Pei Yan thought Qiao Ran's reaction was a little strange, but he didn't ask any more questions.

We are all adults and know the proper limits when interacting with each other.

"Okay, I'll wait for you here. If you need any help, send me a message."

"I know." Qiao Ran got out of the car alone and walked towards the small, dilapidated building where he lived.

Maybe because the weather was good, some of the neighbors brought stools and sat in the shade of the trees, fanning themselves, enjoying the cool air and chatting.

When they saw Qiao Ran walking by, they began to point and talk in low voices.

Their voices were not loud, so Qiao Ran could not hear clearly what they said. After all, it was just some trivial matters in their family, and Qiao Ran could figure it out with his toes.

This is how it is in these old communities, there are no secrets between neighbors at all.

At first, Qiao Ran would hide from these people, not wanting to face them, wanting to preserve her dignity. But later she realized that it was useless, because she had no control over other people's words.

After going around the first few units, Qiao Ran went up to the second floor in one breath.

When she reached the door of her house, she was stunned.

The original red curse paint on the wall has been covered with white paint, turning into pink round scars, which are abrupt and funny.

If you smell carefully, you can still smell the lingering smell of paint in the air.

Qiao Ran remembered that he only paid someone to deal with the stain on the door of the neighbor opposite, and did not take care of the stains on the wall in the corridor.

In old communities like theirs, the government would send people to maintain the area almost every year, and the corridors would be repainted, so Qiao Ran didn't spend any extra money.

So, who is this kind-hearted person?

Just as Qiao Ran was thinking, the old man who lived next door came out carrying a bag of garbage: "Qiao girl? Just came back from outside?"

Qiao Ran nodded.

When paint got on the old man's door, Qiao Ran went to apologize, thinking that she would be scolded by the old man with a weird temper. However, the old man didn't say anything and just asked her to deal with it.

Qiao Ran has always felt sorry about this.

"Uncle, do you know who painted this wall?" The uncle lives across the street, and if someone is painting the wall outside, he will probably know.

The old man hunched his back and said, "I asked my son to paint it. The big red words look like blood. It's so scary to see people walking in and out. I'm not afraid of it as I've lived a long life, but there are other people going up and down the building."

"Someone must have reported it to the neighborhood committee. They came looking for you yesterday and knocked on your door for a long time, but you weren't home. My son happened to be visiting me, and I thought it wasn't a big deal, so I had him buy a bucket of paint and cover it up casually."

Qiao Ran hadn't expected this to happen. Even though she wasn't good at communication, she knew she should say thank you in this situation: "Uncle, I'm sorry to bother you. Thank you. How much is the paint? I'll give it to you."

"How much money can you have? Forget it, you are unlucky enough." The old man waved his hand and ignored Qiao Ran. He muttered something like "What a sin" and went downstairs to take out the trash, holding on to the wall.

Qiao Ran stood at the door, silent for a while, sniffed, opened the door and went into the house.

The curtains were drawn in the room, the light was dim, and there was no sign of life at all.

On the cold floor tiles in the living room, a cockroach the size of a finger joint lay dead on its back, its legs already dried up.

Qiao Ran took a tissue and threw the cockroach into the trash can without even giving it a glance.

The packed luggage stood quietly beside the bed in the bedroom.

Just that one box, nothing else.

Qiao Ran dragged his suitcase, took a final look around the house that no longer felt like home, locked the door, and walked out of the apartment building without looking back.

——

Qiao Ran didn't let Pei Yan wait for long.

Pei Yan glanced at the time on his phone and even felt that Qiao Ran came back a little too quickly.

Doesn't it always take girls a long time to pack their things?

and......

Pei Yan got out of the car and took the suitcase from Qiao Ran: "Is this all you have?"

"Yeah." Qiao Ran nodded. "I've packed the clothes I wear frequently in vacuum bags. It might save space."

It can save more space and it won’t be just one box, right?

Moreover, when Pei Yan carried Qiao Ran's suitcase and put it in the trunk, he didn't feel any weight, so neither suitcase was full.

Pei Yan still remembered one year during vacation, a cousin of his came to S City for a trip and stayed at his house for a few days. In those few days, she dragged two suitcases, not counting the backpack.

It was him who brought a lot of things with him when he moved from home to the base.

Pei Yan couldn't help but wonder what had happened to Qiao Ran that made such a beautiful girl live like this.

"It's okay if you forget something. The living facilities near the team are quite complete. You can buy anything you need when the time comes."

"Um."

I don’t know if it’s because he finally came to terms with the past, but when Qiao Ran got back to the car, he was obviously much more relaxed than when he came.

She took out her cell phone, opened Weibo, and entered her own super topic.

The cries of those waiting for her return in the super topic have been pushed down, and the most popular post at the moment is a guessing post.

It was just posted two minutes ago, and the data on likes and comments is constantly refreshing.

My Joe is number one in the world: Did you watch NSD team's Pang Jie's livestream just now? When asked who the new support was, Pang Jie glanced at the seat next to him, and there was a pen there, exactly like my Joe's pen! So, can we take a wild guess...?

Here are all the comments:

Hurry and grab the coupons: I saw it too! Is it this pen? [Enlarged image of duck pen.jpg]

Don’t be so toxic: It’s probably just a coincidence. NSD has been criticized so much recently. Is it courting death to recruit another female team member?

Waiting for Qiao to return: Don't take out a loan! Someone just mentioned Qiao in the live broadcast room and has been criticized. Isn't Qiao Qiao unlucky enough recently? Everyone, please shut up!

I want to bang my head against Qiao Qiao’s wall: Don’t spread nonsense. Do you want Qiao Qiao to come back?

The monkey calls you home to catch monsters: There are pictures and the truth, it's just a reasonable guess, and you still don't allow it? Aren't Qiao Ran's fans too overbearing?

…

When Qiao Ran left the comment section of this Weibo post, a new popular post was added to the super topic.

Li Bai Bu Bai: I also watched today's livestream. Regarding that pen, I took a screenshot and enlarged it n-fold, comparing it to Qiao Ran's previous livestreams. It's definitely Qiao Ran's pen! Even the tooth mark on the duck's head is exactly the same! Also, did anyone watch last night's livestream? That support's playstyle, doesn't it look familiar to you? I'm laying it on the line, NSD's new support isn't Qiao Ran, I'm doing a handstand eating shit livestream!

Qiao Ran's eyes twitched as he watched. This brother, there's no need to be so cruel to him...

Then, Qiao Ran looked down and saw someone else confronting this person.

Shrimp doesn't blink: "It's such a small duck pen, it's blurry even when magnified, and you told me you could see teeth marks? Do you have pixel eyes? I'm also saying this, if Qiao Ran really becomes a professional player, not only will I be livestreaming him eating shit upside down, I'll also eat two pounds!"

This comment section is interesting...

Moreover, Qiao Ran couldn't understand what Xiang had done wrong. Why did you two want to bet on it?

…

There was a red light ahead, so Pei Yan stopped the car and turned around to see Qiao Ran covering his nose with his fingers, looking constipated.

"Car sickness? If you're carsick, stop looking at your phone."

Qiao Ran turned his attention away from Weibo and turned off his phone. "No, I was checking Weibo. They seemed to have captured some of my stuff during the live broadcast this afternoon, and some netizens speculated that the new support was me."

Pei Yan knew what was going on as soon as he heard it.

Jiang Wenzhou had informed him about this matter before. Qiao Ran's situation was special, and if it was exposed all at once, it would definitely cause quite a stir.

On the contrary, it is this kind of information that is difficult to distinguish between true and false that leaks out from time to time before the official announcement, which makes the majority of netizens accustomed to it unconsciously, and can be regarded as a preventive measure in advance.

"It should have been arranged by Jiang Wenzhou. He should have told you before that this PR plan has also been approved by the club's top management."

Qiao Ran knew that his gender must have caused Zhang Qian, Pei Yan, Jiang Wenzhou and others a lot of worry.

"Is there anything I need to cooperate with?" Qiao Ran pursed his lips and asked softly.

Pei Yan glanced at Qiao Ran's face, which was cleaner than paper. "Take some time to clean yourself up and take better-looking promotional photos. Maybe people will criticize you less for your face."

Qiao Ran found this statement unconvincing.

After all, Qiao Ran had witnessed with his own eyes that those who criticized Pei Yan often mentioned Pei Yan's face.

The author has something to say:

Thank you all for your support~ Love you guys, refills~