Chapter 13
Black, China Telecom, candybar phone.
A standard feature phone for seniors came into view. Jiang Li's gaze settled on the candybar phone, his expression obscure and hesitant.
Before this, Guan Nan never felt ashamed of using an old-fashioned mobile phone, but at this moment she suddenly felt embarrassed and awkward.
"Pretty cool," Jiang Li said, one hand in his pocket, a slight smile playing on his lips, still with that lazy air. "Take me to see it next time."
The sentence is, "That's pretty cool."
Instead of saying things like "You're so outdated" or "What era are we living in? You're still using this kind of phone."
His tone was casual and ordinary, without the slightest hint of mockery or disdain.
His seemingly unintentional remark stirred up a storm in Guan Nan's heart.
That pitiful bit of self-esteem was once again carefully smoothed out by his imperceptible and considerate manner.
Guan Nan felt a dryness in her throat, pursed her lips, and remained silent.
Those things she had always been proud of, hidden deep inside and never expressed, seemed to have, in that instant, revealed some unseen cracks in that seemingly indestructible barrier, as solid as a copper wall and iron fortress.
A subtle, dull ache.
Guan Nan gave a soft "Oh," then didn't know what else to say.
The atmosphere turned cold again. For the first time, Guan Nan hated her own ignorance and clumsiness.
The next second, Jiang Li stretched out his long arm and handed over a cup of milk tea, saying, "Their strawberry milk tea is pretty good."
"ah?"
Seeing her staring blankly, Jiang Li stared at her for a while, then suddenly smiled and said slowly, "Would you do me the honor?"
Guan Nan snapped out of her daze and slowly nodded. "Thank you."
She didn't look up after she finished speaking.
I was afraid to meet his gaze, as if something would spread uncontrollably, and I was also afraid of revealing my current emotions.
Guan Nan's gaze lingered on his hand for a few seconds before he fled again.
"..." Jiang Li stood there, staring silently at the strawberry custard in his hand, somewhat incredulous: "It ran away again?"
Just then, Yu Shu sent him a message.
See you at the next intersection: [We're getting ready to leave, where are you hiding?]
-jiang-: [Entrance]
After reading the message, Jiang Li put away his phone and didn't go back inside. He just stood outside, inserted a straw, and started drinking.
He ate it quickly, and after finishing, he still commented, "It's alright, not too sweet."
A few seconds later, while Jiang Li and the others were waiting, Chen Aimei came out to pay the bill.
She leaned against the cashier, not seeing Jiang Li, handed the order to the waiter, and smiled sweetly: "Hello, please pay."
"Okay, your total bill is 218. How would you like to pay?"
“I have a membership with your company,” Chen Aimei said. “Member points can be used to get discounts, and today is my birthday, so I remember I can get a discount too!”
Waiter: "Discounts and points cannot be used together."
"But I redeemed a coupon! Your store manager said last time that you could get a discount on your birthday, 12% off!"
Finally, thanks to her strong communication skills, she not only managed to get a 50 yuan discount coupon using her points, but also an 88% discount. In the end, the store manager rounded down the price to 147 yuan.
When she left the store, they also gave her a doll from the store's merchandise as a birthday gift.
"Is today your birthday?" Guan Nan came out with her and was immediately surprised when she saw the doll the waiter gave her and the words "Happy Birthday".
Chen Aimei nodded, still smiling sweetly: "Yes, what are you going to give me?"
Guan Nan hesitated for a moment, then finally nodded: "Is there anything you want?"
"Not yet, or you can wait for me to think about it," Chen Aimei said, linking her arm with hers and smiling mischievously. "Just consider it a reservation. If I need to talk to you later, you have to promise me."
"Okay." Guan Nan nodded in agreement without hesitation.
Upon hearing this, Chen Aimei smiled happily.
I have no psychological burden at all.
"By the way, how much did our meal cost?" While waiting for the elevator, Guan Nan took out her wallet, ready to give her the money. "I'll give it to you now."
"218, just give me 100."
Before hearing the figure, Guan Nan had even considered spending lavishly to treat everyone, but after hearing the price and touching her meager wallet, that courage suddenly vanished.
She took out a 100-yuan note from her wallet, hesitated for two seconds, and placed it in Chen Aimei's palm.
"Thank you."
After saying that, Guan Nan solemnly said, "Happy birthday, Chen Aimei."
"Knowing you is my greatest joy~"
Hearing Chen Aimei say that made Guan Nan very happy, even though just a second ago she was worried about her thin wallet.
Suddenly, a light laugh came from behind, mocking and contemptuous.
The familiar light syllables, the voice neither too light nor too heavy.
Guan Nan subconsciously turned her head away.
Jiang Li stood there, straight behind them.
Their eyes met, and he tilted his head slightly, his expression not looking too good.
Just then, Yu Shu ran over, put one hand on Jiang Li's shoulder, and greeted Guan Nan with a smile: "Hi, class monitor."
Hearing the noise, Chen Aimei immediately turned around, her gaze fixed on Jiang Li. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled sweetly, "Jiang Li, what a coincidence!"
Jiang Li nodded politely and resumed his usual public persona.
Carefree, casual, and irresponsible.
Moreover, they ignore it.
"Tsk tsk, is Jiang Li the only person you can see?" Yu Shu, feeling ignored, gestured with her hand across her face and said irritably, "Such a handsome guy is standing in front of you, why don't you greet me?"
"·····"
Considering that he and Jiang Li were good friends, Chen Aimei suppressed her impatience and said with a smile, "Don't say that, Yu Shu, you handsome guy~"
Just as he finished speaking, the elevator doors opened, and several people squeezed in.
After the joke was over, Yu Shu didn't continue. He took the initiative to say, "Are you two going back to school too? Why don't you go together?"
"Need not--"
Before Guan Nan could refuse, Chen Aimei pinched her and glared at her with a hint of fierceness.
"Okay." Chen Aimei agreed, placed the doll in Guan Nan's hands, and asked gently and affectionately, "Nan Nan, do you get carsick?"
Guan Nan didn't understand her implication and shook her head blankly.
The moment the elevator doors closed, a hand swiftly blocked the middle, and the sensor doors reopened.
"What are you two doing? Are you in a hurry to get married?" They ran off as soon as they finished paying the bill. Lin Rui chased after them, his words merciless, "You're going to turn your back on me now that you've pulled up your pants, aren't you?"
"·····"
"···········"
"Can you stop talking nonsense?" Even Yu Shu was speechless. "I'm really fed up. There are female classmates here, can't you keep an eye on things?"
At that moment, Xin Jia also entered, and the instant she saw who it was, her eyebrows involuntarily twitched.
"Oh," Lin Rui said listlessly, turning to face the elevator door. As if he couldn't sit still, he said, "Jiang Gou, bring your girlfriend out next time, let's have a meal together."
In an instant, the air in the elevator fell silent.
"Do you want to die?" Jiang Li's tone was indifferent, revealing no emotion.
Xin Jia chimed in, "He thought so, he just told me."
"·····"
Another silence followed.
Lin Rui asked seriously, "Jia Mei, did you get a dog recently?"
No.
"Then why are you sick?"
Guan Nan: "..."
This is a roundabout way of calling Xin Jia a mad dog.
Xin Jia also understood, and gave him a blank look, which was quite intimidating.
At least, Lin Rui's eyes flickered away.
"Pfft," Chen Aimei couldn't help but laugh out loud, covering her mouth with her hand, "I wasn't laughing."
The attempt to cover it up was too obvious, and Xin Jia was speechless: "You might as well just smile."
After reading it, Guan Nan sighed silently to himself. All his friends were like this; no wonder Jiang Li acted the way he did. Being unique was quite an achievement for him.
No one in the room knew what she was thinking, otherwise someone would have burst out laughing.
After getting off the elevator, the group all headed towards the southwest gate, having the same destination.
Xin Jia slowed her pace, put her arm around Yu Shu, and tried to get information out of him: "Who is that woman?"
"Which one?" Yu Shu wasn't as quick-witted as him.
"The one with the ponytail."
"Our class monitor."
Xin Jia asked suspiciously, "Your class monitor?"
"Yes, she's first in the grade, first in the class, and the top scorer in the high school entrance exam two years ago—the famous Guan Nan." Yu Shu said with great pride.
"That's amazing?"
"What's so great about you?" Yu Shu looked at him with disdain. "How could a slacker like you possibly understand this?"
"...Don't you need a beating?"
Yu Shu dodged his arm, straightened her clothes, and said seriously, "We're not going that way, I'll go first."
After saying that, he made a hasty escape.
Xin Jia laughed and scolded him: "Coward."
But the way he stared at Guan Nan had an indescribable, profound meaning.
After leaving the mall, everyone waited for their rides on the roadside.
The group was very eye-catching, especially since all the handsome guys were grouped together, and there were also two beautiful girls among them.
Beautiful things always attract attention. When you encounter these people, passersby can't help but take another look.
At midday, when the sun was blazing, Chen Aimei linked arms with Guan Nan and fanned herself with her hand.
She leaned close to Guan Nan's ear and whispered, "We'll be in the same car as Jiang Li later. You sit in the front, and I'll sit with Jiang Li."
"Let's go by ourselves," Guan Nan said, feeling that this wasn't a good idea.
Jiang Li and his friends made up the three of them in one car, while Xin Jia went back to the vocational high school alone.
They followed them in for no reason, causing them trouble instead, and Guan Nan was somewhat resistant to this behavior.
Chen Aimei didn't take Guan Nan's words to heart and assumed that Guan Nan had agreed.
She glanced at Jiang Li and casually asked Yu Shu, "Why are you all eating here today? Is it someone's birthday?"
“Birthday? No, not really.” Yu Shu scratched his head, then turned to look at Jiang Li. “We often get together here. Today, Jiang Li mainly wanted to talk to Xin Jia about something. By the way, what did you say to Xin Jia?”
The question that followed was directed at Jiang Li.
Jiang Li looked down at his phone: "It's just a meal, what could possibly happen?"
"Don't talk nonsense, wasn't this the one you organized?" Yu Shu was skeptical. "Arui also said that you texted him last night, asking him to invite Xin Jia out for dinner."
Yu Dacong's intelligence suddenly kicked in, and he exclaimed, "Could it be those vocational high school students causing trouble?"
Vocational high school?
What a coincidence?
A strange look appeared on Guan Nan's calm expression.
"Who's causing trouble?" Xin Jia, who had just been abandoned by Yu Shu, came out, typed a line on the screen, and handed it to Jiang Li.
After glancing at the words, Jiang Li ignored him.
Yu Shu said with disdain, "Why are you here again?"
"You came all this way to have a meal with me just for this?" Xin Jia put away her phone and smiled knowingly. "Fine, I promise they won't cause you any more trouble."
"Hmm," Jiang replied indifferently.
This conversation might seem ordinary to others, but Guan Nan found it increasingly strange the more she listened.
After waiting for a while, Chen Aimei asked in confusion, "Hasn't the car arrived yet?"
Upon hearing this, they each took one, only to find that after waiting for a long time, everyone assumed that the other had already taken a taxi and was still lazily waiting for the car to arrive.
"Damn, I thought you hit him."
"I thought you had been hit, you were running so eagerly."
"Depend on."
After hailing a taxi, I overheard them discussing whether to ride together or separately.
Taking advantage of the moment, Chen Aimei, still harboring some resentment, spoke up again, but this time the target was Jiang Li.
“Jiang Li, do you remember me?” Chen Aimei tried to build rapport. “We both went to Fuwai Middle School.”
Out of politeness and good manners, Jiang Li did not give the female classmate a hard time.
He asked indifferently, "Is that so?"
That attitude clearly indicated that he didn't remember this incident, or that he didn't remember such a person existed.
“Yes,” Chen Aimei was not deterred by the coldness; instead, her smile deepened as she continued, “Back then, I was in the class next to yours and often went to your class to borrow things from Song Hening.”
Song Hening was Jiang Li's junior high school classmate and also his male classmate for three years.
She said this as if to remind Jiang Li, "Don't you remember me? I used to be in your class often, and I was your deskmate and a good friend."
However, Jiang Li raised his lips in a half-smile, as if he had seen through her thoughts.
Chen Aimei tossed her hair, flashed her signature sweet smile, and pulled her deskmate to join her in the sedition, "Can we ride in your car?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
