. If you have any worries, just talk them out!

The car drove away from the villa.

The property management of Shuoguo Bay has recently been doing landscaping, and many weeping willows have been transplanted along both sides of the road. Jin Ran sat in the passenger seat, gazing at the pleasing greenery in a daze, when she suddenly heard Jiang Mingxu say, "Tomorrow is your grandfather's birthday. I'll probably only be free in the evening. I've already asked Butler Cheng to prepare the gift. Or if there's anything else you'd like to take, you can say so."

To be honest, if Jin Jing hadn't reminded her, she really wouldn't have remembered the original owner's grandfather's birthday. She shook her head and said, "I don't have anything I want to take. I'll do whatever you say."

Jiang Mingxu nodded: "A stylist will be coming over tonight, so come back early after get off work."

Jin Ran was taken aback: "What stylist?"

Jiang Mingxu glanced at her, seemingly not understanding her question: "Your grandfather is turning eighty, and there will probably be many people attending. As his granddaughter, your attire for the banquet cannot be too ordinary."

Moreover, this is their first public appearance since their marriage, which is bound to attract a lot of attention.

Upon hearing his words, Jin Ran belatedly realized a problem.

This was also due to her preconceived notions. In her imagination, the original owner was a down-on-her-luck young lady. The bankrupt Jin family should have been struggling to make ends meet, if not living in a slum.

But now it seems that although he went bankrupt, he still held a birthday party, and many people even attended.

For a moment, Jin Ran felt that the world was truly magical realism.

However, she soon thought of another possibility.

Although the Jin family has declined, their connections and influence remain. The guests they invited must be either rich or powerful, people that an ordinary middle school teacher like her could not possibly have access to, let alone those that the teachers at Wencheng Middle School could easily associate with.

The principal is currently overwhelmed by the withdrawal of corporate investment. If she could use this opportunity at the birthday banquet to act as a go-between and help the school secure new funding...

Jin Ran became more and more excited as she thought about it, a glint of light flashing in her eyes.

—When the next head of teaching affairs is elected, the principal will naturally remember this favor!

"Okay, I'll do whatever you say."

Jin Ran nodded obediently, her eyes crinkling into crescent moons with a bright smile that spilled into the sunlight, bringing a touch of summer color to her face.

Jiang Mingxu stared at it for a while, then looked away.

The shirt collar brushed against his Adam's apple, the ticklish sensation making him involuntarily slide it away.

/

At the school gate, Jiang Xuli stopped his motorcycle and stepped off the ground with his long legs.

Chen Xunliang brought out his modified motorcycle today.

However, seeing Jiang Xuli's Icon Sheene, I couldn't help but feel envious: "Brother Li, when can I borrow Xiao Hong to drive it for a while?"

Jiang Xuli simply tossed the keys over: "Open it however you like."

Chen Xunliang was overjoyed, and his other underlings also asked to open the door, and Jiang Xuli actually agreed to all of them!

Now, the underlings finally realized that Jiang Xuli seemed to be in a good mood today—no, a very good mood!

The latter casually replied, "Nothing much, I had a lot of fun playing with Fly last night."

"Damn! Isn't that a game that only comes with TC's latest game console?! Brother Li, you bought a game console? It must have cost over eight thousand!"

Jiang Xuli curled the corners of her lips and said in a casual tone, "It was bought at home, I don't know how much it cost."

The younger brothers, unaware of Jiang Xuli's family situation, all envied him for having such understanding parents. Only Chen Xunliang scratched his head in bewilderment.

I feel like Brother Li is acting strangely.

It was as if I was saying it to them on purpose.

But then he thought, even Li Ge's stepmother bought him a game console, while his own mother took away his New Year's money. Why did he start to miss his stepmother?

A large group of teenagers walked into the school.

"Excuse me, student, please stop for a moment."

As they stepped into the school gate, a young and beautiful teacher standing in the corner called out to them.

When Jiang Xuli looked over and saw Jin Ran, she felt a little nervous.

What did she want by calling him over?

Although they got along fairly well during this period, he felt it was best to keep their distance at school.

But if he says it directly, will she get angry?

Just as Jiang Xuli was struggling with his decision, Jin Ran walked up to him.

He pulled out a small notebook and asked in a businesslike manner, "What grade and class are you in, student?"

"What?" He was taken aback.

Jin Ran's eyes had already glanced at the name tag on her chest. She answered herself, "Class 3, Grade 1, Jiang Xuli," she wrote quickly in her notebook, and then pronounced, "Not wearing school uniform, violating school rules, one point deducted!"

The clear, resonant female voice struck him firmly, and upon hearing it, the henchmen behind him suddenly fell silent.

A cicada cried out in a tree, its voice piercing the air. The shadows of the tree swayed, and dappled sunlight fell on Jiang Xuli's shoulders.

The boy's ear tips turned red at a visible speed.